Abstract
Interactions between soil fauna and soil microorganisms are not fully recognized, especially in extreme environments, such as long-term metal-polluted soils. The purpose of the study was to assess how the presence of Lasius niger ants affected soil microbial characteristics in a long-term metal-polluted area (Upper Silesia in Poland). Paired soil samples were taken from bulk soil and from ant nests and analysed for a range of soil physicochemical properties, including metal content (zinc, cadmium, and lead). Microbial analysis included soil microbial activity (soil respiration rate), microbial biomass (substrate-induced respiration rate), and bacteria catabolic properties (Biolog® ECO plates). Soil collected from ant nests was drier and was characterized by a lower content of organic matter, carbon and nitrogen contents, and also lower metal content than bulk soil. Soil microbial respiration rate was positively related to soil pH (p = 0.01) and negatively to water-soluble metal content, integrated into TIws index (p = 0.01). Soil microbial biomass was negatively related to TIws index (p = 0.04). Neither soil microbial activity and biomass nor bacteria catabolic activity and diversity indices differed between bulk soil and ant nests. Taken together, ant activity reduced soil contamination by metals in a microscale which support microbial community activity and biomass but did not affect Biolog® culturable bacteria.
Highlights
Soil microorganisms are crucial component of terrestrial ecosystems; their activity, biomass, and community structure affect virtually all soil biological processes
Soil samples collected from ant nests contained nearly less than half of carbon than bulk soil (38% less; p = 0.04), nitrogen (38% less; p = 0.05), and sulphur (53% less; p = 0.04) (Table 1)
Water holding capacity (WHC) and basic cation content (Ca, Mg, K, Na) did not differ between ant nests and bulk soil (Table 1), which could be resulted from high variability in these parameters observed
Summary
Soil microorganisms are crucial component of terrestrial ecosystems; their activity, biomass, and community structure affect virtually all soil biological processes. Bacteria and fungi are the most important components of soil microbial community (van der Heijden et al 2008). Soil faunas which are animals of different sizes and life history traits are yet another important biological component of soil. Soil fauna facilitates the microbial decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM), both directly by the consumption. Ants are “soil engineers”, that is, edaphic organisms that are able to modulate the resources to other organisms through their mechanical activities (Folgarait 1998; Cammeraat and Risch 2008; Farji-Brener and Werenkraut 2017; Viles et al 2021)
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