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Heavy metal content of edible plants collected close to an area of intense mining activity (southern Portugal)

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Abstract

The Neves-Corvo mining complex (MC) situated in southern Portugal exploits one of the most world’s important copper deposits. Agricultural soils surrounding the MC, used by the inhabitants for crop production, contain excessive amounts of As, Cu, Pb, and Zn. Thus, a potential risk to human consumption exists if edible plants grow on these substrata. Arsenic and Pb were not detected in edible samples collected near the MC and 5 km away, but in the leaves—structural or adsorbed onto the surface. In general, Zn was the most mobile element in both contaminated and reference areas as seen by the bioaccumulation factors (BAF). The tolerable upper intake (TUI) values for Cu are a reason of concern, since in 57.1% of the cases, the TUI values are above the recommended upper limit of 5 mg/day, in the case of Ficus carica, Cucurbita pepo, and Phaseolus vulgaris, whereas in 28.6% of the cases, the TUI values are near this limit (C. pepo and Citrus x sinensis). The consumption of such vegetables from these areas must be banned or strongly reduced, since long-term accumulation of Cu can cause a chronic toxicity in humans.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to anonymous reviewers for their constructive and helpful comments. M. Guerra acknowledges the support of the FCT, under Contract No. SFRH/BPD/92455/2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GeoBioTec, Departamento de Ciências da Terra, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus da Caparica, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal

    Fernando H. Reboredo, João Pelica, Fernando C. Lidon, José C. Ramalho, Maria F. Pessoa & Manuela Simões

  2. Plant Stress & Biodiversity, Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, (LEAF), Dept. Recursos Naturais, Ambiente e Território (DRAT), Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa (ULisboa), Quinta do Marquês, 2784-505, Oeiras, Portugal

    José C. Ramalho

  3. CENSE, Departamento de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus da Caparica, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal

    Teresa Calvão

  4. LIBPHYS, Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus da Caparica, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal

    Mauro Guerra

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  1. Fernando H. Reboredo
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  2. João Pelica
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  3. Fernando C. Lidon
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  4. José C. Ramalho
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  5. Maria F. Pessoa
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  6. Teresa Calvão
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  7. Manuela Simões
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  8. Mauro Guerra
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Correspondence to Fernando H. Reboredo.

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Reboredo, F.H., Pelica, J., Lidon, F.C. et al. Heavy metal content of edible plants collected close to an area of intense mining activity (southern Portugal). Environ Monit Assess 190, 484 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6844-7

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