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Environmental Earth Sciences

, 78:103 | Cite as

Heavy metals uptake and transport by native wild plants: implications for phytoremediation and restoration

  • Shuai FuEmail author
  • Chaoyang Wei
  • Yuan Xiao
  • Lanhai Li
  • Daishe Wu
Original Article
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Abstract

Knowing the characteristics and relationships that are important in the accumulation and transfer of heavy metals among native wild plants is beneficial for screening potential accumulator plants and guiding remediation. In this research, nine native wild plants were collected from the Xikuangshan mine in Hunan Province, and the content of heavy metals, bioconcentration factors and translocation factors were determined via analysis. The results showed that the plant rhizosphere was polluted with heavy metals, especially Sb, Hg and Cd. P. aquilinum showed a strong ability to take up and transfer As, Cd, Pb and Zn. I. cylindrica effectively removed Sb from soils, P. vittata removed As and Cd, and D. erythrosora removed Hg and Cd. Native wild plants showed cooperativity to accumulate Cd, Cr, Pb and Zn, similar to As–Cd, As–Cr and As–Pb. There was a significant positive correlation for translocation in Hg–Cd, Hg–Zn, Hg–Pb, Cd–Pb, Cd–Zn, Zn–Cr and Zn–Pb. Knowledge of the ability of native wild plants to take up and transfer heavy metals is useful in screening for potential phytoremediation, and identifying the relationship between heavy metals accumulation and transfer among species will guide the selection of multiple heavy-metal remediation plants.

Keywords

Heavy metals Wild plants Accumulation Translocation Phytoremediation 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the China’s Post-doctoral Science Foundation (2017M612161), Jiangxi postdoctoral research project Foundation (2017KY05), National Natural Science Foundation of China (40971264),and Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education Science and Technology Research Project (60215).

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  • Shuai Fu
    • 1
    • 5
    Email author
  • Chaoyang Wei
    • 3
  • Yuan Xiao
    • 2
  • Lanhai Li
    • 4
  • Daishe Wu
    • 5
  1. 1.School of Tourism and Urban ManagementJiangxi University of Finance and EconomicsNanchangPeople’s Republic of China
  2. 2.College of Modern Economics and ManagementJiangxi University of Finance and EconomicsNanchangPeople’s Republic of China
  3. 3.Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources ResearchChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingPeople’s Republic of China
  4. 4.State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and GeographyChinese Academy of SciencesÜrümqiPeople’s Republic of China
  5. 5.Key Laboratory of Poyang Lake Environment and Resource Utilization, Ministry of Education, School of Resources Environmental and Chemical EngineeringNanchang UniversityNanchangPeople’s Republic of China

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