Mining, metallophytes and land reclamation

摘要

Metal tolerant plants are widespread, occurring on almost all metalliferous soils. Many metalliferous areas support endemic species that have probably evolved in situ; such areas make an important and disproportionate contribution to biological diversity. Furthermore, the floras of these areas often contain metal hyperaccumulator species, which represent a resource that ii both scientifically interesting and valuable for many applications. However, there is still only fragmentary information on the world's metallophytes, their distribution, rarity and distinctive properties. The seven issues identified above should be the primary foci for future research and efforts to conserve metallophytes. Research should be strongly supported by the minerals industry, which in many cases is ideally placed both to ensure the conservation of metallophytes and to exploit their unusual properties. Systematic screening of plants on metalliferous sites, particularly those likely to be the focus of future mining, will identify priority candidates for conservation, for implementing ecological restoration of sites, and for the development of 'green' technologies for removing metals from the soil. By raising awareness of the value of merallophytes to the minerals industry we hope to secure the future of these exceptional plants. The Authors are grateful to Rio Tinto for implementation and generous support of the Robert Brooks Workshop, and to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, for hosting and participation. Special thanks are due to Oscar Groeneveld and Andrew Vickerman (Rio Tinto), to Professor Peter Crane, FRS (RBG Kew). and to Dave Richards, Professor Mike Johnson and Sarah Kesby (Rio Tinto) for the planning and organisation of the workshop. We thank the workshop participants for their excellent input: (alphabetically) Prof IS Angle, Dr RL Chancy, Prof JA Cooke, Dra R Ginocchio, Dr T Jaffre, Dr R Johns, Prof M Johnson, Prof F Malaisse, Dr T McIntyre, Dr A Paton, Dr W Purvis, Assoc Prof D Salt, Dr H Schat, Prof JAC Smith, Dr F Zhao. We also thank Dave Richards and Dorothy Harris (Rio Tinto), and Alan Paton (RBG Kew) for their comments on this manuscript. The Robert Brooks Workshop was so-named to honour the life and work of pioneering geobotanist and biogeochemist, the late Professor Robert R Brooks (1926-2001).