Abstract
The fertility of natural soil ecosystems depends on the rate of turnover of soil organic matter, mediated by the soil microbial biomass. The upset of microbiological equilibria therefore affects nutrient cycling with serious consequences for the soil-plant system. Heavy metals are the most important, as they persist in soil indefinitely once they enter it and their effects upon the microbial population can be essentially permanent. There is evidence that large amounts of heavy metals introduced in soil depress the turnover rate of organic matter, because of their toxicity on the microbial biomass (Brookes and McGrath, 1984; Chander and Brookes, 1991, 1993). It therefore seems reasonable to place particular enphasis upon biological processes in assessing the potential of microbiological properties as indicators of soil pollution. In fact, microbes, having both mass and activity, and being in intimate contact with soil micro-environment are, in many ways, ideal monitors of soil pollution (Brookes, 1992).
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Leita, L., Muhlbachova, G., Mondini, C., Marchiol, L., de Nobili, M. (1997). Soil microbial biomass as a marker of heavy metal contamination and bioavailability. In: Rosen, D., Tel-Or, E., Hadar, Y., Chen, Y. (eds) Modern Agriculture and the Environment. Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, vol 71. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5418-5_37
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5418-5_37
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