Technogenic soils (Technosols) developed from mine spoils containing Fe sulphides: Microbiological activity as an indicator of soil development following land reclamation

Uzarowicz, Łukasz; Wolińska, Agnieszka; Błońska, Ewa; Szafranek-Nakonieczna, Anna; Kuźniar, Agnieszka; Słodczyk, Zuzanna; Kwasowski, Wojciech

doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2020.103699

Cited by 38 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…This leads to plant cover formation and stimulating soil-forming processes and initiating biological activity on disposal site surfaces. As a consequence, technogenic soils are being formed, providing habitats for organisms on the superficial parts of tailings ponds [ 3 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Features Indicating the Recovery of Soil Ecosystem Strongly Affected by Mining and Ore Processing

Feketeová

Hrabovský

Šimkovic

2021

IJERPH

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Tailings-derived soils formed from waste materials produced during mineral processing often exhibit extremes of pH, low content of organic matter and limited nutrient availability. The success of site revitalization depends mostly on the ability to maintain natural soil functions. We analyzed technogenic sediments from four selected localities in Slovakia defined as environmental burdens: Slovinky (SLS, SLD), Markušovce (MAS, MAD), Lintich (LIS, LID), Horná Ves (HVS, HVD) in the presented research. None of these sites has long been used for its original purpose. In all localities, the concentrations of several risk elements (As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) still significantly exceed the statutory limit values. Besides the content of risk elements, the amounts of organic carbon, total nitrogen, pH value and moisture level in technogenic substrates were determined. We evaluated selected microbiological parameters, including microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial respiration and cellulolytic activity to determine how soil organisms tolerate long-term pollution. In general, the values of microbiological parameters were not as low as one would expect. The results confirmed a negative correlation between MBC content and concentrations of several toxic metals (Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn). The values of assessed microbial indicators were in several cases comparable to those in natural soils. We noticed the lowest metabolic quotient values (qCO2) in the heavily polluted locality HVS. The microbial quotient (qMic) was low in every locality except HVS, where the substrate availability index (SAI) was highest. The soil microbial community properties have shown that, despite adverse conditions, these emerging soils allow the growth and development of microorganisms to such an extent that they can adequately use available (although limited) nutrients. The data obtained suggest that these severely impacted soil ecosystems can restore their original environmental functions in time.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Features Indicating the Recovery of Soil Ecosystem Strongly Affected by Mining and Ore Processing

Feketeová

Hrabovský

Šimkovic

2021

IJERPH

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“…Agronomy 2020, 10, 1795 2 of 22 Fe sulphide weathering influences the properties of Technosols because it contributes to strong acidity unless carbonates occur in parent material [3,4]. Acidification enhances leaching of base cations, e.g., calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg), makes nutrients less available for plants, inhibits microbial activity and leads to the release of toxic elements [5]. To resolve that problem, Technosols containing Fe sulphides are reclaimed in order to neutralize the unfavourable strong acidity and restore their biological activity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only a few autochthonic acidophilic bacteria are able to live in strongly acidic environment. Most widespread genera representatives of this group include: Acidobacterium, Rhodanobacter [7], Mycobacterium, Nocardia [10], Thiobacillus, Acidithiobacillus, Leptospirillum [11,12], Bacillus [5,13], Pseudomonas, Flavobacterium, Alcaligenes, Cellulomonas, Arthrobacter, Brevibacterium [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Microbial Community Profiling and Bacterial Metabolic Activity of Technosols as an Effect of Soil Properties following Land Reclamation: A Case Study from the Abandoned Iron Sulphide and Uranium Mine in Rudki (South-Central Poland)

et al. 2020

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The aims of the study were (1) to recognize the structure of bacteria diversity in Technosols developed from mine spoils containing iron (Fe) sulphides with the use of culture-independent technique, and (2) to determine microbial metabolic activities, in the context of their potential to be an adequate indicators of soil properties being the consequence of land reclamation. The study site was located in the vicinity of the abandoned Fe sulphide and uranium mine in Rudki village (Holy Cross Mts., Poland). Three soil profiles with different chemical properties (pH, content of carbonates, soil salinity, content of total organic carbon and total nitrogen) were studied. Biodiversity was determined with the use of meta-barcoding of 16S rRNA community profiling analysis based on the hypervariable V3-V4 region of 16S rRNA gene (MiSeq, Illumina). The catabolic fingerprinting of soil microbial communities was evaluated with the use of Biolog®EcoPlates™ System. It was evidenced that changes in microbial structure and their metabolic activity were the consequence of a combined effect of both the soil depth and soil chemical properties being the final result of reclamation process. Consequently, microbial indicators (from phyla to genera level) indirectly testifying about success or ineffectiveness of reclamation in technogenic soils were recommended. To our best knowledge, the present study is the first insight into Polish Technosols biodiversity and catabolic activity.

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“…Dehydrogenase activity is an indicator of the microbial redox system and the oxidative activity of the soil (Trevors 1984), and higher dehydrogenase activity was found in the upper 5 cm of the soil of humid forests than in dry forests. Since the dehydrogenase enzyme is active only within the living cell, the activity of the enzyme shows the activity of living microbial biomass (Szili-Kovács et al 2011;Uzarowicz et al 2020). The intensity of degradation can also be significantly influenced by the fungal biomass of soils, as saprophytic fungi play a particularly important role in forest soils, especially in acidic soils.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How will a drier climate change carbon sequestration in soils of the deciduous forests of Central Europe?

et al. 2020

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Global warming is accompanied by increasing water stress across much of our planet. We studied soil biological processes and changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in 30 Hungarian oak forest sites in the Carpathian Basin along a climatic gradient (mean annual temperature (MAT) 9.6–12.1 °C, mean annual precipitation (MAP) 545–725 mm) but on similar gently sloped hillsides where the parent materials are loess and weathered dust inputs dating from the end of the ice age. The purpose of this research was to understand how a drying climate, predicted for this region, might regulate long-term SOC sequestration. To examine the effects of decreasing water availability, we compared soil parameters and processes in three categories of forest that represented the moisture extremes along our gradient and that were defined using a broken-stick regression model. Soil biological activity was significantly lower in the driest (“dry”) forests, which had more than double the SOC concentration in the upper 30 cm layer (3.28 g C/100 g soil ± 0.11 SE) compared to soils of the wettest (“humid”) forests (1.32 g C/100 g soil ± 0.09 SE), despite the fact that annual surface litter production in humid forests was ~ 37% higher than in dry forests. A two-pool SOM model constrained to fit radiocarbon data indicates that turnover times for fast and slow pools are about half as long in the humid soil compared to the dry soil, and humid soils transfer C twice as efficiently from fast to slow pools. Enzyme activity and fungal biomass data also imply shorter turnover times associated with faster degradation processes in the soils of humid forests. Thermogravimetry studies suggest that more chemically recalcitrant compounds are accumulating in the soils of dry forests. Taken together, our results suggest that the predicted climate drying in this region might increase SOC storage in Central European mesic deciduous forests even as litter production decreases.

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Technogenic soils (Technosols) developed from mine spoils containing Fe sulphides: Microbiological activity as an indicator of soil development following land reclamation

Cited by 38 publications

References 71 publications

Microbial Features Indicating the Recovery of Soil Ecosystem Strongly Affected by Mining and Ore Processing

Microbial Features Indicating the Recovery of Soil Ecosystem Strongly Affected by Mining and Ore Processing

Soil Microbial Community Profiling and Bacterial Metabolic Activity of Technosols as an Effect of Soil Properties following Land Reclamation: A Case Study from the Abandoned Iron Sulphide and Uranium Mine in Rudki (South-Central Poland)

How will a drier climate change carbon sequestration in soils of the deciduous forests of Central Europe?

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