Metal toxicity in higher plants / Marco Landi, Sergiy A. Shemet and Volodymyr S. Fedenko, editors.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Fedenko, Volodymyr S., editor.

Shemet, Sergiy A., editor.

Landi, Marco, editor.

Series:

Environmental science, engineering and technology series.

Environmental Science, Engineering and Technology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Environmental chemistry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (270 pages).

Place of Publication:

New York : Nova Science Publishers, [2020]

Summary:

"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. Physiological and biochemical mechanisms adopted by plants to cope with metal excess and possible implications for phytoremediation of metal-contaminated soils are also discussed"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-5361-6790-8