The 8th ICSE was hosted by Sabah Parks in Malaysia attracted 174 participants from 31 countries and was the first held in Asia, the region that hosts some of the world’s most biodiverse ultramafic ecosystems.

In the Australia–Pacific Region ultramafic soils cover large surface areas. In New Caledonia 2150 plant species (83% endemic) are known from these soils. This compares to 1355 taxa in Western Australia and 553 species in Queensland. Ni hyperaccumulator species number 65 in New Caledonia, one in Western Australia and two in Queensland. There is a need for evolutionary research on hyperaccumulation.

Mount Kinabalu, Borneo, with the summit elevation of 4095 m and diverse geology, is one of the global centres of plant diversity. By using vegetation sample plots, we compared the tropical montane rain forests over ultramafic soils with those over non-ultramafic soils on Mount Kinabalu, and also with those on other mountains with ultramafic soils in South-east Asia. The results demonstrated the uniqueness of the ultramafic vegetation on Mount Kinabalu.

Sabah (Malaysia) has some of the largest ultramafic outcrops on Earth and host at least 4252 plant species. The full plant diversity is yet unknown because of a lack of research, while this flora is also threatened by land-use conversion.

Landslide occurrences is a natural phenomenon that can be mitigated by using Chrysopogon zizanioides or vetiver grass. In this research, vetiver grass was evaluated as a potential plant for landslide bioengineering purposes. The results of the study showed that the vetiver grass grows well in the experimental site, which shows that the grass has a potential in landslide bioengineering.

Rocks high in iron and magnesium are moderately soluble in wet tropical climates and land-surface features such as sinkholes are formed, similar to those in limestones. Low nutrients and heavy metal toxicity slow the build-up of organic matter in many of these hollows and they can preserve records of long-term vegetation change over 50 000 years ago. Dating of the organic material is not straightforward in these open systems and chronological problems limit the studies in some cases.

Methods of Remote Sensing appear promising in detection and mapping of typical ultramafic vegetation in the Andaman Island, India. Image analyses coupled with various transformations and vegetation studies, in the otherwise inaccessible area, helped in identifying the typical vegetation being composed of stunted evergreen shrubs. This vegetation, representing an ecosystem island, needs further survey and biogeochemical analyses for conservation.

A typical dwarfed sclerophyllous vegetation is found to occur in some parts of north and south Andaman where outcrops of ophiolite occur. A total of 11 hyperaccumulators of nickel were identified from there, belonging to eight genera and seven families. Of these, six species are additions to the list of hyperaccumulators and three species as hemiaccumulators.

Elemental composition of plants from the serpentine soil of in Sugashima Island, Japan was investigated. Plants had a tendency to accumulate Ni in high correlation with Fe, but Buxus microphylla, had the highest Ni concentration with the average Fe level. This suggests that plants that accumulate high Ni but low Fe may be more adaptive for serpentine soil environment.

We investigated the role of bacterial–fungal interactions on heavy metal uptake by Zea mays plants. Soil nutrients and soil enzyme activities were also measured to determine the effect of microbial inoculations on soil quality. We report the synergistic effect of bacterial–fungal inoculation in enhancing soil-quality and promoting plant growth in the presence of heavy metals.

Neoroepera buxifolia is an endemic shrub to small tree that is restricted to the creeks, riverbanks and drainage lines of the central Queensland ultramafic landscape. It is associated with high levels of soil magnesium and this study seeks investigate the relationships of N. buxifolia with the soil elements. Nickel in the soil had the greatest positive influence on tree height and the standing volume was greatest in the upper tributaries.

This work compares lichen colonisation on different ultramafic lithologies, exploring metabolic adaptation to substrate-related metal stress. Physical factors such as surface disaggregation determine lichen abundance on the different lithologies, whereas the presence or absence of certain secondary metabolites accounts for a community-level adaptation to different metal concentrations in the colonised rocks. This research contributes to knowledge of biological adaptation to metal stresses in natural environments and of the ecological significance of lichen secondary metabolites.

Local biodiversity and endemic species are being endangered as an historically unique woodland system is succumbing to encroachment. This work used an integrated approach combining data from geology, ecology and soils to examine the successional trajectory of a unique woodland ecosystem. The data show that a system once dominated by prairie-type grasses is now transitioning to a traditional piedmont forest.

Geologic juxtapositions can result in nutrient-poor and shallow ultramafic or serpentinite soils placed adjacent to well developed and nutrient-rich mafic soils. Tree species growing in these soils are likely to employ different mechanisms to cope with the distinct edaphic conditions. The results suggested that the edaphic factor is a strong environmental constraint, forcing unique physiological differences among seedlings of Quercus species, leading to site-specific adaptive characteristics. Such morphological and physiological responses allow for a better understanding of the mechanisms controlling plant–soil associations.

Ultramafic rocks and their chemically distinct soil products are generally known to affect vegetation floristics and species productivity. Little is known on how the vegetation characteristics of the Vredefort Dome in South Africa are affected by these rock types, and the present study discloses several species that seem to be associated with ultramafic–mafic intrusions within the dome, as well as geochemically contrasting rock types. Because of their strong relationship with different geological substrates, identified species groups can serve as useful indicators for chemical and mineralogical changes in soil and geology.

Algae and cyanoprokaryotes can colonise almost all soil types but little is known about the occurrence of these organisms in South African serpentine soils. We found a unique species assemblage in one of the serpentine sites with high metal concentrations, but the findings are preliminary and the effect of vegetation and climate on the presence of algae should be further investigated.

The relation between vegetation and soil was investigated in a poorly studied ultramafic area in the north Morocco (Beni bousera). The peculiarities of this area are discussed in comparison with adjacent non ultramafic areas. This comparison shows a clear differentiation of vegetation among the plant communities. Preferential or strict serpentinophytes species were recognised but no hyperaccumulator species have yet been found.

Ultramafic rocks occur in many areas in Iran. The aim of the present study was to document the plants growing on the ultramafic soils of the Rezvanshahr area, and to identify serpentine endemics and metal accumulator plants, if any, from this area. In this study, soils and 22 plant species belonging to 13 families from this area were collected and analysed for serpentine-associated metals.

Unique flora established on serpentine habitats of Kızıldağ, Konya Province, Turkey is dealt in this paper. This flora is rich in endemic metal hyperaccumulators, particularly nickel, rather unusual and potentially valuable plant resources, therefore, deserves conservation. The Ni-hyperaccumulating species from Turkey are invaluable plant genetic resource for investigations on phytoremediation, phytomining and agromining emerging fields of farming for metals.