Site-specific ecological effect assessment at community level for polymetallic contaminated soil

Current ecological risk assessment (ERA) is based more on book-keeping than on science especially for terrestrial ecosystems due to the lack of relevance to real field. Accordingly, site-specific ecological effect assessment is critical for ERA, especially at high tiers. This study developed procedures to assess ecological effect at community level based on field data. As a case study, we assessed ecological effect of polymetallic contamination in soil in the surrounding of an abandoned mining and smelting site in Hunan, China. Firstly, Zn was identified as the dominant contaminant in soil and slope gradient (SG) and pH as environmental impact factors using distance-based redundancy analysis(db-RDA). Secondly, sensitive endpoints were screened using correlation analysis between Zn and parameters of plant community composition and functional traits. Thirdly, exposure-effect curves between Zn and screened endpoints were developed by taking SG and pH as covariates using Bayesian kernel machine regression analysis (BKMR), based on which half-effect concentrations (EC50s) and 10 %-effect concentrations (EC10s) of soil Zn for each endpoint were calculated. Finally, site-specific hazardous concentrations (HC50s) of Zn were estimated. It was revealed site-specific EC50s and EC10s for soil Zn ranged 80.5–201 mg kg−1 and 342–893 mgkg−1, respectively, and HC50s based on EC10s and EC50s ranged 104–110 mg kg−1 and 595–612 mg kg−1, respectively, which are more specific and inclusive than those obtained based on crop and vegetable seed germination and seedling growth toxicity experiments.