Heavy metals can cause a decrease in the taxonomic diversity of soil communities. Because of functional redundancy, it remains unclear to what extent different functions performed by the soil ...microbial communities may be affected by pollution. We studied the impact of metal contamination on soil bacterial and fungal functional diversity, active microbial biomass, and soil respiration rate. Soil samples were collected from 39 sites along three forest and five meadow pollution transects near an abandoned Pb/Zn smelter in Avonmouth (UK) and Ni smelter in Clydach (UK), in a Cu mining and smelting region near Glogow (Poland), and in a Zn/Pb mining and smelting region near Olkusz (Poland). Biolog® GN2 and SFN2 plates were used to study the bacterial and fungal functional diversity, which subsequently was expressed as Shannon's diversity index (H′). The active microbial biomass was measured as substrate‐induced respiration. We found that the bacterial functional diversity significantly decreased, whereas the fungal functional diversity slightly increased, with increasing metal concentration. We also observed a slight negative effect of metal pollution on the active microbial biomass. No relationship was found between metal contamination and total soil respiration rate. This suggests a higher sensitivity of bacterial functional diversity as an indicator for the effects of metal pollution compared with overall soil respiration. All microbial parameters were affected by nutrient concentrations and/or soil pH.
The aim of this literature review was to explore the views of parents and children with type 1 diabetes mellitus regarding having a school nurse.
Six databases were selected for the analysis. The ...research strategy was based on the PICO model. The research participants were children with type 1 diabetes mellitus and/or their parents.
The present review of research papers includes 12 publications. The majority of works deal with the perspectives of children with type 1 diabetes and their parents on various aspects related to the role of a school nurse in the care of a child with type 1 diabetes:the presence of a school nurse;the role of a school nurse in the prevention and treatment of hypoglycaemia, in performing the measurements of blood glucose, and in insulin therapy;the role of a nurse in improving metabolic control of children with type 1 diabetes;a nurse as an educator for children with type 1 diabetes, classmates, teachers, teacher's assistants, principals, administrators, cafeteria workers, coaches, gym teachers, bus drivers, and school office staff;a nurse as an organiser of the care for children with type 1 diabetes.
According to parents and children with type 1 diabetes mellitus, various forms of school nurse support (i.e., checking blood glucose, giving insulin, giving glucagon, treating low and high blood glucose levels, carbohydrate counting) are consistently effective and should have an impact on the condition, improvement of metabolic control, school activity and safety at school.
Asplenium viride
is a diploid species, belonging to the largest genus of the cosmopolitan fern family Aspleniaceae and occurring on various types of alkaline rocks. It is known to colonize sites with ...high concentrations of heavy metals, exhibiting changes in frond morphology.
A. viride
can sometimes form new substrate-dependent ecotypes that can be morphologically and genetically different from parental populations. This study aimed to evaluate the morphological and genetic diversity of
A. viride
, and test for a potential correlation between variability and heavy metal concentration. Analysis of
A. viride
specimens from one metalliferous and five non-metalliferous sites showed elevated concentrations of heavy metals in roots of metalliferous plants. The concentrations were higher in roots than in aboveground organs, especially in the case of Cd and Pb, suggesting an excluder strategy for these metals. Both metalliferous and non-metaliferous sites were populated by plants with similar ploidy levels. The overall genetic diversity was low (H
T
= 0.25) and concentrated between populations (
G
ST = 0.62). The obtained 2C DNA content ranged from 8.67 pg/2C to 8.69 pg/2C. STRUCTURE analysis revealed two groups among the studied populations which did not correlate with heavy metal concentrations and were not significantly supported by AMOVA. This suggests that factors influencing genetic diversity of
A. viride
are a consequence of intragametophytic selfing caused by patchy habitats and subsequent founder effects, resulting from long-distance colonization by single spores. The species has a potential to colonize heavy metal polluted sites; however, it does not seem to form genetically distinct ecotypes at those sites.
The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of R. rugosa invasion on soil physicochemical and microbial properties of coastal sand dunes. The study was performed at 25 paired ...invaded-native plots along the Hel Peninsula at the coast of the Baltic Sea. A number of soil physicochemical and microbial parameters were measured, namely organic matter layer thickness, pH, electrical conductivity, organic C, total Ca, N, Na, P, N-NH4, N-NO3 and P-PO4 concentrations, phospholipid and neutral fatty acid (PLFA, NLFA) markers of total microbial, bacterial, fungal biomass and microbial community structure, as well as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) spore and species numbers, and the degree of AMF root colonization. Since potential alterations in soil parameters induced by R. rugosa may be related to large amounts of secondary metabolites provided to the soil with litter or root exudates, total phenolic concentration in senescing tissues of R. rugosa and native species was compared. Rosa rugosa invasion was associated with increased organic C, total N and P-PO4 concentrations in mineral soil relative to native vegetation. Organic matter layer under R. rugosa was thicker, had higher pH and Ca concentration. Rosa rugosa invasion was associated with reduced total microbial, bacterial and G+ bacterial biomass and increased AMF biomass markers (16:1ω5 NLFA and 16:1ω5 NLFA/PLFA), and changes in microbial community structure in mineral soil. The reduction in total and bacterial biomass under R. rugosa might have been related to the production of secondary metabolites as total phenolic concentration was approx. 5 times higher in senescing tissues of R. rugosa than in native vegetation. The observed increase in element concentrations and alterations in microbial community structure suggest that invasion of R. rugosa may threaten nutrient-poor habitats of coastal dunes. Changes in the soil environment may hinder restoration of these valuable habitats after invader removal.
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•Influence of invasive Rosa rugosa on soil properties of coastal dunes was studied.•R. rugosa increased organic C, total N and P-PO4 in soil relative to native species.•Total microbial and bacterial biomass was decreased under R. rugosa.•A marker of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi – NLFA 16:1ω5 – increased due to invasion.•Changes in soil might have been caused by high phenolic content in R. rugosa tissues.
Purpose
Herbaceous plants are important components of temperate forest structure and its functioning, however, their impacts on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) remain largely unexplored. We ...studied the influence of forest herbaceous plant species on AMF abundance, morphospecies richness, and community composition in soil.
Methods
We tested the influence of plant species identity in an outdoor mesocosm experiment, using two soils, differing in physicochemical properties, planted with four plant species of contrasting traits related to morphology, phenology, reproduction, and ecology; the hemicryptophyte, summer-green
Aegopodium podagraria
, and spring ephemeral geophytes comprising
Allium ursinum
,
Anemone nemorosa
, and
Ficaria verna
. The plants were grown on both soils in four monocultures, in a combination of
A. podagraria
and
A. ursinum
, and a mixture of all four species.
Results
Aegopodium podagraria
and
A. ursinum
promoted AMF abundance and diversity the most. Higher AMF root colonization and/or soil concentrations of AMF structural and storage markers 16:1ω5 PLFA and NLFA, as well as higher AMF spore and morphospecies numbers were found in the
A. podagraria
and
A. ursinum
monocultures and mixture. The short period of photosynthetic activity of
A. ursinum
due to rapid leaf decay does not negatively affect the symbiosis with AMF. Although
A. nemorosa
and
F. verna
are mycorrhizal, their effect on AMF in soil was weak.
Conclusions
The plant impact on AMF may be related to the differences in plant coverage and the character of their interactions with AMF. The herbaceous plants can form niches in soil differing in AMF abundance and diversity.
The aim of the study was to assess the relationships between vegetation, physicochemical and microbial properties of substrate at coal ash and sludge disposal sites. The study was performed on 32 ...plots classified into 7 categories: dried ash sedimentation ponds, dominated by a grass Calamagrostis epigejos (AH-Ce), with the admixture of Pinus sylvestris (AH-CePs) or Robinia pseudoacacia (AH-CeRp), dry ash landfill dominated by Betula pendula and Pinus sylvestris (AD-BpPs) or Salix viminalis (AD-Sv) and coal sludge pond with drier parts dominated by Tussilago farfara (CS-Tf) and the wetter ones by Cyperus flavescens (CS-Cf). Ash sites were covered with soil layer imported as a part of technical reclamation. Ash had relatively high concentrations of some alkali and alkaline earth metals, Mn and pH, while coal sludge had high water and C, S, P and K contents. Concentrations of heavy metals were lower than allowable limits in all substrate types. Microbial biomass and, particularly, enzymatic activity in ash and sludge were generally low. The only exception were CS-Tf plots characterized by the highest microbial biomass, presumably due to large deposits of organic matter that became available for aerobic microbial biomass when water level fell. The properties of ash and sludge adversely affected microbial biomass and enzymatic activity as indicated by significant negative correlations between the content of alkali/alkaline earth metals, heavy metals, and macronutrients with enzymatic activity and/or microbial biomass, as well as positive correlations of these parameters with metabolic quotient (qCO2). Plant species richness and cover were relatively high, which may be partly associated with alleviating influence of soil covering the ash. The effect of the admixture of R. pseudoacacia or P. sylvestris to stands dominated by C. epigejos was smaller than expected. The former species increased NNH4, NNO3 and arylsulfatase activity, while the latter reduced activity of the enzyme.
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•Microbial biomass and activity at coal ash and sludge disposal site were generally low.•In contrast, plant species richness and cover were relatively high.•Microbial biomass and activity correlated negatively with C, S, alkali/alkaline earth or heavy metals.•The admixture of trees to Calamagrostis epigejos stands affected few waste parameters.
No studies have compared so far the effects of alien invasive and expansive native (widespread, mono-dominant) plants on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Four global or European most successful ...invaders (
Impatiens glandulifera
,
Reynoutria japonica
,
Rudbeckia laciniata
,
Solidago gigantea
) and two expansive plants native to Europe (
Artemisia vulgaris
,
Phalaris arundinacea
) were grown in pots to elucidate the magnitude and direction of changes in AMF abundance, species richness, and species composition in soils from under multispecies native vegetation. In a second stage, the effects of these changes on a native plant,
Plantago lanceolata
, were assessed. Plant species identity had larger impact on AMF abundance, species richness, and species composition as well as on
P. lanceolata
than origin of the species (alien vs. native). This could be due to the character of AMF relationships with the plants, i.e., their mycorrhizal status and dependency on AMF. However, the alterations induced by the plant species in soil chemical properties rather than in AMF community were the major drivers of differences in shoot mass and photosynthetic performance of
P. lanceolata
. We determined that the plants produced species-specific effects on soil properties that, in turn, resulted in species-specific soil feedbacks on the native plant. These effects were not consistent within groups of invaders or natives.
Purpose
This study compared the effects of four invasive plants, namely
Impatiens glandulifera
,
Reynoutria japonica
,
Rudbeckia laciniata
, and
Solidago gigantea
, as well as two native species—
...Artemisia vulgaris
,
Phalaris arundinacea
, and their mixture on soil physicochemical properties in a pot experiment.
Materials and methods
Plants were planted in pots in two loamy sand soils. The soils were collected from fallows located outside (fallow soil) and within river valley (valley soil) under native plant communities. Aboveground plant biomass, cover, and soil physicochemical properties such as nutrient concentrations, pH, and water holding capacity (WHC) were measured after two growing seasons. Discriminant analysis (DA) was used to identify soil variables responsible for the discrimination between plant treatments. Identified variables were further compared between treatments using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s HSD test.
Results and discussion
Plant biomass, cover, and soil parameters depended on species and soil type. DA effectively separated soils under different plant species. DA on fallow soil data separated
R. laciniata
from all other treatments, especially
I. glandulifera
, native species and bare soil, along axis 1 (related mainly to exchangeable K, N-NH
4
, total P, N-NO
3,
and WHC). Large differences were found between
R. laciniata
and
S. gigantea
as indicated by axis 2 (S-SO
4
, exchangeable Mg, total P, exchangeable Ca, and total Mg). DA on valley soil data separated
R. japonica
from all other treatments, particularly
S. gigantea
,
R. laciniata
, and native mixture, along axis 1 (N-NO
3
, total N, S-SO
4
, total P, pH). Along axis 2 (N-NO
3
, N-NH
4
, Olsen P, exchangeable K, WHC), large differences were observed between
I. glandulifera
and all other invaders.
Conclusions
Plant influence on soil differed both among invasive species and between invasive and native species.
Impatiens glandulifera
had a relatively weak effect and its soil was similar to both native and bare soils. Multidirectional effects of different invaders resulted in a considerable divergence in soil characteristics. Invasion-driven changes in the soil environment may trigger feedbacks that stabilize or accelerate invasion and hinder re-colonization by native vegetation, which has implications for the restoration of invaded habitats.
The aim of this study was to investigate the variation in plant communities growing on metal-enriched sites created by historical Zn–Pb mining. The study sites were 65 small heaps of waste rock ...covered by grassland vegetation and scattered mostly over agricultural land of southern Poland. The sites were described in terms of plant coverage, species richness and composition, and the composition of plant traits. They were classified using phytosociological methods and detrended correspondence analysis. Identified plant communities were compared for vegetation parameters and habitat properties (soil characteristics, distance from the forest) by analysis of variance. The variation in plant community parameters was explained by multiple regression, in which the predictors were properties of the habitat selected on the basis of factor analysis. Grasslands that developed at low and high concentrations of heavy metals in soil were similar to some extent: they were composed on average of 17–20 species (per 4 m²), and their total coverage exceeded 90 %. The species composition changed substantially with increasing contamination with heavy metals; metal-sensitive species withdrew, while the metal-tolerant became more abundant. Other important predictors of community structure were: proximity to the forest (responsible for the encroachment of competitive forest species and ruderals), and the thickness of the surface soil (shallow soil favored the formation of the heavy metal grassland). The heavy metal grassland was closely related to the dry calcareous grasslands. The former was an earlier succession stage of the latter at low contamination with heavy metals.
The study evaluated the levels of nine metals, namely Ca, Cd, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Pb, Tl, and Zn, in soils and tissues of ten plant species growing spontaneously on heaps left by historical mining for ...Zn-Pb ores. The concentrations of Cd, Pb, Tl, and Zn in heap soils were much higher than in control soils. Plants growing on heaps accumulated excessive amounts of these elements in tissues, on average 1.3–52 mg Cd kg⁻¹, 9.4–254 mg Pb kg⁻¹, 0.06–23 mg Tl kg⁻¹ and 134–1479 mg Zn kg⁻¹ in comparison to 0.5-1.1 mg Cd kg⁻¹, 2.1–11 mg Pb kg⁻¹, 0.02–0.06 mg Tl kg⁻¹, and 23–124 mg Zn kg⁻¹ in control plants. The highest concentrations of Cd, Pb, and Zn were found in the roots of Euphorbia cyparissias, Fragaria vesca, and Potentilla arenaria, and Tl in Plantago lanceolata. Many species growing on heaps were enriched in K and Mg, and depleted in Ca, Fe, and Mn. The concentrations of all elements in plant tissues were dependent on species, organ (root vs. shoot), and species-organ interactions. Average concentrations of Ca, K, and Mg were generally higher in shoots than in roots or similar in the two organs, whereas Cd, Fe, Pb, Tl, and Zn were accumulated predominantly in the roots. Our results imply that heaps left by historical mining for Zn-Pb ores may pose a potential threat to the environment and human health.
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