Impact of metal nanoparticles on the ecology of soil biocenosis (literature review)

Abstract

This review contains analysis and synthesis of data on the study of metal nanoparticles’ effects on soil, plants, and microbial communities. Absorption of nanoparticles by soil can adversely affect the state of soil biota and plants as its components, posing a serious risk to human health. It is shown soil contamination with metals in nanoform to pronounce negative character, which consists of disrupting the biocenosis, death of its inhabitants, and reducing their reproduction. At the same time, the degree of negative impact was determined by the type of nanometal and composition of soil fauna. It was proposed to study the environmental consequences of nanotechnology by the complex interactions between plants and nano preparation. The review presents a new direction in nanotechnology - the method of extracting metal nanoparticles from plants, due to the ability to accumulate in leaves. The main advantage of the “green” production method over the “chemical” one is the reduction of the toxic properties of nanometals in comparison with the “chemical” analogs. Creation of conjugates of metal nanoparticles and substances of plant origin is promising. Conjugates of silver nanoparticles and phenolic groups contained in leaves are called “plant antibiotics” and do not have side effects on humans. The review presents an adverse dose-dependent effect of the influence of TiO, CuO, and other metal nanoparticles on root growth, seed germination, plant biomass growth, species diversity, the antimicrobial and enzymatic activity of soil microflora. Contrary, some studies emphasize the prospect of using nanocomposites of metals such as copper, iron, zinc, silver on soil and plants due to their bactericidal properties. A joint unification of the efforts of scientists will help to determine the possible consequences of the use of nanomaterials and protect against the potential threat of uncontrolled development of nanotechnology for the natural environment. Search and selection of sources for review were, carried out using open databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and RSCI, from 2005 to 2019.