Investigating Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Profiles in Higher Plants Using Statistical Models

Abstract

Thirty-six higher plants sampled from Olomoro, Irri, Uzere, and Oginni exploration sites in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria were subjected to GC/MS analysis to assess the occurrence, distribution and profiles of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) contained in them. The Σ₂₈PAHs ranged from 335 to 3094 ng/g. The results of the nonparametric regression models showed that PAHs concentration in a plant cannot be used in isolation to deduce the total PAHs concentration in soils hosting the plant since PAHs concentration in a plant is influenced by the presence (or absence) of other plants in that location. A combination of Factor analysis (FA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to recognize PAHs concentration patterns among the plants in the studied locations and individual PAHs compounds. Woody annuals and perennial plants formed similar patterns in Oginni and Irri locations. Three main clusters were formed by all the compounds with naphthalene and 2-methylnaphthalene standing as outliers in all the four locations.

Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of International Journal of Phytoremediation to view the supplemental file.

KEY WORDS:

• higher plants
• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• principal component analysis
• nonparametric regression
• soils

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We sincerely thank the Third World Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Sciences for granting the first author a postgraduate fellowship towards this research work. Partial support of the present study by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 40821003 and 40588001) is also gratefully acknowledged. The authors also wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful suggestions and comments which have improved the quality of the article.