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Physiological Aspects of Cadmium and Nickel Toxicity in the Lichens Peltigera rufescens and Cladina arbuscula Subsp. mitis

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Abstract

This study was undertaken with the aim of investigating the effect of Cd2+ and Ni2+ containing solutions on selected physiological parameters (metal uptake, chlorophyll a fluorescence, assimilation pigment composition, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance production, and ergosterol content) in the lichens Peltigera rufescens and Cladina arbuscula subsp. mitis growing on historic copper mine-spoil heaps at Ľubietová-Podlipa, Slovakia. Physiological measurements did not confirm significantly higher sensitivity to Cd and Ni of the cyanolichen P. rurescens compared to the green-algal lichen C. arbuscula subsp. mitis. Under natural conditions, C. arbuscula subsp. mitis is able to grow directly on copper mine heaps of Central Slovakia, while P. rufescens grows only on their margins. A crucial factor for this limited distribution of P. rufescens may be, at least in part, the higher intracellular accumulation of metals. Although lichen photobionts are generally regarded as key elements of lichen sensitivity, further research is necessary to elucidate this point since the higher levels of intracellular Cd and Ni do not allow to regard cyanobacterial photobionts of P. rufescens as more sensitive than the eukaryotic ones of C. arbuscula subsp. mitis.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Slovak Grant Agency (VEGA 1/4337/07). We thank BSc. Silvia Malčovská for the critical reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biology and Ecology, Šafárik University, Mánesova 23, 041 67, Košice, Slovak Republic

    Martin Bačkor, Jozef Kováčik & Juraj Piovár

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences “G.Sarfatti”, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100, Siena, Italy

    Tommaso Pisani & Stefano Loppi

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  1. Martin Bačkor
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  2. Jozef Kováčik
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  5. Stefano Loppi
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Correspondence to Martin Bačkor.

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Bačkor, M., Kováčik, J., Piovár, J. et al. Physiological Aspects of Cadmium and Nickel Toxicity in the Lichens Peltigera rufescens and Cladina arbuscula Subsp. mitis . Water Air Soil Pollut 207, 253–262 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-009-0133-6

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