Toxicity screening of soils from different mine areas-A contribution to track the sensitivity and variability of Arthrobacter globiformis assay

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2014

Authors

Catarina R Marques (Author) Other; Ana L Caetano (Author) Other; Andreas Haller (Author) Other; Fernando Goncalves (Author) Other; Ruth Pereira (Author) FCUP; Joerg Roembke (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Journal of Hazardous Materials

Vol. 274 No. 15

Pages: 331-341

ISSN: 0304-3894

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 18 Citations

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 17 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Civil engineering

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-009-KQ7

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.03.066

Abstract (EN): This study used the Arthrobacter globiformis solid-contact test for assessing the quality of soils collected in areas subjected to past and present mine activities in Europe (uranium mine, Portugal) and North Africa (phosphogypsum pile, Tunisia: iron mine, Morocco). As to discriminate the influence of soils natural variability from the effect of contaminants, toxicity thresholds were derived for this test, based on the dataset of each study area. Furthermore, the test sensitivity and variability was also evaluated. As a result, soils that inhibited A. globiformis dehydrogenase activity above 45% or 50% relatively to the control, were considered to be toxic. Despite the soil metal content determined, the properties of soils seemed to influence dehydrogenase activity. Overall, the contact test provided a coherent outcome comparing to other more time-consuming and effort-demanding ecotoxicological assays. Our results strengthened the feasibility and ecological relevance of this assay, which variability was quite reduced hence suggesting its potential integration within the test battery of tier 1 of soil risk assessment schemes.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 11