Accumulation of Heavy Metal Ions from Urban Soil in Spontaneous Flora

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors,

The manuscript received for review with the title „Research on the Effects of Heavy Metal Content in Soil on the Bioaccumulation of them in Herbs” is of interest in terms of heavy metal pollution from the soil, and also their bioaccumulation in plants. In general, the manuscript needs some major changes in INTRODUCTION, MATERIAL AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, and CONCLUSION sections in order to published.

INTRODUCTION

Line: 2…3 please reconsider the title of this manuscript, it does not reflect the applied methodology, results and conclusions obtained;

Line: 16…29 this section is quite clear, please formulate this section;

Line: 47…51 please present the bibliographic sources... as recent as possible regarding the degree of pollution of the mentioned areas;

Line: 65…66 the purpose of the research is unclear; please formulate this section;

SUGGESTION: Please rewrite the entire introduction section, as it is now it is quite difficult to follow.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Please provide data on:

Sample Collection and Processing

Soil Sample Preparation

Quality control

The analysis conditions

Instrument calibration

Reagents and Solutions

Digestion of samples

Statistical Analysis

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Please present and discuss the results obtained in relation to the research carried out at the Romanian and international levels.

Please present the Romanian legislation regarding the maximum permissible limits for heavy metals in soil and plants.

In this research, was a background area also taken into account?

I find it quite difficult to claim that an area is polluted if the results obtained are not compared to the background area.

CONCLUSION

Line: 282…283 based on which results…. this conclusion was reached.

Congratulations to the authors.

Comments for author File: Comments.docx

Author Response

Response to comments of Reviewer 1 and list of changes made in the manuscript:

" Research on the Effects of Heavy Metal Content in Soil on the Bioaccumulation of them in Herbs"

We would like to thank the reviewer for comments and suggestions for improving the scientific quality of our manuscript. We have carefully considered all the reviewer comments and have revised the manuscript in light of them. The suggested modifications were clearly marked in red in the revised manuscript. Details of our responses to reviewer comments are shown below. We hope you will find these revisions rise to your expectations

Reviewer 1

1. The manuscript received for review with the title „Research on the Effects of Heavy Metal Content in Soil on the Bioaccumulation of them in Herbs” is of interest in terms of heavy metal pollution from the soil, and also their bioaccumulation in plants. In general, the manuscript needs some major changes in INTRODUCTION, MATERIAL AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, and CONCLUSION sections in order to published.

2. INTRODUCTION

3. Line: 2…3 please reconsider the title of this manuscript, it does not reflect the applied methodology, results and conclusions obtained;

We thank the Reviewer 1 for this valuable suggestion. According to Reviewer 1 we change the title in:

Accumulation of Heavy Metal Ions from Urban Soil in Spontaneous Flora

4. Line: 16…29 this section is quite clear, please formulate this section;

We thank the Reviewer 1 the corrections were done.

5. Line: 47…51 please present the bibliographic sources... as recent as possible regarding the degree of pollution of the mentioned areas;

We thank the Reviewer 1 for this valuable suggestion, we added references and made more corrections.

Secu, C. V., Juravle, D. T., Paiu, M., Lesenciuc, D. C., Costica, M., Negru, D., & Breaban, I. G. (2016). Potentially toxic elements in urban soils of Iasi (Romania). Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, 15(3), 687-698.47.

Onache, P. A., Ionete, R. E., Iordache, A. M., Florea, A., Sumedrea, D. I., Iliescu, M., ... & Tanase, A. Monitoring the Content of Heavy Metals in the Soil and Wines from Different Wine-Growing Areas of Romania.

http://apmis.anpm.ro/documents/839616/46984261/final+PLAM+2023++.pdf/47b8d08d-f6ba-4773-ad65-b6d413b792df, accessed 15.01.2023

6. Line: 65…66 the purpose of the research is unclear; please formulate this section;

Different studies have been done about heavy metals in urban soils [18, 33], but there is an absence of a link between soil pollution and heavy metal content in different plants. In this regard, soil samples were collected from the Iasi urban area for the following reasons: (1) to explore the characteristics of soil and heavy metal concentrations, (2) make maps of heavy metals in studied areas, and (3) determine the content of heavy metals in spontaneous flora. This study analysed, for the first time in an urban area, the possibility of bioaccumulation of heavy-metal ions in plants from the spontaneous flora. The findings demonstrated that plants grown in industrially polluted soils contained significant amounts of heavy metals that are transferred in aqueous media.

7. SUGGESTION: Please rewrite the entire introduction section, as it is now it is quite difficult to follow.

Due to their high toxicity and long-term stability in the environment, the accumulation of heavy metals in soil, and consequently in spontaneous flora, is a significant environmental problem [8]. Through ingesting food, breathing in particles, inhaling particles, and absorption through the skin, the bioaccumulation of heavy metals may enhance the dangers to human health [9, 10].

Anaman, R., Peng, C., Jiang, Z., Liu, X., Zhou, Z., Guo, Z., & Xiao, X. (2022). Identifying sources and transport routes of heavy metals in soil with different land uses around a smelting site by GIS based PCA and PMF. Science of The Total Environment, 823, 153759.

10. Wu, J. Li, Y. Teng, H. Chen, Y. Wang, A partition computing-based positive matrix factorization (PC-PMF) approach for the source apportionment of agricultural soil heavy metal contents and associated health risks, J. Hazard. Mater., 388 (2020), Article 121766, 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121766

8. MATERIAL AND METHODS

Please provide data on:

9. Sample Collection and Processing

The collected soil samples were naturally dried at room temperature (20 °C), after this the soil samples were grinded with an agate mortar, sieved and stored in polypropylene containers, as sample for analysis.

10. Soil Sample Preparation. The analysis conditions. Reagents and Solutions. Instrument calibration. Digestion of samples

The collected soil samples were naturally dried at room temperature (20 °C), after this, the soil samples were ground with an agate mortar, sieved, and stored in polypropylene containers, as samples for analysis.

The method described in the literature to determine the net concentration of heavy metals in soil was used to undertake acidic extraction [35]. A 250 cm3 glass vessel containing 10.0 g of soil sample was mixed with 50 cm3 of diluted nitric acid (1:1), and the mixture was then homogenized. The glass was covered and boiled for 10 minutes on low heat. The mixture was cooled to room temperature, then 10 cm3 of hydrogen peroxide was added dropwise under stirring. The glass content was heated and boiled under weak heating for 10 min, then cooled and filtered on a G4 filter funnel into a volumetric flask with a capacity of 100 cm3. The precipitate was mineralized with nitric acid after the described procedure, and finally, the volume of the filtrate was diluted to 100 cm3 with bidistilled water.

Safarova, V. I., Shaidullina, G. F., Mikheeva, T. N., Kudasheva, F. K., & Nizamutdinova, N. R. (2011). Methods of sample preparation of soil, bottom sediments, and solid wastes for atomic absorption determination of heavy metals. Inorganic Materials, 47(14), 1512-1517.

11. Statistical Analysis

We thank again the Reviewer 1 for this important and useful remark.

For the soil sample statistical analysis is presented on each map.

For the plants we completed the Table 1 and Table 2 with specific data.

Santos-Francés, F., Martínez-Graña, A., Ávila Zarza, C., García Sánchez, A., & Alonso Rojo, P. (2017). Spatial distribution of heavy metals and the environmental quality of soil in the Northern Plateau of Spain by geostatistical methods. International journal of environmental research and public health, 14(6), 568.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

12. Please present the Romanian legislation regarding the maximum permissible limits for heavy metals in soil and plants.

The legislation that establishing the permissive value of heavy metals content are: Council Directive 86/278/EEC for Protection of the Environment (European Communities Council 1986) and the Romanian Regulation of Allowable Quantities of Hazardous and Harmful Substance in Soil (Order of the Ministry of Waters, Forests, and Environmental Protection No. 756/3 November 1997).

13. In this research, was a background area also taken into account?

No, we considered 16 km² including the built-up area of Iasi, establishing a grid from the study area surroundings and, 030 soil samples were taken at a depth of 0 - 25 cm from a network of 500 meters.

14. I find it quite difficult to claim that an area is polluted if the results obtained are not compared to the background area.

Not all area is polluted, we presented with orange and red the area where the maximum recommended values are exceeded.

15. CONCLUSION
16. Line: 282…283 based on which results…. this conclusion was reached.

We thank the Reviewer 1 for the useful remark.  The sentence was removed.

17. Congratulations to the authors.

We thank again the Reviewer 1 for comments and suggestions for improving the scientific quality of our manuscript, we hope you will find these revisions rise to your expectations.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors did a nice job of presenting research on the effects of heavy metals content in soil on the bioaccumulation of them in herbs.  I think the results are reasonable and explained well enough and some recommendations should be addressed as follows:

1-    If you use “them” on the title, heavy metal needs to be changed to “heavy metals”.

2-    In the introduction, the authors need to describe why the study area is important.

3-    Please provide the objectives of the study at the end paragraph of the introduction.

4-    Which parts of the plants were sampled? root, shoot, or leaf?

5-    Why the authors did not employ bioaccumulation factor (BAF) for assessing the level of bioaccumulation? It leads to a stronger discussion.

6-    The following up-to-date papers would work well and I recommend you use them in your manuscript:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136842

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03417-3

Author Response

Response to comments of Reviewer 2and list of changes made in the manuscript:

" Research on the Effects of Heavy Metal Content in Soil on the Bioaccumulation of them in Herbs"

We would like to thank the reviewer for comments and suggestions for improving the scientific quality of our manuscript. We have carefully considered all the reviewer comments and have revised the manuscript in light of them. The suggested modifications were clearly marked in red in the revised manuscript. Details of our responses to reviewer comments are shown below. We hope you will find these revisions rise to your expectations

Reviewer 2

The authors did a nice job of presenting research on the effects of heavy metals content in soil on the bioaccumulation of them in herbs.  I think the results are reasonable and explained well enough and some recommendations should be addressed as follows:

• If you use “them” on the title, heavy metal needs to be changed to “heavy metals”.

We thank the Reviewer 2 for all recommendation the title was modified at suggestion of Reviewer 1

• In the introduction, the authors need to describe why the study area is important.

We thank again the Reviewer 2 for this important and useful remark. The Introduction was completed.

Regarding the studied area, the main sites contaminated with heavy metals and hydrocarbons in the Iasi area are represented by the lands on which the Arcelor Mittal plant is located and in the location of the former non-compliant municipal waste deposit at Tomesti (15.3 ha) located 8 km from the city of Iasi. The deposit was closed in 2015 as part of the "Integrated Waste Management System" project, in which measures were adopted to ensure good soil quality and protect the health of the population and the environment.

• Please provide the objectives of the study at the end paragraph of the introduction.

We thank the Reviewer 2 the objectives were completed at the end of Introduction.

• Which parts of the plants were sampled? root, shoot, or leaf?

We thank again the Reviewer 2 for this important and useful remark, for analysis were used the shoots. We completed in the manuscript.

• Why the authors did not employ bioaccumulation factor (BAF) for assessing the level of bioaccumulation? It leads to a stronger discussion.

The Bioaccumulation Factor (BCF) expresses the ability to accumulating metals in the roots. BCF is calculated as: [roots]/[soil].

Other calculations, as the Translocation Factor (TF), that is: [shoots]/[roots].

Unfortunately, we not made determination on roots, only of soils and shoots.

6-    The following up-to-date papers would work well and I recommend you use them in your manuscript:

We thank the Reviewer 2 for all recommendation that made possible to improve the manuscript. The papers were very useful for this topic.

2°) The abstract is not informative and does not give major quantitative results like the kinetics. 

We thank the Reviewer 2 for this remark.

We thank the Reviewer 2 for this recommendation.

We thank again the Reviewer 2 for this important and useful remark.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors,

The manuscript received for review with the title „Research on the Effects of Heavy Metal Content in Soil on the Bioaccumulation of them in Herbs” is of interest in terms of heavy metal pollution from the soil, and also their bioaccumulation in plants. In general, the manuscript needs some major changes in INTRODUCTION, MATERIAL AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, and CONCLUSION sections in order to published.

INTRODUCTION

Line: 47…51 please present the bibliographic sources... as recent as possible regarding the degree of pollution of the mentioned areas;

Line: the bibliographic sources do not present information regarding the degree of heavy metal pollution in the Baia Mare area, please reconsider this aspect

1.    Secu, C.V.; Juravle, D.T.; Paiu, M.; Lesenciuc, D.C.; Costica, M.; Negru, D.; Breaban, I.G. (). Potentially toxic elements in 408 urban soils of Iasi (Romania). Env. Eng. Manag. J. 2016, 15(3), 687-698.

2.     Onache, P.A.; Ionete, R.E.; Iordache, A.M.;, Florea, A.; Sumedrea, D.I.; Iliescu, M.; Tanase, A. Monitoring The Content of 410 Heavy Metals in The Soil and Wines from Different Wine-Growing Areas of Romania. Int. Multidiscip. Res. Anal. 2022, 5(2), 411 343-354. 412.

3.    http://apmis.anpm.ro/documents/839616/46984261/final+PLAM+2023++.pdf/47b8d08d-f6ba-4773-ad65-b6d413b792df, 413 accessed 15.01.2023

MATERIAL AND METHODS

further, in some places in the manuscript, information was presented very briefly and unclearly, or in some places, no information was presented regarding… please reconsider these aspects

Please provide data on:

Sample Collection and Processing

Soil Sample Preparation

Quality control

The analysis conditions

Instrument calibration

Reagents and Solutions

Digestion of samples

Statistical Analysis

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Please present and discuss the results obtained in relation to the research carried out at the Romanian and international levels.

Please present the Romanian legislation regarding the maximum permissible limits for heavy metals in soil and plants.

In this research, was a background area also taken into account?

I find it quite difficult to claim that an area is polluted if the results obtained are not compared to the background area.

CONCLUSION

Line: 321…328 based on which results…. this conclusion was reached.

please present briefly and in a concise manner the conclusions based on the results obtained

Congratulations to the authors.

Comments for author File: Comments.docx

Author Response

Response to comments of Reviewer 1 and list of changes made in the manuscript:

" Accumulation of Heavy Metal Ions from Urban Soil in Spontaneous Flora"

We would like to thank the reviewer for comments and suggestions for improving the scientific quality of our manuscript. We have carefully considered all the reviewer comments and have revised the manuscript in light of them. The suggested modifications were clearly marked in red in the revised manuscript. Details of our responses to reviewer comments are shown below. We hope you will find these revisions rise to your expectations

Reviewer 1

The manuscript received for review with the title „Research on the Effects of Heavy Metal Content in Soil on the Bioaccumulation of them in Herbs” is of interest in terms of heavy metal pollution from the soil, and also their bioaccumulation in plants. In general, the manuscript needs some major changes in INTRODUCTION, MATERIAL AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, and CONCLUSION sections in order to published.

INTRODUCTION

Line: 47…51 please present the bibliographic sources... as recent as possible regarding the degree of pollution of the mentioned areas;

Line: the bibliographic sources do not present information regarding the degree of heavy metal pollution in the Baia Mare area, please reconsider this aspect

1. Secu, C.V.; Juravle, D.T.; Paiu, M.; Lesenciuc, D.C.; Costica, M.; Negru, D.; Breaban, I.G. (). Potentially toxic elements in 408 urban soils of Iasi (Romania). Env. Eng. Manag. J. 2016, 15(3), 687-698.
2. Onache, P.A.; Ionete, R.E.; Iordache, A.M.;, Florea, A.; Sumedrea, D.I.; Iliescu, M.; Tanase, A. Monitoring The Content of 410 Heavy Metals in The Soil and Wines from Different Wine-Growing Areas of Romania. Int. Multidiscip. Res. Anal. 2022, 5(2), 411 343-354. 412.
3. http://apmis.anpm.ro/documents/839616/46984261/final+PLAM+2023++.pdf/47b8d08d-f6ba-4773-ad65-b6d413b792df, 413 accessed 15.01.2023

 We thank the Reviewer 1 for this valuable suggestion.

Reefer to Baia Mare, Zlatna and Copșa Mică we cited:

18. Sur, I.M.; Micle, V.; Polyak, E.T.; Gabor, T. Assessment of soil quality status and the ecological risk in the Baia Mare, Romania area. Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 3739.
19. Iosob, G.A.; Bute, A.; Calara, M.; Tremurici, A.A.; Benchea, C.M.; Bouruc, D.; Muscalu, S.P. Heavy metals contamination of soil and vegetables in three regions from Romania: a review. Sci. Study Res. Biol. 2020, 29(1), 79-87.
20. Hoaghia, M.A.; Cadar, O.; Moisa, C.; Roman, C.; Kovacs, E. Heavy metals and health risk assessment in vegetables grown in the vicinity of a former non-metallic facility located in Romania. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 2022, 29(26), 40079-40093.
21. Oprea, B.Ș.; Motelică, D.-M.; Vrînceanu, N.O.; Costea, M.; Plopeanu, G.I.; Carabulea, V. Research on the heavy metal content in onion bulbs correlated with soil from private households located in the Copşa Mică area, Central Romania. Journal of Applied Life Sciences and Environment 2022, 55(1), 92-99. https://doi.org/10.46909/alse-551049
22. Carabulea, V.; Motelică, D.-M.; Vrînceanu, N.O.; Costea, M.; Plopeanu, G.I.; Oprea, B.Ș. Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in garlic bulbs (Allium sativum L.) in correlation with soil from private household in the Copșa Mică area, Romania. Journal of Applied Life Sciences and Environment 2022, 55(3), 92-99. https://doi.org/10.46909/alse-551053

Secu and Onache studied Iasi area, we cited this references for this areal.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

further, in some places in the manuscript, information was presented very briefly and unclearly, or in some places, no information was presented regarding… please reconsider these aspects

Please provide data on:

Sample Collection and Processing

Soil Sample Preparation

Quality control

The analysis conditions

Instrument calibration

Reagents and Solutions

Digestion of samples

Statistical Analysis

We thank the Reviewer 1 for this comment. The MATERIAL AND METHODS was restructured and pointed sample collection and preparation, reagents, calibration, etc.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Please present and discuss the results obtained in relation to the research carried out at the Romanian and international levels.

We completed the manuscript.

Please present the Romanian legislation regarding the maximum permissible limits for heavy metals in soil and plants.

This information was done:

According to the Romanian legislation the intervention thresholds for soils with less sensitive use are 10 mg kg−1 Cd, 600 mg kg−1 Cr, 1500 mg kg−1 Zn, 500 mg kg−1 Cu, 4000 mg kg−1 Mn, 1000 mg kg−1 Pb, 500 mg kg−1 Ni, and 250 mg kg−1 Co [45].

As for the content of heavy metals in plants, it is regulated in the documents of the European Commission. For example, the maximum Cadmium content allowed in Brassica, other than leafy Brassica is 0.04 mg/kg wet weight and in Leafy brassica is is 0.1 mg/kg wet weight [46].

We thank the Reviewer 1 the corrections were done.

CONCLUSION

Line: 321…328 based on which results…. this conclusion was reached.

please present briefly and in a concise manner the conclusions based on the results obtained

We thank the Reviewer 1 the Conclusion was revised.

We thank the Reviewer 1 for this valuable suggestion, we added references and made more corrections.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 3

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments for author File: Comments.docx