Variations in soil conditions can influence the speciation and hence availability of copper. We have followed the evolution of water-extractability of both native and added copper in a clay-loam topsoil over 5 months. The effects of addition of organic amendments, either leaf compost or lucerne straw, were studied. Soils were incubated under controlled conditions either moist and well-aerated, or flooded. Other chemical properties were monitored (pH, redox potential, water-extractable organic carbon, iron and manganese). Freshly added Cu was initially more soluble than native Cu, but the contrast decreased with time. Solubility was greater in flooded soils than in aerated samples. Solubility also increased with increasing pH, contrary to often-reported trends. Although the extractability of added Cu increased with increasing dissolved organic carbon, as expected from the formation of complexes in solution, that of native soil Cu did not. Large, short-lived flushes of Cu were associated with flushes of dissolved organic matter, particularly from decomposition of lucerne straw, but these relations were not always statistically significant when the entire data set was considered. The total amount of dissolved organic carbon is not a sufficiently sensitive probe to assess the extent to which Cu is solubilized by the formation of complexes in soil solution. The changing composition of soil and soil solution during incubation led to 10-fold differences in the proportion of Cu that was water-extractable. Single measurements of extractability can therefore never give an accurate estimation of mobility and availability of copper in soil.Evolution du cuivre de sol extractible a`l'eau en fonction des apports en matie`re organique et de l'ae´ration Re´sumeD es variations des proprie´te´s des sols peuvent influer sur la spe´ciation et donc la disponibilite´du cuivre dans le sol. Nous avons suivi l'e´volution de l'extractabilite´du cuivre natif et du cuivre ajoute´dans un sol argilo-limoneux pendant cinq mois. Les effets d'amendements organiques, compost de litie`re ou paille de luzerne, ont e´te´e´tudie´s. Les sols e´taient incube´s sous des conditions controˆle´es, soit humide et bien ae´re´s, soit inonde´s. D'autres parame`tres chimiques (pH, potentiel redox, extractabilite´du carbone organique, du fer et du mangane`se) ont e´te´suivis. Le cuivre ajoute´e´tait initialement plus soluble que le cuivre natif, mais les diffe´rences ont diminue´au cours du temps. La solubilite´a e´te´plus importante dans les syste`mes inonde´s que dans les syste`mes ae´re´s. La solubilite´a diminue´avec le pH, contrairement a`de nombreuses autres observations. L'extractabilite´du Cu ajoute´a e´te´bien corre´le´e avec le carbone organique dissout, en accord avec la formation de complexes en solution, mais ce n'a pas e´te´le cas du Cu natif. Des pics importants du cuivre soluble de courte dure´e ont e´te´associe´s avec des pics de carbone organique dissout, surtout originaire de la de´composition de la paille de luzerne, mais ces relations n'e´tai...