Addendum

Bags of S. auriculatum and a low‐volume aerosol sampler with filters were exposed, in parallel, to the urban atmosphere of Oporto at four sampling points and for about two months periods, between 1991 and 1994. The levels of lead in the moss (weekly samples) and in the filters (daily samples) were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and the results were compared. In dry weather periods (relative humidity ≤ 76%) the rate of lead uptake by moss was approximately constant and proportional to the levels of the metal in atmospheric aerosols. A converting factor (CF = lPb_moss l (μg/g.day)/ l Pb_air l (μg/m³)) allowed conversion of the lead levels in S. auriculatum to those in the atmospheric aerosols. Because the moss fixed lead from gas, aerosol and particulated matter, the rate of sorption depends markedly on the distance to the lead sources (traffic) and on surrounding obstacles which retain particles. Therefore, specific calibration by mechanic monitoring at each point of sampling is required when moss bag samplers are used to provide quantitative information about lead levels in the atmosphere. In wet weather periods, higher but irregular rate of lead uptake was observed. In contrast, the lead levels in atmospheric aerosols decreased when the humidity increased due to wet deposition. Therefore, no proportionality between the lead levels in the moss and in the air were found.     

Challenges in risk management in multi-company industrial parks

The trend of companies focusing ever stronger on their core businesses has led to outsourcing of certain activities, e.g. maintenance, and even to selling out parts of industrial plants. This is the case also in Finland. Clusters of neighbouring companies, commonly called industrial parks, have been formed. In these multi-company parks safety and environmental responsibilities are not always clear and the risk map has changed. It has become evident that Finnish legislation has not followed this development of the industrial sector and the formation of industrial and technology parks.A Finnish project on the safety in chemical industrial parks has studied how safety and environmental issues can be best managed in multi-company chemical parks, and how the current legislation in Finland supports companies facing problems accentuated in or specific to industrial parks. The outcome outlines the identified challenges as well as the benefits of cooperation between the independent companies in industrial parks.     

Some heterocyclic aromatic compounds are Ah receptor agonists in the DR-CALUX assay and the EROD assay with RTL-W1 cells

Purpose  

Heterocyclic aromatic compounds containing nitrogen, sulfur, or oxygen heteroatoms (NSO-HET) have been detected in air, soil, marine, and freshwater systems. However, only few publications are available investigating NSO-HET using in vitro bioassays. To support better characterization of environmental samples, selected NSO-HET were screened for dioxin-like activity in two bioassays.     

Use of polyvinyl chloride pipes (PVC) as potential artificial shelters for amphibians in a coastal plain forest of southeastern Brazil

We studied the use of polyvinil chloride pipes (PVC pipes) by frogs as artificial shelters in a Coastal Plain forest in the Vale Natural Reserve, north of Espírito Santo state, southeastern Brazil from June 2015 to May 2016. We used 14 plots distributed in the Coastal Plain Forest following the RAPELD methodology of sampling. The frogs were sampled in transects along the plots, using the active search method, with visual and auditory sampling. We recorded two species of frogs (Aparasphenodon brunoi and Scinax argyreornatus) using PVC pipes as shelters in the plots in the Forest. Of the 468 PVC pipes established along plots, 38 of them (8.1%) were used as shelter by the frogs. For both frog species, about 33% of microhabitats used in the forest were the interior of PVC pipes. We concluded that the PVC pipes might constitute artificial shelters for at least two of the frog species living in the community of the Coastal Plain Forest, potentially being of relevance in conservation programs. In altered areas and those in which there has been the loss of types of microhabitats, the addition of these PVC pipes as artificial shelters may represent additional and complementary microhabitats to keep or increase the population stocks of arboreal and semi-arboreal frog species and having a size that allow them entering the shelter. These artificial shelters can play an important role in conservation of these frogs in fragmented areas where the availability of the microhabitats of these frog species were locally reduced.     

The use of sedimentary %C, %N, delta(15)N, and Pb concentrations to assess historical changes in anthropogenic influence on Portuguese estuaries

Vertical profiles of C, N, delta(15)N and Pb were measured in the Mondego and Mira estuaries as markers that conveyed notions as to the relative influence of anthropogenic influence over the past decades. Recent carbon changes in both estuaries may reflect changes in estuarine productivity, probably as a consequence of sediment reworking and erosion, and also of losses in salt marsh area and dwarf eelgrass beds. delta(15)N values began to diverge considerably before the %C and %N and were higher in Mondego. delta(15)N signatures detected N enrichment at relatively low rates, and indicated that Mondego received more enriched N than Mira. Lead concentrations differed between estuaries, with higher concentrations in Mondego. The secular increase in %N, Pb, and delta(15)N signatures was significantly related to human density in the watersheds of the estuaries and were sensitive indicators of anthropogenic activity.     

Fractionation and Determination of Ah Receptor (AhR) Agonists in Organic Waste After Anaerobic Biodegradation and in Batch Experiments with PCB and decaBDE (8 pp)

Goals, Scope and Background

Anaerobic digestion of organic household waste can lead to an increase in dioxin-like content, as determined by dioxin-specific bioassays. This may be a result of bioactivation of Ah receptor (AhR) agonists into more potent congeners. Work towards identifying the contributing compound groups is important in order to understand the mechanisms and to assess the relevance behind this increase in dioxin-like toxicity, since the residue can be used as a soil fertilising agent. The aim with the present work was to identify compound groups with AhR agonistic properties that caused the previously reported increase in dioxin-like activity after anaerobic biodegradation

Methods

Firstly, chemical fractionation combined with dioxin bioassay testing was used to find bioactive classes of compounds. Secondly, batch digestion experiments with an externally added polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) mixture (Clophen A50) and with decabrominated diphenyl ether (decaBDE), respectively, were studied as a possible process for transformation of precursors into more potent, dioxin-like compounds. Mesophilic (37ºC) and thermophilic (55ºC) anaerobic digestion were studied. Two different dioxin-specific bioassays were used to analyse AhR agonists in the biodegraded material, the CELCAD and the DR-CALUX.

Results and Discussion

AhR agonist activity was detected in both di- and polyaromatic fractions of digestate extracts, which indicated that a diverse mixture of compounds contributed to the bioassay responses. No quantifiable activities were induced by the monoaromatic fractions. Further fractionation based on planarity revealed higher concentrations of AhR agonists than what was detected after the first fractionation, probably due to non-additive biological interactions of compounds in the extract that were removed in the second fractionation. These results showed significant activity in the non-planar diaromatic fractions and in the co-planar fractions of both diaromates and polyaromates. In the batch experiment with externally added PCB, an increase in dioxin-like activity was seen after 21 days of digestion at mesophilic conditions. After completed digestion, the content of AhR agonists was equal to the start concentration. PCB analysis with GC-MS indicated that dehalogenation of PCBs occurred in the digestors. The batch experiment with decaBDE showed no significant changes in TEQ-concentrations over time.

Conclusions

The results show that the previously reported increase of AhR agonists during mesophilic anaerobic digestion is probably due to an accumulation of several different groups of AhR agonists, both diaromatic and polyaromatic, and both co-planar and non-planar. Batch experiments with externally added PCBs and decaBDE, respectively, did not result in any accumulation of AhR agonist activity after completed digestion, even though chemical analysis indicate a dechlorination of PCBs. Complex, unfractionated extracts were difficult to test using the bioassay approach. Removal of AhR antagonists or otherwise interacting compounds during fractionation may yield bio-TEQ values that are much higher than in the original extract.

Recommendations and Perspective

. Our results indicate that the environmental risk that AhR agonists may pose concerning large-scale anaerobic digestion of organic household waste probably depends on the efficiency of the digester and the sludge residence time. In order to obtain reliable results with the bioassays, an extensive cleanup and fractionation procedure is necessary. Without clean up and fractionation, there is a risk for false negatives and misleading conclusions. DR-CALUX and CELCAD were both suitable for these kinds of studies, provided that suitable fractionation methods are used.

     

Potential risks of natural mercury levels to wild predator fish in an Amazon reservoir

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic metal that bioaccumulates in aquatic organisms and along food chain. Many studies have reported the problem of mercury exposure in aquatic systems from Amazon basin, but very few have focused on the potential risks to wild fish. The present study reports the bioaccumulation of mercury and alterations in target organs of the predator fish Hoplias malabaricus (traíra) from Samuel reservoir, Amazon basin, Northern Brazil. About 18% of fish had mercury levels in muscle exceeding the safe limit for ingestion through food, established by WHO (0.5 μg Hg g(-1)). Fish were separated in two groups according to mercury bioaccumulation in liver (<0.2 μg Hg g(-1)-group I and >0.2 μg Hg g(-1)-group II) for biomarker comparisons. Catalase activity and number of macrophage centers were statistically higher in group II, confirming the potential of Hg to interfere with redox balance and to recruit defense cells to the liver. Conversely, erythrocyte nuclear alterations were less frequent in group II, indicating a more rigorous selection of erythrocytes or hormesis pattern of response. Glutathione S-transferase activity, lipid peroxidation, and histopathological analyses were not statistically different in the liver and gills of both groups. Comparison of lipid peroxidation levels of these fish with others captured in Southern Brazil during another study and the high incidence of morphological alterations in the liver and gills suggest that the bioaccumulation of mercury during continuous exposure is posing potential risks to the species.     

Chronic genetic damages in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Geophagus brasiliensis</Emphasis> exposed to anthropic impact in Estuarine Lakes at Santa Catarina Coast–Southern of Brazil

Biological monitoring through animals exposed to pollutants using biomarkers provides a promising tool for the identification of pollutants that may cause damage to human health and/or to sustainability of ecosystems. The effects of pollutants in fish tissues are important tools to understand the impact of human activities in natural ecosystems. The aim of this work was to study the water quality of two estuarine lakes in Santa Catarina, Brazil (Camacho Lake and Santa Marta Lake). Geophagus brasiliensis is a species widely distributed in Brazil and was used in this work. Comet assays in peripheral red blood and kidney cells, micronucleus tests in peripheral red blood cells, measurements of acetylcholinesterase activity in axial muscle and histopathological analysis of liver were used as biomarkers. Three sampling campaigns were undertaken in November 2004, June 2005 and November 2005. Thirty adult animals were sampled from each of three different sites (P1—Santa Marta Lake, P2 and P3—Camacho Lake). A negative control was sampled in a non-polluted site at Costa Ecological Park, Paraná. The positive control for genotoxicity was obtained by treating animals with copper sulphate. The results showed that both studied lakes are impacted by potential genotoxic substances. Severe lesions in liver of G. brasiliensis were also observed. The inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity suggests the presence of pesticides or metals in the studied sites. This work shows that the water quality of Santa Marta and Camacho Lakes have been compromised and further control source of pollutants into these ecosystems is required.     

Phytomanagement of Cd-contaminated soils using maize (Zea mays L.) assisted by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria

Zea mays (L.) is a crop widely cultivated throughout the world and can be considered suitable for phytomanagement due to its metal resistance and energetic value. In this study, the effect of two plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, Ralstonia eutropha and Chryseobacterium humi, on growth and metal uptake of Z. mays plants in soils contaminated with up to 30 mg Cd kg^?1 was evaluated. Bacterial inoculation increased plant biomass up to 63 % and led to a decrease of up to 81 % in Cd shoot levels (4–88 mg Cd kg^?1) and to an increase of up to 186 % in accumulation in the roots (52–134 mg Cd kg^?1). The rhizosphere community structure changed throughout the experiment and varied with different levels of Cd soil contamination, as revealed by molecular biology techniques. Z. mays plants inoculated with either of the tested strains may have potential application in a strategy of soil remediation, in particular short-term phytostabilization, coupled with biomass production for energy purposes.