Observation and characterization of environmental pollution, focussing on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), in a high-risk industrial area, are particularly important in order to provide indications on a safe level of exposure, indicate eventual priorities and advise on policy interventions. The aim of this study is to use the Solid Phase Micro Extraction (SPME) method to measure VOCs, directly coupled with atmospheric measurements taken on a small aircraft environmental platform, to evaluate and locate the presence of VOC emission sources in the Marghera industrial area. Lab analysis of collected SPME fibres and subsequent analysis of mass spectrum and chromatograms in Scan Mode allowed the detection of a wide range of VOCs. The combination of this information during the monitoring campaign allowed a model (Gaussian Plume) to be implemented that estimates the localization of emission sources on the ground.

One monitoring station is insufficient to characterize the high spatial variation of traffic-related heavy metals within cities. We tested moss bags (Hylocomium splendens), deployed in a dense network, for the monitoring of metals in outdoor air and characterized metals’ long-term spatial distribution and its determinants in Girona, Spain. Mosses were exposed outside 23 homes for two months; NO₂ was monitored for comparison. Metals were not highly correlated with NO₂ and showed higher spatial variation than NO₂. Regression models explained 61–85% of Cu, Cr, Mo, Pb, Sb, Sn, and Zn and 72% of NO₂ variability. Metals were strongly associated with the number of bus lines in the nearest street. Heavy metals are an alternative traffic-marker to NO₂ given their toxicological relevance, stronger association with local traffic and higher spatial variability. Monitoring heavy metals with mosses is appealing, particularly for long-term exposure assessment, as mosses can remain on site many months without maintenance.

Open burning of crop residues has been identified as an important emission source of PCDD/PCDF to the environment. This paper presents the first known data on the emission of PCDD/PCDF to the land considering the influence of pesticides applied in crops planting. Emission factor for PCDD/PCDF to the land from open burning of corn straw with pesticides contamination ranged from 0.07 to 0.57ng WHO₂₀₀₅-TEQ/kg straw burned with a mean value of 0.24ng WHO₂₀₀₅-TEQ/kg straw burned and median value of 0.20ng WHO₂₀₀₅-TEQ/kg straw burned, respectively. The concentration was 35 to 270 times higher than that without additional pesticide contaminated. Initial observation was that emission factor for PCDD/PCDF from open burning of crop residues was overestimated in the former UNEP Dioxin Toolkit. Pesticides contamination should be considered in some hotpots where special and over dosed pesticides has been sprayed especially in developing countries.

Urban soil Pb contamination is a great human health risk. Lead distribution and source in topsoils from 14 parks in Shanghai, China were investigated along an urban–rural gradient. Topsoils were contaminated averagely with 65 mg Pb kg⁻¹, 2.5 times higher than local soil background concentrations. HCl-extracts contained more anthropogenic Pb signatures than total sample digests as revealed by the higher ²⁰⁷/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸/²⁰⁶Pb ratios in extracts (0.8613 ± 0.0094 and 2.1085 ± 0.0121 versus total digests 0.8575 ± 0.0098 and 2.0959 ± 0.0116). This suggests a higher sensitivity of HCl-extraction than total digestion in identifying anthropogenic Pb sources. Coal combustion emission was identified as the major anthropogenic Pb source (averagely 47%) while leaded gasoline emission contributed 12% overall. Urbanization effects were observed by total Pb content and anthropogenic Pb contribution. This study suggests that to reduce Pb contamination, Shanghai might have to change its energy composition to clean energy.

We investigated the effects of the agricultural Cross Compliance measures for European cultivated lands, focusing on nitrogen (N) fluxes from corn fields. Four scenarios have been designed according to some conservation farming practices, namely no-till, max manure, catch crop and N splitting. Results indicated that (1) in the no-till scenario the N₂O fluxes are decreased during the first simulated years, with a return to default fluxes in following years; no-till particularly decreased N₂O emission in the dryer and colder simulation spatial units (HSMUs); (2) the no-till and the N splitting scenarios slightly increased the N surplus because of a decrease in plant uptake; (3) introducing a rotation with alfalfa decreased the N leaching in the corn crops following the catch crops; and (4) the application of fertilizer and manure during the cold and wet seasons led to an increase of N leaching.

We calculated farm, land, and soil N-budgets for countries in Europe and the EU27 as a whole using the agro-economic model CAPRI. For EU27, N-surplus is 55 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ in a soil budget and 65 kg N₂O–N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and 67 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ in land and farm budgets, respectively. NUE is 31% for the farm budget, 60% for the land budget and 63% for the soil budget. NS values are mainly related to the excretion (farm budget) and application (soil and land budget) of manure per hectare of total agricultural land. On the other hand, NUE is best explained by the specialization of the agricultural system toward animal production (farm NUE) or the share of imported feedstuff (soil NUE). Total N input, intensive farming, and the specialization to animal production are found to be the main drivers for a high NS and low NUE.

With increasing urbanization the importance of cities for biodiversity conservation grows. This paper reviews the ways in which biodiversity is affected by urbanization and discusses the consequences of different conservation approaches. Cities can be richer in plant species, including in native species, than rural areas. Alien species can lead to both homogenization and differentiation among urban regions. Urban habitats can harbor self-sustaining populations of rare and endangered native species, but cannot replace the complete functionality of (semi-)natural remnants. While many conservation approaches tend to focus on such relict habitats and native species in urban settings, this paper argues for a paradigm shift towards considering the whole range of urban ecosystems. Although conservation attitudes may be challenged by the novelty of some urban ecosystems, which are often linked to high numbers of nonnative species, it is promising to consider their associated ecosystem services, social benefits, and possible contribution to biodiversity conservation.

We monitored curbside airborne particulate matter (PM) concentrations and its proinflammatory capacity during 3 weekends when vehicle traffic was excluded from Park. Ave., New York City. Fine PM concentration peaked in the morning regardless of traffic while ultrafine PM was 58% lower during mornings without traffic. Ultrafine PM concentration varied linearly with traffic flow, while fine PM spiked sharply in response to random traffic events that were weakly correlated with the traffic signal cycle. Ultrafine PM concentrations decayed exponentially with distance from a cross street with unrestricted traffic flow, reaching background levels within 100 m of the source. IL-6 induction was typically highest on Friday afternoons but showed no clear relationship to the presence of traffic. The coarse fraction (>2.5 μm) had the greatest intrinsic inflammatory capacity, suggesting that coarse PM still warrants attention even as the research focus is shifting to nano-particles.

Arsenic mobility may increase in liquid phase due to association with colloidal Fe oxides. We studied the association of As with Fe oxide colloids in the effluent from water-saturated soil columns run under anoxic conditions. Upon exfiltration, the solutions, which contained Fe²⁺, were re-aerated and ferrihydrite colloids precipitated. The entire amount of effluent As was associated with the ferrihydrite colloids, although PO₄ ³⁻, SiO₄ ⁴⁻, CO₃ ²⁻ and dissolved organic matter were present in the effluent during ferrihydrite colloid formation. Furthermore, no subsequent release of As from the ferrihydrite colloids was observed despite the presence of these (in)organic species known to compete with As for adsorption on Fe oxides. Arsenic was bound via inner-sphere complexation on the ferrihydrite surface. FTIR spectroscopy also revealed adsorption of PO₄ ³⁻ and polymerized silica. However, these species could not impede the quantitative association of As with colloidal ferrihydrite in the soil effluents.

¹H NMR-based metabolomics was used to examine the response of the earthworm Eisenia fetida after exposure to sub-lethal concentrations of phenanthrene over time. Earthworms were exposed to 0.025 mg/cm² of phenanthrene (1/64th of the LC₅₀) via contact tests over four days. Earthworm tissues were extracted using a mixture of chloroform, methanol and water, resulting in polar and non-polar fractions that were analyzed by ¹H NMR after one, two, three and four days. NMR-based metabolomic analyses revealed heightened E. fetida responses with longer phenanthrene exposure times. Amino acids alanine and glutamate, the sugar maltose, the lipids cholesterol and phosphatidylcholine emerged as potential indicators of phenanthrene exposure. The conversion of succinate to fumarate in the Krebs cycle was also interrupted by phenanthrene. Therefore, this study shows that NMR-based metabolomics is a powerful tool for elucidating time-dependent relationships in addition to the mode of toxicity of phenanthrene in earthworm exposure studies.