Masil Khan
Environmental Pollution Unit, World Wide Fund for Nature, Pakistan
Ferozepur Road Lahore-54600 P.O. Box 5180, Pakistan
Metal contamination in soils cause proportions of some groups of microorganisms to increase than the others. Compared with bacteria certain groups of fungi are less affected by soil metal pollution. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) measurements in metal contaminated soils show that within bacterial population, metals are more toxic to gram-positive than gram-negative bacteria. Significant reductions in enzymatic activities occur in soils contaminated with metals and generally metals are more toxic to intra-cellular enzyme activities (e.g. dehydrogenase) than extra-cellular activities (e.g. phosphatase). Similarly, enzymes produced by bacteria are more affected by metal contamination than those produced by fungi. Organic matter decomposition and nitrogen mineralisation, which are carried out by various groups of microorganisms can also be affected by increased metal concentrations in the soils.
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How to cite this article
Masil Khan, 2000. Effect of Metals Contamination on Soil Microbial Diversity, Enzymatic Activity, Organic Matter Decomposition and Nitrogen Mineralisation (A Review). Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 3: 1950-1956.
DOI: 10.3923/pjbs.2000.1950.1956
URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=pjbs.2000.1950.1956
DOI: 10.3923/pjbs.2000.1950.1956
URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=pjbs.2000.1950.1956