Locating Herbarium Specimens in Online Digital Repositories to Be
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
LOCATING HERBARIUM SPECIMENS IN ONLINE DIGITAL REPOSITORIES TO BE USED IN FUTURE RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF METAL POLLUTANTS FROM PRE-AND POST- 1960S IN THE MOST POLLUTED CITY IN THE UNITED STATES, CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE By Megon Stepaniuk Dr. Joey Shaw Dr. Sean Richards UC Foundation Professor UC Foundation Professor (Chair) (Committee Member) Dr. Jose Barbosa Professor (Committee Member) LOCATING HERBARIUM SPECIMENS IN ONLINE DIGITAL REPOSITORIES TO BE USED IN FUTURE RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF METAL POLLUTANTS FROM PRE-AND POST- 1960S IN THE MOST POLLUTED CITY IN THE UNITED STATES, CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE By Megon Stepaniuk A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Master of Science: Environmental Science The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chattanooga, Tennessee August 2021 ii ABSTRACT Chattanooga was declared the most polluted city in America in 1969 due to unchecked industrial emissions. Metals can be deposited atop plant surfaces or soil when they find a sink there. Assessing historical pollution concentrations with herbarium specimens has recently shown to be a valuable tool to science. The aim of this study is to use online digital repositories to identify candidate specimens that may be used in the future metal analysis in the greater Chattanooga area: Hamilton County, Tennessee (TN) as well as Walker, Dade, and Catoosa Counties, Georgia (GA). These specimens must meet the following parameters: there must be multiple specimens of each species from pre-, during, and post- 1960s; each specimen must have enough biological material to remove some without destroying the specimen; and the species must be one with metal-accumulating properties or morphological characteristics that aid in metal deposition upon the leaf surface. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Joey Shaw for advising me during my time at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He provided me with countless opportunities to expand my knowledge of the field I was interested in by having our lab attend conferences, the Wildflower Pilgrimage, field botany courses and the Highlands Biological Stations, and digitizing historical Tennessee Specimens at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Furthermore, he supported my decision to change my thesis project and helped me every step of the way to work on the project in a short amount of time. I would like to thank my committee, Dr. Sean Richards and Dr. Jose Barbosa, for seeing the potential in my project and offering me their valuable advice and encouragement. Specifically, I would like to further thank Dr. Richards for opening my eyes to the world of environmental chemistry and for providing the platform of this project along with Dr. Shaw. I would also like to thank Dr. Richards and Dr. Shaw for helping me through my head injury and ensuring my academic pursuits stayed on track while I healed and navigated the world of graduate school after my injury. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................. x CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 Importance of herbaria, specimen digitization, and other online portals ........................... 3 Topography and description of study area: Chattanooga ................................................... 5 History of industry and pollution ....................................................................................... 6 Metal pollutants and their sources .................................................................................... 11 Deposition and uptake of metals in plants ........................................................................ 16 Metal speciation and mechanisms into plant parts ........................................................... 19 Variables of concern ......................................................................................................... 24 Goals ................................................................................................................................. 26 II. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 28 Determination of date ranges for specimen clustering ..................................................... 28 Determination of study taxa ............................................................................................. 28 Determination of number of specimens needed from each pollution era ......................... 29 Determination of biological material restrictions ............................................................. 31 Search parameters for herbarium specimens to use in potential chemical analyses ........ 32 Sample size calculation .................................................................................................... 33 Acquiring dates and locality information for specimens in online repositories ............... 34 III. RESULTS ....................................................................................................................... 36 Taxa successful in detecting or accumulating metals ..................................................... 36 Taxa with morphological characteristics ........................................................................ 40 v Herbarium specimen search ............................................................................................ 50 Metal-accumulating taxa ...................................................................................... 51 Metal-accumulating taxa with morphological characteristics .............................. 53 Taxa with morphological characteristics .............................................................. 56 IV. DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................. 59 Metal-accumulating taxa ................................................................................................. 61 Acer (maple)........................................................................................................ 61 Platanus (sycamore) ........................................................................................... 63 Quercus (oak)...................................................................................................... 64 Salix (willow) ...................................................................................................... 66 Viola (violet) ....................................................................................................... 67 Metal-accumulating taxa with morphological characteristics ........................................ 70 Acer (maple)........................................................................................................ 70 Helianthus (sunflower) ....................................................................................... 71 Juglans (walnut).................................................................................................. 73 Pinus (pine) ......................................................................................................... 73 Populus (poplar).................................................................................................. 74 Quercus (oak)...................................................................................................... 74 Viola (violet) ....................................................................................................... 76 Taxa with morphological characteristics ........................................................................ 78 Carya (hickory) ................................................................................................... 78 Erigeron (daisy fleabane) ................................................................................... 78 Magnolia (magnolia) .......................................................................................... 79 Rhododendron (azalea) ....................................................................................... 79 V. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 81 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 83 APPENDIX A. EXPLANATION OF LOCALITIES WITH MULTIPLE OR SIGNIFICANT OCCURRENCES ................................................................................................. 99 B. SPECIMEN RESULTS FOR METAL-ACCUMULATING SPECIES .................. 103 C. SPECIMEN RESULTS FOR SPECIES WITH BOTH METAL ACCUMULATING POTENTIAL AND MORPHOLIGICAL CHARACTERISTICS ON THE LEAF SURFACE ............................................................................................... 122 D. SPECIMEN RESULTS FOR