Pharmaceuticals and personal care products found in the Great Lakes above concentrations of environmental concern

The monitoring of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) has focused on the distribution in rivers and small lakes, but data regarding their occurrence and effects in large lake systems, such as the Great Lakes, are sparse. Wastewater treatment processes have not been optimized to remove influent PPCPs and are a major source of PPCPs in the environment. Furthermore, PPCPs are not currently regulated in wastewater effluent. In this experiment we evaluated the concentration, and corresponding risk, of PPCPs from a wastewater effluent source at varying distances in Lake Michigan. Fifty-four PPCPs and hormones were assessed on six different dates over a two-year period from surface water and sediment samples up to 3.2 km from a wastewater treatment plant and at two sites within a harbor. Thirty-two PPCPs were detected in Lake Michigan and 30 were detected in the sediment, with numerous PPCPs being detected up to 3.2 km away from the shoreline. The most frequently detected PPCPs in Lake Michigan were metformin, caffeine, sulfamethoxazole, and triclosan. To determine the ecological risk, the maximum measured environmental concentrations were compared to the predicted no-effect concentration and 14 PPCPs were found to be of medium or high ecological risk. The environmental risk of PPCPs in large lake systems, such as the Great Lakes, has been questioned due to high dilution; however, the concentrations found in this study, and their corresponding risk quotient, indicate a significant threat by PPCPs to the health of the Great Lakes, particularly near shore organisms.     

Changes in biomass activity and characteristics of activated sludge exposed to low ozone dose

In this paper, the response mechanism of activated sludge exposed to low-dose ozone at less than 20 mg O₃ g⁻¹ total suspended solids (TSS) was studied by analyzing the changes in sludge activity and the evolution of C, N, P and metals from sludge following ozonation. The intracellular ATP concentration was not affected at less than 5 mg O₃ g⁻¹ TSS and thereafter decreased rapidly to around 60% when the ozone dose increased to 20 mg O₃ g⁻¹ TSS. Similarly, the efficiency of sludge solubilization initially changed a little and then increased rapidly to around 30% at an ozone dose of 20 mg O₃ g⁻¹ TSS. However, the activities of superoxide dismutase and protease decreased immediately upon exposure to ozone. These findings indicate that ozone firstly destroys the floc, leading to the disruption of the compact aggregates, which does not affect cells viability but induces a decrease in enzyme activities. Ozone then attacks the bacterial cells of the sludge, causing a decrease in cells viability. During ozonation, the content of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in the sludge matrix decreased, while the content of these elements in the micro-solids and supernatant gradually increased. Most of the released metals from the sludge matrix were found in the micro-solids.     

Influence of organic waste and residue mud additions on chemical,physical and microbial properties of bauxite residue sand

Background, aim and scope  

In an alumina refinery, bauxite ore is treated with sodium hydroxide at high temperatures and pressures and for every tonne of alumina produced, about 2 tonnes of alkaline, saline bauxite processing waste is also produced. At Alcoa, a dry stacking system of disposal is used, and it is the sand fraction of the processing waste that is rehabilitated. There is little information available regarding the most appropriate amendments to add to the processing sand to aid in revegetation. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the addition of organic wastes (biosolids and poultry manure), in the presence or absence of added residue mud, would affect the properties of the residue sand and its suitability for revegetation.     

Impact of gold mining associated with mercury contamination in soil,biota sediments and tailings in Kenya

This work considered the environmental impact of artisanal mining gold activity in the Migori–Transmara area (Kenya). From artisanal gold mining, mercury is released to the environment, thus contributing to degradation of soil and water bodies. High mercury contents have been quantified in soil (140 μg kg^?1), sediment (430 μg kg^?1) and tailings (8,900 μg kg^?1), as expected. The results reveal that the mechanism for transporting mercury to the terrestrial ecosystem is associated with wet and dry depositions. Lichens and mosses, used as bioindicators of pollution, are related to the proximity to mining areas. The further the distance from mining areas, the lower the mercury levels. This study also provides risk maps to evaluate potential negative repercussions. We conclude that the Migori–Transmara region can be considered a strongly polluted area with high mercury contents. The technology used to extract gold throughout amalgamation processes causes a high degree of mercury pollution around this gold mining area. Thus, alternative gold extraction methods should be considered to reduce mercury levels that can be released to the environment.     

A Yin‐Yang approach to education policy regarding health and the environment: early‐careerists' image of the future and priority programmes

Since the inception of sustainable development (SD), there has been a somewhat ignored contradiction between paradigms that are ecosystem‐based and paradigms that are human‐based or purely economic. We suggest that this contradiction can be unified through a balance of the two. The Chinese Yin‐Yang philosophy is applied as a tool or approach to seeking balance between these ecocentric and anthropocentric paradigms. Priority education policy design for the merging of ecology and health are projected through an Ecohealth lens in response to increasing SD challenges and the intention of the international Ecohealth organization to contribute to SD goals. Meeting SD goals along the nexus of health and environment is further considered through early‐careerist cultural assessments and projections. The groups considered for their professional image of the future are: members of the Ecohealth Association Student Section and Chinese early‐careerists participating in a related conference. In response to SD goals, a problem‐based learning design is suggested as an education policy priority. Rather than approaching SD as a boolean concept, for example, by either focusing on ecosystem sustainability or economic development, we suggest education policy for programmes and curriculums that will help emerging professionals balance these paradigms, so as to best address national and global challenges.     

Combination of Biological and Habitat Indices for Assessment of Idaho Streams

States and tribes are encouraged to use multiple biological assemblages in assessment of water bodies. An assessment index for each assemblage provides information on aspects of the aquatic resource that may be unique in terms of stressor sensitivity, stressor type, or ecological scale. However, assessment results relative to impairment thresholds can disagree among indices for an individual water body, leading to uncertain overall water‐body assessments. We explored options for combining stream indices for macroinvertebrates, fish, and habitat in ways that would yield the most consistent and sensitive results relative to established disturbance categories. Methods varied in the scoring or rating scales used to standardize each index value, the thresholds used to define impairment of aquatic life uses, and the ways of synthesizing multiple indices. The index compositing method that scores each index on a continuous scale and averages the scores after standardizing had superior accuracy, sensitivity, and precision. In addition, using the 25th quantile of reference sites instead of the 10th quantile resulted in a more balanced error rate among reference and degraded site categories.     

Horizontal movement of ocean sunfish, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mola mola</Emphasis>, in the northwest Atlantic

Data were retrieved from 25 ocean sunfish (Mola mola) that were tagged with pop-up satellite archival tags in the southern Gulf of Maine (n = 6), off Nantucket Island (n = 17), and off the coast of Georgia (n = 2) between September 2005 and March 2008. Tags remained attached from 7 to 242 days, with a mean attachment period of (X ± SD) 107.2 ± 80.6 days. Ocean sunfish tagged in the Gulf of Maine and southern New England left those areas in the late summer and early autumn and moved south along the continental shelf break. Fish traveled as far south as the Bahamas and the Gulf of Mexico. By moving south, sunfish experienced similar mean sea surface temperatures throughout the tagging period. The maximum straight-line distance traveled by a tagged Mola mola was 2,520 km in 130 days. Two tagged ocean sunfish entered the Gulf of Mexico, one in the December and one in July. Movements were associated with frontal features created by the Gulf Stream and fish moved farther offshore in 2007 when the Gulf Stream was deflected from the shelf break.     

The role of habitat disturbance and recovery in metapopulation persistence

Classical metapopulation theory assumes a static landscape. However, empirical evidence indicates many metapopulations are driven by habitat succession and disturbance. We develop a stochastic metapopulation model, incorporating habitat disturbance and recovery, coupled with patch colonization and extinction, to investigate the effect of habitat dynamics on persistence. We discover that habitat dynamics play a fundamental role in metapopulation dynamics. The mean number of suitable habitat patches is not adequate for characterizing the dynamics of the metapopulation. For a fixed mean number of suitable patches, we discover that the details of how disturbance affects patches and how patches recover influences metapopulation dynamics in a fundamental way. Moreover, metapopulation persistence is dependent not only on the average lifetime of a patch, but also on the variance in patch lifetime and the synchrony in patch dynamics that results from disturbance. Finally, there is an interaction between the habitat and metapopulation dynamics, for instance declining metapopulations react differently to habitat dynamics than expanding metapopulations. We close, emphasizing the importance of using performance measures appropriate to stochastic systems when evaluating their behavior, such as the probability distribution of the state of the metapopulation, conditional on it being extant (i.e., the quasistationary distribution).