ABSTRACT
IGV-Istituto di Bioscienze e BioRisorse, National Research Council (CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy.
Email: maurizio.capuana@ibbr.cnr.it
Industrial practices have contaminated huge surface areas in large parts of the world, with a strong acceleration during the past decades. In Europe, for instance, it is estimated that about 20% of the total land surface suffers from harmful soil contamination and degradation (Saier Jr. and Trevors 2010). Of course, the most populated and industrialized areas pose the greatest threat to human and ecosystem health, but even in rural areas pollutants enter the agricultural cycle.
