Effect of heavy metals on soil nematode communities in the vicinity of a metallurgical factory

Article type: Research Article

Authors: LI, Qi^; | JIANG, Yong | LIANG, Wen-ju

Affiliations: Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecological Process, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China | Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: The influence of Cu and Zn on soil nematode communities was examined along a pollution gradient with increasing distance from a metallurgical factory. Total and available heavy metal contents were used to study the effects of heavy metals on nematode abundance, trophic groups and ecological indices. The results demonstrated significant correlations between the number of total nematodes, bacterivores, plant-parasites and the total and available heavy metals. Bacterivores and plant-parasites were the dominant trophic groups. Significant differences in different sampling sites were found only in the number of bacterivores (P<0.0l). The Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H'), trophic diversity index (TD), evenness index (J') and dominance index (λ) were found to be sensitive to soil pH and C/N ratios. Significant correlations were found between the total nematodes (TNEM), some genera (Acrobeloides, A phelenchoides, Cephalobus, Ditylenchus, Mesorhabditis, Tetylenchus and Tylenchus) and distance from the factory.

Keywords: soil nematodes, trophic groups, ecological indices, heavy metals, metallurgical factory

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 323-328, 2006