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Soil
microorganisms to assess the
impact of pollution on health
and productivity of wetland
ecosystems ©US
Department of Agriculture. Author(s): ENTRY JAMES A Interpretive Summary: In the past several decades terrestrial ecosystems have been increasingly impacted by anthropogenic activities. A decline in ecosystem net primary productivity signals that an ecosystem is experiencing stress though it may not be the best early warning indicator since a decline in net primary productivity may appear only after irreparable damage has been done to less obvious parts of the system. Functional and/or genetic diversity of soil microorganisms should be an early and reliable indicator of stress in terrestrial ecosystems because soil microorganisms have much shorter life spans than higher plants and therefore react more quickly to disturbance, especially nutrient and pesticide inputs. The soil microbial community may be one of the characteristics of terrestrial ecosystems that is most sensitive to anthropogenic activities. Plant growth and species diversity are the major indicators ecologists currently use to measure ecosystem health. A reduction in the functional and genetic diversity of soil microorganisms could be a dependable indicator of ecosystem stress due to nutrient or pesticide deposition in terrestrial ecosystems. Activity and genetic diversity of soil microorganisms and may ultimately be used as predictors to indicate change in biodiversity and stability in wetland ecosystems. Keywords: irrigation water quality environment soil erosion leaching biosolids agricultural wastes tillage systems wepp infiltration macropores solute movement polymers physical conditions plant residues phosphorus nitrogen |
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