Efectos de la lombriz roja californiana (Eisenia foetida), sobre el crecimiento de microorganismos en suelos contaminados con mercurio de Segovia, Antoquia

Mining is among the activities that alter soil composition the most, which causes visible ground damage by open-pit mines, mine waste tips, tailings ponds and other mine facilities. The main goal of this work was to assess the effect of earthworm on the microorganism growth in mercury polluted soil exposed during the mining activities in the Segovia municipality. These soils represent a significant problem due to the mercury accumulations that causes the loss of soil quality and fertility. For the evaluation have been used contaminated soil from Segovia, which has been mixed with fertile soil in different proportions (30-70, 50-50 and 70-30 contaminated soil - fertile soil), also have been used two controls, fertile soil with earthworm (Eisenia foetida) and soil contaminated without earthworm. Different laboratory cultures were used to study microorganism growth, finding satisfactory growth of microorganisms after 25 and 90 days of treatment. According to the observed behavior, immobilization of mercury and microorganisms adaptation to the environment was evident and grew with time.