Short- and long-term effects of heavy metals on phosphatase activity in soils: An ecological dose-response model approach

Summary The aim of this study was to provide manageable data to help establish permissible limits for the pollution of soil by heavy metals. Therefore the short-and long-term effects of heavy metal pollution on phosphatase activity was studied in five different soil types. The results are presented graphically as logistic dose-response curves. It was possible to construct a curve for sand and silty loam soil but it was more difficult to establish a curve for sandy loam and clay soil and nearly impossible (except for Cu) for peat. The toxicity of the various metals can be compared on the basis of mmol values. In clay soils, for Cd, Cr, Cu, and Zn, the 50% effective ecological dose (ED₅₀) values were comparable (approximately 45 mmol kg^–1), but the ED₁₀ values were very different, at 7.4, 41.4, 15.1, and 0.55, respectively. At the ED₅₀ value, toxicity did not decrease with time and, in sandy soils, was approximately 2.6 mmol kg ^–1 dry soil for Cd, Cu, and Zn. In four out of five soils, the Cd toxicity was higher 1.5 years after the addition of heavy metal salts than after 6 weeks. Toxicity was least in the sandy loam, silty loam, and clay soil, and varied in general between 12 and 88 mmol kg^–1. In setting limits, the criteria selected (no-effect level, ED₁₀ or ED₅₀) determine the concentration and also the toxicity of the sequence. It is suggested that the data presented here could be very useful in helping to set permissible limits for heavy metal soil pollution.     

Critical loads for nitrogen deposition on forest ecosystems

Critical loads for N deposition are derived from an ecosystem's anion and cation balance assuming that the processes determining ecosystem stability are soil acidification and nitrate leaching. Depending on the deposition of S, the parent soil material, and the site quality critical N deposition rates will range between 20 to 200 mmol m^?2 yr^?1 (3 to 14 kg ha^?1 yr^?1) on silicate soils and reach 20 to 390 mmol m^?2 yr^?1 (3 to 48 kg ha^?1) on calcareous soils.     

Modelling water flow through undisturbed soil cores using a transfer function model derived from 3HOH and Cl transport

Large undisturbed soil cores (20 cm diam. × 25–30 cm long) were irrigated at rates of 0.5–4 cm h^?1 with 0.005 M CaCl₂ solution labelled with ³HOH. The cores were used at varying initial water contents and flow in all cases was unsaturated. Breakthrough curves for Cl and ³HOH were markedly asymmetric and unlike those reported for columns of packed aggregates. The data could be satisfactorily described using a density distribution function of the logarithm of cumulative drainage D. The mean and standard deviation of In D were estimated by a curve-fitting procedure from Cl and ³HOH effluent concentrations in each core. The mean pore water velocity and fraction of the soil water that participated in solute transport (the mobile volume) were also calculated. The apparent velocity of Cl movement was always greater than that of ³HOH which suggested that the mobile volume involved in convective and diffusive transport of Cl was less than that for ³HOH. We suggest that Cl and ³HOH diffused at different rates out of flowing water films in a relatively few large conducting channels into essentially immobile water within the surrounding soil matrix. The difference in mobile volume for Cl and ³HOH was used to calculate the perimeter of voids in any horizontal cross-section of the soil through which water flowed, assuming a planar interface between the mobile and immobile water.     

Effect of metal toxicity on the size of the soil microbial biomass

The amount of soil microbial biomass was measured by the chloroform fumigation technique on agricultural soils which had been previously treated with different bulky organic manures. Amounts of soil microbial biomass in soils receiving sewage sludge or sludge-containing composts were much smaller than in soils which received farmyard manure over the same period. This effect was attributed to the toxic metals present in the sludges and was readily detectable more than 20 years after the last sludge application.     

Heat transfer through covering materials of greenhouses

Conductive, convective and radiative heat transfers are evaluated through single and double walls for a series of materials used as greenhouse covers. Among others, radiative exchanges explicitly take into account the far-infrared partial transmittance of many synthetic materials. The k-values are proposed for cloudless sky, wind speed = 4 m s⁻¹, outside temperature = −10°C. and inside temperature = 20°C. The influence of the wind speed, overcast sky, rain or condensation and thickness of the wall is investigated.     

The effects of biocidal treatments on metabolism in soil—III. The relationship between soil biovolume,measured by optical microscopy,and the flush of decomposition caused by fumigation

The hypothesis that the flush of decomposition following fumigation is a measure of the amount of biomass in a soil was tested by comparing the biomass thus found, and as calculated from direct microscopic measurement of the soil biovolume. Eight soils developed under contrasting systems of management and climate were used, six from England and two from Nigeria. The biovolume was measured by a modification of the Jones and Mollison procedure, in which agar films prepared from known amounts of soil were stained with phenolic aniline blue. Fluorescent stains were less satisfactory in that they did not stain as wide a range of organisms as phenolic aniline blue. Spherical organisms were divided into 13 size classes, with diameters ranging from 0·3 to 19 μm, and the numbers in each size class counted. Hyphae were divided into seven diameter classes, with dia. ranging from 1 to 11 μm, and the lengths in each class measured. For seven of the soils there was close agreement between the two different methods of measuring biomass C. With an acid woodland soil (pH 3·9). the biomass C, as calculated by direct microscopy, was seven times that calculated from the size of the flush; it is suggested that this discrepancy arose because stainable cell walls from dead organisms persist for much longer in the strongly acid soil than in the other, more nearly neutral, soils.Both methods were used to follow the effects of fumigation on the soil biomass. A near-neutral soil was fumigated with CHCl₃, the fumigant removed and the soil incubated for 53 days at 25° C. The decrease in biomass caused by fumigation was less as measured by direct microscopy than as measured from the size of the flush, suggesting that stainable cell walls of killed organisms can persist for a considerable time after fumigation.Data on the relationship between the size of soil organisms and their contribution to soil biovolume are presented graphically. The biovolume in hyphae and in ‘spherical’ organisms was roughly equal in all soils. There was a linear relationship between the cumulative biovolume and the logarithm of organism volume lor ‘spherical’ organisms over the volume range 0·05 μm³ to 100 μm³. If, for a given soil, the volume range is divided into equal volume classes on a logarithmic basis, each class contains the same biovolume. Thus, comparing equal logarithmic volume classes, a class of rare large organisms contains as much biovolume as a class of numerous small organisms.     

The effect of soil liming on shoot development, root growth, and cluster root activity of white lupin

 The effects of a limed soil upon root and shoot growth of white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) were investigated using soil tubes and pots. After 75 days in the soil tubes, the combined taproot and lateral root dry weight in limed soil (2.5% CaO w/w) was significantly less than in neutral pH soil (by 57%). However, the dry weight and numbers of cluster roots remained comparable between the treatments, demonstrating for the first time that the cluster roots respond differently to the rest of the root system. Cluster roots accounted for 17% of the total root biomass in neutral soil, increasing significantly to over 30% in limed soil. When grown for 43 days in pots containing soil with different additions of lime (0.5–2.5% CaO w/w), soil citrate concentrations were higher than in the neutral pH soil treatment in all except the 2.5% lime treatment, in which they were lower. In both experiments, shoot dry weights were lower in the presence of the limed soil compared with those in the neutral pH soil. Although a reduction in shoot dry weight was not apparent at 21 days in the limed-soil tubes, the initiation of fewer mainstem leaf primordia indicated a slower shoot development than occurred in the neutral soil. Plants grown in the limed-soil tubes showed leaf yellowing and some chlorosis within 9 days. At the final harvest, the shoot phosphorus and manganese concentrations were significantly lower in plants grown in limed soil compared with those in the neutral pH soil, whereas the concentration of calcium was higher. Received: 11 October 1999     

Soluble organic nitrogen in agricultural soils

 The existence of soluble organic forms of N in rain and drainage waters has been known for many years, but these have not been generally regarded as significant pools of N in agricultural soils. We review the size and function of both soluble organic N extracted from soils (SON) and dissolved organic N present in soil solution and drainage waters (DON) in arable agricultural soils. SON is of the same order of magnitude as mineral N and of equal size in many cases; 20–30 kg SON-N ha^–1 is present in a wide range of arable agricultural soils from England. Its dynamics are affected by mineralisation, immobilisation, leaching and plant uptake in the same way as those of mineral N, but its pool size is more constant than that of mineral N. DON can be sampled from soil solution using suction cups and collected in drainage waters. Significant amounts of DON are leached, but this comprises only about one-tenth of the SON extracted from the same soil. Leached DON may take with it nutrients, chelated or complexed metals and pesticides. SON/DON is clearly an important pool in N transformations and plant uptake, but there are still many gaps in our understanding. Received: 10 June 1999     

Geographical variation of solanidane aglycone glycoalkaloids in the wild potato species Solanum chacoense Bitter

The Colorado Potato Beetle is a serious pest of the cultivated potato. Natural resistance has been found in a few wild species, including Solanum chacoense Bitter, in which the resistance is attributed to the presence of leptine glycoalkaloids. Production and accumulation of these compounds within S. chacoense varies widely and appears to be inherited in a quantitative fashion, but high leptine-producing clones occur rarely. In the present study, 15 different accessions from various locations and altitudes of origin within central to northern Argentina and Paraguay were analyzed for foliar glycoalkaloid (leptine, leptinine, solanine, chaconine) content. The objective was to infer the frequency of leptine production in ecogeographically distinct S. chacoense accessions, and to ascertain any possible association between leptine levels/concentrations and ecogeographical location. Leptines were detected in 8 of the 15 accessions, and the amounts within each accession varied widely. Most of the leptine-containing accessions originated from western Argentina except two in province Córdoba in central Argentina. There was no relationship between elevational level and leptine, but there was a negative trend with total glycoalkaloids (TGA) and elevation, due to solanine and chaconine levels which decreased with increasing elevation. In addition, nine unidentified, putative glycoalkaloids were detected, in very high proportions in some individuals and accessions. This study raises interesting questions about glycoalkaloid distribution, helps provide direction for new avenues of leptine and glycoalkaloid research, and proposes a systematic, ecogeographically based method for bioprospecting genes controlling rare plant secondary compounds.