Lead contamination in tea garden soils and factors affecting its bioavailability

The consumption of heavy metals is detrimental to human health and most countries restrict the concentration of metals such as lead (Pb) in food and beverages. Recent tests have detected high Pb concentrations in certain commercial brands of tea leaves and this finding has raised concerns for both producers and consumers. To investigate what factors may be contributing to the increase in Pb accumulation in the tea leaves we collected tea leaves and soils from tea producing areas and analyzed them for Pb concentration, pH and organic matter content. The result showed the Pb concentration of 47% investigated tea leaves samples was beyond 2 mg kg(-1), the permissible levels given by China. The total Pb concentration in the surface and subsurface soil layers averaged 36.4 and 32.2 mg kg(-1), respectively which fall below of the 60 mg kg(-1) limit provided for organic tea gardens in China. The pH of the tea garden soils was severely acidic with the lowest pH of 3.37. Soils under older tea gardens tended to have a lower pH and a higher Pb bioavailability which was defined as the amount of lead extracted by CaCl2 solution than those under younger tea gardens. We found that the concentration of bioavailable Pb and the percentage of bioavailable Pb (bioavailable Pb relative to total Pb concentration) were positively correlated with soil H+ activity and soil organic matter content, and the organic matter accumulation contribute more effects on Pb bioavailability in these two factors. We conclude that soil acidification and organic matter accumulation could contribute to increasing Pb bioavailability in soil and that these could increase Pb uptake and accumulation in the tea leaves.     

污泥活性炭的制备及其对酸性红G的吸附行为

以城市污水处理厂的脱水污泥为原料,用ZnCl2活化法制备污泥活性炭,并研究其对水中酸性红G的吸附、脱附行为。选取活化剂浓度、固液比、活化温度及活化时间等因素,通过正交实验确定了最佳工艺,即ZnCl2浓度30%,固液比1:2,碳化温度500℃,碳化时间1.5 h。吸附实验结果表明,该污泥活性炭对水中酸性红G的吸附量随着温度升高而增加,在15、25和35℃条件下的最大吸附量分别为153.6、165.6和180.4 mg/g,且吸附等温线能较好用Langmuir方程进行模拟。酸性红G在污泥活性炭上的吸附动力学符合准二级反应动力学模型。污泥活性炭对酸性红G的吸附量随着溶液pH的增大而减小,污泥活性炭的最佳投加量为0.26 g/L。吸附饱和的污泥活性炭可通过碱处理和热处理方法进行脱附,脱附后的吸附剂对酸性红G仍具有很强吸附性能。     

西安市混合功能区冬夏季大气颗粒物中可溶性Fe的分布特征

可溶性铁(Fe)一方面作为营养元素影响着生物地球化学循环,另一方面作为氧化剂对大气二次气溶胶的形成也有重要影响.本文分别开展了西安市混合功能区冬夏季不同粒径大气颗粒物的观测研究,通过使用改良的液体波导毛细管池(LWCC)测定颗粒物中酸性介质提取的可溶性铁浓度,并探究其季节变化、昼夜分布及粒径分布特征.季节分布特征表明,...     

Effects of spatial autocorrelation and sampling design on estimates of protected area effectiveness

Estimating the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) in reducing deforestation is useful to support decisions on whether to invest in better management of areas already protected or to create new ones. Statistical matching is commonly used to assess this effectiveness, but spatial autocorrelation and regional differences in protection effectiveness are frequently overlooked. Using Colombia as a case study, we employed statistical matching to account for confounding factors in park location and accounted for for spatial autocorrelation to determine statistical significance. We compared the performance of different matching procedures—ways of generating matching pairs at different scales—in estimating PA effectiveness. Differences in matching procedures affected covariate similarity between matched pairs (balance) and estimates of PA effectiveness in reducing deforestation. Independent matching yielded the greatest balance. On average 95% of variables in each region were balanced with independent matching, whereas 33% of variables were balanced when using the method that performed worst. The best estimates suggested that average deforestation inside protected areas in Colombia was 40% lower than in matched sites. Protection significantly reduced deforestation, but PA effectiveness differed among regions. Protected areas in Caribe were the most effective, whereas those in Orinoco and Pacific were least effective. Our results demonstrate that accounting for spatial autocorrelation and using independent matching for each subset of data is needed to infer the effectiveness of protection in reducing deforestation. Not accounting for spatial autocorrelation can distort the assessment of protection effectiveness, increasing type I and II errors and inflating effect size. Our method allowed improved estimates of protection effectiveness across scales and under different conditions and can be applied to other regions to effectively assess PA performance.     

Performance of Streptomyces pactum–assisted phytoextraction of Cd and Pb: in view of soil properties,element bioavailability,and phytoextraction indices

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Microbe-assisted phytoremediation provides an eco-friendly and cost-effective approach to reclaim Cd- and Pb-contaminated soils. In this work,...     

Organochlorine pesticides,PCBs and heavy metals in tissues of the mullet Liza aurata in lake Ganzirri and Straits of Messina (Sicily,Italy)

The aim of this research was to investigate the presence of organochlorine pesticides, PCBs and heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in fish living in lake Ganzirri and the Straits of Messina, using the mullet Liza aurata as a "biological indicator". Different tissues of Liza aurata, which include the muscle, gill and vertebral column, were taken for analyses. Quantitative determination of the organochlorine compounds was performed by GC-ECD and confirmed with GC-MS. The concentrations of "essential" and "toxic" heavy metals were determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. For the mullets of lake Ganzirri, the study showed DDE in three samples of gills and one of muscle, at concentrations below the MRL; no appreciable residues of PCBs (Aroclor 1232 series) were found. The concentrations of Zn and Cu were much higher than those of the "toxic" metals. No traces of organochlorine pesticides and PCBs were found in the individuals from the Straits of Messina. Therefore, these results indicate that these two environments are not at toxicological risk.     

Naphthalene biodegradation kinetics in an aerobic slurry-phase bioreactor

The research was focused on the slurry-phase biodegradation of naphthalene in soil. Among ex situ techniques, the slurry phase offers the advantage of increased availability of contaminants to bacteria. From naphthalene contaminated soil, a Pseudomonas putida M8 strain capable to degrade naphthalene was selected. Experiments were performed in a stirred and oxygenated reactor. In this study, the influence of air flow rate and agitation rate on volatilisation and biodegradation of naphthalene was investigated. The hydrocarbon disappearance, the carbon dioxide production, and the ratio of total heterotrophic and naphthalene-degrading bacteria was monitored. The results obtained confirm that the selected bioremediation technology is successful in the treatment of contaminated soils.     

Bioaccumulation of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) in carp in a water/sediment microcosm: important role of sediment particulate matter and bioturbation

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Sediments are reservoirs and sources of DDTs to the aquatic ecosystem. However, the role of sediment particulate matter and benthic organisms in...     

Heavy metals extraction from contaminated soil: recovery of the flushing solution

The optimum conditions for the recovery of copper from a contaminated soil by using the soil flushing technique are evaluated. Tests on a soil artificially contaminated with copper chloride were carried out in order to evaluate the influence of the speed of percolation and of the chelating agent concentration (aqueous solution of an ethylendiaminotetraacetic acid di-sodium salt Na2-EDTA). At pH=7.3 an efficiency up to 93.9% for copper extraction was achieved by flushing 500 ml of Na2-EDTA 0.05 M solution and 100 ml of pure water at 0.792 cm/h. At these operating conditions the formation of EDTA complexes with other competitive cations (calcium and iron) was negligible. The experimental results were in agreement with the ones obtained using a model describing the chemistry of metal extraction. This model assessed that above pH=6 the formation of calcium and iron EDTA complexes was excluded and only the chelation of copper was allowed. The recovery of 91.6% of EDTA was also achieved by evaporating and acidifying the extracted solution: after filtration, solid EDTA was obtained, through the addition of sodium hydroxide Na2-EDTA. About 99.5% of the extracted copper was finally precipitated under alkaline conditions from the liquid phase.