Hazardous and Trace Materials in Soil and Plants

M. Naeem is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany at Aligarh Muslim University, India. His research focuses on escalating the production of medicinal plants and their active principles using potent PGRs under normal and stressful environmental conditions. His research also focuses on abiotic stress tolerance in medicinal plants. Dr. Naeem has published over 100 research papers in reputable international journals. He has also authored 12 books and co-authored several book chapters published by international publishers. Based on his research contributions, Dr. Naeem has received multiple awards and recognitions. Tariq Aftab received his PhD degree in the Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, India, and is currently an Assistant Professor there. He received prestigious Leibniz-DAAD fellowship from Germany, a Raman Fellowship from the Government of India, and Young Scientist Awards from the State Government of Uttar Pradesh and Government of India. He has worked as Visiting Scientist at IPK, Gatersleben, Germany, and in the Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, United States. He has edited 14 books with international publishers, including Elsevier Inc., Springer Nature, and CRC Press (Taylor & Francis Group), co-authored several book chapters, and published over 65 research papers in peer-reviewed international journals. His research interests include physiological, proteomic, and molecular studies on medicinal and crop plants. Abid A. Ansari is Associate Professor in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Ansari’s research work is concerned with Plant Ecology and Environment. Dr. Ansari has to his credit a number of research articles of national and international repute, twelve edited books, and number of book chapters on varied aspects of his field of research. He has been honored with NESA Distinguished Award-2020, Scientist of the Year Award-2014 and 2019, and Environmentalist of the Year Award-2011 by the National Environmental Science Academy, India. University of Tabuk also awarded him with Research Excellence-2016 and Distinguished Faculty-2020. He has also participated in various national and international conferences and acquired memberships to various scientific bodies. Dr. Sarvajeet Singh Gill is an Assistant Professor at Centre for Biotechnology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. His research focus includes Agricultural Plant Biotechnology; Biotic & Abiotic stress biology, plant microbe interaction and in-silico understanding of plant genomes. In addition to his research and teaching responsibilities he has served as Associate Editor for the Brazilian Journal of Botany, and as Guest Editor of Plant Genes. He was Guest Editor of BioMed Research International’s Special Issue (Plant Stress & Biotechnology); Frontiers in Plant Science, Section-Environmental Toxicology (Topic Title: Phytotoxicity of high and low levels of plant-beneficial heavy metal ions); Frontiers in Plant Science, Section-Crop Science and Horticulture (Topic Title: The Brassicaceae - agri-horticultural and environmental perspectives); Frontiers in Plant Science, Section-Plant Physiology (Topic Title: Recent insights into the double role of hydrogen peroxide in plants); and Functional Genomics Approaches to Decipher Plant Resilience to Environmental Stresses (International Journal of Plant Genomics). Dr. Anca Macovei earned a degree in Biology and a Masters Degree in Plant Genetic Engineering at the ‘Babes-Bolyai’ University in Cluj-Napoca (Romania) followed by a PhD Degree in Genetics and Molecular Biology at the University of Pavia (Italy). Post-doc fellowships were at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, India and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, Philippines Currently, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology and Biotechnology (Plant Biotechnology Laboratory), University of Pavia (Italy), main research topics are molecular profiling of seed quality, plant DNA Damage Response (DDR).

SECTION-A: OVERVIEW OF HAZARDOUS AND TRACE MATERIALS IN SOIL, PLANTS AND ENVIRONMENT 1. An Overview of the Hazardous and Trace Materials in Soil and Plants 2. Biological contamination and the control of biological contaminants in environment 3. Long-term challenges, the characteristics and behavior of each hazardous material and trace element in soil 4. Effect of selenium on soils and plants and its management

SECTION-B: HAZARDOUS AND TRACE MATERIALS IN THE SOIL ENVIRONMENT 5. Heavy metals in contaminated soils: A bird’s eye view of causes, risks and strategies for remediation 6. Soil chemical pollution, risk assessment and remediation 7. Soil heavy metal pollution: Impact on plants and methods of bioremediation

SECTION-C: HAZARDOUS AND TRACE MATERIALS IN THE AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT 8. Removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from water and wastewater through biological processes: an overview 9. Sediment pollution in aquatic environments in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires (MABA), Argentina

SECTION-D: HAZARDOUS AND TRACE MATERIALS IN PLANTS 10. Hazardous elements in Plants: Sources, Effects and Management 11. Bioaccumulation and translocation of some trace elements in co-occurring halophytes (Amaranthaceae) from Algerian saline areas 12. Heavy metal toxicity and underlying mechanisms for heavy metal tolerance in medicinal legumes 13. Biochemical responses of plants towards heavy metals in soil 14. Spatial distribution of arsenic species in soil ecosystem and their effect on plant physiology 15. Aluminium in tea plants: Phytotoxicity, tolerance and mitigation 16. Role of phytohormones in mitigating the harmful impacts of hazardous and trace materials on agriculture crops 17. Cadmium-mediated oxidative stress and hazard in plants and its management

SECTION-E: HAZARDOUS AND TRACE MATERIALS AND MICROORGANISMS 18. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria as bioremediators of polluted agricultural soils: challenges and prospects 19. Bacterial polyamines: A key mediator to combat stress tolerance in plants 20. Plants and microbes assisted remediation of cadmium contaminated soil 21. The efficiency of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on sequestration of potentially toxic elements in soil

SECTION F- MANAGEMENT AND RAMEDIATION OF HAZARDOUS AND TRACE MATERIALS 22. Biomonitoring of heavy metals contamination in soil ecosystem 23. Role of nanoparticles in remediation of environmental contaminants 24. Genomic approaches for phytoremediation of trace & hazardous materials