Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis Don't get GSW? Talk to your librarian.
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis; May 2002; v. 2; no. 2; p. 151-156; DOI: 10.1144/1467-787302-018
© 2002 Geological Society of London
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ginocchio, R.
Right arrow Articles by Macnair, M. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Original Article

Copper tolerance testing in populations of Mimulus luteus var. variegatus exposed and non-exposed to copper mine pollution

R. Ginocchio1, I. Toro1, D. Schnepf2 and M. R. Macnair3

1 Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile(e-mail: ERGINOCC{at}GENES.BIO.PUC.CL)
2 Agricultural University, Vienna, Austria
3 Department of Biological Sciences, Hatherly Laboratories, Prince of Wales Road, Exeter EX4 4PS, UK

Several plant species have evolved metal tolerance as a response to increasing metal concentration in soils due to human activities. A well-described example is the evolution of copper-tolerant ecotypes of the monkey flower (Mimulus guttatus) in Copperopolis, California. Although copper mine activities have been intense in some areas of the Andes Range in central Chile, metal-tolerant ecotypes have not been reported for any native or endemic plant species. Copper tolerance of two populations of Mimulus luteus var. variegatus from pristine basins (Río Cipreses and Las Cayanas) and one population from a highly polluted copper mine area (Sewell) were tested to determine their copper tolerance. Tolerance was tested on cuttings collected in the field from adult plants (Sewell population) and on cuttings from plants cultivated from seeds in the laboratory (Río Cipreses, Las Cayanas and Sewell). All cuttings were grown under increasing concentrations of copper (0, 0.5 and 2.0 mg l–1) in calcium nitrate (0.5 g l–1). Results indicated that root number and length were strongly inhibited in M. luteus var. variegatus from Río Cipreses and Las Cayanas, but tolerant individuals were found in the Sewell population. The degree of copper tolerance of M. luteus var. variegatus from Sewell was, however, lower than that of individuals of Mimulus guttatus from Copperopolis.

KEYWORDS: metal soil pollution, smelters, pseudometallophytes, Chile






JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by Geological Society of London