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Water
Special Issues
Hydrogeological Dynamics and Soil Biodiversity: An Interdisciplinary Approach
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Hydrogeological Dynamics and Soil Biodiversity: An Interdisciplinary Approach

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 May 2021) | Viewed by 5705

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cristina Menta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Viale delle Scienze 11/A, 43124 Parma, Italy
Interests: soil biodiversity; soil arthropods; soil bioindicators
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Fulvio Celico

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy
Interests: hydrogeology; contaminant hydrogeology; remediation techniques; emerging contaminants; bioremediation; vermiremediation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil degradation is one of the most important issues facing humanity. The loss of ecosystem services provided by degraded soils can affect the complexity and functionality of the soil living community. In this scenario, geotechnical and hydraulic properties of the medium play a key role, being factors that underlie the dynamics of particular interest in vulnerable areas, which often are strongly related to soil conditions. The relationship between the soil living community and hydrodynamics has been little investigated, although this topic is extremely important in management plans, especially in suffering areas where permeability conditions make groundwater interact with the soil. As is known, soil biodiversity is involved in many key processes, such as soil formation, organic decomposition, aeration, bioturbation, and the maintenance of soil structure. All these activities condition soil composition as well as porosity, and could have an indirect impact on water infiltration and therefore hydrodynamics. 

This Special Issue aims to provide novel studies that could increase our knowledge about the role of the living soil community in the soil–groundwater dynamic, especially in suffering areas. The Special Issue encourages papers that are able to highlight how and with what type of processes the action of the living community, with a major focus on the taxonomic groups that have been little investigated, can affect soil impact on hydrodynamic properties. Studies focused on this interaction in polluted areas are welcome.

Dr. Cristina Menta
Prof. Fulvio Celico
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soil living community
  • soil fauna
  • microflora
  • bacteria
  • landslides
  • soil biodiversity
  • soil management
  • low-permeability media
  • soil erosion
  • hydraulic features
  • aquifer heterogeneity

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 3090 KiB  
Article
Natural Surface Hydrocarbons and Soil Faunal Biodiversity: A Bioremediation Perspective
by Sara Remelli, Pietro Rizzo, Fulvio Celico and Cristina Menta
Water 2020, 12(9), 2358; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12092358 - 22 Aug 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2632
Abstract
Hydrocarbon pollution threatens aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems globally, but soil fauna in oil-polluted soils has been insufficiently studied. In this research, soil hydrocarbon toxicity was investigated in two natural oil seepage soils in Val D’Agri (Italy) using two different approaches: (i) toxicological tests [...] Read more.
Hydrocarbon pollution threatens aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems globally, but soil fauna in oil-polluted soils has been insufficiently studied. In this research, soil hydrocarbon toxicity was investigated in two natural oil seepage soils in Val D’Agri (Italy) using two different approaches: (i) toxicological tests with Folsomia candida (Collembola) and Eisenia fetida (Oligochaeta) and (ii) analysis of abundance and composition of micro- and meso-fauna. Soil sampling was done along 20 m-transepts starting from the natural oil seepages. Toxicological testing revealed that no exemplars of F. candida survived, whereas specimens of E. fetida not only survived but also increased in weight in soils with higher PAH concentrations, although no reproduction was observed. Analysis on microfauna showed that Nematoda was the most abundant group, with distance from seepages not affecting its abundance. Arthropoda results showed that Acarina, Collembola and Diptera larvae represented the most abundant taxa. The highest divergence in community composition was found between soils situated near seepages and at 5 m and 10 m distance. Arthropoda taxa numbers, total abundance and Acarina were lower in soils with high PAH concentration, while Diptera larvae were not significantly affected. Earthworms, together with Nematoda and Diptera larvae, could therefore represent ideal candidates in PAH degradation studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrogeological Dynamics and Soil Biodiversity: An Interdisciplinary Approach)
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17 pages, 3361 KiB  
Article
Studying Hydraulic Interconnections in Low-Permeability Media by Using Bacterial Communities as Natural Tracers
by Pietro Rizzo, Emma Petrella, Antonio Bucci, Emma Salvioli-Mariani, Alessandro Chelli, Anna Maria Sanangelantoni, Melinda Raimondo, Andrea Quagliarini and Fulvio Celico
Water 2020, 12(6), 1795; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12061795 - 23 Jun 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2494
Abstract
Knowledge about the processes governing subsurface microbial dynamics in and to groundwater represents an important tool for the development of robust, evidence-based policies and strategies to assess the potential impact of contamination sources and for the implementation of appropriate land use and management [...] Read more.
Knowledge about the processes governing subsurface microbial dynamics in and to groundwater represents an important tool for the development of robust, evidence-based policies and strategies to assess the potential impact of contamination sources and for the implementation of appropriate land use and management practices. In this research, we assessed the effectiveness of using microorganisms as natural tracers to analyze subsurface dynamics in a low-permeability system of northern Italy. Microbial communities were investigated through next-generation sequencing of 16S rRNA gene both to study hydraulic interconnections in clayey media and to verify the efficacy of outcropping clayey horizons in protecting groundwater against contamination. During the observation period, a rapid water percolation from the ground surface to the saturated medium was observed, and the mixing between lower-salinity fresh-infiltration waters and higher-salinity groundwater determined the formation of a halocline. This rapid percolation was a driver for the transport of microorganisms from the topsoil to the subsurface, as demonstrated by the presence of soil and rhizosphere bacteria in groundwater. Some of the species detected can carry out important processes such as denitrification or nitrate-reduction, whereas some others are known human pathogens (Legionella pneumophila and Legionella feeleii). These findings could be of utmost importance when studying the evolution of nitrate contamination over space and time in those areas where agricultural, industrial, and civil activities have significantly increased the levels of reactive nitrogen (N) in water bodies but, at the same time, could highlight that groundwater vulnerability of confined or semi-confined aquifers against contamination (both chemical and microbiological) could be higher than expected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrogeological Dynamics and Soil Biodiversity: An Interdisciplinary Approach)
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