Pollution status and health risk caused by heavy elements in the flooded soil and vegetables from typical agricultural region in Vojvodina Province,Serbia

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The investigation conducted in the Vojvodina Province, as a typical European and one of the biggest agricultural regions in the Balkans, offers the...     

Application of the comet assay and detection of DNA damage in haemocytes of medicinal leech affected by aluminium pollution: A case study

This report describes an investigation of genotoxic effects in medicinal leech (Hirudo verbana) exposed to water and sediment of Lake Njivice (Krk Island, Croatia) contaminated by aluminium compounds. The levels of primary DNA damage in leech haemocytes and loss of DNA integrity caused by acute and chronic exposure to contaminated water and sediment were investigated using the alkaline comet assay. Genotoxic effects induced by acute exposure to contaminants were evaluated on leech haemocytes and blood cells of fish and mouse treated ex vivo. The effects of chronic exposure were assessed on haemocytes sampled from an animal kept under laboratory conditions on contaminated water and sediment for 180 days. The results indicate the DNA damaging potential of aluminium compounds present in an excess amount in tested samples.     

Parental and alloparental investment in campo flickers (Colaptes campestris campestris): when relatedness comes first

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology - Studies with individual rodents have revealed that they display protean (unpredictable) behavior when attacked by an owl. Other studies have revealed that...     

Explanation of fluctuations in water use time series

This paper presents techniques for studying the influence of the climatic and other variables for the explanation of the water use with an example of time series in Gainesville, Florida. A statistical methodology is described for separating the different time scale components in time series of water use, namely, long term component, seasonal component, and short term component. We analyze each component separately and we prove that the temperature, precipitation, soil temperature, and relative humidity time series are the main climatic factors for the explanation of the long term, seasonal and short term component of the water use time series. Part of the residuals derived from the linear regression of the long term component of the water use can be explained by the unemployment rate. We also show that with the decomposition of the water use time series the explanation of the water use has been improved approximately two times. The explanation of the long term component of water use by the long term regional weather parameters can enable us to the long term regional prediction of the water resources availabilities. This methodology can be applied for studying the water use time series in other locations, as well.     

The effect of heating technologies on CO(2) and energy efficiency of Dutch greenhouse firms

This paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis to compute measures of the efficiency (relative to a frontier) in terms of the use of all inputs as well as for single inputs like CO(2) and energy for a sample of greenhouse firms in the Netherlands over the period 1991-1995. These efficiency measures are generated for different firms specialised in production of vegetables, flowers, and potplants and with different heating technologies. The empirical results indicate that firms use energy quite efficiently and are less efficient in terms of CO(2) emissions. Firms using conventional heating are overall less efficiently using energy and CO(2) than firms using more advanced heating technologies. Most differences in efficiency between firm types and firms using different heating technologies are statistically significant. Scale adjustments can provide an important contribution to further efficiency improvements.     

Analyses of known and new types of polyhalogenated aromatic substances in oven ash from recycled aluminium production

Persistent aromatic bromine, chlorine and mixed chlorine-bromine compounds were analysed from recycled aluminium smelter (ALS) ashes to explore the impact of brominated flame retardants (BFR) on their formation. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) were the most abundant original BFRs found. Induction furnace ash contained tetra- to octa-BDEs about 2000ng g(-1) in similar congener ratios as the original scrap, but contents of nona- and deca-BDEs were only 25 and 5ng g(-1) indicating their significant degradation in ALS process. In the most non-polar fraction, PCB levels and profiles were similar as earlier ALS ash samples in 1990s. The highest PCB level measured was that of deca-CB (450ng g(-1)) in the induction furnace ash. In this fraction, bromo compounds were non-detectable (<5ng g(-1)). Fraction of the most polar compounds (from reversed toluene elution of carbon column ("dioxin fraction") contained PCDDs, PCDFs and polychlorinated dibenzothiophenes (PCDTs) in similar amounts and congener profiles as earlier investigated ALS ash samples. Bromine-containing dioxin and furan congeners were not detected. From individual PCDDs and PCDFs, octaCDF was the most abundant (205ng g(-1)) in induction furnace ash. In this fraction, the original BFR, tetrabromo-bisphenol-A, was identified. Its level in the induction furnace ash was approximated to be 388ng g(-1). In addition, 12 novel brominated and chlorinated compounds were found as abundant (8-441ng g(-1) in the induction furnace ash) contaminants from the fraction. Four of them were bisphenol derivatives, five biphenylols, then octachlorofluorenone (OCFL) and octachlorobiphenylene (OCBP). Their structures or structure types were deduced from total low-resolution EI mass spectra by theoretical isotope cluster simulation (ICLU) and through known fragmentation rules.     

Traces of DU in samples of environmental bio-monitors (non-flowering plants, fungi) and soil from target sites of the Western Balkan region

This paper reports results of gamma and alpha spectrometric measurements for mosses, lichens, fungi and soil samples from areas in the Balkans targeted by depleted uranium (DU). Samples were collected in 2002 and 2003 in the vicinity of several villages, principally Han Pijesak (Bosnia and Herzegovina, hit by DU in 1995) and Bratoselce (South Serbia, hit by DU in 1999) and in lesser numbers from Gornja Stubla, Kosovo (which is identified as a high natural radon/thoron area) and Presevo close to the Kosovo border. In the course of gamma spectrometric measurements some results suggested samples with unusual high uranium contents which might be considered to be a signature for the presence of DU, although many samples had very high detection limits. Alpha spectrometric measurements directly proved the presence of DU for five samples, all from directly targeted places. These were samples of mosses, lichens and soil. For some samples homogeneity tests were applied which showed a rather even distribution of DU in these samples. No trace of DU was found in any sample from a dwelling.     

A wood preservative metabolite in river water

- A previously unknown pollutant in river water was identified to be 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (2-MBT) by interpretation and simulation of its GC/LRMS spectrum. Further GC/HRMS measurement of the isotope composition of the molecular ion verified this structure. 2-MBT is a well-known agent for corrosion inhibition and a stable metabolite of several other benzothiazoles. The present 2-MBT trace was most probably a metabolite of the wood preservative TCMTB which leaked from an upstream sawmill. The metabolite had been detected earlier in urine of the sawmill workers, but now was identified in the recipient water environment for the first time.