Plant Functional Groups Dominate Responses of Plant Adaptive Strategies to Urbanization

Urbanization causes alteration in atmospheric, soil, and hydrological factors and substantially affects a range of morphological and physiological plant traits. Correspondingly, plants might adopt different strategies to adapt to urbanization promotion or pressure. Understanding of plant traits responding to urbanization will reveal the capacity of plant adaptation and optimize the choice of plant species in urbanization green. In this study, four different functional groups (herbs, shrubs, subcanopies, and canopies, eight plant species totally) located in urban, suburban, and rural areas were selected and eight replicated plants were selected for each species at each site. Their physiological and photosynthetic properties and heavy metal concentrations were quantified to reveal plant adaptive strategies to urbanization. The herb and shrub species had significantly higher starch and soluble sugar contents in urban than in suburban areas. Urbanization decreased the maximum photosynthetic rates and total chlorophyll contents of the canopies (Engelhardtia roxburghiana and Schima superba). The herbs (Lophatherum gracile and Alpinia chinensis) and shrubs (Ardisia quinquegona and Psychotria rubra) species in urban areas had significantly lower nitrogen (N) allocated in the cell wall and leaf δ15N values but higher heavy metal concentrations than those in suburban areas. The canopy and subcanopy (Diospyros morrisiana and Cratoxylum cochinchinense) species adapt to the urbanization via reducing resource acquisition but improving defense capacity, while the herb and shrub species improve resource acquisition to adapt to the urbanization. Our current studies indicated that functional groups affected the responses of plant adaptive strategies to the urbanization.

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Soil Heavy Metal Concentrations and Leaf Accumulation in Four Subtropical Plant Species from South China

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/scientific5/amr.455-456.1310 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 455-456 ◽

pp. 1310-1316

Author(s):

Zhi Yao Su ◽

Yu Duan Ou ◽

Yan Ming Li ◽

Yi Zhou

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metal ◽

Plant Species ◽

South China ◽

Metal Concentrations ◽

Heavy Metal Concentrations ◽

Soil Heavy Metal ◽

Leaf Accumulation

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Heavy metal concentrations (Cd, Cu and Pb) in five aquatic plant species in Tasik Chini, Malaysia

Environmental Geology ◽

10.1007/s00254-007-0838-z ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 54 (4) ◽

pp. 689-698 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

M. Ebrahimpour ◽

I. Mushrifah

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metal ◽

Plant Species ◽

Aquatic Plant ◽

Metal Concentrations ◽

Heavy Metal Concentrations ◽

Tasik Chini

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Analysis and simulation of bioaccumulation of selected metals from contaminated soil

Hemijska industrija ◽

10.2298/hemind171009001b ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 72 (2) ◽

pp. 91-97

Author(s):

Ljiljana Babincev ◽

Miljana Markovic ◽

Dragana Radosavljevic

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metals ◽

Heavy Metal ◽

Plant Species ◽

Relative Error ◽

Metal Concentrations ◽

Heavy Metal Concentrations ◽

Mean Relative Error ◽

Adopted Model ◽

Before And After ◽

The Mean

The aim of this study was: I) to determine Pb, Cd and Zn concentrations in alluvial soil before and after planting selected plant species, and II) modeling of the bioaccumulation process in the examined soil, using several plant species. Soil samples were collected from the northern part of Kosovo and Metohija, and the selected plants were: a) vegetables: Lactuca sativa L. and Allium cepa L.; b) legumes: Lotus corniculatus L. and Trifolium pratense L.; and c) grasses (weed plants): Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. and Festuca arundinaceae Schreb. The experimental part of the work was carried out by vegetation experiments, and heavy metal concentrations were determined by potentiometric stripping analysis (PSA). The obtained results show that: I) the heavy metal concentrations in the analyzed soil were above allowed values at all measuring points; II) the selected species accumulated heavy metals to some extent. Expressed in percentages, vegetables and legumes accumulated 9?11 % Pb, 12?33 % Cd and 11?19 % Zn. Cyndon dactylon Pers. accumulated about 69 % Pb, 24?40 % Cd and 43 % Zn. Festuca arundinaceae accumulated 39?40 % Zn, 58?81 % Cd, and Pb up to 70 %. The obtained results indicate high tolerance to heavy metals, especially in the case of Festuca arundinacea. By simulation of the bioaccumulation process it has been established that the dependence of the concentration of metal ions before and after planting represents a linear regression. Coefficients of the model, for the discussed cases of heavy metals and plant species, were determined by minimization of the mean square error, and quality of model fits was evaluated by the values of the statistical indicators the RSE (Residual Standard Error) and MRE (Mean Relative Error). The closer the values of these indicators are to zero, the more accurate the model is. It can be concluded that the adopted model describes sufficiently well the dependence of concentrations of Pb and Zn in the soil before and after planting. The mean relative error (MRE) in the case of Cd is slightly higher than 7 %, which suggests that the use of a non-linear model is needed for which it is necessary to have additional samples available, which can be the subject of further research.

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