Effect of Heavy Metals on Plants

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, scientific inquiries conducted by numerous research groups often focus on expanding our knowledge of the influence of the effects of numerous factors that destabilize plant growth and development. This includes both wild species and those used by humans for various purposes, primarily as a source of food, animal feed, metabolites for human and livestock welfare, wood and various byproducts. Plants are an important material used in landscaping and are essential in some technologies for remediation of various pollutants from different environmental compartments.

The demand for non-ferrous metals, such as gold, silver, platinum, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, tin, titanium, cadmium, beryllium, bismuth, cobalt, cerium, mercury, chromium, vanadium, tungsten or zirconium is still very high in various fields of economic activity due to their resistance to rust and corrosion. Most of these metals are useful in electronic equipment, electrical power cables or metal constructions, and many other industrial applications. Therefore, economically viable ore deposits containing these elements continue to be mined around the world. The extraction of ores, their processing and further industrial production is frequently associated with serious environmental pollution. Agroecosystems in particular receive large amounts of heavy metals through water or air, resulting in contamination of crops. An inevitable consequence is an increased incidence of human diseases such as cancer or serious diseases of cardiovascular system.

In the era of the Green Deal, we should only use ecologically justified technologies for environmental remediation, including phytoremediation techniques that utilise woody and herbaceous plants. Nevertheless, the methodology of this biological process should be tailored to specific in situ conditions, especially when the matrix (soil or water) is contaminated with a mixture of pollutants and the plants are exposed to additional stress factors assoil water deficiency, soil salinity or temperature stress. Alternative approaches include the use of soil amendments, the biotization or mycorrhization of plants to increase their tolerance and thus survival under such harsh growing conditions. These aspects of remediation technology are what we should now focus on to significantly reduce the human population’s exposure to contaminated food.

The purpose of this topic is to collect and present the contributions of active groups engaged in basic and applied research on all aspects of plant functioning under stress, especially in terms of effective ecosystem pollution control. Research articles, case-studies, reviews and viewpoints are all welcome. Even incomplete results and any feedback will be helpful to the entire scientific community involved in research on the above-mentioned topics.

Prof. Dr. Luigi Sanita' di Toppi
Prof. Dr. Ewa Joanna Hanus-Fajerska
Prof. Dr. Martin Backor
Topic Editors