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This study assessed the contamination by heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn), and nutrients (N, P) in soils and native plants, and the effect of the concentration of those elements with the density of arbuscular-mycorrhizal (AM) spores in soil and colonization in roots from the riverside of the Matanza-Riachuelo River Basin (MRRB). The concentration of metals and nutrients in soils and plants ( Eleocharis montana , Cyperus eragrostis , Hydrocotyle bonariensis ) increased from the upper sites (8 km from headwaters) to the lower sites (6 km from the mouth of the Riachuelo River) of the basin. AM-colonization on the roots of H. bonariensis and spore density in soil decreased as the concentrations of metals in soil and plant tissues increased from the upper to lower sites of the basin within a consistent gradient of contamination associated with land use, soil disturbance, population, and chemicals discharged into the streams and rivers along the MRRB. The general trends for all metals in plant tissue were to have highest concentrations in roots, then in rhizomes and lowest in aerial biomass. The translocation (TF) and bioconcentration (BCF) factors decreased in plants which grow from the upper sites to the lower sites of the basin. The plants tolerated a wide range in type and quantity of contamination along the basin by concentrating more metals and nutrients in roots than in aboveground tissue. The AM spore density in soil and colonization in roots of H . bonariensis decreased with the increase of the degree of contamination (Dc) in soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]