Terrestrial Ecotoxicology- How Biocides of Building Materials Impact Soil Microbial Communities

Dear Colleagues,

Soil ecosystems are exposed to a broad variety of toxic chemicals including biocides and nanoparticles. A major source of such biocide emissions into terrestrial sites are biocides from building materials, such as herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides, especially during the building period. These biocides are added to prevent material colonization and deterioration and are at least partially water soluble in order to be bio-available for targeted micro- and macro-organisms. Leaching biocides and their metabolites into the soil body happens continuously but can be accelerated by manifold events such as intense rainfall or flooding.

Once biocides have entered into the soil body, individual members of the soil’s microbial communities react differently, manifested in the reduction in soil respiration and contribution to soil functions, shifts in the microbial interaction patterns with consequences in the trophic networks, degradation of biocides and their metabolites and many other actions. The knowledge of such microbial reactions is still sparse and research findings from laboratory micro- or mesocosm studies are as equally welcomed as field studies.

Therefore, the focus of this Special Issue is, but not limited to, the terrestrial eco-toxicological consequences of biocide input in soil environments, which may induce changes in the

• diversity of the soil microbial community
• activity and adaption of the soil microbial community
• functioning of the soil microbial community
• immission, distribution and accumulation of biocides in the soil body
• metabolization and degradation patterns of biocides

Prof. Dr. Matthias Noll
Prof. Dr. Stefan Kalkhof
Guest Editors

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