Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Enhances Copper Uptake in Crops and Pasture Species Grown in Copper‐Contaminated Soils in a Micro‐Plot Study. Issue 3 (29th August 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tian, Shuai; Jia, Yan; Ding, Yongzhen; Wang, Ruigang; Feng, Renwei; Song, Zhengguo; Guo, Junkang; Zhou, Li
• Is Part Of: Clean. Volume 42:Issue 3(2014:Mar.)
• Page Start: 347
• Page End: 354
• Publication Date: 2013-08-29
• Subjects: Water quality -- Periodicals; Water -- Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Periodicals; Bioremediation -- Periodicals; Sewage -- Periodicals; Water chemistry -- Periodicals; 333.7205
• DOI: 10.1002/clen.201200401
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1863-0650

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="clen201200401-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <p>The biomass of plants for the purpose of phytoremediation is often small. Carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) can enhance plant biomass and so, it is reasonable to draw such an assumption that CO<sub>2</sub> can be used to help plants to phytoremediate heavy metal contaminated soils through enhancing the biomass of remediating plants. To identify this assumption, a micro‐plot study in six separate growth chambers was conducted to investigate the effect of high CO<sub>2</sub> levels (approximately 1000 ± 50 µL L<sup>−1</sup>) on Cu accumulation and the remediation potential of three rape varieties and another five crop and pasture species grown in soils contaminated with Cu (485 mg Cu kg<sup>−1</sup>, denoted as soil‐L, and 1200 mg Cu kg<sup>−1</sup>, denoted as soil‐H). The results showed that independently of the CO<sub>2</sub> treatment, the shoot biomass and Cu concentration in the eight plants varied with the species and soil Cu levels. The plants grown in soil‐L produced a higher aboveground biomass than those grown in the more heavily contaminated soil‐H, but the Cu levels were high in all the plants grown in soil‐H. Regardless of the CO<sub>2</sub> treatment, the shoot biomass and Cu concentration in the plant parts also varied with the species and soil Cu levels. Overall, the exposure of all the plants to elevated CO<sub>2</sub> resulted in a biomass increase of 6–136% and a significantly higher remediation capacity. The results indicate that the ever‐increasing atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> may enhance the phytoremediation efficiency of Cu contaminated soils; however it also suggests a risk of food safety under the future scenario of elevated atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub>.</p> </sec> </abstract>