Potential of Ornamental Trees to Remediate Trace Metal Contaminated Soils for Environmental Safety and Urban Green Space Development

Shamim Umer, Zaheer Abbas, Irfan Aziz, Maria Hanif, Zainul Abideen (), Simeen Mansoor, Neelofar Hamid, Mohammad Ajmal Ali () and Fahad M. Al-Hemaid
Additional contact information
Shamim Umer: Department of Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan
Zaheer Abbas: Department of Botany, Division of Science and Technology, University of Education Lahore, Lahore 60700, Pakistan
Irfan Aziz: Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan Institute of Sustainable Halophyte Utilization, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan
Maria Hanif: Department of Biotechnology, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore 60700, Pakistan
Zainul Abideen: Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan Institute of Sustainable Halophyte Utilization, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan
Simeen Mansoor: Department of Genetics, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan
Neelofar Hamid: Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan
Mohammad Ajmal Ali: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Fahad M. Al-Hemaid: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: Heavy metals are notoriously toxic pollutants which can potentially harm living beings and are serious health hazards. The aim of the present study was to assess the levels of cadmium (Cd) and nickel (Ni) throughout the year in the urban areas of the densely populated industrial city of Faisalabad in eight commonly raised ornamental tree species with phytoremediation potential. High levels of Cd and Ni were recorded in all study areas, with spatio-temporal heterogeneity. Heavy metal uptake varied among plant species with Cd and Ni in soil ranging between 6.78–8.57 mgkg −1 and 46.31–55.85 mg kg −1 respectively. Plant species accumulated 6.73–8.98 mg kg −1 Cd and 26.42–52.50 mg kg −1 Ni with Conocarpus erectus , Dalbergia sissoo and Bismarckia nobilis showing higher accumulation potential than others. Dalbergia sissoo accumulated the highest levels of Ni and was shown to a good bio-indicator for this metal. The highest accumulation of Cd was recorded in Conocarpus erectus (9 mg kg −1 ), followed by Dalbergia sissoo (8.2 mg kg −1 ) and Bismarckia nobilis (8.1 mg kg −1 ) while the leaves of Azadirachta indica retained the lowest (6.3 mg kg −1 ) Cd levels. The highest levels of metals were accumulated by all species during the summer season while the second highest were observed in the autumn season. The study revealed that ornamental species can help in minimizing heavy metal pollution as well as providing green space in urban settings for maintaining a clean and healthy environment.

Keywords: automobiles; cadmium; Conocarpus; environmental pollution; heavy metals; nickel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8963/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8963/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8963-:d:1162125

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().