Effects of Heavy Metals On Soil Enzymatic Activities in a Contaminated New Jersey Brownfield.

Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey is the site of an abandoned rail yard and is contaminated with high concentrations of heavy metals. The park is used by the community of Northern New Jersey but the most contaminated area has been fenced off from public use and provides an opportunity to study the effects of heavy metals on plant life and soil properties. The goal of this work is to measure the enzymatic activities that reflect the extent of nutrient cycling in contaminated soil samples from Liberty State park and compare the results to those obtained with similar uncontaminated soil that we will collect from Montclair State Campus. These experiments will reveal, for example, whether enzymatic activities decrease or increase as a result of the heavy metal load. Our preliminary data suggests  that an increase in enzymatic activities is observed in the contaminated soil and that this increased enzymatic activity reflects the way the soil is changing and adapting to the otherwise damaging effects of the heavy metals.