0000000000601111
AUTHOR
Giuseppe Galizia
Phytoextractors of metal(loid)s of the Italian flora: An Outline
Intensive farming, wastewater irrigation, mining, heavy industry, smelting procedures and improper waste disposal are some of the human activities that contribute to heavy metal soil contamination (Sharma et al. 2007; Khan et al. 2008; Yu et al. 2008). As heavy metals cannot be degraded by microorganisms and tend to remain in polluted sites for long periods of time, soil contamination by heavy metals represents a particular environmental concern and a serious threat to human health. Conventional soil remediation techniques, such as soil washing, excavation, in situ vitrification, solidification and stabilization, can be effectively employed in order to achieve remediation of heavy metal con…
Geographical and ecological outline of metal(loid) accumulating plants in Italian vascular flora
The decontamination of heavy metal polluted soils is one of the major challenges that our industrialized world has to face. Remediation technologies are being developed and employed in order to reduce the potential hazards of metal and metalloid contamination. Plants capable of uptaking metals and metalloids in their tissues can be an effective tool to remove such pollutants from contaminated soils. The use of this plant-driven process (Phytoremediation) requires the knowledge of the right phytoextractors to use when facing different types of contamination. The aim of this paper is to provide an inventory of phytoextractors that can be used in Phytoremediation procedures in Italy. The check…