Living in an area chronically polluted with metals is usually associated with changes in the energy distribution in organisms due to increased energy expenses associated with detoxification and excretion processes. These expenses may be reflected in the available energy resources, such as lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins. In this context, the energy status of Pterostichus oblongopunctatus (C...

With the rise of sustainable development, rehabilitation of brownfield sites located in urban areas has become a major concern. Management of contaminated soils in relation with environmental and sanitary risk concerns is therefore a strong aim needing the development of both useful tools for risk assessment and sustainable remediation techniques. For soils polluted by metals and metalloids (MT...

Growth performance and heavy metal uptake by willow (Salix viminalis) from strongly and moderately polluted calcareous soils were investigated in field and growth chamber trials to assess the suitability of willow for phytoremediation. Field uptakes were 2-10 times higher than growth chamber uptakes. Despite high concentrations of cadmium (>/=80 mg/kg) and zinc (>/=3000 mg/kg) in leaves of will...

While microbial nitrogen transformations in soils had been known to be affected by heavy metal pollution, changes in abundance and community structure of the mediating microbial populations had been not yet well characterized in polluted rice soils. Here, by using the prevailing molecular fingerprinting and enzyme activity assays and comparisons to adjacent non-polluted soils, we examined chang...

Here, we report the draft genome sequence of crude oil-degrading Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain N002, isolated from a crude oil-polluted soil sample from Geleky, Assam, India. Multiple genes potentially involved in crude oil degradation were identified.

In the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), sedimentation of the riparian zone has occurred over the past 10 years. However, the sediment and related environmental effects have not been explored well. In the present study, sediment and soil in situ were collected in three sites of the riparian zone in the TGR. Samples were analyzed for water content, bulk density, pH, organic matter, total nitrogen, t...

An increasing interest in bioremediation of hydrocarbon polluted sites raises the question of the influence of seasonal and diurnal changes on soil-water temperature on biodegradation of BTEX, a widespread group of (sub)-surface contaminants. Therefore, we investigated the impact of a wide range of varying soil-water temperature on biodegradation of toluene under aerobic conditions. To see the ...

Background: This research was investigated to evaluate effect of applying sunflower residues as a green manure on increasing zinc (Zn) concentration of two Iranian wheat cultivars in a Pb and cadmium (Cd) polluted soil. Methods: Treatments included the application of sunflower residuals grown in a Zn-polluted soil  at two levels of 0 and 8 t/ha, two wheat cultivars  in a soil contaminated with...

Plant-microbe interactions are considered to be important processes determining the efficiency of phytoremediation of petroleum pollution, however relatively little is known about how these interactions are influenced by petroleum pollution. In this experimental study using a microcosm approach, we examined how plant ecophysiological traits, soil nutrients and microbial activities were influenc...