Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXVIII, Issue 1
Written by Vlad STOIAN, Roxana VIDICAN, Larisa CORCOZ, Anca PLEȘA, Alexandra GHEORGHIȚĂ, Bianca POP
The presence of heavy metals in urban soil is a consequence of anthropogenic activities and represents a continuous source of changes in microbial communities. The DEMSA model was used to analyse a series of decreases in the soil microbial functional profile, with a target on the groups and guilds that suffer a reduction due to the presence of heavy metals. The presence of heavy metals in the 5 sites analysed is visible in the reduction of the soil microbiome general activity. The Index of Narrowing is set in a very large interval, which indicates the absence of multiple functional groups from the altered community. The diversity indices show a large variability associated with the reduction of specialized functional activity. The sum of activities is a good indicator of functional contraction, with most of the functional guilds showing activities below 1.0 units, and a large variability between functional groups. Soil microbiomes show powerful changes due to the presence of heavy metals in soil, which is visible in the decrease of multiple groups functional activity.
[Read full article] [Citation]
