Biodiv Sci ›› 2022, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (12): 22265.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2022265

Special Issue: 土壤生物与土壤健康

• Original Papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Community characteristics of soil collembola around a typical mercury-thallium mining area in Guizhou Province

Siyao Liu1, Zhu Li2,*(), Xin Ke3, Lina Sun1, Longhua Wu2, Jiejie Zhao1   

  1. 1. School of Environment, Shenyang University, Shenyang 110044
    2. Institute of Soil, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008
    3. Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032
  • Received:2022-05-13 Accepted:2022-08-04 Online:2022-12-20 Published:2022-10-24
  • Contact: *E-mail: lizhu@issas.ac.cn

Abstract:

Aims: Many mining activities can lead to heavy metal pollution in soils near mining areas, leading to negative consequences to the native soil biota. In particular, mercury, thallium, and other heavy metals are highly toxic, but the related ecological risks are rarely studied. As an indicator of soil environmental change, collembola species can be used to assess soil quality.
Method: The study was conducted in an agricultural field near a mercury-thallium mining area in Guizhou Province. Four sampling areas were established according to different pollution levels and crop types, with two crops in each area and three sampling plots for each crop, in order to study the community structure and diversity of soil collembola and its influencing factors.
Results: The mean density of collembola across sampling areas was 12,000 ind./m2. The closer a sampling area was to the mining area, the higher level of soil heavy metal pollution and the higher comprehensive pollution index. Generally, collembola species richness, density, and the diversity and richness index initially increased, but then decreased thereafter. Analysis of environmental factors showed that mercury, thallium, and arsenic had a significant negative effect on the community structure of collembola species: Folsomides americanus, Isotomiella minor and Protaphorura encarpatus.
Conclusion: High organic matter content could mitigate the effects of heavy metals on soil collembola. However, in this study there was no significant difference between maize and coix seed on soil collembola community structure. The results of this study indicate that soil organic matter could mitigate the effects of heavy metal pollution on the soil collembola community.

Key words: heavy metal pollution, collembola, indicator species, community diversity, soil fauna