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Mean and standard error of species count in each treatment for various functional types for reference and explosives contaminated plots.
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Natural selection processes are constantly influencing vegetation community composition. In the presence of anthropogenic contaminants additional forces act as filters controlling persistence of naturally occurring species. Classical species diversity and richness metrics can miss subtle changes under disturbance regimes while species composition a...
Citations
Phytoremediation is currently an area of trending research due to its huge potential as a sustainable substitute for traditional methods of restoring contaminated sites. It is a profitable and ecological alternative to mechanical and chemical remediation techniques used worldwide. An increase in soil, water, and air pollution has severely disturbed an ecosystem functions and poses a huge threat to the natural and agricultural environment as well as public health. Remediation of the contaminated environment is one of the paramount concerns of the world. Hence this article deliberates on the general problems of pollutants linked to phytoremediation techniques of organic and inorganic contaminants, especially agrochemicals, petroleum, and explosive compounds. The paper also reviews a systematic assessment of the recent progress in the phytoremediation of contaminants in a natural and agricultural environment. Additionally, we highlight the benefits and limitations of phytoremediation along with a brief clarification of the resilient mechanistic removal of contaminants by a three-phase method. Finally, the perspective of biotechnological approaches in remediation is also suggested; taking into consideration the future of synergistic remediation approaches and genetically improved plants to enhance phytoremediation.
Metals are ubiquitous for life sustenance on earth, but their tremendous accumulation in ecosystems has caused contamination of soil and water resources. “Ex situ” and “in situ” are two possible remediating options. Ex situ remediation involves excavation of polluted soil followed by treatment, rendering it an expensive cleanup method. In situ phytoremediation is the onsite contaminant removal through plant uptake in a cost-effective and eco-friendly way. Phytoextraction and phytostabilization are two commonly practiced in situ phytoremediation strategies. This chapter focuses on basic concepts of in situ phytoremediation and removal of toxic heavy metals from soil–water environment.
The widespread use of civilian, industrial, and military munitions has led to pollution by explosive compounds in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Each step in the life cycle of a munition from production, transport, storage, distribution, and destruction can introduce explosives as pure liquid or solids via leaching, contaminant spills, trace particles, whole or partial unexploded and exploded ordnance. Remediating explosives is difficult because the behavior of any one explosive compound is rather difficult as a number of factors can vastly alter how it moves, where it binds, and how it is sequestered by organisms. The phytoremediation of explosives focuses largely on sequestering compounds in their parent forms or transforming and degrading the compounds to inert forms using inherent metabolic processes in the plants themselves.
Agricultural pollution is a global environmental concern. Agricultural pollution is mainly caused by the application of farming inputs (e.g., fertilizers and pesticides) and practices (e.g., excessive tillage of the land and runoff). Agricultural pollutants may include essential plant nutrients (e.g., excessive amounts of nitrate and phosphate), toxic inorganic (e.g., heavy metals), and organic compounds (e.g., pesticides). Due to their high toxicities, agricultural pollutants pose a grave threat to the biological system. Thus, the removal of such toxic substances is crucially important for the safety of the ecosystem and human health. Phytoremediation is believed to be a promising option for the removal of agricultural pollutants and holds a great promise as a mean to cleanup polluted water and soil environments. In this chapter, we compiled data regarding phytoremediation of organic and inorganic agricultural pollutants and discussed different strategies of plants for pollutant removal. Although plants alone have the ability to utilize different strategies to remove the toxic agricultural pollutants, integrated approaches such as microbes and plant associations (rhizoremediation) are seemed to be attractive options for improving removal of agricultural pollutants.
