Serpentine Soils, Adverse Habitat for Plants Case Study at Peninsular

Abstract

The unpleasant effect of serpentine soil on plant life has been a topic of many studies for several decades. Infertility and flora selectivity nature of serpentine soils are the features, which made them of interest throughout the world. This research includes a geochemical study on two Malaysian serpentine massifs to introduce their harmful factors concerning vegetation. X-ray fluorescence results on 11 soil samples showed that serpentine soils comprise large values of iron and magnesium (up to 55 wt and 65 wt% respectively) and high amounts of some heavy metals like chromium (1248-18990 µg g^-1), nickel (189-1692 µg g^-1) and cobalt (95-478 µg g^-1). However, soil extraction by ammonium acetate solution revealed that only magnesium is plant available. Besides, serpentine soils are poor in some major plant nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. This substantial paucity is the main cause of bareness in these lands. Soils in the studied areas are moderately acidic and have the adequate cation holding capacity. Their Ca/Mg quotient is very low (less than 1). The latter with the low availability of the calcium (0.34 m-equiv 100 g^-1 in average) is another challenging parameter in serpentine soils, which exerts negative influence on plant growing

Ultramafic geoecology of South and Southeast Asia

“…In a study describing the general influence of the ultramafic geochemistry on growth patterns of plants overlying two Malaysian massifs, the Bukit Rokan and Petasih along the Bentong-Raub suture zone on the Peninsula, Tashakor et al ( 2013 ) document that the serpentinite of the area is strongly weathered and gives rise to characteristic red lateritic soils (Ferralsols). They point out that the greatest physiological stress experienced by plants growing on ultramafic soils is due to the low Ca: Mg ratio and the generally low available nutrients, and not due to potentially phytotoxic elements present in the soil, which are, for the most part, not in a plant-available form.…”

The role of roots and rhizosphere in providing tolerance to toxic metals and metalloids

“…These include metals such as Cd (cadmium), Cr (chromium), Cs (cesium), Hg (mercury), Pb (lead) and metalloids like As (arsenic), all of which can occur at toxic levels due to natural processes and anthropogenic activities. Examples of natural activities include weathering of ultramafic rocks that leads to the formation of serpentine soils that contain high concentrations of heavy metals like Cr, Ni, Co and Fe (Chiarucci & Baker, 2007; Tashakor et al, 2013) or the leaching of As from igneous rock that leads to contamination of aquifers and groundwater (Igarashi et al, 2008). Human activities have become another important vehicle for the dissemination of metals in the environment, particularly through the use of pesticides and herbicides, mining, smelting, waste disposal, application of inorganic fertilizer and, more recently, the use of nanoparticles (Bundschuh et al, 2018; Wilson, 2018).…”