studies on terrestrial herbaceous plants tolerance to excess heavy metals: methodological approach

Plant tolerance to heavy metals is а scientific issue attracting significantattention due to the possible use of tolerant plants for phytoremediation purposes as wellas due to the fact that the molecular mechanisms of this phenomenon are not clearenough. Despite of the increasing volume of research on the problem, the availableinformation in many cases is incomplete and/or difficult to compare with other studiesbecause of the significant differences in the experimental designs, range of used metalconcentrations, exposure time, etc. In this review-paper both the advantages andlimitations of the used experimental designs as well as the methods for evaluation ofheavy metal tolerance are briefly discussed.