Mining and industrial activities, particularly in the past, have left waste deposit sites and contaminated former fertile soils in many countries. Due to future shortage of arable areas as well as of resources for raw materials, the recovery of base metals and metalloids, as well as remediation for future agricultural utilization, and prevention of hazardous leachings to the groundwater continues to be a goal of current and future research. Bioremediation and biomining techniques are considered as cost-effective and environmentally friendly, “green” technologies for the in situ restoration of the health and productive capacity of soils, mitigating environmental impacts of impaired soils, and last but not least, the gain of raw materials (e.g. by phytoextraction). Phytoremediation and phytomining both make use of extracting and accumulating contaminants or target elements from soil/water with plants. The term phytoremediation also includes the remediation of soils by phytostabilization and rhizodegradation. However, bioremediation and biomining often appear to be limited by a low mobility and availability of the target elements. Therefore, to optimize these technologies, a sound understanding of the biogeochemical processes and the consequences of soil management on the bioavailability of elements in the soil is needed. To date, sufficient interdisciplinary knowledge on the biogeochemically impacted behavior of specific target elements in the soil and their availability to organisms is lacking.
This session aims to bring together contributions of all aspects of biomining and bioremediation research including the effects of rhizosphere processes and soil management on element accumulation or detoxification. This includes, among others:
-advances in the understanding of functions of plant-soil-microbe interactions
-factors influencing mobility and availability of contaminants in the soil
-selection criteria for suitable plant species and microbes
-distribution of hazardous substances inside the organisms
-final recovery of metals from accumulator plants or microbes

We welcome presentations of laboratory and field research results as well as theoretical studies. We intend to bring together scientists from multiple disciplines to discuss and improve our understanding of these types of soil-plant-microbe interactions from a mechanistic point of view. Young researchers are especially encouraged to submit their contributions. Furthermore, we plan to publish the outcome of this session in a special issue of an international indexed journal.