**About the Editors**

**Muhammad Arslan** is a postdoctoral fellow at The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He obtained his doctoral degree in natural sciences from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, while working as a gues<sup>t</sup> scientist at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany. By training, Dr. Arslan is an environmental microbiologist, currently attempting to optimize the bio-/phyto-remediation of industrial wastewaters via constructed wetlands, bio-reactors, and hybrid systems. His scientific interest lies in theoretical and applied aspects of the microbial ecology of these systems, primarily to understand the underlying mechanisms of pollutant degradation and/or transformation, along with the response of bacterial communities to the environmental stressors. His latest research has discovered that antimicrobials (cotrimoxazole) in constructed wetlands can cause in planta dysbiosis. Although the knowledge established to date is in its infancy, such a perturbance of plant endophytic communities could affect the host's health and, hence, compromise the system's remediation performance. He is also studying the evolution of specific microbes that are exposed to recalcitrants (e.g., naphthenic acids) in natural ecosystems.

**Muhammad Afzal**, Principal Scientist at the National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad (Pakistan), has pioneered the "Floating Treatment Wetland" (FTW) technology in Pakistan at the field scale for the treatment of sewage and industrial wastewater. Since 2014, floating treatment wetland technology and constructed wetlands have been applied at more than 20 sites in Pakistan to improve the quality of 700 million m3 of wastewater. Recently, Dr. Afzal held the runner-up position for the Nature Research Awards for Driving Global Impact. He is the first Asian scientist to win this prestigious award, which includes a cash prize of USD 10,000, in recognition for his work addressing polluted soil and wastewater through self-sustaining and environment-friendly technologies. Previously, Dr. Afzal was awarded a Gold Medal in Earth and Environmental Sciences by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences. Muhammad is an author of 90 research articles, with a total impact factor of 400 and 4800 citations; he published an article in Nature Sustainability as the first and corresponding author. Muhammad is also a member of the Society of Wetland Scientists.

**Naser A. Anjum**, Assistant Professor at the Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U.P. (India), received postdoctoral research training at the University of Aveiro (Portugal), Agricultural Biotechnology Research Centre, Academia Sinica (Taiwan), and Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (India). Dr. Anjum has contributed to the biology of "plant/crop–environment adaptation". His work has elucidated the physiology and biochemistry of plants (crops and salt-marsh macrophytes), and their adaptation to/tolerance of various abiotic stress factors and emerging pollutants. Dr. Anjum has also contributed to the field of phytoremediation and assessed plant/salt-marsh macrophyte chemical-pollutant-remediation potential and the underlying physiological/(bio)chemical mechanisms. He has been a pioneer worker unveiling nano-graphene-mediated oxidative stress, antioxidant metabolism and the glutathione-redox system, and also the significance of glutathione-independent defense systems in food-crop models. Dr. Anjum received prestigious research awards from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (Portugal), Academia Sinica (Taiwan); Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR); and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), New Delhi (India). Dr. Anjum has published >100 peer-reviewed articles with >5000 citations, and has an h-index of 38 (SCOPUS). He has also edited 15 books and journal special issues. Dr. Anjum is a Fellow of The Linnean Society of London; Plantae, American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), USA; and International Society of Environmental Botanists (ISEB), NBRI, India. Dr. Anjum is also on the Editorial boards of several reputed international journals.
