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Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Photochemical attributes determine the responses of plant species from different functional groups of ferruginous outcrops when grown in iron mining substrates

Camilla Oliveira Rios https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4469-4747 A , Paulo Antônio Pimentel B , Elisa Monteze Bicalho https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1746-0663 C , Queila Souza Garcia D and Eduardo Gusmão Pereira https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5660-2949 B *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Graduate program in Plant Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

B Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Campus Florestal, Florestal, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

C Plant Growth and Development Laboratory, Plant Physiology, Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), University Campus, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

D Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Department of Botany, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

* Correspondence to: egpereira@ufv.br

Handling Editor: Suleyman Allakhverdiev

Functional Plant Biology 51, FP23207 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP23207
Submitted: 2 March 2023  Accepted: 2 December 2023  Published: 2 January 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Environments originating from banded iron formations, such as the canga, are important reference ecosystems for the recovery of degraded areas by mining. The objective of this work was to evaluate if the relationship between morphofunctional and photosynthetic attributes of native canga species from different functional group results in distinct responses when grown in iron mining tailings substrate. The experiment was carried out with species belonging to different functional groups: a widespread semi-deciduous tree-shrub, Myrcia splendens; an endemic deciduous shrub, Jacaranda caroba; and a nitrogen-fixing herbaceous species, Periandra mediterranea. The species were grown in two conditions, reference soil and iron ore tailing. Despite belonging to different functional groups when grown in tailings, the morphofunctional attributes presented similar responses between species. M. splendens was the species most affected by the conditions imposed by the iron ore mining tailings, with decreased light-use efficiency and electron transport. P. mediterranea had satisfactory growth and maintenance of photosynthetic attributes. J. caroba growing in the tailings increased the effective quantum yield of PSII. The photochemical and growth assessments were able to better explain the adaptive strategies developed by the species, guaranteeing a greater chance of success during the rehabilitation of mining substrates.

Keywords: canga, chlorophyll a fluorescence, deciduous shrub, ecological restoration, functional groups, native species, nitrogen-fixing, reference ecosystems, widespread semideciduous.

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