Estrogen receptor mediated activity in bankside groundwater, with flood suspended particulate matter and floodplain soil - an approach combining tracer substance, bioassay and target analysis

Bankside groundwater is widely used as drinking water resource and, therefore, contamination has to be avoided. In the European Union groundwater protection is explicit subject to Water Framework Directive. While groundwater pollution may originate from different sources, this study investigated on impacts via flood events.Groundwater was sampled with increasing distance to the river Rhine near Karlsruhe, Germany. Samples were HPLC-MS-MS analyzed for the river contaminant carbamazepine to indicate river water infiltration, giving permanent presence in 250 m distance to the river (14-47 μg L⁻¹). Following a flood event, concentrations of about 16-20 μg L⁻¹ could also be detected in a distance of 750 m to the river. Furthermore, estrogenic activity as determined with the Yeast Estrogen Screen assay was determined to increase up to a 17β-ethinylestradiol equivalent concentration (E-EQ) = 2.9 ng L⁻¹ near the river, while activity was initially measured following the flood with up to E-EQ = 2.6 ng L⁻¹ in 750 m distance. Detections were delayed with increasing distance to the river indicating river water expansion into the aquifer.Flood suspended matter and floodplain soil were fractionated and analyzed for estrogenic activity in parallel giving up to 1.4 ng g⁻¹ and up to 0.7 ng g⁻¹, respectively. Target analysis focusing on known estrogenic active substances only explained <1% of measured activities.Nevertheless, river water infiltration was shown deep into bankside groundwater, thus, impacting groundwater quality. Therefore, flood events have to be in the focus when aiming for groundwater and drinking water protection as well as for implementation of Water Framework Directive.     

Changes in Tree Growth,Biomass and Vegetation Over a 13-Year Period in the Swedish Sub-Arctic

This study was conducted in the Swedish sub-Arctic, near Abisko, in order to assess the direction and scale of possible vegetation changes in the alpine–birch forest ecotone. We have re-surveyed shrub, tree and vegetation data at 549 plots grouped into 61 clusters. The plots were originally surveyed in 1997 and re-surveyed in 2010. Our study is unique for the area as we have quantitatively estimated a 19% increase in tree biomass mainly within the existing birch forest. We also found significant increases in the cover of two vegetation types—“birch forest-heath with mosses” and “meadow with low herbs”, while the cover of snowbed vegetation decreased significantly. The vegetation changes might be caused by climate, herbivory and past human impact but irrespective of the causes, the observed transition of the vegetation will have substantial effects on the mountain ecosystems.     

Histopathological effects of copper and lithium in the ramshorn snail, Marisa cornuarietis (Gastropoda, Prosobranchia)

The aim of this study was to determine and quantify effects of copper and lithium in tissues of early juveniles of the ramshorn snail, Marisa cornuarietis. For this purpose, hatchlings of M. cornuarietis were exposed for 7 days to a range of five different sublethal concentrations of copper (5, 10, 25, 50, and 75 μg Cu²⁺ L⁻¹) and lithium (50, 100, 200, 1000, and 5000 μg Li⁺ L⁻¹). Both metals changed the tissue structure of epidermis, hepatopancreas, and gills, varying between slight and strong reactions, depending on the copper and lithium concentration. The histopathological changes included alterations in epithelial and mucous cells of the epidermis, swelling of hepatopancreatic digestive cells, alterations in the number of basophilic cells, abnormal apices of digestive cells, irregularly shaped cilia and changes in the amount of mucus in the gills. The most sensible organ in M. cornuarietis indicating Cu or Li pollution is the hepatopancreas (LOECs were 10 μg Cu²⁺ L⁻¹, or 200 μg Li⁺ L⁻¹). In epidermis, mantle and gills relevant effects occurred with higher LOECs (50 μg Cu²⁺ L⁻¹, or 1000 μg Li⁺ L⁻¹). Base on LOECs, our results indicated that histopathological endpoints are high sensitivity to copper and lithium compared to endpoints for embryonic developmental toxicity.     

Integrated analysis of the effects of agricultural management on nitrogen fluxes at landscape scale

The integrated modelling system INITIATOR was applied to a landscape in the northern part of the Netherlands to assess current nitrogen fluxes to air and water and the impact of various agricultural measures on these fluxes, using spatially explicit input data on animal numbers, land use, agricultural management, meteorology and soil. Average model results on NH₃ deposition and N concentrations in surface water appear to be comparable to observations, but the deviation can be large at local scale, despite the use of high resolution data. Evaluated measures include: air scrubbers reducing NH₃ emissions from poultry and pig housing systems, low protein feeding, reduced fertilizer amounts and low-emission stables for cattle. Low protein feeding and restrictive fertilizer application had the largest effect on both N inputs and N losses, resulting in N deposition reductions on Natura 2000 sites of 10% and 12%, respectively.     

Variability of dust iron solubility in atmospheric waters: Investigation of the role of oxalate organic complexation

Atmospheric dust deposition is a major external iron source for remote surface ocean waters. Organic complexation is known to play a role in the dissolution of iron-containing minerals. In this paper, we present our study on the effect of oxalate on dust iron solubility in simulated rainwater. Our results reveal that the solubility of iron carried by analogs of different African dusts varies with the dust source. Our experiments indicate a positive linear correlation between iron solubility and oxalate concentration. Soluble iron (SFe) increases from 0.0025(±0.0005)% to 0.26(±0.01)% of total iron, considering all dust sources and with oxalate concentrations ranging from 0 to 8 μM. These results show that the observed variability of iron solubility in aerosols collected over the Atlantic Ocean is, at least partly, due to an increase in dust iron solubility, with the presence of oxalate complexation, rather than to the presence of more soluble anthropogenic iron. Considering the mineralogical composition of those particles, experiments with pure minerals (hematite, goethite and illite) were performed to study the dissolution process. We found that oxalate promotes the solubility of iron contained in clay and hence confirmed that more than 95% of SFe from soil dust is provided by clay (illite). This experimental work enables us to establish a parameterization of iron solubility in dust as a function of oxalate concentration and based on the individual iron solubility of pure iron-bearing minerals usually present in dust particles. Finally, our results emphasize that oxalate contributes to iron solubility on the same order of magnitude as the acid processes. Organic complexation appears to be a process that increases iron solubility and likely enhances the bioavailability of iron from dust.     

Bioconversion of dairy manure by black soldier fly (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) for biodiesel and sugar production

Modern dairies cause the accumulation of considerable quantity of dairy manure which is a potential hazard to the environment. Dairy manure can also act as a principal larval resource for many insects such as the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens. The black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are considered as a new biotechnology to convert dairy manure into biodiesel and sugar. BSFL are a common colonizer of large variety of decomposing organic material in temperate and tropical areas. Adults do not need to be fed, except to take water, and acquired enough nutrition during larval development for reproduction. Dairy manure treated by BSFL is an economical way in animal facilities. Grease could be extracted from BSFL by petroleum ether, and then be treated with a two-step method to produce biodiesel. The digested dairy manure was hydrolyzed into sugar. In this study, approximately 1248.6 g fresh dairy manure was converted into 273.4 g dry residue by 1200 BSFL in 21 days. Approximately 15.8 g of biodiesel was gained from 70.8 g dry BSFL, and 96.2 g sugar was obtained from the digested dairy manure. The residual dry BSFL after grease extraction can be used as protein feedstuff.     

Environmental assessment of garden waste management in the Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark

An environmental assessment of six scenarios for handling of garden waste in the Municipality of Aarhus (Denmark) was performed from a life cycle perspective by means of the LCA-model EASEWASTE. In the first (baseline) scenario, the current garden waste management system based on windrow composting was assessed, while in the other five scenarios alternative solutions including incineration and home composting of fractions of the garden waste were evaluated. The environmental profile (normalised to Person Equivalent, PE) of the current garden waste management in Aarhus is in the order of −6 to 8 mPE Mg⁻¹ ww for the non-toxic categories and up to 100 mPE Mg⁻¹ ww for the toxic categories. The potential impacts on non-toxic categories are much smaller than what is found for other fractions of municipal solid waste. Incineration (up to 35% of the garden waste) and home composting (up to 18% of the garden waste) seem from an environmental point of view suitable for diverting waste away from the composting facility in order to increase its capacity. In particular the incineration of woody parts of the garden waste improved the environmental profile of the garden waste management significantly.     

Anthropogenic and naturally occurring polybrominated phenolic compounds in the blood of cetaceans stranded along Japanese coastal waters

We determined the residue levels and patterns of hydroxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (OH-PBDEs), and related compounds, such as PBDEs, methoxylated PBDEs (MeO-PBDEs), and bromophenols (BPhs) in the blood of eleven cetacean species stranded along the Japanese coasts. The dominant OH- and MeO-PBDE isomers found in all cetaceans were 6OH-BDE47 and 6MeO-BDE47. Additionally, 2,4,6-triBPh was dominant isomer in all cetaceans. In contrast, specific differences in the distribution of para- and meta- OH-PBDE isomers and some BPhs (potential PBDEs metabolites) were found among the cetaceans.Residue levels of ΣMeO-PBDEs and 6OH-BDE47 + 2′OH-BDE68, and 2,4,6-triBPh and 6OH-BDE47 + 2′OH-BDE68 showed a significant positive correlation. These results may suggest that the large percentages of OH-PBDEs, MeO-PBDEs and 2,4,6-triBPh might share common source (i.e. biosynthesis by marine organisms), or metabolic pathway in cetacean species. Significant correlations were found between the concentrations of BDE99 and 2,4,5-triBPh. This result suggested that 2,4,5-triBPh in cetaceans could be a metabolite of BDE99.     

The endocrine disrupting potential of sediments from the Upper Danube River (Germany) as revealed by in vitro bioassays and chemical analysis

Introduction  

The present study was part of a comprehensive weight-of-evidence approach with the goal of identifying potential causes for the declines in fish populations, which have been observed during the past decades in the Upper Danube River.