Understanding the transport and transformation of micropollutants from both toxic and diffuse sources presents a significant challenge in the 21st century, becoming crucial for the preservation of soil and water resources. Micropollutant fluxes, both surface and subsurface, can be intercepted and transformed in transitional reactive zones, such as wetlands and the interface between groundwater and surface water, before reaching downstream ecosystems. These reactive zones act as "biogeochemical hotspots," featuring dynamic interfaces among water, soil/sediment, and microorganisms. These zones exhibit complex combinations of electron acceptors and donors, which reflect microbial diversity and biogeochemical activity.
Key research questions in this field include: What are the hydrological and biogeochemical dynamics of these hotspots concerning pollutant transport and microbial transformation? What are the taxonomic and functional diversity, physiology, and metabolic roles of microorganisms involved in pollutant degradation? How do microorganisms respond to pollution regimes and hydro-biogeochemical fluctuations, and how do these responses influence key ecosystem services, such as water quality improvement, flood mitigation, and biodiversity enhancement? My research focuses on elucidating the microbial processes underlying pollutant transformation in agricultural systems, aquifers, and wetlands.
| Since 2024 | Associate Editor Science of the Total Environment (STOTEN, IF 8.2) |
| Since 2021 | Director of the Research Initiative in Sustainability and the Environment (RISE/FERED) (https://fered.unistra.fr/) |
| Since 2019 | Research Professor CNRS (DR) |
| 2013 | Habilitation (HDR): Université de Strasbourg, France |
| Since 2009 | Research scientist: National Centre for Scientific Research – CNRS, France (LHyGeS) |
| 2008-2009 | Post-doc: Laboratory of Hydrology and Geochemistry of Strasbourg (LHyGeS), UdS /ENGEES, CNRS ; Strasbourg, France |
| 2005-2008 | Ph.D. thesis in Isotope Biogeochemistry: Department of Isotope Biogeochemistry of the Hemholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany (http://www.ufz.de). PhD Fellowships within Marie Curie ITN programme. |
| 2003-2005 | Master of advanced studies in Hydrology and Water Resources Management : Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (EPFL), (ETHZ) and the Centre of Hydrogeology of the University of Neuchâtel (CHYN). Master thesis at IIT Chenai (India). |
| 1998-2003 | Master in Biology (spec. Microbial ecology): University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland) |
(full list is provided below as pdf)
A) Peer-reviewed articles (ISI) (>100; orcid.org/0000-0002-7054-4666), here are the recent (last 4 years) and main review articles :
2024
2023
Junginger T., Payraudeau S., Imfeld G. (2023). Emissions of the Urban Biocide Terbutryn from Facades: The Contribution of Transformation Products. Environmental Science & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c08192
Prieto-Espinoza M., Di Chiara R., Muller E.E.L., Vuilleumier S., Imfeld G., Weill S. (2023). Combining multi-phase flow and pathway-specific reactive transport modeling to investigate the impact of water table fluctuations on dichloromethane biodegradation. Advances in Water Resources. 104519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2023.104519
Imfeld G., Payraudeau S., Sauvage S., Macary F., Chaumont C., et al. (2023). Quel est le rôle des retenues collinaires pour limiter les flux de pesticides dans le paysage agricole ?. Sciences Eaux & Territoires, 43, pp.49-56. ⟨10.20870/Revue-SET.2023.43.7792⟩
Linke, F., Edun, O., Junginger, T., Payraudeau S., Preusser F., Imfeld G., Lange J. (2023) Biocides in Soils of Urban Stormwater Infiltration Systems—Indications of Inputs from Point and Non-point Sources. Water Air Soil Pollut 234, 586. doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06613-0
Gilevska T., Payraudeau S., Imfeld G. (2023). Evaluating pesticide degradation in artificial wetlands with compound-specific isotope analysis: A case study with the fungicide dimethomorph. Science of the Total Environment. 165767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165767
Imfeld G., Guyot B., Wiegert C., Payraudeau S. (2023). Soil management drives copper and zinc export in runoff from vineyard plots. Water Air Soil Pollut. 234:357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06352-2
Saaidi P.-L., Grünberger O., Samouelian A, Le Roux Y., Richard A., Devault D.A., Feidt C., Benoit P., Evrard O., Imfeld G., Mouvet C., Voltz M. (2023). Is a dissipation half-life of 5 years for chlordecone in soils of the French West Indies relevant? Environmental Pollution, 324 121283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121283
Masbou J., Payraudeau S., Guyot B., Imfeld G. (2023). Dimethomorph degradation in vineyards examined by isomeric and isotopic fractionation. Chemosphere 313, 137341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.137341
Bahi A., Sauvage S., Payraudeau S., Imfeld G., Sánchez-Pérez J-M., Chaumet B., Tournebize J. (2023). Process formulations and controlling factors of pesticide dissipation in artificial ponds: A critical review. Ecological Engineering 186, 106820. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2022.106820
2022
Chaignaud P., Gruffaz C., Borreca A., Fouteau S., Kuhn L., Masbou J., Rouy Z., Hammann P., Imfeld G., Roche D., Vuilleumier S. (2022). A Methylotrophic Bacterium Growing with the Antidiabetic Drug Metformin as Its Sole Carbon, Nitrogen and Energy Source. Microorganisms 10 (11), 2302. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10112302
Gilevska T., Wiegert C., Droz B., Junginger T., Prieto-Espinoza M., Borreca A., Imfeld G. (2022). Simple extraction methods for pesticide compound-specific isotope analysis from environmental samples. MethodsX 9, 101880. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2022.101880
Höhener P., Guers D., Malleret L., Boukaroum O., Martin-Laurent F., Masbou J., Payraudeau S., Imfeld G. (2022). Multi-elemental compound-specific isotope analysis of pesticides for source identification and monitoring of degradation in soil: a review. Environmental Chemistry Letter. doi.org/10.1007/s10311-022-01489-8
Gilevska T., Masbou J., Baumelin B., Chaumet B., Chaumont C., Payraudeau S., Tounebize J., Probst A., Probst J.-L., Imfeld G. (2022). Do pesticides degrade in surface water receiving runoff from agricultural catchments? Combining passive samplers (POCIS) and compound-specific isotope analysis. 156735
Junginger T., Payraudeau S., Imfeld G. (2022) Transformation and stable isotope fractionation of the urban biocide terbutryn during biodegradation, photodegradation and abiotic hydrolysis. Chemosphere, 135329.
2021
2020
Reviews and books
