New Metal Eating Plant Discovered
Scientists from the University of the Philippines, Los Baños have discovered a new plant species with an unusual lifestyle — it eats nickel for a living — accumulating up to 18,000 ppm of the metal in its leaves without itself being poisoned, says Professor Edwino Fernando, lead author of the report. Such an amount is a hundred to a thousand times higher than in most other plants. The study was published in the open access journal PhytoKeys.
This photo shows the metal-eating plant, Rinorea niccolifera, in its natural habitat.
Credit: Dr. Edwino S. Fernando
The new species is called Rinorea niccolifera, reflecting its ability to absorb nickel in very high amounts. Nickel hyperaccumulation is such a rare phenomenon with only about 0.5–1% of plant species native to nickel-rich soils having been recorded to exhibit the ability. Throughout the world, only about 450 species are known with this unusual trait, which is still a small proportion of the estimated 300,000 species of vascular plants.
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.
This photo shows the newly described metal-eating plant, Rinorea niccolifera.
Credit: Dr. Edwino S. Fernando
“Hyperacccumulator plants have great potentials for the development of green technologies, for example, ‘phytoremediation’ and ‘phytomining’”, explains Dr Augustine Doronila of the School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne, who is also co-author of the report.
Phytoremediation refers to the use of hyperacccumulator plants to remove heavy metals in contaminated soils. Phytomining, on the other hand, is the use of hyperacccumulator plants to grow and harvest in order to recover commercially valuable metals in plant shoots from metal-rich sites.
Contacts and sources:
Dr. Edwino S. Fernando
The field surveys and laboratory work of the scientists are part of the research project funded by the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).
Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/2014/05/new-metal-eating-plant-discovered.html
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Whistler Blowers, Insiders
I can’t say much about a metal eating plant. Seems weird but plausible. I can tell you what the electrolyte (battery acid) will do to the metal of a cargo hold on a DC10 aircraft. Seems that two of the employees I worked with at a particular company some years ago needed a special battery shipped overnight. They lied (or played dumb) and sent it by air. The battery ruptured, leaked or somehow spilled out of the box and the acid contacted a large area of the aluminum airframe. No, the plane didn’t crash but when the ground crew discovered something wet in the hold they investigated and found the source. From what I found out was that all the metal exposed had to be removed and replaced. The two mechanics involved in the shipping of the battery had their employment immediately terminated. Things became hush-hush after that but word got out that the company had to pay for the repairs and pay a fine. Not exactly related to the story but I thought it was entertaining at the time. Stupid people do stupid things sometimes.
Are there any plants that eat precious metals like platinum, gold and silver?