Mineral concentrations in Egeria densa Planch. growing in the Carlos Anwandter Sanctuary, Valdivia, Chile

Abstract

A preliminary study of the accumulation of mineral elements was carried out on the aquatic plant Egeria densa Planch., collected from the Carlos Andwandter Sanctuary, as a potential cause of the decrease in plant population observed over the last two years. Plants with and without visible damage were collected from different areas of the Sanctuary. The results showed that iron concentration is abnormally high in all plants and it is particularly high in plants with visible tissue damage. Iron concentrations in damaged plants was on average 40090 mg kg-1 while plants with little or no tissue damage had average values of 13251 mg kg-, which were 17.1 times higher than the average values reported for plants growing in their native areas. It is concluded that the high concentrations of iron could be the cause of the population decrease of Egeria densa observed over the last two years.