This study is one of several baseline studies that will provide basic and reliable information about the content of undesirable substances in important species of fish caught in Norwegian waters. Concentrations of metals in the muscle and liver of more than 800 Northeast Arctic cod caught at 32 sites in the Barents Sea are reported. The highest concentration of both mercury in the muscle and cadmium in the liver was found in cod caught in the western part of the Barents Sea, while the highest concentration of total arsenic was found in cod from the eastern part. The arsenic concentrations varied greatly among individual fish, ranging from 0.3 to 170mgkg−1 wet weight in the muscle. Such high levels of total arsenic have never previously been reported in any fish, and the primary factor for these high concentrations is likely to be the shrimp in the cod diet.

This study addresses how cultures of three phytoplankton species –Chaetoceros calcitrans, Chlorella autotrophica and Phaeocystis globosa – can recover from the effects of UV-C exposure if the cells are placed in a rich medium. Flow cytometry and pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) were used to determine cell recovery after UV treatment. The recovery of C. calcitrans was complete 9days after treatment. For C. autotrophica, the recovery was noticeable 5days after treatment. P. globosa only recovered if the UV dose did not exceed 7.3×105μWs/cm2. The recovery of the UV-treated cultures introduced to a regrowth medium, compared with the recovery of the irradiated cultures kept in their original environment, had two main characteristics: cell recovery was slower but was more efficient. This pattern of recovery has very important implications for real ballast water management systems because such systems discharge treated water into the environment.

Plastic litter was quantified on four sandy beaches in Mumbai. The mean abundance of 7.49g and 68.83 items per square metre was recorded. The abundance of plastics significantly varied among the beaches showing an increasing trend in the southern part. The abundance of plastics by weight in Dadar was significantly higher than that in Aksa. The size fractionation of plastics proved that small particles (1–20mm) are predominant with 41.85% microplastics (1–5mm) which emphasizes the high risk to marine organisms due to possible ingestion. The highest quantity of microplastics was seen in Juhu beach (55.33%) followed by Versova, Aksa and Dadar. The major contributing factors for the abundance are beach usage for different activities such as recreational, religious and fishing which suggest that the land-based sources provide major inputs to plastic pollution in these beaches.

Suspended particles (SP) are increasing dramatically in Bohai Bay, China and may affect the growth and composition of phytoplankton assembly. To determine the effects of SP on the growth of two dominant phytoplankton species, Phaeodactylum tricornutum Bohlin and Gymnodinium sp., we cultured and tested their growth characteristics under SP concentrations ranging from 0gL−1 to 0.8gL−1. Our results show that the increase in the SP concentrations results in significant decrease in the maximum cell densities and the maximum specific growth rates of these two species. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of SP to P. tricornutum and Gymnodinium sp. were 1.07gL−1 and 0.68gL−1 respectively, indicating the inhibitory effect of SP on Gymnodinium sp. was greater than on P. tricornutum. These results suggest that SP inhibits the growth of the two algal species and P. tricornutum is more tolerant to SP than Gymnodinium sp.

This study compared 2 standardized protocols to monitor subtidal rocky shores. We tested 2 sampling methods (temporal unit and quadrat) to assess the efficiency of extracting biota parameters (diversity, abundance, and biomass) of macroalgae, Mollusca, and Porifera with respect to time–cost and the number of sampling units. Species richness and occurrence of rocky subtidal habitats were better described by visual censuses than by quadrats. The same estimated richness was provided by the 2 methods. The association of a visual census and a quadrat was the most efficient way for responding to the requirements. A minimum of 5 sampling units per discrete area is recommended for accurately describing habitats. Then, we tested the sensitivity of the proposed protocol on the Bizeux Islet to study the variations of community structures according to depth and station. Based on the results, recommendations for monitoring purposes have been proposed according to European directives.

The aim of this paper is to study the levels and variability of surface ozone in the lower Ebre Valley and to estimate whether this surface ozone has its origin in local photochemical processes or in long–range transport. Surface ozone data series of twelve years (1994–2005) have been used from a rural area (Ebre Observatory) together with three years (2003–2005) data of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Ozone trends over the whole seasonal period, weekly and daily variations and exceedances of the legal threshold have been investigated. Furthermore, a representative ozone event has been studied in detail. Using ozone data from the twelve–year period resulted in a positive trend with an increase of 2.18 μg m–3 year–1 and 0.64 μg m–3 year–1 in summer and winter, respectively. The seasonal evolution of ozone gives a minimum value in winter and a maximum higher than 75 μg m–3 associated with the minimum values of NO2. Ozone– NO2 variation shows a weak ozone increase on weekdays and a small decrease in NO2 concentrations at the weekends. Hence, a weekend effect is not observed. Ozone and NO2 concentrations show a diurnal pattern with NO2 peaks both in the early morning and in the evening, and maximum ozone concentrations, higher than 90–100 μg m–3, from 12:00 to 18:00 UTC in the warmer seasons. The threshold for the protection of human health has been exceeded from March to September each year, with a mean of 33 times per year. An event with high ozone levels originated by transport processes from the Mediterranean area was also analysed. The results suggest that high ozone could be caused mainly by transport mechanisms, and the Ebre valley could be considered to be a natural communication channel between the western Mediterranean basin and the Atlantic Ocean.

We conducted a large-scale investigation of methylmercury (MeHg) in a total of 628 marine wild fish covering 46 different species collected from the South China Sea between 2008 and 2009. Biological and ecological characteristics such as size (length and wet weight), feeding habit, habitat, and stable isotope (δ15N) were examined to explain MeHg bioaccumulation in marine fish and their geographical distribution. MeHg levels in the muscle tissues of the 628 individuals ranged from 0.010 to 1.811μg/gdrywt. Log10MeHg concentration was significantly related to their length and wet weight. Feeding habit and habitat were the primary factors influencing MeHg bioaccumulation. Demersal fish were more likely to be contaminated with MeHg than the epipelagic and mesopelagic varieties. Linear relationships were obtained between Log10(MeHg) and δ15N only for one location, indicating that biomagnification was site-specific. Results from this study suggest that dietary preference and trophic structure were the main factors affecting MeHg bioaccumulation in marine fish from the South China Sea.

The health status of an emerging Posidonia oceanica meadow, subject to high human impact, was studied. Biometric variables, heavy metals, PAHs and C, N, P contents were determined in sediment and seagrass samples. The meadow was found to grow under oligotrophic conditions and an increase in nutrient content was only recorded in autumn. In sediment, Hg exceeded its ERL (effects range low) and sometimes also its ERM (effects range medium), and Cu was close to its ERL. In leaves, Hg and Cu were relatively high but below their respective ERLs. Sediments close to the meadow were heavily contaminated with pyrolytic PAHs, some of which exceeded their ERLs. P. oceanica did not show major accumulation of PAHs, lighter molecules predominating. Despite 40years of intense human activity, meadow growth dynamics and contaminant accumulation did not suggest that the meadow was regressing.

Mediterranean coastal regions are particularly exposed to oil pollution due to extensive industrialization, urbanization and transport of crude and refined oil to and from refineries. Bioremediation of contaminated beach sand through landfarming is both simple and cost-effective to implement compared to other treatment technologies. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of alternative nutrients on biodegradation of crude oil contaminated beach sand in an effort to reduce the time required for bioremediation employing only indigenous hydrocarbon degraders.A natural sandy soil was collected from Agios Onoufrios beach (Chania, Greece) and was contaminated with weathered crude oil. The indigenous microbial population in the contaminated sand was tested alone (control treatment) or in combination with inorganic nutrients (KNO3 and K2HPO4) to investigate their effects on oil biodegradation rates. In addition, the ability of biosurfactants (rhamnolipids), in the presence of organic nutrients (uric acid and lecithin), to further stimulate biodegradation was investigated in laboratory microcosms over a 45-day period.Biodegradation was tracked by GC/MS analysis of aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons components and the measured concentrations were corrected for abiotic removal by hopane normalizations. It was found that the saturated fraction of the residual oil is degraded more extensively than the aromatic fraction and the bacterial growth after an incubation period of approximately 3weeks was much greater from the bacterial growth in the control.The results show that the treatments with inorganic or organic nutrients are equally effective over almost 30days where C12–C35n-alkanes were degraded more than 97% and polyaromatic hydrocarbons with two or three rings were degraded more than 95% within 45days. The results clearly show that the addition of nutrients to contaminated beach sand significantly enhanced the activity of indigenous microorganisms, as well as the removal of total recoverable petroleum hydrocarbons (TRPH) over a 45-day study period.

In an attempt to analyze the chemical characterization of oil residues and examine the suitability of chemical fingerprinting methods in oil spill investigations, multiple parameters sensitive to both sources and degree of weathering were used to characterize oil residues from “7–16” Dalian oil spill, China. Oil residues collected 90days to 120days after the spill showed a weathering pattern where significant amounts of light to middle molecular weight normal alkanes were depleted with pristane and phytane as dominant peaks. Diagnostic ratios developed from n-alkane and selected isoprenoids (e.g. Pr/Ph, n-C17/Pr, n-C18/Ph, carbon preference index, LMW/HMW-alkanes ratio), all display obvious changes over weathering time, indicating that these ratios are not valid for oil source identification. Furthermore, the biomarker ratios of hopanes and steranes with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 0.88–4.08% were useful for source identification even for severely weathered oil residues. In addition, RSD of δ13C values of individual n-alkanes in oil residue varied from 0.07% to 0.20%, which suggest that stable carbon isotope profile of n-alkanes can also be a useful tool for tracing the source of an oil spill.