Pesticides in Soils

M. Sonia Rodriguez-Cruz holds a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry (2002) from the University of Salamanca (Spain), and she is currently a Research Scientist at the Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Salamanca (IRNASA-CSIC), Salamanca (Spain), leading the CSIC Research Group on Contamination of Soil and Water: Occurrence, Prevention and/or Remediation. Her main research focuses on the study of processes that control the fate of pesticides in the soil environment (sorption-desorption, leaching, degradation, dissipation and persistence), with special interest in the dissipation of pesticides in soils amended with organic wastes and their potential effects on the water environment and soil microbial communities. She has also studied the development of physicochemical methods to prevent soil and water contamination by pesticides by immobilization in soils amended with modified inorganic materials or low-cost biomaterials as well as studies on the occurrence of pesticides and organic contaminants and their metabolites in soils and water.

M. Jesús Sánchez-Martín holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Salamanca (1978), and she is currently a Professor at the Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Salamanca (IRNASA-CSIC), Salamanca (Spain). Her main research interests focus on the dynamic of pesticides in soils, namely on the adsorption capacity of pesticides by soils and their components, the groundwater contamination by pesticides in agricultural areas, and the use of surfactants or low-cost organic wastes for the recovery of soils contaminated by pesticides or for the prevention of this contamination. She has been recently interested on agricultural practices involving the simultaneous application of organic amendments and pesticides, the effect in the dissipation of pesticides and the simulation of the transport of these compounds in amended soils. The ultimate goal of her research is to advance soil management strategies in order to maintain its functionality and biodiversity, and to achieve sustainable food production in soils susceptible to degradation.