Abstract
Soil quality is one of the most important factors in sustaining the global biosphere and developing sustainable agricultural practices. Land use and management practices greatly impact the direction and degree of soil quality changes in time and space. Understanding the effects of land use and management practices on soil quality and its indicators has been identified as one of the most important goals for modern soil science. Soil quality mapping study represents a method for assessing and mapping soil quality changes in time and space in small units. For the present study, changes in the physical, chemical parameters and nematode density of the soils in the rural and urban areas of Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala, were determined. The soil samples were collected from seven different categories of contaminated soils namely coastal area, sewage disposal area, industrial area, road-side area, agricultural area, market area and gasoline station area, and also from two control stations in rural and urban areas. The soil physico-chemical parameters and nematode density were determined. Geostatistics combined with GIS was applied to analyze the spatial variability of soil physico-chemical characteristics and nematode density. This soil quality mapping study provides a basis for identifying tension zones and serves as a triggering mechanism for implementation of soil contamination mitigating strategies.
Highlights
Industrialization and urbanization have a strong impact on the environment, and its biotic and abiotic components
The results of physical characteristics of the soils in the study stations are given in Tables 2(a) and (b) respectively and the soil chemical characteristics analyzed are given in Tables 3(a) and (b) respectively
PH, zinc content and manganese content showed a significant and negative correlation with nematode density. These soil mapping plots showed variations in the monsoon season compared to the pre monsoon and post monsoon seasons due to the dilution factor
Summary
Industrialization and urbanization have a strong impact on the environment, and its biotic and abiotic components. Many toxins added to the soils by different anthropogenic activities can build up to concentrations that become serious threats to plant and animal health (Alloway, 1996) [1]. The presence or absence of indicator species or indicator community reflects environmental conditions. Bio monitors provide a direct measurement of a biological effect rather than inferring values using soil extractions (Tarazona et al, 2005) [2]. The study of regional variations and the anthropogenic contamination by metals of soils is very important for environmental planning and monitoring in urban areas. Mapping allows for more efficient approach to remediation and monitoring of soil contaminants
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