Evaluation methods of heavy metal pollution in soils based on enzyme activities: A review

Highlights

•Ÿ Five methods of soil HM pollution evaluation based on enzyme activity were reviewed

Ÿ•Ÿ This review examined the performance and ecological implications of these methods

•ŸŸ Enzymatic stoichiometry methods reflect changes in soil functions under HM stress

•ŸŸ Microbial metabolic limitation is a promising indicator to assess soil HM pollution

Abstract

Soil enzyme activities have been suggested as suitable indicators for the evaluation of metal contamination because they are susceptible to microbial changes caused by heavy metal stress and are strictly related to soil nutrient cycles. However, there is a growing lack of recognition and summary of the historic advancements that use soil enzymology as the proposal of evaluation methods. Here, we review the most common methods of heavy metal pollution evaluation based on enzyme activities, which include single enzyme index, combined enzyme index, enzyme-based functional diversity index, microbiological stress index, and ecoenzymatic stoichiometry models. This review critically examines the advantages and disadvantages of these methods based on their execution complexity, performance, and ecological implications and gets a glimpse of avenues to come to improved future evaluation systems. Indices based on a single enzyme are variable and have no consistent response to soil heavy metals, and the following three composite indices are characterized by the loss of many critical microbial processes, which thus not conducive to reflect the effects of heavy metals on soil ecosystems. Considering the dexterity of ecoenzymatic stoichiometry methods in reflecting changes in soil functions under heavy metal stress, we propose that microbial metabolic limitations quantified by ecoenzymatic stoichiometry models could be promising indicators for enhancing the reality and acceptance of results and further improving the potential for actual utility in environmental decision-making.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Soil heavy metals / Pollution assessment / Microbial metabolism / Enzyme activities / Ecoenzymatic stoichiometry / Biological indicators

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41977031) and the Science Foundation for Distinguished Youth of Shaanxi Province (2020JC-31).

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary information provides additional tables and figures that show the extracellular enzymes commonly used in ecoenzymatic stoichiometry models and schematic example of the calculation of the RSSI-b score from areas under enzyme activities curves over time. Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s42832-021-0096-0 and is accessible for authorized users.

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