RESEARCH ARTICLE

Heavy metal accumulation and phytostabilization potential of dominant plant species growing on manganese mine tailings

  • Shengxiang YANG 1,2,3 ,
  • Shichu LIANG , 2 ,
  • Langbo YI 1 ,
  • Bibo XU 3 ,
  • Jianbing CAO 4 ,
  • Yifeng GUO 1 ,
  • Yu ZHOU 1
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  • College of Bio-resources and Environmental Science and Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Utilization, Jishou University, Jishou 416000, China
  • Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection (Guangxi Normal University), Ministry of Education of China, Guilin 541000, China
  • College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
  • Huayuan Environmental Protection Bureau, Huayuan 416000, China

Received date: 17 Oct 2012

Accepted date: 19 Aug 2013

Published date: 22 May 2014

Copyright

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Abstract

Screening plants that are hypertolerant to and excluders of certain heavy metals plays a fundamental role in a remediation strategy for metalliferous mine tailings. A field survey of terrestrial higher plants growing on Mn mine tailings at Huayuan, Hunan Province, China was conducted to identify candidate species for application in phytostabilization of the tailings in this region. In total, 51 species belonging to 21 families were recorded and the 12 dominant plants were investigated for their potential in phytostabilization of heavy metals. Eight plant species, Alternanthera philoxeroides, Artemisia princeps, Bidens frondosa, Bidens pilosa, Cynodon dactylon, Digitaria sanguinalis, Erigeron canadensis, and Setaria plicata accumulated much lower concentrations of heavy metals in shoots and roots than the associated soils and bioconcentration factors (BFs) for Cd, Mn, Pb and Zn were all<1, demonstrating a high tolerance to heavy metals and poor metals translocation ability. The field investigation also found that these species grew fast, accumulated biomass rapidly and developed a vegetation cover in a relatively short time. Therefore, they are good candidates for phytostabilization purposes and could be used as pioneer species in phytoremediation of Mn mine tailings in this region of South China.

Cite this article

Shengxiang YANG , Shichu LIANG , Langbo YI , Bibo XU , Jianbing CAO , Yifeng GUO , Yu ZHOU . Heavy metal accumulation and phytostabilization potential of dominant plant species growing on manganese mine tailings[J]. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, 2014 , 8(3) : 394 -404 . DOI: 10.1007/s11783-013-0602-4

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41101532), Hunan Natural Science Foundation (No. 12JJ3036), Science and Technology Project of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous District (Zhouke [2011] 42), and Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection (Guangxi Normal University), Ministry of Education, China (Guikeneng 1002k003). We thank Professor AJM Baker (Universities of Melbourne and Queensland, Australia, and Sheffield, UK) for improving the final version of this paper.
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