PATTERNS OF SOIL COPPER CONTAMINATION AND TEMPORAL CHANGES IN VEGETATION IN THE VICINITY OF A COPPER ROD ROLLING FACTORY

Patterns of soil copper contamination have been examined in the vicini ty of a copper rod rolling plant in Prescot, Merseyside, UK. The site, established in 1975, was found to possess clear patterns of soil copp er contamination, with the highest levels of HNO3 and water-extractabl e fractions encountered in the factory grounds adjacent to the locatio n of the furnace chimney. The majority of the copper had accumulated i n the upper soil horizons. The site is surrounded by planted lawns, es tablished at different times after the commissioning of the plant. The species composition of the extant grassland communities, found at sit es with differing soil copper levels, was compared to the composition of the original seed mixtures sown at each of ten sites. These surveys clearly showed that different levels of soil copper contamination had produced significant changes in grassland composition with time. At t he most polluted site, copper tolerant Agrostis capillaris clones were the main grasses present only two years after the area was sown with a four-species mixture of non-tolerant grass seed. Lolium perenne poss essed extreme sensitivity to copper. A number of dicotyledonous specie s, normally considered sensitive to elevated copper levels, were found to be unaffected where such conditions had arisen after plants had es tablished from seed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.