Festuca rubra · Atlas of Contaminated Sites

How it works

Mechanisms: phytostabilisation

Contaminants

Contaminant	Evidence	What was shown
Lead	field	In the British field experiments on mine wastes tolerant populations formed a stabilising cover that lasted nine years; cultivar 'Merlin' is the one for calcareous lead-zinc wastes (Smith and Bradshaw 1979). Smith and Bradshaw, The use of metal tolerant plant populations for the reclamation of metalliferous wastes, J. Appl. Ecol. 16:595, 1979
Zinc	field	Sown with A. capillaris on 3 hectares of a highly phytotoxic Belgian industrial area, after soil treatment with beringite: a complete, healthy cover, confirmed at 30 months (Vangronsveld et al. 1995). Vangronsveld et al., Reclamation of a bare industrial area contaminated by non-ferrous metals: in situ metal immobilization and revegetation, Environ. Pollut. 87:51, 1995

Contaminant

Evidence

What was shown

field

In the British field experiments on mine wastes tolerant populations formed a stabilising cover that lasted nine years; cultivar 'Merlin' is the one for calcareous lead-zinc wastes (Smith and Bradshaw 1979).

Smith and Bradshaw, The use of metal tolerant plant populations for the reclamation of metalliferous wastes, J. Appl. Ecol. 16:595, 1979

Zinc

field

Sown with A. capillaris on 3 hectares of a highly phytotoxic Belgian industrial area, after soil treatment with beringite: a complete, healthy cover, confirmed at 30 months (Vangronsveld et al. 1995).

Vangronsveld et al., Reclamation of a bare industrial area contaminated by non-ferrous metals: in situ metal immobilization and revegetation, Environ. Pollut. 87:51, 1995

Limits

It stabilises, it does not clean up: metals stay where they are. Tolerance belongs to the population, not the species: an ordinary lawn red fescue will not cope. It needs fertiliser, and on the most toxic soils an amendment. Management lasts as long as the site.

Where it has been tried

Lommel-Maatheide and the Campine (zinc smelters)

PhytoremediationField scale, 1990–

Agrostis capillaris, Festuca rubra

In 1990 three hectares of bare, acid sandy soil at the former smelter were treated with beringite (a modified aluminosilicate from fluidised-bed burning of coal refuse) and composted municipal waste, then sown with metal-tolerant ecotypes of Agrostis capillaris and Festuca rubra.

Outcome A healthy plant cover developed; the water-extractable metal fraction in treated soil was up to 70 times lower than in untreated soil, and the soil's biological parameters also recovered.