Heavy metal pollution is widespread problem in industrial, urban and agricultural areas and pose a serious stress not only to plants but to all organisms in the ecosystems. Beside plants that inhabit heavy metal rich soils, such as serpentinophytes which are mostly characterized by low biomass production, there is a number of heavy metal-tolerant plants with high biomass production. The adverse chemical properties of mine and flotation tailings, in particular the phytotoxic concentrations of heavy metals, are the main environmental constraints on plant growth and establishment of vegetation cover. Nevertheless, some plant species with broad ecological amplitudes even occur as their natural colonizers and endure stringent ecological conditions seemingly without many problems. The analysis of their (i) under- and above ground biomass production, (ii) heavy metal accumulation and transfer within the plant, and (iii) metal-induced changes at the biochemical and physiological level, in sense of metal-induced stress and plants adaptive response, offer valuable set of data required for the assessment of their possible use in phytoremediation, primarily phytostabilization. The introduction and the long-term presence of plant species in the extreme environment conditions of the abandoned flotation tailing would trigger various slow but positive changes in the chemical and physical properties of its surface layers, which will be further guided by consortium of living organisms and their specific interaction.
Drought is one of the most serious problems in the modern wold with the clear tendency to increase upon climate changes. Therefore, all the research related to mechanisms involved in plant drought tolerance and desiccation tolerance are of utmost importance for identification of key plant responses for drought tolerance and the selection of the drought-tolerant crops. The model system in our investigations are two flowering resurrection plants of the genus Ramonda – R. serbica and R. nathaliae – the relics of the tropical and subtropical flora and endemic species of the Balkan Peninsula. Desiccation tolerance is based on complex and highly regulated changes within the cell enabling efficient preservation of the cell components and the recovery of their functionality short time upon rewatering. Our research is primarily focused on biochemical and physiological mechanisms of their desiccation tolerance, but also on the unusual and very specific organization of their vascular tissue.
Plant structure and function
Due to the prominent developmental plasticity, plant species (i.e. genus Edraianthus, Campanulaceae) with wide distribution area manifest outstanding morphological and anatomical variability. The mountainous nature of Balkan Peninsula, high mountain peeks, its cliffs and canyons offers the abundance of ecologically different and even contrasting habitats that enable spatial isolation of populations, their morphological and genetic diversification. One of the numerous specificities of the Balkan Peninsula are poikilohydric flowering plant species of the genus Ramonda (Gesneriaceae). The specific net-like organization of their stem vascular tissue, not found in any other vascular plant, enable them highly efficient water distribution upon dehydration and rewatering.
tamara rakic plant science 
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