The textbook presents modern ideas about the physiological foundations of plant resistance to heavy metals. The most important issues related to the flow of heavy metals from the environment into plants, their transport, accumulation and hyperaccumulation, as well as the impact on the basic physiological processes. Particular attention is paid to the mechanisms of metal resistance, acting at different levels of plant organization. Some methodological recommendations for conducting experiments aimed at studying the influence of heavy metals on plants. The main methods of plant physiology, cytology, molecular biology, chemical analysis used in such studies. are described. For students of higher educational institutions studying in the specialties "biology" and "ecology" . Of interest to graduate students and researchers engaged in research in the field of ecology and environmental protection.