Objective Assessment of the risks posed to terrestrial ecosystems by heavy metal pollution requires a thorough knowledge of the chemistry of the metal in question, particularly its bioavailable forms, and how this relates to the impacts which it as upon the ecosystem. Much recent work on the impact of pollutants on soils has focused on the microbial community, particularly the effects at the community level and the long-term changes brought about in microbial populations due to the development of selective tolerance to pollution. On the chemistry side, the importance of metal speciation in determining bioavailability has long been recognised, and sophisticated speciation models able to cope with simulation of natural environments and materials are now being developed and used.This project will bring together chemists, soil scientists and microbiologists to study two overriding themes. Firstly, the interrelationships between metal chemistry and microbiology in soils of two areas of Russia: the northwest Kola Peninsula, subject to severe chronic pollution from the ore-smelting industry, and the Moscow region (Pushchino). Metal chemistry will be studied by measurements of metal levels in soil and soil solution, which will be linked through chemical speciation modelling. The metal adsorption properties of Kola Peninsula soils will be characterised and modelled in detail. Classical measurements of the microbial population - microbial biomass, metabolism, functional and metabolic diversity, will be carried out in conjunction with measurements of pollution-induced community tolerance (PICT). Relationships between metal chemistry, the classical microbial measurements and the PICT measurements will be examined. This will provide information on the usefulness of ecological measurements in risk assessment.Secondly, the project will examine the dynamics of metal behaviour in the Kola Peninsula topsoils by constructing a dynamic model of solution dynamics and solute chemistry and testing it against laboratory and field observations of soil solute composition and dynamics. The focus will be on the rate of accumulation and loss of metal in the organic (mor) layer. The model, if successfully tested, will allow tentative assessment of the response time of Kola soils to past changes in metal deposition patterns, allowing some predictions of the soil response to future emission scenarios. This should allow a better assessment to be made of the future ecological impact of the smelting industry emissions.The results of the project will be presented and discussed at international conferences. Results will also be published in the literature and a monograph on the project will also be produced. Programme(s) IC-INTAS - International Association for the promotion of cooperation with scientists from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (INTAS), 1993- Topic(s) 5 - Earth Sciences, Environment, Energy POLL - POLL : Polluted Environment Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme Data not available Coordinator Centre for Ecology and Hydrology EU contribution No data Address Ferry House, Far Sawrey LA22 0LP Ambleside United Kingdom See on map Total cost No data Participants (6) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Institute of Industrial Ecology Problems of the North Russia EU contribution No data Address Fersman Street 14a 881555 Apatity, Murmansk region See on map Total cost No data M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University Russia EU contribution No data Address Leninskie Gory 119899 Moscow See on map Total cost No data M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University Russia EU contribution No data Address Leninskie Gory 119899 Moscow See on map Total cost No data National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) Netherlands EU contribution No data Address Antoine van Leeuvenhoeklaan 9 3720-BA Bilthoven See on map Total cost No data Russian Academy of Sciences Russia EU contribution No data Address Institutskaya str., 2 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region See on map Total cost No data Siberian branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Russia EU contribution No data Address Sovetskaya 18 630099 Novosibirsk See on map Total cost No data