Lina Marcela Mosquera Chaverra
Gold mining requires abundant use of mercury for its extraction, generating an amalgam, which prevents gold particles from being lost during washing. However, mercury is one of the main sources of contamination of ecosystems and public health problems in the department of Chocó. Nevertheless, in areas affected by mining, diverse plant communities emerge that can survive and reproduce, which could indicate adaptation to the contaminant and, therefore, eliminate it, retain it, or reduce its toxicity in the ecosystems. Plants that accumulate heavy metals can translocate them to high levels. So far, studies carried out in the department of Chocó have focused on evaluating their presence in humans, water, sediments, and fish, lacking information on their effect on vegetation.
Observing the vegetation of the site. © Andrés Lloreda.
In this sense, this project seeks to identify the plant species that grow in mining sites contaminated with mercury, and to evaluate their phytoremediation potential, since this technique uses plants to remove contaminants from water or soil. To achieve this, we will select sites with different periods of mining disturbance in the municipalities of Atrato and Lloró, this will allow us to evaluate their floristic composition, identifying the most predominant species, and how the abundance and diversity of species varies according to the period of disturbance; finally, we will take samples of plants and the soil that contains them to determine the concentrations of mercury, and calculate their potential for phytoremediation. Therefore, we will provide a baseline of native plants that can be used in future remediation and ecological restoration programs without the need to introduce plant species into the region.
Header: Sampling of plants found at sites disturbed by gold mining and that mercury has been used for gold recovery. Three individuals of the same species and the rhizosphere soil of the plant are taken to determine the concentration of mercury. In case of mercury accumulation, chemical analysis will determine how much mercury the plant accumulated at that site. © Lina Marcela Mosquera Chaverra, Luis Carlos Perea and Abigail Córdoba.