Phytostimulation of lowland soil contaminated with imidazolinone herbicides.

The phytostimulation is a phytoremediation technique that can be used to remediate area contaminated with herbicides. It is necessary to select plants with high capacity to stimulate soil microbial activity. The present work aimed at evaluating seven plant species regarding their ability to phytostimulate soil and enhance the degradation of the herbicides imazethapyr, imazapic and imazapyr in a lowland soil.

Earthworm diversity in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

The knowledge regarding earthworm species richness in subtropical Brazil is limited, particularly in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), where only a few sites have been sampled. In this study we assessed earthworm richness in different ecosystems of RS, prioritizing un-sampled regions. Fifteen ecosystems, including native vegetation and other ecosystems with variable levels of disturbance were sampled in 30 counties in RS, totaling 77 sampling points, mainly in the Pampa biome.