Metal accumulation in 5 native plants growing on abandoned Cu-tailings ponds

Abstract

Tailings and plants were sampled from the abandoned Cu-tailing ponds of Rakha mines, Jharkhand, India. Tailings have high concentration of Cu, Ni and characterized by moderately acid environment and low nutrient contents. Plants belonging to 5 genera and 4 families were collected and analysed for metals in their above and underground tissues. Plant communities respond differently depending on their ability to uptake or exclude a variety of metals. Accumulated metals were mostly retained in root tissue indicating that an exclusion mechanism for metal tolerance widely exists in them. Retention of some metals more than toxic level in the above ground tissues of some plants suggests the presence of internal metal detoxification and tolerance mechanisms in them. © 2007, Penkala Bt.