Seasonal and diurnal gas exchange differences in ozone-sensitive common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.) in relation to ozone uptake

Stomatal conductance and net photosynthesis of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.) plants in two different soil moisture regimes were directly quantified and subsequently modeled over an entire growing season. Direct measurements captured the dynamic response of stomatal conductance to changing environmental conditions throughout the day, as well as declining gas exchange and carbon assimilation throughout the growth period beyond an early summer maximum. This phenomenon was observed in plants grown both with and without supplemental soil moisture, the latter of which should theoretically mitigate against harmful physiological effects caused by exposure to ozone. Seasonally declining rates of stomatal conductance were found to be substantial and incorporated into models, making them less susceptible to the overestimations of effective exposure that are an inherent source of error in ozone exposure indices. The species-specific evidence presented here supports the integration of dynamic physiological processes into flux-based modeling approaches for the prediction of ozone injury in vegetation.     

Exposure to benzene,toluene, xylenes and total hydrocarbons among snowmobile drivers in Sweden

The exposure to benzene, toluene, xylenes and total hydrocarbons among 25 individuals exposed to exhaust from a snowmobile equipped with a two-stroke engine has been evaluated. Sampling was performed by pumped and diffusive sampling in parallel. There was a relatively bad agreement between the two air-sampling methods. The bad agreement can in part be explained by back diffusion of the substances from the samplers, a high face velocity, and deposition of droplets of unburned gasoline onto or in the vicinity of the samplers.

The levels of benzene ranged from not detectable (0.01 mg m⁻³) to 2.5 mg m⁻³. For toluene, xylenes and total hydrocarbons the exposure was 0.10–12.0, 0.05–13.0 and 0.90–273 mg m⁻³ respectively. The result from two measurements on individuals travelling on an open sleigh at the rear of the vehicle indicated higher levels of benzene, 0.7–0.8 mg m⁻³. Children are often riding as a passenger on a sledge and may thus have a higher exposure than their parents. This study indicates that spare time driving a snowmobile may cause a considerable exposure to benzene. Using a four-stroke engine equipped with a catalyst could reduce the exposure. To reduce the exposure for the passenger on a sleigh an extension of the exhaust pipe may be effective.     

Gas-phase organics in environmental tobacco smoke: 2. Exposure-relevant emission factors and indirect exposures from habitual smoking

Sorption of emitted gas-phase organic compounds onto material surfaces affects environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) composition and exposures indoors. We have introduced a new metric, the exposure relevant emission factor (EREF) that accounts for sorptive uptake and reemission to give the mass of individual ETS constituents available for exposure over a day in which smoking occurs. This paper describes month-long experiments to investigate sorption effects on EREFs and potential ETS exposures under habitual smoking conditions. Cigarettes were smoked in a 50-m³ furnished room over a 3-h period 6–7 days per week, with continuous ventilation at 0.3, 0.6, or 2.1 h⁻¹. Organic gas concentrations were measured every few days over 4-h “smoking”, 10-h “post-smoking” and 10-h “background” periods. Concentration patterns of volatile ETS components including 1,3-butadiene, benzene and acrolein were similar to those calculated for a theoretical non-sorbing tracer, indicating limited sorption. Concentrations of ETS tracers, e.g. 3-ethenylpyridine (3-EP) and nicotine, and lower volatility toxic air contaminants including phenol, cresols, and naphthalene increased as experiments progressed, indicating mass accumulation on surfaces and higher desorption rates. Daily patterns stabilized after week 2, yielding a steady daily cycle of ETS concentrations associated with habitual smoking. EREFs for sorbing compounds were higher under steady cycle versus single-day smoking conditions by 50% for 3-EP, and by 2–3 times for nicotine, phenol, cresols, naphthalene, and methylnaphthalenes. Our results provide relevant information about potential indirect exposures from residual ETS (non-smoker enters room shortly after smoker finishes) and from reemission, and their importance relative to direct exposures (non-smoker present during smoking). Under the conditions examined, indirect exposures accounted for a larger fraction of total potential exposures for sorbing versus non-sorbing compounds, and at lower versus higher ventilation rates. Increasing ventilation can reduce indirect exposures to very low levels for non-sorbing ETS components, but indirect routes accounted for 50% of potential nicotine exposures during non-smoking periods at all ventilation rates.     

Upscaling heterogeneity in aquifer reactivity via exposure-time concept: forward model

Reactive properties of aquifer solid phase materials play an important role in solute fate and transport in the natural subsurface on time scales ranging from years in contaminant remediation to millennia in dynamics of aqueous geochemistry. Quantitative tools for dealing with the impact of natural heterogeneity in solid phase reactivity on solute fate and transport are limited. Here we describe the use of a structural variable to keep track of solute flux exposure to reactive surfaces. With this approach, we develop a non-reactive tracer model that is useful for determining the signature of multi-scale reactive solid heterogeneity in terms of solute flux distributions at the field scale, given realizations of three-dimensional reactive site density fields. First, a governing Eulerian equation for the non-reactive tracer model is determined by an upscaling technique in which it is found that the exposure time of solution to reactive surface areas evolves via both a macroscopic velocity and a macroscopic dispersion in the artificial dimension of exposure time. Second, we focus on the Lagrangian approach in the context of a streamtube ensemble and demonstrate the use of the distribution of solute flux over the exposure time dimension in modeling two-dimensional transport of a solute undergoing simplified linear reversible reactions, in hypothetical conditions following prior laboratory experiments. The distribution of solute flux over exposure time in a given case is a signature of the impact of heterogeneous aquifer reactivity coupled with a particular physical heterogeneity, boundary conditions, and hydraulic gradient. Rigorous application of this approach in a simulation sense is limited here to linear kinetically controlled reactions.     

Quantification of the inhibitory effect of methyl fluoride on methanogenesis in mesophilic anaerobic granular systems

The inhibitory effect of CH₃F on methanogenesis in mesophilic anaerobic granules was tested at different concentrations (0-10% v/v, in the gas phase) and verified by the stable carbon isotopic signatures of CH₄ and CO₂. The results showed that the inhibitory effect increased with the initial CH₃F concentration up to 5%. The CH₃F concentration causing 50% metabolic inhibition was 0.32%. Complete inhibition of acetoclastic methanogenesis with a 91% reduction in total methanogenic activity was achieved when 5% CH₃F was initially added to the headspace, which resulted in 870 μM dissolved CH₃F in the liquid. It was much higher than that applied in other natural anoxic non-granular systems, indicating that the layered granular structure influenced the inhibitory effect. The obvious increase in hydrogen content indicated that high concentrations of CH₃F (?5%) suppressed hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis as well. The stable inhibition lasted for at least 6 d as the CH₃F concentration decreased slowly with incubation time. These results suggested that CH₃F could be used for investigating methanogenic processes in anaerobic granular systems after the CH₃F concentration and incubation time for specific inhibition of acetoclastic methanogenesis were carefully determined. In the present system, CH₃F concentration of 5% was suggested to be optimal.     

Occupational exposure assessment of phthalate esters in indoor and outdoor microenvironments

Phthalate esters(PAEs) are widely used as plasticizers in consumer products. PAEs are a group of environmental hormone which disrupts human and animals' endocrine systems. Different occupational groups are exposed to various levels of PAEs. In the present study, four typical occupational groups were chosen, including doctors, college teachers, college students, and drivers who worked in public traffic system. In order to understand the exposure levels to PAEs via inhalation, air samples were collected from multiple microenvironments including indoor and outdoor in Hangzhou to measure the gas and particle concentrations of six PAEs, together with time spent in different microenvironments of these four groups. A comprehensive PAEs exposure model was built to estimate the daily PAEs exposure through inhalation, oral and dermal pathways. The Monte Carlo simulation results show that doctors were exposed to the highest level of PAEs, and consequently had the highest health risk among these four occupational groups. In contrast, college students had the lowest health risk. By setting the exposure level of staying in residences as the baseline, doctors and drivers were two occupations exposed to high PAEs health risk. Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate(DEHP) was the largest contributor among the six phthalates, posing moderate health risk(10-5–10-6) to every occupation. For traffic microenvironments alone, the total exposure levels for different transportation modes were in the descending order of busses, cars, cabs, tubes, motor bikes, and walking.     

常州市冬季大气污染特征及潜在源区分析

为了解常州市冬季大气污染特征,对2013—2015年常州市冬季PM_2.5、PM₁₀、SO₂、NO₂、CO数据进行分析,并结合HYSPLIT 4.9模式研究不同气团来源对常州市各污染物浓度的影响及潜在污染源区分布特征.结果表明,常州市冬季以PM_2.5污染为主,其占冬季首要污染物的90%以上,冬季PM_2.5小时浓度对应的空气质量级别以良和轻度污染出现频次最多,冬季的ρ（PM_2.5）对ρ（PM_2.5）年均值的贡献率高达37.4%,不完全燃烧是颗粒物的一个重要来源.冬季ρ（PM_2.5）、ρ（PM₁₀）、ρ（SO₂）、ρ（NO₂）和ρ（CO）的日变化均呈双峰分布,两个峰值分别出现在交通的早高峰和晚高峰附近.ρ（NO₂）在晚高峰明显大于早高峰,而ρ（SO₂）和ρ（CO）表现为早高峰大于晚高峰.常州市CO/NO_x和SO₂/NO_x的分析结果表明,常州市交通源的贡献明显,点源对常州市的空气质量的影响也较大.1和6 h的ρ（PM_2.5）梯度变化可判识细颗粒物的爆发性增长.冬季常州市受到西北、西和西南等地区的大陆性气流影响较大,其对应的ρ（PM_2.5）、ρ（PM₁₀）、ρ（SO₂）、ρ（NO₂）和ρ（CO）平均值相对较高,且对应的污染轨迹出现概率较大.偏东方向的气流由于移动速度慢,不利于污染物扩散易造成污染累积,导致ρ（PM_2.5）、ρ（SO₂）和ρ（NO₂）相对较高.WPSCF（源区分布概率）高值区（>0.5）集中于从芜湖至上海的长江中下游区域和杭州湾区域.PM_2.5、PM₁₀、SO₂、NO₂和CO潜在源区存在较大差异性,NO₂、SO₂和CO本地化的潜在贡献较PM_2.5和PM₁₀更明显.此外,受船舶等影响海洋源区对NO₂、SO₂和CO的潜在贡献较大.研究显示,长三角区域的大气污染物以本地污染为主,但远距离污染输送贡献也不容忽视.      

Environmental risk assessment of metals contaminated soils at silvermines abandoned mine site,Co Tipperary,Ireland

A centuries long history of mining and mineral processing has resulted in elevated Cd, Pb and Zn soil concentrations in the vicinity of the Silvermines abandoned mine site (AMS), Co. Tipperary, Ireland. A process for preliminary evaluation of environmental risk was developed and implemented. Potential pathways of metal compound transport and deposition were mapped and used to optimise the subsequent site investigation. Elevated soil metals are shown to be predominantly in areas where metal deposition in soil is associated with water related pathways (surface runoff, seasonal groundwater seepage and floodplains). Extensive areas of soil in the surrounding district are classified as contaminated on the basis of Cd, Pb and Zn concentrations, both total and potential bioavailable (EDTA-extractable). The most affected areas, with metal concentrations in soil comparable with that within the AMS, were floodplains located 2–3 km downstream from the site. Assessment of the sequential effects on grass and grazing animals indicates that Pb poses the greatest risk due to its high toxicity and high concentrations in soil (more than 10 000 mg kg^–1). Within floodplain areas grazing cattle may intake a lethal dose of Pb. On the basis of the investigation an approach to risk assessment was developed which allowed quantified assessment of the risks related to individual metals, areas of contamination and contamination targets.     

典型场地四氯化碳污染的健康风险评价

以华北某污染场地为研究区域,采集了场地内大气、土壤、地表水和地下水4个类别共196个样品.分析了25项挥发性有机物在不同区域的分布特征,探讨了超标污染物的污染来源,最后,应用美国环保局的健康风险评价方法,对场地超标污染物进行了健康风险评价.结果表明,场地超标污染物仅为四氯化碳;主要赋存于地下水中,其污染晕的平面分布与地...