Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
4432039 Science of The Total Environment 2008 12 Pages PDF
Abstract

Anthropogenic urban soils, including brownfield soils, are currently characterised and evaluated using mainly physico-chemical properties. Our objective was to determine if biological indicators could provide a more comprehensive soil quality assessment relative to sustainability, identifying contamination issues, and effectiveness of remediation strategies. Plant, invertebrate and microbial assays and functional processes were evaluated at 10 brownfield/anthropogenic urban locations at different stages of remediation in northwest England. Extreme sites were discriminated on the basis of earthworm counts and a small number of indicators likely to be related to their activity. It was concluded that identifying a universally-applicable benchmark suite of biological indicators is very unlikely without considerable advancement of knowledge and technology.

Related Topics
Life Sciences Environmental Science Environmental Chemistry
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