Heavy Metal Polluted Soils: Effect on Plants and Bioremediation Methods

Abstract

Soils polluted with heavy metals have become common across the globe due to increase in geologic and anthropogenic activities. Plants growing on these soils show a reduction in growth, performance, and yield. Bioremediation is an effective method of treating heavy metal polluted soils. It is a widely accepted method that is mostly carried outin situ; hence it is suitable for the establishment/reestablishment of crops on treated soils. Microorganisms and plants employ different mechanisms for the bioremediation of polluted soils. Using plants for the treatment of polluted soils is a more common approach in the bioremediation of heavy metal polluted soils. Combining both microorganisms and plants is an approach to bioremediation that ensures a more efficient clean-up of heavy metal polluted soils. However, success of this approach largely depends on the species of organisms involved in the process.

Estimation and Bio-Availability of Toxic Metals between Soils and Plants

“…The average concentrations of plants from (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) are, respectively: 0.012±0.01, 0.0006±0.003, 0.015±0.003, and 2.7±0.001 for Pb, Cd, As, and Hg.…”

“…last decades ago due to the use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, municipal waste, mining, traffic, smelting, manufacturing, emissions, and industrial effluents [3]. However, some risk element, like arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), selenium (Se), and methylated forms of mercury (Hg) are considered one of the major sources of soil pollution [4].…”

Digital Mapping of Toxic Metals in Qatari Soils Using Remote Sensing and Ancillary Data

“…This can be explained by the major sources of As contamination in soils being pesticides and fertilizers from agriculture [63,73]. These three indices indicate changes in the amount of green biomass.…”

Community-level physiological profiles of microorganisms inhabiting soil contaminated with heavy metals

“…Heavy metals are naturally present in soils; however, anthropogenic human activities lead to increases of these elements concentrations to amounts that are harmful to microorganisms, plants and animals (Chibuike and Obiora, 2014;Gosh and Das, 2017;Hu et al, 2013;Stępniewska et al, 2009). The anthropogenic sources of metal contamination can be divided into five main groups: -metalliferous mining and smelting (arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury); -industrial activity (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, mercury, nickel, zinc); -atmospheric deposition (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, uranium); -agriculture (arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, selenium, uranium, zinc); and -waste disposal (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, zinc).…”