Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

There is a duality in plant tolerance and response to heavy metal stress. On one hand tolerant plants having heavy metal hyper accumulation potential could be beneficial in phytoremediation for clean-up of soil and water; on the other hand tolerant food crops, if exposed to heavy metals in their growth medium, may be dangerous as carriers of toxic metals in the food chain leading to food toxicity.

In terrestrial ecosystems, higher plants are organized in two quite different spatial parts: a) a photosynthetic compartment, developed in the atmosphere, under light, and b) a soil compartment, specialized in the absorption of water and mineral salts, in the dark.

Remediation of sediments contaminated with toxic chemicals is one of the greatest challenges for restoration of estuaries. Halogenated organic compounds constitute one of the largest groups of environmental pollutants and their use has resulted in widespread dissemination and environmental contamination, with freshwater, estuarine and marine sediments as significant sinks.

Microbial remediation has been used mainly for treatment of two types of pollutants - organic compounds (such as hydrocarbons originating from petroleum or solvents originating from various industries) and heavy metals.

The chapter summarizes research carried out within the last 15 years on the role of mycorrhizal fungi in phytoremediation of zinc wastes located in southern Poland.

The chapter reviews available data on the ability of keratinolytic fungi to remove hydrocarbons from different media and on the ecology of these fungi in oil-contaminated environments.

To manage complex groundwater problems at the so-called megasites, a riskbased Integrated Management Strategy (IMS) of the European WELCOME project is currently applied to three megasites in Tarnowskie Góry (PL), Bitterfeld (D) and Port of Rotterdam (NL).

Large-scale contaminated megasites like Bitterfeld in eastern Germany are characterized by a regional contamination of soil, surface water and groundwater as a result of a long and varied history of chemical production.