Abstract
The role of water and bottom sediment pollution of a river subjected to a strong industrial anthropo-pressure in coastal plants was investigated. The work presented the influence of polluted environment on accumulation of metal(loid)s (including arsenic and its species) in Stuckenia pectinata L., Galium aparine L., and Urtica dioica L. The study provided important information on the contents of organic and inorganic arsenic species in selected plants and their response to heavy metal and arsenic contamination. The As(III), As(V), AB (arsenobetaine), MMA (monomethylarsonic acid), and DMA (dimethylarsinic acid) ions were successfully separated on the Hamilton PRP-X100 column with high-performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) techniques. The Pollution Load Index and geo-accumulation Index (Igeo) values clearly indicate significant pollution of the examined ecosystem with heavy metals. The chemometric analysis with the concepts of (Dis)similarity Analysis, Cluster Analysis, and Principal Component Analysis helped to visualize the variability of the As species concentrations and to analyse correlations between sampling point locations and analyte contents.
Highlights
Environmental pollution in Upper Silesia region has been the highest in Poland for a decades
This study investigated the bioaccumulation of metal(loid)s, including arsenic and its species in plants (Stuckenia pectinata L., Galium aparine L., Urtica dioica L.) growing above banks of polluted the Bytomka River
The highest concentrations of arsenic, lead, and zinc were found in Sago pondweed (Stuckenia pectinata L.) at the third sampling point B3 located near the post-mining dump “Hałda Ruda” in Zabrze (Fig. 4)
Summary
Environmental pollution in Upper Silesia region has been the highest in Poland for a decades. This has been due to the intense and unsustainable process of industrialization in the past two centuries. The previous research has shown high levels of pollution of the Bytomka River, especially due to the high content of metals and metalloids in water, as well as in bottom sediments (Jabłońska-Czapla et al 2014). Major sources of this type of pollution are old and inactive landfills of mining waste, which are currently abundant in Upper Silesia. Arsenic compounds have a latent carcinogenic and teratogenic effect (Kabata-Pendias and Pendias 1999; Majtkowski et al 2011)
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