Plant traits regulated metal(loid)s in dominant herbs in an antimony mining area of the Karst Zone, China

Understanding how plant functional traits respond to mining activities and impact metal(loid) accumulation in dominant species is crucial for exploring the driving mechanisms behind plant community succession and predicting the ecological restoration potential of these plants. In this study, we investigated four dominant herbaceous species (Artemisia argyi, Miscanthus sinensis, Ficus tikoua, and Ageratina Adenophora) growing on antimony (Sb) mining sites (MS) with high Sb and arsenic (As) levels, as well as non-mining sites (NMS). The aim was to analyze the variations in functional traits and their contribution to Sb and As concentrations in plants. Our results indicate that mining activities enhanced soil nitrogen (N) limitation, phosphorus (P) enrichment, while significantly reducing the plant height of three species, except for F. tikoua. The four species absorbed more calcium (Ca) to ensure higher tolerance to Sb and As levels, which is related to the activation of Ca signaling path..., , , # Data from: Plant functional traits determine metals accumulation among dominant herbaceous species in an antimony mining of Karst Zone, China

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.djh9w0w6z](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.djh9w0w6z)

This dataset is used to analyze the determinants of metals (Sb and As) accumulation in four dominant herbaceous species under mining activity.

## Description of the data and file structure

1. Soil-all: The soil dataset of this study. Site and black are the sampling sites (SK and SFK) and area (mining site and no-mining site). SWC, soil water content (%); pH, soil pH; TN, total nitrogen content (g kg-1); TP, total phosphorus content (g kg-1); TK, total potassium content (g kg-1); AN, available nitrogen content (mg kg-1); AP, available phosphorus content (mg kg-1); AK, available potassium content (mg kg-1); TCa, available potassium content (mg kg-1); TSb, total antimony content (mg kg-1); TAs, total arsenic content (mg kg-1); ASb, available antimony content (mg ...