Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXVIII, Issue 1
Written by Roxana VIDICAN, Vlad STOIAN, Larisa CORCOZ, Anca PLEȘA, Bianca POP, Alexandra GHEORGHIȚĂ
Soil heavy metal pollution is one of the major concerns in urban habitats, due to the associated human and environmental risks. Materials and methods: The aim of this research is to use the DEMSA model to explore the increases in the soil microbial functional profile, based on Biolog Ecoplates results, due to historical pollution with heavy metals. The historical pollution of the 5 sites analyzed induces a high variability in the soil functional microbiomes. The functional intensification is visible in the sum of all activities and the Index of Intensification from each site. At this niche level the Carboxylic and acetic acids guild shows the highest share of activities. Above the intensification level, a guild expansion is observed only in three of the analyzed sites. For these sites, the Index of Expansion is set in the interval of 2.5-6.0, which indicates the presence of multiple functional groups adapted to heavy metals. Historical pollution alters the assemblage of soil general microbial community, by increasing the activity of a small number of very specialized groups.
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