HYPERACCUMULATION OF TRACE ELEMENTS BY PLANTS

摘要

The plant species of both natural and human-influenced metalliferous soils are being increasingly studied, both as ecosystems in there own right, and with a view to identifying accumulator plants that may be valuable for various forms of phytoextraction. To date, more than 440 hyper-accumulator species have been described, three-quarters of these being Ni accumulators from the extensive occurrences of Ni-rich ultramafic soils found in many parts of world. The history of the discovery of hyper-accumulation in these species is outlined, and a broad assessment is given of the possibility of using them for metal extraction in various ways, including remediation of contaminated soils, extraction of metal ions from contaminated waters and phytomining from large naturally metalliferous areas.