Diversity of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Associated with a Sb Accumulator Plant, Ramie (Boehmeria nivea), in an Active Sb Mining.

Antimony (Sb) is the ninth-most mined metal worldwide, and its compounds are listed as priority pollutants by the US Environment Protection Agency [63] and the European Union [14]. Because Sb occurs in the environment mostly as a co-contaminant of more toxic elements such as Pb or As, its biogeochemistry and ecotoxicity have been generally overlooked in research, especially about contaminanted soils [62]. However, soil pollution with Sb caused by mining and manufacturing has become increasingly serious because of the wide industrial use of this metalloid [23, 69]. An estimated 12-16 million tons was consumed worldwide; China is the highest producer of Sb, accounting for approximately 84.0% of the world’s share [24, 26]. Sb is hazardous to human health and some Sb compounds are even considered to be potentially carcinogenic [19, 21]. Ecologically, Sb stress may harm plants by affecting their development, biomass, and quality [13, 44]. Owing to this toxicity and current patterns of pollution, there is a Received: November 13, 2014 Revised: March 20, 2015 Accepted: April 10, 2015