Microbial ecology of soils surrounding nuclear and thermal power plants inTaiwan

This paper reports a study of the effect of three nuclear and one thermal p ower plants on the microbial ecology of soils. Populations of bacteria, act inomycetes, fungi, cellulolytic microbes, phosphate-solubilizing microbes a nd nitrogen-fixing microbes in the soil in the vicinity of each plant were studied. Soils were acidic at three sites, and moisture contents of the pow er plant soils were lower than those of the surrounding areas, Microbial po pulations of the topsoils (0-20 cm deep) were higher than the subsoils (21- 40 cm deep), and only 10-15% of them showed significant difference (P < .05 ). Thirty-three percent of the samples from the surrounding areas had highe r microbial population than those from the power plant areas, but 19% was t he reverse. Populations of cellulolytic, phosphate-solubilizing and nitroge n-fixing microbes varied with sampling locations, season and environmental conditions. Ratios of cellulolytic, phosphate-solubilizing and nitrogen-fix ing microbes to total viable counts in some samples of the surrounding area s were significantly higher than in the power plant areas. Although the mic robial populations of power plant soil and its surrounding area were somewh at different, it cannot be attributed as an effect of power plant operation . as the differences were not consistent. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al l rights reserved.