Environmental Effects of Dredging: Heavy Metal Uptake by Agronomic Crops and Cyperus Esculentus Grown on Oxidized and Reduced Soils Contaminated With Metal-Mining Wastes.

摘要

This note expands the scope and utility of the Waterways Experiment Station (WES) plant bioassay procedure by using Cyperus esculentus (yellow nut- sedge) as an index plant to link an existing agronomic data base to that of the WES data base. Relating contaminant uptake and mobility by the index plant grown on dredged material to that of an existing agricultural data base may show that levels of contaminant uptake by plants and subsequent mobility into the food web from dredged material may be compared to what is normally acceptable in agricultural products. Therefore, contaminant uptake and mobility may not be as harmful to the environment as often projected (i.e., absence of unacceptable adverse effect).