Metal accumulation in the smooth toadfish, Tetractenos glaber, in estuaries around Sydney, Australia

This study determined the metal levels in sediments and tissues of a common estuarine fish, Tetractenos glaber (smooth toadfish), from two metal contaminated and two reference estuaries near Sydney, Australia. Metal levels were highest in sediments and fish from contaminated estuaries. Gonads contained the highest metal levels followed by muscle, gill and liver. Metal accumulation was gender-dependant (e.g. male gonads were >20 times higher in As than females; female gills were >30 times higher than males for Pb). Cadmium, Pb and Ni levels in fish tissues reflected sediment levels, indicating sediment and/or dietary metal uptake. Levels of As, Co, Cd & Pb in gills showed similar patterns to other tissues, suggesting that metals may have been taken up by gills through contaminated water. Similar metal patterns in tissues and sediments suggest more than one uptake pathway. This study indicates that multiple factors influence metal accumulation in fish.     

Water-based condensation particle counters for environmental monitoring of ultrafine particles

TSI Inc. (Shoreview, MN) has introduced three new water-based condensation particle counters (WCPCS) that were designed to detect airborne particles larger than 2.5 nm (model 3786), 5 nm (model 3785), and either 10 or 20 nm (model 3782). These WCPCs are well suited for real-time, environmental monitoring of number concentration of airborne ultrafine particles. Their unique design incorporates the use of water as the working fluid instead of alcohol. Water is odor free, readily available, and eliminates the problem of water condensation and absorption into alcohol working fluids during operation in humid environments. In this study, the performance of three TSI WCPCs was characterized for several aerosol compositions, including sucrose, salt (NaCl), dioctyl sebacate (DOS), dioctyl phthalate (DOP), emery oil (poly-alpha-olefin), silver, impurity residue particles, and ambient aerosol particles. All particles were size selected using a nano differential mobility analyzer (nano-DMA; model 3085, TSI Inc.) to create monodisperse challenge aerosols. The challenge aerosol was mixed uniformly with clean makeup flow and split into a WCPC and a reference instrument to determine the counting efficiency of the WCPC. For the model 3785 WCPC, the D50 (i.e., the particle diameter with 50% counting efficiency) was determined to be 3.1 nm for salt particles, 4.7 nm for sucrose and ambient particles, 5.6 nm for silver particles, and >50 nm for ultrapure oil particles. The sensitivity to oil droplets increased dramatically (D50 < 10 nm) when the oil was slightly contaminated. The D50 of model 3786 ultrafine water-based CPC (UWCPC) was 2.4 nm for impurity residue particles. The D50 of the model 3782 WCPC was 10.8 (with a nominal setting of 10 nm) or 19.8 nm (with a nominal setting of 20 nm) for sucrose particles. All three WCPCs have response times of less than 2 or 3 sec and are therefore able to detect fast-changing events.