Data from Youth and stress tolerance traits increase soil-plant metal transfer in polluted mining areas

We tested whether soil-plant transfer varies with soil abiotic factors, plant species identity and functional traits for nine potentially toxic metals. We collected aboveground tissues from 171 plants (seedlings, juveniles, reproductive and senescent individuals) growing in abandoned metal-polluted mining areas in SE Spain. Plants belonged to nine species and four functional groups (trees, shrubs, dwarf shrubs, and perennial grasses). We sampled the topsoil beneath each individual, and calculated TF for aluminium, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc. We provide a database of nine plant species located in three mine tailings in the Cartagena-La Unión mining district (Murcia, south-east Spain). It includes data on: I) physico-chemical soil data and metal content beneath the canopy of each plant, II) data on morphological variables, elemental composition and metal content of plants, III) data on the transfer factor (TF) from soil to plants and IV) data on the functional traits (morphological and physiological) of the plants.