Waterborne metal uptake has been extensively studied and dietary metal assimilation is increasingly recognized in fish, whilst the interaction between the two uptake routes is largely overlooked. This study compared the waterborne Cu bioaccumulation (⁶⁵Cu as tracer) in a juvenile rabbitfish at different feeding regimes (starvation (SG), feeding normal diet (NDG) or diet supplemented with extra Cu (DCG)) to test the hypothesis that feeding can influence waterborne metal uptake in marine fish. NDG and DCG diet was fed as a single meal and then all fish were exposed to waterborne ⁶⁵Cu for 48 h, during which the time course sampling was conducted to determine ⁶⁵Cu bioaccumulation, chyme flow and dietary Cu assimilation. The results revealed that SG fish accumulated the highest ⁶⁵Cu, followed by NDG (61% of SG), whilst DCG fish accumulated the lowest ⁶⁵Cu (34% of SG). These results suggested a protective effect of feeding against waterborne Cu bioaccumulation. This effect was most notable between 10 min and 16 h when there was chyme in gastrointestinal tract (GT). Dietary Cu assimilation mainly occurred before 16 h after feeding. Waterborne ⁶⁵Cu influx rate in the GT was positively correlated with ⁶⁵Cu contents of chyme in NDG, whereas it was largely negatively correlated with ⁶⁵Cu contents of chyme in DCG. The waterborne Cu uptake in the GT was mainly influenced by the chyme flow and dietary Cu assimilation. Overall, our findings suggested that feeding has an important effect on waterborne metal uptake and that both the feeding status of the fish and the relative metal exposure through water and food should be considered in prediction of the metal bioaccumulation and biomonitoring programs.

The presence of nanoparticles in many industrial applications and daily products is making it nowadays crucial to assess their impact when exposed to the environment. Metallic nickel nanoparticles (Ni NPs) are of high industrial interest due to their ability to catalyze the reversible hydration of CO2 to carbonic acid at ambient conditions. We characterized metallic Ni NPs by XRD, HRTEM and EDS and determined the solubility of free nickel ions from 3 mg/L metallic Ni NPs in seawater by ICP-MS over 96 h, which was below 3%. Further, embryonic development of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus was investigated for 48 h in the presence of metallic Ni NPs (0.03 mg/L to 3 mg/L), but no lethal effects were observed. However, 3 mg/L metallic Ni NPs caused a size reduction similar to 1.2 mg/L NiCl2*6 H2O. The obtained results contribute to current studies on metallic Ni NPs and point to their consequences for the marine ecosystem.

Information on the biological responses of polyploid animals towards environmental contaminants is scarce. This study aimed to compare reproductive axis-related gene expressions in the brain, plasma biochemical responses, and the liver and gill histopathological alterations in diploid and triploid full-sibling juvenile African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Fish were exposed for 96 h to one of the two waterborne phenanthrene (Phe) concentrations [mean measured (SD): 6.2 (2.4) and 76 (4.2) μg/L]. In triploids, exposure to 76 μg/L Phe increased mRNA level of fushi tarazu-factor 1 (ftz-f1). Expression of tryptophan hydroxylase2 (tph2) was also elevated in both ploidies following the exposure to 76 μg/L Phe compared to the solvent control. In triploids, 76 μg/L Phe increased plasma alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels compared to the other Phe-exposed group. It also elevated lactate and glucose contents relative to the other groups. In diploids, however, biochemical biomarkers did not change. Phenanthrene exposures elevated glycogen contents and the prevalence of histopathological lesions in the liver and gills of both ploidies. This study showed substantial differences between diploids and triploids on biochemical and molecular biomarker responses, but similar histopathological alterations following acute Phe exposures.

Rice is one of the major pathways of arsenic (As) exposure in human food chain, threatening over half of the global population. Greenhouse pot experiments were conducted to examine the effects of Si application on iron (Fe) plaque formation, As uptake and rice grain As speciation in indica and hybrid rice genotypes with different radial oxygen loss (ROL) ability. The results demonstrated that Si significantly increased root and grain biomass. Indica genotypes with higher ROL induced greater Fe plaque formation, compared to hybrid genotypes and sequestered more As in Fe plaque. Silicon applications significantly increased Fe concentrations in iron plaque of different genotypes, but it decreased As concentrations in the roots, straws and husks by 28–35%, 15–35% and 32–57% respectively. In addition, it significantly reduced DMA accumulation in rice grains but not inorganic As accumulation. Rice of indica genotypes with higher ROL accumulated lower concentrations of inorganic As in grains than hybrid genotypes with lower ROL.

Bacterial communities in sediments of human-impacted rivers are exposed to multiple anthropogenic contaminants and eventually lead to biodiversity lost and ecological functions disable. Nanfei River of Anhui province has been contaminated by pollutants from industrial and/or agricultural sources. This study was conducted to investigate the structure of in situ sediment bacterial communities in Nanfei River and to examine the correlation between the different taxonomic components and contaminant concentrations. The bacterial communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Chloroflexi. Both the profiles of environmental predictors and the composition of microbial communities differed among agriculture, industrial and confluence regions. There were significant associations between bacterial community phylogenies and the measured contaminants in the sediments. Nutrients (TN and TP) and two metals (Cd and Zn) were negatively correlated with the essential “core” of the bacterial interaction network (Betaproteobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria). Metals (Fe, Ni and Zn) and nutrients (TN and TP) had higher impact on bacterial community compositions than PAHs, OPs and PRTs according to the correlation and network analyses. Furthermore, several sensitive candidate genera were identified as potential bioindicators to monitor key contaminants by species contaminant correlation analysis. Overall, in situ bacterial communities could provide a useful tool for monitoring and assessing ecological stressors in freshwater sediments.

Nitrogen (N) deposition impacts natural and semi-natural ecosystems globally. The responses of vegetation to N deposition may, however, differ strongly between habitats and may be mediated by the form of N. Although much attention has been focused on the impact of total N deposition, the effects of reduced and oxidised N, independent of the total N deposition, have received less attention. In this paper, we present new analyses of national monitoring data in the UK to provide an extensive evaluation of whether there are differences in the effects of reduced and oxidised N deposition across eight habitat types (acid, calcareous and mesotrophic grasslands, upland and lowland heaths, bogs and mires, base-rich mires, woodlands). We analysed data from 6860 plots in the British Countryside Survey 2007 for effects of total N deposition and N form on species richness, Ellenberg N values and grass:forb ratio. Our results provide clear evidence that N deposition affects species richness in all habitats except base-rich mires, after factoring out correlated explanatory variables (climate and sulphur deposition). In addition, the form of N in deposition appears important for the biodiversity of grasslands and woodlands but not mires and heaths. Ellenberg N increased more in relation to NHx deposition than NOy deposition in all but one habitat type. Relationships between species richness and N form were habitat-specific: acid and mesotrophic grasslands appear more sensitive to NHx deposition while calcareous grasslands and woodlands appeared more responsive to NOy deposition. These relationships are likely driven by the preferences of the component plant species for oxidised or reduced forms of N, rather than by soil acidification.

This work develops a new approach for delineating sites that are contaminated by multiple soil heavy metals and applies it to a case study. First a number of contaminant sample data are transformed into multiple spatially un-correlated factors using Uniformly Weighted Exhaustive Diagonalization with Gauss iterations (U-WEDGE). Sequential Gaussian simulation (sGs) is then used to generate sets of realizations of each resultant factor. These are then transformed into sets of sGs contaminant distribution realizations, which are then used to analyze the local and spatial (global) uncertainties in the distribution and concentration of contaminants via joint simulation. Finally, Info-Gap Decision Theory (IGDT) is used to consider different monitoring and or remediation regimes based on the analysis of contaminant realization spatial uncertainty. In our case study each heavy metal contaminant was considered individually and together with all other heavy metals; as the number of heavy metals considered increased, higher critical proportion values of local probability were chosen to obtain a low global uncertainty (to provide high reliability). Info-Gap Decision Theory (IGDT) yielded the most appropriate critical proportion values which minimized information loss in terms of specific goals. When the false negative rate is set to zero, meaning that it is necessary to monitor all potentially polluted areas, the corresponding false positive rates are at least 63%, 65%, 66%, 68%, 70%, and 78% to yield robustness levels of 0.50, 0.60, 0.70, 0.80, 0.90, and 1.00 respectively. However, when the false negative rate tolerance threshold is raised to 50%, the false positive rate tolerance which yields robustness levels of 0.50, 0.60, 0.70, 0.80, 0.90 and 1.00 drop to 12%, 14%, 15%, 18%, 20%, and 39%. The case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the developed approach at making robust decisions concerning the delineation of sites contaminated by multiple heavy metals.

Sediment samples collected from shelf, slope and interior basin of the northern Gulf of Mexico during 2011–2013, 1–3 years after the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, were utilized to characterize PAH pollution history, in this region. Results indicate that the concentrations of surface ΣPAH43 and their accumulation rates vary between 44 and 160 ng g−1 and 6–55 ng cm−2 y−1, respectively. ΣPAH43 concentration profiles, accumulation rates and Δ14C values are significantly altered only for the sediments in the immediate vicinity of the DWH wellhead. This shows that the impact of DWH oil input on deep-sea sediments was generally limited to the area close to the spill site. Further, the PAHs source diagnostic analyses suggest a noticeable change in PAHs composition from higher to lower molecular weight dominance which reflects a change in source of PAHs in the past three years, back to the background composition. Results indicate low to moderate levels of PAH pollution in this region at present, which are unlikely to cause adverse effects on benthic communities.

Remote high-elevation lakes represent unique environments for evaluating the bioaccumulation of atmospherically deposited mercury through freshwater food webs, as well as for evaluating the relative importance of mercury loading versus landscape influences on mercury bioaccumulation. The increase in mercury deposition to these systems over the past century, coupled with their limited exposure to direct anthropogenic disturbance make them useful indicators for estimating how changes in mercury emissions may propagate to changes in Hg bioaccumulation and ecological risk. We evaluated mercury concentrations in resident fish from 28 high-elevation, sub-alpine lakes in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Fish total mercury (THg) concentrations ranged from 4 to 438 ng/g wet weight, with a geometric mean concentration (±standard error) of 43 ± 2 ng/g ww. Fish THg concentrations were negatively correlated with relative condition factor, indicating that faster growing fish that are in better condition have lower THg concentrations. Across the 28 study lakes, mean THg concentrations of resident salmonid fishes varied as much as 18-fold among lakes. We used a hierarchal statistical approach to evaluate the relative importance of physiological, limnological, and catchment drivers of fish Hg concentrations. Our top statistical model explained 87% of the variability in fish THg concentrations among lakes with four key landscape and limnological variables: catchment conifer density (basal area of conifers within a lake's catchment), lake surface area, aqueous dissolved sulfate, and dissolved organic carbon. Conifer density within a lake's catchment was the most important variable explaining fish THg concentrations across lakes, with THg concentrations differing by more than 400 percent across the forest density spectrum. These results illustrate the importance of landscape characteristics in controlling mercury bioaccumulation in fish.

The over-use of antibiotics in animal husbandry in China and the concomitant enhanced selection of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in animal manures are of serious concern. Thermophilic composting is an effective way of reducing hazards in organic wastes. However, its effectiveness in antibiotic degradation and ARG reduction in commercial operations remains unclear. In the present study, we determined the concentrations of 15 common veterinary antibiotics and the abundances of 213 ARGs and 10 marker genes for mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in commercial composts made from cattle, poultry and swine manures in Eastern China. High concentrations of fluoroquinolones were found in the poultry and swine composts, suggesting insufficient removal of these antibiotics by commercial thermophilic composting. Total ARGs in the cattle and poultry manures were as high as 1.9 and 5.5 copies per bacterial cell, respectively. After thermophilic composting, the ARG abundance in the mature compost decreased to 9.6% and 31.7% of that in the cattle and poultry manure, respectively. However, some ARGs (e.g. aadA, aadA2, qacEΔ1, tetL) and MGE marker genes (e.g. cintI-1, intI-1 and tnpA-04) were persistent with high abundance in the composts. The antibiotics that were detected at high levels in the composts (e.g. norfloxacin and ofloxacin) might have posed a selection pressure on ARGs. MGE marker genes were found to correlate closely with ARGs at the levels of individual gene, resistance class and total abundance, suggesting that MGEs and ARGs are closely associated in their persistence in the composts under antibiotic selection. Our research shows potential disseminations of antibiotics and ARGs via compost utilization.