Luís A. B. NovoScotland's Rural College | SRUC
Luís A. B. Novo
PhD
About
41
Publications
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502
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Additional affiliations
May 2015 - January 2019
March 2014 - February 2015
Publications
Publications (41)
Rhenium (Re) is one of the rarest (7 × 10−8 %) and most widely dispersed elements on Earth’s upper crust. As a consequence of its scarcity, Re is also one of the most expensive metals in the world market. Re is indeed highly demanded by the aerospace industry for the production of high-temperature superalloy turbine blades. There is a lack of study...
The exponential growth of low-grade mining ores and metal-polluted soils around the world during the last decades is expected to continue at a higher rate in the foreseeable future. Yet, the strategic and commercial importance of some elements found in those sub-economic ores and soils, their elevated market prices, and the corresponding environmen...
The ever growing buildup of mine waste across the planet has become a global concern. Mine spoils often endanger surrounding ecosystems because toxic metals migrate through air, water, and soil, and ultimately enter the food chain. Yet, conventional techniques are usually impracticable because of the large amounts of mine waste, their cost and freq...
The arrival of sequence-specific endonucleases that allow genome editing has shaken the pillars of basic and applied plant biology. Clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR) is a revolutionary genome-engineering tool that enables the enhancement of targeted traits in plants. Numerous plants, including energy crops, known for thei...
Rhenium (Re) is one of the scarcest and more broadly dispersed elements on Earth. Due to its paucity and high demand by the aerospace and petroleum industries, it is also one of the most valuable metals in the international market. In recent years, reports about the occurrence of Re in soils surrounding copper-molybdenum mines and its uptake by the...
Bioremediation of mining soils using metal tolerant fungi is widely considered as a promising cost-effective and ecofriendly approach. This study assessed the copper removal efficiency and bioaccumulation ability of the indigenous species Aspergillus hiratsukae LF1 and Aspergillus terreus LF2 isolated from the soils of an abandoned copper mine in O...
In this exploratory study, naturally occurring Salvinia biloba Raddi specimens were assessed for atrazine and carbendazim polluted water remediation. Experiments were carried out over 21 days in glass vessels containing deionized water artificially contaminated with 0, 5, 10, and 20 mg L ⁻¹ of atrazine or carbendazim. Atrazine had a pronounced detr...
Soil metal contamination is a major concern due to the ever-rising number of areas afflicted worldwide and the detrimental effects of metals to the environment and human health. Due to their non-biodegradability and toxicity, it is paramount to prevent further metal contamination and remediate the thousands of contaminated sites across the planet....
Anthropogenic and natural sources influence trace metals (TMs) bound to different sized particulate matter (PM) in dry and wet atmospheric deposition, which can create ecosystem and human health issues in the long run. Limited reviews are available summarizing worldwide concentrations in TMs in atmospheric PMs, their sources and pathways. Simultane...
Free-living macrophytes play an important role in the health of aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, the use of aquatic plants as metal biomonitors may be a suitable tool for the management of freshwater reservoirs. Hence, in this study, we assessed the effects of cadmium (Cd) in Salvinia biloba specimens collected from the Middle Paraná River during a 1...
The contamination of soils due to traffic-related activities has been an ever-growing concern since the mid-20th century. This global issue impacts both rural soils often used for agriculture and grazing, and urban soils in densely populated urban areas. Therefore, this work aimed to evaluate the distribution of catalytic converters-related element...
Research highlights: (1) Ecosystem development assessed in an afforested post-mining site. (2) Soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) stock reached close to the reference forest site after 25 years of afforestation. (3) Integrated mine soil quality index is developed to assess the reclamation success. Background and Objectives: Estimatio...
The ever-growing demand for metals has been fueling the development of alternative technologies to recover elements of interest from subeconomic deposits. One such example is phytomining, a technique that employs plants with the ability to accumulate astonishing amounts of metals in their tissues. These plants, called hyperaccumulators, can be used...
The occurrence of heavy metals in industrial wastewater is unanimously considered a major concern since these pollutants cannot be chemically or biologically degraded and therefore have long residence times. Phytoremediation is one of the most widespread biotechnological applications worldwide, which consists in the use of plants to adsorb or accum...
The advent of the industrial revolution has boosted human and technological development, but at a price. Contaminants have been increasingly accumulating across wider areas scattered around the world, making pollution a major planetary issue. Among these pollutants, those related to industrial waste are perhaps the most threatening due to their bro...
Mine tailings soils are a threat to the environment and public health. Phytotechnologys are a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to conventional methods for remediation of contaminated soils, as the latter as often environmentally harmful and costly. In this study is avaliated the potencial of biochar and compost to promote the development of...
Ultramafic areas are critical for nickel (Ni) phytomining due to the high concentration of this element in their soils and the number of hyperaccumulators they harbor. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential of the Morais massif, an ultramafic area in Portugal, for phytomining using the hyperaccumulator species Alyssum serpyllifo...
Traffic-related metal emissions have become a global concern due to their deposition in roadside soils and potential hazardous effects. This study evaluates metal levels in soils adjoining four highways of Rio de Janeiro (Linha Vermelha, Via Dutra, BR-465, and Avenida Brasil), chosen for their diverse traffic volumes, age, and urban/rural settings....
Rhenium (Re) is one of Earth’s scarcest and more largely scattered elements, with an estimate concentration of 0.4–0.6 μg kg⁻¹ in the upper crust. Still, considerable concentrations of bioavailable ReO4⁻ ions are often found, particularly in copper-molybdenum mines, where their uptake by plants of these regions has been reported. Yet, the impact of...
A degradação do meio ambiente, o aumento da urbanização, a elevada demanda energética, e as alterações climáticas, são atualmente alguns dos principais desafios do ser humano. Além disso, as atividades antropogênicas têm contribuído para a contaminação dos recursos naturais devido a geração, emissão e deposição de poluentes orgânicos e inorgânicos....
Soil is a complex dynamic system of critical importance for life on Earth. As natural and anthropogenic processes continuously use soil as sink or pathway to potentially toxic elements (PTEs) and organic pollutants (OPs), it is crucial to understand their distribution, transport, and fate. This chapter provides a brief and focused overview about th...
Traffic-related metal pollution is a serious worldwide concern. Roadside soils are constantly subjected to the deposition of metals released by tailpipe gases, vehicle parts, and road infrastructure components. These metals, including platinum group elements from catalytic converters, constitute a threat to surrounding ecosystems that frequently co...
Sci-Hub has shaken the pillars of scholarly publishing, providing free access to millions of paywall-protected scientific articles. Along the way, it has also challenged the hegemony of major publishers and a system propelled by scientometrics. Here we posit a scenario in which the myriad of papers offered by Sci-Hub could trigger a sudden flip to...
The pollution of terrestrial and aquatic environments with heavy metals is a serious concern on a worldwide scale. Trace elements can be highly toxic and carcinogenic for human health while also detrimental to animal and plant life of ecosystems surrounding contamination hotspots. Phytoremediation is a low-cost and environment-friendly plant-based...
Brassica juncea is a high biomass crop species, whose suitability for phytoremediation of copper mine tailings amended with technosol has been recently documented. Although soil water availability is a parameter of critical importance, not much has been reported about its effect on phytoremediation. In this study, six treatments comprised by the co...
Mine tailings represent a serious threat to the environment and human health; thus their restoration has become a major concern. In this study, the interactions between Brassica juncea and different mine soil treatments were evaluated in order to understand their effect on germination and early growth. Three soil treatments containing 25% and 50% o...
Salinity is an expanding worldwide issue that affects agricultural soils and limits the restoration of contaminated sites. In spite of the substantial number of papers about salt and Cd tolerance in a broad range of Brassica juncea cultivars, no accounts about the variety juncea (wild type) have been found. In this study, seeds of B. juncea (var. j...
Salinity is a major worldwide problem that affects agricultural soils and limits the reclamation of contaminated sites. Despite the large number of research papers published about salt tolerance in Brassica juncea L., there are very few accounts concerning the influence of salinity on the uptake of trace metals. In this study, B. juncea plants divi...
Mine tailings remain a major concern to the mining industry and the environment. This study evaluates the potential of Brassica juncea for phytoremediation of copper mine tailings treated with technosol (TE) and compost (CO) and the effect of these amendments in the process. Ecophysiological and biochemical results reveal the capacity of B. juncea...
Unreclaimed mine tailings sites are a worldwide problem. This study evaluates the potential of Salvia verbenaca for phytoremediation of copper mine tailings treated with technosol and compost. Ecophysiological results reveal the species ability to thrive in the assessed range of conditions, while the hydrogen peroxide assays exhibit the plant’s cap...
Brassica juncea L. Czern and Coss is regarded as a classic hyperaccumulator in the field of phytoremediation. Countless studies have proven the versatility of this species to successfully uptake a diverse range of pollutants, even when exposed to challenging growth conditions. In spite of this, the effect of soil moisture in the species phytoextrac...
Projects
Projects (4)
The main purpose of this project is to assess the feasibility of using phytoremediation to restore a highly alkaline area formerly used as a sedimentation pond (Estarreja); and an area severely impaired by the activities of a former smelting factory (l’Escalette). This study will also focus on delivering as many insights as possible about the roles of the selected plant species, microbial inoculants and organic amendments in ameliorating the adverse conditions of the sedimentation pond in Estarreja, and the brownfields, mine tailings and other diffusely polluted areas of l’Escalette.
The main purpose of this project is to assess the distribution and accumulation of metals in the soil and vegetation adjoining the molybdenum processing facilities in the Sierrita mine (Pima County, Arizona, US)
The main purpose of this project is to assess the feasibility of using phytoremediation to restore a highly alkaline area formerly used as a sedimentation pond (Estarreja, Portugal); and an area severely impaired by the massive deposition of tailings from the Sierrita copper mine (Pima County, Arizona, US).
