Dissipation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the rhizosphere: Synthesis through meta-analysis

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widespread and persistent organic pollutants with high carcinogenic effect and toxicity; their behavior and fate in the soil-plant system have been widely investigated In the present paper. mete-analysis was used to explore the interaction between plant growth and dissipation of PAHs in soil based on the large body of published literature Plants have a promoting effect on PAH dissipation in soils There was no difference in PAH dissipation between soils contaminated with single and mixed PAHs However, plants had a more obvious effect on PAH dissipation in freshly-spiked soils than in long-term field-polluted soils Additionally, a positive effect of the number of microbial populations capable of degrading PAHs was observed in the rhizosphere compared with the bulk soil Our mete-analysis established the importance of the rhizosphere effect on PAH dissipation in variety of the soil-plant systems. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.