Heavy metals in the SPM of air in the environment surrounding a ferro-alloy industrial plant in India

Prices for ferro-alloys have hardened due to the closure of plants in developed countries on account of increasingly stringent pollution control legislation, resulting in a higher cost of production. A ferro-alloy industry with a capacity of 80000 MT per annum was selected to study the nature of pollution. Because of the objectionable nature of polluting air in and around the plant it was located in a rural area where there was no other industry. The area was agriculturally active and there was no effective control system for this plant.The quality of ambient air around the plant site is discussed in this paper along with the meteorological conditions. The maximum concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM) was 768 µg/NM³ downwind of the plant, minimum 184 µg/NM³, and the average was more than 446 µg/NM³. The presence of heavy metals, viz. Fe, Mn, Cr and Pb, was also assessed. The concentration of Fe was 50 µg/NM³ downwind and 10 µg/NM³ upwind. The concentration of other metals followed a similar trend.     

Impairment of male reproduction in adult rats exposed to hydroxyprogesterone caproate in utero

Hydroxyprogesterone caproate is one of the most effective and widely used drugs for the treatment of uterine bleeding and threatened miscarriage in women. Hydroxyprogesterone caproate was administered to pregnant rats in order to assess the effect of intraperitoneal exposure to supranormal levels of hydroxyprogesterone caproate on the male reproductive potential in the first generation. The cauda epididymal sperm count and motility decreased significantly in rats exposed to hydroxyprogesterone caproate during embryonic development, when compared with control rats. The levels of serum testosterone decreased with an increase in follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone in adult rats exposed to hydroxyprogesterone caproate during the embryonic stage. It was suggested that the impairment of male reproductive performance could be mediated through the inhibition of testosterone production.     

Analyzing the Impacts of Dams on Riparian Ecosystems: A Review of Research Strategies and Their Relevance to the Snake River Through Hells Canyon

River damming provides a dominant human impact on river environments worldwide, and while local impacts of reservoir flooding are immediate, subsequent ecological impacts downstream can be extensive. In this article, we assess seven research strategies for analyzing the impacts of dams and river flow regulation on riparian ecosystems. These include spatial comparisons of (1) upstream versus downstream reaches, (2) progressive downstream patterns, or (3) the dammed river versus an adjacent free-flowing or differently regulated river(s). Temporal comparisons consider (4) pre- versus post-dam, or (5) sequential post-dam conditions. However, spatial comparisons are complicated by the fact that dams are not randomly located, and temporal comparisons are commonly limited by sparse historic information. As a result, comparative approaches are often correlative and vulnerable to confounding factors. To complement these analyses, (6) flow or sediment modifications can be implemented to test causal associations. Finally, (7) process-based modeling represents a predictive approach incorporating hydrogeomorphic processes and their biological consequences. In a case study of Hells Canyon, the upstream versus downstream comparison is confounded by a dramatic geomorphic transition. Comparison of the multiple reaches below the dams should be useful, and the comparison of Snake River with the adjacent free-flowing Salmon River may provide the strongest spatial comparison. A pre- versus post-dam comparison would provide the most direct study approach, but pre-dam information is limited to historic reports and archival photographs. We conclude that multiple study approaches are essential to provide confident interpretations of ecological impacts downstream from dams, and propose a comprehensive study for Hells Canyon that integrates multiple research strategies.     

Volunteer Macroinvertebrate Monitoring: Tensions Among Group Goals,Data Quality,and Outcomes

Volunteer monitoring of natural resources is promoted for its ability to increase public awareness, to provide valuable knowledge, and to encourage policy change that promotes ecosystem health. We used the case of volunteer macroinvertebrate monitoring (VMM) in streams to investigate whether the quality of data collected is correlated with data use and organizers' perception of whether they have achieved these outcomes. We examined the relation between site and group characteristics, data quality, data use, and perceived outcomes (education, social capital, and policy change). We found that group size and the degree to which citizen groups perform tasks on their own (rather than aided by professionals) positively correlated with the quality of data collected. Group size and number of years monitoring positively influenced whether a group used their data. While one might expect that groups committed to collecting good-quality data would be more likely to use it, there was no relation between data quality and data use, and no relation between data quality and perceived outcomes. More data use was, however, correlated with a group's feeling of connection to a network of engaged citizens and professionals. While VMM may hold promise for bringing citizens and scientists together to work on joint conservation agendas, our data illustrate that data quality does not correlate with a volunteer group's desire to use their data to promote regulatory change. Therefore, we encourage scientists and citizens alike to recognize this potential disconnect and strive to be explicit about the role of data in conservation efforts.     

River-Stream Connectivity Affects Fish Bioassessment Performance

Stream fish bioassessment methods assume that fish assemblages observed in sample sites reflect responses to local stressors, but fish assemblages are influenced by local factors as well as regional dispersal to and from connected streams. We hypothesized that fish movement to and from refugia and source populations in connected rivers (i.e., riverine dispersal) would weaken or decouple relations between fish community metrics and local environmental conditions. We compared fish-environment relations between streams that flow into large rivers (mainstem tributaries) and streams that lack riverine confluences (headwater tributaries) at multiple spatial grains using data from the USEPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program in the mid-Atlantic highlands, USA (n = 157 sites). Headwater and mainstem tributaries were not different in local environmental conditions, but showed important differences in fish metric responses to environmental quality gradients. Stream sites flowing into mainstem channels within 10 fluvial km showed consistently weaker relations to local environmental conditions than stream sites that lacked such mainstem connections. Moreover, these patterns diminished at longer distances from riverine confluences, consistent with the hypothesis of riverine dispersal. Our results suggest that (1) the precision of fish bioassessment metrics may be improved by calibrating scoring criteria based on the spatial position of sites within stream networks and (2) the spatial grain of fish bioassessment studies may be manipulated to suit objectives by including or excluding fishes exhibiting riverine dispersal.     

Effect of field exposure to 38-year-old residual petroleum hydrocarbons on growth, condition index, and filtration rate of the ribbed mussel, Geukensia demissa

In September 1969, the Florida barge spilled 700,000 L of No. 2 fuel oil into the salt marsh sediments of Wild Harbor, MA. Today a substantial amount, approximately 100 kg, of moderately degraded petroleum remains within the sediment and along eroding creek banks. The ribbed mussels, Geukensia demissa, which inhabit the salt marsh creek bank, are exposed to the spilled oil. Examination of short-term exposure was done with transplantation of G. demissa from a control site, Great Sippewissett marsh, into Wild Harbor. We also examined the effects of long-term exposure with transplantation of mussels from Wild Harbor into Great Sippewissett. Both the short- and long-term exposure transplants exhibited slower growth rates, shorter mean shell lengths, lower condition indices, and decreased filtration rates. The results add new knowledge about long-term consequences of spilled oil, a dimension that should be included when assessing oil-impacted areas and developing management plans designed to restore, rehabilitate, or replace impacted areas.     

Soil C and N models that integrate microbial diversity

Industrial agriculture is yearly responsible for the loss of 55–100 Pg of historical soil carbon and 9.9 Tg of reactive nitrogen worldwide. Therefore, management practices should be adapted to preserve ecological processes and reduce inputs and environmental impacts. In particular, the management of soil organic matter (SOM) is a key factor influencing C and N cycles. Soil microorganisms play a central role in SOM dynamics. For instance, microbial diversity may explain up to 77 % of carbon mineralisation activities. However, soil microbial diversity is actually rarely taken into account in models of C and N dynamics. Here, we review the influence of microbial diversity on C and N dynamics, and the integration of microbial diversity in soil C and N models. We found that a gain of microbial richness and evenness enhances soil C and N dynamics on the average, though the improvement of C and N dynamics depends on the composition of microbial community. We reviewed 50 models integrating soil microbial diversity. More than 90 % of models integrate microbial diversity with discrete compartments representing conceptual functional groups (64 %) or identified taxonomic groups interacting in a food web (28 %). Half of the models have not been tested against an empirical dataset while the other half mainly consider fixed parameters. This is due to the difficulty to link taxonomic and functional diversity.     

Catalytic activities and mechanism of formaldehyde oxidation over gold supported on MnO<Subscript>2</Subscript> microsphere catalysts at room temperature

MnO₂ microspheres with various surface structures were prepared using the hydrothermal method, and Au/MnO₂ catalysts were synthesized using the sol-gel method. We obtained three MnO₂ microspheres and Au/MnO₂ samples: coherent solid spheres covered with wire-like nanostructures, solid spheres with nanosheets, and hierarchical hollow microspheres with nanoplatelets and nanorods. We investigated the properties and catalytic activities of formaldehyde oxidation at room temperature. Crystalline structures of MnO₂ are the main factor affecting the catalytic activities of these samples, and γ-MnO₂ shows high catalytic performance. The excellent redox properties are responsible for the catalytic ability of γ-MnO₂. The gold-supported interaction can change the redox properties of catalysts and accelerate surface oxygen species transition, which can account for the catalytic activity enhancement of Au/MnO₂. We also studied intermediate species. The dioxymethylene (DOM) and formate species formed on the catalyst surface were considered intermediates, and were ultimately transformed into hydrocarbonate and carbonate and then decomposed into CO₂. A proposed mechanism of formaldehyde oxidation over Au/MnO₂ catalysts was also obtained.