Trends in background levels of persistent organic pollutants at Kosetice observatory, Czech Republic.1) Part I. Ambient air and wet deposition 1996-2005

Kosetice observatory is a facility of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, which is a part of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) network. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs: PCBs, DDTs, HCHs, PAHs) have been monitored in all environmental matrices using the integrated monitoring approach. Generally, the atmospheric levels of POPs in this Central European background station (mean values: 0.115 ng m(-3) for SigmaPCBs, 0.040 ng m(-3) for SigmaDDTs, 0.077 ng m(-3) for SigmaHCHs, and 17 ng m(-3) for SigmaPAHs) are significantly higher than those in other EMEP stations localized mostly in Northern and Western Europe. Long-term trends of POP concentrations in the ambient air and wet deposition are presented in this article and they show a slow decline in the last decade for most of the investigated compounds. Temporally increased levels of certain chemicals were associated with some local climatic (floods) or socio-economic (fuel prices) factors.     

Environmental and human health risk assessment of organic micro-pollutants occurring in a Spanish marine fish farm

In this work the risk posed to seawater organisms, predators and humans is assessed, as a consequence of exposure to 12 organic micro-pollutants, namely metronidazole, trimethoprim, erythromycin, simazine, flumequine, carbaryl, atrazine, diuron, terbutryn, irgarol, diphenyl sulphone (DPS) and 2-thiocyanomethylthiobenzothiazole (TCMTB). The risk assessment study is based on a 1-year monitoring study at a Spanish marine fish farm, involving passive sampling techniques. The results showed that the risk threshold for irgarol concerning seawater organisms is exceeded. On the other hand, the risk to predators and especially humans through consumption of fish is very low, due to the low bioconcentration potential of the substances assessed.     

Changes in mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis protein profile as a reaction of water pollution

In the present report the changes in mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis protein profile, as a reaction of water pollution, is presented. The antioxidant capacity was determined by the efficacy to scavenge the derived radical in mussel samples using the Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC) assay. The highest percentage of inhibition was estimated in protein mussels from the dirty area (DM) in comparison with the clean samples (CM). The amounts of both zinc and copper determined by atomic spectroscopy were significantly higher in the protein mussels from the dirty than from the clean areas (P<0.05). Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and fluorescence revealed specific qualitative changes in secondary and tertiary structures of mussel proteins from the dirty area by the shift in the amides I and II positions and fluorescence intensity. Estimated temperature and enthalpy of denaturation in the protein mussels well correlated with fluorescence and spectroscopic measurements and showed the changes influenced by water pollution.     

Sentiment analysis as a measure of conservation culture in scientific literature

Culturomics is emerging as an important field within science, as a way to measure attitudes and beliefs and their dynamics across time and space via quantitative analysis of digitized data from literature, news, film, social media, and more. Sentiment analysis is a culturomics tool that, within the last decade, has provided a means to quantify the polarity of attitudes expressed within various media. Conservation science is a crisis discipline; therefore, accurate and effective communication are paramount. We investigated how conservation scientists communicate their findings through scientific journal articles. We analyzed 15,001 abstracts from articles published from 1998 to 2017 in 6 conservation-focused journals selected based on indexing in scientific databases. Articles were categorized by year, focal taxa, and the conservation status of the focal species. We calculated mean sentiment score for each abstract (mean adjusted z score) based on 4 lexicons (Jockers-Rinker, National Research Council, Bing, and AFINN). We found a significant positive annual trend in the sentiment scores of articles. We also observed a significant trend toward increasing negativity along the spectrum of conservation status categories (i.e., from least concern to extinct). There were some clear differences in the sentiments with which research on different taxa was reported, however. For example, abstracts mentioning lobe finned fishes tended to have high sentiment scores, which could be related to the rediscovery of the coelacanth driving a positive narrative. Contrastingly, abstracts mentioning elasmobranchs had low scores, possibly reflecting the negative sentiment score associated with the word shark. Sentiment analysis has applications in science, especially as it pertains to conservation psychology, and we suggest a new science-based lexicon be developed specifically for the field of conservation.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Chitosan-Acrylic Acid Based Hydrogels and Investigation the Properties of Bilayered Design with Incorporated Alginate Beads

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - The paper presents the synthesis of hydrogels via free-radical polymerization, based on Chitosan (CS) grafted with Acrylic acid (AA), using a two-step...     

Endogenous control of fuelling in a migratory songbird

The Northern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) is a small long-distance migratory songbird that breeds throughout the Northern hemisphere and winters in sub-Saharan Africa. The main components of its migratory behaviour, i.e. seasonal migratory restlessness and body mass changes, have been shown to be under endogenous control. However, it is still unknown whether the disposition to accumulate fuel reserves is an inherited trait. We cross-bred Northern wheatears from two populations known to accumulate different amounts of fuel in a common-garden setup, and measured their maximum fuelling as the difference between the lightest and heaviest body mass recorded over each year for 4 years or longer. We used the largest value as a measure of maximum voluntary fuelling potential. F1-generation “hybrids” showed intermediate values to those of the parent populations. It was previously shown that in the wheatear the amount of fuel accumulated is closely linked to the presence of large ecological barriers to cross. This study shows that this adaptation has been fixed at the genetic level, and that intermediate traits are transferred to the next generation, with possible implications on the viability of such individuals in nature.     

Toxicity of cigarette butts and possible recycling solutions—a literature review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Tobacco is a worldwide-consumed product, which in addition to causing public health-related issues is responsible for the most common form of litter...     

Application of XAFS and XRD methods for describing the copper and zinc adsorption characteristics in hydromorphic soils

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - Modeling metal sorption in soils is of great importance to predict the fate of heavy metals and to assess the actual risk driven from pollution. The present...     

Analysis of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Bay following a large-scale industrial fire using ion-mobility-spectrometry-mass spectrometry

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent organic pollutants of concern because of their ubiquitous presence in surface and ground water; analytical methods that can be used for rapid comprehensive exposure assessment and fingerprinting of PFAS are needed. Following the fires at the Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC) in Deer Park, TX in 2019, large quantities of PFAS-containing firefighting foams were deployed. The release of these substances into the Houston Ship Channel/Galveston Bay (HSC/GB) prompted concerns over the extent and level of PFAS contamination. A targeted liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-based study of temporal and spatial patterns of PFAS associated with this incident revealed presence of 7 species; their levels gradually decreased over a 6-month period. Because the targeted LC-MS/MS analysis was focused on about 30 PFAS molecules, it may have missed other PFAS compounds present in firefighting foams. Therefore, we utilized untargeted LC-ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (LC-IMS-MS)-based analytical approach for a more comprehensive characterization of PFAS in these water samples. We analyzed 31 samples from 9 sites in the HSC/GB that were collected over 5 months after the incident. Our data showed that additional 19 PFAS were detected in surface water of HSC/GB, most of them decreased gradually after the incident. PFAS features detected by LC-MS/MS correlated well in abundance with LC-IMS-MS data; however, LC-IMS-MS identified a number of additional PFAS, many known to be components of firefighting foams. These findings therefore illustrate that untargeted LC-IMS-MS improved our understanding of PFAS presence in complex environmental samples.     

Monitoring of abandoned quarries by remote sensing and in situ surveying

In Italy quarrying causes relevant environmental damages and alterations to the land and the ecosystems. Despite the present Italian legislation requiring the restoration of the sites after exploitation, most of the quarries, both the abandoned and the still operational ones, are not restored.The objective of this work is to indicate a monitoring methodology in order to survey the present state of the quarry sites and their evolution in time, which are the basic data needed to implement an adequate land reclamation project.Such methodology has been applied to several abandoned limestone quarries in the Latina province (close to Rome), characterised by a typical Mediterranean vegetation, but it can be applied to any other kind of litology and vegetation.The land monitoring has been realised both by using remote sensing techniques, supported by a Geographic Information System of the studied area, and by in situ surveying. The in situ surveying was able to assess the capability of the remote sensing model to describe the state of each site.