Organic ultraviolet absorbents in soil-plant system from a typical industrial area: Plant uptake and translocation and their environmental implications

Organic ultraviolet absorbents (UVAs) have been of increasing concern due to their environmental ubiquity, bioaccumulation and toxicity. However, little is known about the uptake and translocation of these chemicals in soil-plant system on field. The concentrations of eleven UVAs in plants and rhizosphere soils from an industrial area in southern China were investigated. The total concentrations of UVAs (∑11UVAs) in the rhizosphere soil, root, stem and leaf were 2.48–13.9, 4.75–177, 11.3–61.8 and 19.2–604 ng/g dw, respectively. Root-soil concentration factors, stem-root translocation factors and leaf-stem translocation factors of ∑11UVAs were 1.67–121 (median 21.8), 0.122–2.52 (median 0.628) and 0.883–16.0 (median 2.03), and these metrics for individuals were mostly > 1.0, indicating that these chemicals could be effectively accumulated in root from soil and translocated effectively from root to stem and leaf. The accumulation and translocation of UVAs in plants were compound and species-specific. Compared with other organic pollutants, UVAs could be more easily accumulated by plants from soils and translocated within stem-root and leaf-stem. The findings implied that UVAs were more likely to enter terrestrial food chains as plants are eaten by animals, improving our understanding of the biogeochemical behaviors of UVAs and the associated potential risks.