Measurement of Ozone Levels by Ship Along the Eastern Shore of Lake Michigan

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in cooperation with the Toronto Harbour Commissioners (THC), conducted a Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) demonstration of the THC Soil Recycle Treatment Train. The treatment train consists of three technologies operated in sequence: a soil wash process, a metals removal process, and a biological treatment process. The THC conducted an extensive demonstration of the treatment train at a 55 tons per day pilot plant in order to evaluate an approach for remediation of industrial/commercial sites that are situated in the Toronto Port Industrial District (PID). Three soils were processed during the THC demonstration. The EPA SITE demonstration project examined, in detail, soil processing from one of the sites being evaluated as part of the overall THC project. Contaminants included organic compounds and heavy metals. It has been estimated by THC that as much as 2,200,000 tons of soil from locations within the PID may require some form of treatment due to heavy metal and/or organic contamination that resulted from various industrial processing operations. The objective of the SITE demonstration was to evaluate the technical effectiveness of the process in relation to THC’s target criteria.

Gravel and sand that met the THC target criteria for medium to fine soil suitable for industrial/commercial sites was produced. The fine soil from the biological treatment process did not meet the target level of 2.4 ppm for benzo(a)pyrene. However, there was a significant reduction in polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds. The metals removal process achieved reductions of greater than seventy percent for copper, lead, nickel, and zinc.     

Penetration and Duration of Oxidant Air Pollution in the South Coast Air Basin of California

On June 18, 19, and 20, 1970, two aircraft, a rawinsonde, two pibal stations, and four ground stations provided simultaneous samples of total oxidant, temperature, and winds up to 8000 ft in an area extending from Santa Monica, Calif., east to Redlands and north across the San Bernardino Mountains. It was shown that photochemical oxidant formed in the marine layer is vented up the slopes and over the crest of the San Bernardino Mountains during the day. Layers of high oxidant concentrations were detected above the inversion base, suggesting that some pollution is vented up the slopes and subsequently advected back to the south. The diurnal changes in the temperature inversion also contribute to the high concentration found above the inversion base. These processes result in multi-layers of pollution. The study suggests that oxidant air pollution is transported up to 80 mi to forested mountains, where severe damage to conifer species has been documented.     

Evaluation of biotechnological processes to obtain ethanol from recycled paper sludge

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Finding innovative solutions to manage waste and to expand the production of biofuels are some of the current challenges. Pulp and paper sectors,...     

联合基于野外的代谢组学和化学分析手段筛选优先关注新兴污染物：在五大湖流域的案例研究

由于毒性评估项目很难与日渐增长的需要测试的污染物保持同步,所以较难将关注点集中在影响水生生态系统的最为生物相关的污染物上。由于评估潜在毒性污染物所造成的生物影响已被证明是有效的,内生性代谢物的研究（代谢组学）对于剔除那些较低可能造成生物影响的污染物或许有一定帮助,从而找出生物重要性最高的污染物。本研究在北美五大湖流域的18个地点针对置于笼中的黑头软口鲦（Pimephales promelas）进行实验。我们测定了水体温度和水样中的污染物浓度（目标污染物132种,检出86种）,并使用1H-NMR谱测量了肝极性提取物中的内生性代谢物。利用偏最小二乘法回归来比对内生性代谢物的相对丰度与污染物浓度和环境温度。结果表明内生性极性代谢物的指标与最多49种污染物存在共同变化。因此我们认为至多52%的检出污染物与内生性代谢物变化的共同变化不显著,表明这些污染物很可能不会在这些地点造成可以检测到的影响。这是通过缩短对于实验地点有着潜在影响的污染物列表从而扫描出检出污染物生物相关性的第一步。类似的信息有助于风险评估者区分不同污染物的重要性并将重点毒性测试放在最为生物相关的污染物上。
精选自Nicol Janecko, Lucie Pokludova, Jana Blahova, Zdenka Svobodova, Ivan Literak. Linking field-based metabolomics and chemical analyses to prioritize contaminants of emerging concern in the Great Lakes basin. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry: Volume 35, Issue 10, pages 2493–2502, October 2016. DOI: 10.1002/etc.3409
详情请见http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/etc.3409/full
     

Chemical investigations of defensive steroid sequestration by the Asian snake Rhabdophis tigrinus

Rhabdophis tigrinus is an Asian natricine snake that possesses unusual defensive glands on the dorsal surface of its neck. These nuchal glands typically contain cardiotonic steroidal toxins known as bufadienolides, which are also abundant in the skin of toads. Feeding experiments demonstrated that toads consumed as prey are the ultimate sources of the bufadienolides in nuchal glands of R. tigrinus. Indeed, snakes on a toad-free Japanese island (Kinkasan, Miyagi Prefecture) lack these compounds in their nuchal glands, confirming that these snakes are unable to synthesize defensive bufadienolides. However, when snakes from Kinkasan are fed toads in the laboratory, they accumulate bufadienolides in their nuchal glands, indicating that they have not lost the ability to sequester defensive compounds from prey. In contrast, R. tigrinus from a toad-rich island (Ishima, Tokushima Prefecture) possess large quantities of bufadienolides, reflecting the abundance of toads from which these compounds can be sequestered. Feeding experiments involving gravid R. tigrinus demonstrated that bufadienolides can be provisioned to offspring so that hatchlings are chemically defended before their first toad meal. Maternal provisioning of bufadienolides can take place through two routes: by deposition in yolk and by diffusion in utero, even late in gestation. We applied bufadienolides to the surface of eggs from Kinkasan and found that the embryos are able to take up these compounds into their nuchal glands, demonstrating the feasibility of uptake across the eggshell. Female R. tigrinus provision bufadienolides to their offspring in direct proportion to their own level of chemical defense. By feeding toad-derived bufotoxins to R. tigrinus hatchlings, we determined that the sequestration of these compounds involves at least three types of modification: hydrolytic cleavage of suberylarginine side chains, hydroxylation, and epimerization.     

A simple Lagrangian model to simulate temporal variability of algae in the Elbe River

We present a five-year (1997–2001) numerical simulation of daily mean chlorophyll a concentrations at station Geesthacht Weir on the lower Elbe River (Germany) using an extremely simple Lagrangian model driven by (a) water discharge, global radiation, water temperature, and (b) silica observations at station Schmilka in the upper reach of the Elbe River. Notwithstanding the lack of many mechanistic details, the model is able to reproduce observed chlorophyll a variability surprisingly well, including a number of sharp valleys and ascents/descents in the observed time series. The model's success is based on the assumption of three key effects: prevailing light conditions, sporadic limitation of algal growth due to lack of silica and algae loss rates that increase above an empirically specified temperature threshold of 20 °C. Trimmed-down model versions are studied to analyse the model's success in terms of these mechanisms.In each of the five years the model consistently fails, however, to properly simulate characteristic steep increases of chlorophyll a concentrations after pronounced spring minima. Curing this model deficiency by global model re-calibration was found to be impossible. However, suspension of silica consumption by algae for up to 10 days in spring is shown to serve as a successful placeholder for processes that are disregarded in the model but apparently play an important role in the distinctly marked period of model failure. For the remainder of the year the very simple model was found to be adequate.     

Spatial assessment of fin whale hotspots and their association with krill within an important Antarctic feeding and fishing ground

Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus quoyi) habitat use and its relationship to environmental conditions are generally unknown in the Southern Ocean, presenting challenges for predicting their seasonal occurrence and potential effects of fishing pressure and climate change on this endangered species. Using biological data collected during 14 shipboard surveys off the northern Antarctic Peninsula and oceanographic data from satellite remote sensing, we mapped the distribution of fin whale hotspots, Antarctic krill abundance (biomass from acoustics, concentrations from nets) and ocean conditions during mid- and late-summer to investigate the environmental determinants of whale hotspots. Generalized additive models (GAM) were used to test the hypothesis that intra-seasonal changes in fin whale hotspot distribution relate to sea surface temperature (SST), krill abundance and eddy kinetic energy (EKE). More whale hotspots (sightings and individuals) are observed during late- than mid-summer surveys. During mid-summer, hotspots occurred near Elephant Island while in late-summer they were distributed throughout the slope region in proximity to the mean location of the southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front. The spatial mean of EKE did not differ between mid- and late-summer surveys, but the spatial mean of SST was significantly warmer during late-summer. The GAM for mid-summer indicates that fin whale hotspots were positively related to SST, EKE and acoustically determined krill biomass. The GAM for late-summer indicates the hotspots were negatively related to net-based krill abundance and positively related to acoustic krill biomass and EKE. This study is important because environmental determinants of fin whale hotspots may be used as reference points for implementing future conservation plans for their recovering populations.     

A Preliminary Laboratory Study of Initial Copper Release from Dredge Residuals

A preliminary laboratory study was conducted to investigate the impact of different residual types and sediment surface roughness on copper contaminant fluxes to the water column. Sediments from Torch Lake, Michigan served as the test samples. These sediments are mining by‐products with elevated Cu levels. Six experiments were run during which the sediments were conditioned to simulate different forms of residuals. During these experiments, the water column above the sediments was circulated via peristaltic pumping or orbital shaking and the total and dissolved Cu levels were monitored periodically for 15 days. Dissolved Cu levels indicated that during the first 48 hr the water column concentrations approached equilibrium for all six cases. Total Cu levels increased with time and did reach equilibrium but were more susceptible to fluctuations in water column suspended solids levels. Analysis of the resulting dissolved Cu data indicated that the resulting water column Cu concentrations differed with sediment surface and residual type. The highest dissolved Cu water column concentrations were observed for a roughened surface with a larger surface area. The lowest water column dissolved Cu levels were observed for the case with sediment slurry placed over clean sand. The dissolved Cu levels in the water column for all six simulated conditions were several orders higher than the USEPA ambient water quality criteria for protection of aquatic life. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.*     

Long-term behavior at foraging sites of adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida rookeries

We used satellite telemetry to study behavior at foraging sites of 40 adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida (USA) rookeries. Foraging sites were located in four countries (USA, Mexico, the Bahamas, and Cuba). We were able to determine home range for 32 of the loggerheads. One turtle moved through several temporary residence areas, but the rest had a primary residence area in which they spent all or most of their time (usually >11 months per year). Twenty-four had a primary residence area that was <500 km² (mean = 191). Seven had a primary residence area that was ≥500 km² (range = 573–1,907). Primary residence areas were mostly restricted to depths <100 m. Loggerheads appeared to favor areas with larger-grained sediment (gravel and rock) over areas with smaller-grained sediment (mud). Short-term departures from primary residence areas were either looping excursions, typically involving 1–2 weeks of continuous travel, or movement to a secondary residence area where turtles spent 25–45 days before returning to their primary residence area. Ten turtles had a secondary residence area, and six used it as an overwintering site. For those six turtles, the primary residence area was in shallow water (<17 m) in the northern half of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), and overwintering sites were farther offshore or farther south. We documented long winter dive times (>4 h) for the first time in the GOM. Characterizing behaviors at foraging sites helps inform and assess loggerhead recovery efforts.