Natural revegetation potential of Japanese wild thyme (Thymus quinquecostatus Celak.) on serpentine quarries

Abstract

Quarrying is an important industry that supports human infrastructure, but it has negative effects on human health, environments, and plant communities. In the case of the serpentine quarry on Sugashima Island (Sugashima), Japan, rapid remediation using native plants is necessary to restore the serpentine ecosystem. According to our previous work, we revealed high adaptability of Japanese wild thyme (Thymus quinquecostatus Celak.) to the severe environment of serpentine areas, and we desired to utilize this species for revegetation. However, basic information on Japanese thyme was extremely limited, in comparison with well‐investigated European thymes that have been used for revegetation experiments. The aims of this work were to identify the plant functional traits of wild thymes collected from different areas of Japan and to test their potential for revegetation of serpentine quarry soil. We collected four types of wild thyme from Sugashima and other areas of serpentine, calcareous, and tuff breccia soil, and revealed varietal differences in leaf form, branching patterns, flowers, and also blooming season, seed formation ability, and seed germination percentages. Thymes from serpentine and calcareous areas could grow on soil of the serpentine quarry, and a small number of plants were able to cover the experimental plots. Among the Japanese thymes investigated, Sugashima thyme had the longest branches, and spread rapidly by forming many branches. These data suggest that Japanese thymes, especially Sugashima thyme, have good potential for revegetation of serpentine quarries.

The Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Essential Oil from Korean Native Thyme Bak-Ri-Hyang (Thymus quinquecostatus Celak.)

“…Thyme is a perennial deciduous shrub known to be native to the Mediterranean coast of southern Europe [14]. It is also native to Korea [15,16], China [17], Japan, Mongolia, Central Asia [18], and other subtropical and temperate regions. In the Lamiaceae family, the genus Thymus has a large number of species and is considered important among botanists because of its high commercial and medicinal value.…”

A global forum on ultramafic ecosystems: from ultramafic ecology to rehabilitation of degraded environments

“…Over the years, the issue of how to restore or rehabilitate ultramafic environments that have been affected by mining, quarrying or other activities, has gained substantial attention at the ICSEs. Three articles published in the Special Issue report on different case studies related to this topic (Boisson et al 2018;Mizuno et al 2018;Quintela Sabarı´s et al 2018).…”

“…The following two papers report experiences and case-studies of how the use of metallophytes can be successful for the rehabilitation of mine and quarry sites. Mizuno et al (2018) show how some native populations of Japanese wild thyme (Thymus quinquecostatus, Lamiaceae) from ultramafic sites in Japan can be successfully used as first vegetation covers of serpentinite quarries. Boisson et al (2018) report how phytostabilisation of polluted areas using local endemic metallophytes, such as Microchloa altera (Poaceae), in the province of Katanga (DR of Congo) represents an opportunity to decrease the bioavailability of heavy metals in the highly polluted soils resulting from base metal mining.…”

Functions of nickel in higher plants: A review

“…On average, the total Ni content in soil varies from 0.2 to 450 mg kg -1 (Kabata-Pendias, 2000), while the median for Europe was 14.7 mg Ni kg -1 soil (Albanese, 2015). Serpentine soils are particularly known for high Ni levels (Mizuno et al, 2018). Soils formed on serpentines contain from 100 to 7,000 mg kg -1 Ni.…”