Environmental pesticide distribution in horticultural and floricultural periurban production units

The environmental pesticide distribution on non-target systems (soil, drift and agricultural plastics) during the application step at small periurban production units, was studied in open field and greenhouses, for different crops (tomato, lettuce, broccoli, strawberry and flowers) using different pesticides (endosulfan, procymidone, chlorothalonil, chlorpyrifos and deltamethrin). In all cases, soil was the most exposed non-target system. For greenhouses, a general pesticide distribution was found of approximately 2/3 for crop, 1/4 for soil and 1/20 for plastic, of the total amount applied. In horticultural open fields, although the distribution was very dependent on the crop size and type, soil was also the most exposed non-target subsystem. Pesticide drift seems not to be significant in these production units, whilst pesticide accumulation on agricultural plastics reached up to 45% of the total applied, for polyethylene mulching in strawberry fields.     

Plastics and microplastics,effects on marine coastal areas: a review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Plastics have become strong environmental stressors of coastal marine ecosystems. Their introduction into the marine ecosystem is subjected to...     

Wet peroxide degradation of atrazine

The high temperature (150-200 degrees C), high pressure (3.0-6.0 MPa) degradation of atrazine in aqueous solution has been studied. Under these extreme conditions atrazine steadily hydrolyses in the absence of oxidising agents. Additionally, oxygen partial pressure has been shown not to affect atrazine degradation rates. In no case mineralisation of the parent compound was observed. The addition of the free radical generator hydrogen peroxide to the reaction media significantly enhanced the depletion rate of atrazine. Moreover, partial mineralisation of the organics was observed when hydrogen peroxide was used. Again, oxygen presence did not influence the efficiency of the promoted reaction. Consecutive injections of hydrogen peroxide throughout the reaction period brought the total carbon content conversion to a maximum of 65-70% after 40 min of treatment (suggesting the total conversion of atrazine to cyanuric acid). Toxicity of the effluent measured in a luminometer decreased from 93% up to 23% of inhibition percentage. The process has been simulated by means of a semi-empirical model.     

Immunoassay-based screening of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in sediments: requirements for a new generation of test kits

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been proposed for the inclusion in the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) priority list, currently under revision. Various screening methods have been employed for PCB determination in different environmental matrixes in the last decades, immunoassays being one of the most employed. A literature review reveals that the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the most commonly applied immunoassay for PCB determination in the environment. However, its application to sediments is very limited. A suitability assessment of immunoassay-based analysis for PCB screening in sediments is presented in this work. The significance of available immunoassay-based test kits under the current environmental pollution scenario and their performance against the sensitivity and specificity requirements dictated by the WFD for PCB analysis in sediments is discussed. For example, current detection limits of available test kits for PCB determination in sediments may not be enough for compliance checking under the WFD. In addition, concentration expressed as Aroclor equivalents does not seem to be the way forward. A proposal for adapting available test kits in order to become more suitable tools for PCB screening in sediments is also presented in this study.     

Retrospective bioindication of stratospheric ozone and ultraviolet radiation using hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives of herbarium samples of an aquatic liverwort

We analyzed bulk UV absorbance of methanolic extracts and levels of five UV-absorbing compounds (hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives) in 135 herbarium samples of the liverwort Jungermannia exsertifolia subsp. cordifolia from northern Europe. Samples had been collected in 1850–2006 (96% in June–August). Both UV absorbance and compound levels were correlated positively with collection year. p-Coumaroylmalic acid (C1) was the only compound showing a significant (and negative) correlation with stratospheric ozone and UV irradiance in the period that real data of these variables existed. Stratospheric ozone reconstruction (1850–2006) based on C1 showed higher values in June than in July and August, which coincides with the normal monthly variation of ozone. Combining all the data, there was no long-term temporal trend from 1850 to 2006. Reconstructed UV showed higher values in June–July than in August, but again no temporal trend was detected in 1918–2006 using the joint data. This agrees with previous UV reconstructions.     

Environmental impacts associated with manufacturing of solar and wind power alternative energy systems

The Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment (AFCEE) is performing Environmental Restoration Program Optimization (E‐RPO) at various United States Air Force (USAF) installations to evaluate existing remediation strategies and recommend actions to advance issues impacting the remediation program. As sustainability practices (including green and sustainable remediation [GSR]) increase at Air Force facilities and throughout the environmental industry, the use of alternative energy‐collection sources (i.e., solar photovoltaics [PV] and wind turbines) is likely to increase dramatically. Although PV and wind power systems exhibit a low environmental footprint during their use, there are potential human health and environmental impacts from the manufacturing and recycling processes. This article presents a summary of available information regarding the environmental impacts associated with life‐cycle assessments that include raw material extraction and refinement, product manufacturing, use, and postuse disposal for PV and wind turbines (i.e., cradle‐to‐grave impacts). © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Modelling phytoclimatic versatility as a large scale indicator of adaptive capacity to climate change in forest ecosystems

CLIMPAIR is a new phytoclimatic model, correlative and niche-based, which simultaneously assesses non-linear, non-statistical and dual measurements of proximity/potentiality of a site with respect to a number of climatic ranges of species, defined by convex hulls, within a suitability space. This set of phytoclimatic distances makes it possible to evaluate the degree to which each species is suitable for that site. Considering not only the number of species compatible (expected species richness), but also all those compatible covers presenting a high level of suitability evenness and finally applying an indicator derived from Shannon's classic entropy index to the set of standardized phytoclimatic coordinates in the suitability hyperspace, we can evaluate the phytoclimatic entropy which may be considered as a means of estimating the phytoclimatic versatility of the site. A site with high phytoclimatic entropy would promise versatile future behaviour, characterized by a wide range of possibilities of adaptation to climate change, and hence versatility can be used as an index of resilience and ability of a forest ecosystem to adapt to climate change. The model has been applied to peninsular Spain for 18 forest tree species and 12 climatic variables between the current mean climate (period 1951-1999) and a future climatic scenario (period 2040-2069). The results generally point to a significant decrease in the versatility of forest tree formations in the area studied, which is not homogeneous owing to a dual altitudinal/latitudinal decoupling. The decrease in versatility is greater in Mediterranean biogeographical areas than in Euro-Siberian ones, where in some cases it actually increases. In altitudinal terms, areas at elevations of less than 1500 m tend to become less versatile than areas situated at higher elevations, where versatility increases partly as a result of enrichment of alpine conifer forests with broadleaf species.     

Astaxanthin and papilioerythrinone in the skin of birds: a chromatic convergence of two metabolic routes with different precursors?

Carotenoids are organic pigments involved in several important physiological functions and may serve as indicators of individual quality in animals. These pigments are only obtained by animals from the diet, but they can be later transformed into other carotenoids by specific enzymatic reactions. The diet of farm-reared and probably wild red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) is mainly based on cereals that contain high levels of lutein and zeaxanthin. These two carotenoids are also predominant in internal tissues and blood of red-legged partridges. However, in their integuments, astaxanthin and papilioerythrinone (the last one identified in this work) are mainly present in their free form and esterified with fatty acids. According to available literature about carotenoid metabolism in animals, we propose that astaxanthin (λ _max?=?478 nm) and papilioerythrinone (λ _max?=?452–478 nm) are the result of a chromatic convergence of the transformation of dietary zeaxanthin and lutein, respectively. Moreover, the results obtained in this work provide the first identification by liquid chromatography coupled to accurate mass quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer system of papilioerythrinone (m/z 581.3989 [M?+?H]⁺) in the skin (i.e., not feathers) of a vertebrate. Astaxanthin and papilioerythrinone are very close in terms of chemical structure and coloration, and the combination of these two keto-carotenoids is responsible for the red color of the ornaments in red-legged partridges.