Environmental factors influencing the rate of spread of the grass Deschampsia cespitosa invading areas around the Sudbury [Canada] nickel-copper smelters

Cox, R.M.; Hutchinson, T.C. . Dept. of Botany and Inst. for Environmental Studies

Environmental factors influencing the rate of spread of the grass Deschampsia cespitosa invading areas around the Sudbury [Canada] nickel-copper smelters

1981

Cox, R.M. | Hutchinson, T.C. (Toronto Univ., Ont. (Canada). Dept. of Botany and Inst. for Environmental Studies)

A study has been made of the soil chemistry and atmospheric quality of 9 Sudbury area sites where populations of Deschampsia cespitosa have invaded the contaminated industrial barrens near the smelters since 1972. The rate of increase in cover within marked quadrats was greater at sites near the disused Coniston smelter than at sites near the two active smelters. Air quality monitoring, using bulk collectors and sulphation plates, indicated substantial drops in phytotoxic air pollutants during the 1978-79 smelter shutdowns. Surface loadings of various metals were evident in soil at sites near the active smelters, whereas this was no longer true at sites near the Coniston smelter disused since 1972. However, water extractable levels of Ni and Cu at these sites remained as high as those found near the active smelters which also have high extractable soil Al. Both comparative studies and multiple regression analysis indicate that the rate of increase in cover of D. cespitosa in the populations studied correlate best with particulate deposition of Cu and Ni followed by sulphation rate and then by soil extractable Al. These findings are discussed in relation to tolerances of local populations, as well as to the potential effects of airborne particulates on growth

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