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Microorganisms are a good indicator of soil health. Plant growth-promoting microorganisms protect plants from the stresses of water, salt, metal, biotic, and so on, and are well known for strategically modulating the plant mechanisms to defend and mitigate environmental stresses. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this volume explores the role of plant microorganisms in ecological and agricultural revitalization beyond normal agriculture practices and offers practical and applied solutions for the restoration of degraded lands to fulfill human needs with food, fodder, fuel, and fiber. It also provides a single comprehensive platform for soil scientists, agriculture specialists, ecologists, and those in related disciplines.Features• Presents cutting-edge microbial biotechnology as a tool for restoring degraded lands• Explores the aspects of sustainable development of degraded lands using microorganism-inspired land remediation• Highlights sustainable food production intensification in nutrient-poor lands through innovative use of microbial inoculants• Explains the remediation of polluted land for regaining biodiversity and achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goals• Includes many real-life applications from South Asia offering solutions to today's agricultural problemsThis book will be of interest to professionals, researchers, and students in environmental, soil, and agricultural sciences as well as stakeholders, policy makers, and practitioners with an interest in this field.

Plant-microbe interaction is a powerful and promising link to mitigate the various kinds of stresses like drought, salinity, heavy metals, and pathogenic effects. It is more beneficial for crop improvement and sustainable approaches for reclamation of problematic soils. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this book explores the recent uses of plant-microbe interactions in ecological and agricultural revitalization beyond normal agriculture practices and offers practical and applied solutions for the restoration of degraded land to fulfill human needs with food, fodder, fuel, and fiber. It provides a single comprehensive platform for soil scientists, agriculture specialists, ecologists, and those in related disciplines.Features• Presents cutting-edge microbial biotechnology as a tool for restoring degraded lands• Explores the aspects of sustainable development of degraded lands using microbe-inspired land remediation• Highlights sustainable food production intensification in nutrient-poor lands through the innovative use of microbial inoculants• Explains the remediation of polluted land for regaining biodiversity and achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goals• Includes many real-life applications from South Asia offering solutions to today's agricultural problemsThis book will be of interest to professionals, researchers, and students in environmental, soil, and agricultural sciences, as well as stakeholders, policy makers, and practitioners with an interest in this field.

Land abandonment is increasing as human influence on the globe intensifies and various ecological, social, and economic factors conspire to force the cessation of agriculture and other forms of land management. The “old fields” that result from abandonment have been the subject of much study, yet few attempts have been made to examine the larger questions raised by old field dynamics. Old Fields brings together leading experts from around the world to synthesize past and current work on old fields, providing an up-to-date perspective on the ecological dynamics of abandoned land. The book gives readers a broad understanding of why agricultural land is abandoned, the factors that determine the ecological recovery of old fields, and how this understanding contributes to theoretical and applied ecology. Twelve case studies from diverse geographical and climatic areas—including Australian rainforest, Brazilian Amazonia, New Jersey piedmont, and South African renosterveld—offer a global perspective on the causes and results of land abandonment. Concluding chapters consider the similarities and differences among the case studies, examine them in the context of ecological concepts, and discuss their relevance to the growing field of restoration ecology. Old Fields is the first book to draw together studies on old fields from both a theoretical and practical perspective. It represents an important contribution to the development of theory on old field dynamics and the practice of ecological restoration on abandoned farmland, and the broader implications of old field dynamics to ecology and restoration.

This book gives a broad coverage of modern restoration and the management needed after restoration. It deals with relevant topics such as restoration ecology; restoration planning; ecological and ecotoxicological risk assessment; management and adaptive management; restoration in the broader context of sustainable development; as well as case studies and examples related to the Asian region. Major emphasis is placed on the Asian region, but the techniques described in the book can also be applied to other regions. It concludes with an important overview of the steps that must be taken in the management of any project.The Restoration and Management of Derelict Land serves as an important reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students, professors, decision-makers and engineers in environmental science and management.

Contaminated land and the methods and legal controls governing its reclamation for subsequent development and use are of great current interest and concern. This volume in the Issues in Environmental Science and Technology series contains seven articles which treat the many aspects of this subject, ranging from risk assessment and risk management, through specific remediation methods and the evolution of government policy and controls, to analysis of the legal and technical features of specific environmental insurance policies. The chemistry of the non-ferrous heavy metals lead, zinc and cadmium is examined in relation to reclamation of superfund sites in the USA alongside a consideration of the role of the Welsh Development Agency in developing strategies for the recovery of derelict and contaminated land. An authoritative treatment of each of the topics is ensured by the particular expertise and distinction of the authors, and as such Contaminated Land and Its Reclamation will make an important contribution to the public debate on these issues. It will be essential reading for all those groups of people directly or indirectly involved, from consultants and their technical advisors, through developers, contractors and landowners, to local authorities and government agencies with responsibility for policy and its implementation in this area.

This book, the result of studies undertaken on behalf of the European Commission, examines the current'state of the art'techniques for the restoration of despoiled lands arising from the coal and steel industries. It provides technical guidance to aid the process of the regeneration of the coal and steel communities of Europe. The chapters are fully cross referenced in the text, and where more technical or specific detail is provided, this has been placed into boxes rather than in the main text.The book will be of great interest to environmental scientists and engineers, and to all those who are involved in mining, mineral waste, soil pollution and waste management and disposal.