Copper uptake by Elsholtzia splendens and Silene vulgaris and assessment of copper phytoavailability in contaminated soils

Tolerance and metal uptake are two essential characteristics required for phytoextraction of metals from contaminated soils. We compared tolerance and Cu uptake of Elsholtzia splendens (reported previously to be a Cu hyperaccumulator) with Silene vulgaris (the Imsbach population, a well-known Cu-tolerant excluder species), using 30 soils varying widely in total Cu concentration (19-8645 mg kg(-1)). We further investigated the effectiveness of different soil testing methods for predicting plant metal uptake. The results showed that both Elsholtzia splendens and Silene vulgaris were tolerant to Cu, especially Silene vulgaris. However, Elsholtzia splendens did not hyperaccumulate Cu, but behaved as a typical Cu excluder like Silene vulgaris. The concentrations of Cu in both plants correlated more closely with 1 M NH4NO3 extractable Cu, soil solution Cu, or effective Cu concentration determined using DGT, than with soil total Cu, EDTA extractable Cu or free Cu2+ activity. The relationships between soil solution properties and root Cu concentrations were further investigated using multiple regression. The results showed that increasing soil solution pH increased root Cu concentration when free Cu2+ activity was held constant, suggesting a higher phytoavailability of free Cu2+ at a higher pH. Soil solution DOC appeared to play two contrasting roles on the phytoavailability of Cu: (1) reducing Cu availability by complexing Cu; and (2) increasing Cu availability at the same level of free Cu2+ activity by providing a strong buffer for free Cu2+. The results are consistent with the intensity/capacity concept for phytoavailability of metals in soils.     

Leaching of heavy metals from contaminated soils using EDTA

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) extraction of Zn, Cd, Cu and Pb from four contaminated soils was studied using batch and column leaching experiments. In the batch experiment, the heavy metals extracted were virtually all as 1:1 metal-EDTA complexes. The ratios of Zn, Cd, Cu and Pb of the extracted were similar to those in the soils, suggesting that EDTA extracted the four heavy metals with similar efficiency. In contrast, different elution patterns were obtained for Zn, Cd, Cu and Pb in the column leaching experiment using 0.01 M EDTA. Cu was either the most mobile or among the most mobile of the four heavy metals, and its peak concentration corresponded with the arrival of full strength EDTA in the leachate. The mobility of Zn and Cd was usually slightly lower than that of Cu. Pb was the least mobile, and its elution increased after the peaks of Cu and Zn. Sequential fractionations of leached and un-leached soils showed that heavy metals in various operationally defined fractions contributed to the removal by EDTA. Considerable mobilisation of Fe occurred in two of the four soils during EDTA leaching. Decreases in the Fe and Mn oxide fraction of heavy metals after EDTA leaching occurred in both soils, as well as in a third soil that showed little Fe mobilisation. The results suggest that the lability of metals in soil, the kinetics of metal desorption/dissolution and the mode of EDTA addition were the main factors controlling the behaviour of metal leaching with EDTA.     

Community metabolism of adenylates by microheterotrophs from the Los Angeles Harbor and Southern California coastal waters

The natural concentration (S _n) of dissolved total adenylates TA(=AMP+ADP+ATP) in coastal seawater from a depth of 1 m at 5 stations (California, USA) sampled periodically for 1 yr had a mean value ±1 SD of 2.8±1.7 nmol TA1^-1. The specific uptake rates of TA by microheterotrophs at a station inside the Los Angeles Harbor and at a station 1.5 km offshore in the San Pedro Channel were studied by simple uptake and saturation-type kinetic analysis using ³H-AMP as a tracer. Within the harbor, the specific uptake rate (nmol TA 10⁹ cell^-1 h^-1) at S _n ranged 10-fold from 0.028 in December to 0.28 in August. K _t (half-saturation constant) values always exceeded theS _n concentrations in any given month, and were greater in the harbor than in the channel. Generally, over 80% of biological uptake of ³H-AMP was associated with organisms <1.0 m, a size class accounting for about 20% of the total particulate adenylate concentration in the 0.2 to 203 m size fraction. Assuming steady-state conditions for the dissolved adenylate pool, we propose a model in which losses from this pool are balanced by inputs to the pool through inefficient feeding, lysis and decomposition of particulate adenylates.     

Waste minimisation in practice

One of the major hindrances to waste minimisation on a construction site is the difficulty in establishing a methodology and using this methodology to benchmark future construction projects. This paper introduces SMARTWaste, a software tool that has been used to audit, reduce and target waste arisings on a construction site. This tool tries to link the construction process and the waste hierarchy. That is reducing waste on a construction site rather than landfilling it. Three applications of the SMARTWaste software will be discussed using case studies from three different types of construction. An evaluation of these case studies shows that, by implementing a waste minimisation scheme on-site, you can improve material recovery for reuse. Also, by using the waste arisings as a benchmark you can reduce your waste arisings on future sites. Application of SMARTWaste or a similar waste minimisation tool on a wider basis could reduce waste arisings and could result in a built environment that consumed less natural resources and energy, and also produced less pollution and waste. Such a built environment would be environmentally and socially more responsive and responsible.     

Orthophosphate uptake by phytoplankton and bacterioplankton from the Los Angeles Harbor and Southern California coastal waters

Orthophosphate (P) uptake on a seasonal basis in surface waters and in vertical profiles was directly proportional to the standing stocks of phytoplankton and bacterioplankton in the outer Los Angeles Harbor and in southern California coastal waters during 1978–1979. A phytoplankton-enriched size fraction (PEF) which was retained on a 1 m pore-size filter contained 83% of the total chlorophyll a but only 18% of the total bacteria. A bacterioplankton-enriched size fraction (BEF) which passed the 1 m filter but was retained on a 0.2 m filter contained 82% of the total bacteria but only 17% of the total chlorophyll a. PEF and BEF accounted for 91 and 9% of the microbial carbon, respectively. The differential uptake of 10 radiolabeled substrates more fully characterized PEF and BEF. ³³P uptake occurred in both PEF and BEF, accounting for 47 and 53%, respectively, of the total uptake. ³³P uptake by both size fractions was inhibited by low concentrations of 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP), N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) and carbonyl cyanide, m-chlorophenylhydrozone (CCCP). Darkness and low levels of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU) selectively inhibited ³³P uptake by PEF; valinomycin selectively inhibited ³³P uptake by BEF. An experiment measuring ³³P uptake velocity versus P concentration produced sigmoidal saturation kinetics at high levels of exogenous P. Kinetic parameter analyses according to the Hill equation gave a V _max of 7.12 nmol l^–1 h^–1 and aK _t of 0.41 nmol l^–1 for PEF, and a V _max of 5.17 nmol l^–1 h^–1 and aK _t of 112 nmol l^–1 for BEF. Consideration of relative surface areas of phytoplankton and bacterioplankton, their ³³P uptake rates in light and dark, and estimates of the population turnover times emphasizes the potential importance of bacterioplankton in community phosphorus metabolism.     

Egg production in the arrow squid Nototodarus gouldi (Cephalopoda: Ommastrephidae), fast and furious or slow and steady?

The process of reproductive maturation and egg release was examined in the temperate shelf squid Nototodarus gouldi. The energy allocation between somatic and reproductive growth from juvenile to mature adult was investigated throughout the life span to determine the underlying energetic strategy adopted by individuals. The relative weight of the mantle, fin and digestive gland remained unchanged during ovarian development, with no significant correlations found between the mantle length (ML)-gonad residuals and the ML-mantle (r=0.01, P>0.05), ML-fin (r=0.07, P>0.05) and ML-digestive gland (r=0.07, P>0.05) residuals. This suggested that energy was not being diverted away from somatic growth during sexual development, and consequently neither muscle nor digestive gland was being utilised as an energy store. Since squid in all maturity stages contained some food in their stomachs (e.g. 66.7% of mature animals), it is likely that the cost of maturation in this species is largely being met by food intake. The energy investment in reproductive tissues was relatively low (mean gonado-somatic index for mature individuals was 9.29% - 0.40%), indicating that only small amounts of energy were being allocated to reproduction at anyone point in time, which is characteristic of a multiple-spawning strategy. Furthermore, oviduct weight was not correlated with body size (r=0.256, P>0.05), suggesting that eggs are not stored for a single release. In all except one individual, ovary weight was consistently heavier than oviduct weight, suggesting that the ovary is not being depleted of oocytes as mature ova move into the oviducts. Additionally, the ovaries of mature females contained a range of oocyte sizes with discrete peaks, indicating a continued production and development of oocyte cohorts. The presence of some individuals with stretched empty oviducts is further evidence that the reproductive strategy of N. gouldi is slow and steady, with eggs possibly being released in discrete batches over a period of time.     

Arsenic hyperaccumulation by Pteris vittata from arsenic contaminated soils and the effect of liming and phosphate fertilisation

Pot experiments were carried out to investigate the potential of phytoremediation with the arsenic hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata in a range of soils contaminated with As and other heavy metals, and the influence of phosphate and lime additions on As hyperaccumulation by P. vittata. The fern was grown in 5 soils collected from Cornwall (England) containing 67-4550 mg As kg(-1) and different levels of metals. All soils showed a similar distribution pattern of As in different fractions in a sequential extraction, with more than 60% of the total As being associated with the fraction thought to represent amorphous and poorly-crystalline hydrous oxides of Fe and Al. The concentration of As in the fronds ranged from 84 to 3600 mg kg(-1), with 0.9-3.1% of the total soil As being taken up by P. vittata. In one soil which contained 5500 mg Cu kg(-1) and 1242 mg Zn kg(-1), P. vittata suffered from phytotoxicity and accumulated little As (0.002% of total). In a separate experiment, neither phosphate addition (50mg P kg(-1) soil) nor liming (4.6 g CaCO3 kg(-1) soil) was found to affect the As concentration in the fronds of P. vittata, even though phosphate addition increased the As concentration in the soil pore water. Between 4 and 7% of the total soil As was taken up by P. vittata in 4 cuttings in this experiment. The results indicate that P. vittata can hyperaccumulate As from naturally contaminated soils, but may be suitable for phytoremediation only in the moderately contaminated soils.     

Experimental measurements and computer predictions of copper complex formation by soluble soil organic matter

Complexing of metals by organic matter can strongly influence their biological activity in the environment. The extent of copper complex formation by soluble organic matter extracted from an organic soil, a clay, and two sandy loams, was measured under identical conditions using two independent experimental methods. The results in every case fitted equations similar to Langmuir two-surface isotherms, but the values of complexing capacity and complexing strength were not the same for the organic matter from the four soils, and so were unsuitable for use in computer programs intended to predict concentrations of individual copper species in soil solutions. These concentrations can, however, be predicted by an empirical relationship between free and total copper at a constant pH and ionic strength.     

SUMMARY OF MODIFICATIONS OF THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MODULAR,FINITE-DIFFERENCE,GROUND-WATER FLOW MODEL TO READ AND WRITE GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM FILES1

ABSTRACT: The U.S. Geological Survey modular, three-dimensional, finite-difference, ground-water flow model, commonly called MODFLOW, has been modified so that it can read and write files used by a geographic information system (GIS). The modified model program is called MODFLOWARC. The design of MODFLOWARC parallels the design of the ground-water flow model program MODFLOW. The names of the variables, modules, and submodules used to explain the operations of MODFLOWARC were derived from the names used in MODFLOW. During the data input phase, MODFLOWARC reads array control records similar to the original control records of MODFLOW, except an additional variable is added. This additional variable is the name of the computer files containing array data in GIS format. Data output is achieved by setting record/input flags and by supplying a variable that is the name of the directory where the output data will be recorded. The modifications to MODFLOW were minimized so that MODFLOWARC will operate on an existing ground-water flow model without modifying array control records.     

JUVENILE BLUEBACK HERRING (ALOSA AESTIVALIS) SURVIVAL VIA TURBINE AND SPILLWAY1

ABSTRACT: The 48 h survival of emigrating juvenile blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) was estimated at 96 ± 6.7 percent in passage through a Kaplan-type turbine and at 88.3 ± 10.7 percent (90 percent confidence interval) over a spillway (3.7 m high and spillage of 1.2 m³/s) of a low-head hydro darn (8.3 m). These results suggest that diversion of juvenile alosids over spillways may not be assumed to be a totally benign strategy without obtaining site-specific data. A remarkable similarity in survival rates of fish observed through turbine routes in this study and others suggests that these trends may be common. However, due to a lack of sufficient data, such a conclusion cannot be made for survival over spillways.