Evaluating the functional diversity of soil microorganisms using the BIOLOG method in situ studies and laboratory tests of toxicity
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2004 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Proceedings of the 9th Methodological workshop: Present methods for investigation of microbial community biodiversity in soils and substrates |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Ecology |
| Keywords | soil; microorganisms; diversity; BIOLOG |
| Description | This contribution is short example of one field study and three laboratory experiments, which were carried out to answer the question, if the BIOLOG method is suitable to be sensitive indicator of soil contamination in soil ecotoxicology. The BIOLOG main difficulty is introduced especially as effect of inoculum density which causes that information about overall catabolic activity cannot be separated from information about functional diversity, i.e. differences in substrate utilization patterns. In our case field study, twelve soils were measured from area around an industrial source. Soils were compared separately according their catabolic activity and relative diversity. In laboratory toxicity tests, cadmium for validation and toxaphene or chlorinated paraffin as problematic environmental pollutants were evaluated. Cadmium validated BIOLOG to be sensitive as overall physiological activity endpoint. However, there were no diversity changes induced. Toxaphene revealed no effect even at 10 ppm level. The highest levels (10 000 ppm) of both chlorinated paraffin and dodecane stimulated physiological activity and also induced some changes in physiological profile. To conclude, BIOLOG is promising for soil ecotoxicology studies but separated assessment of differences in physiological activity from differences in functional diversity, i.e. substrate utilization patterns, are strongly required to interpret the data correctly. |
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