Metal and arsenic impacts to soils, vegetation communities and wildlife habitat in southwest Montana uplands contaminated by smelter emissions. II. Laboratory phytotoxicity studies

Metal and arsenic impacts to soils, vegetation communities and wildlife habitat in southwest Montana uplands contaminated by smelter emissions. II. Laboratory phytotoxicity studies

1995

Vegetation communities on metal- and arsenic-contaminated uplands surrounding a smelter in southwest Montana have been eliminated or highly modified. Laboratory toxicity tests were performed using site soils from the impacted areas to determine whether the soils limit the ability of plants to establish and grow. The germination and growth of alfalfa, lettuce, and wheat in impacted area soils was compared to germination and growth of the three species in reference soils. The degree of phytotoxicity was quantified using a species-endpoint toxicity score calculated on the magnitude of difference between germination and growth of plants in impacted and reference soils. The impacted soils exhibited substantial toxicity to plants: 5% of the sites were severely phytotoxic, 55% were highly phytotoxic, 10% were moderately phytotoxic, 20% were mildly phytotoxic, and 10% were nontoxic. Root growth was consistently the most affected endpoint (18 of 20 impacted soils) and reduction in root length and mass was observed. Correlation and partial correlation analysis was used to evaluate the causes of phytotoxicity. Concentrations of As, Cu, and Zn and, to a lesser extent, Pb and Cd were found to be positively correlated with phytotoxicity.

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