A scientific study conducted by faculty members at the University of Basrah—Dr. Dunya Ali Hussein, Inas Awni Mahdi, Dr. Nayef Mohsen Aziz, and Ms. Zainab Fouad Salem from the Department of Ecology, College of Science—investigated the efficiency of phytoremediation in removing heavy metals.

The study was published in the *Environment and Natural Resources Journal*, which is indexed in the Scopus database.

The research demonstrated that the duckweed plant (*Lemna minor* L.) possesses a high capacity to accumulate and tolerate varying concentrations of heavy metals, including nickel, copper, zinc, iron, barium, manganese, and cobalt.

The study involved evaluating phytoremediation efficiency under fully controlled environmental conditions over a 14-day period.

The results revealed that the plant exhibited the highest accumulation efficiency and bioconcentration factor for iron (4.112), confirming its potential for successful use as an eco-friendly, low-cost technique for treating water contaminated with heavy metals.