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Phytoremediation Potential of Aquatic Macrophyte, Azolla

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Abstract

Aquatic macrophytes play an important role in the structural and functional aspects of aquatic ecosystems by altering water movement regimes, providing shelter to fish and aquatic invertebrates, serving as a food source, and altering water quality by regulating oxygen balance, nutrient cycles, and accumulating heavy metals. The ability to hyperaccumulate heavy metals makes them interesting research candidates, especially for the treatment of industrial effluents and sewage waste water. The use of aquatic macrophytes, such as Azolla with hyper accumulating ability is known to be an environmentally friendly option to restore polluted aquatic resources. The present review highlights the phytoaccumulation potential of macrophytes with emphasis on utilization of Azolla as a promising candidate for phytoremediation. The impact of uptake of heavy metals on morphology and metabolic processes of Azolla has also been discussed for a better understanding and utilization of this symbiotic association in the field of phytoremediation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Chairpersons to Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi and Panjab University, Chandigarh, India for providing financial assistance and research facilities, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007, India

    Anjuli Sood & Perm L. Uniyal

  2. Divison of Microbiology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, India

    Radha Prasanna

  3. Department of Botany, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160014, India

    Amrik S. Ahluwalia

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  1. Anjuli Sood
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  2. Perm L. Uniyal
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  3. Radha Prasanna
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  4. Amrik S. Ahluwalia
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Correspondence to Anjuli Sood.

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Sood, A., Uniyal, P.L., Prasanna, R. et al. Phytoremediation Potential of Aquatic Macrophyte, Azolla . AMBIO 41, 122–137 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0159-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0159-z

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