Dispersal of 137Cs from the nuclear submarine wrecks Komsomolets and K-159, which are resting on the seabed in the Norwegian and Barents Seas, respectively, is simulated using realistic rates and hypothetical scenarios. Furthermore, spatiotemporal 137Cs concentrations in Northeast Arctic cod and capelin are estimated based on survey data. The results indicate that neither continuous leakages nor pulse discharges will cause concentrations of 137Cs in cod muscle or whole body capelin exceeding the intervention level of 600 Bq/kg fw. Continuous leakages from Komsomolets and K-159 and pulse discharges from Komsomolets induced negligible activity concentrations in cod and capelin. A pulse discharge of 100% of the 137Cs-inventory of K-159 will, however, result in concentrations in muscle of cod of above 100 times the present levels in the eastern Barents Sea. Within three years after the release, 137Cs levels above 20 Bq/kg fw in cod are no longer occurring in the Barents Sea.

Tetracycline (TC), a common antibiotic, can behave as an efficient ligand with cations, but the effect of its interaction with heavy metal cations on the mobility of both species in soils has not been well evaluated. In this study, the complexation affinities of TC with Cd (II), Cu (II) and Pb (II) were examined using potentiometric titration and spectroscopic methods. The cosorption behavior of TC and metal ions onto three selected Chinese soils was evaluated using batch adsorption experiments. The presence of metal cations promoted TC adsorption through an ion bridging effect in the order Cu (II) > Pb (II) > Cd (II), which is in accordance with their complexation ability with TC. The addition of TC affects metal adsorption differently depending on the solution pH and metal type. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the complexation ability of TC and divalent metal cations when evaluating their mobility in soils.

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the solubility and redox species of antimony (Sb) in a relocated shooting range soil and its uptake by Lolium perenne L. and Holcus lanatus L. under different water regimes. After 1-week waterlogging, the total Sb concentration in soil solution decreased from ∼110 μg L−1 to <20 μg L−1, and slowly increased over the following 4 weeks, with the dissolution of Fe and Mn (hydr)oxides. In this process, half of the Sb in soil solution was reduced to Sb(III), which greatly affected the plant uptake of Sb. Waterlogging increased shoot Sb concentrations of L. perenne by ∼10 fold but decreased uptake in H. lanatus by 80%. Results indicate that Sb might primarily be taken up as Sb(III) by L. perenne and as Sb(V) by H. lanatus. Temporary waterlogging of soil may increase the risk of trace elements entering the food chain.

We investigated the impacts of effluent discharge from small flow-through fish farms on stream water characteristics, the benthic invertebrate community, whole-system nitrate uptake, and ecosystem metabolism of three tropical headwater streams in southeastern Brazil. Effluents were moderately, i.e. up to 20-fold enriched in particulate organic matter (POM) and inorganic nutrients in comparison to stream water at reference sites. Due to high dilution with stream water, effluent discharge resulted in up to 2.0-fold increases in stream water POM and up to 1.8-fold increases in inorganic nutrients only. Moderate impacts on the benthic invertebrate community were detected at one stream only. There was no consistent pattern of effluent impact on whole-stream nitrate uptake. Ecosystem metabolism, however, was clearly affected by effluent discharge. Stream reaches impacted by effluents exhibited significantly increased community respiration and primary productivity, stressing the importance of ecologically sound best management practices for small fish farms in the tropics.

Many important environmental contaminants are hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs), which include PCBs, PAHs, PBDEs, DDT and other chlorinated insecticides, among others. Owing to their strong hydrophobicity, HOCs have their final destination in soil or sediment, where their ecotoxicological effects are closely regulated by sorption and thus bioavailability. The last two decades have seen a dramatic increase in research efforts in developing and applying partitioning based methods and biomimetic extractions for measuring HOC bioavailability. However, the many variations of both analytical methods and associated measurement endpoints are often a source of confusion for users. In this review, we distinguish the most commonly used analytical approaches based on their measurement objectives, and illustrate their practical operational steps, strengths and limitations using simple flowcharts. This review may serve as guidance for new users on the selection and use of established methods, and a reference for experienced investigators to identify potential topics for further research.

Current pesticide registration guidelines call for short-term testing of plants; long-term effects on vegetative parts and reproduction remain untested. The aims of our study were to determine level of recovery and recovery times for plants exposed to the sulfonylurea herbicide chlorimuron ethyl using data collected from single species, dose–response greenhouse experiments. The nine terrestrial and eight wetland species tested showed variable levels of recovery and recovery timeframes. Many species (six terrestrial and five wetland) were vegetatively stunted at sublethal doses and were reproductively impaired. Full recovery did not occur at all doses and maximum recovery times varied from 3 to 15 weeks in this controlled environment. In a complex community, affected species may be displaced by tolerant species, through interspecific competition, before they fully recover. It is plausible that individual populations could be diminished or eliminated through reduced seedbank inputs (annuals and perennials) and asexual reproduction (perennials).

Determination of oxidation states of solid-phase arsenic in bulk sediments is a valuable step in the evaluation of its bioavailability and environmental fate in deposits, but is difficult when the sediments have low arsenic contents and heterogeneous distribution of arsenic species. As K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) was used to determine quantitatively the oxidation states of arsenic in sediments collected from different depths of boreholes in the Pearl River Delta, China, where the highest aquatic arsenic concentration is 161.4 μg/L, but the highest solid arsenic content only 39.6 mg/kg. The results demonstrated that XANES is efficient in determining arsenic oxidation states of the sediments with low arsenic contents and multiple arsenic species. The study on the high-resolution vertical variations of arsenic oxidation states also indicated that these states are influenced strongly by groundwater activities. With the help of geochemical data, solid arsenic speciation, toxicity and availability were further discussed.

Efficient bioremediation of PAH-contaminated sites is limited by the hydrophobic character and poor bioavailability of pollutants. In this study, stable isotope probing (SIP) was implemented to track bacteria that can degrade PAHs adsorbed on hydrophobic sorbents. Temperate and tropical soils were incubated with 13C-labeled phenanthrene, supplied by spiking or coated onto membranes. Phenanthrene mineralization was faster in microcosms with PAH-coated membranes than in microcosms containing spiked soil. Upon incubation with temperate soil, phenanthrene degraders found in the biofilms that formed on coated membranes were mainly identified as Sphingomonadaceae and Actinobacteria. In the tropical soil, uncultured Rhodocyclaceae dominated degraders bound to membranes. Accordingly, ring-hydroxylating dioxygenase sequences recovered from this soil matched PAH-specific dioxygenase genes recently found in Rhodocyclaceae. Hence, our SIP approach allowed the detection of novel degraders, mostly uncultured, which differ from those detected after soil spiking, but might play a key role in the bioremediation of PAH-polluted soils.

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) has been quickly industrialized and urbanized. Passive air sampling of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was carried out in the YRD in 2010–2011 to investigate their spatiotemporal distributions and estimate the risk of cancer from their inhalation. Annual concentrations were 151, 168, 18.8, 110, 17.9, and 35.0 pg m−3 for HCB, ∑DDTs, ∑HCHs, ∑chlordane, mirex, and PCBs, respectively. The highest OCP and PCB concentrations were generally detected in the autumn and winter. The average concentrations of OCPs and PCBs for the different site groups followed the order urban ≈ urban–rural transition > rural. The lifetime excess cancer risks from the inhalation of OCPs and PCBs were <1.0 × 10−6. The predicted cancer cases per lifetime associated with the inhalation of OCPs and PCBs are 12, 7, and 4 per ten thousand people for urban, urban–rural transition, and rural areas, respectively.