Root versus canopy uptake of heavy metals by birch in an industrially polluted area: contrasting behaviour of nickel and copper.

We investigated root versus canopy uptake of nickel and copper by mountain birch, Betula pubescens subsp. czerepanovi, close to a nickel-copper smelter on the Kola Peninsula, northwest Russia. To distinguish between aerial contamination of leaf surfaces by dust particles and root-derived contamination of leaves by soluble metals, we transplanted seedlings from a control site to clean and metal-contaminated soils and exposed these seedlings both in clean and polluted sites.

Heavy metals in birch leaves around a nickel-copper smelter at Monchegorsk, northwestern Russia.

Concentrations of metals in birch leaves were measured around the Severonikel smelter at Monchegorsk, Kola Peninsula, northwestern Russia, between 1991 and 1994. Concentrations of Ni, Cu and Fe near the smelter were 6-12 times higher than the recent regional background concentrations, while concentrations of Mn and Zn were 5-10 and 1.5-2 times lower, respectively.