Composition characteristics and metal binding behavior of macrophyte-derived DOM (MDOM) under microbial combined photodegradation: A state closer to actual macrophytic lakes

In actual lakes, the "unstable components" of macrophyte-derived DOM (MDOM) are always degraded and cannot exist abidingly, but the environmental impact brought by it is ignored. In this study, MDOM from Potamogeton crispus was extracted to carry out microbial combined photodegradation (M-Photodegradation) and fluorescence titration experiments. Then the traits and metal binding reaction of MDOM under M-Photodegradation were analysed and compared with the features of lake-derived DOM (LDOM) from point monitoring of Dongping Lake through EEM-PARAFAC, 2D-SF-COS, and 2D-FTIR-COS. The results showed that the features of MDOM after M-Photodegradation were closer to those of LDOM. The degradation amplitudes were 93.53% ± 0.53% for C4 in microbial degradation and 78.31% ± 0.74% for C3 in photodegradation. Correspondingly, both were hardly detected in LDOM. Protein-like substances and aliphatic C–OH were preferentially selected by Cu2+, while humic-like matter and phenolic hydroxyl O–H responded faster to Pb2+. Although the binding sequences remained unchanged after M-Photodegradation, the LogKCu and LogKPb of components decreased overall, indicating increased environmental risks. This study proves that the refractory MDOM retained after degradation was more consistent with the actual state of macrophytic lakes and provides more information for the treatment of heavy metal pollution in lakes.