No abstract

The brownfields of Liberty State Park served as rail yards for the Central New Jersey Terminal until the 1960s. These areas contain heavy metals such as Cd and Pb, which vary along a gradient. Previous research, such as the study done by Lee and Baek on a general shooting ranging in South Korea, has concluded that initial addition of heavy metals can inhibit enzymatic activities in soils. However, there was no known ongoing‐addition of heavy metals in our study sites since the closing of the rail station; concentrations of the heavy metals continued to persist in the soil for over the past 50 years. The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of persistent heavy metals concentrations on the activity of leucine‐aminopeptidase in the different brownfield sites at Liberty State Park. Fluometric analysis was used to determine the amount of the product amino‐7‐methylcoumarin (AMC) present in a given soil sample. The substrate analog leucine‐amino‐7‐methylcoumarin (LAMC) was added to the soil samples and enzymatic activities was determined by the amount of AMC produced over time. Interestingly, results showed an increase in the enzymatic activity of leucine‐aminopeptidase in the soil samples of the high heavy metal concentration sites compared to those of the lower heavy metal concentration sites