Indirect effect of nutrient accumulation intensified toxicity risk of metals in sediments from urban river network

The levels of metals in sediments of urban river ecosystems are crucial for aquatic environmental health and pollution assessment. Yet little is known about the interaction of nutrients with metals for environmental risks under contamination accumulation. Here, we combined hierarchical cluster, correlation, and principal component analysis with structural equation model (SEM) to investigate the pollution level, source, toxicity risk, and interaction associated with metals and nutrients in the sediments of a river network in a city area of East China. The results showed that the pollution associated with metals in sediments was rated as moderate degree of contamination load and medium-high toxicity risk in the middle and downstream of urban rivers based on contamination factor, pollution load index, and environmental toxicity quotient. The concentration of mercury (Hg) and zinc (Zn) showed a significant correlation with toxic risks, which had more contribution to toxicity than other metals in the study area. Organic nitrogen and organic pollution index showed heavily polluted sediments in south of the study area. Though correlation analysis indicated that nutrients and metals had different input zones from anthropogenic sources in the urban river network, SEM suggested that nutrient accumulation indirectly intensified toxicity risk of metals by 13.6% in sediments. Therefore, we suggested the combined consideration of metal toxicity risk with nutrient accumulation, which may provide a comprehensive understanding to identify sediment pollution.

Toxicity rate of metals in sediments from urban river network indirectly intensified by nutrients accumulation

     

“Modern agriculture” transfers many pesticides to watercourses: a case study of a representative rural catchment of southern Brazil

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The total cultivated area in Brazil reached to 62 million ha in 2018, with the predominance of genetically modified soybean and corn (36 and 17...     

Plume analysis from field evaluations of a portable air quality monitoring system

ABSTRACT

Near-road measurements in Rochester, NY with a Portable Air Quality Monitoring System indicate a significant plume control of PM_2.5 black carbon (BC) concentrations. This study evaluates the performance of two portable air quality enclosures deployed at collocated research sites to determine their accuracy and usefulness in field deployments, and specifically in pollution plume analysis. One system deployed collocated sensors for measurement of particulate matter mass concentration (Thermo pDR 1500 against Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM) measurement) and the second system deployed sensors for measurement of black carbon (Magee AE33 aethalometer and Brechtel Tricolor Absorption Photometer) in ambient and near-road locations in Rochester, New York, respectively. While the optical PM_2.5 sensors tended to be biased in their determination of concentration by ~15%, they followed changes and trends in concentration very well. The black carbon sensors in the portable systems agreed very well with each other and with the collocated sensor. As a case study to determine the contribution from statistically significant short-lived excursions of pollutant concentration, Morlet wavelet analysis was performed on data from the portable system sensors. Black carbon was found to be strongly influenced by plume behavior with significant plume excursions representing just over 12% of all data points and contributing on average 1 µg/m³ of black carbon above ambient concentrations.

Implications: This paper first evaluates two air pollutant monitoring enclosures with wide applicability including near-road detection of pollutants. Then, we present a novel method to designate isolate statistically significant excursions in air pollution concentration which can be used to determine the impact of pollutant plumes as observed in PM and black carbon behavior near road.     

Insight into metal binding properties of biochar-derived DOM using EEM-PARAFAC and differential absorption spectra combined with two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A large amount of biochar-derived dissolved organic matter (BDOM) will be released into the environment with biochars application into repairing...     

Effects of UV-modified biochar derived from phytoremediation residue on Cd bioavailability and uptake in Coriandrum sativum L. in a Cd-contaminated soil

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Biochar has been applied widely as an amendment in the remediation of contaminated soil to immobilize the heavy metals. However, the role of...     

Efficient mineralization of gaseous benzyl chloride by VUV/UV photodegradation in humid air

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - VUV/UV photodegradation technology, which is free of catalysts or oxidants, has been regarded as an efficient method to decompose gaseous VOCs....     

How does population structure affect pollutant discharge in China? Evidence from an improved STIRPAT model

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - China is the most populous country in the world, and the pollution caused by the excessive population should not be underestimated. In recent years,...     

Legacy and alternative halogenated flame retardants in Lake Geneva fish

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Legacy (i.e., polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD)) and alternative halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) were...     

Research progress and hot spots of hydrothermal liquefaction for bio-oil production based on bibliometric analysis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of biomass used HTL reaction under high temperature and pressure to produce bio-oil. This technology is considered as...     

A comparison analysis of the decoupling carbon emissions from economic growth in three industries of Heilongjiang province in China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Growing environmental pressure urges China to develop in a sustainable and low carbon way, and thus China strives to achieve a carbon peak by 2030 and...