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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Davis, California » Crops Pathology and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #380567
Research Project: Resilient, Sustainable Production Strategies for Low-Input Environments

Location: Crops Pathology and Genetics Research

Title: Microbial response to copper oxide nanoparticles in soils is controlled by land use rather than copper fate

Author
item Rippner, Devin
item MARGENOT, ANDREW - University Of Illinois
item FAKRA, SIRINE - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
item AGUILERA, L. ANDREA - University Of California, Davis
item LI, CHONGYANG - University Of California, Davis
item SOHNG, JAEEUN - University Of California, Davis
item DYNARSKI, KATHERINE - University Of California, Davis
item WATERHOUSE, HANNAH - University Of California, Davis
item MCELROY, NATALIE - University Of California, Davis
item WADE, JORDAN - University Of Illinois
item HIND, SARAH - University Of Illinois
item GREEN, PETER - University Of California, Davis
item PEAK, DEREK - University Of Saskatchewan
item McElrone, Andrew
item CHEN, NING - University Of Saskatchewan
item FENG, RENFEI - University Of Saskatchewan
item SCOW, KATE - University Of California, Davis
item PARIKH, SANJAI - University Of California, Davis

Submitted to: Environmental Science: Nano
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/27/2021
Publication Date: 11/5/2021
Citation: Rippner, D.A., Margenot, A.J., Fakra, S.C., Aguilera, L., Li, C., Sohng, J., Dynarski, K.A., Waterhouse, H., McElroy, N., Wade, J., Hind, S.R., Green, P.G., Peak, D., McElrone, A.J., Chen, N., Feng, R., Scow, K.M., Parikh, S.J. 2021. Microbial response to copper oxide nanoparticles in soils is controlled by land use rather than copper fate. Environmental Science: Nano. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1en00656h.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D1EN00656H

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Copper (Cu) products, including copper oxide nanoparticles (nCuO), are critically important as fungicides and algaecides. The spray application, and subsequent aerosol drift, of Cu products on to crops, especially nCuO, may impact nutrient cycling in both managed and unmanaged systems. To evaluate the influence of land use on soil microbial community response to nCuO treatment, alluvial soils (Mollic Haploxeralfs and Mollic Xerofluvents) formed from the same parent material and differing management for a 23-year period (conventional, organic, grassland, and forest) were collected and treated with 0, 10, and 1000 mg Cu kg-1 soil and incubated for 70 days. Copper forms were CuCl2, 16 nm CuO (16nCuO), 42 nm CuO (42nCuO), and 430 nm CuO (bCuO). Copper availability increased immediately after Cu addition, following the order of CuCl2>16nCuO>42nCuO >bCuO. After 70 days, Cu availability diminished and was lowest after treatment with bCuO. The relatively high availability of Cu after treatment with nano-sized CuO was due to the dissolution of CuO particles, quantified by micro-x-ray fluorescence mapping, micro-x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and visualized bulk-x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Respiration, an indicator of microbial activity was suppressed by copper additions, especially CuCl2. Copper impacts on microbial community size, determined by phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA), was largely constrained by management. In agricultural soils, microbial community size was unaltered by the form of Cu. In contrast, microbial community size in wild soils decreased when exposed to CuCl2 and 42nCuO. These results suggest that management history plays a relatively weak role in Cu fate, but strongly modulates microbial response to Cu exposure.