Variation of major elements and heavy metals occurrence in hybrid aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx. x P. tremula L.) tree rings in marginal land

Warning

This publication doesn't include Faculty of Sports Studies. It includes Faculty of Science. Official publication website can be found on muni.cz.
Authors

BARDULE Arta BERTINS Maris BUSA Lauma LAZDINA Dagnija VIKSNA Arturs KUCHYNKA Michaela KANICKÝ Viktor VACULOVIČ Tomáš

Year of publication 2020
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source iForest-Biogeosciences and Forestry
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor2869-012
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.3832/ifor2869-012
Keywords Dendroanalyses; Hybrid Aspen; Tree Rings; Major Elements; Heavy Metals; LA-ICP-MS
Description Fast growing tree species such as Populus spp. in short rotation woody crop (SRWC) systems could be an environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach to ensure sustainable biomass production and mitigate the negative impacts on the environment caused by more intensive management aimed to promote additional biomass increment. Knowledge on variation of major biologically important elements' and toxic heavy metals' occurrence in fertilised hybrid aspen tree rings in marginal land may have important and relevant implications for the management practice and evaluation of element fluxes in SRWC ecosystems. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was used to determine the relative amount of major elements (K, Ca, Mg, P) and heavy metals (Cd, Hg, Pb) in stem wood plane on straight line trajectory starting from pith to bark with measurement step 0.1 mm. While inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to determine average content of the mentioned elements in mechanically separated tree rings to quantify data obtained using LA-ICP-MS method and expressed in relative units. Stem disc samples were collected from six year old hybrid aspen trees growing in marginal agricultural land in the central part of Latvia (hemi-boreal climate conditions) that were initially fertilised with biogas production residues, sewage sludge, and wood ash. We concluded that the content of analysed major elements and heavy metals in the hybrid aspen tree rings varied considerably not only within the analysed stem plane (across tree rings) of one sample tree, but also within one annual ring with significant differences between the content of major elements in earlywood and latewood. Nevertheless, the results of the content of major elements and heavy metals in hybrid aspen tree rings highlighted the significant impact of the initially used fertiliser (especially wood ash) on the average content of elements. Hybrid aspens can be considered bioindicators of both the management activities and general growing conditions even if soil pH is close to neutrality, suggesting a limited mobility of the heavy metals.
Related projects:

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.

More info