Natural enrichment of Cd and Tl in the bark of trees from a rural watershed devoid of point sources of metal contamination

Shotyk, William; Barraza, Fiorella; Cuss, Chad W.; Grant-Weaver, Iain; Germani, Carla; Javed, Muhammad Babar; Hillier, Stephen; Noernberg, Tommy; Oleksandrenko, Andrii

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.116973

Research article2023Peer reviewed

Natural enrichment of Cd and Tl in the bark of trees from a rural watershed devoid of point sources of metal contamination

Shotyk, William; Barraza, Fiorella; Cuss, Chad W.; Grant-Weaver, Iain; Germani, Carla; Javed, Muhammad Babar; Hillier, Stephen; Noernberg, Tommy; Oleksandrenko, Andrii

Abstract

To help understand the bioaccumulation of Cd and Tl in beaver tissue, we examined the enrichment of these metals in vegetation available to the animals. Bark was collected from 40 species of trees and shrubs, along with a complete soil weathering profile, within a small watershed devoid of trace metal contamination. Weathering resulted in a 5x enrichment of Cd in the soils relative to the underlying sediments, and a 6x Tl depletion: while Cd was lost from calcite and accumulates in the organic matter and oxyhydroxide fractions, Tl occurred only in the residual fraction. Soil processes alone, however, cannot explain the anomalous concentrations and enrichments of Cd in willow and poplar which contain up to 8.5 mg/kg Cd. The concentrations of Cd and Tl in the dissolved fraction (

Keywords

Willow (Salix spp.); poplar (Populus spp.); cadmium; Thallium; Bioavailability; Bioaccumulation

Published in

Environmental Research
2023, volume: 237, number: Part 2, article number: 116973
Publisher: Academic Press Inc.

SLU Authors

Hillier, Stephen
- Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- The James Hutton Institute

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences

Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.116973

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/129540