Bachelorarbeit
Biogenic VOCs emissions from soils
Betreuer: Efstathios Diamantopoulos, Anke Nölscher
Volatile organic components are classified independently of the process underlying their formation. Biological volatile components (BVOCs) are VOCs that are formed as a result of biological processes. The definition of these two groups of substances cannot be clearly distinguished from one another, as some VOCs can be produced both organically and inorganically. VOCs can also be formed from BVOCs through various reactions. For example, methane formed organically can be broken down by reacting with a hydroxyl radical in water and a methyl residue. This methyl residue would have been formed inorganically, i.e. a volatile organic component. This would not have been possible without the prior formation of methane organically. Many papers on the subject of BVOCs deal with emissions from plants. Other publications, such as Tang et al. (2019) directly look at the soil habitat and the biological processes taking place there and the organisms or parts of them involved. Other publications, such as Ruiz et al. (1998) also deal with the abiotic processes of BVOCs in soils. These interactions are based on, for example, the adsorption of gases on soil particles and the dissolution of the gases in water. This approach is also present in other papers, but represents a minority compared to the investigation of biological processes for the origin of VOCs. This work will investigate biological and abiotic VOC sources and sinks. This should lead to a better understanding of the processes in native soils and in the overlying soil layer of the atmosphere.