Accumulation of arsenic and heavy metals in some Viola species from an abandoned mine, Alchar, Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)

Abstract

The uptake and distribution of arsenic (As) and some heavy metals was determined in three Viola endemic species from As‐overloaded soil in an abandoned mine at Alchar, Republic of Macedonia (FYROM – The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). Some essential elements were also analyzed in order to characterize the common geochemical properties of this site. Total As content in soil ranged from 3347 to 14,467 mg kg⁻¹, and plant available As from 23 to 1589 mg kg⁻¹. The concentration of As in roots ranged from 783 mg kg⁻¹ in Viola macedonica to 2124 mg kg⁻¹ in Viola arsenica. Only a small amount of As accumulated in the aboveground parts of these species (<100 mg kg⁻¹), while in shoots of Viola allchariensis, As accumulated in the range 187–439 mg kg⁻¹. Arsenic accumulation in the roots of these Viola species may make these plants valuable tools for the bioindication and phytoremediation (phytostabilization) of As in naturally loaded and anthropogenically contaminated soils.

Keywords:

• Arsenic
• phytostabilization
• Viola species

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr Roger Pain for linguistic help and many valuable comments on the early version of this paper. The authors are thankful also to Dr Ljiljana Tomović for helping them with in statistical data processing, as well as to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable remarks. This work has been supported by the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Serbia projects No. 143015 (B. Stevanović, G. Tomović and J. Šinžar Sekulić) and No. 141012 (D. Marković and I. Novović).