Influens of mole rats burrow activity to restore the soils proteolytic activity in terms of their man-made pollution
Authors: Zamesova T. A. 
Published: February 2020

Heavy metals, especially their large concentration, is toxic for all living creatures because they are accumulating in the living things tissues. Theirs excessive levels evoke coagulation of proteins that cause immediate death of cells. Heavy metals get into the ground by different ways: directly because of using, precipitation, industrial pollution. Their impacts may be either time limited and have low toxicity or, alternatively, it may be long-termed and expressing the pollutants' ability to accumulate them in the body and supply chains. In the edaphotop block of land biogeocenosis most of the transformation processes begin with soil degradation ones. This leads to disruption of soil-forming process cycle of matter and biological productivity of systems. Optimization of a particular system or a block is possible only by acting on their biological relations, which is responsible for managing the system. Distortion or optimization of relations occurs with the animals environmental-forming, the component of which is animals burrow activity. As a result of it, water and chemicals are being reallocated in soil depths, thermal and aeration modes are changed, formed typical zoogenous micro relief with specific physical and chemical properties of the soil. This improves the living conditions of soil micro-organisms. Last ones are involved in soil enzyme activity forming. Enzymes involved in important biochemical processes: synthesis and humus decomposition, hydrolysis of organic compounds, the schedule remains of plants and microorganisms and converted them available to fixation, fix loose items, are actively involved in the cycling of essential elements for plants, in oxidation renewable reactions, etc. It is possible to determine the extent of microorganism’s activity by means of indexes of soil proteolytic activity. Conducted studies of the impact for animals burrow activity on the soils proteolytic activity for artificial forest under conditions of heavy metal pollution. Control plots were contaminated by lead with concentrations of 32; 160; 320 mg/kg of soil, which correspond to the maximum permissible concentration of 1; 5; 10 MAC. Samples were taken at 1st, 3rd and 15th months after contamination; proteolytic activity was determined by the Mishustin application method. Current proteolytic activity of soil is determined in vivo. It is the result of microorganism’s vital functions. And in turn can be an indicator of microbial activity. Contamination of lead depressing vital functions for soil microorganisms. This effect is more noticeable in the first month after contamination. The characteristic dependence of the soil proteolytic activity on metal concentration was observed also, the higher the MPC, the lower proteolytic activity level. The characteristics' dependence of soil proteolytic activity on metal concentration were also observed: the higher MPC, the lower the activity level. It was shown that on the mole rats burrows-dug with lead contaminated the medium proteolytic activity level exceeded control 1.9; 1.76 and 1.53 times respectively, at 1st; 3rd and 15th months after contamination. Based on this we can say that burrowing activity of animals inhibits inhibitory effect of heavy metals and plays an important role in the self-cleaning environment.