Browsing by Author "Furtak, Karolina"

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    A review of organophosphonates, their natural and anthropogenic sources, environmental fate and impact on microbial greenhouse gases emissions – Identifying knowledge gaps
    (Journal of Environmental Management, 2024-03-01) Furtak, Adam; Szafranek-Nakonieczna, Anna; Furtak, Karolina; Pytlak, Anna
    Organophosphonates (OPs) are a unique group of natural and synthetic compounds, characterised by the presence of a stable, hard-to-cleave bond between the carbon and phosphorus atoms. OPs exhibit high resistance to abiotic degradation, excellent chelating properties and high biological activity. Despite the huge and increasing scale of OP production and use worldwide, little is known about their transportation and fate in the environment. Available data are dominated by information concerning the most recognised organophosphonate – the herbicide glyphosate - while other OPs have received little attention. In this paper, a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge about natural and artificial OPs is presented (including glyphosate). Based on the available literature, a number of knowledge gaps have been identified that need to be filled in order to understand the environmental effects of these abundant compounds. Special attention has been given to GHG-related processes, with a particular focus on CH4. This stems from the recent discovery of OP-dependent CH4 production in aqueous environments under aerobic conditions. The process has changed the perception of the biogeochemical cycle of CH4, since it was previously thought that biological methane formation was only possible under anaerobic conditions. However, there is a lack of knowledge on whether OP-associated methane is also formed in soils. Moreover, it remains unclear whether anthropogenic OPs affect the CH4 cycle, a concern of significant importance in the context of the increasing rate of global warming. The literature examined in this review also calls for additional research into the date of OPs in waste and sewage and in their impact on environmental microbiomes.
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    Bacterial osmoprotectants - a way to survive in saline conditions and potential crop allies
    (Oxford Academic, 2025-05-16) Goszcz, Aleksandra; Furtak, Karolina; Stasiuk, Robert; Wójtowicz, Joanna; Musiałowski, Marcin; Schiavon, Michela; Dębiec-Andrzejewska, Klaudia
    Soil salinization, affecting 6.5% of arable land, deteriorates soil properties, reduces microbiota activity, hinders plant growth, and accelerates soil erosion. Excessive salt induces physiological drought and toxicity stress in plants, causing chlorosis, ion imbalances, and enzyme disruptions. This paper discusses microorganisms’ resistance mechanisms, plant responses to salt stress and summarizes current knowledge on bacterial osmoprotectants and their functions. It also reviews emerging agrobiotechnological strategies using microbial osmoprotectants to remediate salinized soils and enhance plant growth and productivity under salt stress. Osmoprotectants stabilize proteins, buffer redox potential, and retain water, thus alleviating osmotic stress and promoting bacteria and plants growth. Their application improves soil properties by enhancing aggregate formation, water permeability, moisture content, cation exchange capacity, and ion availability. Despite extensive literature on the function of osmoprotectants, the knowledge about their role in soil environments and agrobiotechnology applications remains limited. This paper indicates proposed research perspectives, including discovering new osmoprotectants, their correlation with soil fertilization, interactions with the soil microbiome, and plant responses. It also identifies significant knowledge gaps in these areas, highlighting the need for further studies to consolidate existing data and assess the potential of this approach to enhance soil health and crop productivity in saline environments.
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    Biodiversity of soil environment – overview of parameters and methods in soil biodiversity analyses
    (Instytut Uprawy Nawożenia i Gleboznawstwa – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy w Puławach, 2016) Gałązka, Anna; Łyszcz, Małgorzata; Abramczyk, Barbara; Grządziel, Jarosław; Furtak, Karolina; Czaban, Janusz; Pikulicka, Anna
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    Effect of selected osmoprotectants (betaine, ectoine and inositol) on germination and initial growth of Triticum aestivum L. under salt stress conditions – model experiment
    (Instytut Uprawy Nawożenia i Gleboznawstwa - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy w Puławach, 2025) Furtak, Karolina; Gawryjołek, Karolina
    Climate change and increasing soil degradation are driving the need for new agricultural solutions to support crops. Drought stress and salinity are major problems in fields around the world. A promising method to support plants under osmotic stress condi-tions is the use of exogenous osmoprotectants. In this study, the effects of three selected osmoprotectants: ectoine (0.25 mM), betaine (25 mM), and inositol (25 mM), on germination and initial growth of spring wheat under salinity (1% NaCl) stress conditions in model experiment on Hoagland medium were determined. Addition of ectoine showed a statistically significant positive effect on wheat root length (increase of 50.4%) under control conditions. The addition of betaine showed a statistically significant positive effect on shoot length (increase of 60.2%) under salt stress conditions. Surprisingly, the addition of the ectoine to the medium resulted in a statistically significant lower fresh weight of wheat seedlings compared to the control under unstressed conditions. The results show that exogenous application of selected osmoprotectants can mitigate the adverse effects of salinity and promote growth of spring wheat, however this topic requires further, more detailed analysis.
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    Enzymatic activity and metabolic potential of microorganisms in flood-affected soils analysed in the short and long term after flooding – preliminary studies
    (Instytut Uprawy Nawożenia i Gleboznawstwa - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy w Puławach, 2025) Furtak, Karolina; Gawryjołek, Karolina; Woźniak, Małgorzata; Grzęda, Emilia
    Floods are becoming increasingly common in Poland and throughout Europe. The microbiological activity of flooded soils changes, but research in this area, especially long-term research, is lacking. This experiment aimed to compare the enzymatic and metabolic activities of soil microorganisms in two flood-affected fields in the Lower Silesia and Opole voivodeshipsin 2024. Soil samples were taken seven days and seven months after the floodwaters receded. Dehydrogenases activity, acid and alkaline phosphatases activities, and metabolic potential of microorganisms were determined. It was demonstrated that the activity of the measured enzymes in both soils was lower in 2024, seven days after the flood, compared to the activity measured seven months later. However, metabolic activity was higher seven days after the flood than in 2025, although the statistically significant difference only concerned soil O1 measurements. Although these studies only provide a preliminary insight into the basic parameters of soil biological activity, they enable us to observe trends in changes to the soil following flooding and emphasising the importance of long-term research.
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    Enzymatic activity as a popular parameter used to determine the quality of the soil environment
    (Instytut Uprawy Nawożenia i Gleboznawstwa – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy w Puławach) Furtak, Karolina; Gałązka, Anna
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    Fungal community change in selected fluvisols under simulated flooding condition
    (Instytut Uprawy Nawożenia i Gleboznawstwa – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy w Puławach, 2023) Furtak, Karolina; Grządziel, Jarosław
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    Microbial Hazard in Cultivated Soils Located in the Floodplains of the Vistula River Valley, Poland—Preliminary Research
    (Springer, 2025) Furtak, Karolina; Marzec‑Grządziel, Anna
    Worldwide research in flood-affected areas is primarily concerned with the control of microbial contamination of soils and waters by Salmonella sp., Clostridium sp., Escherichia sp. However, it should be borne in mind that areas periodically inundated by river waters can be a reservoir of other potentially pathogenic microorganisms. Moreover, these areas, due to the presence of fertile soils, are often used for agricultural purposes. The aim of the present study was to determine the presence of potentially pathogenic microorganisms in agriculturally cultivated river silts located in the Vistula River valley in Lublin Province, and to analyze changes in their abundance occurring as a result of simulated flooding conditions. The results obtained confirm that microorganisms potentially dangerous to humans are present in riverine soils used for agricultural purposes: representatives of the families Arcobacteraceae, Erwiniaceae, and Yersiniaceae, and representatives of the genera Aliarcobacter, Pantoea, Pseudarcobacter, Serratia, Treponema and Vagococcus, and their abundance changes as a result of flooding.
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    Microbial Hazards in Post-Flood Soils – An Overview
    (Polskie Towarzystwo Mikrobiologów, 2026) Furtak, Karolina
    Becoming increasingly common across Poland and Europe. However, to date, microbiological studies have primarily focused on water intakes and the presence of indicator bacteria (i.e., fecal bacteria) in flood sediments. Data on soil microbial loads are lacking. This short review synthesizes the available evidence on pathogen detection in soils after flooding and identifies gaps. Some researchers have reported a high diversity of bacterial, viral, and protozoan pathogens in river water and have shown that selected bacteria, such as Escherichia coli or Salmonella spp., may persist in post-flood soils for up to 44 days. The lack of systematic soil-focused research limits accurate risk assessment and may pose a significant threat to public health and food safety. Research priorities and mitigation strategies relevant to climate change–driven flood risk are proposed.
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    Możliwość poprawy właściwości mikrobiologicznych gleb popowodziowych PORADNIK
    (Instytut Uprawy Nawożenia i Gleboznawstwa - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy w Puławach, 2025) Furtak, Karolina
    Bardzo ważnym regulatorem mikrobiomu glebowego są czynniki edaficzne, które definiuje się jako całokształt warunków fizycznych i chemicznych w glebie. Wśród czynników edaficznych wyróżnić można: ♦ ♦ strukturę i typ gleby; ♦ ♦ temperaturę gleby; ♦ ♦ wilgotność gleby; ♦ ♦ odczyn gleby; ♦ ♦ ciśnienie; ♦ ♦ zawartość węgla i azotu; ♦ ♦ zawartość pierwiastków śladowych. Naturalne wahania wilgotności związane ze zmianami sezonowymi i opadami są ważnym czynnikiem środowiskowym w metabolizmie mikroorganizmów. Jednakże w ostatnim czasie częstotliwość występowania powodzi i okresowych podtopień w Polsce wzrasta. Dane meteorologiczne pokazują, że na świecie od 1980 roku liczba powodzi i innych zdarzeń hydrologicznych wzrosła czterokrotnie. Nadmierna wilgotność spowodowana powodziami, roztopami lub intensywnymi opadami deszczu powoduje zmiany w strukturze i aktywności mikrobiomu glebowego. Niniejszy poradnik ma na celu krótkie omówienie zmian zachodzących w glebie w wyniku wystąpienia nadmiernej wilgotności oraz określenie możliwych działań mających na celu poprawę jakości gleb popowodziowych.
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    The impact of climate-induced extreme weather events on soil constraints and ecosystem functioning
    (Springer Nature, 2026) Kumar, Manish; Bolan, Shiv; Naorem, Anandkumar; Shukla, Smirti; Chandel, Nitika; Mukherjee, Santanu; Rao, Cherukumalli Srinivasa; Saco, Patricia; Rodriguez, Jose; Furtak, Karolina; Dhupper, Renu; Jenkins, Sasha; Siddique, Kadambot H.M.; Bolan, Nanthi
    Purpose The term “climate change (CC)” describes changes in the Earth’s net energy balance that result in unanticipated changes in atmospheric temperature over time. Elevated levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere are often connected to the negative impacts of CC. Some of the direct negative impacts of CC include rise in sea-level, flooding and drought, wildfires, and rainfall inconsistency. These extreme weather events impact soil health by altering the soil physical (e.g., soil compaction), chemical (e.g., soil acidification) and biological (e.g., microbial diversity) constraints. Although there is a wealth of knowledge available regarding the impact of CC-induced extreme weather events on soil constraints, the interactions and mechanisms are still not fully understood. Hence, this review seeks to offer a thorough understanding of how droughts, floods, and wildfires induced by CC affect soil constraints and ecosystem functioning. This review also offers a deep insight into the effects of extreme weather events on soil nutrient levels and productivity. Method A literature search was carried out using the following search terms in Web of Science Core Collections: TS =(subject search “Climate change” OR “global warming” OR “extreme weather” OR “flooding” OR “drought” OR “wildfire” OR “storm” OR “Soil health” OR “pollutant”) AND TS = (climate crisis” OR “temperature rise” OR “climate disruption” OR “heat wave” OR “hurricane” OR “cyclone” OR “Plant productivity” OR “contaminant” OR “toxic”). In order to conduct bibliometric analysis, a keyword analysis algorithm was applied to extract 1,849 collections of keywords from 1,634 articles concerning climate change and extreme weather events that were published during the study period. To visualize networks of keyword co-occurrence, VOSviewer (version 1.6.20) was employed. Conclusions This review revealed that extreme weather events have strong impact on soil quality and its productivity, affecting the crop yield, which is a major concern of current agriculture practices and global food security. Thus, the most important management and adaptation strategies that improve soil resilience to extreme weather events are detailed in this review along with prospects for future research.
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    Wpływ symulowanej powodzi na bioróżnorodność strukturalną i funkcjonalną mikrobiomu wybranych mad rzecznych
    (Instytut Uprawy Nawożenia i Gleboznawstwa - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy w Puławach, 2020) Furtak, Karolina
    Celem prezentowanej rozprawy doktorskiej była ocena zmian bioróżnorodności strukturalnej i funkcjonalnej społeczności bakterii glebowych zachodzących pod wpływem krótkotrwałej powodzi. W ramach realizacji celu badawczego przeprowadzono doświadczenie microcosm, podczas którego w kontrolowanych warunkach zasymulowano 14-dniową powódź wobec wybranych mad rzecznych z zastosowaniem wody rzecznej. Materiał badawczy stanowiły trzy gatunki mad rzecznych pobrane z naturalnych terenów zalewowych rzeki Wisły w województwie lubelskim, stanowiące łąki położone w obszarze Małopolskiego Przełomu Wisły. Gleby w formie bloków wraz z roślinnością umieszczono w pojemnikach, a następnie zalano wodą pobraną z Wisły na poziomie 5 cm ponad powierzchnię gleby. Do analiz pobrano świeże próbki gleb, wodę z Wisły oraz próbki glebowe po 7 i 14 dniach zastoju wody. W trakcie doświadczenia wykonano kompleksowe analizy jakości gleb tj., oznaczono parametry fizykochemiczne, aktywność enzymatyczną, potencjał metaboliczny mikroorganizmów oraz zróżnicowanie strukturalne społeczności bakterii glebowych. Stwierdzono istotny statystycznie spadek wartości pH i aktywności fosfataz, przy jednoczesnym wzroście aktywności dehydrogenaz w wyniku wystąpienia warunków zalania. Analiza NGS 16S rRNA pozwoliła na wykrycie licznych niezidentyfikowanych sekwencji bakterii w badanych glebach. W następstwie powodzi w madach rzecznych wzrosła liczebność rodzin bakterii anaerobowych oraz fakultatywnie anaerobowych. Zaobserwowano wzrost zróżnicowania strukturalnego społeczności bakterii oraz ich potencjału metabolicznego w warunkach stresu hydrologicznego. Uzyskane wyniki pozwoliły na potwierdzenie hipotezy badawczej, że warunki ekstremalnej wilgotności w glebie doprowadzają do istotnych różnic w składzie oraz funkcji społeczności bakterii glebowych.