EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION ON THE SOILS AND ARTHROPODS OF EL PASO, TEXAS

El Paso, Texas, and neighboring Juarez, Mexico, are heavily industrialized cities with contaminated areas of polluted soils. It is possible that soil contamination is profoundly influencing the soil dwelling arthropods through food webs by biomagnification.

We collected soil and arthropod samples at six sites within El Paso's city limits and one site in the open desert outside of the city. Arthropod samples were collected with pit-fall traps, sweep nets, and Berlese funnels during Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons. Both soils and arthropods are being tested for copper, chromium, cadmium, and lead using Accumetrics copper analyses and color spectrophotometry.

Arthropod diversity, calculated using the King census, indicates a decrease in diversity in areas closer to industrial activity. Accumetrics copper data for soils shows an increase in soluble copper closest to areas of industrial activity. Higher levels of copper in soluble soil extracts correlate with areas of lower insect diversity. Preliminary data shows very low levels of soluble lead and cadmium in soil extracts. Color spectrophotometry tests are being conducted to determine if cadmium, chromium, or lead soil concentrations correlate with insect diversity.