Tree- and Shrub-Based Phytoremediation: Pollution Control and Ecosystem Services

Dear Colleagues,

The use of plants (and associated soil microbes) to reduce the concentrations or toxic effects of contaminants in the environment (phytoremediation) represents an efficient, cost-effective, solar-driven, in situ remediation strategy for contaminated environmental matrixes.

Even if designed for the management of environmental pollution, the tree covers generated for phytoremediation can provide several additional ecosystem services. The large number of contaminated sites existing in the world (2.8 million in Europe and 450000 in the USA, mostly located in urban and peri-urban areas) and the opportunity to reclaim a significant fraction of them with phytoremediation techniques suggest that these “constructed woodlands” may have a great potential for providing a variety of regulating, provisioning, and cultural services. In the European context, phytoremediation can also contribute to meeting the 3 billion additional trees goal set by the EU by 2030.

The aim of this Special Issue is to raise awareness about the relevance of the secondary benefits provided by phytoremediation, and we encourage researchers to submit studies addressing the analysis of these additional services. In the framework of the planning, implementation, and monitoring of phytoremediation interventions, potential topics include the following:

• Carbon sequestration in biomass and soil;
• Regulation of urban temperature;
• Improvement of chemical, physical, and biological properties of the soil;
• Regulation of urban hydrology;
• Increase in biodiversity at the species and ecosystem levels;
• Reduction of airborne particulate matter pollution;
• Production of biomass for bioenergy and conversion into added-value compounds and materials;
• Aesthetic improvement of the sites;
• Enhancement of community cohesion;
• Improvement of psychological and physical health.

Dr. Dario Liberati
Dr. Ronald S. Zalesny, Jr.
Guest Editors

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