Urban Allotment Gardens for the Biomonitoring of Atmospheric Trace Element Pollution.

This study evaluates the results of the characterization of air pollution in urban green areas using edible plants. To this purpose, we examined the effect of location (i.e.

Long-term Effects of Organic Waste Fertilizers on Soil Structure, Tracer Transport, and Leaching of Colloids.

Organic waste fertilizers have previously been observed to significantly affect soil organic carbon (SOC) content and soil structure. However, the effect of organic waste fertilizers on colloid dispersibility and leaching of colloids from topsoil has not yet been studied extensively. We investigated how the repeated application of different types of agricultural (liquid cattle slurry and solid cattle manure) and urban waste fertilizers (sewage sludge and composted organic household waste) affected soil physical properties, colloid dispersion from aggregates, tracer transport, and colloid leaching from intact soil cores.

Heavy Metal Leaching as Affected by Long-Time Organic Waste Fertilizer Application.

The recycling of urban waste products as fertilizers in agriculture may introduce contaminants such as heavy metals into soil that may leach and contaminate groundwater. In the present study, we investigated the leaching of heavy metals from intact soil cores collected in the long-term agricultural field trial CRUCIAL. At the time of sampling, the equivalent of >100 yr of urban waste fertilizers following Danish legislation had been applied.

Evaluation of the leucine incorporation technique for detection of pollution-induced community tolerance to copper in a long-term agricultural field trial with urban waste fertilizers.

Copper (Cu) is known to accumulate in agricultural soils receiving urban waste products as fertilizers. We here report the use of the leucine incorporation technique to determine pollution-induced community tolerance (Leu-PICT) to Cu in a long-term agricultural field trial. A significantly increased bacterial community tolerance to Cu was observed for soils amended with organic waste fertilizers and was positively correlated with total soil Cu.

Guatemalan potato moth Tecia solanivora distinguish odour profiles from qualitatively different potatoes Solanum tuberosum L.

Guatemalan potato moth, Tecia solanivora, lay eggs in the soil nearby potato Solanum spp. and larvae feed on the tubers. We investigated the oviposition behaviour of T.

A common soil flagellate (Cercomonas sp.) grows slowly when feeding on the bacterium Rhodococcus fascians in isolation, but does not discriminate against it in a mixed culture with Sphingopyxis witflariensis.

Flagellates are very important predators on bacteria in soil. Because of their high growth rates, flagellate populations respond rapidly to changes in bacterial numbers. Previous results indicate that actinobacteria are generally less suitable than proteobacteria as food for flagellates.