Abstract
Sixteen PAH compounds (containing three to six rings) were quantified in sediments from the Rosário and Mitrena salt marshes in the Tagus and Sado estuaries, respectively, colonized by Sarcocornia fruticosa, and in belowground and aboveground plant tissues. Sediments from Rosário presented higher PAH concentrations (0.83–8.71 µg g–1) than those from Mitrena (0.22–1.63 µg g–1). Levels in belowground plant tissues showed a pronounced contrast between the two marshes: 84–165 and 0.15–0.43 µg g–1, respectively. Belowground material in contaminated layers contained 9–55 times more PAHs than sediments, while ratios lower than one were obtained in lower contaminated layers. Five- and six-ring compounds predominated (60–75%) in sediments and belowground plant material from both sites. Aboveground plant tissues presented no differences in PAH concentrations (0.17–0.18 ng g–1) and composition in both marshes, only three- and four-ring compounds being detected. This narrow concentration range appears to indicate that atmospheric deposition is the predominant pathway of PAH accumulation in aerial plant tissues.
Highlights
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of compounds composed of two or more fused aromatic rings originated from natural and anthropogenic sources (Colombo et al 2005)
One core was sliced into 5-cm-thick layers, and belowground plant tissues and sediments were separated, dried, and weighed for the determination of belowground biomass following the methodology described by Gross et al (1991)
The results obtained in this study indicate that PAH levels in belowground biomass of S. fruticosa increased when the concentrations in sediments increased
Summary
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of compounds composed of two or more fused aromatic rings originated from natural and anthropogenic sources (Colombo et al 2005). The PAHs found in urbanized estuarine sediments are mainly of pyrolytic origin and from accidental oil spills (Lin et al 2002, Zhang et al 2004, Blanco et al 2006). Several studies have reported the presence of PAHs in vegetables and halophytic plants in salt marshes (e.g., Kipopoulou et al 1999, Gao and Zhu 2004,Watts et al 2005, Martins et al 2008). Two pathways in the accumulation of PAHs by plants have been Introducción. Varios trabajos han reportado la presencia de PAHs en vegetales y plantas halófitas de marismas (e.g., Kipopoulou et al 1999, Gao y Zhu 2004, Watts et al 2005, Martins et al 2008). Several studies have pointed to atmospheric deposition on the waxy leaf cuticle by particle or gas-phase forms as an important PAH accumulation pathway in plants (Harner and Bidleman 1998, Kipopoulou et al 1999, Sharma et al 2007). Uptake by roots and translocation to aboveground plant tissues of PAHs were examined
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