SUITMA 2005 Cairo - Evaluation of biological methods for monitoring urban soils
SUITMA 2005 Cairo
| This abstract is about one of the papers of the Methodology and classification theme of the SUITMA 2005 symposium. |
| A. V. Kurakov,i | M. V. Gorlenko,i |
| M. M. Umarov,ii | D. G. Zvyagintsev,ii |
| Zdenek Filip.iii |
- i - International Biotechnology Center, Moscow Lomonosov State University, Moscow, Russia
- ii - Soil Biology Department, Moscow Lomonosov State University, Moscow, Russia
The purpose of this study was to undertake comparative analysis of chemical, microbiological, and biochemical properties of background soddy-podzolic soils located in industrial districts and along roads with high traffic density in Moscow megapolis, and to determine biological methods most suitable for the monitoring of urban soils. Samples of humus horizons of soddy-podzolic soils were collected under mature spruce forest and under the fertilized field with cereal-legume rotation (Moscow region). The roadside and urban soils were taken from depth 2-15 cm in several sites in city Moscow and Moscow region. The diverse microbiological and biochemical measurements were performed according international standard techniques.
The total contents of Pb, Cu, Zn, and Cd in the soils of roadsides and industrial districts of Moscow megalopolis were about 2-25 times higher than the backgrounds soils. The level pollution was lower or reached of maximum permissible concentrations (MPC) for HM and only in the urban soil near an accumulator plant exceeded of MPC. All urban and roadsides soils characterized alkaline pH and high values of CEC that could increase their buffer capacity and decline availability of HM. In general for the urban soils were noted the decline of microbial biomass, activities of dehydrogenase, urease, respiration, N2-fixation and denitrification, the disappearance of typical for the background soils microorganisms and impoverishment of species diversity with accelerating of abundance of microbial species that are harmful for human and plants.
The evaluation of tested methods was done on the base of the foregoing criteria – sensitivity, accuracy, duration and complexity of method, variability of obtained results. Almost all tested methods detected reliable distinctions between undisturbed forest and cultivated arable soddy-podzolic soils. The list of the suitable methods for the monitoring changes in urban soils is more limited. It was established that substrate utilization patterns by BIOLOG, enzyme’s activities and respiration, microbial biomass, populations of Azotobacter were more sensitive criteria for detection of pollution of urban soils than number of CFU of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes, wide taxonomic groups of bacteria. Informative and sufficiently sensitive criterion was analysis of diversity of soil fungal and actinomycetes communities. Decline of diversity and the increase of abundance phytotoxic, opportunistic and allergenic microfungi for human were established. The application of biological methods is necessary to do in the concert with analysis of main physical and chemical soil properties and with determination of the concentrations of pollutants. The comparison with background soils from the same region is recommended for the monitoring of urban soils.
