Chlorinated ethenes (CE) are among the most frequent contaminants of soil and groundwater in the Czech Republic. Because conventional methods of subsurface contamination investigation are costly and technically complicated, attention is directed on alternative and innovative field sampling methods. One promising method is sampling of tree cores (plugs of woody tissue extracted from a host tree). Volatile organic compounds can enter into the trunks and other tissues of trees through their root systems. An analysis of the tree core can thus serve as an indicator of the subsurface contamination. Four areas of interest were chosen at the experimental site with CE groundwater contamination and observed fluctuations in groundwater concentrations. CE concentrations in groundwater and tree cores were observed for a 1-year period. The aim was to determine how the CE concentrations in obtained tree core samples correlate with the level of contamination of groundwater. Other factors which can affect the transfer of contaminants from groundwater to wood were also monitored and evaluated (e.g., tree species and age, level of groundwater table, river flow in the nearby Ploučnice River, seasonal effects, and the effect of the remediation technology operation). Factors that may affect the concentration of CE in wood were identified. The groundwater table level, tree species, and the intensity of transpiration appeared to be the main factors within the framework of the experiment. Obtained values documented that the results of tree core analyses can be used to indicate the presence of CE in the subsurface. The results may also be helpful to identify the best sampling period for tree coring and to learn about the time it takes until tree core concentrations react to changes in groundwater conditions. Interval sampling of tree cores revealed possible preservation of the contaminant in the wood of trees.

Profiles of seven compounds of perfluoro-alkyl substances (PFASs) were compared among three species of top predators from the Danish North Sea: the white-beaked dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris), the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), and the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). The seals had higher total burdens (757.8 ng g(-1) ww) than the dolphins (439.9 ng g(-1) ww) and the porpoises (355.8 ng g(-1) ww), probably a reflection of feeding closer to the shore and thus contamination sources. The most striking difference among the species was the relative contribution of perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA) to the profiles; the seals (0.1 %) had much lower levels than porpoises (8.3 %) and dolphins (26.0 %). In combination with the values obtained from the literature, this result indicates that Carnivora species including Pinnipedia have a much higher capacity of transforming PFOSA to perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) than cetacean species. Another notable difference among the species was that the two smaller species (seals and porpoises) with supposedly higher metabolic rates had lower concentrations of the perfluorinated carboxylic acids, which are generally more easily excreted than perfluorinated sulfonamides. Species-specific characteristics should be recognized when PFAS contamination in marine mammals is investigated, for example, several previous studies of PFASs in cetaceans have not quantified PFOSA.

The effect of modified montmorillonites on the biodegradation and adsorption of selected steranes, diasteranes and hopanes was investigated in aqueous clay/oil microcosm experiments with a hydrocarbon degrading microorganism community. The unmodified montmorillonite was treated with didecyldimethylammonium bromide, hydrochloric acid and the relevant metallic chloride to produce organomontmorillonite, acid activated montmorillonite and homoionic montmorillonite respectively which were used in this study. The study indicated that organomontmorillonite, acid activated montmorillonite and potassium montmorillonite did not support the biodegradation of the selected steranes, diasteranes and hopanes as alteration of the biomarkers via biodegradation varied from a paltry 2-6 %. The adsorption of the selected biomarkers on acid activated montmorillonite and organomontmorillonite was also poor. However, adsorption of the biomarkers on potassium montmorillonite was relatively high. Sodium montmorillonite and unmodified montmorillonite appear to stimulate the biodegradation of the selected biomarkers moderately (30-35 %) with adsorption occurring at low level. Calcium montmorillonite and ferric montmorillonite effected significant biodegradation (51-60 %) of the selected biomarkers.

Bioremediation of textile dyestuffs under solid-state fermentation (SSF) using industrial wastes as substrate pose an economically feasible, promising, and eco-friendly alternative. The purpose of this study was to adsorb Red M5B dye, a sample of dyes mixture and a real textile effluent on distillery industry waste-yeast biomass (DIW-YB) and its further bioremediation using Bacillus cereus EBT1 under SSF. Textile dyestuffs were allowed to adsorb on DIW-YB. DIW-YB adsorbed dyestuffs were decolorized under SSF by using B. cereus. Enzyme analysis was carried out to ensure decolorization of Red M5B. Metabolites after dye degradation were analyzed using UV–Vis spectroscopy, FTIR, HPLC, and GC-MS. DIW-YB showed adsorption of Red M5B, dyes mixture and a textile wastewater sample up to 87, 70, and 81 %, respectively. DIW-YB adsorbed Red M5B was decolorized up to 98 % by B. cereus in 36 h. Whereas B. cereus could effectively reduce American Dye Manufacture Institute value from DIW-YB adsorbed mixture of textile dyes and textile wastewater up to 70 and 100 %, respectively. Induction of extracellular enzymes such as laccase and azoreductase suggests their involvement in dye degradation. Repeated utilization of DIW-YB showed consistent adsorption and ADMI removal from textile wastewater up to seven cycles. HPLC and FTIR analysis confirms the biodegradation of Red M5B. GC-MS analysis revealed the formation of new metabolites. B. cereus has potential to bioremediate adsorbed textile dyestuffs on DIW-YB. B. cereus along with DIW-YB showed enhanced decolorization performance in tray bioreactor which suggests its potential for large-scale treatment procedures.

Characterization of groundwater quality allows the evaluation of groundwater pollution and provides information for better management of groundwater resources. This study characterized the shallow groundwater quality and its spatial and seasonal variations in the Lower St. Johns River Basin, Florida, USA, under agricultural, forest, wastewater, and residential land uses using field measurements and two-dimensional kriging analysis. Comparison of the concentrations of groundwater quality constituents against the US EPA’s water quality criteria showed that the maximum nitrate/nitrite (NO ₓ ) and arsenic (As) concentrations exceeded the EPA’s drinking water standard limits, while the maximum Cl, SO ₄ ² ⁻ , and Mn concentrations exceeded the EPA’s national secondary drinking water regulations. In general, high kriging estimated groundwater NH ₄ ⁺ concentrations were found around the agricultural areas, while high kriging estimated groundwater NO ₓ concentrations were observed in the residential areas with a high density of septic tank distribution. Our study further revealed that more areas were found with high estimated NO ₓ concentrations in summer than in spring. This occurred partially because of more NO ₓ leaching into the shallow groundwater due to the wetter summer and partially because of faster nitrification rate due to the higher temperature in summer. Large extent and high kriging estimated total phosphorus concentrations were found in the residential areas. Overall, the groundwater Na and Mg concentration distributions were relatively more even in summer than in spring. Higher kriging estimated groundwater As concentrations were found around the agricultural areas, which exceeded the EPA’s drinking water standard limit. Very small variations in groundwater dissolved organic carbon concentrations were observed between spring and summer. This study demonstrated that the concentrations of groundwater quality constituents varied from location to location, and impacts of land uses on groundwater quality variation were profound.

The objective of this study was to develop a bioremediation strategy for cadmium (Cd) and carbendazim co-contaminated soil using a hyperaccumulator plant (Sedum alfredii) combined with carbendazim-degrading bacterial strains (Bacillus subtilis, Paracoccus sp., Flavobacterium and Pseudomonas sp.). A pot experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions for 180 days with S. alfredii and/or carbendazim-degrading strains grown in soil artificially polluted with two levels of contaminants (low level, 1 mg kg⁻¹ Cd and 21 mg kg⁻¹ carbendazim; high level, 6 mg kg⁻¹ Cd and 117 mg kg⁻¹ carbendazim). Cd removal efficiencies were 32.3–35.1 % and 7.8–8.2 % for the low and high contaminant level, respectively. Inoculation with carbendazim-degrading bacterial strains significantly (P < 0.05) increased Cd removal efficiencies at the low level. The carbendazim removal efficiencies increased by 32.1–42.5 % by the association of S. alfredii with carbendazim-degrading bacterial strains, as compared to control, regardless of contaminant level. Cultivation with S. alfredii and inoculation of carbendazim-degrading bacterial strains increased soil microbial biomass, dehydrogenase activities and microbial diversities by 46.2–121.3 %, 64.2–143.4 %, and 2.4–24.7 %, respectively. Polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) analysis revealed that S. alfredii stimulated the activities of Flavobacteria and Bradyrhizobiaceae. The association of S. alfredii with carbendazim-degrading bacterial strains enhanced the degradation of carbendazim by changing microbial activity and community structure in the soil. The results demonstrated that association of S. alfredii with carbendazim-degrading bacterial strains is promising for remediation of Cd and carbendazim co-contaminated soil.

With the use of cost-effective natural materials, biosorption is considered as an ecological tool that is applied worldwide for the remediation of pollution. In this study, we proposed Lemna gibba biomass (LGB), a lignocellulosic sorbent material, for the removal of two textile dyes, Direct Red 89 (DR-89) and Reactive Green 12 (RG-12). These azo dyes commonly used in dying operations of natural and synthetic fibres are the most important pollutants produced in textile industry effluents. For this purpose, batch biosorption experiments were carried out to assess the efficacy of LGB on dye treatment by evaluating the effect of contact time, biomass dosage, and initial dye concentration. The results indicated that the bioremoval efficiency of 5 mg L⁻¹ DR-89 and RG-12 reached approximately 100 % after 20 min of the exposure time; however, the maximum biosorption of 50 mg L⁻¹ DR-89 and 15 mg L⁻¹ RG-12 was determined to be about 60 and 47 %, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy used to explain the sorption mechanism showed that the functional groups of carboxylic acid and hydroxyl played a major role in the retention of these pollutants on the biomass surface. The modelling results using Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin, Elovich, and Dubini Radushkevich (D-R) isotherms demonstrated that the DR-89 biosorption process was better described with the Langmuir theory (R ² = 0.992) while the RG-12 biosorption process fitted well by the D-R isotherm equation (R ² = 0.988). The maximum biosorption capacity was found to be 20.0 and 115.5 mg g⁻¹ for DR-89 and RG-12, respectively, showing a higher ability of duckweed biomass for the bioremoval of the green dye. The thermodynamic study showed that the dye biosorption was a spontaneous and endothermic process. The efficacy of using duckweed biomass for the bioremoval of the two dyes was limited to concentrations ≤50 mg L⁻¹, indicating that L. gibba biomass may be suitable in the refining step of textile effluent treatment.

Caviar (fish roe of sturgeon) may contain high levels of contaminants. An inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer and a direct mercury analyzer were used to assess the contents of four heavy metals (Hg, Se, Sn, and Ba) in caviar of wild Persian sturgeon sea foods. The levels of Hg ranged from 1.39 to 1.50 μg g(-1), Se from 0.90 to 1.10 μg g(-1), Sn from 0.23 to 0.33, and Ba from 0.71 to 1.17 μg g(-1). Evaluation of these levels showed that except for Hg, the average concentrations of other metals are significantly lower than adverse level for the human consumption when compared with Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and World Health Organization permissible limits. Therefore, their contribution to the total body burden of these heavy metals can be considered as negligibly small given that caviar is a luxury product.

The aim of this study was to relate the results obtained by chemical methods, used to assess environmental (bio)availability, with the ecotoxic response and bioaccumulation of trace elements (TE) by the earthworm Eisenia fetida exposed to field-contaminated, metal-polluted soils from a sulphide mine. The extracting solution 0.5 M NH4CH3COO, 0.5 M CH3COOH and 0.02 M EDTA (pH 4.7), was able to predict environmental bioavailability of TE to E. fetida. However, the toxicological bioavailability could not be predicted from the results of the chemical extractions or from the bioaccumulation results: E. fetida reproduction was higher in soils where environmental bioavailability of TE and bioaccumulation values were also higher. In this study, the toxic response of the organism seemed to be more influenced by the overall nutritional status of the soil (e.g. pH, organic matter, plant nutrient availability and cation exchange capacity) than by its TE contamination. In the case of anthropogenic multi-contaminated sites, the different soil characteristics exert an important and confounding influence in the toxic response and the relationship between different bioavailable fractions cannot be easily established, emphasising the need to combine results from chemical methods with those from bioassays when evaluating the bioavailability of TE in these soils.

Prolonged exposure to inorganic arsenic has been a severe environmental public health issue worldwide in the recent decades. Increasing evidence has suggested a possible role of prolonged arsenic exposure through drinking water in the development of arsenic-induced chronic noncancer diseases, among which hypertension and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are the focus of concern. Although exposure to high levels of arsenic has been reported to be associated with excess risk of hypertension or T2D in a dose-dependent manner, the association has yet to be established, especially low-level exposure. This cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate the potential association between prolonged environmental arsenic exposure through drinking water and the prevalence of hypertension and T2D in Inner Mongolia, China, with emphasis on the assessment of low-level exposure. In this study (a total of 669 men and women), we found that the blood pressure levels were significantly correlated with cumulative arsenic exposure and that the systolic blood pressure of the subjects with arsenic exposure >50 μg/L was significantly higher than those of the subjects with <10 and 10-50 μg/L exposure. Significant prevalence of hypertension was found in the subjects of the >50 μg/L group both before and after adjustment for confounders. In addition, a significant negative relationship was found between urinary arsenic percentage of dimethylated arsenic (DMA%) and the prevalence of hypertension in the >50 μg/L group. However, low-level arsenic exposure (10-50 μg/L) was not statistically associated with hypertension. No significant difference of blood glucose was found among the groups with different arsenic exposure levels. No statistical association was found between arsenic exposure and T2D. Our findings suggested that prolonged arsenic exposure might play a role in the development of hypertension; however, only high-level arsenic was associated with the risk of hypertension. Our findings also indicated that lower DMA% might be related with the increased susceptibility of arsenic-induced hypertension.