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Handbook of Plant Nutrition

Phytoremediation is a holistic approach and can be used in large scale to remediate the contaminated land resources. Although the concept of phytoremediation is few decades old and has been applied on a wide range of pollutants, but their sustainability is still questioned at various scientific forums. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to remediate our valuable resources with due considerations for future generations. Such a synergistic bonding by using potential energy crops in phytoremediation programs would be useful to generate new bioenergy resources along with the remediation of contaminated soil. There are several energy crops in the world, but four promising and dedicated energy crops i.e. Miscanthus, Ricinus, Jatropha, Populus have primarily considered in this review to accomplish energy demands with their phytoremediation potential. These four energy crops also act as potential carbon sink and offer an additional profit as carbon tax credits. In recent time we have been able to improve our understanding in phytoremediation, but use of energy plants were not considered so far to make this venture socio-economically acceptable to the society. The present review provides a strategy for linking energy crops in phytoremediation to resolve the sustainability issues and effectively solve the challenges of ever increasing contaminated sites and biofuel demands now and for future.

Energy crops in sustainable phytoremediation

Metal in the environment arises from both natural sources and human activities. Toxic metals in air, soil, and water have become a global problem. They are potential hazards to aquatic, animal, and human life because of their toxicity, bioaccumulative, and non-biodegradable nature. The major impacts of metal pollutants can be stated as ecosystem contamination and health problems of exposed human populations. Those problems have been a cause of increasing public concern throughout the world. Some trace metals are used by living organisms to stabilize protein structures, facilitate electron transfer reactions, and catalyze enzymatic reactions. But even metals that are biologically essential can be harmful to living organisms at high levels of exposure. An increasing concentration of heavy metals in the environment can modify mineral and enzyme functions of human beings. During the last two decades, the interest in using bioindicators as monitoring tools to assess environmental pollution with toxic metals has increased. Bioindicators are flora and fauna members, which are collected and analyzed to measure the levels of metal contaminants. Bioindicators therefore identify health hazards. Various living organisms, such as microbes, fungi, plants, animals, and humans, are used to monitor toxic metals from air, water, sediment, soil, and food chain. Here, we review recent bioindicators, toxicity assessment, and ecological effects.

Biota as toxic metal indicators

Accumulation of heavy metals in aboveground biomass of Phragmites australis in horizontal flow constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment: A review

Application of common duckweed (Lemna minor) in phytoremediation of chemicals in the environment: State and future perspective.

Metal accumulation and distribution in the organs of Typha latifolia L. (cattail) and their potential use in bioindication

Levels of essential and non-essential elements in black teas commercialized in Poland and their transfer to tea infusion

The aims of the present investigation were to reveal various trace metal accumulation abilities of two common helophytes Typha latifolia and Phragmites australis and to investigate their potential use in the phytoremediation of environmental metal pollution. The concentrations of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb and Ni were determined in roots, rhizomes, stems and leaves of both species studied as well as in corresponding water and bottom sediments from 19 sites selected within seven lakes in western Poland (Leszczynskie Lakeland). The principal component and classification analysis showed that P. australis leaves were correlated with the highest Mn, Fe and Cd concentrations, but T. latifolia leaves with the highest Pb, Zn and Cu concentrations. However, roots of the P. australis were correlated with the highest Mn, Fe and Cu concentrations, while T. latifolia roots had the highest Pb, Zn and Cd concentrations. Despite the differences in trace metal accumulation ability between the species studied, Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb and Ni concentrations in the P. australis and T. latifolia exhibited the following accumulation scheme: roots > rhizomes > leaves > stems, while Mn decreased in the following order: root > leaf > rhizome > stem. The high values of bioaccumulation factors and low values of translocation factors for Zn, Mn, Pb and Cu indicated the potential application of T. latifolia and P. australis in the phytostabilisation of contaminated aquatic ecosystems. Due to high biomass of aboveground organs of both species, the amount of trace metals stored in these organs during the vegetation period was considerably high, despite of the small trace metals transport.

A comparison of trace metal bioaccumulation and distribution in Typha latifolia and Phragmites australis: implication for phytoremediation.

Concentrations of the heavy metals Cd, Pb, Cu, n i, Mn, zn and Fe in soils of uranium-bearing dumps (Sudety Mts. Sw Poland, the dumps containing a high proportion of polymetallic minerals), as well as in two tree species (Salix caprea L., Betula pendula Roth.) and a shrub (Rubus idaeus L.), which frequently occur in this area, in spite of being disturbed by mining activities in the past. The accumulation ratio values of heavy metals were calculated. it was revealed that all the species examined, especially the tree species, accumulated high concentrations of heavy metals, above the average values given for plants in literature. R. idaeus generally exhibited the lowest concentrations of heavy metals except Mn, while S. caprea accumulated the highest levels of Cd exhibiting the greatest accumulation capability for this metal within all the examined dumps. There is a potential of using the examined plants in the monitoring of heavy metals in the environment on the basis of a significant correlation between heavy metal content of foliage and soil.

Agnieszka Klink

Papers

Metal accumulation and distribution in the organs of Typha latifolia L. (cattail) and their potential use in bioindication

Levels of essential and non-essential elements in black teas commercialized in Poland and their transfer to tea infusion

A comparison of trace metal bioaccumulation and distribution in Typha latifolia and Phragmites australis: implication for phytoremediation.

Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals by Selected Plant Species from Uranium Mining Dumps in the Sudety Mts., Poland

Trace metal bioindication and phytoremediation potentialities of Phalaris arundinacea L. (reed canary grass)