Functional activity and functional gene diversity of a Cu-contaminated soil remediated by aided phytostabilization using compost, dolomitic limestone and a mixed tree stand

Abstract

Trace elements (TEs) availability, biochemical activity and functional gene diversity was studied in a Cu-contaminated soil, revegetated for six years with a mixed stand of willow, black poplar, and false indigo-bush, and amended or not with compost plus dolomitic limestone (OMDL). The OMDL amendment significantly reduced Cu and As availability and soil toxicity, and increased the biochemical activity and microbial functional diversity assessed with the GEOCHIP technique, as compared to the unamended soil (Unt). The OMDL soil showed significantly higher abundance of 25 functional genes involved in decomposition organic compounds, and 11, 3 and 11 functional genes involved in the N, P and S biogeochemical cycles. Functional gene abundance was positively correlated with nutrient contents but negatively correlated with Cu availability and soil toxicity. The abundance of microbial functional genes encoding for resistance to various TEs also increased, possibly due to the microbial proliferation and lower Cu exposure in the presence of high total soil Cu concentration. Genes encoding for antibiotic resistance due to the co-occurrence of TEs and antibiotic resistant genes on genetic mobile elements. Overall, phytomanagement confirmed its potential to restore the biological fertility and diversity of a severely Cu-contaminated soil, but the increase of TEs and antibiotic resistant gene abundances deserve attention in future studies.

Efecto de la reforestación sobre las propiedades edáficas del tranque de relaves Cauquenes, mina El Teniente, Región del Libertador Bernardo O ́higgins-Chile

“…Todo lo anterior, junto con la ausencia de correlación entre el Cu y el pH (Cuadro 2), hace que finalmente se postule que son varios los factores que interaccionan entre sí y que afectan a la concentración de Cu en los suelos de los relaves, entre ellos los contenidos de materia orgánica y arcillas (Lagomarsino et al, 2011, Xue et al, 2018. La movilidad del Cd puede verse reducida ya que se une fuertemente a la materia orgánica del suelo (ATSDR, 2012;Tang et al, 2017).…”

Soils from an iron and steel scrap storage yard remediated with aided phytostabilization

“…The examined soils demonstrated alkaline reaction. Xue et al ()and Acosta et al () similarly used mineral soil amendments in the process of aided phytostabilization, and the soil tested was characterized by pH alkaline. Lead is considered one of the main components of industrial emissions (Awan, Ahmed, Aslam, & Qazi, ).…”

Microbial diversity in relation to soil types and land uses of Wadi Um Ashtan basin, North-Western Coast, Egypt

“…The urease enzyme is responsible for hydrolyzing of urea and producing ammonia, urease in soils is rapidly decomposed by protease enzyme (Chen et al, 2011).The highest cellulase activity was recorded in samples numbers 16 and 19 and the maximum amylase activity was noted in samples numbers 8, 9 and 14. Cellulase and amylase enzymes are involved in C cycle and play an important role in the hydrolytic processes that take place during organic matter breakdown (Riah et al, 2014;Malik et al, 2017 andXue et al, 2018). The highest phosphatase activity was recorded in sample number 2, Phosphatase enzyme is involved in soil P cycling.…”