Mercury Pollution in the Surface Environment of a Volcanic Area

The mercury content has been determined in samples of fumarolic gases, phreatic waters, soil and vegetation collected at Vulcano, Aeolian Islands, Italy. Volcanic activity is demonstrated as a source of natural mercury pollution whose extent has been evaluated here by studying the contribution of different components of the surface environment. The possible influences for living organisms are examined.     

Rotavirus Occurrence in Shellfish with Low Levels of E. coli

The purpose of this study was to evaluate “in field” the accumulation of virus in shellfish and compare it with the concentration of bacterial indicators. Individuals of Mytilus galloprovincialis were placed in two sampling station located in a contaminated coastal bay and in one control station located one kilometer offshore. The presence of Rotavirus and E. coli was assessed weekly both in seawater and in shellfish samples. The Rotavirus genome was detected in water, preliminarily concentrated by tangential flow ultrafiltration method, and in hepatopancreas of mussels by Real-Time PCR. E. coli was enumerated in water matrices by a filtering method and in mussels by the MPN method. Rotaviruses were not recorded in seawater, while in mussels they were detected since third week after placement. E. coli in mussels were always below the limits set in the Regulation (EC) 854/2004. This study suggests the need for a viral indicator to insure the safety for consumption of shellfish.     

Sociological survey in a municipality with a high level separate collection programme in an area of historic unpopularity

Behaviours, opinions and knowledge of citizens on MSW and separate collection were investigated in the city of Mercato San Severino (about 22,000 people), in the Campania region of Southern Italy that is an area suffering from a serious solid waste emergency that has lasted over 17 years due to the absence of treatment facilities. The image of heaps of rubbish in the streets of Naples and other nearby cities is only one side of the coin. Mercato San Severino has adopted an effective kerbside collection system since 2001 and a pay-as-you-throw program during 2005, guaranteeing more than the minimum level of recycling required by the Italian legislation. Structured questionnaires were administered to a sample of 500 people in 2010. Chi-square tests of independence were applied to state whether the differences were statistically significant (5%). About 90% of the sample stated that the success of the separate collection program was due to either the citizens and local authority or only the local authority, highlighting the leading role of the local authority and confirming that trust is the key to any social program success. The registered level of knowledge was better than that of nearby university students and citizens. The higher the education level, the greater the level of knowledge was.     

Effects of nanoparticles in species of aquaculture interest

Recently, it was observed that there is an increasing application of nanoparticles (NPs) in aquaculture. Manufacturers are trying to use nano-based tools to remove the barriers about waterborne food, growth, reproduction, and culturing of species, their health, and water treatment in order to increase aquaculture production rates, being the safe-by-design approach still unapplied. We reviewed the applications of NPs in aquaculture evidencing that the way NPs are applied can be very different: some are direclty added to feed, other to water media or in aquaculture facilities. Traditional toxicity data cannot be easily used to infer on aquaculture mainly considering short-term exposure scenarios, underestimating the potential exposure of aquacultured species. The main outputs are (i) biological models are not recurrent, and in the case, testing protocols are frequently different; (ii) most data derived from toxicity studies are not specifically designed on aquaculture needs, thus contact time, exposure concentrations, and other ancillary conditions do not meet the required standard for aquaculture; (iii) short-term exposure periods are investigated mainly on species of indirect aquaculture interest, while shrimp and fish as final consumers in aquaculture plants are underinvestigated (scarce or unknown data on trophic chain transfer of NPs): little information is available about the amount of NPs accumulated within marketed organisms; (iv) how NPs present in the packaging of aquacultured products can affect their quality remained substantially unexplored. NPs in aquaculture are a challenging topic that must be developed in the near future to assure human health and environmental safety.

Open image in new window

Graphical abstract ?

     

The trace element content of top-soil and wild edible mushroom samples collected in Tuscany, Italy

The amount of the trace elements As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Li, Mn, Ni, Pb, Rb, Se, Sr, and Zn was measured in top soils and edible mushrooms, Boletus edulis, Macrolepiota procera, collected at five distinct green microhabitats inside the Lucca province, North-Central Italy (years 2008–2009). Results showed a top soil element content within the Italian statutory limits. Concerning the amount of mushroom elements, we observed significant species-differences obtaining higher levels of Ni, Rb, and Se in B. edulis or As, Pb, Cu in M. procera. Bioaccumulation factors (BCFs: element in mushroom/element in soil) resulted species-dependent and element-selective: in particular, B. edulis preferentially accumulated Se (BCFs varying from 14 to 153), while M. procera mainly concentrated Cu (BCFs varying from 5 to 15). As well, both species displayed between-site BCF differences. By a multivariate principal component approach, cluster analysis (CA), we could resolve two main clusters of soil element composition, corresponding to the most ecologically divergent sites. Besides, CA showed no cluster relating to element contents of B. edulis at the different collection sites, while a separation in groups was found for M. procera composition with respect to harvesting locations, suggesting uptake systems, in this saprotrophic species, sensitive to microhabitat. Regarding consumer safety, Cd, Hg, Pb levels resulted sometime relevant in present samples, never reaching values from current literature on mushrooms collected in urban-polluted areas. Our findings encourage a deeper assessment of the molecular mechanisms of metal intake by edible mushrooms, encompassing genetic biochemical and geo-ecological variables, with particular awareness to element bioavailability in soils and fungi.     

Influence of pH,EDTA/Fe(II) ratio,and microbial culture on Fe(II)-mediated autotrophic denitrification

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Fe(II)-mediated autotrophic denitrification with four different microbial cultures under different pH and EDTA/Fe(II) conditions was investigated in...