Master Thesis

Simultaneous quantification of water states, fluxes and bVOCS emissions in agriculture soils

Hai Anh Nguyen (07/2023-01/2024)

Support: Frederic Leuther, Anke Nölscher, Efstathios Diamantopoulos

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by living organisms via biological processes, which are known as biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), are an important group of chemicals that has significant influences on atmospheric chemistry, climate system, as well as the bioactivities of plants and animals. Whereas plant-emitted BVOCs have been widely studied for the past decades, the understanding of soil related BVOCs remains inadequate.  A variety of abiotic and biotic processes taking place beneath the ground makes soil both a sink and a source for BVOCs.

Hypotheses

• BVOCs emission and/or uptake are highly affected by the percent of organic matter in the soil and the water content.
• The dynamics of BVOCs exchange are subject to memory effects, following the hysteretic water content vs matric potential relationship.

Methods

To test the two hypotheses, we conduct transient water drying and wetting experiments, and we quantify simultaneously BVOC sources and sinks, as well as soil water states and fluxes.