The objectives of the present study were to compare nine dominant plant species growing in mine tailings and nonmining areas in terms of biomass and Cd concentrations and to search for Cd accumulation and tolerance. Also, more detailed experiments were conducted on Athyrium wardii using a pot experiment to assure its Cd-accumulation ability and tolerance as a potential phytostabilizer of Cd-polluted soils. Nine dominant plant species growing on Pb/Zn mine tailings and their corresponding nonmining ecotypes were investigated for their potential to phytostabilize Cd. The performance of A. wardii exposed to high levels of Cd was investigated under controlled conditions. A field study revealed that the Cd concentrations in the roots of these plants ranged from 0.21 to 251.07 mg kg−1, and the highest concentrations were found in A. wardii, which reached a concentration of 69.78, 251.07, and 126.35 mg kg−1 during the early growth stage (May), vigorous growth stage (August), and late growth stage (October), respectively. The Cd concentrations of roots among the nine mining ecotypes were positively correlated with available content of Cd in the rhizosphere soils, whereas a negative correlation was observed in the nonmining ecotypes. A pot experiment showed that the mining ecotype of A. wardii had a higher biomass production and Cd retention capacity in roots than that of the nonmining ecotype. Due to the relatively high tolerance to Cd and the capacity of roots to retain this metal, A. wardii may be useful for the phytostabilization of soils contaminated by Cd.

INTRODUCTION: Textile industry is one of the most common and essential sectors in Tunisia. However, the treatment of textile effluents becomes a university because of their toxic impacts on waters, soils, flora, and fauna. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The aim of this work was to evaluate the ability of Pseudomonas putida mt-2 to decolorize a textile wastewater and to compare the biologic decolorization process to the chemical one currently used by the textile industry. RESULTS: P. putida exhibited a high decolorizing capacity of the studied effluent, compared to the coagulation–flocculation method with decolorization percentage of 86% and 34.5%, respectively. Genotoxicity of the studied effluent, before and after decolorization by P. putida mt-2, was evaluated in vitro, using the SOS chromotest, and in vivo, in mouse bone marrow, by assessing the percentage of cells bearing different chromosome aberrations compared to not treated mice. In addition, textile effluent statistically significant influenced acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase activities and lipid peroxidation (p < 0.01) when compared to not-treated mice. Coagulation–flocculation treatment process used by industry was revealed to be ineffective. Indeed toxicities persisted after treatment and the effluent did not show any statistically significant decrease in toxicities compared to non-treated effluent. Our results indicate that P. putida is a promising and improved alternative to treating industrial scale effluent compared to current chemical decolorization procedures used by the Tunisian textile industry.

PURPOSE: Psychoactive compounds—meprobamate, pyrithyldione, primidone, and its metabolites, phenobarbital, and phenylethylmalonamide—were detected in groundwater within the catchment area of a drinking water treatment plant located downgradient of a former sewage farm in Berlin, Germany. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of the psychoactive compounds in anoxic groundwater and to assess the risk of drinking water contamination. Groundwater age was determined to achieve a better understanding of present hydrogeological conditions. METHODS: A large number of observation and production wells were sampled. Samples were analyzed using solid-phase extraction and ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Groundwater age was estimated using the helium–tritium (3He–3H) dating method. RESULTS: Concentrations of psychoactive compounds up to 1 μg/L were encountered in the contamination plume. Generally, concentrations of phenobarbital and meprobamate were the highest. Elevated concentrations of the analytes were also detected in raw water from abstraction wells located approximately 2.5 km downgradient of the former sewage farm. Concentrations in the final drinking water were below the limit of quantification owing to dilution. The age of shallow groundwater samples ranged from years to a decade, whereas groundwater was up to four decades old at 40 m below ground. Concentrations of the compounds increased with groundwater age. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated concentrations of psychoactive drugs indicate a strong persistence of these compounds in the environment under anoxic aquifer conditions. Results suggest that the heritage of sewage irrigation will affect raw water quality in the area for decades. Therefore, further monitoring of raw and final drinking water is recommended to ensure that contaminant concentrations remain below the health-based precautionary value.

Contaminants are ubiquitous in the environment and their impacts are of increasing concern due to human population expansion and the generation of deleterious effects in aquatic species. Oxidative stress can result from the presence of persistent organic pollutants, metals, pesticides, toxins, pharmaceuticals, and nanomaterials, as well as changes in temperature or oxygen in water, the examined species, with differences in age, sex, or reproductive cycle of an individual. The antioxidant role of glutathione (GSH), accompanied by the formation of its disulfide dimer, GSSG, and metabolites in response to chemical stress, are highlighted in this review along with, to some extent, that of glutathione S-transferase (GST). The available literature concerning the use and analysis of these markers will be discussed, focusing on studies of aquatic organisms. The inclusion of GST within the suite of biomarkers used to assess the effects of xenobiotics is recommended to complement that of lipid peroxidation and mixed function oxygenation. Combining the analysis of GSH, GSSG, and conjugates would be beneficial in pinpointing the role of contaminants within the plethora of causes that could lead to the toxic effects of reactive oxygen species.

PURPOSE: The aim of this paper is to understand the sustainability of urban spatial transformation in the process of rapid urbanization, and calls for future research on the demographic and economic dimensions of climate change. Shanghai towards its transformation to a metropolis has experienced vast socioeconomic and ecological change and calls for future research on the impacts of demographic and economic dimensions on climate change. We look at the major questions (1) to explore economic and demographic growth, land use and land-cover changes in the context of rapid economic and city growth, and (2) to analyze how the demography and economic growth have been associated with the local air temperature and vegetation. METHOD: We examine urban growth, land use and land-cover changes in the context of rapid economic development and urbanization. We assess the impact of urban expansion on local air temperature and vegetation. The analysis is based on time series data of land use, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and meteorological, demographic and economic data. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The results indicate that urban growth has been driven by mass immigration; as a consequence of economic growth and urban expansion, a large amount of farmland has been converted to paved road and residential buildings. Furthermore, the difference between air temperature in urban and exurban areas has increased rapidly. The decrease of high mean annual NDVI has mainly occurred around the dense urban areas.

INTRODUCTION: A plasmid named pDNS10 was detected from an atrazine-degrading strain Arthrobacter sp. DNS10 which has been isolated previously in our laboratory. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this paper, a special plasmid-detecting method and drop assays experiments were mainly used to achieve research goals. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: pDNS10 exhibited an excellent stability because it also could be detected even when the strain DNS10 has been subcultured under nonselective conditions for eight times. Over a 48-h incubation period, the OD₆₀₀ of samples inoculated with strain DNS10 and strain DNS10-ST (both of them contained pDNS10) were 0.31 ± 0.042 and 0.305 ± 0.034, respectively ,whereas the OD₆₀₀ of samples inoculated strain without pDNS10 (strain DNS10-PE) was only 0.138 ± 0.018. No atrazine was detected in the inoculated strain DNS10 and strain DNS10-ST samples at this period. Contrarily, the atrazine-degrading rate of strain DNS10-PE was only 5.23 ± 0.71%. Furthermore, both the two types of strains containing pDNS10 confirmed the presence of known degrading genes such as trzN, atzB, and atzC. It suggests that pDNS10 is an atrazine catabolic plasmid. In drop assays experiments, the wild-type strain DNS10 cells were chemotactically attracted to atrazine, whereas strain DNS10-PE showed no chemotaxis to atrazine and hydroxyatrazine. There was some relationship between atrazine degradation and the chemotactic response towards atrazine in strain DNS10. CONCLUSIONS: The biochemical characteristics of pDNS10 and the chemotaxis characteristics of strain DNS10 could help us in better understanding of the mechanism of atrazine degradation by strain DNS10.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work is to contribute to the understanding of the photochemical air pollution analysing the levels and temporal variations of surface ozone in two rural areas situated in central-southern Spain. METHOD: The study is based on ozone hourly data recorded during the overall period between January 2008 and November 2009. The seasonal and daily ozone cycles as well as the number of exceedances of the threshold established in the European Ozone Directive have been calculated and analysed. RESULTS: This study presents the first ozone data registered at these two rural sites in the Iberian Peninsula plateau. Ozone shows a clear seasonal variation with the lowest values in January and November. High ozone concentrations are interrelated with high radiation intensities, temperature and wind directions. The information threshold defined in the European Ozone Directives was exceeded six times, while the limit for protection of human health was exceeded more than 40 times. The limits to protect the vegetation were also exceeded. CONCLUSIONS: Porzuna (near Cabañeros National Park) presents higher ozone levels than Argamasilla during the night-time and during the daytime of the summer months. Ozone levels are lower in Argamasilla probably due to fresh emissions from the close industrial area of Puertollano. The ozone exceedances of the limits defined in the Ozone Directive point out an ozone problem in this rural region.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Estrogenic compounds and antibiotic residues in environment are receiving significant attention because of their potential adverse effects on ecosystems and human health. The objectives of this study were to determine the occurrence and seasonal variability of eight kinds of estrogenic compounds and 14 antibiotics. The study developed an occurrence database of the estrogenic compounds and antibiotics in spatial and temporal scale in Jiulongjiang River, South China, to provide useful information for environmental management of this region. METHODS: Eight estrogenic compounds and 14 antibiotic compounds were detected in Jiulongjiang River from 19 sampling sites during high-flow and low-flow season in surface water. The samples were preconcentrated by solid-phase extraction for analysis. Eight estrogenic compounds were analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Agilent 7890A-5975C), and antibiotics were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) system (ABI 3200 Q TRAP). RESULTS: All target compounds could be detected, except 17α-ethynylestradiol, sulfamerazine, and ofloxacin. The median concentrations for seven estrogenic compounds ranged from 6.00 to 610.72 ng/L, with the detection frequency range of 16.00–100%. However, the detection frequencies of 13 antibiotics detected varied from 50% to 100%, with the median concentrations ranged from 0.89 to 117.97 ng/L. Seasonal variations were obvious for most estrogenic compounds in Jiulongjiang River, except for octylphenol and estriol. There were significant (P < 0.001) differences for three tetracyclines, sulfadiazine, and sulfamethoxazole between in low-flow season and in high-flow season. Besides, spatially considerable variations in the concentrations were observed for antibiotics, nonylphenol, octylphenol, and bisphenol A. CONCLUSION: The Jiulongjiang River water was more seriously contaminated by diethylstilbestrol, estrone, sulfamethazine, and tetracyclines. Higher overall concentration levels of estrogenic compounds and antibiotics were detected in low-flow water than those in high-flow water. The pollution of estrogenic compounds and antibiotics in Jiulongjiang River mainly came from municipal sewage and livestock breeding activities.

BACKGROUND, SCOPE, AND AIMS: Antibacterial fluoroquinolones (FQs) are third-generation antibiotics that are commonly used as therapeutic treatments of respiratory and urinary tract infections. They are used far less in intensively farmed animal production systems, though their use may be permitted in the veterinary treatments of flocks or in medicated feeds. When used, only a fraction of ingested parent FQ actually reaches the in vivo target site of infection, while the remainder is excreted as the parent FQ and its metabolized products. In many species’ metabolism, enrofloxacin (EF) is converted into ciprofloxacin (CF) while both FQs are classified as parent FQs in human treatments. It is therefore likely that both FQs and their metabolic products will contribute to a common pool of metabolites in biological wastes. Wastes from intensive farming practices are either directly applied to agricultural land without treatment or may be temporarily stored prior to disposal. However, human waste is treated in sewage treatment plants (STPs) where it is converted into biosolids. In the storage or treatment process of STPs, FQs and their in vivo metabolites are further converted into other environmental metabolites (FQEMs) by ex vivo physicochemical processes that act and interact to produce complex mixtures of FQEMs, some of which have antibacterial-like activities. Biosolids are then often applied to agricultural land as a fertilizer amendment where FQs and FQEMs can be further converted into additional FQEMs by soil processes. It is therefore likely that FQ-contaminated biowaste-treated soils will contain complex mixtures of FQEMs, some of which may have antibacterial-like activities that may be expressed on bacteria endemic to the receiving agricultural soil environment. Concern has arisen in the scientific and in the general community that repeated use of FQ-contaminated biowaste as fertilizer amendments of nutrient-impoverished agricultural land may create a selective environment in which FQ-resistant bacteria might grow. The likelihood of this happening will depend, to some extent, on whether bioactive FQEMs are first synthesized from the parent FQs by the action and interaction of in vivo and ex vivo processes producing bioactive FQEMs in biowastes and biosolids. The postulated creation of a selective environment will also depend, in part, on whether such bioactive FQEMs are biologically available to bacteria, which may, in turn, be influenced by soil type, amendment regime, and the persistence of the bioactive FQEMs. Additionally, soil bacteria and soil processes may be affected in different ways or extents by bioactive FQEMs that could possibly act additively or synergistically at ecological targets in these non-target bacteria. This is an important consideration, since, while parent FQs have well-defined ecological targets (DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV) and modes of bactericidal action, the FQEMs and their possible modes of action on the many different species of soil bacteria is less well studied. It is therefore understandable that there is a lack of conclusive evidence directly attributing biosolid usage to any increase in FQ-resistant bacteria detected in biowaste-amended agricultural soil. However, a lack of evidence may simply imply that a causal relationship between biosolid usage programs and any detection of low levels of FQ-resistant bacteria in soils has yet to be established, rather than an assumption of no relationship whatsoever. Based on results presented in this paper, the precautionary principle should be applied in the usage of FQ-contaminated biosolids as fertilizer amendments of agricultural land. The aim of this research was to test whether any bioactive FQEMs of EF could be synthesized by aerobic fermentation processes using Mycobacterium gilvum (American Tissue Culture Collection) and a mixed culture of microorganisms derived from an agricultural soil. High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and bioautography were tested as screening techniques in the detection and analysis of bioactive FQEMs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: FQEMs derived from M. gilvum and mixed (soil) culture aerobic ferments were fractionated using preparative HPTLC. A standard strain of Escherichia coli was then used as the reporter organism in a bioautography assay in the detection of bioactive-FQEMs on a mid-section of the HPTLC plate. Plate sections were reassembled, and a photograph was taken under low-intensity ultraviolet (UV) light to reveal regions that contained analytes that had UV chromophores and antibacterial-like activities. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Many fractionated FQEMs displayed antibacterial-like activity while bound to silica gel HPTLC plates. These results also provide evidence that sufficient quantities of biologically active FQEMs were biologically available from a silica gel surface to prevent the adherent growth of E. coli. Six to seven FQEMs derived from EF using aerobic fermentation processes had antibacterial-like activities, while two FQEMs were also detectable using UV light. Furthermore, similar banding patterns of antibacterial-like activity were observed in both the monoculture (M. gilvum) and mixed culture bioautography assays, indicating that similar processes operated in both aerobic fermentations, either producing similar biologically active FQEMs or biologically active FQEMs that had similar physicochemical properties in both ferments. The simplest explanation for these findings is that the tested agricultural soil also contained mycobacteria that metabolized EF in a similar way to the purchased standard monoculture M. gilvum. Additionally, the marked contrast between the bioautography results and the UV results indicated that the presence of UV chromophores is not a prerequisite for the detection of antibacterial-like activity. CONCLUSIONS: A reliance on spectrophotometric techniques in the detection of bioactive FQEMs in the environment may underestimate component antibacterial-like activity and, possibly, total antibacterial-like activity expressed by EF and its FQEMs. The described bioautography method provides a screening technique with which antibacterial-like activities derived from EF and possibly other FQs can be detected directly on silica gel HPTLC plates. RECOMMENDATIONS: It is recommended that both bioassay and instrumental analytical techniques be used in any measurement of hazard and risk relating to antibacterial-like activities in the environment that are derived from fluoroquinolone antibiotics and their environmental metabolites.

INTRODUCTION: The changes in photosynthetic pigments, chlorophyll fluorescence, protein content, and antioxidant enzymes were investigated in a foliose lichen Pyxine cocoes, which was subjected to increasing concentrations of arsenate. METHODS: The arsenate concentrations of 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, and 200 μM were sprayed every alternate day on the lichen thallus. The thalli were then harvested on 10, 20, 30, and 45 days. RESULTS: The quantity of photosynthetic pigments exhibited a decreasing trend till 20 days but increased from 30 days onwards. Concomitantly, chlorophyll fluorescence also showed a decreasing trend with increasing arsenic treatment duration as well as concentration. The higher concentration of arsenate was found to be deleterious to the photosynthesis of lichen as the chlorophyll fluorescence and the amount of pigments decreased significantly. The protein content of lichen increased uninterruptedly as the concentration of arsenate as well as duration of treatment increased. The activities of superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxide increased initially at lower concentration of arsenate but declined at higher concentrations and longer duration of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The catalase activity was found to be most susceptible to arsenate stress as its activity started declining from very beginning of the experiment. P. cocoes also proved to be an excellent accumulator of arsenate whose concentration increased in the thallus corresponding to its increase in the treatment and duration. Thus, it can be utilized for active biomonitoring of arsenic pollution.