Mining driven pollution impact on ecosystem health and its retrieval through green technology: A nature based sustainable solution

Green technology provides an effective solution to mitigate environmental pollution. This study aims to assess the ecological impact of lead-zinc, limestone and manganese mining polluted ecosystems and examines the phytoremediation ability of selected dominant plant species in Southwest Yunnan, China. Soil and vegetation data were collected from 161 polluted and non-polluted sites. The potential toxic elements (PTEs) were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Ecological risk assessment identified that the Mn, Pb, Zn, Ni, Cu, Co, Cr, Tl and Cd were the most significant contributors to environmental pollution. The structural equation modeling shows that increasing plant species abundance significantly decreases ecological risks (β= -0.73) associated with PTEs. The phytoremediation assessment identified Eremochloa ciliaris as a hyperaccumulator for Cd, Cr, Cu and Ni. While, Engelhardia roxburghiana and Leucosceptrum canum showed significant hyperaccumulation ability for Cd and Ni, respectively. Boehmeria clidemioides was recorded as a phytoextractor of (Ni, Hg, V, Cd, Cu), Macaranga pustulata (Zn, Pb, Cd, Hg), and Helicteres angustifolia (Hg, Pb, Cu, Cd, Zn) in the mining polluted ecosystems. The mixed effect model further confirmed a significant positive relationship between plant abundance with Pb, Zn, Mn and Cd. It is concluded that the identified dominant species offer an effective solution for the phytoremediation of mining polluted systems to manage PTEs contamination and rehabilitate the polluted ecosystems in a sustainable way.