Soil quality guidelines are currently based on total trace metal loads. There is a need to define indices of bioavailability to allow reasonable predictions for plant metal uptake and toxicity in soils. Trace metal toxicities to plants often correlate best with free metal ion activities. The first objective was to develop a plant bioassay that is sensitive to trace metals at concentrations realistic for soils. The root elongation of lettuce Lactuca sativa 'Buttercrunch' was used as toxicological endpoint. This endpoint was sensitive and reproducible to environmentally relevant concentrations of Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn. The second objective was to test whether free metal ion activities are constant predictors of metal toxicities in synthetic solutions and in soil extracts that differ in their concentrations of cations and ligands. The root elongation assay was used to test this hypothesis. In synthetic solutions, the rhizotoxicity of Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn decreased with increasing Ca and H concentrations. This could not be explained with the effect of higher cationic concentrations on root growth or on solution speciation. It was concluded that Ca and H inhibited the rhizotoxicity of all metals tested. The rhizotoxicity of Cu and Cd was further examined in soil extracts. Both metals became less rhizotoxic at higher H and dissolved organic matter concentrations. The rhizotoxicity endpoints from the experiments in synthetic solution were used to develop parameters for a Biotic Ligand Model (BLM) for Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn. The BLM accounts for solution speciation and interprets cationic inhibition of rhizotoxicity as competition of metals with Ca and H for potential sites of rhizotoxicity. The BLM predicted metal rhizotoxicity better than the free metal ion activity in synthetic solutions and in soil extracts. Different models were tested against literature rhizotoxicity data for metals at different Ca and H concentrations. Predictions for metal rhizotoxicity given by BLM, Gouy-Chapman-Stern model and Freundlich equation model were compared with predictions based on free metal ion activities in solution. The BLM predicted rhizotoxicity most accurately. The BLM seems promising for predictions of metal toxicity and metal bioavailability in soils to support site-specific environmental risk assessments.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.19561 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Voigt, Astrid |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Natural Resource Sciences) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002022135, Theses scanned by McGill Library. |
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