Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK Canada, S7N 5A8.
School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
Environ Sci Technol. 2020 Jul 7;54(13):8144-8157. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.9b06851. Epub 2020 Jun 15.
Soils provide numerous ecosystem services (ESs) such as food production and water purification. These ESs result from soil organism interactions and activities, which are supported by the soil physicochemical properties. Risk assessment for this complex system requires understanding the relationships among its components, both in the presence and absence of stressors. To better understand the soil ecosystem and how exposure to potentially toxic elements impact ESs, we developed a quantitative technique, the adverse ecosystem service pathway (AESP) model. We sampled 47 soils across Canada and analyzed them for properties that included pH and cation exchange capacity. We spiked the soils with a metal mixture and measured 15 soil processes representing five ESs. Using a Pearson correlation, we confirmed that proxies of ESs are linked to soil properties. test results showed that, apart from soil enzyme activities ( > 0.05), the processes underlying ES proxies are significantly reduced in metal-impacted soils. Using soil properties as predictors of ES proxies, we developed AESP models: one for spiked and another for control soils. These models showed adverse effects on ESs in spiked soils, depicted as changes in partial correlation coefficients. The AESP model, therefore, can be an important tool to understand complex ecosystems and improve risk assessment.
土壤提供了许多生态系统服务（ESs），例如食物生产和水净化。这些 ESs 源自土壤生物相互作用和活动，而这些相互作用和活动又得到了土壤物理化学特性的支持。对于这个复杂系统的风险评估需要了解其组成部分之间的关系，包括在存在和不存在胁迫的情况下。为了更好地了解土壤生态系统以及接触潜在有毒元素如何影响 ESs，我们开发了一种定量技术，即不良生态系统服务途径（AESP）模型。我们在加拿大各地采集了 47 个土壤样本，并对其进行了分析，分析内容包括 pH 值和阳离子交换容量等特性。我们向土壤中添加了金属混合物，并测量了代表五个 ESs 的 15 个土壤过程。通过皮尔逊相关性分析，我们证实 ESs 的代表与土壤特性有关。 测试结果表明，除了土壤酶活性（>0.05）外，金属污染土壤中与 ES 代表相关的过程显著减少。我们使用土壤特性作为 ES 代表的预测因子，开发了 AESP 模型：一个用于加标土壤，另一个用于对照土壤。这些模型显示出加标土壤中 ESs 的不利影响，表现为偏相关系数的变化。因此，AESP 模型可以成为理解复杂生态系统和改进风险评估的重要工具。
