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Itziar Alkorta

Bio: Itziar Alkorta is an academic researcher from University of the Basque Country. The author has contributed to research in topics: Soil health & Soil quality. The author has an hindex of 29, co-authored 83 publications receiving 4548 citations. Previous affiliations of Itziar Alkorta include Spanish National Research Council.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Phytoextraction appears a very promising technology for the removal of metal pollutants from the environment and may be, at present, approaching commercialization.

896 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the field of phytoremediation, the utilization of plants to transport and concentrate metals from the soil into the harvestable parts of roots and aboveground shoots, i.e., phytoextraction, may be, at present, approaching commercialization.
Abstract: Due to their immutable nature, metals are a group of pollutants of much concern. As a result of human activities such as mining and smelting of metalliferous ores, electroplating, gas exhaust, energy and fuel production, fertilizer and pesticide application, etc., metal pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems today. Phytoremediation, an emerging cost-effective, non-intrusive, and aesthetically pleasing technology, that uses the remarkable ability of plants to concentrate elements and compounds from the environment and to metabolize various molecules in their tissues, appears very promising for the removal of pollutants from the environment. Within this field of phytoremediation, the utilization of plants to transport and concentrate metals from the soil into the harvestable parts of roots and above-ground shoots, i.e., phytoextraction, may be, at present, approaching commercialization. Improvement of the capacity of plants to tolerate and accumulate metals by genetic engineering should open up new possibilities for phytoremediation. The lack of understanding pertaining to metal uptake and translocation mechanisms, enhancement amendments, and external effects of phytoremediation is hindering its full scale application. Due to its great potential as a viable alternative to traditional contaminated land remediation methods, phytoremediation is currently an exciting area of active research.

488 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: As overwhelmingly positive results have become available regarding the ability of plants to degrade certain organic compounds, more and more people are getting involved in the phytoremediation of organic contaminants.

413 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a review of the benefits brought to the field by these new technologies and their potential for commercial applications is presented. But it is only recently that technological innovations, such as the use of immobilization supports and continuous-flow systems, have been considered to optimize these fruit processing procedures.

413 citations

01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: The use of organisms, primarily microbes, to clean up contaminated soils, aquifers, sludges, residues, and air is a rapidly changing and expanding area of environmental biotechnology, that offers a potentially more effective and economical clean-up technique than conventional physicochemical methods as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The utilization of organisms, primarily microbes, to clean up contaminated soils, aquifers, sludges, residues, and air, known as “bioremediation”, is a rapidly changing and expanding area of environmental biotechnology, that offers a potentially more effective and economical clean-up technique than conventional physicochemical methods. Although it is certain that up to now the technologies employed are not technically complex, considerable experience and expertise is required to design and implement a successful bioremediation program. As a matter of fact, and since bioremediation frequently addresses multiphasic, heterogenous environments (i.e., soils), successful bioremediation is dependent on an interdisciplinary approach involving such disciplines as microbiology, engineering, ecology, geology, and chemistry. The bio-enthusiasm of the early years that followed the initial promising research results and inspired the creation of many remediation companies has ended in a more realistic and sometimes even sceptical view of bioremediation since it has now become clear that results obtained in the laboratory do not necessarily indicate what may happen actually in the field, since it is not possible to simulate all the changing conditions of a real situation. Most traditional remediation methods do not provide acceptable solutions for the removal of metals from soils. Microorganisms that use metals as terminal electron acceptors, or reduce metals as a detoxification mechanism can be used for the removal of metals from contaminated environments. In some cases, phytoextraction of metals is a cost-effective approach that uses metal-accumulating plants to clean up metal polluted soils. © 2003 SDU. All rights reserved.

204 citations


Cited by
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01 Jun 2012
TL;DR: SPAdes as mentioned in this paper is a new assembler for both single-cell and standard (multicell) assembly, and demonstrate that it improves on the recently released E+V-SC assembler and on popular assemblers Velvet and SoapDeNovo (for multicell data).
Abstract: The lion's share of bacteria in various environments cannot be cloned in the laboratory and thus cannot be sequenced using existing technologies. A major goal of single-cell genomics is to complement gene-centric metagenomic data with whole-genome assemblies of uncultivated organisms. Assembly of single-cell data is challenging because of highly non-uniform read coverage as well as elevated levels of sequencing errors and chimeric reads. We describe SPAdes, a new assembler for both single-cell and standard (multicell) assembly, and demonstrate that it improves on the recently released E+V-SC assembler (specialized for single-cell data) and on popular assemblers Velvet and SoapDeNovo (for multicell data). SPAdes generates single-cell assemblies, providing information about genomes of uncultivatable bacteria that vastly exceeds what may be obtained via traditional metagenomics studies. SPAdes is available online ( http://bioinf.spbau.ru/spades ). It is distributed as open source software.

10,124 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Strong acids and bases seem to be the best desorbing agents to produce arsenic concentrates, and some commercial adsorbents which include resins, gels, silica, treated silica tested for arsenic removal come out to be superior.

3,168 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The principles, advantages and disadvantages of immobilization, soil washing and phytoremediation techniques which are frequently listed among the best demonstrated available technologies for cleaning up heavy metal contaminated sites are presented.
Abstract: Scattered literature is harnessed to critically review the possible sources, chemistry, potential biohazards and best available remedial strategies for a number of heavy metals (lead, chromium, arsenic, zinc, cadmium, copper, mercury and nickel) commonly found in contaminated soils. The principles, advantages and disadvantages of immobilization, soil washing and phytoremediation techniques which are frequently listed among the best demonstrated available technologies for cleaning up heavy metal contaminated sites are presented. Remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils is necessary to reduce the associated risks, make the land resource available for agricultural production, enhance food security and scale down land tenure problems arising from changes in the land use pattern.

2,826 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review article comprehensively discusses the background, concepts and future trends in phytoremediation of heavy metals.

2,718 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
11 Oct 2012
TL;DR: It is envisioned that in the not too distant future, plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) will begin to replace the use of chemicals in agriculture, horticulture, silviculture, and environmental cleanup strategies.
Abstract: The worldwide increases in both environmental damage and human population pressure have the unfortunate consequence that global food production may soon become insufficient to feed all of the world's people. It is therefore essential that agricultural productivity be significantly increased within the next few decades. To this end, agricultural practice is moving toward a more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach. This includes both the increasing use of transgenic plants and plant growth-promoting bacteria as a part of mainstream agricultural practice. Here, a number of the mechanisms utilized by plant growth-promoting bacteria are discussed and considered. It is envisioned that in the not too distant future, plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) will begin to replace the use of chemicals in agriculture, horticulture, silviculture, and environmental cleanup strategies. While there may not be one simple strategy that can effectively promote the growth of all plants under all conditions, some of the strategies that are discussed already show great promise.

2,094 citations