Disturbances in seagrass systems often lead to considerable loss of seagrass fauna. We examined the capacity for seagrass fauna, across multiple trophic levels, to recover from disturbances, using empirical and modelling techniques. Model outputs, using Ecosim with Ecopath (EwE), were consistent with the results of field investigations, highlighting the models robustness. Modelled outcomes suggest second and third order consumers are likely to be negatively effected by disturbances in the seagrass canopy. Particularly piscivores, which once disturbed, appear unlikely to recover following severe declines in primary productivity. EwE also revealed the complex interaction between the duration and intensity of disturbances on seagrass fauna, which may differentially affect higher order consumers. Further, modelling predicted a variable capacity of higher order consumers to recover from successive disturbances, suggesting taxa with comparatively fast reproductive cycles and short generation terms would be more resilient than taxa with comparatively long generation terms and slow reproductive cycles.

The influence of wind direction and speed on the transport of vehicular air pollutants was investigated using a mobile laboratory in an urban area. We considered three spatial scales covering typical transport phenomena observed in urban areas: micro-scale (a few tens of meters), middle-scale (a few hundred meters) and neighborhood-scale (a few kilometers). Particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were selected as an indicator of vehicle emissions in the roadway environment. From the micro-scale measurements, we found a significant difference in the concentration of particle-bound PAHs within a small spatial area, on a two-way road, due to the effect of wind direction when the prevailing wind direction was constant. In the middle-scale experiments, an exponential decrease in the concentration of particle-bound PAHs was observed with distance from the intersection in the direction of the prevailing wind, which is consistent with the results of previous studies. The concentration of particle-bound PAHs near the road was ∼10 times higher than that at 200 m away from the road due to the significantly low background concentration, indicating that particle-bound PAHs are a good indicator of vehicle emissions in a roadway environment. From long-distance (∼15 km) traveling measurements made over 14 days, we found that the average concentration of particle-bound PAHs on the road decreased as the prevailing wind speed increased at the neighborhood-scale, when the wind speed was higher than 2.0 m/s. This analysis, over three spatial scales, will be helpful in understanding the effect of wind on air pollution in a roadway environment in urban areas.

The bioremediation efficiency of China’s largest scale Porphyra yezoensis cultivation for removing dissolved nutrients and controlling harmful algae was studied in the radial sandbanks waters of Jiangsu Province in the year 2012–2013. Mean nutrient concentration values in the P. yezoensis cultivation area were significantly lower than those in the non-cultivation area, especially during the cultivation season (p<0.05). Tissue nitrogen and phosphorus contents of seaweeds were 5.99–0.80% (dry weight (DW)) and 0.16–0.19% (DW), respectively. Production of P. yezoensis was 58950.87tons DW. Based on these values, 3688.15tons of tissue nitrogen and 105.61tons of tissue phosphorus were removed by harvesting P. yezoensis. The richness index of the red tide species Skeleton emacostatum declined from 0.32 to 0.05 during the P. yezoensis cultivation season. These results indicate that large-scale cultivation of P. yezoensis can be used to efficiently alleviate eutrophication and control harmful algae blooms in open sea.

The whole-sediment Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) approach is a useful technique that allows for the identification of the contaminants responsible for the toxicity of complex sediment samples. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of this technique in identifying the causes of toxicity when the test organism used in the toxicity test is capable of ingesting sediment particles. Two forms of exposure were compared: whole-sediment (WS), which integrates dermic and dietary exposures; and sediment–water interface (SWI), which involves dermic exposure only. The combined analysis of the TIE experiments revealed that metals, ammonia and, at one station, organic compounds, were responsible for sediment toxicity. The integrated use of WS and SWI TIE manipulations provided a more complete overview of the causes of toxicity, and thus enabled a better comprehension of complex contamination situations and, consequently, a better ecological assessment.

Natural and anthropogenic factors may influence corals’ ability to recover from partial mortality. To examine how environmental conditions affect lesion healing, we assessed several water quality parameters and tissue regeneration rates in corals at six reefs around St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. We hypothesized that sites closer to developed areas would have poor water quality due to proximity to anthropogenic stresses, which would impede tissue regeneration. We found that water flow and turbidity most strongly influenced lesion recovery rates. The most impacted site, with high turbidity and low flow, recovered almost three times slower than the least impacted site, with low turbidity, high flow, and low levels of anthropogenic disturbance. Our results illustrate that in addition to lesion-specific factors known to affect tissue regeneration, environmental conditions can also control corals’ healing rates. Resource managers can use this information to protect low-flow, turbid nearshore reefs by minimizing sources of anthropogenic stress.

Use of nitrogen- and phosphorus-based synthetic fertilizers shows an increasing trend, but this has led to large-scale influx of reactive nitrogen in the environment, with serious implications on human health and the environment. On the other hand, phosphorus, a non-renewable resource, faces a serious risk of depletion. Therefore, recovery and reuse of nitrogen and phosphorus is highly desirable. For nitrogen recovery, an ion exchange/adsorption-based process provides concentrated streams of reactive nitrogen. Bioelectrochemical systems efficiently and effectively recover nitrogen as NH₃ (g) or (NH₄)₂SO₄. Air stripping of ammonia from anaerobic digestate has been reported to recover 70–92 % of nitrogen. Membrane separation provides recovery in the order of 99–100 % with no secondary pollutant in the permeate.With regard to phosphorus (P) removal, physical filtration and membrane processes have the potential to reduce suspended P to trace amounts but provide minimal dissolved P removal. Chemical precipitation can remove 80–99 % P in wastewater streams and recover it in the form of fertilizer (struvite). Acid hydrolysis can convert recovered P into usable phosphoric acid and phosphate fertilizers. Physical-chemical adsorption and ion exchange media can reduce P to trace or non-detect concentrations, with minimal waste production and high reusability. Biological assimilation through constructed wetlands removes both N (83–87 %) and P (70–85 %) from wastewaters, with recovery in the form of fish/animal feeds and biofuel. The paper discusses methods and important results on recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater.

Fifty-seven sediment samples were collected from Abu Dhabi coastal area, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The concentrations of heavy metals including antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, cobalt, copper, mercury, lead, molybdenum, nickel and zinc were obtained using Inductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectroscopy (ICP–MS) and X-ray fluorescence. Heavy metal contaminations in Abu Dhabi had increased since 2004. Nevertheless, the enrichment factors, geoaccumulation indices and the pollution load index of 0.3 showed no pollution with any of the measured metals except arsenic.

The aim of this paper was to assess the biological damages in fish caused by various mutagenic agents present in polluted waters of Aliağa Bay. For this purpose, micronuclei (MN) test was performed using peripheral erythrocytes and gill cells of different fish specimens caught from both polluted and relatively clean sites from Aliağa Bay (Turkey). Micronuclei tests is a system of mutagenicity testing used for determining changes in DNA fragments such as micronuclei in the cytoplasm of interphase cells caused by the pollution and chemicals in the environment. Thus, it was attempted to determine whether pollution affected the erythrocytes and gills of fish living in Aliağa Bay at the level of DNA by the means of micronuclei (MN) test. According to the results of present study, frequency of MN was found at high level in polluted site. In conclusion, this study indicates that the micronuclei test gives sensitive results in monitoring the pollution, especially the pollution of harbor, and thus it might be used as standard method in regularly monitoring pollution of coastal ecosystem.

Zhoushan Archipelago and the adjacent Xiangshan Harbor are important commercial, tourism, fishing, and mariculture areas. Considering the concern on the effects of anthropogenic activities on the environment, the level and source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments were investigated. The sum of 16 PAH (∑16 PAH) concentrations in the Zhoushan Archipelago ranged from 3.67 to 31.30ngg−1 d.w., with a mean of 15.01±1.21ngg−1 d.w., and that in Xiangshan Harbor varied from 11.58 to 481.44ngg−1 d.w., with a mean of 62.52±32.85ngg−1 d.w. Diagnostic ratios and factor analysis were performed to identify PAH sources. Results show that PAHs have mixed origins (i.e., traffic-related sources, coal combustion, petrogenic sources, and biomass burning), with pyrolytic-related pollution as the dominant source. This study provided a baseline to promote environmental protection and pollution episode monitoring in the East China Sea.

A twenty-two year record of marine debris collected on Tern Island is used to characterize the temporal variability of debris deposition at a coral atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Debris deposition tends to be episodic, without a significant relationship to local forcing processes associated with winds, sea level, waves, and proximity to the Subtropical Convergence Zone. The General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment is used to estimate likely debris pathways for Tern Island. The majority of modeled arrivals come from the northeast following prevailing trade winds and surface currents, with trajectories indicating the importance of the convergence zone, or garbage patch, in the North Pacific High region. Although debris deposition does not generally exhibit a significant seasonal cycle, some debris types contain considerable 3cycle/yr variability that is coherent with wind and surface pressure over a broad region north of Tern.