Factors influencing the sorption and mineralization of pesticides, antimicrobials and estrogens in soil.

我的研究项目主要集中在加拿大作物生产中使用的农药，以及由于牲畜粪便或人类粪便的使用而引入农业土壤的抗菌剂和雌激素。农药、抗菌剂和雌激素在环境中分布和消散的途径相对相似，当它们被输送到地表水和地下水时，这些化合物会降低加拿大水资源的质量。加拿大政府使用农药命运模型来评估农药对水资源造成的风险。在当前模型使用的计算中，假定土壤对农药的吸收随时间不变。然而，在现实中，农药在土壤中的吸收随着时间的推移而持续增加（即老化吸收），因此需要将这些信息纳入监管评估。在接下来的五年里，对于选定的农药，这项研究将量化土壤质地和土壤景观变化对老化吸收参数值的影响，然后加拿大政府可以将这些参数作为输入，以改进农药命运模型的计算。生物炭是通过生物质热解得到的富含碳的固体残留物。有人提出，生物炭可以减缓农药、抗菌剂和雌激素从农业土壤向水的移动，并在水和废水处理过程中去除这些污染物。然而，许多问题仍然存在，因此，通过一系列项目，包括方法开发，这项研究将推进对生物炭如何与土壤和水系统中的农药、抗菌剂和雌激素相互作用的认识。受训人员将研究生物炭改性是否（如果是，如何）影响这些有机化学品的微生物降解率，以及生物炭是否会随着时间的推移影响农药的吸收。这些研究将考虑土壤中生物炭的物理化学特性可能随时间变化的可能性，并将研究这些变化如何影响吸附和微生物降解过程。该研究将为一名博士后、两名博士、两名硕士和五名学士学生提供机会，让他们接受农业和环境部门潜在雇主对技术技能的高需求的综合培训。他们的研究结果将帮助加拿大政府提高预测农药从土壤到水中迁移的准确性。他们的工作还将有助于确定在加拿大作物生产系统以及水和废水处理策略中使用生物炭应用是否有优势。研究结果将发表在国际期刊上，以影响一系列学科科学家的未来工作。

My established research program focuses on pesticides applied in Canadian crop production, and on antimicrobials and estrogens that are introduced to agricultural soils because of applications of livestock manures or human wastes. The pathways by which pesticides, antimicrobials and estrogens distribute and dissipate in the environment are relatively similar and, when transported to surface and ground waters, these compounds decrease the quality of Canadian water resources. The Canadian government uses pesticide fate models in assessing the risks that pesticides pose to water resources. In the calculations used by current models, the sorption of pesticides in soil is assumed to be constant over time. However, in reality, pesticide sorption in soil continues to increase over time (i.e., aged sorption) and so this information needs to be integrated into regulatory assessments. Over the next five years, for selected pesticides, this research will quantify the impact of soil-textures and soil-landscape variability on the values of aged sorption parameters that can then be used by the Canadian government as inputs in order to improve pesticide fate model calculations. Biochars are solid carbon-rich residues derived through the pyrolysis of biomass. It has been proposed that biochars can mitigate the movement of pesticides, antimicrobials and estrogens from agricultural soils to water, and also remove these contaminants during water and wastewater treatment. However, many questions remain and so, through a range of projects, including method development, this research will advance the knowledge of how biochars interact with pesticides, antimicrobials and estrogens in soil and water systems. Trainees will examine whether (and, if so, how) biochar amendments can impact the rate of microbial degradation of these organic chemicals, and also whether biochars can impact pesticide sorption over time. Such studies will take into consideration the possibility that the physicochemical characteristics of biochars in soil may change over time, and will investigate how these changes could impact sorption and microbial degradation processes. The research will provide opportunities for one postdoctoral fellow, two Ph.D., two M.Sc. and five B.Sc. students to receive comprehensive training in technical skills that are in high demand by potential employers within agricultural and environmental sectors. Their research findings will assist the Canadian government in improving the accuracy of the predicted pesticide transport from soil to water. Their work will also help to determine whether there are advantages to using biochar applications in Canadian crop production systems, and in water and wastewater treatment strategies. The research results will be published in international journals to impact the future work of scientists in a range of disciplines.