Story at a glance
- High copper pollution in soil can have negative effects on human health and decrease crop yields.
- Commonly used fertilizers and fungicides contribute to wide spread soil pollution.
- By conducting a series of experiments, researchers discovered certain plants can reclaim this pollutant and grow stronger when it’s present in soil.
Scientists have discovered that Zinnia flowers and tobacco not only survive, but thrive, in polluted soil – offering insights into how the natural world can adapt to man-made pollution.
Fungicides and fertilizers have long polluted urban and rural areas with heavy metals, prompting worries that these pollutants may be seeping into our soil. In turn, contaminated soil can pollute our air systems and leak harmful substances into our food.
To better understand whether Zinnia flowers and tobacco can adapt to soil with high concentrations of copper, researchers conducted a series of experiments, simulating real growing conditions and controlling for temperature and humidity.
Surprisingly, after 20, 40, and 60 day tests, researchers found that the plants not only survived under the polluted conditions, but actually grew stronger.
“Plants of the Asteraceae and Nightshade families, namely zinnia and tobacco, are copper-exclusive, their root system performs the function of copper accumulation,” said co-author Anastasia Tugbaeva in a press release.
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Zinnia grown in polluted soils also flowered faster than those grown in pure soils. Tobacco, which can function as a fertilizer in addition to its traditional uses, “adapted to long-term exposure to copper in our experiments and grew comparable to control plants, despite the high content of copper in the substrate,” Tugbaeva added.
On a micro level, researchers found copper in the soil enhanced expression of five genes responsible for synthesizing lignan. Lignan functions to limit the transfer of metals from the cell wall and metals’ effects of the plant’s intracellular structure.
Although Zinnia is only an ornamental plant, researchers hypothesize wide scale growth could help reclaim contamination of copper in urban and industrial regions, while also increasing the aesthetics of these territories.
Previous research has shown that transforming vacant lots in cities into green spaces can lead to dramatic drops in crime and increased feelings of safety among residents.
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