Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 20, 2025

Integrated Field Lysimetry and Porewater Sampling for Evaluation of Chemical Mobility in Soils and Established Vegetation
Published on: July 4, 2014
Co-occurrence of multiple contaminants: Unentangling adsorption behaviour in agricultural soils
Gaowei Tan1, Darrell W S Tang2, Vera Silva3
1State Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Control, College of Soil and Water Conservation Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China; Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, 6700 AA, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Abstract:
The co-occurrence of pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and MPs has resulted in combined toxicity and high risks to ecosystems and human health. However, understanding on the interactions among co-occurring pollutants in soils remains limited. This study focused on adsorption behaviour of a pesticide mixture (chlorpyrifos (CPF), pendimethalin (PDM) and pyraclostrobin (PCS)) in three soils (sandy soil (S1), loamy soil (S2), and silt soil (S3)) to examine the absorption behaviour of pesticides in the presence of the pharmaceutical compound albendazole (ALB) and starch-based microplastics (MPs). The results showed that ALB significantly decreased (p < 0.05) the adsorption of CPF, PDM, and PCS by 29 %-41 % in S1. The adsorption of CPF (+20 %) and PCS (+101 %) in S2 were significantly enhanced but PDM (-22 %) adsorption was inhibited by ALB. ALB also significantly (p < 0.05) promoted CPF and PCS adsorption in S3 by 39 % and 120 %, respectively, but did not change PDM adsorption. In soil-MP matrices, ALB significantly reduced the adsorption of CPF (-25 %), PDM (-26 %), and PCS (-21 %) in the S1-MP matrix, but no significant change in the S2 and S3-MP matrices was observed. Moreover, MPs significantly (p < 0.05) increased the adsorption of the pesticide mixture by 120-730 %, but reduced ALB adsorption by 11-24 % in soils. Further, regardless of ALB presence, correlation analysis suggested that Kd of pesticides showed positive correlations (p < 0.01) to soil organic matter, specific surface area, and clay content in soil matrices without MP-contamination, while no significant positive correlation between Kd of pesticides and soil properties was observed in soil-MPs matrices. This study indicates that co-occurring pollutants could alter the adsorption behaviour of pesticides in soil and thereby affect their bioavailability and mobility in the soil ecosystem. Further study is urgently needed to assess the ecotoxicity of co-occurring multi-contaminants, as well as their potential transport to other environmental compartments.
More Related Videos
13:16A Whole Cell Bioreporter Approach to Assess Transport and Bioavailability of Organic Contaminants in Water Unsaturated Systems
Published on: December 24, 2014
12:03Two-Dimensional Visualization and Quantification of Labile, Inorganic Plant Nutrients and Contaminants in Soil
Published on: September 1, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Precipitation and Co-precipitation
Types of Coprecipitation
Sometimes, ions in a crystal lattice can undergo isomorphous replacement by inclusions of similar charge and size. For...
Bioremediation
Colloidal precipitates
Types of Toxins
Air pollutants, primarily gases, pose significant threats to respiratory health, leading to conditions like hypoxia, lung cancer, and in extreme cases, death.
Environmental pollutants like...