Manufactured Nanomaterials Implications to Soil Microbiological Functions.

The potential for release of manufactured nanomaterials, such as fullerenes, fullerols, carbon nanotubes, and  nanometals (e.g., silver) to the environment, either as spills, emissions from manufacturing as or finished products, is foreseeable.  While studies to evaluate the effects of manufactured nanomaterials in aqueous environments and pure culture systems have been undertaken, limited work has been undertaken to scrutinize the effects of manufactured nanomaterials on soil and soil microbial processes.  The impact on soil systems should be considered as other studies have indicated a toxic effect of some nanomaterials on both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms.  In this presentation, the impact of fullerene (C60), aqueous dispersions of C60 (nC60), carbon nanotubes and other nanomaterials on microbial functions in soil will be reviewed.