Occurrence of organic chlorinated pesticides and their ecological effects on soil protozoa in the agricultural soils of North Western Beijing, China

• Occurrence of OCPs in soils ranking in orchard> vegetable lands >barren lands.
• Abundance of soil protozoa in vegetable lands was higher than those in orchard soils.
• Abundance of soil protozoa was negatively correlated with residue level of OCPs.
• Abundance of protozoa was influenced by the landuse type.

The occurrence of ∑HCHs, ∑DDTs, protozoa abundance and their community structure in surface soils of orchards, vegetable lands, and barren lands in northern west outskirts of Beijing were detected in order to investigate the protozoa responses to low dose organic chlorinated Pesticides (OCPs) after long-term field-based exposure. Significant differences in total concentrations of HCHs and DDTs were found among the three general groups ranking in decreasing order of concentration from orchard>vegetable lands >barren lands. Ciliate was the rare group in surface soils of all the sampling groups. The abundance of flagellate, ciliate, and amoebae in vegetable soils were significantly higher than those in orchard soils. The abundance of all the taxa of protozoa was strongly negative correlated with the residue level of ∑HCHs and ∑DDTs (P<0.05) in agricultural soils. However, no negative correlation between the residue levels of OCPs and protozoa abundance was shown in both the orchard and the barren soils. This field study demonstrated a considerable long-term impact of the OCPs residue on the abundance of protozoa in soils, and that the abundance of soil protozoa was much more influenced by land use type in association with different soil properties.