Pb-Al relationships in waterfowl feces discriminate between sources of Pb exposure

Hunted mallards (n = 56) were collected in the Ebro Delta (Spain) in 2007-08 to evaluate the use of feces as a non-invasive monitoring method to study lead shot ingestion. The prevalence of Pb shot ingestion in these birds was 28.6%, and similar to that reported before a ban on Pb shot use in 2003. Lead concentrations in terminal intestinal contents were higher in mallards with Pb shot in their gizzard. Feces Pb concentrations >34 μg/g d.w were indicative of Pb shot ingestion, and background Pb levels were <12.5 μg/g d.w. To discriminate between birds ingesting soil Pb, and those ingesting Pb shot, we correlated Al and Pb levels and showed that mallards with ingested Pb shot in the gizzard stood out as outliers within the regression. Feces Pb-Al relationships can be used as a simple non-invasive tool in monitoring programs regarding Pb shot ingestion in birds.     

Effects of landforms on the erosion rate in a small watershed by the Cs tracing method

It's very important to analyze and evaluate quantitatively the effects of landforms on soil erosion for the prevention and treatment of soil loss in a small watershed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of landform factors on erosion rate by the ¹³⁷Cs tracing method in a small watershed in the Purple Hilly Area of China. The erosion rates under different slope lengths, slope gradients and slope aspects were estimated in Xiangshuitan watershed in the Purple Hilly Area in Sichuan Basin by the ¹³⁷Cs tracing method. The results showed that the erosion rate decreased exponentially with downslope distance, and it increased with increasing slope gradient during the scope of 5°-16°. The slope aspect had great impact on the erosion rate, and the hillside on the sunny slope had larger erosion rate than that on the shady slope, particularly for the farmland.     

Growth of soybean at future tropospheric ozone concentrations decreases canopy evapotranspiration and soil water depletion

Tropospheric ozone is increasing in many agricultural regions resulting in decreased stomatal conductance and overall biomass of sensitive crop species. These physiological effects of ozone forecast changes in evapotranspiration and thus in the terrestrial hydrological cycle, particularly in intercontinental interiors. Soybean plots were fumigated with ozone to achieve concentrations above ambient levels over five growing seasons in open-air field conditions. Mean season increases in ozone concentrations ([O₃]) varied between growing seasons from 22 to 37% above background concentrations. The objective of this experiment was to examine the effects of future [O₃] on crop ecosystem energy fluxes and water use. Elevated [O₃] caused decreases in canopy evapotranspiration resulting in decreased water use by as much as 15% in high ozone years and decreased soil water removal. In addition, ozone treatment resulted in increased sensible heat flux in all years indicative of day-time increase in canopy temperature of up to 0.7 °C.     

Technologically enhanced 210Pb and 210Po in iron and steel industry

Iron and steel manufacture has been ranked as the largest industrial source of environmental contamination in the USA; the wastes generated in their production processes contain heavy elements that can be a source of contamination, and natural radionuclides that can produce an occupational and/or public radiological impact. In this work the potential occupational effective dose rate (μSv/y) due to inhalation in four integrated steel-making factories from Egypt has been evaluated, by assuming a well defined scenario and with basis in the ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po activity concentrations determined in ore and wastes collected in the aforementioned factories. Activity concentrations, in Bq/kg, of ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po, and leachable Pb and Fe were measured using gamma-ray spectrometry based on HPGe detector, alpha particle spectrometry based on PIPS detector, and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Levels of ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po in the range of <DL-4238 and 1-5660 Bq/kg, respectively, were found. According to the assumed scenarios, the occupational exposures by inhalation are much lower than the recommended annual effective dose limit, although the environmental impact due to waste storage and/or use should be considered based on case by case evaluation.     

The dissipation rates of trichlorfon and its degradation product dichlorvos in cabbage and soil

The residual levels and dissipation rate of trichlorfon, and its degradation product, dichlorvos, in cabbage crops and the soil in which these were grown, were determined by gas chromatography at two geographically distant experimental sites, one in Kunming and one in Beijing, China. Trichlorfon was applied at two dosages (900 g ai ha⁻¹ and 1350 g ai ha⁻¹). Maximum final residues of trichlorfon in soil and cabbage were 1.23 mg kg⁻¹ and 1.81 mg kg⁻¹ respectively at Kunming, and 0.35 mg kg⁻¹ and 0.70 mg kg⁻¹ respectively at Beijing. However, the final residues of dichlorvos in both cabbage and soil was only 0.04 mg kg⁻¹ at Kunming, and only 0.03 mg kg⁻¹, or “not detectable”, at Beijing. The mean half-life of trichlorfon in cabbage was 1.80 d with a dissipation rate of 90% over 5 d, while that in soil was 3.05 d with a dissipation rate of 90% over 14 d at one experimental site. The dissipation rates of trichlorfon and its degradation product dichlorvos at the two experimental sites were different, suggesting that degradation of these pesticides was affected by local soil characteristics and climate. When applied at both the recommended dosage and at 1.5 times this, no detectable residues of either trichlorfon or dichlorvos were found in soil or cabbage at harvest. Although trichlorfon can easily degrade into dichlorvos, which is highly toxic to humans and other animals, the observed low residual levels of dichlorvos suggest that trichlorfon is safe when applied at the recommended dosage.     

福建省重点城市路面尘负荷及化学组成研究

采集并分析了福建省重点城市厦门、漳州、泉州和莆田城区具有代表性的57个地面扬尘和16个土壤样品的26种无机元素、8种水溶性离子和碳成分等组成.不同城市粒径≤100μm的路面尘负荷平均值在6.99 g.m-2与10.11 g.m-2之间,而粒径≤2.5μm的路面尘(PM2.5)负荷平均值在4.0 mg.m-2和12.5 mg.m-2之间.不同城市土壤尘和路面尘PM2.5中浓度最高的元素都是Si、Ca、Al、Fe和K,路面尘中Ca元素明显富集,而主要人为来源的重金属元素如Cu、Pb、Zn、Cr在路面尘PM2.5中的浓度显著高于土壤尘.漳州城区路面尘PM2.5中二次离子NH4+、NO3-和SO24-的含量明显高于其它地区,厦门、漳州和泉州城区路面尘PM2.5中Mg2+和Ca2+之间都存在显著的正相关关系.四城市路面尘中有机碳(OC)的含量均高于济南、石家庄以及北京地面扬尘OC的含量,元素碳(EC)的含量均低于北京地区路面扬尘EC的含量.泉州和莆田两地OC和EC的相关性较好,说明路面尘中OC和EC有相同或相似的来源.质量平衡结果显示泉州和莆田路面尘PM2.5中含量最高的是土壤尘,其次为有机物.按化学组成特征对路面尘PM2.5进行聚类解析,得到受大气沉降影响、受土壤尘影响、受大气沉降和土壤尘共同作用以及受土壤尘和建筑尘共同作用4类样品.     

北京市铺装道路降尘污染特征及来源

为研究北京市道路降尘在不同季节的污染特征及来源,选取北京市4条典型道路得到64个采样点的道路尘样品,采集的道路尘样品经过预处理得到75 μm以下的颗粒物,经过再悬浮及实验室分析得到PM_2.5的粒径分布和化学成分谱.结果表明:不同采样高度及不同道路类型的颗粒物粒径大体分布规律一致,颗粒物质量频率存在三个峰值,分别为0.75 μm（微粒径）、2.50 μm（小粒径）、4.50 μm（大粒径）;各季节的降尘颗粒物的化学组分中质量分数最大的是元素,主要元素（含量>1%）季节变化为冬季>春季>秋季>夏季,元素富集因子法得到污染元素为Cr、Cd、Sn、Cu、Zn、Pb、As,双重元素为Bi、Ti、Ni、W、Mg、Ca、TI、Mo、V、Fe、Zr、Ba,其余16种为非富集元素;颗粒物中离子质量分数在夏季最大为9.31%,春季、秋季、冬季的离子质量分数相差不大,其中Ca2+、NO₃-、Cl-、SO₄2-占总离子质量的80%左右;碳素中w（OC）和w（EC）的季节变化均为夏季>秋季>春季>冬季,OC/EC[w（OC）/w（EC）]的季节变化规律为冬季>春季>秋季>夏季.不同季节w（OC）和w（EC）的相关性大小为夏季>秋季>春季>冬季.对PM_2.5中化学组分来源分析表明,污染元素受机动车和建筑尘影响较大,与机动车尾气相比,机动车磨损造成的污染也不容小视;燃煤影响一直存在,但供暖期污染有所改善.机动车尾气、建筑尘及土壤尘对离子均有贡献,在夏季土壤尘、建筑尘、二次反应的综合影响较大,春季土壤尘影响更为突出.碳在夏秋季节受汽车尾气和建筑尘的影响较大,夏季二次反应影响不大;冬季除气象因素外,燃煤和生物质燃烧也不可忽视;春季土壤尘影响较为突出.      

辽宁省土壤水分的时空变化格局分析

文章利用基于微波遥感的土壤水分产品评价辽宁省近40年(1979~2015)来干旱事件的时空变化特征。研究结果表明:辽宁省地表土壤水分呈现东高西低的空间分布;采用了一种具有时-频多分辨功能的小波分析(Wavelet Analysis)来更好地研究土壤水分时间序列变化规律,发现辽宁省年平均土壤水分随着时间具有波动降低趋势,并伴随有10年和20年左右的两个主要周期;从季节上看,四个季节的土壤水分时间序列变化十分剧烈,春夏两季土壤水分呈现出增加趋势,秋冬两季的土壤水分呈现出降低趋势。     

Effects of Cu2+ and humic acids on degradation and fate of TBBPA in pure culture of Pseudomonas sp. strain CDT

Soil contamination with tetrabromobisphenol A(TBBPA) has caused great concerns;however, the presence of heavy metals and soil organic matter on the biodegradation of TBBPA is still unclear. We isolated Pseudomonas sp. strain CDT, a TBBPA-degrading bacterium, from activated sludge and incubated it with ~(14)C-labeled TBBPA for 87 days in the absence and presence of Cu~(2+)and humic acids(HA). TBBPA was degraded to organic-solvent extractable(59.4% ± 2.2%) and non-extractable(25.1% ± 1.3%) metabolites,mineralized to CO_2(4.8% ± 0.8%), and assimilated into cells(10.6% ± 0.9%) at the end of incubation. When Cu~(2+)was present, the transformation of extractable metabolites into non-extractable metabolites and mineralization were inhibited, possibly due to the toxicity of Cu~(2+)to cells. HA significantly inhibited both dissipation and mineralization of TBBPA and altered the fate of TBBPA in the culture by formation of HA-bound residues that amounted to 22.1% ± 3.7% of the transformed TBBPA. The inhibition from HA was attributed to adsorption of TBBPA and formation of bound residues with HA via reaction of reactive metabolites with HA molecules, which decreased bioavailability of TBBPA and metabolites in the culture. When Cu~(2+)and HA were both present, Cu~(2+)significantly promoted the HA inhibition on TBBPA dissipation but not on metabolite degradation. The results provide insights into individual and interactive effects of Cu~(2+)and soil organic matter on the biotransformation of TBBPA and indicate that soil organic matter plays an essential role in determining the fate of organic pollutants in soil and mitigating heavy metal toxicity.