Soil Water Chemistry as an Indicator of the Reproducibility of Artificially Contaminated Soil Mesocosms

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution Vol. 179; no. 1-4; pp. 125 - 134
• Main Authors: Etchebers, O, Kedziorek, M. A. M, Bourg, A. C. M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Dordrecht : Kluwer Academic Publishers 01.02.2007; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural ecosystems; Agricultural land; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Atrazine; Benzo(a)pyrene; benzopyrene; Biological; Biological activity; Biological and medical sciences; Chemical properties; Contamination; Dissolution; Dissolved oxygen; Ecosystems; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Electrode potentials; Environmental monitoring; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Herbicides; hydrochemistry; Leachates; Leaching; lead; Mesocosms; Microorganisms; Moisture content; phenochlor; Physicochemical properties; polluted soils; Redox potential; Reduction; research methods; Sampling; Simulation; simulation models; Soil (material); soil chemical properties; Soil chemistry; Soil contamination; soil physical properties; Soil pollution; Soil water; Soils; Studies; Synecology; Water chemistry; Mesocosm; Artefact; Soil pollution; Interstitial water; Persistent organic pollutant; Transport process; Ecosystem; Lead; pH; Lixiviation; Chemical properties; Organic compounds; soil mesocosms·soil water chemistry; Water chemistry; Benzopyrene; Conductivity; Endocrine disruptor; Agricultural soil; Leaching; Indicator; Phenochlor; benzo(a)pyrene· experimental scale·lead; Reproducibility; Redox potential; Physicochemical properties; Atrazine
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-006-9219-6

The simulation of ecosystems by mesocosms might be affected by artefacts due to the scale reduction implied in such experiments. The physico-chemical properties of water leaching out of mesocosms made of only 50 kg of agricultural soil were measured to demonstrate that they constitute reproducible systems. The soils were artificially contaminated with lead, atrazine, benzo(a)pyrene and Phenochlor. Physico-chemical parameters (redox potential, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen) and major ions were monitored in the leachates for six months. Even though these changed with time, in each sampling campaign they were similar for all of the mesocosms despite possible independent development of microbial and biological activity.