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SPP 1315: Effects of soil organic matter molecular conformation and substrate additions on the formation and release of xenobiotics bound residues
Project
Project code: DFG SPP 1315
Contract period: 01.01.2007
- 31.12.2010
Purpose of research: Basic research
Most organic chemicals entering the soil form non-extractable residues with time, either as the parent compounds or as their metabolites. This occurs mainly mainly through interactions with the native soil organic matter (SOM), but there is only limited knowledge about the formation and binding mechanisms of these residues. The objective of this study is to determine the effects of SOM structural conformation on the bioaccessibility and biodegradation of the two 14 C-labelled model compounds nonylphenol and phenanthrene. This is on three hypotheses:
1. The formation of bound residues is affected by the structural conformation of SOM. In particular, sorption of xenobiotics to SOM with a high degree of cross-linking induced by polyvalent cations will be less linear because fast partioning is reduced in favour of slow sorption processes.
2. Changes in the physico-chemical environment (pH, electrolytes, temperature) affect the bioavailability of bound residues because they induce changes in the structural conformation of SOM.
3. The biodegradation of xenobiotics in bound residues can be enhanced by providing organic substrates for the soil microbes, either through direct co-metabolic degradation of the xenobiotics or through enhanced degradation of the SOM matrix (priming effects).
Section overview
Subjects
- Soil science
