Nurse role and mechanism of Coriaria nepalensis in abandoned land of Pb-Zn mining area by Jie Yang, Jie Yang, Hong Tang, Hong Tang, Chang-qun Duan, Chang-qun Duan, Si-chen Wang, Si-chen Wang, Xin-qi Yuan, Xin-qi Yuan, Lv Huang, Lv Huang, Lin-yang Li, Lin-yang Li

“…For this reason, the present study was conducted on the nurse plant, C. nepalensis, which was naturally colonized in the abandoned land of the Pb-Zn mine in Mine Town, Huize County. The specific results of the study are as follows: Coriaria nepalensis promotes the stabilization of the soil structure under the canopy, and the local resources of the soil increase and the “fertilizer island” effect appears: (1) Improvement of physical properties: Compared with the herbaceous sample, the soil bulk density of the Coriaria nepalensis is significantly lower than that of the herbaceous sample. (2) Improve soil nutrition: the organic matter, total nitrogen and total phosphorus contents of the inter-root soil of the Coriaria nepalensis in large multi-diversity sites were higher than those of the herbaceous sample sites. (3) Reducing the toxicity of soil heavy metals to plants: although the total amount of heavy metals and the effective state of the Coriaria nepalensis were significantly higher than that of the herbaceous samples, the diversity and biomass of the plants under the Coriaria nepalensis were not affected, but were higher instead, which indicated that the Coriaria nepalensis mitigated the stress and toxicity of the heavy metals to the plants under the canopy, and allowed the plants to colonize and grow under the canopy. (4) Coriaria nepalensis in Pb-Zn mine abandoned sites can regulating soil microbial community structure, thus enabling plant community succession in degraded environments. …”
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