Uptake of metals by plants in urban areas

In the present study, bulk contents of Ni, Zn, Cu, Pb and Mn in urban area of Tehran city are determined. Subsequently, the chemical bonds of metals with various soil fractions are brought out. Chemical partitioning studies revealed that various percentile of Ni, Zn, Cu, Pb and Mn is found in anthropogenic portion of soils. Zinc, Ni, Cu, Pb and Mn fall within “low pollution” class in accordance with index of pollution (I _POLL). The trend of anthropogenic share of studied metals in soils of Tehran is Zn (55 %) > Cu (31 %) > Ni and Pb (30 %) > Mn (12 %). The overall potential of studied plants in metal removal from soil is Salvia > Viola > Portulaca. It should be pointed out that roots have higher potential in metal removal from soil when compared with leaf and stem. Lithogenic portion of metals remains intact before and after pot analysis. Thus, phytoremediation is highly dependent on the chemical bonds of metals. Present study showed that metal contents of loosely bonded ions, sulfide bonds and organometallic bonds are reduced after 90 days of plant cultivation. The overall removal trend of studied metals is Zn (16 %) > Cu (14 %) > Ni (11 %) > Pb (7 %) > Mn (6 %). The obtained results show that the anthropogenic portion of metals is reduced after the phytoremediation practice. For instance, the initial anthropogenic portion of Zn (55 %) is changed to 39 % showing an overall reduction of about 16 %. The anthropogenic portions of Cu, Ni, Pb and Mn are also reduced by 14, 11, 7 and 6 %, respectively.