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This study presents root colonization of Deschampsia cespitosa growing in the immediate vicinity of a former Pb/Zn smelter by arbuscular mycorhizal fungi (AMF) and dark septated endophytes (DSE) at different soil depths. AMF spores and species distribution in soil profile were also assessed. Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) and DSE were found in D. cespitosa roots at all investigated soil levels. However, mycorrhizal colonization in topsoil was extremely low with sporadically occurring arbuscules. AM parameters: frequency of mycorrhization of root fragments (F%), intensity of root cortex colonization (M%), intensity of colonization within individual mycorrhizal roots (m%), and arbuscule abundance in the root system (A%) were markedly higher at 20-40, 40-60 cm soil levels and differed in a statistically significant manner from AM parameters from 0-10 and 10-20 cm layers. Mycorrhizal colonization was negatively correlated with bioavailable Cd, Pb and Zn concentrations. The number of AMF spores in topsoil was very low and increased with soil depth (20-40 and 40-60 cm). At the study area spores of three morphologically distinctive AMF species were found: Archaeospora trappei, Funneliformis mosseae and Scutellospora dipurpurescens. The fourth species Glomus tenue colonized roots of D. cespitosa and was observed in the root cortex at 20-40 and 40-60 soil depth, however, its spores were not found at the site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the recent data on the procedure of Hormesis in plants, a biological phenomenon which describe the activation of growth phase in plants by exposing to low concentration of toxic substances like heavy metals .

The article discusses the study done to evaluate the extent of soil contamination with selected heavy metals including Zinc(Zn), Lead(Pb) and Copper(Cu), and the commutability of these contaminants into rhizome, a continuously growing rootstocks of the plant, Carex brizoides L. in oak-hornbeam habitats of European region. The result shows clonal plants – Carex brizoides, play a major role in the transfer of certain heavy metals in forest habitat.

The article discusses the bioavailable forms of heavy metals' concentration in soils and used soil extracted 0.01 M Calcium Chloride for investigating the extraction-time effect on the bioavailable metals' content in soils. The article also mentions the variations of bioavailable forms of cadmium and copper and concentration and reabsorption of lead and zinc.

An abstract of the article " Relationships between root hairs and toxic effect of Cd on photosynthesis in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) " by Krzysztof Sitko, Agata Daszkowska-Golec, Marzena Kurowska. Iwona Szarejko, Łukasz Małkowski and Eugeniusz Małkowski is presented.

The article focuses on the symbiosis of the seed plants with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) which establishes a relationship with the soil depth on which a colonization of roots of grasses is grown on the soil contaminated with heavy metal pollutants.