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Lead: Understanding the Minimal Toxicity of Lead in Plants

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Book cover Effect of Heavy Metal Pollution on Plants

Part of the book series: Pollution Monitoring Series ((PMS))

Abstract

The presence of indigenous lead in the earth’s crust at concentrations averaging 16μg/g soil (De Treville, 1964), its recent deposition near highways and other pollutant sources (Koeppe, 1977), and the knowledge that lead is highly toxic to various physiological processes have brought into focus over the last 15–20 years the question of the effects of lead on higher plants. This has seemed an especially relevant question when consideration has been given to the fact that certain higher plants probably suffer a lead insult that is greater than that imposed on any other living organism. Recent man-effected lead deposits have been near highways through the burning of leaded gasolines by automobiles (Cannon and Bowles, 1962), in soils near buildings painted with leaded paints (Getz et al., 1977), on agricultural lands fertilized with sewage sludge (Hinesly et al., 1972) and in various localized situations near metal ore deposits, mining, smelting and other industrial operations (Antonovics et al., 1971). Pesticides containing lead have, dependent on usage, left substantial lead residues in orchards and other agricultural areas where they have been sprayed (Schuck and Locke, 1970).

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  1. Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois, USA

    David E. Koeppe

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  1. Department of Biology, Liverpool Polytechnic, Liverpool, UK

    N. W. Lepp

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Koeppe, D.E. (1981). Lead: Understanding the Minimal Toxicity of Lead in Plants. In: Lepp, N.W. (eds) Effect of Heavy Metal Pollution on Plants. Pollution Monitoring Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7339-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7339-1_2

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