Effects of solar radiation on biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and metals in surface waters

Project No.: P503/12/0781

Applicant: Petr Porcal

Financial support: Czech Science Foundation

Duration: 2012 - 2014

The project focuses on important but poorly understood effects of solar radiation on biogeochemical cycling, availability, and toxicity of nutrients and metals in surface waters. The importance of dissolved organic matter (DOM) photo-transformation may increase under the conditions of increasing terrestrial export of DOM, high levels of UV radiation, and anticipated climate changes (temperature, precipitation, cloudiness).

The project is aimed to answer the following important questions: 1) What are the proportions of dissolved inorganic carbon and particulate organic carbon (POC) resulting from DOM photodegradation? 2) How effcient is natural solar radiation in changing speciation of organically-bound phosphorus and nitrogen? 3) What is the ability of POC-metal complexes to bind phosphate? The proposed project is unique, linking the current global changes to water quality and primary productivity of surface waters, commonly used for water supply.