Peroxidase Activity of Metal Contaminated Soil

In northern New Jersey there is an urban park called Liberty State Park that is contaminated with heavy metals, but still provides the nutrients necessary to sustain plant life. At the park there are two adjacent areas that we refer to as 25R and 25F, one that produces plant life despite the presence of pollutants and the other that does not. In nature, enzymes can speed up a reaction or make unfavorable reactions possible by acting as biological catalysts. Assessing the enzyme activity in a soil sample provides data that can be related to soil quality for plant growth. Peroxidase is one such enzyme which is a remediation enzyme that oxidizes metals in plants and soils. It is expected to be higher in areas with higher levels of metal contamination. Our goal is to determine how the peroxidase activity and metal concentrations vary along soil depth. To do this, we collected three 10 cm deep soil core samples from each of the two sites. From the cores, we examined the peroxidase activity and the metal concertation of each 2 cm cross section. From studying this soil, we hope to understand the relationship between enzyme activity, contamination levels, and soil depth.