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Exploring the Potential of Naturalized Plants for Phytoremediation of Heavy Metal Contamination

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Abstract

Heavy metal pollution of the soil has become a global threat to the terrestrial environment, food security, and human health due to their non-biodegradable and high persistent characteristics in the soil. However, the effective measurements for the restoration of these polluted soils are rare; therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the role of four naturalized plants (Celosia argentea, Praxelis clematidea, Eupatorium adenophora, and Solidago canadensis) as potential resources for the remediation of cadmium contamination through a tolerance and accumulation experiment. The plants’ morphological phenotype (growth and biomass), physiological phenotype (relative chlorophyll content, leaf nitrogen content, root cell activity, and reactive oxygen species), and cadmium accumulation were evaluated using the hydroponic method. The results showed that cadmium induced an excess of reactive oxygen species in the roots, and the growth of C. argentea is depressed greatly. Praxelis clematidea, E. adenophora, and S. canadensis were identified to have a higher tolerance to cadmium accumulation and could be used as potential species for phytoremediation after further investigation of the actual remediation results in the field.

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Acknowledgements

We kindly thank Dr. Michael Opoku Adomako (Republic of Ghana) for his attentive modification to improve the paper. This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31600326, 31570414), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu (BK20150504), the Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds (1501028B), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2016M590416, 2017T100329, 2016M591773).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environment and Ecology, Academy of Environmental Health and Ecological Security and School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Fu, Kai Huang, Hong-Hong Cai, Jian Li, Zhi-Cong Dai & Dao-Lin Du

  2. Centre for Mountain Ecosystem Studies (CMES), Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650201, People’s Republic of China

    De-Li Zhai

  3. Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, People’s Republic of China

    Zhi-Cong Dai & Dao-Lin Du

Authors
  1. Wei Fu
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  2. Kai Huang
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  3. Hong-Hong Cai
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  4. Jian Li
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  5. De-Li Zhai
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  6. Zhi-Cong Dai
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  7. Dao-Lin Du
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhi-Cong Dai.

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Fu, W., Huang, K., Cai, HH. et al. Exploring the Potential of Naturalized Plants for Phytoremediation of Heavy Metal Contamination. Int J Environ Res 11, 515–521 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41742-017-0045-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41742-017-0045-z

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