A metal-eating plant has been discovered on an island in the Philippines. While most plants and other life forms are poisoned by high levels of nickel, this bizarre plant thrives on the metal.
This bizarre life form was found by researchers from the University of the Phillipines.
Nickel is a source of sustenance for these plants, which can accumulate concentrations of the metal up to 18,000 parts per million (ppm) in their leaves, without experiencing any toxic side effects. This is 1,000 times more than most other plants can safely store. This unusual ability, found in fewer than one percent of plant species, is called nickel hyperaccumulation.
Rinorea niccolifera is one of only about 450 species of plant known to use metals as part of their normal lifestyle. Another plant known to exhibit this behavior are Thlapsi, a genus of herb that is common in China, and throughout southern and eastern areas of Europe. This species consumes calcium and zinc in addition to nickel. Gomphrena claussenii was discovered in 2013, by researchers from the Netherlands and Brazil. This species, native to areas around Minas Gerais, Brazil, can consume large quantities of zinc. Many of the plants are living happily near highly-contaminated mines in the region.
"The new species, according to Dr Marilyn Quimado, one of the lead scientists of the research team, was discovered on the western part of Luzon Island in the Philippines, an area known for soils rich in heavy metals," researchers wrote in a press release, announcing their discovery.
Edwino Fernando is the lead author of the article announcing the discovery.
It is possible that R. niccolifera and other similar plants may one day be used to extract nickel and other contaminants from areas dirtied by industrial pollution. These metals could then either easily be disposed, or extracted, and re-used. These plants could provide a natural way of cleaning spills or other pollution, in an environmentally-safe manner.
Using plants to remove environmental toxins could partially replace mechanical methods used today. Less machinery operating means a reduction, however small, in greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. So far, one of the challenges in using plants to clean pollution is the species capable of carrying this out are highly dependent on their local environments. It is difficult, if not impossible, to grow the plants anywhere except their native habitat. This could make such treatments prohibitively expensive.
Study of the newly-discovered plant species was detailed in the journal PhytoKeys.
