ABSTRACT
Continued selection pressure from chronic environmental contamination can prompt adaptational changes as well as toxicity. The survival of long-lived woody species depends on the ability to adapt in the short term to environmental change; and there is mounting evidence to suggest that some species may be able to take advantage of polluted environments and in some cases ameliorate them (5). Trees are now the focus of a great deal of research dealing with low-cost environmental clean-up, specifically for controlling hydrology, degrading organic contaminants in groundwater plumes, stabilizing eroded sediments, removing heavy metals from contaminated soil, and as biological filters for sewage sludge disposal.
