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Soil micro-organisms
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As recommended by the soil microbial tests workgroup at the workshop on standardised test methods for soils (Fairbrother et al. 1999), toxicity in natural soils containing indigenous microbial communities was examined. We selected three control subsoils representative of metal-contaminated sites in New Zealand. However, we were unable to obtain satisfactory and reproducible dose-response relationships between nitrogen mineralisation and exposure to metals using this microbial test method, in all except one test. We are therefore unable to report the ecotoxicity values for micro-organisms in New Zealand soils. |
