Bitumen recovery from oil sands in northeastern Alberta, Canada produces large volumes of tailings, which are deposited in mining areas that must be reclaimed upon mine closure. A new technology of non-segregated tailings (NST) developed by Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) was designed to accelerate the process of oil sands fine tailings consolidation. However, effects of these novel tailings on plants used for the reclamation of oil sands mining areas remain to be determined. In the present study, we investigated the effects of NST on seedlings of three species of plants commonly planted in oil sands reclamation sites including paper birch (Betula papyrifera), white spruce (Picea glauca) and green alder (Alnus viridis). In the controlled-environment study, we grew seedlings directly in NST and in the two types of reclamation soils with and without added NST and we measured seedling growth, gas exchange parameters, as well as tissue concentrations of selected elements and foliar chlorophyll. White spruce seedlings suffered from severe mortality when grown directly in NST and their needles contained high concentrations of Na. The growth and physiological processes were also inhibited by NST in green alder and paper birch. However, the addition of top soil and peat mineral soil mix to NST significantly improved the growth of plants, possibly due to a more balanced nutrient uptake. It appears that NST may offer some advantages in terms of site revegetation compared with the traditional oil sands tailings that were used in the past. The results also suggest that, white spruce may be less suitable for planting at reclamation sites containing NST compared with the two studied deciduous tree species.

The coastal wetland vegetation component of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment documented significant injury to the plant production and health of Louisiana salt marshes exposed to oiling. Specifically, marsh sites experiencing trace or greater vertical oiling of plant tissues displayed reductions in cover and peak standing crop relative to reference (no oiling), particularly in the marsh edge zone, for the majority of this four year study. Similarly, elevated chlorosis of plant tissue, as estimated by a vegetation health index, was detected for marsh sites with trace or greater vertical oiling in the first two years of the study. Key environmental factors, such as hydrologic regime, elevation, and soil characteristics, were generally similar across plant oiling classes (including reference), indicating that the observed injury to plant production and health was the result of plant oiling and not potential differences in environmental setting. Although fewer significant impacts to plant production and health were detected in the latter years of the study, this is due in part to decreased sample size occurring as a result of erosion (shoreline retreat) and resultant loss of plots, and should not be misconstrued as indicating full recovery of the ecosystem.

In this study, the effects of concentrations 0, 100, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 mg kg−1 of nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) on germination, seedlings growth, physiology and toxicity mechanisms were investigated. The results showed that nZVI had no effect on germination, but inhibited the rice seedlings growth in higher concentrations (>500 mg kg−1 nZVI). The highest suppression rate of the length of roots and shoots reached 46.9% and 57.5%, respectively. The 1000mg kg−1 nZVI caused the highest suppression rates for chlorophyll and carotenoids, at 91.6% and 85.2%, respectively. In addition, the activity of antioxidant enzymes was altered by the translocation of nanoparticles and changes in active iron content. Visible symptoms of iron deficiency were observed at higher concentrations, at which the active iron content decreased 61.02% in the shoots, but the active iron content not decreased in roots. Interestingly, the total and available amounts of iron in the soil were not less than those in the control. Therefore, the plants iron deficiency was not caused by (i) deficiency of available iron in the soil and (ii) restraint of the absorption that plant takes in the available iron, while induced by (ⅲ) the transport of active iron from the root to the shoot was blocked. The cortex tissues were seriously damaged by nZVI which was transported from soil to the root, these were proved by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). This current study shows that the mechanism of iron deficiency in rice seedling was due to transport of active iron from the root to the shoot blocked, which was caused by the uptake of nZVI.

Leaf is an important organ in responding to environmental stresses. To date, chlorophyll metabolism under polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) stress is still unclear. Here we reveal, for the first time, the chlorophyll metabolism of wheat seedling leaves in response to phenanthrene (a model PAH) exposure. In this study, the hydroponic experiment was employed, and the wheat seedlings were exposed to phenanthrene to observe the response at day 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. Over the exposure time, wheat leaf color turns light. With the accumulation of phenanthrene, the concentrations of glutamate, 5-aminolevulinic acid, uroporphyrinogen III, protoporphyrin IX, Mg-protoporphyrin IX and protochlorophyllide increase while the concentrations of porphobilinogen and Chlorophyll b decrease. Also chlorophyll a content rises initially and then declines. Uroporphyrinogen III synthase and chlorophyllase are activated and porphobilinogen deaminase activity declines in the treatments. Both chlorophyll synthesis and degradation are enhanced, but the degradation rate is faster. Phenanthrene accumulation has significant and positive effects on increase of glutamate, 5-aminolevulinic acid, uroporphyrinogen III, protoporphyrin IX, Mg-protoporphyrin IX and protochlorophyllide concentrations. There is a negative correlation between phenanthrene accumulation and total chlorophyll. Additionally, the leaf moisture increases. Therefore, it is concluded that wheat leaf chlorosis results from a combination of accelerated chlorophyll degradation and elevated leaf moisture under phenanthrene exposure. Our results are helpful not only for better understanding the toxicity of PAHs to plants and crop PAH-adaptive mechanism in the environment, but also for potentially employing the changes of the chlorophyll-synthesizing precursors and enzyme activities in plant leaves as indicators of plant response to PAH pollution.

Ipomoea nil (L.) Roth. cv. ‘Scarlett O’Hara’ was evaluated as a tropical bioindicator species sensitive to ozone (O3). A total of nine field experiments were performed, with 28 days of exposure each. Visible leaf injuries, carbon assimilation (Asat) and stomatal conductance (gs) were quantified and correlated to oscillations in environmental conditions and accumulated ozone exposure over a threshold of 40 ppb h (AOT40). The values of gas exchange and leaf injury continuously varied throughout the study period. Asat and leaf injury (chlorosis) were higher in spring than in others seasons. The gs was higher in autumn. The analyses of the abiotic and biotic variables revealed an opposing trend between the Asat and both leaf injury and AOT40. Ozone levels were moderate and its relationship with gs was inverse. This may be the cause of the moderate injury. ‘Scarlett O’Hara’ is sensitive to O3 and has potential as an O3 bioindicator in sub–tropical regions.

The tolerance of Mentha crispa L. (garden mint) cultivated in cadmium-contaminated oxisol for 120 days was analyzed using plant growth variables such as height, the number of leaves and shoots in different Cd exposure periods, as well as assessing the metal concentration absorbed and accumulated in the plant parts (root, stem, and leaves). The maximum adsorption capacity was estimated at 9220 mg kg⁻¹ and used as a reference to establish the different Cd concentrations to be applied in the soil. M. crispa showed tolerance and revealed a reduction of height, the number of leaves and shoots, root development, and secondary toxicity signs such as chlorosis and leaf wilting. Comparing to the stems and leaves, Cd was retained mainly in the roots. PERMANOVA showed that plant growth variables and Cd concentrations in the plant’s part were affected by the Cd exposure time. The canonical discriminant analysis demonstrated height as the most affected variable until 45 growing days, and different responses were observed after 75 days. However, the number of shoots was the variable most affected by higher Cd concentrations. The bioaccumulation and translocation factors for all treatments were lower than one, indicating that M. crispa can be considered as an excluder plant and applied for a phytostabilization strategy.

Baru (Dipteryx alata Vogel) is a native tree plant, widely distributed in Brazil, and has a growth and development in acidic soils like Cerrado, indicating a probable tolerance to adverse soil conditions, such as the high concentration of metals and the acidic pH. Due to the lack of information about the tolerance of this species to metals and the possibility of being used in the recovery of degraded areas and/or in phytoremediation, this work was developed with the objective of evaluating the in vitro germination and growth capacity of baru in medium supplemented with different concentrations of aluminum, iron, and manganese, as well as through chemical analysis, to determine the concentration of metals accumulated in cultivated plants in these conditions. The treatments consisted in different concentrations of metals: aluminum, Al³⁺ (0, 3.5, 7.0, 10.5, 21.0, or 42.0 mg L⁻¹); iron, Fe³⁺ (0, 2.5, 4.9, 7.4, 14.7, or 29.4 mg L⁻¹); and manganese, Mn²⁺ (0, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 2.4, or 4.8 mg L⁻¹) added to the medium WPM. The tested values were based on using the lower concentration as the limit value, calculated based on risk to human health in accordance with CONAMA resolution 420/2009 for groundwater. At 60 days of cultivation, the percentage of germination, the average number of leaves, the length of the main root and the aerial part, the fresh and dry mass of the aerial part and the root system and the cations concentration Al³⁺, Fe³⁺ and Mn²⁺ in the plant biomass, were evaluated. The results showed that under the conditions in which the experiment was conducted, germination and in vitro growth of baru were not affected by the presence in high concentrations of any of the evaluated metals, with no differences in the percentage of germination and plant growth, as well as typical toxicity characteristics were not observed, such as changes in root morphology, chlorosis, or tissue oxidation. The absence of toxicity symptoms in baru plants, in the presence of Al³⁺, Fe³⁺, and Mn²⁺, indicate that the species is tolerant to these metals. The accumulation of Al³⁺ and Fe³⁺ in the plant biomass at the beginning of growth, simultaneously with the increase in the concentrations of these elements in the culture medium, indicates that this species can be used for phytoremediation, because it is a probable accumulator of these elements throughout its development, given the presence in significant concentrations of these elements also in the seeds.