Response of understorey vegetation to heavy metal loading

Abstract

Many heavy metals such as manganese, zinc, copper, iron and molybdenum are essential micronutrients for plants, but are toxic at higher concentrations and disturb most of their primary physiological processes. This results in growth retardation and root damage (Tyler et al. 1989). The detrimental effects of heavy metals on boreal forest vegetation are most clearly evident in the surroundings of metal smelters and mines (Rühling et al. 1992). Mosses and lichens, which form a relatively high proportion of the understorey vegetation in boreal forests, are especially sensitive to heavy metals (Folkeson and Andersson-Bringmark 1988, Salemaa and Vanha-Majamaa 1993). Understorey vegetation plays an important role in the nutrient cycling of boreal forest ecosystems (Mälkönen 1974), and can accumulate considerable amounts of heavy metals in contaminated environments. The understorey vegetation also protects the soil from erosion and reduces the leaching of heavy metals into the ground water.KeywordsHeavy MetalSoil Seed BankDwarf ShrubMetal ToleranceHeavy Metal ToleranceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.