# Health Risk from Toxic Metals in Wild Rice Grown in Copper Mining-Impacted Sediments
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Toxic Metal Uptake and Accumulation in Wild Rice
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Samples and Locations**} & **Al** & **As** & **Cd** & **Co** & **Cr** & **Cu** & **Hg** & **Mn** & **Ni** & **Pb** & **Zn** \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\begin{tabular}{c} _Sentiment_ \\ **(mg/kg)** \\ \end{tabular} } & Sand Point Sloughs & 2000 & 0.82 & 0.27 & 0.19 & 5.20 & 43.65 & 0.12 & 40.43 & 3.37 & 0.93 & 10.84 \\  & (146)\({}^{1}\) & (0.33) & (0.03) & (0.02) & (0.40) & (3.10) & (0.04) & (2.78) & (0.30) & (0.17) & (0.68) \\  & Lake Plumbago & 1217 & 3.05 & 1.38 & 0.26 & 22.40 & 23.47 & 0.08 & 347 & 17.53 & 6.13 & 35.08 \\  & (136) & (0.31) & (0.03) & (0.07) & (0.53) & (1.78) & (0.02) & (5) & (0.17) & (0.13) & (0.89) \\ \hline \multicolumn{1}{c}{TEL of SQGs \({}^{2}\)} & - & 5.9 & 0.596 & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\begin{tabular}{c} _Pore Water_ \\ **(mg/L)** \\ \end{tabular} } & Sand Point Sloughs & 132 & 0.11 & 0.04 & & & & & & & & & & & \\ \cline{2-11}  & (9) & (0.01) & (0.00) & BDL \({}^{3}\) & 0.37 & 8.32 & 0.08 & 4.42 & 0.26 & 0.14 & 1.72 \\  & Lake Plumbago & 480 & 0.39 & 0.10 & 0.09 & 1.04 & 2.68 & 0.07 & 144 & 1.39 & 0.49 & 5.40 \\  & (55) & (0.05) & (0.01) & (0.01) & (0.12) & (0.20) & (0.03) & (2) & (0.10) & (0.04) & (0.14) \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\begin{tabular}{c} _Wild Rice_ \\ _Root_ \\ \end{tabular} } & Sand Point Sloughs & 2158 & 25.60 & 6.23 & 1.76 & 6.18 & 145 & 0.02 & 179 & 4.48 & 37.09 & 51.54 \\  & (932) & (3.05) & (0.84) & (0.21) & (2.77) & (59) & (0.01) & (62) & (1.94) & (8.57) & (16.71) \\  & Lake Plumbago & 4457 & 35.16 & 3.16 & BDL & 8.78 & 57.83 & 0.02 & 2289 & 15.91 & 6.12 & 49.15 \\  & (1869) & (6.99) & (0.33) & & (3.70) & (7.03) & (0.00) & (118) & (3.99) & (1.49) & (13.00) \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\begin{tabular}{c} _Wild Rice_ \\ _Shoot_ \\ \end{tabular} } & Sand Point Sloughs & 274 & 0.40 & 0.16 & & & & & & & & & & & \\ \cline{2-11}  & (113) & (0.19) & (0.02) & BDL & 0.78 & 15.83 & 0.02 & 79.64 & 0.59 & 0.26 & 14.95 \\ \cline{2-11}  & (113) & (0.19) & (0.02) & BDL & 0.08 & 2.11 & 0.01 & 275 & 0.14 & BDL & 5.54 \\ \cline{2-11}  & \multirow{2}{*}{\begin{tabular}{c} _Wild Rice_ \\ _Grain_ \\ \end{tabular} } & 74.48 & 0.39 & 0.04 & BDL & 0.08 & 2.11 & 0.01 & 275 & 0.14 & BDL & 5.54 \\ \cline{2-11}  & (32.34) & (0.11) & (0.01) & (0.06) & (0.26) & (0.00) & (54) & (0.07) & (0.07) & (0.83) \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\
\begin{tabular}{c} _Wild Rice_ \\ _Grain_ \\ \end{tabular} } & Sand Point Sloughs & 111 & 0.17 & 0.08 & & & & & & & & & & & \\ \cline{2-11}  & (25) & (0.07) & (0.02) & BDL & BDL & (0.35) & (0.00) & (35) & BDL & BDL & (3.88) \\ \cline{2-11}  & (25) & (0.07) & (0.02) & BDL & 0.08 & 3.01 & 0.01 & 226 & 0.32 & BDL & 17.79 \\ \cline{2-11}  & \multirow{2}{*}{
\begin{tabular}{c} _Wild Rice_ \\ _Grain_ \\ \end{tabular} } & 70.58 & 0.42 & 0.04 & BDL & 0.08 & 0.54 & 0.00 & (73) & (0.16) & (0.87) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
Notes: \({}^{1}\) Mean values are displayed followed by standard deviations in parentheses; \({}^{2}\) TEL of SQGs = Threshold effect level in sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) for metals in freshwater ecosystems, \({}^{3}\) BDL = Below Detection Limit.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Total toxic elements concentrations of sediment, water, porewater, and wild rice samples from Sand Point sloughs and Lake Plumbago. rice roots collected from both sites. In the shoot samples, the range of accumulation was very similar to that of the root samples at both locations (Table 1). On the other hand, in the wild rice seed samples from both locations, the toxic metal levels were in the order of Al \(>\) Mn \(>\) Zn \(>\) Cu \(>\) As (Table 1). While trace levels of Hg were found in the wild rice seeds from both locations, Pb and Co were not detected in the seeds (Table 1). The bioaccumulation of individual toxic metals was examined for the metals As, Hg, Cd, and Cr (Figure 2), as well as Cu and Zn (Figure 3).