Speciation and uptake of antimony and arsenic by two populations of Pteris vittata L. and Holcus lanatus L. from co-contaminated soil

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the Sb and As co-accumulating processes of Pteris vittata under soil culture condition, including the transformation of Sb and As, and the difference in co-accumulating ability among different plant species/populations. Two populations of P. vittata and one population of As-tolerant species Holcus lanatus L. were grown on soil co-contaminated by Sb and As. Sb and As speciation in plants was assessed by X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. P. vittata displayed strong As- but limited Sb-accumulating ability, with the highest shoot concentrations of As and Sb reaching 455 and 26 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. After 28 days culture, the concentrations of Sb and As in the soil solution were reduced by up to 22% and 36% in the P. vittata treatments, respectively. Holcus lanatus showed limited uptake for both metalloids. In P. vittata, the reduction of arsenate to arsenite occurred (with As in shoots all existing as arsenite), but limited reduction of antimonate to antimonite (with more than 90% of Sb in shoots existing as antimonate) was observed. In terms of the differences in metalloid uptake between the two P. vittata populations, the population from the habitat with higher soil As concentration showed 35% higher As uptake than the population from the habitat with lower As concentration. This populational difference may partly result from varying As transformation efficiencies. However, no significant difference was observed in Sb accumulation between the two populations.