Email Address: richansah11@gmail.com

Country: Ghana

Institution: Shenyang Agricultural University

Faculty Advisor: Bingxue Li 

Program of Study: Environmental Engineering

Bio:

Environmental engineering master student interested in waste management, soil and water quality management, environmental toxicology, environmental quality management

Abstract

Heavy metal contamination is a serious problem worldwide threatening soil environment and human health. Soil microbial communities are affected by environmental factors. Contamination with heavy metals such as cadmium(Cd) can decrease soil microbial species richness and substantially alter soil microbial species composition. Investigations of the microbial communities in Cd-contaminated soils are necessary to obtain data for soil bioremediation efforts. Here, the effects of long-term Cd pollution on soil microorganisms were investigated in different soil Cd concentrations using 16SrDNA sequence analysis. It was found that, in Cd-polluted soils, microbial communities were closely similar between the different soil concentrations. However, they differ in regards to relative species abundance. Species evenness was significantly different between the control and high Cd-polluted soils. Notably, the identification of the genus that were differently abundant among soils with different levels of Cd pollution will provide experimental guidance for further explorations of the effects of Cd on soil microbes in natural environments. It will also help to clarify how long-term heavy metal contamination affects the soil bacterial community