Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

Mark Hodson

Structure
Sources of soil pollution How wide spread is the problem? When is a pollutant a problem Scale / level of impact Effects Quantifying effects Opportunities Challenges
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Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

Sources of pollution

Image from: http://www.michellehenry.fr/pollution.htm

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How wide spread is the problem?

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

How wide spread is the problem?

325 000 potentially contaminated sites c. 300 000 ha c. 2% of land area 33 500 contaminated sites identified to date 21 000 treated EA 2009 figures

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

How wide spread is the problem?

360 000 potentially contaminated sites German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety 2002 figures
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How wide spread is the problem?

40 000 potentially contaminated sites Danish Ministry of the Environment 2009 figures

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

How wide spread is the problem?

60 000 potentially contaminated sites Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (now part of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment) 2009 figures Cost estimated at 100 billion Dutch guilders in 1997 (c. 500 M today)
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When is a pollutant a problem?

Image from: Semple et al. (2004) Environ. Sci. Technol. 38 (12)

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

When is a pollutant a problem

Cr(VI) vs Cr(III), Cr metal

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

Scale / level of impact

Molecules

Metallothioneins
Image from: Professor Frank Shaw, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/cfsiii/www/

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Scale / level of impact

Molecules

Heat shock proteins

Image from: http://www.usnon.com/expressi on-of-heat-shock-protein-70-inhuman-skin-cells.htm
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Scale / level of impact

Molecules Cells

Image from: http://www.kathimitchell.com/cells.html

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

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Scale / level of impact

Molecules Cells

Image from: Hopkin (1989) Ecophysiology of metals in terrestrial invertebrates. Granule in hepatopancreas of a snail

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

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Scale / level of impact

Molecules Cells
Image from: CotterHowells et al (2005) Environ. Sci. Technol. 39 7731-7740

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

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Scale / level of impact

Molecules Cells Organs

Image from: http://decenthospital.com/organs.html

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Scale / level of impact

Molecules Cells Organs

Surface precipitates
Image: Sonja SelenskaPobell/Mohamed Larbi Merroun); http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9 821-bacteria-skin-helps-assemblemetal-nanoclusters.html

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Scale / level of impact

Molecules Cells Organs

Hepatopancreas (liver + pancreas)

Image: http://rioiriri.blogspot.co.uk/2008/02/biogeekery-giant-isopods.html

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Scale / level of impact

Molecules Cells Organs

Chloragog
Image: http://kids.britannica.com/elementary/ar t-67299/Earthworms-belong-to-agroup-of-worms-known-as-segmented
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Scale / level of impact

Molecules Cells Organs

Midgut (Cd), Cuticle (Zn)

Image: http://www.cgmgardenlife.co.uk/pages/CentipedesMilipedes-Earwigs-and-Woodlice.html
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Scale / level of impact

Molecules Cells Organs

Midgut epithelium
Image: http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/sponsored_ sites/biospeleology/photos.htm
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Scale / level of impact

Molecules Cells Organs Animals

Image from: Field studies council http://www.field-studiescouncil.org/breathingplaces/minibeasts. htm

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

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Effect on soil organisms

Metabolic cost

vs
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Effect on soil organisms

Metabolic cost

vs

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

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Effect on soil organisms

Metabolic cost Survival

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

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Effect on soil organisms

Metabolic cost Survival Evolution
Reference

Stream Cottage
Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

Image: Jane Andre

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Scale / level of impact

Molecules Cells Organs Animals Ecosystems

Image from: Portland State University http://ecoplexity.org/soil_model

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Effect on soil organisms

Metabolic cost Survival Population structure

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

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Effect on soil organisms

Metabolic cost Survival Population structure Community / ecosystem

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Quantifying the effects

Diversity indices Simpsons diversity index (0 = no diversity, 1 = infinite diversity)

1 (-----)
n (n 1) N (N 1)

n = number of a particular species N = total number

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Quantifying the effects

Mark Hodson, Soil pollution and its impact on soil life

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The omic revolutions

Image from: http://www.chemeng.ucla.edu/research/ research-areas/biomolecularengineering-and-systems-biology

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Mixtures

Image from: Jonker et al. (2004) Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 23 1529 - 1537

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Summary
Pollutants are generated by all sorts of human activities Soil pollution is a wide spread problem Pollutants have to be bioavailable to cause harm Impacts occurs from the molecular to ecosystem scale Quantification is by controlled testing and comparisons Omics technologies are not yet mature Mixtures are difficult
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