Trace metals occur as natural constituents of the earth's crust, and are ever present constituents of soils, natural waters and living matter. The biological significance of this disparate assemblage of elements has gradually been uncovered during the twentieth century; the resultant picture is one of ever-increasing complexity. Several of these elements have been demonstrated to be essential to the functions of living organisms, others appear to only interact with living matter in a toxic manner, whilst an ever-decreasing number do not fall conveniently into either category. When the interactions between trace metals and plants are considered, one must take full account of the known chemical properties of each element. Consideration must be given to differences in chemical reactivity, solubility and to interactions with other inorganic and organic molecules. A clear understanding of the basic chemical properties of an element of interest is an essential pre-requisite to any subsequent consideration of its biological significance. Due consideration to basic chemical considerations is a theme which runs through the collection of chapters in both volumes.

Plant Metal Interaction: Emerging Remediation Techniques covers different heavy metals and their effect on soils and plants, along with the remediation techniques currently available. As cultivable land is declining day-by-day as a result of increased metals in our soil and water, there is an urgent need to remediate these effects. This multi-contributed book is divided into four sections covering the whole of plant metal interactions, including heavy metals, approaches to alleviate heavy metal stress, microbial approaches to remove heavy metals, and phytoremediation. - Provides an overview of the effect of different heavy metals on growth, biochemical reactions, and physiology of various plants - Serves as a reference guide for available techniques, challenges, and possible solutions in heavy metal remediation - Covers sustainable technologies in uptake and removal of heavy metals

Heavy metal phytotoxicity has been known for more than a century. However, research in the past years has confirmed the immense damage by metal pollution to plants, the soil and ultimately to humans. By reviewing both field and laboratory work, this book deals with the various functional and ecological aspects of heavy metal stress on plants and outlines the scope for future research and the possibilities for remediation.

Human activities have dramatically changed the composition and organisation of soils. Industrial and urban wastes, agricultural application and also mining activities resulted in an increased concentration of heavy metals in soils. How plants and soil microorganisms cope with this situation and the sophisticated techniques developed for survival in contaminated soils is discussed in this volume. The topics presented include: the general role of heavy metals in biological soil systems; the relation of inorganic and organic pollutions; heavy metal, salt tolerance and combined effects with salinity; effects on abuscular mycorrhizal and on saprophytic soil fungi; heavy metal resistance by streptomycetes; trace element determination of environmental samples; the use of microbiological communities as indicators; phytostabilization of lead polluted sites by native plants; effects of soil earthworms on removal of heavy metals and the remediation of heavy metal contaminated tropical land.

This title focuses on the many aspects of the interaction between plants and heavy metals. Not only it describes the effects of heavy metal toxicity on the plant cell and its organs but it also examines the mechanisms that plants adopt to scavenge heavy metals at cellular, physiological, and metabolic level. Plants and Heavy Metals also analyses Hyperaccumulator plants and shows their potential role in phytoremediation technologies in light of the recent research results.

This book is compilation of studies related with the xenobiotics i.e. chemical or other substance that is not normally found in the ecosystems and get accumulated at higher concentration in the biological system due to rampant industrialisation and urbanisation activities. This book has tried to give information on various issues to give comprehensive and concise knowledge of the recent advancement in the field of environmental xenobiotics and how it disturbs the plants metabolism. Other key features of the book are related to xenobiotic toxicity and detoxification mechanism, biochemical tools toward its remediation processes, molecular mechanism for xenobiotics detoxification and effect on metallomics. It also focuses on recent development in the field of waste water remediation concerned with the xenobiotics involvement. This book is different in such a way that it includes all the initial information along with the new researches. It includes the description of problem along with its solution. This volume describe the effects of xenobiotics at different levels i.e. biochemical, physiological and molecular, giving the details on signaling pathways to modify the responses of xenobiotics in plant system. Thus, it gives confirming crosstalk between xenobiotic effects and signalling pathways. This book includes description about both the organic contaminants such as pesticides, solvents and petroleum products as well as inorganic xenobiotics that include heavy metals, non-metals, metalloids, and simple soluble salts. Here the plant is main objective and that have to deal with these kinds of compounds either by avoiding accumulation of these compounds or by exhibiting several enzymatic reactions for detoxification including oxidation, reduction, and conjugation reactions. Affected plants exhibit several enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant and other reactions for detoxification of ROS including oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis and conjugation reactions. The book focuses on different forms and sources of xenobiotics including organic and inorganic xenobiotics. The matter of this book will definitely increase the knowledge about the impacts of xenobiotics on plants system. There must be potentially broad readership who could find this fruitful for their study as well as for their research. As this book has balance between basic plant physiology and toxicity caused by the xenobiotics so it can be widely used in several disciplines. Overall, the book will bring deep knowledge in the field of xenobiotics toxicity in plants during recent years and it is definitely a compilation of interesting information which isn't fully covered elsewhere in the current market.

This edited book, Soil Contamination - Threats and Sustainable Solutions, is intended to provide an update on different aspects of soil contamination exerted by a multiplicity of exogenous and endogenous causes. We hope that this book will continue to increase information from diverse sources and to give some real-life examples, extending the appreciation of the complexity of this subject in a way that may stimulate new approaches in relevant fields.

Metals are important environmental pollutants and their toxicity is a problem of increasing significance for ecological, nutritional, and environmental reasons. These pollutants, ultimately derived from a growing number of diverse anthropogenic sources (industrial effluents and wastes, urban runoff, sewage treatment plants, boating activities, agricultural fungicide runoff, domestic garbage dumps, and mining operations), have progressively affected more and more different ecosystems. Even agricultural lands are progressively becoming enriched of metals due to long-term use of phosphatic fertilizers, sewage sludge application, dust from smelters, industrial waste and bad watering practices in agricultural lands.Among these metals, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo and Zn are pivotal micronutrients, while Ag, As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Sb and V and are non-essential for plants and have no known function as nutrients and seem to be more or less toxic to all plants and microorganisms. Sodium excess deserves particular attention. Several agricultural lands are indeed becoming familiar with the problem of salinization, due to the use of fresh water which contains a high level of NaCl or due to intensive fertilization, especially in arid and semi-arid environments characterized by poor rainfalls. Overall, the presence of both essential and non-essential metals in the atmosphere, soil and water, in excessive amounts, can cause serious problems to all organisms. Knowledge of plant-metal interactions is important for the safety of the environment, but also for reducing the risks associated with the introduction of trace metals into the food chain. Although intense research has been conducted during the last 30 years, many aspects remain to be clarified concerning the effect of metals in higher plants.Our goal for this book is to critically review existing literature related to the specific effects of different metals in plants, as well as to provide new evidence about plant-metal interactions in order to clarify mechanisms of metal uptake, translocation, and partitioning and the effect of metal toxicity. Consequences related to accumulation of metals in food products have been described. Physiological and biochemical mechanisms adopted by plants to cope with metal excess and possible implications for phytoremediation of metal-contaminated soils are also discussed. Therefore, we believe that this book will provide a comprehensive overview regarding some aspects of metal toxicity in plants and it will be useful for scientist working in this field of research, but it will also be of practical interest to environmentalists, policy-makers, and resource managers working on the topic. We wish to thank all the authors who joined this book project by contributing their valuable work. Lastly, we extend our sincere thanks to Nova Science Publishers for their efficient support.

Understanding metalloids and the potential impact they can have upon crop success or failure Metalloids have a complex relationship with plant life. Exhibiting a combination of metal and non-metal characteristics, this small group of elements – which includes boron (B), silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), and tellurium (Te) – may hinder or enhance the growth and survival of crops. The causes underlying the effects that different metalloids may have upon certain plants range from genetic variance to anatomical factors, the complexities of which can pose a challenge to botanists and agriculturalists of all backgrounds. With Metalloids in Plants, a group of leading plant scientists present a complete guide to the beneficial and adverse impacts of metalloids at morphological, anatomical, biochemical, and molecular levels. Insightful analysis of data on genetic regulation helps to inform the optimization of farming, indicating how one may boost the uptake of beneficial metalloids and reduce the influence of toxic ones. Contained within this essential new text, there are: Expert analyses of the role of metalloids in plants, covering their benefits as well as their adverse effects Explanations of the physiological, biochemical, and genetic factors at play in plant uptake of metalloids Outlines of the breeding and genetic engineering techniques involved in the generation of resistant crops Written for students and professionals in the fields of agriculture, botany, molecular biology, and biotechnology, Metalloids in Plants is an invaluable overview of the relationship between crops and these unusual elements.

A guide to environmental fluctuations that examines photosynthesis under both controlled and stressed conditions Photosynthesis, Productivity and Environmental Stress is a much-needed guide that explores the topics related to photosynthesis (both terrestrial and aquatic) and puts the focus on the basic effect of environmental fluctuations. The authors—noted experts on the topic—discuss photosynthesis under both controlled and stressed conditions and review new techniques for mitigating stressors including methods such as transgeneics, proteomics, genomics, ionomics, metabolomics, micromics, and more. In order to feed our burgeoning world population, it is vital that we must increase food production. Photosynthesis is directly related to plant growth and crop production and any fluctuation in the photosynthetic activity imposes great threat to crop productivity. Due to the environmental fluctuations plants are often exposed to the different environmental stresses that cause decreased photosynthetic rate and problems in the plant growth and development. This important book addresses this topic and: Covers topics related to terrestrial and aquatic photosynthesis Highlights the basic effect of environmental fluctuations Explores common stressors such as drought, salinity, alkalinity, temperature, UV-radiations, oxygen deficiency, and more Contains methods and techniques for improving photosynthetic efficiency for greater crop yield Written for biologists and environmentalists, Photosynthesis, Productivity and Environmental Stress offers an overview of the stressors affecting photosynthesis and includes possible solutions for improved crop production.