Plants as Bioindicators and Solutions to Emerging Contaminants in a Changing World

Plants are on the frontline of global environmental change. As sessile organisms, they are constantly exposed to multiple stressors, including emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, hormones, microplastics, and engineered nanomaterials, in combination with climate change drivers like temperature extremes, drought, and enhanced UV radiation. Understanding how plants sense, respond, and adapt to these stressors is essential to advance both fundamental knowledge and practical applications. This Research Topic aims to gather high-quality contributions exploring the molecular, physiological, and ecological responses of plants to contaminants and combined abiotic stressors. The ultimate goal is to position plants as both bioindicators of environmental quality and as nature-based solutions for mitigating pollution in a rapidly changing world.

Emerging contaminants represent a rapidly expanding environmental challenge, with more than 350,000 chemicals and chemical mixtures registered for production and use worldwide (UNEP, 2023). Pharmaceuticals alone exceed 5,000 active compounds, and residues have been detected in >70% of global rivers. In agriculture, contaminants such as herbicides, antibiotics, and nanomaterials contribute to 5–40% crop yield reductions depending on concentration and species, and the economic costs of soil and water contamination are estimated to exceed US$100–300 billion annually worldwide. Microplastics, now found in over 90% of tested agricultural soils, may reduce root growth and nutrient uptake by 15–25%. Climate-change stressors further amplify these impacts: drought and heat waves are projected to reduce global agricultural productivity by up to 30% by 2050, intensifying plant sensitivity to pollutants. These combined pressures underscore the urgency of understanding how plants respond to emerging contaminants within multifactorial stress environments to guide mitigation, risk assessment, and sustainable ecosystem management.

This Research Topic welcomes original research articles, reviews, and methodological papers addressing plant responses to emerging contaminants and climate-related stressors across molecular, physiological, and ecological levels. Suggested themes include:

• Plant uptake, translocation, metabolism, and detoxification of micropollutants

• Oxidative stress, hormonal regulation, and signaling pathways under contaminant exposure

• Interactive effects of climate change drivers and pollutants

• Plant–microbiome interactions in contaminant tolerance and transformation

• Omics and systems biology approaches to elucidate plant stress responses

• Plants as bioindicators of environmental quality and risk assessment tools

• Translational research on phytoremediation and plant-based solutions

We aim to foster interdisciplinary contributions that bridge basic plant science with applied ecological and environmental solutions.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Emerging contaminants, Micropollutants, Abiotic stress, Phytoremediation, Climate change, Bioindicators, Detoxification, Plant–microbiome interactions

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.