In this study the environmental impacts of two fish farms located over deep water (180–190m) were compared. MC-Farm was located at a site with slightly higher water currents (mean current speed 3–5cms−1) than LC-farm (<2cms−1). Macrofauna composition, bioirrigation and benthic fluxes (CO2 and NH4+) were quantified at different stages of the production cycle, revealing very different impact of the two farms. Macrofauna abundance and bioirrigation were stimulated compared to a non-impacted reference site at MC-farm, while macrofauna diversity was only moderately reduced. In contrast, macrofauna communities and related parameters were severely impoverished at LC-Farm. This study suggests that deep-water fish farms should not be sited in low current areas (<2cms−1), since this will hamper waste dispersal and aggravate environmental impacts. On the other hand, fish farming at slightly more dynamic sites can lead to stimulated benthic macrofauna communities and only moderate environmental impacts.

To determine the chemical compositions and source identification of PM2.5 and PM2.5–10 fractions, airborne particulate matter (PM) samples were collected from May, 2011 through April, 2012 at three sites: up and downwind and within a scrap iron and steel smelting industry, Ife–Ibadan highway, south western Nigeria. Samples of PM2.5 (fine) and PM2.5–10 (coarse) were collected on Nuclepore polycarbonate filters using a low volume GENT sampler equipped with a stacked filter unit (SFU). A total of 200 samples were collected (100 of each fraction). The mass concentration of the sampled fine and coarse PM fraction ranged between 14.4–986.5μg/m3 and 11.2–3 250μg/m3, respectively. These values exceed the permissible daily limit (NAAQS) of 35μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 150μg/m3 for PM10. The samples were analyzed for black carbon (BC) using an optical transmissometer and for elemental concentrations using X–Ray Fluorescence (XRF). The size–resolved data sets were analyzed using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) to identify possible sources and estimate the contribution of these sources to the fine and coarse PM mass concentrations. Four source categories, providing stable profiles, were identified for both fine and coarse fractions. The identified sources and their contributions for the fine fraction are coking coal (83%), soil (10%), metallurgical industry (6%), and electronic waste processing (1%). For the coarse fraction, the identified sources are metallurgical production plus electronic waste (53%), suspended input materials (28%), soil (18%), and galvanized steel scrap with cadmium (1%). Conditional probability function (CPF) identified the local sources for both the fine and coarse PM samples. This work presents the first known major use of PMF in Nigeria for source identification in particulate matter (PM) studies.

Benthic infaunal data collected from 1993 to 2010 were analysed to examine the effect of long term discharge of fine limestone tailings on macrofaunal species assemblages in a fjord. Relative distance from the outfall and proportion of fine tailings in the sediment were correlated with benthic community structure. Diversity decreased with increasing proportion of fine tailings. Biological Traits Analysis (BTA) was used to explore the temporal and spatial effects of the tailings gradient on macrofaunal functional attributes. BTA revealed that all stations along a pressure gradient of fine limestone tailings were dominated by free-living species. As the proportion of fine tailings in the sediment increased, there was an increase in fauna that were smaller, highly mobile, living on or nearer the surface sediment, with shorter lifespans. There was a decrease in permanent tube dwellers, those fauna with low or no mobility, that live deeper in the sediment and have longer lifespans (>5yrs).

Fires impact atmospheric composition through their emissions, which range from long-lived gases to short-lived gases and aerosols. Effects are typically larger in the tropics and boreal regions but can also be substantial in highly populated areas in the northern mid-latitudes. In all regions, fire can impact air quality and health. Similarly, its effect on large-scale atmospheric processes, including regional and global atmospheric chemistry and climate forcing, can be substantial, but this remains largely unexplored. The impacts are primarily realised in the boundary layer and lower free troposphere but can also be noticeable in upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UT/LS) region, for the most intense fires. In this review, we summarise the recent literature on findings related to fire impact on atmospheric composition, air quality and climate. We explore both observational and modelling approaches and present information on key regions and on the globe as a whole. We also discuss the current and future directions in this area of research, focusing on the major advances in emission estimates, the emerging efforts to include fire as a component in Earth system modelling and the use of modelling to assess health impacts of fire emissions.

Ammonia (NH₃) contributes to widespread adverse health impacts, affects the climate forcing of ambient aerosols, and is a significant component of reactive nitrogen, deposition of which threatens many sensitive ecosystems. Historically, the scarcity of in situ measurements and the complexity of gas-to-aerosol NH₃ partitioning have contributed to large uncertainties in our knowledge of its sources and distributions. However, recent progress in measurements and modeling has afforded new opportunities for improving our understanding of NH₃ and the role it plays in these important environmental issues. In the past few years, passive measurements of NH₃ have been added to monitoring networks throughout the USA, now in place at more than 60 stations, while mobile measurements aboard aircrafts and vehicles have provide detailed observations during several recent field campaigns. In addition, new remote sensing observations from multiple satellite instruments have begun to provide vast amounts of NH₃ observations throughout the globe. These sources of information have collectively driven new air quality modeling capabilities, by revealing deficiencies in current air quality models and spurring development of mechanistic enhancements to models’ physical representation of the diurnal variability and bidirectional nature of NH₃ fluxes. In turn, these advanced models require further observational constraints, as existing NH₃ measurements are still limited in spatiotemporal coverage. We thus evaluate the potential value of a new geostationary remote sensing instrument (GCIRI) for providing constraints on NH₃ fluxes through multiple Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs).

Biofilm-dwelling ciliates are primary components of the eukaryotic microperiphyton in both species composition and community structure. To evaluate the congruency of biofilm-dwelling ciliates as potential surrogates of the eukaryotic microperiphyton, a dataset was collected every month at four stations from the coastal waters of the Yellow Sea, northern China, and assessed. Sufficient species abundance data were obtained for ciliated protozoans at high taxonomic levels up to the family level, indicating a significant variation along the gradient of contamination. Correlation analyses revealed that the taxa richness of these matrices can explain >85% of the variance in that of the full species dataset. The cost/benefit analysis showed that the protozoan subset at low resolutions up to the family level may be used as a potential surrogate of the original dataset. Thus, we suggest that the protozoan assemblages at genus- and/or family-level resolutions may be useful, cost-efficient surrogates of the original dataset for bioassessment in marine ecosystems.

In Mar del Plata (Argentine, SW Atlantic), a large seaside resort, the sewage discharges impact the littoral ecosystem. The invader polychaete Boccardia proboscidea has developed reefs since spring of 2008. The effect of this species on the richness, diversity and structure of epilithic intertidal community was assessed through an MBACI design in both sewage-impacted and reference sites, and Before/After the invasion. The presence of reefs of B. proboscidea since spring 2008 has caused a significant reduction of total individuals, total taxa and diversity in sewage-impacted sites regarding the reference ones. The species analyzed showed a high variable response because patterns were dominated by small-scale variability. Occasional peaks in abundance were observed on a single sampling site and time and a large variation among replicates. The associated fauna, formerly rich and diverse in impacted sites, shows a tendency to disappear as the ecosystem engineer Brachidontes rodriguezii is replaced by monocultures of B. proboscidea.

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.

Spartina maritima is a native endangered heavy metal rhizoaccumulator cordgrass naturally growing in southwest coasts of Spain, where is used as a biotool to rehabilitate degraded salt marshes. Fifteen bacterial strains were isolated from the rhizosphere of S. maritima growing in the estuary of the Tinto River, one of the most polluted areas in the world. A high proportion of bacteria were resistant towards several heavy metals. They also exhibited multiple plant growth promoting (PGP) properties, in the absence and the presence of Cu. Bacillus methylotrophicus SMT38, Bacillusaryabhattai SMT48, B. aryabhattai SMT50 and Bacilluslicheniformis SMT51 were selected as the best performing strains. In a gnobiotic assay, inoculation of Medicago sativa seeds with the selected isolates induced higher root elongation. The inoculation of S. maritima with these indigenous metal-resistant PGP rhizobacteria could be an efficient method to increase plant adaptation and growth in contaminated estuaries during restoration programs.

16 PAHs in Jiaozhou Bay wetland soils were analyzed by GC/MS. The potential sources and contributions were apportioned by Unmix and PMF models. The total concentrations of PAHs ranged from 176.1 to 563.3ng/g with a mean of 345.3ng/g. 2- and 3- rings PAHs were the dominant species accounting for 34.7–87.3% of the total PAHs. The similarities and differences of sources and contributions estimated by Unmix and PMF models were discussed. Three common sources (petrogenic source, coking oven and coal combustion) identified by two models, contributed 43.2%, 39.2% and 12.6% by Unmix and 33.5%, 29.1% and 16.0% by PMF to the total PAHs, respectively. In addition, diesel emission source (5.0%) by Unmix and a mixed source of diesel emission and natural gas burning (21.4%) by PMF were also extracted. It is essential to apply multiple source apportionment techniques to estimate potential source and contributions in further study.