A Survey on the Metal(loid) Accumulation Ability of Spontaneous and Established Plants for the Phytomanagement of an Industrial Landfill in the Venice Lagoon

Multiple beneficial functions exerted by a natural vegetation cover in a contaminated industrial soil can be exploited in the phytomanagement. Among them, the limitation of pollutant leaching, the reduction of metal mobility along soil layers, and the positive effect on the biological processes in the rhizosphere should be highlighted, especially in a polluted site located in an island. All spontaneous species, except for A. retroflexus toward Zn, exhibited a higher ability to exclude rather than accumulate heavy metals compared with established species. This feature allows proposing such spontaneous species for phytostabilization purposes, increasing the natural value of the polluted area and avoiding the production of a contaminated biomass. On the contrary, the "in situ" recognition of woody plant species that concentrate notable quantities of metals in their aboveground tissues can represent an adding value in terms of remediation of a contaminated site by plants. Beyond these aspects, some peculiar characteristics of woody plants such as Salix sp., i.e., adaptability to harsh soil conditions, high biomass productivity, effective nutrient uptake, and high evapotranspiration, should be considered for a successful phytomanagement of an industrial contaminated site