Impact of pasture contamination by copper, chromium, and arsenic timber preservative on soil microbial properties and nematodes

Microbial properties and nematode abundance were measured along a gradient of increasing Cu, Cr, and As concentrations (50–1300 mg Cr kg-1) in the top 5 cm of a pasture soil contaminated by runoff of preserving liquor from an adjacent timber-treatment plant. Microbial biomass C and N were significantly (P 1000 mg Cr kg-1. Increasing contamination had no effect on basal respiration, dimethyl sulphoxide reduction, and phosphatase, urease, and invertase activities. Numbers of plant-associated nematodes declined significantly (r2 value with Cr 0.780*) with contamination. On a percentage basis, plant-feeding nematodes predominated in less contaminated soils, whereas bacterial-feeding and predatory nematodes predominated in heavily contaminated soils. The use of the fumigation—incubation procedure for measurement of microbial biomass C in heavy-metal contaminated soils is discussed.