Morphological response of a cactus to cement dust pollution

DRACK, JUAN MANUEL E.; VÁZQUEZ, DIEGO P.

ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2020 vol. 148 p. 571 - 577

0147-6513

Cement dust from cement plants around the world has multiple negative effects on organisms and their en-vironment. Cement's effects come from its strongly alkaline nature and high content of heavy metals. Previousstudies on plants have documented that cement dust deposition can influence plant vegetative growth, the lipidand ionic composition of tissues, and foliar temperature. Here we evaluate the effects of cement dust comingfrom a plant in western Argentina on the morphology of the cactus Tephrocactus aoracanthus. In sites located at0.15 km, 2 km and 6 km from the cement plant, we recorded five morphological attributes of the cactus: lengthand number of spines, cladode (stem) diameter, and fresh and dry weight. We also transplanted plants in situ toevaluate the effect of distance from the cement plant. In addition, we set an experiment spreading cement dustweekly on the aerial and ground parts of the cactus. Results of our field observational and experimental studiesindicate that cement dust deposition on aerial parts of the plant leads to increased spine length, number ofspines, and wet and dry weights of cladodes.