We tried to quantify the ecotoxicity of three industrial soil samples contaminated by different metals, using the Collembolan Folsomia candida as a biological model and mortality, growth and reproduction as parameters. The observed ecotoxicities are rather normal for the first such soil sample (aluminum factory) but are high for the second sample (ore treatment) and relatively low for the third...

Ciliates (or Ciliophora) are ubiquitous organisms which can be widely used as bioindicators in ecosystems exposed to anthropogenic and industrial influences. The evaluation of the environmental impact on soil ciliate communities with methods relying on morphology-based identification may be hampered by the large number of samples usually required for a statistically supported, reliable conclusi...

Tests have been conducted to determine the effect of liming and magnesium treatment on the content of magnesium, calcium and iron in broad bean plants growing on soil polluted with such heavy metals as cadmium, lead, nickel, copper and zinc. In 2005, an experiment was conducted in the village Zagaje Stradowskie (Œwiêtokrzyskie Province) on degraded Chernozem formed from loess, acid in reaction ...

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), and other synthetic polycarboxylic acids have been shown to possess substantial capacity as washing agents of heavy metal-polluted soils, but they are environmentally problematic. Therefore, a sample of natural soluble humic substances (HS) was tested as a possible substitute. The efficiency of HS to extract cadmium (Cd), copp...

It is well known that compost can be polluted with heavy metals. A self-designed soil column system was used to clarify the leaching or residue of heavy metals when compost was added to red soil. Less than 4% of Cu and more than 58.3% of Zn were transferred to groundwater. Maximum concentrations of Cu and Zn in leachate were 22 and 246 microg/L, respectively. pH in leachate decreased during 6.7...

Restoration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon- (PAH-) polluted sites is presently a major challenge in agroforestry. Consequently, microorganisms with PAH-degradation ability and soil fertility improvement attributes are sought after in order to achieve sustainable remediation of polluted sites. This study isolated PAH-degrading bacteria from enriched cultures of spent automobile engine-oil po...

Four types of soil (red, yellow, cinnamon, and paddy soil) from China were used to conduct experiments in pots to study the influence of humic acid (humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA)) on the accumulation of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) in tobacco leaves. In non-polluted soils, the tobacco leaf uptake of Cd was dramatically influenced by the total soil metal concentration and soil properties, w...

Middle and southern Iraq suffers from polluted soils due to crude oil, spilled on land, leakage from transmitting pipe networks, or petroleum products from refineries. Many researchers have studied pollution impacts on the soil in details, but there is a clear lack of investigation on the influence of crude oil on soil erodibility. Recent researches have investigated the influence of pollution ...