Chapter 1 - Plants and their unexpected response to environmental pollution: An overview

Abstract

The vast range of pollutants and a fast-growing number of synthesized chemicals has many visible and invisible impacts on the different plant species. Air, water, soil, and other pollutants pierce plants mostly via the stem, leaves, flowers, roots, or the entire surface, respectively. These anthropogenic or naturally produced pollutants interact with various plant species and alter plant growth, development, biochemical physiological, and molecular performance. More specifically, they cause fast and direct impacts, like oxidative disintegration or damage, whereas a long period of exposure to pollutants hinders plant metabolism such as nutrient uptake, photosynthetic features that lead to impaired growth and developmental processes, reduction in harvest, imbalanced function of ecosystems and ultimately economic losses. Moreover, plant response to environmental pollution exhibited independently and synergistically impacts both lower and higher plants. It can be observed in a wide range of disciplines including plant and soil science, plant anatomy, plant biochemistry, plant physiology, agronomy, forestry, horticulture, plant pathology, ecology, etc. The impact of pollutants on plants depends on pollution type, concentration, exposure duration, season, wind direction, plant morphology/features, and genotype. Taken together, this chapter reviews the effect of various types of environmental pollution on plant growth, development, physiological, molecular performance, and some other unexpected response to various types of environmental pollution.