To investigate fine particulate air pollution generated by public transport and its microenvironment, PM2.5 measurements and particle number counts for six particle size ranges (0.3–0.5 µm, >0.5–1.0 µm, >1.0–3.0 µm, >3.0– 5.0 µm, >5.0–10 µm and >10 µm) were obtained for four public transport modes: bus, metro–bus, car and walking. The measurements were repeated for each transport mode twice a day for 7–10 measurement days. The highest average PM2.5 concentration was measured inside a bus (106 µg/m3) during rush hours. The highest single peak measurement was a concentration of 316 µg/m3 for walking during non–rush hours. The PM2.5 level in a car with the air conditioning fan off was approximately 2.5 times lower than the level with the air conditioning fan on. Moderate correlations were found between PM2.5 concentrations and wind speed. Weak correlations were found between PM2.5 concentrations, relative humidity and temperature. The results showed that the diameters of most of the particles were smaller than 0.5 µm, regardless of the transport mode. The average fine particle number (size range 0.3–0.5) for all transport modes ranged from 54 647 to 209 746 particles/103 cm3 during rush hours and from 49 423 to 184 866 particles/103 cm3 during non–rush hours.

The concentrations of metals were determined in northwest (NW) coast of Portugal seawaters and soft tissues of goose barnacles Pollicipes pollicipes. P. pollicipes can be used for monitoring metal contamination in these coastal seawaters, because there were significant correlations (p<0.05) for all metals between soft tissues and seawaters during the four seasons. Metal concentrations in seawaters and P. pollicipes had significant (p<0.05) spatial and seasonal variations and mean log BAFs for Fe and Cd were higher than for Cr, Cu, Mn and Zn. Regarding the metal concentrations obtained in the coastal seawaters, all NW coast of Portugal should be classified as “Class IV – Bad”, except two locations (location 7 at Summer and location 10 at Winter), which should be classified as “Class III – Moderate”. However, considering the metal concentrations bioaccumulated in P. pollicipes, all locations should be classified as “Class III – Remarkably Polluted” during all seasons of 2011.

Most plastic ingestion studies rely on dissection of dead birds, which are found opportunistically, and may be biased. We used Leach’s Storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) in Newfoundland to study the effect of dose volume, and the efficacy of emesis using syrup of ipecac as an emetic. Ipecac is a safe method of non-lethally sampling stomach contents, and recovered all ingested plastic. Almost half the storm-petrels sampled had ingested plastic, ranging from 0 to 17 pieces, and weighing 0.2–16.9mg. Using the Ecological Quality Objective for Northern Fulmars, adjusted for storm-petrels smaller size, 43% exceeded the threshold of 0.0077g of plastic. Many adult seabirds offload plastic to their offspring, so storm-petrel chicks likely experience a higher plastic burden than their parents. The ability to study plastic ingestion non-lethally allows researchers to move from opportunistic and haphazard sampling to hypothesis-driven studies on a wider range of taxa and age classes.

This study investigates green mussel filtration rates based on variation of the mussel size and density, and attempts to correlate these with the amount of Chaetoceros calcitrans consumed by kinetic modeling. The filtration rates were found to be more effective in small mussels and with greater volumes of seawater/mussel which represent low mussel densities in the mussel farms. Under field condition, the first order kinetic model is useful for evaluation of mussel filtration rate. However, the composite exponential kinetic model was determined to better describe filtration rates in a close system. Higher ratios of seawater volume L/g DW mussel tissue, resulted in an increasing filtration rate until a maximum plateau was reached at 10.37L/h/g DW tissue as determined by first order kinetics. Based on the filtration rate, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus uptake by green mussels were found to be 2128.72, 265.41, and 66.67mg/year/indv, respectively.

An activity–based emission model was developed to determine cruise–ship emissions. Calculated emissions depend on cruise–voyage data (position, cruise speed, operation mode) and the ships’ characteristics (engine power, size, fuel– type, maximum cruise–speed). Cruise–ship emissions of particulate matter (PM) and its precursors were determined for the 2008 cruise season and for two proposed management actions: a prescribed speed in Glacier Bay, and implementation of an Emission Control Area (ECA) in Alaska at–large. The Weather Research and Forecasting model inline coupled with chemistry served to assess the impact of these management actions on air quality and visibility. On season–average, ships emitted ~2.5 µg/m2/s PM in Glacier Bay. Cruising at constant 6.69m/s anywhere in Glacier Bay decreased PM–emissions by 32% and marginally increased mean visibility. Altered cruise speeds strongly changed the spatial emission and concentration distributions of all species in and up to 30 km downwind of Glacier Bay. Changes differed among species. An ECA reduced PM–emissions from cruise ships by 74% and their impacts on visibility by 0.1, 0.2 and 0.1 deciview for the 10%, 50% and 90%–percentiles of best–visibility–days in Glacier Bay.

Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination and macrobenthos in the sandy tidal flats of Taean were monitored for 1year to assess the impacts of Hebei Spirit oil on the macrobenthic community. A total of 207 macrobenthic fauna was collected, and the mean density and biomass of macrobenthic fauna continued to decrease until 12months after the oil spill, but macrobenthic density at the most heavily affected sites increased by about twofold. In January 2008, the dominant species occurred at very low densities in strongly affected sites. The macrobenthic communities differed between oil-affected and unaffected sites. In particular, differences in community structure at Mallipo beach were larger than those at Shinduri. We suggest that long-term monitoring is needed to assess the specific effects of oil pollution on the sandy intertidal macrobenthic community.

Concentrations of 210Po and 210Pb were determined in the edible muscle tissue of twelve species of marine fish collected from Izmir Bay in the Aegean Sea Region of Turkey during the 2006–2007. 210Po activity concentrations in fish samples were found to vary from ND to 400±9Bqkg−1 dry weight and 210Pb activity concentrations were found to vary from ND to 15±3Bqkg−1 dry weight. The highest dose contribution due to 210Po to humans was found to be 8.908μSvy−1.

According to Water Framework Directive requirements, Member States must identify and analyze effects derived from human pressures in aquatic systems. As different kind of pressures can impact water bodies at different scales, analyses of spatio-temporal evolution of water bodies becomes essential in order to understand ecosystem responses. In this investigation, an analysis of spatio-temporal evolution of sedimentary metal pollution (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Zn) in 12 Basque estuaries (Bay of Biscay) is presented. Data collected in extensive sampling surveys is the basis for the GIS-based statistical approach used. The implementation of pollution abatement measures is reflected in a long-term decontamination process, mostly evident in estuaries with highest historical sediment pollution levels. Spatial evolution is determined by either naturally occurring or human driven processes. Such spatial processes are more obviously being reflected in estuaries with lower historical sediment pollution levels.

The environmental condition of the Baltic Sea is not only of concern for natural scientists. The awareness of the deteriorating state of the ecosystem has become an issue of interdisciplinary interest, and the amount of organizations with the marine environment and ecosystem health on the agenda is large. To present holistic and sustainable solutions and results of the actions taken, an active cooperation between all stakeholder groups and levels are needed. How different stakeholders in the northern Baltic Sea perceive the structures and assessments of the eutrophication were analyzed by semi-structured interviews with 17 stakeholders representing authorities, scientists, NGOs and national interest organizations. The focus was the view of the governance structures, risk assessment, management and communication. There was an overall consensus that eutrophication is a serious problem. Still variations in the opinions both within and between the stakeholder groups were seen. The scientists were most divergent from the rest.

The natural petroleum hydrocarbon degrading capacity of the Archipelago Sea water in S-W Finland was studied in a microcosm experiment. Pristine and previously oil exposed sites were examined. Bacterial community fingerprinting was performed using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and samples from selected microcosms were sequenced. The abundance of PAH degradation genes was measured by quantitative PCR. Bacterial communities in diesel exposed microcosms diverged from control microcosms during the experiment. Gram positive PAH degradation genes dominated at both sites in situ, whereas gram negative PAH degrading genes became enriched in diesel microcosms. The dominant bacterial groups after a 14 days of diesel exposure were different depending on the sampling site, belonging to the class Actinobacteria (32%) at a pristine site and Betaproteobacteria (52%) at a previously oil exposed site. The hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in the Baltic Sea differ from those in the oceans, where most hydrocarbon degraders belong to Gammaproteobacteria.