Air pollution is considered a key stress factor affecting the annual ring widths of the trees, especially living in industrialized areas. The Silesia-Krakow Upland is one of the most polluted areas in Poland. Scots pine stands living there have been under influence of air pollution for a long period of time. Dendrochronological analysis in five separated transects, which were performed in this region, showed the abrupt and usually long term reductions observed in radial increments of sampled pines. The abrupt increase of reductions started in the beginning of 1960s. Most of them occurred in the years 1960-1990, after this period the number of Scots pine trees with reduced annual increments decreased considerably. The distribution of reductions in particular sites, especially of the Olkusz transects, indicate a distinct relationship between the amount of reductions and distance from local source of pollution. On the other hand the similarity in temporal distribution of reductions in all transects indicate that the studied area was probably also under influence of air pollution of a regional type.

A glass house study was conducted to investigate the accumulation of arsenic in tissues of five widely cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties of Bangladesh namely BRRI dhan 28, BRRI dhan 29, BRRI dhan 35, BRRI dhan 36, BRRI hybrid dhan 1. Arsenic concentrations were measured in straw, husk and brown and polish rice grain to see the differential accumulation of arsenic among the rice varieties. The results showed that the concentrations of arsenic in different parts of all rice varieties increased significantly (p < 0.05) with the increase of its concentrations in soil. The rice varieties did not showed significant differences in arsenic accumulation in straw, husk, brown and polish grain when the concentrations of arsenic in soil was low. However, at higher concentrations of arsenic in soil, different rice varieties showed significant differences in the accumulations of arsenic in straw, husk and grain. Significantly higher concentrations of arsenic in straw and husk of rice were observed in BRRI hybrid dhan 1 compared to those of other verities. The BRRI dhan 28 and 35 concentrated significantly higher amount of arsenic in brown and polish rice grain compared to those of other rice varieties. The results imply that arsenic translocation from root to shoot (straw) and husk was higher in hybrid variety compared to those of non-hybrid varieties. Arsenic concentrations in brown and polish rice grain of five rice varieties were found to follow the trend: BRRI dhan 28 > BRRI dhan 35 > BRRI dhan 36 > BRRI dhan 29 > BRRI hybrid dhan 1. The order of arsenic contents in tissues of rice was: straw > husk > brown rice grain > polish rice grain.

The representativeness of soil pore water extracted by suction lysimeters in ground-water monitoring studies is a problem that often confounds interpretation of measured data. Current soil water sampling techniques cannot delineate from which soil volume a pore water sample is extracted, neither macroscopic, microscopic, or preferential flowpath. This research was undertaken to compare δ¹⁸O and Br- values of extracted suction lysimeters samples from intact soil cores with samples obtained by the direct extraction methods of centrifugation and azeotropic distillation. Also, the study was concerned with determining what portion of soil pore water is sampled by each method and explaining differences in concentrations of the extracted water from each method to allow a determination of the accuracy and viability of the three methods of extraction. Intact soil cores (30 cm diameter by 40 cm height) were extracted from two different sites. Site 1 was rapid infiltration basin number 50, near Altamonte Springs in Seminole County, Florida. Site 2 was the Missouri Management System Evaluation Area (MSEA) near Centralia in Boone County, Missouri. Isotopically (¹⁸Oδ) labeled water and bromide concentrations within water samples taken by suction lysimeters was compared with samples obtained by methods of centrifugation and azeotropic distillation. The ¹⁸Oδ water was analyzed by mass spectrometry while bromide concentration, applied in the form of KBr was measured using standard IC procedures. Water collected by centrifugation and azeotropic distillation data were about 0.25[per thousand] more negative than that collected by suction lysimeter values from a sandy soil and about 2-7[per thousand] more negative from a well structured soil. Results indicate that the majority of soil water in well-structured soil is strongly bound to soil grain surfaces and is not easily sampled by suction lysimeters. In cases where a sufficient volume of water has passed through the soil profile and displaced previous pore water, suction lysimeters will collect a representative sample of soil pore water from the sampled depth interval. It is suggested that for stable isotope studies monitoring precipitation and soil water, suction lysimeter be installed at shallow depths (10 cm). Samples should also be coordinated with precipitation events. The data also suggest that each extraction method samples a separate component of soil-pore water. Centrifugation can be used with success, particularly for efficient sampling of large areas. Azeotropic distillation is more appropriate when strict qualitative and quantitative data on sorption desorption, and various types of kinetic studies may be needed.

Critical loads have been used to develop international agreements on acidifying air pollution abatement, and within the UK and other countries, to develop national policies for pollution abatement. The Environment Agency (England and Wales) has regulatory obligations to protect sites of high conservation value from the threat of acidification, and hence requires a practical methodology for acidification assessments at the site-specific scale. The Environment Agency has therefore posed the question: Are the national critical load exceedance models sufficiently robust to form the basis for methods to assess harm to individual sites or are they only useful for national policy development? In order to provide one measure of the appropriateness of applying the models at the site-specific scale we incorporated estimates of uncertainty in both national and site-specific data into the calculation of critical load exceedance for individual sites. The exceedance calculations use data from a wide range of sources and the accuracy of the exceedance will be influenced by the accuracy of the input data sets. Using Monte Carlo methods to incorporate the uncertainty in the input data sets into the calculation a distribution of critical load exceedance values is generated rather than a single point estimate. This paper compares uncertainty analyses for coniferous forested sites in England and Wales using both national scale and site-specific data sets and uncertainty ranges.

The study of mineral components in respirable particles (particulate matter with diameter less than 10 μm, PM₁₀) in ambient air is important in understanding and improving air quality. In this study, PM₁₀ samples were collected in various areas around Beijing during 2002~2003, including an urban setting, a satellite city and a rural area. The mineralogical composition of these PM₁₀ samples was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), environmental scanning electron microscopy / and energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer (ESEM/EDX). The results indicated that mineral composition of PM₁₀ in different seasons and in different region varied significantly. Mineral mass concentration in Beijing PM₁₀ reached the highest percentage in the spring and fell to the lowest level in the autumn. The minerals in the spring PM₁₀ were dominated by clay minerals and quartz, followed by plagioclase, K-feldspar, calcite, dolomite, hematite, pyrite, magnesite, gypsum and laumontite as well as some unidentified materials. Fewer mineral types were collected in summer, however some new components, including K(NH₄)Ca(SO4)₂·H₂O, NH₄Cl and As₂O₃·SO₃ were noted to be present, suggesting that atmospheric chemical reaction in Beijing air were more active in summer than in other seasons. Mineral components in Beijing urban air were at a higher percentage with fewer phases than that in satellite city air. In conclusion, there was considerable variation in mineral components in PM₁₀ samples collected in different seasons and areas, which reflects the related air quality of sampling areas.

At 94 sites throughout the Gaspésie peninsula, Québec, tree growth patterns and variation in growth rate were examined to determine relationship of tree growth to specific pollutants. Canopy dominant Black Spruce (Picea mariana, (Mill.) BSP) were selected at each site. Basal area increment (BAI) values were derived from increment cores and disks taken at breast height. A sigmoid model (Gompertz) to tree basal area was fitted and used as an estimate of tree growth. The residuals were used in association with other landscape variables to test the hypothesis that the tree-growth was reduced at the vicinity of the Murdochville smelter. Results showed that residuals were well explained by smelter distance, elevation, and slope exposition to the smelter emissions. On the intense activity period, tree growth was reduced within a 25-km radius of the smelter, on slopes exposed to the contaminant flow and located at elevation lower than 580 m. With the interruption of smelting activities, growth was recovered for survival trees.

The assessment of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted to and removed from the atmosphere is high on both political and scientific agendas internationally. As increasing international concern and cooperation aim at policy-oriented solutions to the climate change problem, several issues have begun to arise regarding verification and compliance under both proposed and legislated schemes meant to reduce the human-induced global climate impact. The approaches to addressing uncertainty introduced in this article attempt to improve national inventories or to provide a basis for the standardization of inventory estimates to enable comparison of emissions and emission changes across countries. Authors of the accompanying articles use detailed uncertainty analyses to enforce the current structure of the emission trading system and attempt to internalize high levels of uncertainty by tailoring the emissions trading market rules. Assessment of uncertainty can help improve inventories and manage risk. Through recognizing the importance of, identifying and quantifying uncertainties, great strides can be made in the process of Accounting for Climate Change.

The main factors determining the geochemical fate of copper in urban freshwaters affected by raw sewage discharges were investigated in this work. Water samples from the Iraí and Iguaçu rivers were collected monthly during a 1-year period at two points located upstream and downstream from the city of Curitiba, in Brazil. Results revealed that raw sewage discharges from the heavily urbanized area caused an enhancement of humic-coated suspended solids in the Iguaçu River. In these waters copper is predominantly associated with the humic-coated particles whereas in the Iraí River copper was found primarily in the aqueous phase. The transfer of copper from the aqueous to the solid phase changed its physical speciation along the watercourse. Thus, aspects related to the overall transport of trace metals in watercourses become an important issue to be considered in further studies concerning the effect of sewage discharges on the geochemical speciation and fate of trace metals in urban rivers.

A simple and very sensitive method determining microgram quantities of indium in soil has been developed. The spectrophotometric method (ε = 1.74 x 10⁵ l mol⁻¹ cm⁻¹) based on the mixed complex In (III) with Chrome Azurol S and benzyldodecyldimethylammonium bromide was used for the analysis. A preliminary separation is made by extracting indium into butyl acetate from 5 M HBr solution. The selectivity of indium extraction and determination in the presence of macro- and micro components of soil was studied. Prior reduction of Fe (III) to Fe (II) with ascorbic acid prevents its co-extraction with indium. Indium was determined in synthetic mixtures corresponding to soil compositions and real samples of soil from different agricultural and industrial regions of Poland. The content of indium was found from the calibration graph (in the range, 0.12-0.48 μg/ml; r = 0.9991) obtained after extraction. The precision was satisfactory: % RSD (n = 6) ranged from 2.7 to 8.2. The average indium standard recovery ranged from 95 to 101%. Analysis using an ICP-OES method gave comparable results.

In this study, benthic flux measurements of inorganic nitrogen (i.e., [graphic removed] , [graphic removed] + [graphic removed] ) were made using a batch incubation system at different stations (i.e., shallow sandy macrophyte and unvegetated beds, and deep central mud) over four seasons in Lake Illawarra, NSW, Australia, to study the influence of different primary producers (i.e., seagrasses, microphytobenthos (MPB) and macroalgae) and/or different sediment types (i.e., sand or mud) on the benthic fluxes. In general, nutrient fluxes displayed typical diel variations, with lower flux out of sediments (release) or enhanced uptake by the sediment in the light, due to the photosynthetic activities of the plant-MPB-sediment community in Lake Illawarra during photosynthetic periods. A distinct seasonal pattern of inorganic-N fluxes was also observed (e.g., the marked difference between summers 2002 and 2003). This may be explained by the seasonal variations in the biomass and activity (growing or decay phases) of MPB, seagrass and macroalgae, which may influence their nutrient assimilation and alter the chemical conditions of surface sediments that influence the benthic geochemical processes and thus benthic nutrient fluxes. On an annual basis, unvegetated sediments displayed net DIN effluxes, while seagrass beds showed a net DIN uptake, and the highest DIN uptakes coincided with the largest standing crop of seagrass and/or macroalgae and the highest levels of benthic community production. This may be due to the enhanced denitrification and/or assimilation activity by rooted plants and macroalgae, and the effect is most efficient during periods of net growth (e.g., in Spring 2002).