A source-oriented CMAQ was applied to determine source sector/region contributions to primary particulate matter (PPM) in China. Four months were simulated with emissions grouped to eight regions and six sectors. Predicted elemental carbon (EC), primary organic carbon (POC), and PPM concentrations and source contributions agree with measurements and have significant spatiotemporal variations. Residential is a major contributor to spring/winter EC (50–80%), POC (60%–90%), and PPM (30–70%). For summer/fall, industrial contributes 30–50% for EC/POC and 40–60% for PPM. Transportation is more important for EC (20–30%) than POC/PPM (<5%). Open burning is important in summer/fall of Guangzhou and Chongqing. Dust contributes to 1/3–1/2 in spring/fall of Beijing, Xi'an and Chongqing. Based on sector–region combination, local residential/transportation and residential/industrial from Heibei are major contributors to spring PPM in Beijing. In summer/fall, local industrial is the largest. In winter, residential/industrial from local and Hebei account for >90% in Beijing.

A sampling campaign was carried out at nine Chinese cities in 2010/2011. Fifteen monocarbonyls (C# = 1–9) were quantified. Temperature is the rate-determining factor of the summertime carbonyl levels. The carbonyl emissions in winter are mainly driven by the primary anthropogenic sources like automobile. A molar ratio of propionaldehyde to nonaldehyde is a barometer of the impact of atmospheric vegetation emission which suggesting that strong vegetation emissions exist in summer and high propionaldehyde abundance is caused by fossil fuel combustion in winter. Potential health risk assessment of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde was conducted and the highest cumulative risks were observed at Chengdu in summer and Wuhan in winter. Because of the strong photochemical reaction and large amount of anthropogenic emissions, high concentrations of carbonyl compounds were observed in Chengdu. The use of ethanol-blended gasoline in Wuhan is the key reason of acetaldehyde emission and action should be taken to avoid potential health risks.

Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese medicine therapy that burns moxa floss which produces a substantial amount of PM10 into the environment, thus spawning safety concerns about health impacts of the smoke. We compared the oxidative capacity and elemental composition of moxibustion-derived and ambient PM10 in summer and winter to provide a source-, spatial- and temporal-comparison of PM10 biological responses. The PM10 oxidative capacity was 2.04 and 1.45 fold lower, and dose-dependent slope gradient was 2.36 and 1.76 fold lower in moxibustion environment than indoor or outdoor. Oxidative damage was highly correlated with iron, cesium, aluminum and cobalt in indoor, but moxibustion environment displayed low associations. The total elemental concentration was also lower in moxibustion environment than indoor (2.28 fold) or outdoor (2.79 fold). The source-to-dose modeling and slope gradient analysis in this study can be used as a model for future source-, spatial- and temporal-related moxibustion safety evaluation studies.

Allocation of recent photoassimilates of juvenile beech and spruce in response to twice-ambient ozone (2 × O3) and plant competition (i.e. intra vs. inter-specific) was examined in a phytotron study. To this end, we employed continuous 13CO2/12CO2 labeling during late summer and pursued tracer kinetics in CO2 released from stems. In beech, allocation of recent photoassimilates to stems was significantly lowered under 2 × O3 and increased in spruce when grown in mixed culture. As total tree biomass was not yet affected by the treatments, C allocation reflected incipient tree responses providing the mechanistic basis for biomass partitioning as observed in longer experiments. Compartmental modeling characterized functional properties of substrate pools supplying respiratory C demand. Respiration of spruce appeared to be exclusively supplied by recent photoassimilates. In beech, older C, putatively located in stem parenchyma cells, was a major source of respiratory substrate, reflecting the fundamental anatomical disparity between angiosperm beech and gymnosperm spruce.

Atmospheric deposition in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region decreased exponentially with distance from the industrial center. Throughfall deposition (kg ha−1 yr−1) of NH4–N (.8–14.7) was double that of NO3–N (.3–6.7), while SO4–S ranged from 2.5 to 23.7. Gaseous pollutants (NO2, HNO3, NH3, SO2) are important drivers of atmospheric deposition but weak correlations between gaseous pollutants and deposition suggest that particulate deposition is also important. The deposition (eq ha−1) of base cations (Ca + Mg + Na) across the sampling network was highly similar to N + S deposition, suggesting that acidic deposition is neutralized by base cation deposition and that eutrophication impacts from excess N may be of greater concern than acidification. Emissions from a large forest fire in summer 2011 were most prominently reflected in increased concentrations of HNO3 and throughfall deposition of SO4–S at some sites. Deposition of NO3–N also increased as did NH4–N deposition to a lesser degree.

We evaluated the occurrence of 12 veterinary antibiotics and a beta agonist over spatial and temporal scales in Shell Creek, an intensively agricultural watershed in Nebraska, using Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Samplers (POCIS). Twelve pharmaceuticals were detected with concentrations ranging from 0.0003 ng/L to 68 ng/L. The antibiotics measured at the highest time-weighted average concentrations were lincomycin (68 ng/L) and monensin (49 ng/L), and both compounds were detected at increased concentrations in summer months. Analysis of variance indicates that mean concentrations of detected pharmaceuticals have no significant (p > 0.01) spatial variation. However, significant temporal differences (p < 0.01) were observed. This study demonstrates the utility of passive samplers such as POCIS for monitoring ambient levels of pharmaceuticals in surface waters.

The occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and nitrated derivatives (NPAHs), as well as their transformation may have significant health impacts on humans. To investigate the level, spatial distribution and the transformation process of PAHs and NPAHs in North China, we performed a gridded field passive air sampling campaign in summer of 2011. The median concentration of 25 PAH congeners and 13 NPAHs was 294 ng m−3 (or 26.7 μg sample−1) and 203 ng sample−1, respectively. Relative higher level of PAHs in Shanxi Province and NPAHs in megacities was observed. In North China, coal/biomass combustion and photochemical formation was the predominant source of PAHs and NPAHs, respectively. To investigate the relationship between these pollutants, a model incorporating NPAHs, PAHs and NO2 was established, and the result indicated that NO2 will promote the transformation processes from PAHs to NPAHs, which may increase the total toxicity of PAH–NPAH mixtures.

This study summarizes the first effort to search for bioindicator tree species and respective potential biomarkers for future assessment of potential mixed pollution effects on the highly diverse Atlantic Forest in SE-Brazil. Leaves of the three most abundant species inventoried in a phytosociological survey (Croton floribundus, Piptadenia gonoacantha and Astronium graveolens) were collected in four forest remnants during winter and summer (2012). Their potential bioindicator attributes were highlighted using a screening of morphological, chemical and biochemical markers. The leaf surface structure and/or epicuticular wax composition pointed the accumulator properties of C. floribundus and P. gonoacantha. C. floribundus is a candidate for assessing potential accumulation of Cu, Cd, Mn, Ni, S and Zn. P. gonoacantha is a candidate to monitor polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Increased levels of secondary metabolites and decreased antioxidant capacity in leaves of A. graveolens may support its value as a bioindicator for oxidative pollutants by visible dark stipplings.

Present study deals with the river Ganga water quality and its impact on metal speciation in its sediments. Concentration of physico-chemical parameters was highest in summer season followed by winter and lowest in rainy season. Metal speciation study in river sediments revealed that exchangeable, reducible and oxidizable fractions were dominant in all the studied metals (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb) except Mn and Fe. High pollution load index (1.64–3.89) recommends urgent need of mitigation measures. Self-organizing Map-Artificial Neural Network (SOM-ANN) was applied to the data set for the prediction of major point sources of pollution in the river Ganga.

Short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) have been of considerable concern in recent years due to their high production volumes, environmental persistency and potential for long range atmospheric transport. Vegetation can take up considerable amounts of semivolatile organic compounds from the atmosphere and can act as indicators of local contamination. Paired pine needles and bark were sampled around Beijing during winter and summertime to investigate the distribution of SCCPs in urban areas. Levels in bark samples ranged 5.79–37.5 μg/g on a lipid normalized basis (lw) with a geometric mean (GM) of 16.9 μg/g lw whereas levels were 3.03–40.8 (GM 11.8) μg/g lw for needles. Average congener group abundance profiles showed equal contribution of all four carbon groups (C10–13) in wintertime whereas higher abundances of C10 and C11 groups were found during summer. Uptake of SCCPs occurred mainly via kinetically limited gaseous deposition and particle bound deposition in the investigated area.