SUBMITTED TO Chemosphere, October 2016
The response of earthworms (Eisenia fetida) and soil microbes to the crumb rubber material used in artificial turf fields
Conducted by Students: Andrew Fiorenza, Cassandra Sperl, Brianne Ledda, Charles Patterson, Clara Tucker, Wade Tucker, Lisa Ho, and Nicholas Panico
ABSTRACT
Municipalities have been removing grass fields and replacing them with artificial turf, which uses crumb rubber infill made from recycled tires. Crumb rubber contains hydrocarbons, organic compounds, and heavy metals. Water runoff from crumb rubber fields contains heavy metals. These components can pose a danger to human health and to the environment. We contaminated topsoil with new crumb rubber and measured its impact on an earthworm species and on soil microbes. Specifically, we compared soil microbe activity and earthworm health, survivorship, and longevity in heat and light stress, under two soil regimes: clean topsoil and clean topsoil contaminated with new crumb rubber. We then characterized levels of assorted extractable metals, nutrients, and micronutrients of both soil treatments and compared those to published New York soil background levels and to levels set by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as remediation goals. We found that: 1) contaminated soil did not inhibit microbial respiration rates, 2) earthworm survivorship was not impacted by exposure to contaminated soil, 3) earthworms’ ability to cope with heat and light stress remained unchanged after living in soil contaminated with new crumb rubber, but 4) earthworms living in contaminated soil gained 14% less body weight than did earthworms living in uncontaminated soil. We also found that, with the exception of zinc, heavy metals in our contaminated soil did not exceed the background levels found throughout New York State or the remediation targets set by the DEC. Overall, this research adds to a growing body of literature that suggests that artificial turf fields pose little health risk to users or the environment.
