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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2016, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (10): 3283-3289.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.201610.021

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Agricultural soil contamination from As and Cd and its responses to landscape heterogeneity at multiple scales in Guangzhou, China

XU Hui-qiu1,2, HUANG Yin-hua2,3, WU Zhi-feng1, CHENG Jiong2, LI Cheng2*   

  1. 1School of Geographical Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China;
    2Guangdong Key Laboratory of Agricultural Environment Pollution Integrated Control, Guangdong Institute of Eco-environmental Science and Technology, Guangzhou 510650, China;
    3Guangdong Guodi Institute of Resource and Environment, Guangzhou 510075, China;
  • Received:2016-03-02 Published:2016-10-18
  • Contact: * E-mail: licheng1210@126.com
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41501203), the PhD Start-up Fund of Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2014A030310486), the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou Province (201510010029), the Key Technology R & D Program of Guangdong Province (2013B030200004) and the Project of Science and Technology Innovation Platform of Guangdong Province (2015B070701017).

Abstract: Based on 641 agricultural top soil samples (0-20 cm) and land use map in 2005 of Guangzhou, we used single-factor pollution indices and Pearson/Spearman correlation and partial redundancy analyses and quantified the soil contamination with As and Cd and their relationships with landscape heterogeneity at three grid scales of 2 km×2 km, 5 km×5 km, and 10 km×10 km as well as the determinant landscape heterogeneity factors at a certain grid scale. 5.3% and 7.2% of soil samples were contaminated with As and Cd, respectively. At the three scales, the agricultural soil As and Cd contamination were generally significantly correlated with parent materials’ composition, river/road density and landscape patterns of several land use types, indicating the parent materials, sewage irrigation and human activities (e.g., industrial and traffic activities, and the additions of pesticides and fertilizers) were possibly the main input pathways of trace metals. Three subsets of landscape heterogeneity variables (i.e., parent materials, distance-density variables, and landscape patterns) could explain 12.7%-42.9% of the variation of soil contamination with As and Cd, of which the explanatory power increased with the grid scale and the determinant factors varied with scales. Parent materials had higher contribution to the variations of soil contamination at the 2 and 10 km grid scales, while the contributions of landscape patterns and distance-density variables generally increased with the grid scale. Adjusting the distribution of cropland and optimizing the landscape pattern of land use types are important ways to reduce soil contamination at local scales, which urban planners and decision makers should pay more attention to.