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Estimation of soil-to-plant transfer factors of radiocesium in 99 wild plant species grown in arable lands 1 year after the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant accident

  • JPR Symposium
  • Current status and future control of cesium contamination in plants and algae in Fukushima
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Abstract

One year after the deposition of radionuclides from the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant (A formal name is Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station) in March 2011, radiocesium (134Cs, 137Cs) concentrations ([Cs]) were comprehensively investigated in the wild plants of 99 species most of which were annual or summer green perennial herbs and started to grow from April 2012 at the heavily contaminated fields of paddy (three study sites) and upland (one study site) in Fukushima Prefecture. The survey was conducted three times (April, July and October) in the year. In each site, soils (soil cores of 5-cm depth) and plants (aerial shoots) were collected for determination of [Cs] on a dry weight basis, and then the transfer factor (TF) of radiocesium from soil to plant ([Cs]plant/[Cs]soil) was estimated in each species. The [Cs] values of both soils and plants largely varied. However, some species exhibited relatively high TF values (more than 0.4) (e.g., Athyrium yokoscense, Dryopteris tokyoensis, and Cyperus brevifolius), while others exhibited almost negligible values (less than 0.01) (e.g., Salix miyabeana, Humulus scandens, and Elymus tsukushiensis). In addition, judging from the 11 species grown in both paddy and upland fields, TF values were generally higher in the paddy fields. The estimation of phytoextraction efficiency of soil radiocesium by weed communities in the paddy fields suggests that the weed community is not a practical candidate for phytoremediation technique.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express the deepest appreciation to Iitate-mura officers and the landowners for permitting us the field survey. We are deeply grateful to Mr. Hiroshi Ohta (Fukushima Prefecture) and Mr. Hirotsuna Hoshi, Mr. Katsunori Takita, and Mr. Masataka Sasaki (Fukushima Agricultural Technology Center) for introducing us to Iitate-mura and giving us useful local information. We thank to Dr. Tetsuro Mimura (Kobe University) and to Dr. Mutsumi Yamagami (Institute for Environmental Sciences, Aomori, Japan) for their useful information and kind advices about the preparation of plant and soil samples. This study was supported by the Grant for “Strategies for the Efficient Operation of the Okayama University”, 2012–2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University, Chuo 2-20-1, Kurashiki, Okayama, 710-0046, Japan

    Jun Yamashita, Takashi Enomoto, Shoji Sonoda & Yoko Yamamoto

  2. Shikata Laboratory, Department of Radiation Research, Advanced Science Research Center, Okayama University, Shikata 2-5-1, Kita-ku, Okayama, 700-8558, Japan

    Masao Yamada, Toshiro Ono, Tadashi Hanafusa & Tomohiro Nagamatsu

Authors
  1. Jun Yamashita
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  2. Takashi Enomoto
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  3. Masao Yamada
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  4. Toshiro Ono
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  5. Tadashi Hanafusa
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  6. Tomohiro Nagamatsu
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  7. Shoji Sonoda
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  8. Yoko Yamamoto
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yoko Yamamoto.

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Appendix: List of the plant names with the author names, shown in text, tables and figures

Appendix: List of the plant names with the author names, shown in text, tables and figures

Alopecurus aequalis Sobol. var. amurensis (Kom.) Ohwi; Amaranthus retroflexus L.; Anthoxanthum odoratum L. subsp. odoratum; Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh.; Artemisia indica Willd. var. maximowiczii (Nakai) H. Hara; Arthraxon hispidus (Thunb.) Makino; Aster microcephalus (Miq.) Franch. et Sav. var. ovatus (Franch. et Sav.) Soejima et Mot. Ito; Athyrium yokoscense (Franch. et Sav.) H. Christ; B. juncea (L.) Czern.; Calystegia pubescens Lindl.; Cardamine scutata Thunb. var. scutata; Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb. var. orbiculatus; Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronquist; Cyperus brevifolius (Rottb.) Hassk. var. leiolepis (Franch. et Sav.) T. Koyama; Dactylis glomerata L.; Digitaria ciliaris (Retz.) Koeler; Dryopteris tokyoensis (Makino) C. Chr.; Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv. var. crus-galli; Elymus tsukushiensis Honda var. transiens (Hack.) Osada; Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers.; Erigeron philadelphicus L.; Houttuynia cordata Thunb.; Humulus scandens (Lour.) Merr.; Hypericum erectum Thunb. var. erectum; J. decipiens (Buchenau) Nakai; Mazus miquelii Makino; Miscanthus sinensis Andersson; Murdannia keisak (Hassk.) Hand.-Mazz.; Oenothera biennis L.; Onoclea sensibilis L. var. interrupta Maxim.; Oryza sativa L. cv. Koshihikari; Persicaria hydropiper (L.) Delarbre; Persicaria longiseta (Bruijn) Kitag.; Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray; Plantago major L.; Poa pratensis L. subsp. pratensis var. pratensis; Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn subsp. japonicum (Nakai) Á. et D. Löve; Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi subsp. lobata; Rumex acetosa L.; Rumex obtusifolius L.; Salix caprea L.; Salix miyabeana Seemen subsp. miyabeana; Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort.; Scirpus wichurae Boeck.; Sedum bulbiferum Makino; Sedum sarmentosum Bunge; Setaria faberi R. A. W. Herrm.; Solidago altissima L.; Stellaria media (L.) Vill.; Trifolium pratense L.; T. repens L.; Vulpia myuros (L.) C. C. Gmel. var. myuros. See Table S1 for all the scientific names of plant materials analyzed in this study. The classification follows Smith et al. (2006) and Haston et al. (2009) with minor modification by Yonekura and Murata (2012).

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Yamashita, J., Enomoto, T., Yamada, M. et al. Estimation of soil-to-plant transfer factors of radiocesium in 99 wild plant species grown in arable lands 1 year after the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant accident. J Plant Res 127, 11–22 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-013-0605-z

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