Measurement of feeding activity of soil saprophages by the consumption of bait made of plant material—the bait-lamina test—is used for solving many problems of functional ecology. It is important to choose the correct exposure duration of bait to obtain unbiased data. This requires the analysis of time dependence of bait consumption, however, it has not been performed for technogenically polluted soils. We have compared two study sites of spruce–fir forest in the area affected by long-term emissions of the Middle Ural Copper Smelter: background (30 km away from the plant) and strongly polluted by heavy metals (1 km away). The feeding activity was evaluated on days 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15. The dependence of the consumed bait portion on the exposure duration sharply differs at the background and polluted sites: it is clear linear in the period from the third till the twelfth day on the former and is absent on the latter. This is related to the difference not only in the abundance, but also in the species composition of saprophages. The pollution effect is the most pronounced on the ninth day of exposure, and deviations from this period for more than two days both to the higher and smaller sides are undesirable. The recalculations of the original values should be carefully applied: the linear interpolation may be used to recalculate the activity in the background area to adjust it to the exposure duration in the polluted site, but not vice versa.

中文翻译：

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污染土壤评估中的诱饵层测试：暴露时间的选择

通过消耗由植物材料制成的诱饵来测量土壤腐食菌的摄食活动 - 诱饵层测试 - 用于解决功能生态学的许多问题。重要的是选择正确的诱饵暴露时间以获得无偏数据。这需要对诱饵消耗的时间依赖性进行分析，但是，尚未对技术污染的土壤进行分析。我们比较了受中乌拉尔铜冶炼厂长期排放影响地区的云杉-冷杉林的两个研究地点：背景（距离工厂 30 公里）和受到重金属严重污染（距离 1 公里）。在第 3、6、9、12 和 15 天评估摄食活动。 在背景和污染地点，消耗的诱饵部分对暴露持续时间的依赖性显着不同：前者在第 3 天至第 12 天期间呈明显线性关系，而后者则不存在。这不仅与腐食菌的丰度差异有关，还与腐食菌的物种组成有关。污染影响在暴露的第 9 天最为显着，超过两天的这段时间无论向高还是向小的偏差都是不可取的。应谨慎应用原始值的重新计算：线性插值可用于重新计算背景区域的活动，以将其调整为污染地点的暴露持续时间，但反之则不然。污染影响在暴露的第 9 天最为显着，超过两天的这段时间无论向高还是向小的偏差都是不可取的。应谨慎应用原始值的重新计算：线性插值可用于重新计算背景区域的活动，以将其调整为污染地点的暴露持续时间，但反之则不然。污染影响在暴露的第 9 天最为显着，超过两天的这段时间无论向高还是向小的偏差都是不可取的。应谨慎应用原始值的重新计算：线性插值可用于重新计算背景区域的活动，以将其调整为污染地点的暴露持续时间，但反之则不然。