We investigated the genera, trophic groups, and functional guilds of soil nematodes at five alluvial meadows along the Litavka River in the Czech Republic to assess their usefulness as indicators of heavy metal pollution in soils. The Litavka River flows around the waste-sedimentation pond of a smelter in the city of Příbram in the Central Bohemian Region. Lead, zinc, and arsenic are the main pollutants in the soils in the vicinity of the smelter. The alluvial meadows closest to the pond and mine waste were the most heavily polluted sites, and contamination decreased downstream along the river with increasing distance from the sources of pollution. The nematode communities were sensitive to pollution, with the most contaminated sites having considerably fewer nematode individuals, fewer genera, and a less diverse and more degraded food web with less nematode biomass. Arsenic, lead, and zinc contents were significantly negatively correlated with the numbers of bacterivores, predators, omnivores, plant parasites, and fungivores, which were significantly less abundant at highly polluted sites. This correlation suggests that nematode groups with higher c-p values, and those with c-p 1 and 2 designations, can be useful indicators of high heavy-metal contamination in areas polluted for a long time. In contrast, the abundance of c-p 3 plant parasitic nematodes was positively correlated with copper, nickel, and zinc contents and with soil-moisture content in the alluvial meadows. Maturity index (MI) and MI2-5 were the most sensitive indices of the degree of disturbance of the soil ecosystem, with enrichment index, structure index, and basal index indicating the altered decomposition channels and diminished structure of the food web.

• Keywords
• bioindicators, ecology, environmental impact, heavy metals, interaction, pollution, soil nematodes,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

The risk element accumulation ability of two groups of epigeic species, insects from families Coleoptera and Hymenoptera (namely Formicidae), was determined and related to soil risk element content and bioaccessibility. The study was conducted in the district of Příbram, Czech Republic, which was characterised by extremely high aged pollution in the soils, including risk elements, especially As, Pb, Zn and Cd, due to the former mining and smelting activity. Four sampling sites differing in their pseudo-total risk element contents were selected and composite samples of individuals representing either Coleoptera or Formicidae were sampled at the individual sampling points. The results indicate the ability of Coleoptera and Formicidae organisms to accumulate risk elements, especially at the location with extremely high soil risk element content. In soil containing up to 841 mg As kg-1, 84.6 mg Cd kg-1, 4250 mg Pb kg-1 and 8542 mg Zn kg-1, contents in insect bodies reached 239 mg As kg-1 As, 24.2 mg Cd kg-1, 70.4 mg Pb kg-1 and 335 mg Zn kg-1 in beetles and up to 20.9 mg As kg-1, 29.9 mg Cd kg-1, 111 mg Pb kg-1 and 657 mg Zn kg-1 in ants. Therefore, bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) varied between 0.02 and 0.55. Increasing Cd content in Coleoptera bodies with increasing soil pseudo-total element content was observed only among the investigated elements. However, the results indicate increasing BAF values with decreasing soil element levels, especially for Cd, Pb and Zn, indicating limited uptake of elements by the organisms living in contact with extremely contaminated soil.

• Keywords
• Anthropogenic contamination, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Risk elements, Soil,
• MeSH
• Coleoptera chemistry   drug effects   MeSH
• Ants chemistry   drug effects   MeSH
• Mining MeSH
• Soil Pollutants analysis   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Environmental Monitoring methods   MeSH
• Soil chemistry   MeSH
• Metals, Heavy analysis   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Soil Pollutants MeSH
• Soil MeSH
• Metals, Heavy MeSH