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The characterization of prospective plants is one of the critical issues in the efficiency and success of the phytoremediation process. Due to adaption and tolerance to different environmental stresses, native plant species have priority in this method. This study examined fifty plants of five species, namely Launaea acanthodes, Artemisia sp., Cousinia congesta, Peganum harmala, and Stipa sp., growing near a smelter and refinery in Iran to identify potential species for phytoextraction and phytostabilization. Therefore, Pb, Ni, Mn, Mo, S, and Cu concentrations in sampled plants and soils were analyzed. Three different pollution indices, namely metal accumulation index (MAI), translocation factor (TF), and bioconcentration factor (BCF) were used for evaluating the metal concentrations in roots and shoots of each plant species. The results indicated that Artemisia sp., with values of 3.21, 1.09, and 1.14 for MAI, BCF, and TF, respectively, is appropriate for phytoextraction in the study area. Plants such as Launaea acanthodes and Cousinia congesta with high BCF and low TF values showed the potential for phytostabilization. Investigating the indices for different elements demonstrated that Launaea acanthodes had a BCF value greater than 1 and a TF value less than 1; therefore, this plant could be used in the phytoremediation of arsenic through the phytostabilization technique. Furthermore, copper has very low bioavailability in these plant species. In addition, these native plant species were highly capable of accumulating sulfur from the soil because the BCF and TF indices for all inspected species were higher than 1; for Launaea acanthodes, the relevant TF value was about 10. The proposed native plant could be applied in practical applications of phytoremediation for soil remediation of contaminated sites around the metal factories and mines in southeastern Iran.

Essential oils of three species of Artemisia genus (A. absinthium L., A. campestris L. and A. herba-alba (Asso)) were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and their potential insecticidal and repellent activities against the stored grain insect Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) was investigated. Fumigant and repellent activity bioassays were investigated in vitro. Chemical characterisation of essential oils showed that the bicyclic monoterpenes were predominant in all Artemisia essential oils, A. absinthium essential oil having the highest content of bicyclic monoterpenes, bicycloheptanes, naphthalenes and cycloalkenes. A. campestris had the highest content of sesquiterpenoids and acyclic monoterpenoids. A. herba-alba was characterised by the highest amounts of menthane monoterpenoids, oxanes, cumenes, oxolanes, ketones, benzenoids and monocyclic monoterpenes. Fumigant bioassay demonstrated that the three types of oil applied separately caused significant insect mortality. The lowest median lethal dose, LC50=142.8 μL/L, was observed with A. herba-alba. In repellency test, essential oil of A. absinthium was more potent with more rapid action than all other species. The mixture of Artemisia sp. essential oils showed an antagonistic effect in all the tested combinations. This study highlighted an important potential of Artemisia sp. especially A. herba-alba and A. absinthium in the control of the pests of stored products.

International audience; Infiltration basins are widely used in urban environments as a technique for managing and reducing the volume of stormwater. These basins can be spontaneously colonized by wild plants, which can be used as bioindicators of edaphic characteristics. As the basins are anthropogenic environments, the description of plant biodiversity allows the determination of which species colonize such environments and identification of the relationships between plants, basin type and operation. Nineteen infiltration basins were selected according to their catchment types (industrial, urban, agricultural). The dominant species were identified and sampled. Rumex sp., Taraxacum sp. and Artemisia sp. are the three types most represented (88, 61 and 55% respectively of the basins studied). Their families and their respective orders are those most commonly found (Caryophyllales, Asterales and Polygonaceae, Asteraceae). Poaceae is the family grouping with the largest number of different species (11). Although each species occupies only 1 or 2 basins, plants of this family occupy 61% of the basins. Although the catchment characteristics of the 19 basins do not play a direct role in the diversity of plant families, they can influence the presence or absence of certain species. Thus, these plants can be used as bio-indicators of basin soil and operating characteristics, such as sediment depths, inundation frequency and duration.

The Roosevelt Community Development Study (RCD) involved the testing and excavation of 27 sites in the Lower Tonto Basin of central Arizona. This is one of three related data recovery projects undertaken in the Tonto Basin for the Bureau of Reclamation prior to the raising of the Roosevelt Lake dam. The results of the RCD project are presented in four Anthropological Papers of the Center for Desert Archaeology: Anthropological Papers No. 12 is the research design; Anthropological Papers No. 13 (two volumes) contains background information and the site descriptions; Anthropological Papers No. 14 (three volumes) includes the artifact and environmental analyses; and Anthropological Papers No. 15 presents the synthesis and conclusions. The project was situated within the Tonto National Forest and covered a four-mile, continuous area along the north bank of the Salt River. Sites within the project area exhibited a great range of functional, temporal, and, possibly, cultural diversity. These included two sites with platform mounds (the Meddler Point and Pyramid Point sites); a 10Q-room masonry pueblo (the Griffin Wash site); smaller masonry compounds (e.g., the Porcupine site); and pithouse hamlets and farmsteads (e.g., the Hedge Apple and Eagle Ridge sites). Temporal components ranged from the Early Ceramic period (A.D. 100-600), at Locus B of the Eagle Ridge site, through the Roosevelt phase (A.D. 1250-1350) of the Classic period. The Early Ceramic component of the Eagle Ridge site is now the earliest documented ceramic period site in the Tonto Basin and provides definitive evidence for an indigenous ceramic-using population. The project area was inhabited most intensively during the Roosevelt phase, when platform mounds, pueblo room blocks, and small masonry compounds were occupied. Architectural and artifact variability suggest the presence of several different cultural groups co-residing in the Tonto Basin at this time, and migration is believed to have been a significant process in Tonto Basin prehistory. The RCD project area was largely abandoned by A.D. 1325, prior to the large-scale aggregation that occurred during the Gila phase; very few Gila Polychrome sherds were recovered from project area sites. The mandate of the RCD project, as spedfied by the Bureau of Reclamation, was to investigate the temporal and developmental sequence of the prehistoric populations within this area. To meet these goals, six sites were intensively examined through full-scale excavation, and an extensive data set was gathered from the remaining 21 sites. The three volumes in Anthropological Papers No. 14 contain the artifact and environmental analyses. More than 150,000 artifacts were recovered from the RCD excavations. This volume (Volume 3) presents the paleobotanical and osteological data. Included are analyses of the pollen (Chapter 18), flotation (Chapter 19), faunal (Chapter 20), and mortuary (Chapter 21) assemblages. Data from the subsistence analyses are combined and synthesized in Chapter 22. Volume 1 of Anthropological Papers No. 14 presents the analyses of the chipped stone, ground stone, jewelry and personal ornament, and shell assemblages. The ceramic artifact assemblage is examined in Volume 2 More spedfic information on the individual sites and the project background can be found in Anthropological Papers No. 13. Anthropological Papers No. 15 integrates and synthesizes these data to provide a more inclusive view of the prehistoric occupation of the RCD project area and the Tonto Basin.

Under the sponsorship of the Bureau of Reclamation, the New Waddell Dam Borrow Areas Mitigative Data Recovery Project, more simply known as the Waddell Project, performed data recovery at 17 sites in the vicinity of Lake Pleasant, Arizona. Supplemental surveys conducted under the same contract added two sites to the inventory slated for investigation. The project area, composed of multiple survey areas, was spread across two drainages, the Agua Fria and New River, in what is considered the northern periphery of the prehistoric Hohokam culture. The sites studied included large agricultural fields, sometimes with associated surface masonry field houses; farmsteads with small numbers of pithouses; resource procurement and processing sites; and a single special-purpose crematory site. Research efforts were organized into three broad topic areas so that all project researchers, including specialists, could gear their investigations along the same lines. At the intra-drainage level, the focus was on the individual sites and their locations with respect to the physical environment and each other. Terminology employed for agricultural features and systems in the literature was reviewed and it was proposed that the use of terms be standardized. The topographic situation, source of water (e.g., river. wash, and/or runoff), and soil conditions were identified for the different agricultural systems investigated. The functions of the various agricultural feature types were assessed. It was found, for example, that linear rock alignments tend to slow the flow of water across the fields and/or direct the flow from one portion of a field to another. A model of the development of an agricultural system was employed that helps account for the functions of certain enigmatic features (i.e., field stones) and aspects of features (i.e., gaps between rocks in alignments). Contemporaneity of sites was difficult to establish as dating was less than satisfactory, but it was possible to discern differences between one early site (primarily Colonial period) and several later sites that appeared to form a late Sacaton-Soho phase community. At the inter-drainage level, a comparison of patterns at project sites in the two drainages was made to assess whether the drainages had been used by the same or different populations and whether specialization in subsistence resources had occurred as suggested by survey evidence. Results of ceramic and ground stone petrographic analyses as well as ethnobotanical analyses suggested the areas had been used by distinct populations and that although corn cultivation was universal, agave cultivation took place in the Agua Fria, but not the New River, drainage. Evidence also suggested that the New River study area had been used seasonally, whereas a strong case could be made for year-round occupation of the Agua Fria study area during the later time periods. At the inter-regional level, we studied how our sites fit with those surrounding them in the northern periphery and farther afield in both the Hohokam core area and northern Arizona. Differences found between the two study areas at the inter-drainage level were used to suggest that they had different focal sites. The Beardsley Canal site was identified as a prime candidate for the Agua Fria study area's focal site and AZ T:4:10 (ASM) was suggested as the hub for the New River study area. Little, if any, contact was indicated between sites in the New River study area investigated by ACS and those to the south examined earlier by Soil Systems Inc. Based on the decrease over time in the frequencies of artifacts of Hohokam derivation (i.e., buff ware ceramics, schist palettes, and shell artifacts), it was obvious that ties with the Hohokam core area decreased concomitant with an increase in exchange with northern Arizona populations. probably those in the Prescott area. Note that the volumes are included here as one file.