Role of Trees in Phytoremediation of Soils/Areas Polluted with Trace Elements
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Physiology and Metabolism".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 January 2022) | Viewed by 6221
Special Issue Editors
Interests: plant cell; plant cell wall; endomembrane system; plant anatomy; trace elements, focused on uptake by plant, transport, accumulation, effects and defense strategies—particularly at cellular and anatomical levels of plant organization; phytoremediation; transgenic plants for phytoremediation; bioimaging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plants; metal transporters; molecular and physiological mechanisms of plant metal cross-homeostasis; tolerance to zinc and cadmium; regulation of metals root-to-shoot translocation; signaling in response to zinc excess and mechanisms of cell-specific accumulation in leaves
Interests: migration of trace elements in post-industrial wastes; phytoextraction of metals/metalloids by tree species and short rotation coppice; interactions between elements or selected forms of the same element; biofortification of cultivated mushroom species with Li and Ge salts; long-term research of wild-growing mushroom species
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Trace elements (TEs) contamination in the environment is a widespread problem worldwide, and can arise from natural or anthropogenic sources (e.g., mining technology, heavy automobile traffic, smelting, manufacturing, and the deposition of agricultural waste in natural and agricultural areas). They are persistent pollutants which are not degradable. In addition, TEs are regarded as one of the most hazardous pollutants affecting living organisms. To cope with TE pollution phytoremediation, the use of plants and their associated microbes for environmental clean-up has gained acceptance as a cost-effective, eco-sustainable, alternative or complementary technology for engineering-based remediation methods. A good example of the successful application of phytoremediation is the reclamation of the area highly polluted with TEs after the Aznalcóllar mine accident, where a slurry composed mainly of acidic water loaded with a high level of TEs such as As, Cd, Pb, and Zn was released and covered a strip 40 km in length and 300 m in width along rivers. This area, designated as a public nature reserve (the “Guadiamar Green Corridor”), became an in situ experimental area for phytoremediation.
Since the emergence of phytoremediation, a great deal of research has focused on its development for the removal of TEs from soil (phytoextraction) and/or the reduction of metal bioavailability, mobility, and ecotoxicity in soil (phytostabilization). An important aspect of the research is also the improvement of plant phytoremediation potential.
Trees are regarded as some of the most promising plants for phytoremediation. Large biomass production and a wide root system allow trees to immobilize TEs within the rhizosphere and/or to take up large amounts of TEs to be ultimately deposited within their tissues.
Therefore, in this Special Issue, which concerns the use of trees in the phytoextraction/phytoremediation of TE-contaminated soils, we welcome articles (original research papers, perspectives, hypotheses, opinions, reviews, modeling approaches, and methods) that focus on the following topics:
- TE uptake and accumulation;
- TE transport from roots to the stem and leaves;
- Resistance of different tree species to substrates which are highly contaminated with TEs;
- The efficiency of different tree species in TE phytoextraction and phytostabilization;
- TEs’ effects on trees—both detrimental alterations and the symptoms of plant defense response—at all levels of plant organization (including wood chemistry, e.g., content of cellulose and lignin);
- Improvement of the efficiency of different tree species in TE phytoextraction and phytostabilization, both by the inoculation of microorganisms (e.g., bacteria and fungi) and by the construction of transgenic trees;
- Trees in the restoration of TE-contaminated soils—practical applications and long perspective.
The topics mentioned above relate to the results obtained both in laboratory and field conditions and different levels of plant organization: morphological, anatomical, cellular, physiological, molecular, and genetic.
Prof. Dr. Magdalena Krzesłowska
Prof. Dr. Danuta Antosiewicz
Prof. Dr. Miroslaw Mleczek
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- trace elements pollution
- trace elements phytoextraction
- trace elements phytostabilization
- phytoremediation efficiency of trees
- transgenic trees for phytoremediation
- trace elements uptake
- trace elements transport
- trace elements effects
- defense strategies against trace elements
- trace elements accumulation
- bioaccumulation factor
- translocation factor
- soil microorganisms
- plant cell
- plant tissue
- cell wall
- vacuole
