Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Archives

Phytoremediation: Using native vegetation to stabilise heavy metal contaminants at polluted sites

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Madeleine Günthardt-Goerg and Pierre Vollenweider are researching how the properties of trees can be used to develop sustainable management strategies to phyto-stabilise contamination at metal-polluted sites through phytoremediation.

Elevated concentrations of heavy metals at polluted sites represent serious human health hazards and environmental threats. Persistent metal pollution is hard to remedy but one possible and effective method is phytoremediation, using plants to stabilise the metal pollution and ameliorate the contaminated soil properties. Across 20 years of research, Drs Madeleine Günthardt-Goerg and Pierre Vollenweider of the Swiss Federal Institute […]

De-icing salt contamination of trees in urban environments

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Street trees and other greenery counteract pollution and provide important ecosystem services in urban environments. That this valuable vegetation is under stress has emerged as a research and urbanisation issue. Pierre Vollenweider is based at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research which is concerned with the use, development and protection of natural and urban spaces. Together […]