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Bromide is a frequently used conservative tracer in soil leaching studies, including studies on contaminant leaching from arable topsoils. However, bromide often does not behave conservatively. Biogeochemists have known for many years that in natural soils, bromide is converted into organic bromine in a process known as bromination. However, bromination is seldom used as an explanation of non‐conservative leaching behavior by soil hydrologists. In a controlled small‐scale lysimeter study with arable soil we demonstrate such nonconservative behavior of bromide in opposition to control columns with fine gravel/coarse sand. By combining a literature review with the lysimeter study, we demonstrate the potential importance of bromination in topsoil and that bromination cannot be ignored, when interpreting bromide tracer experiments in arable soils. We also highlight the need for further studies on the processes of bromination and remineralization, to be able to account for these when conducting bromide leaching assessments. Core Ideas: Bromide is frequently used as tracer but often does not behave conservatively in soil.By a combined literature review and lysimeter study, we demonstrate the potential importance of bromination in soil.It is clear that bromination cannot be ignored, when interpreting bromide tracer experiments in arable soils.Studies are needed to account for the processes of bromination and remineralization in topsoil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated the establishment of natural bacterial degraders in a sand filter treating groundwater contaminated with the phenoxypropionate herbicides (RS)-2-(4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy)propanoic acid (MCPP) and (RS)-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)propanoic acid (DCPP) and the associated impurity/catabolite 4-chlorophenoxypropanoic acid (4-CPP). A pilot facility was set up in a contaminated landfill site. Anaerobic groundwater was pumped up and passed through an aeration basin and subsequently through a rapid sand filter, which is characterized by a short residence time of the water in the filter. For 3 months, the degradation of DCPP, MCPP, and 4-CPP in the sand filter increased to 15 to 30% of the inlet concentration. A significant selection for natural bacterial herbicide degraders also occurred in the sand filter. Using a most-probable-number (MPN) method, we found a steady increase in the number of culturable phenoxypropionate degraders, reaching approximately 5 × 10(5) degraders per g sand by the end of the study. Using a quantitative PCR targeting the two phenoxypropionate degradation genes, rdpA and sdpA, encoding stereospecific dioxygenases, a parallel increase was observed, but with the gene copy numbers being about 2 to 3 log units higher than the MPN. In general, the sdpA gene was more abundant than the rdpA gene, and the establishment of a significant population of bacteria harboring sdpA occurred faster than the establishment of an rdpA gene-carrying population. The identities of the specific herbicide degraders in the sand filter were assessed by Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA genes from sand filter samples and from selected MPN plate wells. We propose a list of potential degrader bacteria involved in herbicide degradation, including representatives belonging to the Comamonadaceae and Sphingomonadales., (Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.)