Advances in Bioremediation of Heavy Metals: a Tool for Environmental Restoration

Heavy metals contamination of soil-water-plant ecosystems are one of the most important environmental and health problems throughout the world. Recent approaches to remediation of heavy metals include adsorption (dead microbial and renewable biomass), phytoaccumulation (plants), dendroremediation (growing trees) biostimutation, (stimulating living microbial population), rhizoremediation (plant and microbe), mycoremediation (stimulating living fungi/mycelial ultra-filtration), cyanoremediation (stimulating algal mass)and genoremediation (stimulating genes) for remediation process. The adequate protection and restoration of the ecosystem, therefore, requires multi-pronged approaches including recent biotechnological advances along with treasures of traditional wisdom to unravel the mystery of nature in the emerging field of bioremediation in order to conserve the quality of the environment. This book provides better understanding of the problems associated with the toxicity of heavy metals to the biological systems including human beings and the recent biotechnological approaches being employed to minimize the health hazards through detoxification mechanisms.