Journal ArticleDOI
Toxicity of heavy metals to microorganisms and microbial processes in agricultural soils: a review.
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TLDR
In this article, a hypothesis is formulated to explain how microorganisms may become affected by gradually increasing soil metal concentrations and this is discussed in relation to defining safe or critical soil metal loadings for soil protection.Abstract:
An increasing body of evidence suggests that microorganisms are far more sensitive to heavy metal stress than soil animals or plants growing on the same soils. Not surprisingly, most studies of heavy metal toxicity to soil microorganisms have concentrated on effects where loss of microbial function can be observed and yet such studies may mask underlying effects on biodiversity within microbial populations and communities. The types of evidence which are available for determining critical metal concentrations or loadings for microbial processes and populations in agricultural soil are assessed, particularly in relation to the agricultural use of sewage sludge. Much of the confusion in deriving critical toxic concentrations of heavy metals in soils arises from comparison of experimental results based on short-term laboratory ecotoxicological studies with results from monitoring of long-term exposures of microbial populations to heavy metals in field experiments. The laboratory studies in effect measure responses to immediate, acute toxicity (disturbance) whereas the monitoring of field experiments measures responses to long-term chronic toxicity (stress) which accumulates gradually. Laboratory ecotoxicological studies are the most easily conducted and by far the most numerous, but are difficult to extrapolate meaningfully to toxic effects likely to occur in the field. Using evidence primarily derived from long-term field experiments, a hypothesis is formulated to explain how microorganisms may become affected by gradually increasing soil metal concentrations and this is discussed in relation to defining “safe” or “critical” soil metal loadings for soil protection.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Stabilization of organic matter in temperate soils: mechanisms and their relevance under different soil conditions – a review
Margit von Lützow,Ingrid Kögel-Knabner,Klemens Ekschmitt,Egbert Matzner,Georg Guggenberger,Bernd Marschner,Heinz Flessa +6 more
TL;DR: In this article, a review of the mechanisms that are currently, but often contradictorily or inconsistently, considered to contribute to organic matter (OM) protection against decomposition in temperate soils is presented.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microbial diversity and soil functions
Paolo Nannipieri,Judith Ascher,Maria Teresa Ceccherini,Loretta Landi,Giacomo Pietramellara,Giancarlo Renella +5 more
TL;DR: A better understanding of the relations between microbial diversity and soil functions requires not only the use of more accurate assays for taxonomically and functionally characterizing DNA and RNA extracted from soil, but also high-resolution techniques with which to detect inactive and active microbial cells in the soil matrix.
Book
Heavy metals in soils : trace metals and metalloids in soils and their bioavailability
TL;DR: In this article, the authors defined the sources of heavy metals and metalloids in Soils and derived methods for the determination of Heavy Metals and Metalloids in soil.
Journal ArticleDOI
Trace elements in agroecosystems and impacts on the environment
TL;DR: Soil microorganisms are the first living organisms subjected to the impacts of metal contamination, and changes in microbial biomass, activity, and community structure as a result of increased metal concentration in soil may be used as indicators of soil contamination or soil environmental quality.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microbial co-operation in the rhizosphere
TL;DR: This article summarizes and discusses significant aspects of this general topic, including the analysis of the key activities carried out by the diverse trophic and functional groups of micro-organisms involved in co-operative rhizosphere interactions; a critical discussion of the direct microbe-microbe interactions which results in processes benefiting sustainable agro-ecosystem development.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Screening of isolates and strains of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar Trifolii for heavy metal resistance using buffered media
TL;DR: The computer program GeochEM-PC was used to calculate the metal ion activities of Cu, Zn, Cd, and Ni in defined media amended with various metal ion buffers at pH 6.6 or 6.0 as discussed by the authors.
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Incubation study on effects of adding varying levels of nickel (as sulphate) on nitrogen and carbon mineralisation in soil
M. Giashuddin,A. H. Cornfield +1 more
TL;DR: The effects of adding 10, 100 and 1000 ppm Ni (as sulphate) to a sandy soil (pH 5·9) were studied in this article for 6 weeks at 30° C.
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Effects of adding nickel (as oxide) to soil on nitrogen and carbon mineralisation at different pH values
M. Giashuddin,A. H. Cornfield +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, Nitrogen and carbon mineralisation were measured after adding 50, 250, 1000 and 5000 ppm Ni (as oxide) to a sandy soil at pH levels of 5·8, 6·9 and 7·6 (the last containing 1% calcium carbonate).
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The Mitigating Effect of Residual Fertilizer Copper on the Decomposition of an Organic Soil in Situ1
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Bodenmikrobiologische Prozesse und Testaceen (Protozoa) als Indikatoren für Schwermetallbelastung
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of heavy metal pollution on soil microbial processes was investigated at 4 meadow sites along a concentration gradient in Brixlegg (Austria), where the first site is within 300 m of the source, further sites are situated 1125 m, 2425 m and 5900 m from the smelter.