Multi-year inventories of carbonaceous aerosol emissions from biomass open burning at a high spatial resolution of 0.5° × 0.5° have been constructed in China using GIS methodology for the period 1990–2005. Black carbon (BC) emissions have increased by 383.03% at an annual average rate of 25.54% from 14.05 Gg in 1990 to 67.87 Gg in 2005; while organic carbon (OC) emissions have increased by 365.43% from 57.37 Gg in 1990 to 267.00 Gg in 2005. Through the estimation period, OC/BC ratio for biomass burning was averagely 4.09, suggesting that it was not the preferred control source from a climatic perspective. Spatial distribution of BC and OC emissions were similar, mainly concentrated in three northeastern provinces, central provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui and Henan, and southern provinces of Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan and Sichuan basin, covering 24.89% of China’s territory, but were responsible for 63.38% and 67.55% of national BC and OC emissions, respectively.

The effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on growth and element uptake by Ni-hyperaccumulating plant, Berkheya coddii, was studied. Plants were grown under laboratory conditions on ultramafic soil without or with the AM fungi of different origin. The AM colonization, especially with the indigenous strain, significantly enhanced plants growth and their survival. AMF affected also the elemental concentrations that were studied with Particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE). AMF (i) increased K and Fe in shoots, Zn and Mn in roots, P and Ca both, in roots and shoots; (ii) decreased Mn in shoots, Co and Ni both, in shoots and roots. Due to higher biomass of mycorrhizal plants, total Ni content was up to 20 times higher in mycorrhizal plants compared to the non-mycorrhizal ones. The AMF enhancement of Ni uptake may therefore provide an improvement of a presently used technique of nickel phytomining.

This article presents evidence demonstrating that the historical use of leaded gasoline and lead (Pb) in exterior paints in Australia has contaminated urban soils in the older inner suburbs of large cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. While significant attention has been focused on Pb poisoning in mining and smelting towns in Australia, relatively little research has focused on exposure to Pb originating from inner-city soil dust and its potential for childhood Pb exposures. Due to a lack of systematic blood lead (PbB) screening and geochemical soil Pb mapping in the inner cities of Australia, the risks from environmental Pb exposure remain unconstrained within urban population centres.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been detected in some commercial teas around the world and pose a threat to tea consumers. However, green tea polyphenols (GTP) possess remarkable antioxidant and anticancer effects. In this study, the potential of GTP to block the toxicity of the model PAH phenanthrene was examined in human embryo lung fibroblast cell line HFL-I. Both GTP and phenanthrene treatment individually caused dose-dependent inhibition of cell growth. A full factorial design experiment demonstrated that the interaction of phenanthrene and GTP significantly reduced growth inhibition. Using the median effect method showed that phenanthrene and GTP were antagonistic when the inhibitory levels were less than about 50%. Apoptosis and cell cycle detection suggested that only phenanthrene affected cell cycle significantly and caused cell death; GTP lowered the mortality of HFL-I cells exposed to phenanthrene; However, GTP did not affect modulation of the cell cycle by phenanthrene.

Understanding of the magnitude of urban runoff toxicity to aquatic organisms is important for effective management of runoff quality. In this paper, the aquatic toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban road runoff was evaluated through a damage assessment model. Mortality probability of the organisms representative in aquatic environment was calculated using the monitored PAHs concentration in road runoff. The result showed that the toxicity of runoff in spring was higher than those in summer. Analysis of the time-dependent toxicity of series of runoff water samples illustrated that the toxicity of runoff water in the final phase of a runoff event may be as high as those in the initial phase. Therefore, the storm runoff treatment systems or strategies designed for capture and treatment of the initial portion of runoff may be inappropriate for control of runoff toxicity.

In this study, we investigated Phragmites australis’ use of different forms of nitrogen (N) and associated soil N transformations in response to petroleum contamination. ¹⁵N tracer studies indicated that the total amount of inorganic and organic N assimilated by P. australis was low in petroleum-contaminated soil, while the rates of inorganic and organic N uptake on a per-unit-biomass basis were higher in petroleum-contaminated soil than those in un-contaminated soil. The percentage of organic N in total plant-assimilated N increased with petroleum concentration. In addition, high gross N immobilization and nitrification rates relative to gross N mineralization rate might reduce inorganic-N availability to the plants. Therefore, the enhanced rate of N uptake and increased importance of organic N in plant N assimilation might be of great significance to plants growing in petroleum-contaminated soils. Our results suggest that plants might regulate N capture under petroleum contamination.

Activated charcoal (AC) amendment has been suggested as a promising method to immobilize organic contaminants in soil. We performed pot experiments with rice and soybean grown in agricultural soil polluted by aromatic arsenicals (AAs). The most abundant AA in rice grains and soybean seeds was methylphenylarsinic acid (MPAA). MPAA concentration in rice grains was significantly reduced to 2% and 3% in 0.2% AC treated soil compared to untreated soil in the first year of rice cultivation. In the second year, MPAA concentration in rice grains was significantly reduced to 15% in 0.2% AC treated soil compared to untreated soil. MPAA concentration in soybean seeds was significantly reduced to 44% in 0.2% AC treated soil compared to untreated soil. AC amendment was effective in reducing AAs in rice and soybean.

Arsenic (As) accumulation in food crops such as rice is of major concern. To investigate whether phytoremediation can reduce As uptake by rice, the As hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata was grown in five contaminated paddy soils in a pot experiment. Over a 9-month period P. vittata removed 3.5–11.4% of the total soil As, and decreased phosphate-extractable As and soil pore water As by 11–38% and 18–77%, respectively. Rice grown following P. vittata had significantly lower As concentrations in straw and grain, being 17–82% and 22–58% of those in the control, respectively. Phytoremediation also resulted in significant changes in As speciation in rice grain by greatly decreasing the concentration of dimethylarsinic acid (DMA). In two soils the concentration of inorganic As in rice grain was decreased by 50–58%. The results demonstrate an effective stripping of bioavailable As from contaminated paddy soils thus reducing As uptake by rice.

The organic component of atmospheric reactive nitrogen plays a role in biogeochemical cycles, climate and ecosystems. Although its deposition has long been known to be quantitatively significant, it is not routinely assessed in deposition studies and monitoring programmes. Excluding this fraction, typically 25–35%, introduces significant uncertainty in the determination of nitrogen deposition, with implications for the critical loads approach. The last decade of rainwater studies substantially expands the worldwide dataset, giving enough global coverage for specific hypotheses to be considered about the distribution, composition, sources and effects of organic-nitrogen deposition. This data collation and meta-analysis highlights knowledge gaps, suggesting where data-gathering efforts and process studies should be focused. New analytical techniques allow long-standing conjectures about the nature and sources of organic N to be investigated, with tantalising indications of the interplay between natural and anthropogenic sources, and between the nitrogen and carbon cycles.

Toxicity threshold of arsenite on intact rice seedlings was determined and arsenite uptake characteristics were investigated using non-toxic concentrations of arsenite. The arsenite toxicity threshold was 2.4μM arsenite which reduced growth by 10% (EC₁₀). The two highest arsenite levels induced wilting of seedlings and reduced both, transpiration rate and net photosynthetic rate. Arsenic content in plant tissue increased up to 10.7μM arsenite and then declined with increasing arsenite concentration in the treatment solution. The contents of Si, P, K, and of micronutrients Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn in shoot d.m. were reduced by arsenite levels≥5.3μM. In the non-toxic range, arsenite uptake rate was linearly related to arsenite concentration. High arsenite levels reduced growth without being taken up which might be due to increasing binding of arsenite to proteins at the outer side of the plasmalemma.