REVIEW ARTICLE


Sulfur Contamination and Environmental Effects: A Case Study of Current SO2 Industrial Emission by Biomonitoring and Regional Post-mining hot-spots



Justyna Likus-Cieślik1, *, Marcin Pietrzykowski1
1 Department of Forest Ecology and Silviculture, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Faculty of Forestry, Krakow, Poland


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Creative Commons License
© 2021 Likus-Cieślik and Pietrzykowski

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Forest Ecology and Silviculture, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Faculty of Forestry, al. 29 Listopada 46, 31-425Krakow, Poland; Tel: +48 12 662 53 70;
E-mails: justyna.likus@urk.edu.pl or justynalikus@gmail.com


Abstract

The presence of sulfur in the environment is an important macroelement for plant growth but becomes harmful in excessive amounts. The previous century saw rising levels of high SO2 concentrations (stemming from fossil fuel combustion) and wet deposition from acid rain, causing the intensification of forest die-back. Air pollution can be controlled or measured by biomonitoring. Despite recent reductions in SO2 emissions, urban and industrial areas are still at risk from high sulfur contamination. Open-cast lignite and sulfur borehole mining play a pivotal role in the regional scale of ecosystem contamination and acid mine drainage. Consequently, these aspects are unique for assessing the impact of extreme S contamination on soil properties changes, the vegetation effect, and biogeochemical cycles. We presented i) current SO2 pollution based on S concentration in pine needles, and ii) a comprehensive study of soil properties, as well as plant reactions to excessive sulfur concentration in the restored forest ecosystem of a former sulfur mine.

Keywords: Sulfur, Sulfurous soil, Reclamation, Soil contamination, Air pollution, Water contamination.