Aqueous PFOS exposure decouples gaseous carbon loss from mineral-associated carbon retention in controlled wetland-interface mesocosms.

Aqueous PFOS exposure decouples gaseous carbon loss from mineral-associated carbon retention in wetland mesocosms.

• Why it matters: Understanding how contaminants like PFOS affect wetland carbon processes is crucial for predicting greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage under pollution stress.
• What they did: Researchers used a controlled rhizobox mesocosm with planted and unplanted treatments across PFOS concentrations (0, 10, 100, 1000 μg L -1 ), combining flux measurements, 13 CO 2 tracing, soil fractionation, and metagenomic profiling to assess responses.
• The result: PFOS caused dose-dependent responses: low-to-medium levels stimulated root CO 2 fluxes, while high levels suppressed respiration and shifted soil organic carbon priming negatively; mineral-associated carbon retention persisted despite weakened biological processing, indicating decoupling of gaseous loss and carbon retention.