Tungsten (W) is commonly employed as a non-toxic alternative to lead in a broad variety of industrial and military applications. However, correlations between environmental contamination through soil, water and airborne pathways, and biological effects such as epithelial damage, bioaccumulation, and trophic mobility, have led to its classification as an “emerging contaminant.” Of particular concern are recent clusters of childhood leukemia and lung cancer in the vicinity of tungsten mines and processing facilities. High environmental tungsten availability has also been associated with altered thyroid function, cardiovascular disease, and prolonged elevation of concentrations in blood, breath, and urine. Tungsten’s use as a replacement for lead (Pb) in military munitions has resulted in leaching of tungsten into soil and into soft tissues in which bullet fragments are embedded. Despite these associations, no consensus has been reached regarding the mechanisms by which tungsten affects the human body. Particularly confounding are the issues of co-toxicity with other known contaminants such as arsenic, cobalt, and cadmium, and differences resulting from the various methods of ingestion. The present paper summarizes the current behavior of tungsten in the environment, its occurrence within the pedosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere, and discusses its potential effects on exposed biota (especially humans). In particular, knowledge gaps are identified regarding the biological mechanisms of tungsten-related disease, which urgently require further elucidation in order to develop appropriate policies and management practices for the use of this element.

The components of bioerosion were investigated during ENCORE (The Effect of Nutrient Enrichment on Coral Reefs) over 2years of controlled additions of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus. The study was carried out at One Tree Island, southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Rates of microbioerosion and external erosion by grazing were significantly higher at the enriched sites than at the control sites. Rates of accretion by coralline algae were also significantly higher at enriched sites. In contrast, rates of macroboring were not significantly different between enriched and control sites.This study highlights the importance of improving water quality on the reef to reduce rates of bioerosion given that quantities of dead coral substrates have recently substantially increased as a result of coral bleaching (Hughes et al., 2015) and several Crown of Thorns plagues (Fabricius et al., 2010; De'ath et al., 2012), on the Great Barrier Reef.

Environmental vibration and ground-borne noise from light rail transport (LRT) networks consists a major impact on the urban environment. Since experiments are often difficult to obtain and to interpret especially for environmental vibration, designers and researchers generally resource numerical model to assess vibration levels and understand the complex mechanism of generation and propagation of ground vibration. In this paper, some highlights are provided on vehicle/track/soil modeling for railway-induced ground vibration, including the proper definitions of each of these subsystems. The nature of the wheel/rail interaction is also important, especially in urban area, so a case study demonstrates that local unevenness are important sources of vibrations. On the other hand, specialized prediction models and dose-response relationships for airborne rail noise during operation and construction phases of urban light rail transport networks (both underground and surficial) are needed to be evaluated, in order to quantify the impact of the technical characteristics of the noise source, the operation mode with emphasis to speed, the propagation, the implementation of quiet facades, and the number and distribution of high-level noise events. In the present paper, two distinct case studies are presented in order to emphasize the need and the necessity of using proper tools to predict, access, monitor, and evaluate the environmental impact of LRTs to the urban acoustic environment: (a) the new Brussels Regional Express Network and (b) the new Athens Metro Line 3 extension to Piraeus port in an underground tunnel (length 7.6 km).

Global shipping is economically important, but has many adverse environmental effects. Anchoring contributes greatly to this adverse impact, as it is responsible for mechanical disturbance of highly sensitive marine habitats. Recovery of these ecosystems is limited by slow regrowth. Anchoring pressure on coastal seabed habitats was estimated using AIS (Automatic Identification System) data along 1800km of Mediterranean coastline between 2010 and 2015. A comparison with field observations showed that these results were most consistent for large boats (>50m). An analysis of AIS data coupled with a seabed map showed that around 30% of the habitats between 0 and −80m exhibited anchoring pressure. Posidonia oceanica seagrass beds were the most impacted habitat in terms of duration. This methodology efficiently estimates spatial and temporal anchoring pressure principally due to large boats and should interest managers of marine protected areas as much as coastline managers.

The distribution, sources, and ecological risk assessment of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments from the Nantong coast in China were investigated. The results indicated that the total concentrations of the 16 PAHs in the surface sediments from the study area ranged from 1.4 to 87.1ngg−1 dw (mean value 19.9ngg−1 dw), which were generally low compared to the adjacent offshore area and other coastal zones around the world. The selected PAH ratios and the principal components analysis for each site showed that petroleum combustion and petrogenic pollution (mainly caused by petroleum spills) were the dominant PAHs sources in the surface sediments of the coast. The ecological risk assessment indicated that most of the individual PAHs had few negative effects in this area.

The concentrations and distribution of monoaromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and the sum of m-, p- and o-, xylenes) were determined in the sediments of coastal lagoons of the Gulf of Saros, using a static headspace GC–MS. The total concentrations of BTEX compounds ranged from 368.5 to below detection limit 0.6μgkg−1 dw, with a mean value of 61.5μgkg−1 dw. The light aromatic fraction of m-, p-xylene was the most abundant compound (57.1% in average), and followed by toluene (38.1%)>ethylbenzene (4.1%)>o-xylene (2.5%)>benzene (1.1%). The factor analysis indicated that the levels and distribution of BTEX compounds depend on the type of contaminant source (mobile/point), absorbance of compounds in sediment, and mobility of benzene compound and degradation processes. Point sources are mainly related to agricultural facilities and port activities while the dispersion of compounds are related with their solubility, volatility and effect of sea/saline waters on lagoons.

MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry Biotyping has proven to be a reliable method for identifying bacteria at the species level based on the analysis of the ribosomal proteins mass fingerprint. We evaluate the usefulness of this method to identify Enterococcus species isolated from marine recreational water at Brazilian beaches. A total of 127 Enterococcus spp. isolates were identified to species level by bioMérieux's API® 20 Strep and MALDI-TOF systems. The biochemical test identified 117/127 isolates (92%), whereas MALDI identified 100% of the isolates, with an agreement of 63% between the methods. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing of isolates with discrepant results showed that MALDI-TOF and API® correctly identified 74% and 11% of these isolates, respectively. This discrepancy probably relies on the bias of the API® has to identify clinical isolates. MALDI-TOF proved to be a feasible approach for identifying Enterococcus from environmental matrices increasing the rapidness and accuracy of results.

Nitrogen and phosphorus loads are considered a major reason for the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. Until now, most of the abatement has been made at point sources while the implementation of policies for nonpoint sources has not led to equally large reductions in emissions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of how nutrient abatement measures are implemented by countries in the agricultural sector of the Baltic Sea region. We investigate how goal setting, policy instrument choice, and the level of implementation is determined by characteristics of the abatement measure as well as socio-economic characteristics of the country where it is implemented. Econometric analysis of a cross-sectional data set suggests that income, institutional capacity, and economies of scope in abatement and enforcement are important determinants of policies developed and their implementation.

Constructed mangrove wetland has been used for wastewater treatment but its long-term performance has not been reported. One-year monitoring of a 10-years old horizontal subsurface-flow constructed mangrove wetland consisting of three belts, two with mangrove plants and one without, revealed that the system maintained high and stable removal percentages of organic matter and nutrients, and planted belts performed better than unplanted control. Substrates in belts planted with Aegiceras corniculatum or Kandelia obovata had higher abundance of ammonifiers, nitrifiers and denitrifiers but lower total heterotrophic bacteria than unplanted substrate. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis showed that microbial diversity in planted substrate was significantly lower than that in unplanted one. The bacteria in substrates, irrespective to belts, were phylogenetically related to Proteobacteria (most dominant), Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, Nitrospirae, Gemmatimonadetes, Chloroflexi and Cyanobacteria. The steady performance of this 10-year old constructed mangrove wetland was affected by the abundance and diversity of bacterial community in substrate.

We examined spatiotemporal variations of metal levels and three growth related biomarkers, i.e., RNA/DNA ratio (RD), total energy reserve (Et) and condition index (CI), in green-lipped mussels Perna viridis transplanted into five locations along a pollution gradient in the marine environment of Hong Kong over 120days of deployment. There were significant differences in metal levels and biomarker responses among the five sites and six time points. Mussels in two clean sites displayed better CI and significantly lower levels of Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn in their tissues than the other sites. Temporal patterns of RD in P. viridis were found to be site-specific. Across all sites, Et decreased in P. viridis over the deployment period, though the rate of decrease varied significantly among the sites. Therefore, temporal variation of biomarkers should be taken to consideration in mussel-watch programs because such information can help discriminate pollution-induced change from natural variation.