Microbiological Indices for Diagnosis of Heavy Metal Contaminated Soils
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Sukirtee Chejara; Paras Kamboj; Vikas Tandon; Y. V. Singh
- Source
- Soil Contamination-Threats and Sustainable Solutions
- Subject
- 0303 health sciences
03 medical and health sciences
Environmental chemistry
Environmental science
010501 environmental sciences
Metal contaminated soils
01 natural sciences
030304 developmental biology
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
- Language
Heavy metal contamination has gained popularity worldwide due to their persistent nature in the environment, on the top of that non-biodegradable nature makes its accumulation easy to toxic levels. Understanding the nature of contamination has become a major concern before heavy metals deteriorate the quality of soil; to diagnose heavy metal pollution suitable indices are required. Microbial indices gaining importance because of their sensitive nature towards change in surrounding, which is the imperative quality required to select microbes as environmental indicators. Albeit enough literature is present related to this topic but the information is scattered so role of this chapter is imperative. The chapter will be helpful for the reader to provide a thorough understanding of merits and demerits of microbiological indices for heavy metal contaminated and restituted soils. The changes in microbiological indices and their mechanism of response towards heavy metal stress are effectively summarized. Research gap and future needs of microbial diagnosis of heavy metal contaminated soils are discussed.