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Phytoremediation technologies use living plants to clean up soil, air and water contaminated with hazardous contaminants. [1] It is defined as "the use of green plants and the associated microorganisms, along with proper soil amendments and agronomic techniques to either contain, remove or render toxic environmental contaminants harmless". [2]
Plants are another natural source of hydrocarbons that could undergo reactions in the atmosphere and produce smog. Globally both plants and soil contribute a substantial amount to the production of hydrocarbons, mainly by producing isoprene and terpenes. [28] Hydrocarbons released by plants can often be more reactive than man-made hydrocarbons.
Since the release of the initial 1989 study, titled A study of interior landscape plants for indoor air pollution abatement: An Interim Report, [6] further research has been done including a 1993 paper [7] and 1996 book [8] by B. C. Wolverton, the primary researcher on the original NASA study, that listed additional plants and focused on the removal of specific chemicals.
The heavy metals that plants extract are toxic to the plants as well, and the plants used for phytoextraction are known hyperaccumulators that sequester extremely large amounts of heavy metals in their tissues. Phytoextraction can also be performed by plants that uptake lower levels of pollutants, but due to their high growth rate and biomass ...
Many plants produce toxins to protect themselves from herbivores. Major classes of plant toxins include alkaloids , terpenoids , and phenolics . [ 142 ] These can be harmful to humans and livestock by ingestion [ 143 ] [ 144 ] or, as with poison ivy , by contact. [ 145 ]
Some non-native plants produce chemicals in their leaves or root systems that inhibit the growth of other plants around them, which results in reduced biodiversity, increased erosion and genetic ...
Toxins: These can be non-host-specific, which damage all plants, or host-specific, which cause damage only on a host plant. Effector proteins : These can be secreted by pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, and oomycetes [ 6 ] [ 7 ] into the extracellular environment or directly into the host cell, often via the Type three secretion system .
Overview of the interdisciplinarity of environmental toxicology Categories of organisms commonly used for assessing environmental toxicity. Environmental toxicology is a multidisciplinary field of science concerned with the study of the harmful effects of various chemical, biological and physical agents on living organisms.