Abstract

Rare earth elements (REEs) are applied widely to increase crop production in China but less attention has been paid to the principle adverse effects of the accumulation of REEs in soils. In this paper we studied the effects of lanthanum (La) on two indicators of microbial activity: dehydrogenase activity and CO₂ evolution. The soil was collected from crop land of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Red Soil Ecological Experimental Station. Application of La decreased soil pH and there were significant negative correlations between soil pH and added La. Significant positive correlations were also observed between 0.05 M HCl extractable La and added La, indicating that exogenous La was highly available in soil. Additions of La decreased soil dehydrogenase activity and the recorded maximum decrease was 64% after 1 day of incubation with an application of 1000 mg La/kg dry soil. The inhibition of soil dehydrogenase activity by La was gradually alleviated on prolonged incubation time. Addition of La at low concentrations slightly increased soil CO₂ evolution but decreased it if at greater concentrations. The recorded maximum decrease in soil CO₂ evolution was 33% after 56 days of incubation with an application of 1000 mg La/kg dry soil. The results in this paper indicated that agricultural use of REEs such as La at excessive levels would produce harmful effects to soil microbial activity and microbially mediated soil function. It is likely that change in soil dehydrogenase activity can be used as a sensitive indicator in assessing the level of REEs pollution in soil.