The effect of heavy metal
pollution and presence of Lycopodium annotinum on soil enzyme activity
Chem.
Met. Alloys 4 (2011) 38-45
https://doi.org/10.30970/cma4.0143
Anna ŚLIWIŃSKA-WYRZYCHOWSKA, Aleksandra NADGÓRSKA-SOCHA
A better understanding of the role of the
activity of soil enzymes in the ecosystem will potentially provide a unique
opportunity for an integrated biological assessment of soils due to their
crucial role in several soil biological activities, their ease of measurement, and
their rapid response to changes in soil management practices. 5 study
plots with and 5 study plots without occurrence of Lycopodium annotinum, exposed to diverse imission
of heavy metals, were chosen for the investigation. The aim of the research was: To
estimate the soil pollution by heavy metals; To check the relation between the
activity of selected soil enzymes (dehydrogenase,
acid and alkaline phosphatases, urease)
and heavy metals (Zn, Cd, Pb)
in the soil; To estimate the enzyme activity in soils at places of occurrence
of Lycopodium annotinum
and at places where Lycopodium annotinum does not occur. The soil pollution index
after HNO3 and CaCl2 extraction was the highest for the
investigated Żurada stand. When the metal
contents in the acid-extracted fraction and potentially bioavailable
fraction of soils from more polluted stands (Chrząstowice,
Kolbark, Żurada) were
compared to those from cleaner stands (Zrębice, Sokole Góry), higher
amounts of metals were found only in the soil of the Żurada
stand. For all of the investigated stands the heavy metal contents were lower
in the potentially bioavailable fraction than after
acid extraction. The highest content among the three analysed elements was
found for lead in the acid-extracted fraction. However, a very high (a few
hundred times) decrease of the content in the potentially bioavailable
fraction (CaCl2-extracted) was noticed for this element. We did not
observe any reduction of the activity of the investigated enzymes in the soil
of the most polluted stand. We did also not observe tendencies to a decrease or
increase of the enzyme activity of the soil from the study plots with
occurrence of Lycopode, in comparison with the places
where Lycopode does not occur. The soil pH was higher
at the places of occurrence of Lycopode.
Average acid phosphatase activity in surface soil samples of the
investigated study plots with standard deviation. The different letters denote
significant differences between the data for each examined enzyme activity (p<0.05).
Keywords
Club moss / Pollution index / Zinc / Lead /
Cadmium / Urease / Dehydrogenase
/ Phosphathase