Arellano Paul, Tansey Kevin, Balzter Heiko, Tellkamp Markus
Yachay Tech University, School of Geological Sciences & Engineering, Hacienda San José, Urcuquí-Imbabura, Ecuador.
Centre of Earth Observation (CEO), Yachay Tech University, School of Geological Sciences & Engineering, Hacienda San José, Urcuquí-Imbabura, Ecuador.
PLoS One. 2017 Jan 19;12(1):e0169867. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169867. eCollection 2017.
In recent decades petroleum pollution in the tropical rainforest has caused significant environmental damage in vast areas of the Amazon region. At present the extent of this damage is not entirely clear. Little is known about the specific impacts of petroleum pollution on tropical vegetation. In a field expedition to the Ecuadorian Amazon over 1100 leaf samples were collected from tropical trees in polluted and unpolluted sites. Plant families were identified for 739 of the leaf samples and compared between sites. Plant biodiversity indices show a reduction of the plant biodiversity when the site was affected by petroleum pollution. In addition, reflectance and transmittance were measured with a field spectroradiometer for every leaf sample and leaf chlorophyll content was estimated using reflectance model inversion with the radiative tranfer model PROSPECT. Four of the 15 plant families that are most representative of the ecoregion (Melastomataceae, Fabaceae, Rubiaceae and Euphorbiaceae) had significantly lower leaf chlorophyll content in the polluted areas compared to the unpolluted areas. This suggests that these families are more sensitive to petroleum pollution. The polluted site is dominated by Melastomataceae and Rubiaceae, suggesting that these plant families are particularly competitive in the presence of pollution. This study provides evidence of a decrease of plant diversity and richness caused by petroleum pollution and of a plant family-specific response of leaf chlorophyll content to petroleum pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon using information from field spectroscopy and radiative transfer modelling.
近几十年来，热带雨林中的石油污染已在亚马逊地区的大片区域造成了严重的环境破坏。目前，这种破坏的程度尚不完全清楚。关于石油污染对热带植被的具体影响知之甚少。在一次对厄瓜多尔亚马逊地区的实地考察中，从受污染和未受污染地点的热带树木上采集了1100多个叶片样本。对其中739个叶片样本进行了植物科属鉴定，并在不同地点之间进行了比较。植物生物多样性指数显示，当场地受到石油污染时，植物生物多样性会降低。此外，使用野外光谱辐射仪对每个叶片样本进行了反射率和透射率测量，并利用辐射传输模型PROSPECT通过反射率模型反演估算了叶片叶绿素含量。该生态区域最具代表性的15个植物科中的4个（野牡丹科、豆科、茜草科和大戟科），与未受污染地区相比，受污染地区的叶片叶绿素含量显著降低。这表明这些科对石油污染更为敏感。受污染场地以野牡丹科和茜草科为主，这表明这些植物科在有污染的情况下具有特别强的竞争力。本研究利用野外光谱学和辐射传输模型的信息，证明了厄瓜多尔亚马逊地区石油污染导致植物多样性和丰富度下降，以及叶片叶绿素含量对石油污染的植物科属特异性反应。
