Ecological aspects of soil pollution with heavy metals

1 Ecological aspects of soil pollution with heavy metals 

With the development of modern technology, the consumption of metals and metalloids is rapidly increasing. This holds particularly for non-ferrous metals, which until fairly recently were produced only in relatively low amounts, frequently only on the pilot plant or laboratory scale beryllium, titanium, germanium, gallium, vanadium, selenium, molybdenum, tungsten). The production of classic non-ferrous metals is also continually growing, as they gradually find new applications. This holds particularly for aluminium, lead, nickel, copper, chromium, antimony and mercury [2]. 

The increasing contamination of the human environment (air, water, soil and foodstuffs) by all these metals is an ever-growing hygiene problem. 

Due to the activity of soil and aquatic bacteria and moulds, organic substances polluting the environment are chemically decomposed, in contrast 

The content of elements in the nutritional chain is affected by chemical characteristics of the elements, soil composition, plant species, time of harvesting and many other factors. For example, changes of pH of soils after applications of calcium can be manifested in plants by an increased intake of molybdenum and reduced concentrations of copper, iron, manganese and zinc. An increased intake of phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium by plants is manifested by a reduction in the intake of sodium and magnesium by farm animals. Intense fertilization with nitrogen-containing compounds also induces a decrease of the content of copper and zinc in plants, which is manifested adversely in the intake of these elements by animals [5]. 

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