Plant Community Diversity in the Heavy Metal Contaminated “Cause-way" in Calancan Bay, Sta. Cruz, Marinduque

Abstract

This study described the current plant diversity along the minetailing deposits comprising the “causeway” in Calancan bay. Sta. Cntz. Marinduquc. The physico-chemical properties of the soil were measured. Shannon’s and Simpson's indices of diversity were computed and the correlation between heavy metal (Pb and Cd) concentration in soil and plant diversity along the causeway was determined. Loamy sand was dominant for the whole study site. Soil pH and soil temperature were of optimum values while the moisture content, water holding capacity, organic matter content, and cation exchange capacity of the soil were all relatively low. Lead concentrations were within normal range but cadmium concentrations were slightly above normal values. Sacchanini spontaneum, Leucaena glauca and hyptis suaveolens were the most significant species with importance values of 67.58. 52.94 and 48 52 respectively. Moreover, the most dominant family observed was the grass family or Poaccac. The plant community had a relatively high diversity for both Simpson's and Shannon's indices with an average of 5.45 and 2.05. The correlation between heavy metal (Pb and Cd) concentration and plant diversity was determined to be weakly linear, revealing a weak association between these two variables. High diversity amid heavy metal pollution could be mainly attributed to the adaptive characteristics of observed plant species, specifically hyperaccumulation.