In order to restore the forest ecosystem in the vicinity of an industrial park, Ulsan, southeastern Korea, which has been heavily acidified by air pollution, a preliminary experiment by applying tolerant plants selected through several procedures, and dolomite and sewage sludge as soil ameliorators was carried out. Furthermore, a restoration based on the results was executed and the effects were evaluated based on the creation of safe sites, where new species can establish: regeneration of the forest with species similar in composition to the natural vegetation of native forests that are distant from the industrial park; increase in species diversity. In a preliminary study, the necessity of soil amelioration was diagnosed. Quercus serrata, Alnus firma and Ligustrum japonicum, which represent for tree, subtree, and shrub layers of vegetation in this region, were used as sample plants. Dolomite, sludge, and a mixture of both materials were applied as soil ameliorators. Bare ground (BG), and two grasslands dominated by forbs (GF) and grass (GG), respectively were designated as experimental plots based on a vegetation map of the corresponding area. BG and GF plots, which have lower organic matter contents, increased the growth of sample plants in response to soil amelioration, whereas that with higher contents, GG plot, did not show this response. The result suggests that necessity of soil amelioration depends on site quality. The effects of soil amelioration depended also on the sample plants. This difference is due to an ecological property of A. firma, which can fix atmospheric nitrogen through a symbiotic relationship with actinomycetic fungi. This result implies that this alder could be used as a substitute for soil ameliorators in restoration plan of this area. The height and standing crop of undergrowth, which forms dense grass mat and thereby impedes establishment of new plants, decreased in the restored stands. Such a decrease in the height and biomass of undergrowth could be recognized as providing safe sites, in which the other plants can invade, by removing the dense carpet formed by Miscanthus sinensis. The results of stand ordination showed a progression of the former bare grounds to either M. sinensis (GG) or Pueraria thunbergiana (GF) stands, suggesting a natural recovery through succession toward the stands dominated by both plants. But the change was not progressed beyond the grassland stage. Active restoration practice, which was carried out by applying tolerant plants, however, led to a change toward species composition similar to the natural vegetation before devastation. Furthermore, restored stands reflected the restoration effect by showing higher diversity than the stands in the degraded state. These results showed that the restorative treatment carried out by introducing tolerant plants functioned toward increasing both biological integrity and ecological stability and thereby could meet the restoration goal.

The sorption of hydrophobic organic pollutants on soils or sediments has been widely studied. However, more attention in the previous studies has been paid to sorption mechanism and effects of relevant environmental factors, few studies were reported on effects of heavy metals on the sorption of hydrophobic organic pollutants. In this paper, sorption of phthalate esters (diethyl phthalate, DEP, and di-n-butyl phthalate, DnBP) and copper on the Yellow River sediment was investigated with particular attention to the effects of copper on the phthalate sorption. The experimental results show that the sorption isotherms of phthalates could be reasonably described by the Freundlich equation. Higher sorption equilibrium constant was obtained for DnBP due to its greater hydrophobicity. The existence of copper would enhance the sorption of DnBP. Moreover, strong sorption of copper to sediment were found and attributed to abundant carbonates in the Yellow River sediment. After carbonates were removed, notable effects of copper on the phthalate sorption were observed due to the decrease of copper sorption and the increase of aqueous copper concentration. With 153 mg l-¹ copper added, the partition coefficient decreases by 52% for DEP and increases by 79% for DnBP. Primary factors that may influence interaction between the sorption of copper and DEP and DnBP were also investigated, such as complexation between copper and phthalate, and phthalate hydrophobicity. The complexation between phthalate esters and copper was substantiated by polarogram and fluorescence spectrograph, and the calculated mol ratio of complexation (copper : phthalate) was found to be 2:1.

Fluvial bed sediments are widely used for characterizing anthropogenic contaminant signals in urban watersheds. This study presents the first preliminary examination of sequentially extracted Pb from grain size fractionated bed sediments using the optimized (standardized) BCR procedure. Baseline sediment samples and samples from the vicinity of three storm-sewer outlets in Nuuanu Stream, Honolulu, Hawaii, were examined. The weighted average Pb liberated from four sequentially extracted phases was 144 ± 26 mg/kg (±SD). These Pb concentrations are high compared to 3 mg/kg leached by a 0.5 M HCl solution, and 13 mg/kg from a 4-acid total digestion of baseline sediments. Over a 1.8 km section of stream channel, land use variations and traffic density differences had little impact on the magnitude of Pb in specific phases for each of the six grain size fractions examined. Regardless of grain size or spatial location, Pb in the reducible phase exceeded that in oxidizable, residual and acid extractable phases. Weighted reducible Pb concentrations for three sewer outlet sites ranged from 69 to 92 mg/kg, and this phase typically accounted for 70-80% of all labile Pb. The <63 μm grain size class did not exhibit the highest Pb concentration, instead this was found in either the 125-250 μm or 500-1,000 μm fractions. Examining bed sediment phase associations of Pb over a smaller length dimension (i.e., 40 m) centered around one sewer outlet, indicated higher concentrations at the outlet (180 mg/kg) compared to upstream (132 mg/kg) or downstream (150 mg/kg). The differences were primarily associated with higher Pb concentrations in the reducible and oxidizable phases of the coarse sand fractions (500-2,000 μm) at the outlet. Overall, all data point to a significant anthropogenic signal for Pb in bed sediments in the urbanized section of Nuuanu Stream.

A powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan on September 21, 1999. The stream water chemistry (pH, total alkalinity, conductivity, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, ammonium, fluoride, chloride, sulfate, and nitrate) has been monitored since 1995 at the Guandaushi forestry riparian zone in central Taiwan. Collected data was used as a basis for comparing pre- and post-earthquake impacts. The pH, conductivity, and concentrations of Na, Ca, Mg, SO₄, and HCO₃ in stream water were lowest during the summer season, when stream water discharge was highest. On the other hand, the lowest concentrations of Cl, NH₄, and NO₃ in stream water occurred during the winter season, when stream water discharge was lowest. Also, K and F showed very little seasonal fluctuation in concentration. Downward trends in K and Ca were found 14 months prior to the earthquake; although, an upward trend occurred in NH₄ at the same time.

Ammonia fluxes from application of anaerobically-digested slurry (ADS) and chemical fertilizer (CF) to flooded forage rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Japan were measured using a dynamic flow-through chamber method in lysimeters. The CF was applied at a rate of 300 N ha-¹ (three times) as ammoniacal-N fertilizer, and the ADS was applied to the lysimeters at total rates equivalent to 75, 100 and 150 kg N ha-¹, by broadcasting uniformly into the floodwater at three or six times (equal splits) between 17th June and 17th November, 2005. The emission fluxes for the first 2 days after application were very high from ADS, the highest values being 679 compared with a maximum of 156 mg N m-² d-¹ from CF. Most (61-93%) of the ammonia loss occurred during the first 5 days after each application of fertilizer. The total N loss as ammonia from ADS (29.6-51.7%) was much higher than from CF (12.2%). The highest fluxes were observed in August (2005) when air temperature was highest. More ammonia was lost from the ADS applied at the early stages (i.e. root taking, tiller stages) than at later stages (i.e. elongation, fruiting stages) of rice growth.

The hydrolysis of 4-Nitrophenylphosphate (NPP) in the presence of Ferrous and Ferric ions in Oil in water microemulsion media was investigated. The reaction was monitored by measuring the absorbance of the nitrophenolate ion produced in the reaction aliquots with time. The order of effectiveness of the microemulsion system towards the hydrolysis of NPP was found to be cationic > anionic> aqueous in the presence of Ferrous, Ferric and Turnbull's blue at neutral pH. The result of the present investigation enriches our understanding of the possible roles polymetallic ions play in hydrolysis reactions. The reactions mimic the roles of purple acid phosphatases in the hydrolysis of phosphate esters. The application of the above systems for environmental decontamination of organophosphates is also envisoned.

The effects of ozone in four maple species, Acer campestre, A. opalus subsp. granatense, A. monspessulanum and A. pseudoplatanus were studied in OTC under two different experimental conditions: in charcoal filtered air (CF), and in non filtered air plus 30 ppb ozone (NF+30). The four species of maple showed contrasting sensitivity to ozone as demonstrated by visible injury development, gas exchange and chlorophyll a fluorescence, and growth measurements. Plant injury index (i.e. a combination of percentage of injured leaves and leaf surface affected) was more consistently related with physiological measurements than the onset of first symptom of visible injury. Differences in ozone sensitivity among species may be partly related to higher stomatal conductances in A. opalus and A. pseudoplatanus. In these two species, ozone produced significant reductions in CO₂ assimilation under saturating light conditions (A sat), stomatal conductance (g s), transpiration rate (T r) and Water Use Efficiency (WUE) (the latter also significantly declined in A. campestre) towards the end of summer, while intercellular CO₂ concentrations (C i) increased significantly. In asymptomatic leaves of A. opalus, neither stomatal limitation nor photoinhibitory damage (F v/F m) could explain the observed decline of A sat, and photosynthesis was down regulated by reducing the proportion of absorbed energy used in photochemistry (Φ PSII) at expenses of the energy dispersed non-photochemically (NPQ). Leaf N content also declined significantly in A. pseudoplatanus. Plants exposed to ozone showed a tendency to decrease growth, but it was not significant within the exposure period for any of the four species. The most sensitive species were A. opalus and A. pseudoplatanus, while the species with the smallest and more coriaceous leaves, A. monspessulanum, was the most resistant.

We investigated the Austrian national greenhouse gas emission inventory to review the reliability and usability of such inventories. The overall uncertainty of the inventory (95% confidence interval) is just over 10% of total emissions, with nitrous oxide (N₂O) from soils clearly providing the largest impact. Trend uncertainty - the difference between 2 years - is only about five percentage points, as important sources like soil N₂O are not expected to show different behavior between the years and thus exhibit a high covariance. The result is very typical for industrialized countries - subjective decisions by individuals during uncertainty assessment are responsible for most of the discrepancies among countries. Thus, uncertainty assessment cannot help to evaluate whether emission targets have been met. Instead, a more rigid emission accounting system that allows little individual flexibility is proposed to provide harmonized evaluation uninfluenced by the respective targets. Such an accounting system may increase uncertainty in terms of greenhouse gas fluxes to the atmosphere. More importantly, however, it will decrease uncertainty in intercountry comparisons and thus allow for fair burden sharing. Setting of post-Kyoto emission targets will require the independent evaluation of achievements. This can partly be achieved by the validation of emission inventories and thorough uncertainty assessment.

On 1998, a settling pond of a pyrite mine in Aznalcóllar (SW Spain) broke open, spilling some 3.6 × 10⁶ m³ of water and 0.9 × 10⁶ m³ of toxic tailings into the Agrio and Guadiamar river basin 40 km downstream, nearly to Doñana National Park. The soils throughout the basin were studied for arsenic pollution. Almost all the arsenic penetrated the soils in the solid phase (tailings) in variable amounts, mainly as a result of the different soil structure. The chemical oxidation of the tailings was the main cause of the pollution in these soils. A study of the relationships between the main soil characteristics and arsenic extracted with different reagents (water, CaCl₂, acetic acid, oxalic–oxalate and EDTA) indicates a direct relationship with the total arsenic concentration. The highest amount of arsenic was extracted by oxalic–oxalate (24%–36% of the total arsenic), indicating the binding with the iron oxides.

Lowland heath is an internationally important habitat type that has greatly declined in abundance throughout Western Europe. In recent years this has led to a growing interest in the restoration of heathland on agricultural land. This generally requires the use of chemical treatments to return soil chemical conditions to those appropriate for the support of heathland ecosystems. However, the potential for negative impacts on the environment due to the potential of these treatments to increase the availability of trace metals via raised soil acidity requires investigation. A large-scale field study investigated the effect of two chemical treatments used in heathland restoration, elemental sulphur and ferrous sulphate, on soil acidity and whether it is possible to predict the effect of the treatments on availability of two potentially toxic cations (Al and Cd) in the soil along with their subsequent accumulation in the shoots of the grass Agrostis capillaris. Results showed that both treatments decreased soil pH, but that only elemental sulphur produced a pH similar to heathland soil. The availability of Al, measured by extraction with 1 M ammonium nitrate, could not be predicted by soil pH, depth in the soil and total Al concentration in the soil. By contrast, availability of Cd could be predicted from these three variables. Concentrations of both Al and Cd in the shoots of A. capillaris showed no significant relationship with the extractable concentration in the soil. Results are discussed in light of the possible environmental impacts of the chemical restoration techniques.