Understanding the Role of Ruderal Plant Species in Restoration of Degraded Lands

Abstract

Ruderal plants are dynamic functional group characterized by their resistance to changing conditions of areas under anthropogenic influence. Opportunistic character enables them wide and fast spreading on growing number of degraded sites, including polluted ones. Not only are ruderal plants able to easily colonize open, degraded areas of land, but they can also be observed as a biological signal that the degraded land is able to recover. Therefore, many ruderal plants are studied for their capacity to cope with various inorganic and organic contaminants in the environment and recognized for their potential in remediation of various degraded lands. Many annual, perennial and woody species are investigated on range of contaminated sites where they showed potential to be applied in phytoremediation technologies. Degraded habitats represent favorable areas for introduction and spreading of invasive species, and some ruderal species. Those ruderal species, owing traits such as high seed production rate, efficient vegetative spreading and rapid nutrient uptake, could rapidly spread in such areas out of their native range, becoming invasive. Common traits of ruderal plants are mostly matching the desirable traits of plant suitable for phytoremediation purposes. As research in the area of phytoremediation continues to develop toward increasing the remediation efficiency, ruderal plants are gradually being subjected to various experiments and applications aiming to improve element bioavailability, plant tolerance or accumulation capacity. Overall, ruderal plants show high potential for remediation of degraded lands, and their importance will grow over time with increasing rate of anthropogenic disturbances and climate changes.