Karst systems represent important yet vulnerable drinking water resources. A wide spectrum of pollutants may be released into karst groundwater from agriculture, livestock farming, private households, and industry. This work provides an overview on the occurrence and dynamics of micropollutants in a karst system of the Swiss Jura. Ten months of intensive monitoring for micropollutants confirmed that the swallow hole draining an agricultural plain was the main entry path for pesticides into the karst system and the two connected springs. Elevated fungicide concentrations in winter and occasional quantification of pharmaceuticals suggested wood- or façade treatment and domestic sewer as additional sources of contamination. A continuous atrazine signal in the low ng/L range might affect the autochthonous endokarst microbial community and represents a potential risk for the human population through karst groundwater.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is widely used industrially to produce polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Numerous studies document the harmful effects caused by low-dose BPA exposure especially on nervous systems and behavior in experimental animals such as mice and rats. Here, we exposed embryos of a model chordate, Ciona intestinalis, to seawater containing BPA to evaluate adverse effects on embryonic development and on the swimming behavior of subsequent larvae. Ciona is ideal because its larva develops rapidly and has few cells. The rate of larval hatching decreased in a dose-dependent manner with exposures to BPA above 3 μM; swimming behavior was also affected in larvae emerging from embryos exposed to 1 μM BPA. Adverse effects were most severe on fertilized eggs exposed to BPA within 7 h post-fertilization. Ciona shares twelve nuclear receptors with mammals, and BPA is proposed to disturb the physiological functions of one or more of these.

Maternal hair and blood were investigated as biomarkers for prenatal methylmercury (MeHg) exposure among seventeen mothers recruited at parturition in Wanshan, Guizhou Province, China, where rice ingestion was the primary MeHg exposure pathway and atmospheric mercury (Hg) levels were elevated. For all three trimesters (n = 51), hair total Hg (THg) and MeHg concentrations ranged from 0.27 to 4.9 μg/g (median: 0.96 μg/g) and 0.077 to 2.3 μg/g (median: 0.43 μg/g), respectively, while blood THg levels ranged from 1.7 to 11 μg/L (median: 3.0 μg/L, n = 17). Despite adequate hair washing procedures, median %MeHg (of THg) was 37% (range: 14–89%, n = 51), indicating exogenous inorganic Hg(II) contamination or incorporation of elemental Hg (Hgo) into the hair shaft were important. Rice MeHg levels (n = 17) were highly correlated with blood THg (r2 = 0.66) compared to hair MeHg (r2 = 0.31) (when variables were log10-transformed), suggesting blood THg was a more preferable biomarker for prenatal MeHg exposure within this population.

Many citizens live, work, commute, or visit traffic intensive spaces and are exposed to high levels of chemical health stressors. However, urban conurbations worldwide present monitoring “shortage” – due to economical and/or practical constraints – for toxic stressors such as xylene isomers, which can pose human health risks. This “shortage” may be covered by the establishment of associations between rarely monitored substances such as xylenes and more frequently monitored (i.e. benzene) or usually monitored (i.e. CO). Regression analysis is used and strong statistical relationships are detected. The adopted models are applied to EU cities and comparison between measurements and predictions depicts their representativeness. The analysis provides transferability insights in an effort to bridge the gap between traffic-related stressors. Strong associations between substances of the air pollution mixture may be influential to interpret the complexity of the causal chain, especially if a synergetic exposure assessment in traffic intensive spaces is considered.

We determined the first nationwide inventories of alkylphenol surfactants in U.S. sewage sludges (SS) using samples from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2001 national SS survey. Additionally, analysis of archived 3-year outdoor mesocosm samples served to determine chemical fates in SS-amended soil. Nonylphenol (NP) was the most abundant analyte (534 ± 192 mg/kg) in SS composites, followed by its mono- and di-ethoxylates (62.1 ± 28 and 59.5 ± 52 mg/kg, respectively). The mean annual load of NP and its ethoxylates in SS was estimated at 2408–7149 metric tonnes, of which 1204–4289 is applied on U.S. land. NP compounds showed observable loss from SS/soil mixtures (1:2), with mean half-lives ranging from 301 to 495 days. Surfactant levels in U.S. SS ten-times in excess of European regulations, substantial releases to U.S. soils, and prolonged half-lives found under field conditions, all argue for the U.S. to follow Europe's move from 20 years ago to regulate these chemicals.

Mass transfer processes of pollutants from non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPL) may control groundwater pollution at abandoned industrial sites. We studied release kinetics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from fresh and aged tar phases using a dialysis tubing technique. Time for equilibration ranged from several days to more than three years. For fresh tar materials the release seems to be limited by retarded pore diffusion, while for two of three aged tars diffusion limited release influenced by dissolved organic matter (DOM) was assumed. The equilibration process was driven by solubilization thermodynamics expressed by Raoult's law. Yet, solubility enhancement was observed potentially due to the presence of organic mobile sorbents. The results show that the release of PAHs from tar phases is generally rate limited and partitioning according to Raoult's law is the driving mechanism of the exchanges process.

Earthworms were exposed to artificially contaminated soils with ten perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). PFASs with longer perfluorinated carbon chain displayed higher uptake rate coefficients (ku), longer half-life (t1/2) and time to steady-state (tss) but lower elimination rate coefficients (ke) than the shorter ones. Similarly, perfluorosulfonates acids (PFSAs) displayed higher ku, longer t1/2 and tss but lower ke than perflurocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) with the same perfluorinated chain length. All the studied PFASs, including those with seven or less perfluorinated carbons, were bioaccumulated in the earthworms and the biota-to-soil accumulation factors (BSAFs) increased with perfluorinated carbon chain length and were greater for PFSAs than for PFCAs of equal perfluoroalkyl chain length. The BSAFs were found to be dependent on the concentrations of PFASs in soil and decreased as the level of PFASs in soil increased.

Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) belong to a group of dioxin-like pollutants; however little information is available on PCNs in North China. In this study, gridded field observations by passive air sampling at 90 sites were undertaken to determine the levels, spatial distributions, and sources of PCNs in the atmosphere of North China. A median concentration of 48 pg m−3 (range: 10–2460 pg m−3) for ∑29PCNs indicated heavy PCN pollution. The compositional profile indicated that nearly 90% of PCNs observed were from thermal processes rather than from commercial mixtures. Regarding the source type, a quantitative apportionment suggested that local non-point emissions contributed two-thirds of the total PCNs observed in the study, whereas a point source of electronic-waste recycling site contributed a quarter of total PCNs. The estimated toxic equivalent quantity for dioxin-like PCNs ranged from 0.97 to 687 fg TEQ m−3, with the electronic-waste recycling site with the highest risk.

The effect of ozone (O3) on stomatal regulation was studied in three Euramerican poplar genotypes (Populus deltoides × Populus nigra: Carpaccio, Cima and Robusta). The impact of O3 on stomatal conductance responses to variations in blue light, red light, CO2 concentration and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) was studied. Upon O3 exposure, a sluggish response of stomatal movements was observed, characterized by slower reactions to increases in blue light intensity, CO2 concentration and VPD, and lower amplitude of the response to variations in light intensity. That sluggish response should be taken into account in stomatal conductance models for phytotoxic ozone dose (PODY) calculations. The speed of the response to variations in environmental parameters appears as a determining factor of genotype-related sensitivity.

This study explored the suitability of available lichen species as air pollution biomonitors and assessed their potential for magnetic monitoring in cities. Several lichens on tree bark were collected in urban and industrial sites from Tandil city, as well as control sites. The results showed that magnetite-like minerals were the main magnetic carriers in all sites and samples. However, the concentration varied between clean and polluted sites. In addition, magnetic-grain size-distribution showed clear differences between sites. Observations by scanning electron microscopy showed different particles in a variety of shapes and grain sizes; moreover, the presence of iron oxides and several toxic elements was detected by energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis. Although eleven lichen species were identified that appeared suitable for use as air-pollution monitors, three of them, Parmotrema pilosum, Punctelia hipoleucites and Dirinaria picta, occurred more frequently in the area, thus constituting appropriate species for future monitoring in the study area.