The potential benefit of urban vegetation in reducing heat related mortality in the city of Melbourne, Australia is investigated using a two-scale modelling approach. A meso-scale urban climate model was used to quantify the effects of ten urban vegetation schemes on the current climate in 2009 and future climates in 2030 and 2050. The indoor thermal performance of five residential buildings was then simulated using a building simulation tool with the local meso-climates associated with various urban vegetation schemes. Simulation results suggest that average seasonal summer temperatures can be reduced in the range of around 0.5 and 2 °C if the city were replaced by vegetated suburbs and parklands, respectively. With the limited buildings and local meso-climates investigated in this study, around 5–28% and 37–99% reduction in heat related mortality rate have been estimated by doubling the city's vegetation coverage and transforming the city into parklands respectively.

Phenotypic plasticity of the leaves can interfere with the plant sensitivity to ozone (O3) toxic effect. This study aimed to assess whether the leaf structure of Ipomoea nil changes due to climatic variations and whether these changes affect the species' sensitivity. Field exposures, in different seasons (winter and spring) were made. The leaves that developed during the winter were thinner, with a lower proportion of photosynthetic tissues, higher proportion of intercellular spaces and lower density and stomatal index compared to those developed during the spring. The temperature and relative humidity positively influenced the leaf thickness and stomatal index. The visible injuries during winter were positively correlated with the palisade parenchyma thickness and negatively correlated with the percentage of spongy parenchyma; during the spring, the symptoms were positively correlated with the stomatal density. In conclusion, the leaf structure of I. nil varied among the seasons, interfering in its sensitivity to O3.

A detailed investigation was conducted into the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) associated with PM10 particles collected during 2012 in an urban area in Cordoba, Argentina. Their composition was studied and the lifetime lung cancer risk resulting from exposure to total and individual PAHs was estimated. Samples of PM10 were collected daily on fiber glass filters with PAHs being extracted with methylene chloride and analyzed by HPLC. Mean PAH concentrations were higher during autumn and winter. In contrast, during warm months, high ambient temperature and wind speed contributed to a decrease in the PAH ambient concentrations. The PAH levels found in the present study were within the range of those reported in other polluted urban areas. However risk factors calculated for exposure to individual and cumulative PAHs exceeded the carcinogenic benchmark level of 1 × 10−6 early in childhood, implying that these PAH concentrations represent a serious risk to public health.

Silver fir is one of the most productive and ecologically valuable native European tree species, however, it has been experiencing decline which has periodically occurred over its natural range. This paper aims to investigate the recent climate–growth relationships of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) and its temporal change along the course of its life. Long-term tree-ring databases, as well as records on climate, atmospheric SO2, NO3 and acid concentrations from four different regions in the Western Carpathians were used. The results provide clear evidence of significant increase of silver fir's radial increment over the entire Western Carpathian area since 1970–1980. The results indicated that the most probable factors behind the rapid recovery of tree radial increment were reductions in emissions of NO3 and SO2, alongside a significant increase in mean June, July and April temperatures.

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is the most widely used brominated flame retardant worldwide. A detailed examination of the degradation products emitted during thermal decomposition of TBBPA is presented in the study. Runs were performed in a laboratory furnace at different temperatures (650 and 800 °C) and in different atmospheres (nitrogen and air). More than one hundred semivolatile compounds have been identified by GC/MS, with special interest in brominated ones. Presence of HBr and brominated light hydrocarbons increased with temperature and in the presence of oxygen. Maximum formation of PAHs is observed at pyrolytic condition at the higher temperature. High levels of 2,4-, 2,6- and 2,4,6- bromophenols were found. The levels of polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans have been detected in the ppm range. The most abundant isomers are 2,4,6,8-TeBDF in pyrolysis and 1,2,3,7,8-PeBDF in combustion. These results should be considered in the assessment of thermal treatment of materials containing brominated flame retardants.

Latent effects result from embryonic experiences but manifest in later stages of ontogeny. Our objective was to better understand how developmental exposure to contaminants influence life history traits and tolerance to novel stress in the freshwater gastropod, Physa pomilia. Ten egg masses were exposed to each of three initial treatments including control, 2.5 μg/L cadmium (Cd), and 10 μg/L Cd; there was no effect of this initial treatment on hatching success. At hatching, snails were transferred to cadmium-free water. Three weeks later, snails were divided among four secondary treatments including control, 50 μg/L Cd, 150 μg/L Cd, and 35 °C. Developmental Cd exposure plus secondary temperature stress caused the most adverse effects. Surprisingly, developmental Cd exposure alone was enough to cause significant decreases in reproductive success a generation later. That effects can manifest as transgenerational decrements in reproductive success suggests that latent effects are important and have longer lasting consequences than previously considered.

Pollen of Betula pendula, Ostrya carpinifolia and Carpinus betulus was exposed in vitro to two levels of NO2 (about 0.034 and 0.067 ppm) – both below current atmospheric hour-limit value acceptable for human health protection in Europe (0.11 ppm for NO2). Experiments were performed under artificial solar light with temperature and relative humidity continuously monitored. The viability, germination and total soluble proteins of all the pollen samples exposed to NO2 decreased significantly when compared with the non-exposed. The polypeptide profiles of all the pollen samples showed bands between 15 and 70 kDa and the exposure to NO2 did not produce any detectable changes in these profiles. However, the immunodetection assays indicated higher IgE recognition by patient sera sensitized to the pollen extracts from all exposed samples in comparison to the non-exposed samples. The common reactive bands to the three pollen samples correspond to 58 and 17 kDa proteins.

Biochars from nitrogen-rich biomaterials (i.e., α-amylase, chitin and zein) were produced at different temperatures (i.e. 170, 250, 350 and 450 °C) and characterized, and their sorption for phenanthrene, naphthalene and 1-naphthol was investigated. The organic carbon content normalized-sorption coefficient (Koc) of the tested compounds by biochars increased with increasing charring temperature, attributed to the reduction of O-containing polar moieties especially the O-alkyl components, and the newly created aromatic carbon domains. The N-heterocyclic ring structure formed during charring process may enhance π–π interactions between aromatics and the aromatic components in the resulting biochars. However, π–π interactions did not dominate sorption of aromatics by N-rich biochars. Sorption of the tested compounds by N-rich biochars was predominantly controlled by the hydrophobic interactions between these chemicals and the aromatic components in biochars. Both N- and O-containing polar moieties at the biochar surfaces negatively affected their sorption for aromatics.

A combined magnetic-chemical study of 15 daily, simultaneous PM10–PM2.5–PM1 urban background aerosol samples has been carried out. The magnetic properties are dominated by non-stoichiometric magnetite, with highest concentrations seen in PM10. Low temperature magnetic analyses showed that the superparamagnetic fraction is more abundant when coarse, multidomain particles are present, confirming that they may occur as an oxidized outer shell around coarser grains. A strong association of the magnetic parameters with a vehicular PM10 source has been identified. Strong correlations found with Cu and Sb suggests that this association is related to brake abrasion emissions rather than exhaust emissions. For PM1 the magnetic remanence parameters are more strongly associated with crustal sources. Two crustal sources are identified in PM1, one of which is of North African origin. The magnetic particles are related to this source and so may be used to distinguish North African dust from other sources in PM1.

A systematic study on the chemical characteristics of ambient PM2.5, collected during October-2011 to March-2012 from a source region (Patiala: 30.2°N, 76.3°E; 250 m amsl) of biomass burning emissions in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), exhibit pronounced diurnal variability in mass concentrations of PM2.5, NO3−, NH4+, K+, OC, and EC with ∼30–300% higher concentrations in the nighttime samples. The average WSOC/OC and SO42−/PM2.5 ratios for the daytime (∼0.65, and 0.18, respectively) and nighttime (0.45, and 0.12, respectively) samples provide evidence for secondary organic and SO42− aerosol formation during the daytime. Formation of secondary NO3− is also evident from higher NH4NO3 concentrations associated with lower temperature and higher relative humidity conditions. The scattering species (SO42− + NO3− + OC) contribute ∼50% to PM2.5 mass during October–March whereas absorbing species (EC) contribute only ∼4% in October–February and subsequently increases to ∼10% in March, indicating significance of these species in regional radiative forcing.