Studies on heavy metal accumulation in aquatic macrophytes from Sevan (Armenia) and Carambolim (India) lake systems
DRS at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography
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Title |
Studies on heavy metal accumulation in aquatic macrophytes from Sevan (Armenia) and Carambolim (India) lake systems
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Creator |
Vardanyan, L.G.
Ingole, B.S. |
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Subject |
Aquatic macrophytes
toxic metals Sevan Lakes Carambolim Lake |
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Description |
Aquatic macrophytes are unchangeable biological filters and they carry out purification of the water bodies by accumulating dissolved metals and toxins in their tissue. In view of their potential to entrap several toxic heavy metsls, 45 macrophytes belonging to 8 families collected from two different physiographic locations (36 from Seven Lake, Armenia; 9 from Carambolim Lake, Old Goa, India) were studied for estimation of 14 heavy metals. The study was aimed at understanding the importance of these macrophytes in accumulation of toxic metals and controlling the heavy metal pollution and suggesting the remedial measures, if any, for the preservation and restoration of lake ecosystem. Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometric (ICP-AES) analyses of these aquatic macrophytes have shown the importance of aquatic macrophytes in accumulation of heavy metals and maintaining the clarity of water bodies beside their role in trophic systems. Accumulation of most of the heavy metals was higher in root system. The representative macrophytes from two different physiographic locations show similar trends and order in accumulating different metals generally. Of the 14 metals investigated, 9 (Ca, Fe, Al, Cr, Cu, Ba, Ti, Co and Pb) showed higher rates of accumulation in the root whereas 3 (Mn, Zn and Mg) showed more accumulation in stem and 1 (Ca) showed higher accumulation in the leaves. In most of the samples Cu was accumulated more in the roots (50 plus or minus 47.15 mu g/g) and less in flowers (9.52 plus or minus 3.97 mu g/g). Occurrence of heavy metal was much higher in macrophytes of Seven Lake than that of the Carambolim Lake. The present study revealed that the aquatic macrophytes play a very significant role in removing the different metals from the ambient environments. They probably play a major role in reducing the effect of high concentration of heavy metals. Therefore, the macrophyte community of the Seven Lake area needs to be protected and restored on a priority basis. Accumulation of highly toxic metals like ? Cr, Cd, Pb and Ni was lower as compared to the essential metals like Ca, Fe and Mn in all the macrophytes from both the lake systems, consequently high metal concentrations observed in both the areas may not directly reflect on the pollution level.
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Date |
2006-07-24T09:26:15Z
2006-07-24T09:26:15Z 2006 |
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Type |
Journal Article
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Identifier |
Environment International, vol.32(2), 208-218pp.
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/226 |
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Language |
en
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Rights |
An edited version of this paper was published by Elsevier. Copyright [2006] Elsevier
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Format |
346332 bytes
application/pdf |
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Publisher |
Elsevier
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