Many air pollutants and greenhouse gases have common sources, contribute to radiative balance, interact in the atmosphere, and affect ecosystems. The impacts on forest ecosystems have been traditionally treated separately for air pollution and climate change. However, the combined effects may significantly differ from a sum of separate effects. We review the links between air pollution and climate change and their interactive effects on northern hemisphere forests. A simultaneous addressing of the air pollution and climate change effects on forests may result in more effective research, management and monitoring as well as better integration of local, national and global environmental policies. Simultaneous addressing air pollution and climate change effects on forests is an opportunity for capturing synergies in future research and monitoring.

The intercontinental transport of aerosols and photochemical oxidants from Asia is a crucial issue for air quality concerns in countries downwind of the significant emissions and concentrations of pollutants occurring in this important region of the world. Since the lifetimes of some important pollutants are long enough to be transported over long distance in the troposphere, regional control strategies for air pollution in downwind countries might be ineffective without considering the effects of long-range transport of pollutants from Asia. Field campaigns provide strong evidence for the intercontinental transport of Asian pollutants. They, together with ground-based observations and model simulations, show that the air quality over parts of North America is being affected by the pollutants transported from Asia. This paper examines the current understanding of the intercontinental transport of gases and aerosols from Asia and resulting effects on air quality, and on the regional and global climate system. Air quality over parts of North America is being affected by pollutants transported from Asia.

Artificial-lawn mats were used as sediment traps in floodplains to measure sediment input and composition during flood events. To estimate the natural variability, 10 traps were installed during two flood waves at three different morphological units in a meander loop of the River Elbe. The geochemical composition of deposited and suspended matter was compared. The sediment input showed weak correlations with concentration and composition of river water. It also correlated poorly with flood duration and level as well as distance of trap position from the main river. This is due to the high variability of the inundation, different morphological conditions and the variability of sources. The composition of the deposits and the suspended matter in the river water was comparable. Hence, for the investigated river reach, the expected pollution of the floodplain sediments can be derived from the pollution of the suspended matter in the river during the flood wave. The deposition of polluted sediments on floodplains is characterised by a high local variability.

The Bitterfeld/Wolfen region is a megasite with multiple contaminant sources from more than a century of industrial activity, which have a considerable impact on the environment. At present, the contaminated groundwater covers an area of about 25 km2 and poses a threat for the surrounding aquifers and the Mulde River. This study focuses on the Schachtgraben, a man-made channel in the Mulde Floodplain that collects the effluents of the industrial area. It aims to characterise the relationship between surface water (channels, rivers) and the groundwater in the shallow Quaternary aquifer. Waters are Ca-SO4 type with TDS reaching 3.8 g L-1 in the industrial area. Stable isotopes (δ18O, δ2H) show that two of the rivers are recharged mainly by groundwater that can be divided into two groups. Strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) designate different geochemical end-members and enable the identification of mixing between natural and anthropogenic surface and groundwater. Modern geochemical and isotope techniques demonstrated groundwater to be the main source of surface water pollution in a hotspot of pollution in the Elbe Watershed.

The mobilization of chromium and nickel from an industrial soil was investigated using two biodegradable chelants (citric acid and histidine), compared with a persistent one (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid). Successive metal mobilizations were carried out in batch experiments. The main reactions involved were estimated by modeling the system with MINEQL+. For a single mobilization, citric acid was the most effective for Cr mobilization and EDTA for Ni. Their effectiveness could be explained by their ability to solubilize the mineral matrix and by the competition for the surfaces sites to desorb Cr(VI). Before and after the mobilizations, the distribution of metals was determined by a sequential extraction procedure. Only slight modifications were observed due to the low percentage of solubilized metal. A concentration of 0.05 mol L-1 (citric acid and EDTA) allows a good compromise between metal mobilization and preservation of the soil mineral integrity. Chelant-induced dissolution of soil mineral matrix controls metal solubilization.

This study examined the effects of heavy metals and plant arsenic uptake on soil arsenic distribution. Chemical fractionation of an arsenic-contaminated soil spiked with 50 or 200 mg kg-1 Ni, Zn, Cd or Pb was performed before and after growing the arsenic hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata L for 8 weeks using NH4Cl (water-soluble plus exchangeable, WE-As), NH4F (Al-As), NaOH (Fe-As), and H2SO4 (Ca-As). Arsenic in the soil was present primarily as the recalcitrant forms with Ca-As being the dominant fraction (45%). Arsenic taken up by P. vittata was from all fractions though Ca-As contributed the most (51-71% reduction). After 8 weeks of plant growth, the Al-As and Fe-As fractions were significantly (p < 0.01) greater in the metal-spiked soils than the control, with changes in the WE-As fraction being significantly (p = 0.007) correlated with plant arsenic removal. The plant's ability to solubilize soil arsenic from recalcitrant fractions may have enhanced its ability to hyperaccumulate arsenic. Arsenic taken up by P. vittata was from all fractions with most from the Ca-fraction.

As part of the Endis-Risks project, the current study describes the occurrence of the chlorotriazine pesticides atrazine, simazine and terbutylazine in water, sediment and suspended matter in the Scheldt estuary (B-Nl) from 2002 to 2005 (3 samplings a year, 8 sampling points). Atrazine was found at the highest concentrations, varying from 10 to 736 ng/l in water and from 5 up to 10 ng/g in suspended matter. Simazine and terbutylazine were detected at lower concentrations. Traces of the targeted pesticides were also detected in sediments, but these were below the limit of quantification. As part of an ecotoxicological assessment, we studied the potential effect of atrazine on molting of Neomysis integer (Crustacea:Mysidacea), a resident invertebrate of the Scheldt Estuary and a proposed test organism for the evaluation of endocrine disruption. Following chronic exposure (3 weeks), atrazine did not significantly affect mysid molting at environmentally relevant concentrations (up to 1 μg/l). The water of the Scheldt estuary and its associated suspended solids are contaminated with chlorotriazines at concentrations that do not affect mysid molting.

In industrial barrens adjacent to a nickel-copper smelter at Monchegorsk, the Kola Peninsula, root colonisation in Deschampsia flexuosa by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM)-type of hyphae was lower than in unpolluted forests (60.9 vs. 80.4%), while Olpidium-colonisation showed a marginally significant decline, and dark septate endophytic (DSE) hyphal colonisation was not affected. We detected an interactive effect of pollution and a neighbouring tree on DSE hyphal colonisation: at the highly polluted sites, colonisation was lower in D. flexuosa growing near trees, whereas at sites with low pollution the presence of the neighbouring tree had no effect on colonisation. High numbers of intracellular DSE sclerotia in the industrial barrens (13.3 vs. 3.4%) may indicate a survial strategy in an unfavourable environment and a dispersal strategy into a more favourable environment. While lower root colonisation by AM fungi has been also earlier reported in graminoids for heavy metal contamination, the results on other ubiquitous fungi colonising D. flexuosa roots are more novel. Severe pollution decreased root colonisation by some fungal groups; neighbouring trees decreased root colonisation by dark septate endophytic fungi in highly polluted sites.

Organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) are ubiquitous in the environment and are highly toxic to amphibians. They deactivate cholinesterase, resulting in neurological dysfunction. Most chemicals in this group require oxidative desulfuration to achieve their greatest cholinesterase-inhibiting potencies. Oxon derivatives are formed within liver cells but also by bacterial decay of parental pesticides. This study examines the toxicity of chlorpyrifos, malathion and diazinon and their oxons on the foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii). R. boylii is exposed to agricultural pesticides in the California Central Valley. Median lethal concentrations of the parental forms during a 96 h exposure were 3.00 mg/L (24 h) for chlorpyrifos, 2.14 mg/L for malathion and 7.49 mg/L for diazinon. Corresponding oxons were 10 to 100 times more toxic than their parental forms. We conclude that environmental concentrations of these pesticides can be harmful to R. boylii populations. Laboratory tests on the toxicity of OP insecticides and their oxons suggest that they may be acutely lethal to amphibians at ecologically relevant concentrations.

Recent studies have demonstrated that natural abundance 15N can be a useful tool for assessing nitrogen saturation, because as nitrification and nitrate loss increase, δ15N of foliage and soil also increases. We measured foliar δ15N at 11 high-elevation spruce-fir stands along an N deposition gradient in 1987-1988 and at seven paired northern hardwood and spruce-fir stands in 1999. In 1999, foliar δ15N increased from -5.2 to -0.7[per thousand] with increasing N deposition from Maine to NY. Foliar δ15N decreased between 1987-1988 and 1999, while foliar %N increased and foliar C:N decreased at most sites. Foliar δ15N was strongly correlated with N deposition, and was also positively correlated with net nitrification potential and negatively correlated with soil C:N ratio. Although the increase in foliar %N is consistent with a progression towards N saturation, other results of this study suggest that, in 1999, these stands were further from N saturation than in 1987-1988. Foliar δ15N increased with increasing N deposition from Maine to NY, but decreased between 1987-1988 and 1999