Cuticular features as indicators of environmental pollution

Several leaf cuticular features such as stomatal frequency, stomatal size, trichome length, type, and frequency, and subsidiary cell complex respond to environmental pollution in different ways and hence can be used as indicators of environmental pollution in an area. Several modifications in cuticular features under polluted environments seem to indicate ecotypic or survival significance for the plant species under investigation.     

Vanadium and nickel in dustfall as indicators of power plant pollution

The elements V and Ni were determined in dustfall (settling particles), airborne dust and in soils at various points in the greater Tel-Aviv area between the years 1973 and 1984. Good correlations were found between measured distribution patterns for V and Ni in dustfall during the summer months and those predicted for settling particles from the Tel-Aviv power station (which burns heavy fuel oil) using a meteorological model based on diffusion from an elevated point source. The distribution patterns for V and Ni in dustfall collected in the Tel-Aviv area were very similar to those previously measured for SO₂ and total S compounds. The concentration of V and Ni in soils also conforms to a pattern that points to the power station as a major source of these metals. It is suggested that V and Ni may be used as tracers for measuring the distribution of pollution from oil fired power stations.     

Bacterial pollution of groundwater: A review

Contamination of groundwater resources from bacterial laden wastewater and effluents poses a great threat to the potability and use of these water sources. Future planning, development and management schemes must consider this topic to avoid costly and sometimes untested corrective actions. Major factors affecting the quantity and velocity at which bacteria are able to migrate through soil can be classified as (1) soil factors including particle size distribution, structure, clay content, pore size distribution and moisture regime, and (2) biological factors responsible for bacterial die-off including pH, temperature, moisture content, and nutrient supply. Past bacterial pollution problems have been shown to be localized and restricted to wells utilizing near-surface waters. The following problem areas exist and must be given special consideration in planning and development: (1) use of septic disposal systems in unsuitable soils; (2) drainage waters from wastewater application areas utilizing artificial drainage systems; (3) waste application in areas underlain by fractured crystalline rock or channelized bedrock; and (4) bacterial contamination induced over great distances by groundwater pumping.     

Humic and fulvic acids as indicators of soil and water pollution

Humic substances are the major organic components of soil and sediments, but little is known on how they are affected by environmental and industrial pollution. To find out whether such effects could be recognized, a number of analytical characteristics were compared of humic and fulvic acids extracted from unpolluted and polluted soils and sediments. The main differences were that, per unit weight, polluted humic and fulvic acids contained more N, S and H but fewer CO₂H groups, and were more aliphatic than unpolluted samples. Unusually high N and S contents of humic materials appear to be the most valid indicators of pollution. Humic acids are preferred to fulvic acids as indicators of pollution because the former are more readily separated and purified.     

Suitability of soil microbial parameters as indicators of heavy metal pollution

Several microbial parameters (microbial biomass, respiration, dehydrogenase, phosphatase, sulphatase, glucosidase, protease and urease activities) were measured in soils from five sites located in urban green areas close to roads differing in traffic density. Our aims were to evaluate the suitability of such parameters as field biomarkers of stress induced by heavy metal pollution, and to compare results obtained by single microbial parameters with results given by an index expressing the average microbial (AME) response of the microbial community. Data showed that all parameters were significantly reduced in the sites characterized by the highest load of metals in soil. Dehydrogenase, sulphatase, glucosidase activities and respiration, declined exponentially with increasing metal concentration, whereas phosphatase activity and AME decreased following a sigmoidal type relationship. In contrast, protease, urease and microbial biomass were not significantly correlated with soil metal concentration. Microbial parameters differed both in sensitivity to critical metal concentrations and in the rate of decline at increasing metal loads in soil. Due to the complex interplay of chemical, physical and biological factors which influence microbial activities and biomass, the proposed index (AME) appeared more suitable than single microbial parameters for a biomonitoring study of this type.     

Coliforms,fecal coliforms,and fecal streptococci as indicators of water pollution

The presence and survival of coliforms, fecal coliforms, and fecal streptococci were studied in sewage treatment plants, heavily polluted rivers, a lake, and other drinking water sources. In all cases the fecal streptococci were generally more resistant to the natural water environment and to purification processes than the other indicator organisms and, at points distant from the original source of pollution were often the only indicators of the fecal nature of the pollution. In two of the systems studied the survival of the fecal streptococci paralleled the survival of enteric viruses better than the coliforms. The fecal streptococci may thus in certain cases provide a better estimate of the probable virus content in lightly contaminated water than the other two indicators.     

A comparison of molecular methods for monitoring soil nematodes and their use as biological indicators

Soil fauna, especially soil nematode communities may be used as indicators for monitoring soil biodiversity and ecological processes. A major drawback facing ecologists is the specialised taxonomic knowledge and labour intensive nature of the work required for traditional morphological identification of soil fauna. We review rapid molecular methods, including: DNA Barcoding or sequencing, PCR-DGGE, PCR-TRFLP and real-time PCR, which could enable an empirical assessment of soil nematode assemblages, in relation to their use as monitoring tools. Based on advantages of: high-throughput; ease of comparison between samples; and rapid data analysis, we argue that PCR-TRFLP is well suited to monitoring purposes.     

Soil versus plant as indicators of agroecosystem pollution by potentially toxic elements

The major route of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) to humans is the intake through food. They enter the food chain principally by plants uptake from the soil and, to a less extent, through foliar deposition. The soil‐to‐plant transfer as part of the biogeochemical cycle of these elements is a complex and hardly predictable process. In this study, we investigated the capability of soils and plants to indicate PTEs inputs in an intermingled urban‐rural landscape of south Italy affected by legal and illegal waste disposal and dumping. For this aim, 172 agricultural soil and plant (edible part) samples were collected in pairs from 47 municipalities and analyzed for 12 PTEs (As, Be, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Se, Tl, V, Zn). Soil extractions with 1 M NH₄NO₃ and 0.05 M EDTA pH 7 were applied to assess PTEs bioavailability. Results were examined according to plant species and main soil chemical properties. For Pb and Cd, the soil‐to‐plant transfer factors (TF) and the corresponding soil benchmark concentrations were also investigated. Zinc, Cu, Cd, and Pb were the only PTEs of anthropic origin severely polluting from 10 to 16% of the soils, but only in a very few cases exceeded physiological or EU legal critical values in the edible part of the plants. An evaluation of human risk due to the ingestion of these elements was tried; no risk for consumers for Zn, Cu, and Pb, while for Cd three values slightly exceeded the tolerable daily intake. Therefore, we conclude that crops cultivated in the studied area could represent only a moderate risk for human health. No correlation was found between soil and plant data, which likely highlights different pollution inputs. A large variability characterized the Pb and Cd TF, making it difficult to establish a unique benchmark concentration for the studied agricultural soils.     

Assessment of pollution of groundwater by atrazine

Atrazine has been used as a powerful herbicide in maize production for about 30 years, but since it became clear that it threatens the quality of groundwater its use has been forbidden in Germany and elsewhere. Nevertheless the risk to groundwater will remain for a considerable time, and this time will vary depending on the soil type. a classification and mapping procedure for groundwater sensitivity has been developed and the risk of groundwater pollution by atrazine assessed. Specific regions of Germany at high risk have been identified using a computer model and statistical data.     

北京市顺义区地下水硝态氮污染的现状与评价

对北京市顺义区 146眼地下水井中 ,其中饮用水井 (120～200m深 ) 32眼、农灌水井 (井深70～ 100m) 95眼、手压水井 (井深 6～20m) 19眼的硝态氮含量进行了调查分析。结果表明 ,该区饮用水硝态氮 (NO3--N)含量较低 ,全部达到国家饮用水一级标准 (10mg/L) ,水质总体良好 ,但个别地区已处于污染警戒状态 ;农灌水质量略逊于饮用水 ,但总体状况仍属良好 ,硝态氮 (10mg/L)超标率为 7.4 % ,另有 6.3%处于污染警戒状态 ;手压井水硝态氮污染较为严重 ,超标率达 36 .8% ,尤其是位于菜田中的手压水井超标率高达 50%以上。从耕地类型来看 ,粮田农灌水质量优于菜田。地下水硝态氮含量与井深度呈负相关关系 ,机井越深 ,硝态氮含量越低 ,超标率越低。本文还对地下水硝态氮污染的原因进行了分析。     

复合井修复地下水硝酸盐污染的效果

为探寻更适用于农田周边硝酸盐污染地下水的原位生物修复技术,该研究构建了A、B、C3套试验装置,分别刻画管井(A)、大口井与管井组成的复合井(B、C).基于3套物理试验模型,定量对比分析了管井与复合井修复地下水硝酸盐污染的效果.结果表明:受水力停留时间的影响,相同流速条件下,A、B、C三套修复系统的硝酸盐负荷分别介于75...     

Interaction between nitrogen fertilization,rainfall and groundwater pollution in sandy soil

A 2 yr field study on the influence of N fertilization and rainfall on groundwater pollution was carried out in the sandy area of Belgium. The NO _inf3 ^sup? -N and Cl^? content of the groundwater at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 m depths was monitored every two weeks on a field, grown with barley in 1980 and with maize in 1981. Turnips for cattle feed were grown in between the two crops. The total annual rainfall during the period under study was about 800 mm. The NO _inf3 ^sup? -N content at all depths was at all times above 11.3 mg NO _inf3 ^sup? -N dm^?3, the WHO safe limit. Fluctuation of the NO _inf3 ^sup? -N content occurred mainly at 0.5 and 1.0 m. The concentration at 1.5 and 2.0 m depths was higher most of the time than at 0.5 and 1.0 m. Leaching of NO _inf3 ^sup? -N into deeper layers occurred when there was heavy rainfall. There was no important loss of NO _inf3 ^sup? -N through denitrification at 1.5 and 2.0 m depths.     

Remote mountain lakes as indicators of diffuse acidic and organic pollution in the Iberian peninsula (AL:PE 2 studies)

In the framework of the AL:PE 2 project, studies on acidification and organic pollution in mountain lakes have been conducted in several ranges in the Iberian peninsula: Pyrenees (Northeastern Spain), Sierra de Gredos (Central Spain), Sierra Nevada (Southern Spain) and Serra da Estrela (Central Portugal). These studies focused on water and sediment chemistry and organisms (benthic diatoms, Zooplankton, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and fish) as indicators of acidification. Organic micropollutants (PAH, PCB, DDE, hexachlorobenzene and others) in lake sediments and fish have been studied as tracers of atmospheric pollution. The Iberian peninsula lakes do not show severe anthropogenic acidification. pH values are in the range of sensitive lakes, but the levels of acidic pollutants are low. The status of the organisms surveyed agreed with this diagnosis. Pyrenean lakes showed the highest fluxes of organic pollutants related to fossil fuel combustion., higher pollutioninduced versus natural acidity ratios, and modeled alkalinity and pH declines.     

Evaluation of microbial indicators for the determination of bacterial groundwater contamination sources

Several different Microbial source tracking methods (MSTs) can be used to distinguish human from animal fecal contamination in water; In this study, experiments were carried out to test the effectiveness and reliability of three bacteria based approaches (the fecal coliforms to fecal streptococci ratio, antibiotic-resistant Clostridium perfringens, and human bifidobacteria) in a simulated groundwater micro-environment. The methods were evaluated in three phases: initially, the specificity of each indicator was validated on groundwater samples affected by known pollution source; then the variation of performance with time of each method was determined, and finally, the die-off coefficients for pure species of Clostridium perfringens and Bifidobacterium adolescentis were measured. The results indicate that only the determination of human bifidobacteria concentration can be considered reliable in distinguishing human from animal pollution in groundwater at the conditions applied. Nevertheless, human bifidobacteria were detectable only for two weeks after the contamination event. This study also shows that antibiotic resistant Clostridium perfringens detected using the Shahidi-Ferguson medium is not source specific, whereas it confirms that this species can be useful for timing general fecal contamination events.     

Lack of correlation between gas-liquid chromatograph and UV absorption indicators of petroleum pollution in organisms

An attempt was made to see if simple liquid-solid chromatography with a UV absorption detector could be used to monitor non-point source petroleum pollution in organisms instead of gas-liquid chromatography (GLC). Petroleum derived material in nine algal communities and in 10 invertebrate populations on the rocky shores of Bermuda was analyzed by both methods. No significant linear or logarithmic relationship was found between the results obtained by the two different methods. Therefore it was decided that UV absorption measurements could not be used for monitoring non-point source petroleum pollution. There was a very significant correlation (r=0.99) between the area of the unresolved envelope of the chromatograms and the total amount of petrogenic hydrocarbons (PHC) found by GLC. This relationship was found to be valid in the range of 2.5 μg to 315 μg PHC per g of tissue (wet weight). Therefore in a monitoring program it should be sufficient to measure the unresolved envelope alone without the need of determining the total PHC content.     

浅层地下水埋深、矿化度及硝酸盐污染的空间分布特征

对银川平原101个观测井取样分析,测定了其浅层地下水位埋深、矿化度及硝酸盐含量。应用地统计学方法结合GIS技术对数据进行了分析。结果表明,地下水埋深服从正态分布,而矿化度和硝酸盐服从对数正态分布。银川平原地下水位埋深、矿化度和硝酸盐含量的平均值分别为1.78m,1.81g/L和3.17mg/L。三者在一定范围内均存在空间相关性,它们的空间相关距离分别为23.7、13.3和12.6km。运用Kriging方法对未测点进行了估值,绘制了三者的空间分布图。银川平原地下水埋深总体较浅,研究区约有75.1%的地区地下水埋深为1.5～2.0m,发现在平原中部的银川地区一带形成了以新旧城区为中心的地下水位降落漏斗区。地下水矿化度在整个平原内自西南向东北呈逐渐升高的趋势,其中66.4%的区域达到了农田灌溉水质标准。仅有3.7%的局部地区的地下水硝酸盐含量超过了饮用水水质标准。     

清水灌溉在消除土壤多环芳烃中的作用及对土壤微生物特征的影响: 以沈抚灌区为例

To evaluate the effect of groundwater irrigation on the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs) pollution abatement and soil microbial characteristics,a case study was performed in the Shenfu irrigation area of Shenyang,Northeast China,where the irrigation with petroleum wastewater had lasted for more than fifty years,and then groundwater irrigation instead of wastewater irrigation was applied due to the gradually serious PAHs pollution in soil.Soil chemical properties,including PAHs and nutrients contents,and soil microbial characteristics,including microbial biomass carbon,substrateinduced respiration,microbial quotient(qM),metabolic quotient(qCO2),dehydrogenase(DH),polyphenol oxidase(PO),urease(UR) and cellulase(CE) in surface and subsurface were determined.Total organic C,total N,total P,and available K were significantly different between the sites studied.The PAHs concentrations ranged from 610.9 to 6362.8 μg kg-1 in the surface layers(0-20 cm) and from 404.6 to 4318.5 μg kg-1 in the subsurface layers(20-40 cm).From the principal component analysis,the first principal component was primarily weighed by total PAHs,total organic C,total N,total P and available K,and it was the main factor that influencing the soil microbial characteristics.Among the tested microbial characteristics,DH,PO,UR,CE,qM and qCO2 were more sensitive to the PAHs stress than the others,thus they could serve as useful ecological assessment indicators for soil PAHs pollution.     

太子河流域地表水和地下水硝酸盐污染特征及来源分析

地下水作为一种主要的饮用水和重要农业用水水源,其环境质量状况关乎人类健康、粮食安全与生态可持续发展。本研究对太子河流域地表水、地下水的NO-3-N污染状况进行了调查,并结合水化学与NO-3-N同位素对其来源进行了分析,探讨太子河流域地下水的水化学特征和硝酸盐污染状况,为理解该区域地下水的水化学组成特点和开展水环境质量评价提供理论依据。结果表明,太子河流域地表水氮主要以NO-3-N的形式存在,占总氮78.38%,浓度为0.75~6.40 mg·L-1,从上游到下游其含量变化趋势为先上升后下降,在S6采样点达到最高值6.40 mg·L-1;地表水中NO-2-N所占比例仅为0.78%,且沿河流变化较小;由于施用化肥肥料和有机氮的矿化作用,下游地表水Cl-浓度和NH4+含量增高。太子河流域地下水NO-3-N浓度普遍高于地表水,NO-3-N浓度为0.57~55.78 mg·L-1,平均20.26 mg·L-1;NO-2-N浓度为0~0.04 mg·L-1,平均0.017 mg·L-1。太子河流域地下水的NO-3和NO-2污染状况较重。NO-3-N同位素结果显示,地表水的δ15N为-0.74‰~13.27‰;上游NO-3-N主要来源于土壤有机氮矿化,中下游受农业化肥和人畜粪便共同影响。地下水δ15N为5.7‰~17.5‰,受人类活动影响较大,人畜粪便堆肥和农业化肥的渗漏是主要影响因素。     

Microbiological and biochemical indicators of the State of Karelian soils exposed to aerotechnogenic pollution

The data on the microbial communities and biochemical properties of forest soils obtained in the course of long-term studies in the region of the Kostomuksha ore mining and processing enterprise are presented. The changes in the parameters investigated caused by the anthropogenic impact were revealed. It was concluded that the microbial-biochemical characteristics may be used as an indicator of the state of soils exposed to aerial pollution.     

Coliphages as indicators in a treatment plant

The potential use of coliphages as indicators of water pollution was investigated. Several strains ofE. coli hosts were used in order to detect the better marker. Analyses were carried out on a treatment plant for the convenience of phages recoveries. Results show the possibility that strains different fromE. coli 9484B can show better recoveries of PFU m1^?1.