impact of multiple anthropogenic contaminants on the terrestrial environment of the Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment Vol. 188; no. 1; p. 27
• Main Authors: Herceg Romanić, Snježana, Kljaković-Gašpić, Zorana, Bituh, Tomislav, Žužul, Silva, Dvoršćak, Marija, Fingler, Sanja, Jurasović, Jasna, Klinčić, Darija, Marović, Gordana, Orct, Tatjana, Rinkovec, Jasmina, Stipičević, Sanja
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: air; Air pollution; aluminum; anthropogenic activities; Anthropogenic factors; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biodiversity; Bioindicators; Bryophyta; carbon; cesium; conifer needles; Contaminants; correlation; Correlation coefficient; Croatia; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Pollution - analysis; Heavy metal content; Heavy metals; Human influences; Humans; Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated - analysis; iron; Lakes; Lakes - chemistry; Lichens; Medical research; Metals, Heavy - analysis; minerals; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Mosses; mosses and liverworts; National parks; Nuclear accidents & safety; nuclear power; Nuclear power plants; Occupational health; Organic carbon; Organic compounds; Organic contaminants; Organic matter; Organochlorine pesticides; Outdoor air quality; Parks & recreation areas; Parks, Recreational; Particulate matter; Particulate Matter - analysis; particulates; PCB; Persistent organic pollutants; Pesticides; Pesticides - analysis; Pollutants; Pollution levels; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis; power plants; Radioactive fallout; Radioisotopes; Radioisotopes - analysis; radionuclides; Soil contaminants; Soil organic matter; soil properties; Spatial distribution; strontium; Studies; Terrestrial environments; Topsoil; Tourism; Trace elements; Trace Elements - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Croatia; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Soil; Radionuclides; Metal(oid)s; Total deposited matter; Organochlorine pesticides
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-015-5030-4

The anthropogenic impact on the terrestrial environment of the Plitvice Lakes National Park (PLNP) was investigated through the analysis of three groups of major contaminants (persistent organochlorine pollutants including 15 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and 17 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), trace elements/heavy metals (6 major and 23 trace constituents), and anthropogenic radionuclides (⁹⁰Sr, ¹³⁴Cs, and ¹³⁷Cs)) in three terrestrial compartments (soil, air, and bioindicators of air contamination) during 2011–2013. The correlation coefficients of element mass fractions with soil properties indicated that total Fe and Al minerals, soil organic matter (OM), and organic carbon (OC) content affected the mass fractions of most trace elements in the topsoils. The annual and spatial distributions of heavy metals in total deposited matter (TDM) indicated that the metals came from natural sources and long-range transfer of particulate matter. The PCB and OCP levels found in soil and conifer needles corresponded to global environmental pollution levels by persistent organic pollutants and represented the lower end of the mass fraction ranges reported in the relevant literature. Analyses of anthropogenic radionuclides in bioindicators (conifer needles, lichens, and mosses) showed low but measurable activity concentrations of ¹³⁴Cs (for the first time after the Chernobyl accident), which indicated origin from the March 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident. Our overall results indicated that human activity inside or near the PLNP had no significant impact either on contaminant spread by air or on their content in topsoils.