Exploring the influence of ground-dwelling ant bioturbation activity on physico-chemical, biological properties and heavy metal pollution in coal mine spoil

IF 2 3区农林科学 Q3 ECOLOGY

Pedobiologia Pub Date : 2024-05-01 DOI:10.1016/j.pedobi.2024.150960

Shbbir R. Khan , Poonam C. Singh , Martin Schmettow , Satish K. Singh , Neelkamal Rastogi

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Coal mining activities increase the soil concentrations of heavy metals manifold thus impacting soil health and biodiversity. The understanding of the impact of bioturbation activities by ant colonies on soil in coal mine spoil site across different restoration ages is not studied. The study aimed to investigate the influence of bioturbation activities by two most common and distinct coal mine site inhabiting ant species (C. compressus and C. longipedem) at six different ages (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 years old) on the soil heavy metal concentrations of Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cd and Cr, pH, OM, TC, TN, soil enzyme activity of DH, ACP, β-glucosidase and proteases properties of soil. Soil samples were collected from opencast coalmine spoils during October and November 2017. Reference (Ref.) soil samples (n=10 per site) were collected (from area adjacent to ant nest colony approximately 2–5 m distance) from a depth of 0–15 cm and ant nest debris soil of each ant species (n=10 per site) were collected from each site. Heavy metal pollution decreased and pH, OM, TC, TN and soil enzyme activity of DH, ACP, β-glucosidase and proteases of soil in both Ref. soil and ant nest debris soil increases with the increase of mine site restoration age. Our study revealed that different age of the mine spoil have more profound effects on the soil quality and heavy metal content. Contrary to our hypothesis, regression analysis did not support our notion that ant bioturbation activity directly accelerate heavy metal breakdown. Instead, our findings suggests that ant colonies prefer to construct their nest for the locations with lower heavy metal concentrations and higher enzyme activity and increase in soil porosity is a key factor behind the low heavy metal concentration in the nest debris soil.

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探索地栖蚁生物扰动活动对煤矿废弃物物理化学、生物特性和重金属污染的影响

煤矿开采活动会成倍增加土壤中的重金属浓度，从而影响土壤健康和生物多样性。关于蚂蚁群落的生物扰动活动对不同修复年龄的煤矿废弃地土壤的影响，目前尚无研究。本研究旨在探讨两种最常见、最独特的煤矿废弃地栖息蚂蚁物种（C. compressus 和 C. longipedem）在 6 个不同年龄段（2、4、6、8、10 和 12 年）的生物扰动活动对土壤中铁、锌、锰、铜、镍、铅、镉和铬等重金属浓度、pH 值、OM 值、TC 值、TN 值，以及 DH、ACP、β-葡萄糖苷酶和蛋白酶等土壤酶活性的影响。土壤样本于 2017 年 10 月和 11 月期间从露天煤矿废弃物中采集。在每个地点采集了0-15厘米深的参考（Ref.）土壤样品（每个地点10个）（距离蚁巢群落约2-5米）和每个蚂蚁物种的蚁巢残骸土壤（每个地点10个）。结果表明，随着矿区恢复年限的增加，重金属污染程度降低，参考土壤和蚁巢碎屑土壤的 pH 值、OM 值、TC 值、TN 值以及 DH 酶、ACP 酶、β-葡萄糖苷酶和蛋白酶的活性均有所提高。我们的研究表明，不同龄期的矿渣对土壤质量和重金属含量的影响更为显著。与我们的假设相反，回归分析并不支持蚂蚁生物扰动活动直接加速重金属分解的观点。相反，我们的研究结果表明，蚂蚁群落更喜欢在重金属浓度较低、酶活性较高的地方建造蚁巢，而土壤孔隙度的增加是蚁巢碎屑土壤中重金属浓度较低的关键因素。

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来源期刊

Pedobiologia 环境科学-生态学

CiteScore

4.20

自引率

8.70%

发文量

审稿时长

64 days

期刊介绍： Pedobiologia publishes peer reviewed articles describing original work in the field of soil ecology, which includes the study of soil organisms and their interactions with factors in their biotic and abiotic environments. Analysis of biological structures, interactions, functions, and processes in soil is fundamental for understanding the dynamical nature of terrestrial ecosystems, a prerequisite for appropriate soil management. The scope of this journal consists of fundamental and applied aspects of soil ecology; key focal points include interactions among organisms in soil, organismal controls on soil processes, causes and consequences of soil biodiversity, and aboveground-belowground interactions. We publish: original research that tests clearly defined hypotheses addressing topics of current interest in soil ecology (including studies demonstrating nonsignificant effects); descriptions of novel methodological approaches, or evaluations of current approaches, that address a clear need in soil ecology research; innovative syntheses of the soil ecology literature, including metaanalyses, topical in depth reviews and short opinion/perspective pieces, and descriptions of original conceptual frameworks; and short notes reporting novel observations of ecological significance.