Glyphosate and Its Degradation Product AMPA Occur Frequently and Widely in U.S. Soils,Surface Water,Groundwater, and Precipitation

Glyphosate use in the United States increased from less than 5,000 to more than 80,000 metric tons/yr between 1987 and 2007. Glyphosate is popular due to its ease of use on soybean, cotton, and corn crops that are genetically modified to tolerate it, utility in no‐till farming practices, utility in urban areas, and the perception that it has low toxicity and little mobility in the environment. This compilation is the largest and most comprehensive assessment of the environmental occurrence of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in the United States conducted to date, summarizing the results of 3,732 water and sediment and 1,018 quality assurance samples collected between 2001 and 2010 from 38 states. Results indicate that glyphosate and AMPA are usually detected together, mobile, and occur widely in the environment. Glyphosate was detected without AMPA in only 2.3% of samples, whereas AMPA was detected without glyphosate in 17.9% of samples. Glyphosate and AMPA were detected frequently in soils and sediment, ditches and drains, precipitation, rivers, and streams; and less frequently in lakes, ponds, and wetlands; soil water; and groundwater. Concentrations of glyphosate were below the levels of concern for humans or wildlife; however, pesticides are often detected in mixtures. Ecosystem effects of chronic low‐level exposures to pesticide mixtures are uncertain. The environmental health risk of low‐level detections of glyphosate, AMPA, and associated adjuvants and mixtures remain to be determined.     

The imperiled fish fauna in the Nicaragua Canal zone

Large‐scale infrastructure projects commonly have large effects on the environment. The planned construction of the Nicaragua Canal will irreversibly alter the aquatic environment of Nicaragua in many ways. Two distinct drainage basins (San Juan and Punta Gorda) will be connected and numerous ecosystems will be altered. Considering the project's far‐reaching environmental effects, too few studies on biodiversity have been performed to date. This limits provision of robust environmental impact assessments. We explored the geographic distribution of taxonomic and genetic diversity of freshwater fish species (Poecilia spp., Amatitlania siquia, Hypsophrys nematopus, Brycon guatemalensis, and Roeboides bouchellei) across the Nicaragua Canal zone. We collected population samples in affected areas (San Juan, Punta Gorda, and Escondido drainage basins), investigated species composition of 2 drainage basins and performed genetic analyses (genetic diversity, analysis of molecular variance) based on mitochondrial cytb. Freshwater fish faunas differed substantially between drainage basins (Jaccard similarity = 0.33). Most populations from distinct drainage basins were genetically differentiated. Removing the geographic barrier between these basins will promote biotic homogenization and the loss of unique genetic diversity. We found species in areas where they were not known to exist, including an undescribed, highly distinct clade of live bearing fish (Poecilia). Our results indicate that the Nicaragua Canal likely will have strong impacts on Nicaragua's freshwater biodiversity. However, knowledge about the extent of these impacts is lacking, which highlights the need for more thorough investigations before the environment is altered irreversibly.     

Concentrations of dissolved herbicides and pharmaceuticals in a small river in Luxembourg

Urban and agricultural areas affect the hydraulic patterns as well as the water quality of receiving drainage systems, especially of catchments smaller than 50 km(2). Urban runoff is prone to contamination due to pollutants like pesticides or pharmaceuticals. Agricultural areas are possible sources of nutrient and herbicide contamination for receiving water bodies. The pollution is derived from leaching by subsurface flow, as well as wash-off and erosion caused by surface runoff. In the Luxembourgish Mess River catchment, the pharmaceutical and pesticide concentrations are comparable with those detected by other authors in different river systems worldwide. Some investigated pesticide concentrations infringe current regulations. The maximum allowable concentration for diuron of 1.8 μg l(?-?1) is exceeded fourfold by measured 7.41 μg l(?-?1) in a flood event. The load of dissolved pesticides reaching the stream gauge is primarily determined by the amount applied to the surfaces within the catchment area. Storm water runoff from urban areas causes short-lived but high-pollutant concentrations and moderate loads, whereas moderate concentrations and high loads are representative for agricultural inputs to the drainage system. Dissolved herbicides, sulfonamides, tetracyclines, analgesics and hormones can be used as indicators to investigate runoff generation processes, including inputs from anthropogenic sources. The measurements prove that the influence of kinematic wave effects on the relationship between hydrograph and chemographs should not be neglected in smaller basins. The time lag shows that it is not possible to connect analysed substances of defined samples to the corresponding section of the hydrograph.     

Respiratory effects of household exposures to tobacco smoke and gas cooking on nonsmokers

The records of 708 nonsmoking white adult residents of Washington County, MD, who had participated in two of respiratory symptoms were analyzed to evaluate the effects of exposure at home to two potential sources of indoor air pollution: cigarette smoking by other household members, and use of gas as a cooking fuel. After adjustment for the effects of age, sex, socioeconomic level, occupational exposure to dust, and years of residence in household, the presence of one or more smokers in the household was only suggestively associated with a higher frequency of chronic phlegm and impaired ventilatory function defined as FEV₁ < 80% predicted. The use for cooking was associated with a significantly increased frequency of chronic cough and a significantly greater percentage with impaired ventilatory function as measured both by FEV₁ < 80% predicted and by FEV₁/FVC < 70%.     

Wind and wind power characteristics of the eastern and southern coastal and northern inland regions,South Africa

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The objective of this work is to understand the fluctuating nature of wind speed characteristics on different time scales and to find the long-term...     

Air pollution below WHO levels decreases by 40 % the links of terrestrial microbial networks

Air pollution has a deleterious impact on public health and the environment. There is few knowledge on the effect of air pollution on terrestrial microbial communities, despite the major role of microbes in ecosystems. Here, we designed an in situ trial ecosystem to assess the impact of moderate atmospheric pollution, below World Health Organization (WHO) thresholds, on an indigenous microbial communities, including bacteria, fungi, ciliates, algae, cyanobacteria, testate amoebae, rotifers and nematodes, extracted from terrestrial bryophytes. These micro-ecosystems were placed at a rural, an urban and an industrial site in France and were thus exposed to various levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), from 6.6–67.9 μg·m^?3, and particulate matter, from 0.7–7.9 μg·m^?3. Microbial analysis was performed by microscopy. We determined atmospheric temperature, relative humidity and particulate matter with diameter lower than 10 µm (PM₁₀), Cu, Cr, Fe, Ni, Pb, Zn in PM₁₀, and (NO₂). Results show a significant impact of chronic moderate exposure to NO₂ and copper Cu-associated particulate matter on the global microbial network complexity. This is evidenced by a loss of about 40 % of microbial co-occurrence links during incubation. Most lost microbial links are ecologically positive links. Moreover, most changes in community co-occurrence networks are related to testate amoebae, a major top predator of microbes. Overall, our findings demonstrate that air pollution can have strong deleterious effects on microbial interactions, even at levels below WHO thresholds.