Plants And Their Interaction To Environmental Pollution

Environmental pollution as a consequence of diverse human activities has become a global concern. Urbanization, mining, industrial revolution, burning of fossil fuels/firewood and poor agricultural practices, in addition to improper dumping of waste products, are largely responsible for the undesirable change in the environment composition. Environmental pollution is mainly classified as air pollution, water pollution, land pollution, noise pollution, thermal pollution, light pollution, and plastic pollution. Nowadays, it has been realized that with the increasing environmental pollution, impurities may accumulate in plants, which are required for basic human uses such as for food, clothing, medicine, and so on. Environmental pollution has tremendous impacts on phenological events, structural patterns, physiological phenomena, biochemical status, and the cellular and molecular features of plants. Exposure to environmental pollution induces acute or chronic injury depending on the pollutant concentration, exposure duration, season and plant species. Moreover, the global rise of greenhouse gases such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane, chlorofluorocarbons and ozone in the atmosphere is among the major threats to the biodiversity. They have also shown visible impacts on life cycles and distribution of various plant species. Anthropogenic activities, including the fossil-fuel combustion in particular, are responsible for steady increases in the atmospheric greenhouse gases concentrations. This phenomenon accelerates the global heating. Studies have suggested that the changes in carbon dioxide concentrations, rainfall and temperature have greatly influenced the plant physiological and metabolic activities including the formation of biologically active ingredients. Taken together, plants interact with pollutants, and cause adverse ecological and economic outcomes. Therefore, plant response to pollutants requires more investigation in terms of damage detection, adaptation, tolerance, and the physiological and molecular responses. The complex interplay among other emerging pollutants, namely, radioisotopes, cell-phone radiation, nanoparticles, nanocomposites, heavy metals etc. and their impact on plant adaptation strategies, and possibility to recover, mitigation, phytoremediation, etc., also needs to be explored. Further, it is necessary to elucidate better the process of the pollutant’s uptake by plant and accumulation in the food chain, and the plant resistance capability against the various kinds of environmental pollutants. In this context, the identification of tolerance mechanisms in plants against pollutants can help in developing eco-friendly technologies, which requires molecular approaches to increase plant tolerance to pollutants, such as plant transformation and genetic modifications. Pollutant-induced overproduction of reactive oxygen species that cause DNA damage and apoptosis-related alterations, has also been examined. They also trigger changes at the levels of transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome, which has been discussed in this book.

One of the most problematic issues confronting societies today is the massive transformations of the environment throughout the world. The challenge of maintaining a sustainable environment is the most pressing issue of our time.

This new volume studies the impact and management of environmental pollution on plants, often resulting in plant abiotic stress physiology, which causes reduction in growth due to alterations in biochemical and physiological processes, thus threatening food security, the ecosystem, and the plants themselves. This volume details the harm to plants caused primarily by heavy metal contamination in soils, by pesticides use, and by air pollution and presents several mitigation strategies as well. Soils contaminated with heavy metals is a major challenge worldwide due to increase in anthropogenic and geologic activities. Despite the effectiveness of pesticides in preventing pest invasions and yield decline, pesticides and other air pollutants cause biochemical changes that can instigate leaf damage, stomatal impairment, early senescence, decrease in photosynthetic efficiency, interruption of membrane perviousness, and decrease of growth and yield in sensitive plant types. Chapters in this volume address these issues. Topics include the antioxidant, photosynthesis, and growth characteristics of plants grown in polluted soils; the benefits and hazards of pesticides; microbe-assisted bioremediation and biotechnological advances for plant pollution control; genetically modified plants and their potential resistance to environmental pollution; and more.

Comprehensive and global in scope, Environmental Pollution and Plant Responses provides an analysis of the research on the factors contributing to the deteriorating environmental quality and its effect on plant performance. The issues include: environmental pollution and global climate change, response patterns of plants at different levels, mechanisms of interaction, tolerance strategies and future research prospects. The author evaluates trends and gives management strategies for abating the problem. This volume highlights the complexities of environmental problems and the affect of pollution on every level of the ecosystem.

Air pollution poses a serious threat to human health and the environment worldwide. It contributes significantly to regional and global atmospheric issues such as global warming, acidification and depletion of the ozone layer. It affects every living thing, including all kinds of vegetation on which we depend for our survival. Although several works have appeared on air pollution, few, are able to provide the broad background that encompasses the whole gamut of plant responses to atmospheric insult. This multi-authored work integrates the varied plant growth responses to the pollution stress; the focus of the attention is plant rather than pollutant. This portrays a clearer picture of plant performance versus air pollution, and helps develop a better insight of the pollution-based disturbances at the different levels of plant life. The book shall interest both students and researchers of environmental botany and forestry as well as all those who love plants and have any interest towards global vegetation and environmental health.

Responses of Plants to Air Pollution examines the effects of air pollutants, individually and synergistically, on both higher and lower plants. The subject matter overlaps into a wide range of disciplines including agronomy, plant anatomy, biochemistry, cryptogamic botany, ecology, entomology, forestry, horticulture, landscape architecture, meteorology, microscopy, plant pathology, plant physiology, and soil science. The opening chapter presents an overview of sources of air pollution, costs of air pollution, and mechanisms of pollution injury to plants. Separate chapters on sulfur dioxide, ozone, fluorides, peroxyacyl nitrates, oxides of nitrogen, and particulates follow. Subsequent chapters are devoted to plant responses to combinations of pollutants; to effects of pollutants on plant ultrastructure, on forests, and on lichens and bryophytes; to interactions of pollutants with canopies of vegetation; to interactions of pollutants and plant diseases; and to interactions of pollutants with agricultural practices. This book will be useful to scientists in many disciplines as well as those who share the concern that clean air can no longer be expected to be the normal environment for plants or animals. The book will also be a valuable a reference work or text for upper level undergraduate students, graduate students, researchers, and growers of plants.

Examines all aspects of the interaction of plants with air pollutants. Synopsizes pollutant sources, their dispersion and transport, and their role in acid rain. Discusses methods to monitor and diagnose their effects. Examines how pollutants affect plants at the metabolic and cellular level, and how the organism and plant community responds. Includes discussion of the role of trace element toxicity, the uptake of pollutants, and the control of atmospheric pollution.

This book focuses upon air pollution, types of air pollutants and their impact on plant physiological and biochemical systems. The book begins with a brief background on air pollution and continues with a discussion on different types, effects, and solutions to the pollution. The chapters that follow, explore the different effects of pollution on chloroplasts, respiration, biochemistry and physiology of plant cells. Moreover, it covers the basic concepts of atmospheric transport and transformations of pollutants, and issues of global change and the use of science in air pollution policy formulation. It also emphasises about the effects of air pollutants in altering plant response to common stresses, both abiotic and biotic - fields by giving the focus on the physiology of plant. This book act as a valuable tool for students in Environmental Science, Biological Science and Agriculture. It will be unique to environmental consultants, researchers and other professionals involved in air quality and plant related research. During past few decades, air pollution and poor air quality have been the issues of common concerns. Degraded air has adverse effects on various system of plants by creating a stress which develops biochemical and physiological disorder in plants. Chronic diseases and/or lower yield have reported consequences of air pollution effect. A large number of biochemical and physiological parameters have been used to assess impact of air pollution on plant health. Photosynthetic machinery and respiratory system are the most affected domain of plants. However, the survival of plants depend on various internal and external factors such as plant community, types of air pollutants, geographical region, meteorological conditions and soil moisture etc. Plants respond to both biotic and abiotic stresses accordingly. Many tolerant plants survive easily even in higher air pollution region. Certain plant species absorbs selected gaseous air pollutants and hence plants are effective tool for air pollution remediation.