land-remediation
Land remediation in plant science refers to the use of plants and their associated microbiomes to restore contaminated or degraded soils to a functional, healthy state. This field, often called phytoremediation, leverages plants' natural abilities to absorb, neutralize, or stabilize pollutants such as heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and excess nutrients. Understanding how plants tolerate and process environmental stressors is central to developing effective, sustainable strategies for rehabilitating damaged ecosystems.
open_in_new WikipediaPubMed · 2026-04-27
A Slovenian military training ground has heavily contaminated surface soils with lead and copper from shooting activities, with lead levels up to 190 times natural background levels. Scots pine trees show promise as a natural cleanup tool for these metal-polluted sites.
Lead concentrations in topsoil at the shooting range reached 7,210 mg/kg — 190 times the natural background level and 13 times Slovenia's legal limit.
Copper peaked at 952 mg/kg, more than 53 times background levels, while organic pollutants like oils and solvents remained below national alert thresholds.
Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) demonstrated measurable phytoremediation potential for lead- and copper-contaminated soils in forested karst environments.
