Terrestrial Meiofauna and Contaminated Land Assessment

Trett, M. W.; Urbano, Beatriz; Förster, Stefan; Hutchinson, J. D.; Feil, Regina; Trett, S. P.; Best, Jennifer

doi:10.1021/es990064d

Cited by 15 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The metal contents of the samples were determined by microwave digestion followed by inductively coupled plasma analysis (IRIS; Thermo Electron Corp., Waltham, Mass.) (36). Approximately 3 to 4 g of soil sample was placed in foil packets and weighed, and the packets were then kept at 80°C and reweighed daily until no further weight loss was detected.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivation-Dependent and -Independent Approaches for Determining Bacterial Diversity in Heavy-Metal-Contaminated Soil

Ellis

Morgan²,

Weightman

et al. 2003

Appl Environ Microbiol

448

257

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In recent years, culture-independent methods have been used in preference to traditional isolation techniques for microbial community analysis. However, it is questionable whether uncultured organisms from a given sample are important for determining the impact of anthropogenic stress on indigenous communities. To investigate this, soil samples were taken from a site with patchy metal contamination, and the bacterial community structure was assessed with a variety of approaches. There were small differences in microscopic epifluorescence bacterial counts. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profiles of 16S rRNA gene fragments (16S-DGGE) amplified directly from soil samples were highly similar. A clone library generated from the most contaminated sample revealed a diverse bacterial community, which showed similarities to pristine soil communities from other studies. However, the proportion of bacteria from the soil samples that were culturable on standard plate-counting media varied between 0.08 and 2.2%, and these values correlated negatively with metal concentrations. The culturable communities from each sample were compared by 16S-DGGE of plate washes and by fatty acid profiling of individual isolates. Each approach indicated that there were considerable differences between the compositions of the culturable communities from each sample. DGGE bands from both culture-based and culture-independent approaches were sequenced and compared. These data indicated that metal contamination did not have a significant effect on the total genetic diversity present but affected physiological status, so that the number of bacteria capable of responding to laboratory culture and their taxonomic distribution were altered. Thus, it appears that plate counts may be a more appropriate method for determining the effect of heavy metals on soil bacteria than culture-independent approaches.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivation-Dependent and -Independent Approaches for Determining Bacterial Diversity in Heavy-Metal-Contaminated Soil

Ellis

Morgan²,

Weightman

et al. 2003

Appl Environ Microbiol

448

257

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“…Soil samples for meiofaunal community analysis were processed as described previously [8,12]. Soil cores for meiofaunal analysis were homogenised in dechlorinated water (1 l) and separated using modi¢ed Whitehead tray separators for 48 h at 20 ‡C.…”

Section: Meiofaunal Community Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Particle-size pro¢les of the soil samples were determined by dry-sieving and provided percentage composition of the following size categories (Wm): s 2000, 500^2000, 2505 00, 106^250, 63^106 and 6 63 [8]. Sub-samples from the 6 63-Wm fraction were analysed by Thermo Electron IRIS inductively coupled plasma analysis to quantify the metal content.…”

Section: Chemical and Particle-size Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sub-samples from the 6 63-Wm fraction were analysed by Thermo Electron IRIS inductively coupled plasma analysis to quantify the metal content. Total metal burden indices (TMBI) were calculated as described previously [8] to provide an estimation of the total metal loading for each sample. Solvent extracts of each sample were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine the presence of organic contaminants according to standard methods used by the site owners (R. Crawford, personal communication).…”

Section: Chemical and Particle-size Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is now becoming apparent that meiofaunal communities may be suitable indicators of the ecological e¡ects of perturbation [8^10], but the methodology for their analysis is time-consuming and requires specialist taxonomic expertise [11]. Meiofauna are considered to be an advantageous group to study as they are diverse, abundant, show a wide range of tolerances to environmental stress, and interact directly with pore-water contaminants [8]. The same is true for bacteria, and thus they may also be a useful group to study for the assessment of ecological impact.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Similarity of microbial and meiofaunal community analyses for mapping ecological effects of heavy-metal contamination in soil

Ellis

2002

FEMS Microbiology Ecology

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The effect of long-term heavy-metal contamination on soil microbial and meiofaunal communities was assessed with a view to determining whether analysis of these communities could be used for ecological assessment of contaminated sites. Thirty soil cores were taken from an industrial site formerly used for the burning of waste from an explosives factory. The predominant contaminants in the soil were a range of heavy metals, including lead, copper and zinc. The numbers of culturable bacteria (especially those grown on Pseudomonas selective media) and the microbial community response to a suite of 95 carbon sources were suppressed in samples with high heavy-metal contamination. This corresponded to a reduction in the density and evenness of the nematode communities in the samples with high metal concentrations. Conversely the bacterial counts and responses to the 95 carbon sources were greater at sites with higher and more diverse populations of nematodes. However, epifluorescence counts of bacteria and the profiles of extracted fatty acids were not consistently altered by the heavy-metal contamination. These results suggest that culturable bacteria are effective indicators of pollution in soil, and reflect the perturbations seen in other components of the soil biota. Furthermore, this is the first study to show that both meiofaunal communities and microbial communities give similar indications of the ecological impact of heavy-metal contamination in soil. ß

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Morphological plasticity in metal‐sequestering earthworm chloragocytes: Morphometric electron microscopy provides a biomarker of exposure in field populations

Morgan

Turner

Morgan

2002

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Morphometric measurements of the volume fractions (Vv) of two prominent metal-sequestering compartments, chloragosome granules and debris vesicles, were made on transmission electron micrographs of chloragocytes in Dendrodrilus rubidus (Annelida: Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) from one uncontaminated site and three qualitatively and quantitatively different metalliferous soils associated with disused Pb/Zn mines. We also examined the relative volume fractions of the alimentary wall and attached chloragogenous tissue by light microscopy. Several conclusions relevant to environmental diagnostics were reached: Metal identity and degree of soil pollution exert strong effects on chloragocyte ultrastructure; morphometry by light microscopy indicated that the metal-induced structural effects are characterized by intracellular alterations not accompanied by a significant expansion of the tissue volume; elevated metal burdens can reduce chloragosome Vv and, concomitantly, increase the Vv of their autophagic derivatives, the debris vesicles; the measured cellular alterations were more closely correlated with integrated tissue metal burdens than they were with integrated soil metal burdens; and estimates of tissue metal distribution, derived by combining morphometric data and published whole-worm and chloragosome metal concentrations, suggested that the alimentary wall of earthworms may sequester Pb, Zn, and Cd. Our study shows that cellular changes, directly or indirectly, may yield quantifiable expressions of metal loads bioaccumulated by earthworms. However, the practical use of cellular changes as biomarkers of soil quality probably will require automated light-microscopic morphometry in combination with organelle-specific molecular probes to be cost effective.

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Terrestrial Meiofauna and Contaminated Land Assessment

Cited by 15 publications

References 26 publications

Cultivation-Dependent and -Independent Approaches for Determining Bacterial Diversity in Heavy-Metal-Contaminated Soil

Cultivation-Dependent and -Independent Approaches for Determining Bacterial Diversity in Heavy-Metal-Contaminated Soil

Similarity of microbial and meiofaunal community analyses for mapping ecological effects of heavy-metal contamination in soil

Morphological plasticity in metal‐sequestering earthworm chloragocytes: Morphometric electron microscopy provides a biomarker of exposure in field populations

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