Effects of selenium hyperaccumulators on soil selenium distribution and vegetation properties
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PREMISE: The ecological implications of hyperaccumulation have been investigated at the organismal level, but are poorly understood at the plant community level. Questions addressed here were: Does the presence of selenium (Se) hyperaccumulators affect Se distribution and concentration in their native soil, and do hyperaccumulators affect overall vegetation properties and species composition? METHODS: Plant survey and soil Se mapping were performed at three seleniferous sites in Colorado. In season one, plots with and without hyperaccumulators were compared for (1) bare ground, canopy cover, and species richness; (2) relative species abundance; (3) soil Se distribution and concentration. In season two, a smaller-scale design was implemented, focusing on areas 3 m in diameter around hyperaccumulators versus nonhyperaccumulators in 44 paired plots on one site. RESULTS: Plots with hyperaccumulators generally showed more bare ground, less canopy cover, higher species richness, and 2-3-fold higher soil Se levels. These patterns were not consistently significant across all sites; the effects of hyperaccumulators may have been diluted by their low abundance and the relatively large area of survey. In the smaller-scale study, highly significant results were obtained, showing more bare ground, less canopy cover, and higher species richness in plots with hyperaccumulators; soil Se concentration was also higher in plots with hyperaccumulators. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperaccumulators may significantly affect local soil Se concentration and vegetation over at least a 3 m diameter area, or 4× their canopy. These differences may result from the combined positive and negative allelopathic effects observed earlier at the organismal level.
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Selenium is a potentially toxic heavy metal ion distributed in trace amounts in the earth's crust in the form of metalloids.
“Selenium (Se) is another potentially toxic heavy metal ion distributed in trace amounts in the earth’s crust in the form of metalloids (Lima et al., 2018; Reynolds et al., 2020).”
From Plant hyperaccumulators: a state-of-the-art review on mechanism of heavy metal transport and sequestration (2025) · cites this paper as Reynolds et al., 2020
The Abstract (page unavailable) describes selenium in Western U.S. soils, its release from parent rock, and its potential toxicity to plants and livestock. It does not say selenium occurs in trace amounts throughout Earth’s crust or characterize it as a heavy metal ion or metalloid. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Bhat, B. A., Rather, M. A., Bilal, T., Nazir, R., Qadir, R. U., & Mir, R. A. (2025) · Frontiers in Plant Science · doi:10.3389/fpls.2025.1631378 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
“Selenium (Se) is another potentially toxic heavy metal ion distributed in trace amounts in the earth ’ s crust in the form of metalloids (Lima et al., 2018; Reynolds et al., 2020).”
- Authors
- Reynolds, R. J. B., Jones, R. R., Heiner, J., Crane, K. M., & Pilon‐Smits, E. A. H.
- Affiliations
- Colorado State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Pilon‐Smits, Elizabeth A.H.
- Venue
- American Journal of Botany
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-06-23
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 970-982
- ISSN
- 0002-9122 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-2197
- OpenAlex
- W3036281117
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 1.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- American Journal of Botany (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (IOS‐1456361)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Selenium in Biological Systems
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Allelopathy and phytotoxic interactions
- Keywords
- vegetation characteristics, species richness, canopy cover, bare ground, plant community effects, allelopathy, seleniferous soils, floristic composition
- MeSH terms
- Colorado, Plants, Selenium, Soil, Astragalus Plant
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