Tolerance of native tree species from Atlantic Forest to excess of Zn and Ni in soil

• Grant number: 16/25642-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: April 01, 2018
• End date: September 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Marisa Domingos
• Grantee: Solange Eulália Brandão
• Host Institution: Instituto de Botânica. Secretaria de Meio Ambiente, Infraestrutura e Logística (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Forest ecosystems have been affected in recent decades by a variety of pollutants due to the expansion of human activities. Heavy metals adsorbed on urban particulate matter are among the pollutants embedded in the Atlantic forest remnants in urban areas. They can be retained on the tree canopies and incorporated into the soil. The accumulation of these elements in the vegetation can lead to increased levels of cellular reactive oxygen species and oxidative damage, whose intensity will depend on the ability of native species to produce antioxidants. So, we assumed that the metals contained in particulate matter have been reached the soil of an Atlantic Forest fragment, increasing the their bioavailable fraction to the plant community; the pioneer tree species have greater potential for absorbing metals from soil and greater potential to tolerate oxidative stress than not pioneers. These hypotheses will be tested experimentally using Ni and Zn (markers of urban sources of particulate matter). We aimed to evaluate whether the bioavailability of Ni and/or Zn will increase in the superficial soil from an urban fragment of the Atlantic forest after the addition of an aqueous solution containing both metals; to determine the leaf accumulation capacity presented by saplings of pioneer and non-pioneer species gronw in this soil enriched by Ni and Zn; to determine the tolerance level of these tree species grown in soil enriched by Ni and Zn, by analyzing changes in the growth rates and biomass production and in the antioxidant and oxidative damage profiles; to assess whether antioxidants are potentially able to prevent or restrict oxidative cell damage. This study will be conducted in two steps. The first was proposed to test the first hypothesis. The bioavailable fraction of Zn and Ni in the soil to plants of a pioneer species and another non-pioneer species will be determined by establishing treatments with and without addition of a synthetic chelating agent (EDTA). The tolerance level of three pioneer and three non-pioneer tree species will be determined in the second step, aiming to test the second hypothesis.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BRANDAO, SOLANGE E.; BARBOSA, GEANE M.; SIQUEIRA, MATHEUS C.; DE O. A. CAMPOS, RAFAELA; DALSIN, ANA C. F.; RINALDI, MIRIAN C. S.; DOMINGOS, MARISA. ickel and zinc absorption and growth of Atlantic Forest trees cultivated in polluted soi. PLANT AND SOIL, v. 471, n. 1-2, DEC 2021. (16/25642-3)