Impact of Ag and Co engineered nanoparticles on soil microbial community structure in a soil perturbed by Lumbricus rubellus

Knowledge on the impact of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) on both human and environment health is scarce. Several studies sustain that soil is the environmental compartment designed to be the major recipient of engineered nanoparticles (NPs). With the aim of investigating the impact of commercially relevant NPs on soil functioning, we compared the effect of Ag and Co NPs, as well as cobalt and silver ions, on soil microbial community in the presence of Lumbricus rubellus. Earthworms specimens were placed in a rich‐C soil and fed with horse manure spiked with Ag‐NPs, Co‐NPs, Ag+ and Co2+ for a total amount of 10 mg of single pollutant kg‐1 soil. At the end of acute exposure (4 weeks) to pol…