Fast-growing woody species are increasingly used to stabilise and extract metals from marginal land. Kovačević et al. (2025) tested willow and poplar clones on substrates from two Serbian landfills and confirmed that lead accumulation is strongly clone-dependent.
Interclonal variation
The study found significant differences in lead accumulation among clones of Salix and Populus. Some clones concentrated more lead in leaves and stems, while others partitioned lead primarily to roots. This variation is consistent with earlier work showing that willow and poplar populations differ in metal uptake, transpiration, and root architecture.
Landfills as a special case
Landfill substrates are physically and chemically heterogeneous, often compacted, low in nutrients, and variable in pH. A clone chosen for agricultural biomass may perform poorly under these conditions. Screening on the actual substrate, or a close analogue, is therefore more informative than relying on published averages.
Phytoextraction or phytostabilisation?
The clones that accumulated lead in harvestable wood could be coppiced repeatedly to remove metal from the site. Those that retained lead in roots act more as stabilising covers. Both roles are useful, but they require different management and expectations. The paper’s main contribution is to show that clone selection should be treated as a design variable, not an afterthought.
This analysis is grounded in the cited primary source. See our methodology for how woody-plant screening studies are interpreted.