Soil-Water Contamination and Ecological Restoration Using Plants
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 5
Special Issue Editors
Interests: emerging contaminants in soil and water; ecological remediation using plants; interactions within contaminant–microbiology–plant; biochar, biofilter and wetland
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The dynamic interplay between soil, water, and plants constitutes a fundamental nexus underpinning terrestrial or aquatic ecosystem function, agricultural productivity, and global biogeochemical cycles. These components are inextricably linked through complex physical, chemical, and biological processes that govern resource acquisition, nutrient cycling, and environmental resilience. Soil is well-acknowledged as the critical substrate, providing structural anchorage, a reservoir of essential nutrients, and a habitat for microbiota vital to plant health. Water acts as the universal solvent and transport medium, facilitating nutrient uptake by roots, driving physiological processes like photosynthesis and transpiration; and shaping soil structure and microbial activity.
However, the pervasive contamination of soil and water by traditional and particularly emerging contaminants (ECs) has raised a critical and evolving environmental challenge recently. These substances, mainly including nutrients, heavy metal, personal care products (PPCPs), perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), microplastics, nanomaterials and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are characterized not by their novelty but by their recent recognition as significant threats to ecological sustainability and human health. Unlike legacy pollutants, ECs often lack comprehensive regulatory frameworks, standardized detection methods, and full understanding of their long-term environmental fate and toxicological profiles. The continuous introduction of ECs into terrestrial and aquatic plant systems might occur via diverse pathways. Critically, the complex interactions among soil–water–plants matrices might facilitate the transport; transformation (e.g. biodegradation, photolysis, sorption), and persistence of ECs across interconnected environmental compartments. Understanding the bidirectional feedbacks within this soil–plant–water continuum—particularly concerning rhizosphere processes and responses to ECs stress—is, therefore, paramount for addressing pressing challenges such as sustainable food security, water resource management, and particularly ecosystem restoration.
This Special Issue of Plants will highlight the occurrence; behaviors; impacts of ECs within the soil–water–plants continuum, as well as the microbial/biological adaption or tolerance responses to ECs stress, which is imperative for developing effective risk assessment protocols; monitoring strategies, and mitigation technologies to maintain ecological sustainability.
Dr. Junkang Wu
Dr. Chong Cao
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- soil/water contamination
- nitrogen and phosphorus
- heavy metal
- microplastics (MPs)
- perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs)
- antibiotics
- aquatic and terrestrial plants
- wetland
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