Dissolved Organic Matter (dissolved + organic_matter)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Dissolved organic matter in small streams along a gradient from discontinuous to continuous permafrost

GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 9 2004
Masayuki Kawahigashi
Abstract The Yenisei river passes every type of permafrost regime, from south to north, being characterized by increasing continuity of the permafrost and by decreasing thickness of the active layer. We used that situation to test the hypothesis that amounts and properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in small streams draining forested catchments respond to different permafrost regimes. Water samples were taken from eight tributaries along the Yenisei between 67°30,N and 65°49,N latitude. The samples were analysed for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) and DOM was characterized by its chemical composition (XAD-8 fractionation, sugars, lignin phenols, amino acids, protein, UV and fluorescence spectroscopy), and its biodegradability. Most properties of the tributary waters varied depending on latitude. The higher the latitude, the higher were DOC, DON and the proportion of the hydrophobic fraction of DOC. The contribution of hexoses and pentoses to DOC were higher in southern tributaries; on the other hand, phenolic compounds were more abundant in northern tributaries. Mineralizable DOC ranged between 4% and 28% of total DOC. DOM in northern tributaries was significantly (P<0.05) less biodegradable than that in southern tributaries reflecting the differences in the chemical properties of DOM. Our results suggest that the differences in DOM properties are mainly attributed to differences of permafrost regime, affecting depth of active layer, soil organic matter accumulation and vegetation. Soil organic matter and vegetation determine the amount and composition of DOM produced in the catchments while the depth of the active layer likely controls the quantity and quality of DOM exported to streams. Sorptive interactions of DOM with the soil mineral phase typically increase with depth. The results imply that a northern shift of discontinuous permafrost likely will change in the long term the input of DOM into the Yenisei and thus probably into the Kara Sea. [source]


Extraction of water-soluble organic matter from mineral horizons of forest soils

JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION AND SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2007
Thilo Rennert
Abstract Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is involved in many important biogeochemical processes in soil. As its collection is laborious, very often water-soluble organic matter (WSOM) obtained by extracting organic or mineral soil horizons with a dilute salt solution has been used as a substitute of DOM. We extracted WSOM (measured as water-soluble organic C, WSOC) from seven mineral horizons of three forest soils from North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany, with demineralized H2O, 0.01 M CaCl2, and 0.5 M K2SO4. We investigated the quantitative and qualitative effects of the extractants on WSOM and compared it with DOM collected with ceramic suction cups from the same horizons. The amounts of WSOC extracted differed significantly between both the extractants and the horizons. With two exceptions, K2SO4 extracted the largest amounts of WSOC (up to 126 mg C,kg,1) followed by H2O followed by CaCl2. The H2O extracts revealed by far the highest molar UV absorptivities at 254 nm (up to 5834 L mol,1,cm,1) compared to the salt solutions which is attributed to solubilization of highly aromatic compounds. The amounts of WSOC extracted did not depend on the amounts of Fe and Al oxides as well as on soil organic C and pH. Water-soluble organic matter extracted by K2SO4 bore the largest similarity to DOM due to relatively analogue molar absorptivities. Therefore, we recommend to use this extractant when trying to obtain a substitute for DOM, but as WSOM extraction is a rate-limited process, the suitability of extraction procedures to obtain a surrogate of DOM remains ambiguous. [source]


Development of negligible depletion hollow fiber,protected liquid-phase microextraction for sensing freely dissolved triazines

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 2 2009
Xialin Hu
Abstract A new sampling method, termed negligible depletion hollow fiber,protected liquid-phase microextraction, was developed for sensing the freely dissolved concentration (Cfree) and evaluating the availability of atrazine (ATR), desethyl atrazine (DEA), and simazine (SIM) in water. The sampling device was prepared by impregnating 1-octanol to both the pores and the lumen of a piece of polypropylene microporous hollow fiber membrane. After equilibrium and negligible depletion extraction, the 1-octanol in the lumen of the hollow fiber (10 ,l) was collected for determination of triazines. Determination of Cfree and the distribution coefficient to 1-octanol (DOW) can be performed with this technique. A wide linear working range (1,200 ,g/L) and low detection limits (0.1,1 ,g/L) were obtained for triazines. Measured log DOW values of DEA (1.44 ± 0.04), SIM (2.06 ± 0.06), and ATR (2.33 ± 0.05) agreed well with those reported in the literature. The measured DOW values were independent of the chemical concentration and sample pH (pH 3,10) and negligibly affected by the sample salinity (0,500 mM), suggesting that environmentally relevant pH and salinity have no significant effects on the availability of triazines. Although a slight (,31%) increase of Cfree was observed, one-way analysis of variance indicated the Cfree of triazines were not significantly affected by the presence of Aldrich humic acid, Acros humic acid, and bovine albumin V (dissolved organic carbon [DOC], 0,100 mg/L). From 3 to 36% of the spiked triazines, however, were found to associate with the dissolved organic matter (DOM) in surface-water samples (DOC, 32.0,61.9 mg/L), suggesting the origin of the DOM is a key parameter in determining its association with and, thus, the availability of triazines. [source]


Development of a coupled metal speciation-fate model for surface aquatic systems

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 6 2004
Satyendra P. Bhavsar
Abstract A coupled metal transport and speciation model (TRANSPEC) has been developed for surface aquatic systems that explicitly considers the influence of metal speciation on fate. The TRANSPEC, which is general to most metal and surface aquatic systems, is constructed by sequentially coupling the speciation/complexation module (in this application MINEQL+) with the fugacity/aquivalence approach for the fate calculations. This model formulation increases the mechanistic detail, predictive power, and fidelity to reality of current fugacity-aquivalence fate models for metals by estimating aqueous speciation and complexation, rather than relying on empirically derived partition coefficients. A pseudo-steady state version of TRANSPEC was used to simulate Zn dynamics in Ross Lake (Flin Flon, MB, Canada) that received elevated metal and organic matter inputs for over 50 years. Field studies revealed that ZnS forms soluble ZnL, Zn2+, and ZnSO40 increasing pore water concentrations when surficial sediments turn oxic during fall. The model results for three seasonal scenarios suggest that Zn remobilization is driven by resuspension of insoluble ZnS and the contribution of diffusion is negligible, even during fall when ZnS dissolves to increase the concentration of soluble species under oxic conditions in the sediments. The low diffusive flux is due to the binding of Zn to colloidal dissolved organic matter (DOM) for which sediment-water diffusion is relatively slow, a result that was obtained as a result of considering metal speciation in the fate calculations. [source]


Phase distribution of synthetic pyrethroids in runoff and stream water

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 1 2004
Weiping Liu
Abstract Synthetic pyrethroids (SPs) are a group of hydrophobic compounds with significant aquatic toxicity. Their strong affinity to suspended solids and humic materials suggests that SPs in natural surface water are distributed in solid-adsorbed, dissolved organic matter (DOM)-adsorbed, and freely dissolved phases. The freely dissolved phase is of particular importance because of its mobility and bioavailability. In the present study, we used solid-phase microextraction to detect the freely dissolved phase, and we evaluated the phase distribution of bifenthrin and permethrin in stream and runoff waters. In stream water, most SPs were associated with the suspended solids and, to a lesser extent, with DOM. The freely dissolved phase contributed only 0.4% to 1.0%. In runoff effluents, the freely dissolved concentration was 10% to 27% of the overall concentration. The predominant partitioning into the adsorbed phases implies that the toxicity of SPs in surface water is reduced because of decreased bioavailability. This also suggests that monitoring protocols that do not selectively define the freely dissolved phase can lead to significant overestimation of toxicity or water-quality impacts by SPs. [source]


Development and field validation of a predictive copper toxicity model for the green alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 10 2003
Karel A. C. De Schamphelaere
Abstract In this sudy, the combined effects of pH, water hardness, and dissolved organic carbon(DO) concentration and type on the chronic (72-h) effect of copper on growth inhibition of the green alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata were investigated. Natural dissolved organic matter (DOM) was collected at three sites in Belgium and The Netherlands using reverse osmosis. A full central composite test design was used for one DOM and a subset of the full design for the two other DOMs. For a total number of 35 toxicity tests performed, 72-h effect concentration resulting in 10% growth inhibition (EbC10s) ranged from 14.2 to 175.9 ,g Cu/L (factor 12) and 72-h EbC50s from 26.9 to 506.8 ,g Cu/L (factor 20). Statistical analysis demonstrated that DOC concentration, DOM type, and pH had a significant effect on copper toxicity; hardness did not affect toxicity at the levels tested. In general, an increase in pH resulted in increased toxicity, whereas an increase of the DOC concentration resulted in decreased copper toxicity. When expressed as dissolved copper, significant differences of toxicity reduction capacity were noted across the three DOM types tested (up to factor 2.5). When expressed as Cu2+ activity, effect levels were only significantly affected by pH; linear relationships were observed between pH and the logarithm of the effect concentrations expressed as free copper ion activity, that is, log(EbC50) and log(EbC10): (1) log(EbC50) = ,1.431 pH + 2.050 (r2 = 0.95), and (2) log(EbC10) = ,1.140 pH , 0.812 (r2 = 0.91). A copper toxicity model was developed by linking these equations to the WHAM V geochemical speciation model. This model predicted 97% of the EbC50dissolved and EbC10dissolved values within a factor of two of the observed values. Further validation using toxicity test results that were obtained previously with copper-spiked European surface waters demonstrated that for 81% of tested waters, effect concentrations were predicted within a factor of two of the observed. The developed model is considered to be an important step forward in accounting for copper bioavailability in natural systems. [source]


Adapted DAX-8 fractionation method for dissolved organic matter (DOM) from soils: development, calibration with test components and application to contrasting soil solutions

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 6 2009
F. Amery
Summary Most methods to fractionate natural dissolved organic matter (DOM) rely on sorption of acidified DOM samples onto XAD-8 or DAX-8 resin. Procedural differences among methods are large and their interpretation is limited because there is a lack of calibration with DOM model molecules. An automated column-based DOM fractionation method was set up for 10-ml DOM samples, dividing DOM into hydrophilic (HPI), hydrophobic acid (HPOA) and hydrophobic neutral (HPON) fractions. Fifteen DOM model components were tested in isolation and in combination. Three reference DOM samples of the International Humic Substances Society were included to facilitate comparison with other methods. Aliphatic low-molecular-weight acids (LMWAs) and carbohydrates were classified as HPI DOM, but some LMWAs showed also a partial HPO character. Aromatic LMWAs and polyphenols partitioned in the HPOA fraction, menadione (quinone) and geraniol (terpenoid) in HPON DOM. Molecules with log Kow > 0.5 had negligible HPI fractions. The HPO molecules except geraniol had specific UV absorbance (SUVA, measure for aromaticity) >3 litres g,1 cm,1 while HPI molecules had SUVA values <3 litres g,1 cm,1. Distributions of DOM from eight soils ranged from 31 to 72% HPI, 25 to 46% HPOA and 2 to 28% HPON of total dissolved organic carbon. The SUVA of the HPI DOM was consistently smaller compared with the HPOA DOM. The SUVA of the natural DOM samples was not explained statistically by fractionation and the variation coefficient of SUVA among samples was not reduced by fractionation. Hence, fractionation did not reduce the variability in this DOM property, which casts some doubts on the practical role of DOM fractionation in predicting DOM properties. [source]


Molecular weight and humification index as predictors of adsorption for plant- and manure-derived dissolved organic matter to goethite

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2007
T. Ohno
Summary Sorptive retention of organic matter is important in maintaining the fertility and quality of soils in agricultural ecosystems. However, few sorption studies have been conducted that use dissolved organic matter (DOM) characteristic of agricultural amendments. We investigated the sorption to goethite (,-FeOOH) of DOM extracted from: (i) above-ground biomass of wheat straw (Triticum aestivum L.), maize residue (Zea mays L.), soybean residue (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), and hairy vetch residue (Vivia billosa L.); (ii) below-ground biomass from maize, soybean, canola (Brassica napus L.), and green bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.); and (iii) beef, dairy, poultry, and pig animal manures. The apparent molecular weight (MWAP) of the DOM was measured by high performance-size exclusion chromatography and ranged from 312 to 1074 g mol,1. The carboxyl-group content of the DOM measured by potentiometric titration ranged from 4.84 to 21.38 mmol(,) g,1 carbon. The humification index (HIX) determined by fluorescence spectrometry varied from 1.15 to 4.33. Sorption was directly related to both MWAP and HIX values of the DOM. Molecular weight analysis of the solution prior to and after sorption indicated that the DOM molecules > 1800 g mol,1 were preferentially sorbed, resulting in fractionation of the DOM upon reaction with goethite. The multiple regression equation, based only on MWAP and HIX parameters, explained 76% of the variance in amount of DOM sorbed. The results indicate that MWAP and HIX are important factors in controlling the sorption of DOM to mineral surfaces. Amendment with materials that release DOM of higher molecular weight and greater humification will result in enhanced initial sorption of DOM to soil solids, thereby contributing to accumulation of a larger soil organic C pool. [source]


Ozonation of 1,3,6-naphthalenetrisulfonic acid in presence of heavy metals

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 8 2004
M Sánchez-Polo
Abstract A study was conducted of the mechanisms by which heavy metals, commonly present in industrial effluents, increase the purification effectiveness of ozone in the removal of organic contaminants of low biodegradability. For this purpose, the ozonation of 1,3,6-naphthalenetrisulfonic acid (NTS) in the presence of Ni(II), Fe(II), Mn(II), Zn(II), Sr(II), Cr(III), Cd(II), Hg(II), and Cu(II) was examined. The presence of small amounts of Mn(II), Fe(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), and Cr(III) was observed in the system, increasing the degradation rate of the NTS and transforming the dissolved organic matter into CO2. The mineralization of the organic matter was highly favored, especially in the first minutes of treatment. The results obtained appear to indicate that the activity of the metals in the NTS ozonation process is related to their reduction potential. Thus, metals susceptible to oxidation by ozone are potential promoters of NTS ozonation. The presence of Fe(II) or Mn(II) during NTS ozonation increased its degradation rate by 79% and 72% respectively. Moreover, the reaction kinetics of metal oxidation with ozone controls the increase in the purification effectiveness of these systems. The presence of radical scavengers (tert -butanol or bicarbonate) in the medium during the promoted ozonation of NTS showed a negative effect on this process, and the NTS degradation rate decreased with an increasing concentration of these inhibitors in the system. These results confirm that the degradation of NTS by ozone in the presence of heavy metals occurs by a radical mechanism. O3/Zn(II) and O3/Fe(II) systems were applied to the decontamination of urban waste waters. The presence of Zn(II) or Fe(II) during the ozonation produced a reduction during the first 5 min of treatment of 20% or 44%, respectively, in the concentration of dissolved organic matter present in the system. These results show that ozonation in the presence of heavy metals is a highly promising system for the purification of waste waters and industrial effluents. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


The differentiation of biodegradable and non-biodegradable dissolved organic matter in wastewaters using fluorescence spectroscopy

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 8 2002
M Reynolds
Abstract The chemical and biochemical oxygen demand values of a number of synthetic and wastewater samples were determined using fluorescence spectroscopy. Treated and untreated sewage samples were obtained from a local sewage treatment works while synthetic samples were analysed before, during, and after treatment via a rotating biodisc contactor. Fluorescence intensities were normalised using the water Raman signal as an internal standard and corrections applied to take into account the attenuation effects caused by the sample matrix. The fluorescence emission spectra (,exc,=,280,nm) of synthetic and sewage samples were very similar in that two main fluorescence bands centred around 350,nm and 440,nm were observed in all samples. Normalised fluorescence data, centred at 350,nm, correlate well with corresponding BOD, COD and TOC values (R2 values ranging between 0.93 and 0.98). Using BOD, COD and TOC data the fluorescence at 350,nm and 440,nm can be apportioned to biodegradable and non-biodegradable dissolved organic matter respectively. The findings of this research show that fluorescence data can be used to quantify oxygen demand values (chemical and biochemical) and total organic carbon values. Furthermore, the fluorescence spectral response can be apportioned to biodegradable (BOD) and non-biodegradable (COD,,,BOD) dissolved organic matter. The potential of using fluorescence spectroscopy as a possible tool for real-time monitoring of sewage wastes is discussed. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


Bacterioplankton heterotrophic activity in relation to the phytoplankton compartment in a recently formed reservoir

LAKES & RESERVOIRS: RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2008
Louis-B.
Abstract Seasonal and spatial variations in bacterial abundance, biomass and potential heterotrophic activity in a recently flooded reservoir were measured for two consecutive years, in conjunction with phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll- a concentration) and activity (primary production). The mean value of primary production remained constant between the two study years, while those of the chlorophyll- a concentrations, bacterial abundance, bacterial biomass and bacterial heterotrophic activity decreased. The observed trends in the bacterial variables were linked to changes in the relative importance of allochthonous dissolved organic matter, in addition to selective grazing activity on bacterioplankton. Multivariate regression analyses identified bacterial abundance (29%) and temperature (17%) as dominant correlates of the bacterial potential heterotrophic activity. We concluded that, in a new reservoir, organic matter, other than that from phytoplankton, might be of great importance for bacterioplankton metabolism. Furthermore, grazing activity on bacteria by metazoa in a new reservoir represents, on occasion, an important trophic link between the top consumer and otherwise unavailable dissolved organic carbon sources. Finally, even if little energy is transferred to larger consumers, the microbial route is still important in re-mineralizing organic matter in Sep Reservoir. [source]


Photodegradation of Soil Organic Matter and its Effect on Gram-negative Bacterial Growth

PHOTOCHEMISTRY & PHOTOBIOLOGY, Issue 5 2008
Gabriela N. Bosio
ABSTRACT To learn more about the role of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the production of bioavailable products of the dissolved organic matter, we investigate here the effect of the photolysis (,exc > 320 nm) of a soil extract (SE) on the growth of bacteria isolated from the same soil as used for obtaining the extract. Comparative experiments with Aldrich humic acid (AHA) as substrate were performed. The photodegradation of the SE was evaluated with different techniques,UV,visible absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence excitation emission matrices (EEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Known ROS scavengers were employed to study the effect of photochemically produced ROS on the photodegradation of the substrates. To evaluate the effect of irradiation on the bioavailability of the SE and AHA, photolyzed and nonphotolyzed substrates were added to different culture media and the growth of Pseudomonas sp. isolated from the soil and a strain of Escherichia coli were studied. The different results obtained were assigned to the dissimilar metabolisms of both bacteria. [source]