Rockcress as heavy-metal hoover
Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - 16:31
in Biology & Nature
Rockcress of the Arabidopsis halleri species is known to possess the capability of settling on hostile, heavy metal-contaminated soil. It stores extraordinary high concentrations of certain toxic heavy metals in its leaves: a rare property. Researchers from Bochum and Bayreuth have analysed approx. 2,000 specimens of this species from 165 locations throughout Europe. In this process, they identified overwhelming diversity that has arisen among plants of the same species over the course of evolution.