Marine litter is a significant environmental problem inherently linked to individuals’ purchasing, use and disposal behaviour. This research examined 176 British schoolchildren’s (aged 8–13years) baseline marine litter understanding and self-reported actions, and tested the impact of an educational intervention. All children participated in the educational intervention and completed a pre- and post-intervention questionnaire. At baseline, children were quite concerned about marine litter and recognised some of the causes and impacts of the problem. Children also reported taking a number of actions to help solve the problem. After the intervention, children were significantly more concerned, had a better understanding of the causes and negative impacts, and reported engaging in more actions to reduce the potential causes of marine litter. Understanding the perceptions and behaviours of children is crucial as they represent current and future actors and a potentially important source of social influence among their peers, parents and community.

In this study, the suspended particulate matter (SPM) of the Yellow River (Huanghe) was collected biweekly at the outlet and analyzed for particulate trace element contents. The seasonal variations of the trace elements were primarily controlled by hydrological processes, which determined different sources of the SPM. Moreover, As, Co, Cr, and Ni primarily originated from lithogenic sources, whereas Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn were influenced by anthropogenic activities. The Yellow River has suffered moderate to considerable ecological risk during the late stage of Water and Sediment Regulation (WSR). Using the discharge-weighted contents method, the annual trace element fluxes were estimated, with ca. 30% of the annual fluxes occurring within the short WSR period (6% of one year). More specifically, 75% of the Cd flux was from an anthropogenic source, which likely posed a significant threat to the estuary and the adjacent coastal ecosystems.

Two Source oils and five field collected oil residues from the Deepwater Horizon incident were chemically characterized. Water accommodated fractions (WAFs) of the Source oils and two of the field-weathered oils were prepared to evaluate the impact of natural weathering on the chemical composition and the acute toxicity of the WAFs. Toxicity test species representing different tropic levels were used (the primary producer Skeletonema costatum (algae) and the herbivorous copepod Acartia tonsa). The results suggest that the potential for acute toxicity is higher in WAFs from non-weathered oils than WAFs from the field weathered oils. The Source oils contained a large fraction of soluble and bioavailable components (such as BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylenes) and naphthalene), whereas in the surface collected oils these components were depleted by dissolution into the water column as the oil rose to the surface and by evaporative loss after reaching the sea surface.

Secondary copper smelting processes (SeCu) have previously been identified as an important source of brominated dioxins and furans (PBDD/Fs). Identifying the major stages responsible for PBDD/F formation and emissions is crucial for developing technology to reduce PBDD/F emissions from SeCu, but nothing is currently known in this regard. In this study, stack gas samples from three smelting stages (feeding–fusion, oxidation and deoxidization) were collected and analyzed for PBDD/Fs to identify the stage most responsible for PBDD/F emissions. The results indicated that PBDD/F emissions mainly occurred during the feeding–fusion stage. Overall, PBDF emissions were much higher than PBDD emissions throughout the smelting process. Higher–brominated PBDD/F congeners were the most dominant contributors. The emission factors of PBDD/Fs during the feeding–fusion, oxidation and deoxidization stages were calculated to be 715, 119 and 31ng t−1, respectively. The results of this study are important for identifying the stages most responsible for PBDD/F emissions and developing techniques for reducing PBDD/F emissions from SeCu processes.

We examined the synergistic effects of CO2 injection on electro-chlorination in disinfection of plankton and bacteria in simulated ballast water. Chlorination was performed at dosages of 4 and 6ppm with and without CO2 injection on electro-chlorination. Testing was performed in both seawater and brackish water quality as defined by IMO G8 guidelines. CO2 injection notably decreased from the control the number of Artemia franciscana, a brine shrimp, surviving during a 5-day post-treatment incubation (1.8 and 2.3 log10 reduction in seawater and brackish water, respectively at 6ppm TRO+CO2) compared with water electro-chlorinated only (1.2 and 1.3 log10 reduction in seawater and brackish water, respectively at 6ppm TRO). The phytoplankton Tetraselmis suecica, was completely disinfected with no live cell found at >4ppm TRO with and without CO2 addition. The effects of CO2 addition on heterotrophic bacterial growth was not different from electro-chlorination only. Total residual oxidant concentration (TRO) more rapidly declined in electro-chlorination of both marine and brackish waters compared to chlorine+CO2 treated waters, with significantly higher amount of TRO being left in waters treated with the CO2 addition. Total concentration of trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) measured at day 0 in brackish water test were found to be 2- to 3-fold higher in 6ppm TRO+CO2-treated water than in 6ppm TRO treated water. The addition of CO2 to electro-chlorination may improve the efficiency of this sterilizing treatment of ballast water, yet the increased production of some disinfection byproducts needs further study.

The work investigated concentration of trace metals in surface sediments (0–10cm; < 63μm grain size) from 15 sampling sites of diverse environmental stresses covering Hugli River Estuary (HRE) and Sundarban Mangrove Wetland (SMW), eastern coastal part of India. The trace metal concentrations in sediments exhibited an overall decreasing trend as follows: Cr (21.2–60.9)>Cu (11.60–102.47)>Ni (19.10–52.60)>Pb (7.09–183.88)>As (4.41–11.46)>Cd (0.02–4.4)>Ag (0.02–0.87). Both the geo-accumulation index (Igeo) and contamination factor (CF) values revealed significant pollution by Ag, Cd and Pb at Nurpur of HRE. Potential Ecological Risk Index (RI) (61.21±112.40) showed wide range of variations from low (19.76) to serious (463.20) ecological risk. A positive significant correlation was found between metals and organic carbon in sediments. The ecological risk associated with the trace metals in sediment was considered on the consensus based Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQGs). The work suggests that the trace metals present in sediments posed adverse effects on the sediment-dwelling organisms.

A considerable number of Ireland’s shellfish production areas co-occur with or are adjacent to Natura 2000 sites which are protected under European legislation. To investigate the general interaction between trestle oyster cultivation and the surrounding intertidal environment, six sites were selected within designated Natura 2000 sites. At each trestle site three Treatment areas were sampled. One Treatment area corresponded to potential impacts associated with cultivation activities occurring at trestle structures (designated the Trestle Treatment) while one Treatment area corresponded to potential impacts due to cultivation activities occurring along access routes (the Access Treatment). An area not subject to any known anthropogenic activity was used as a control (the Control Treatment). Potential impacts associated with Trestle Treatment areas included changes in sediment total organic matter (TOM) levels underneath trestles due to the bio-deposition of faecal/pseudofaecal material while the predominant impact associated with Access Treatment areas was compaction of sediments due to heavy vehicle traffic. In this study, macrobenthic communities at the sites were highly variable and exhibited low levels of diversity which prevented the detection of general effects of cultivation activity on community structure, diversity and secondary production. To overcome this variability, the Infaunal Quality Index (IQI) was used to assess impacts on Ecological Status (ES) of benthic communities (sensu Water Framework Directive). Relative to Control and Trestle Treatment areas, activities occurring at Access Treatment areas had a significant negative impact on ES. This study highlights the potential of the IQI for the management of aquaculture activity and provides validation for the use of the IQI in Irish intertidal environments. This study also highlights the IQI as a potential tool for assessing the conservation status of designated habitats in Natura 2000 sites.

This study quantifies the effect of oil layer thickness on entrainment and dispersion of oil into seawater, using a plunging jet with a camera system. In contrast to what is generally assumed, we revealed that for the low viscosity “surrogate MC252 oil” we used, entrainment rate is directly proportional to layer thickness. Furthermore, the volume of stably suspended small oil droplets increases with energy input (plunge height) and is mostly proportional to layer thickness. Oil pre-treated with dispersants (dispersant-oil ratio ranges from 1:50 to 1:300) is greatly entrained in such large amounts of small droplets that quantification was impossible with the camera system. Very low interfacial tension causes entrainment by even minor secondary surface disturbances. Our results indicate that the effect of oil layer thickness should be included in oil entrainment and dispersion modelling.

To investigate the impacts and processes of CO2-induced acidification on metal mobilization, laboratory-scale experiments were performed, simulating the scenarios where carbon dioxide was injected into sediment–seawater layers inside non-pressurized chambers. Coastal sediments were sampled from two sites with different contamination levels and subjected to pre-determined pH conditions. Sediment samples and overlying water were collected for metal analysis after 10-days. The results indicated that CO2-induced ocean acidification would provoke increased metal mobilization causing adverse side-effects on water quality. The mobility of metals from sediment to the overlying seawater was correlated with the reduction in pH. Results of sequential extractions of sediments illustrated that exchangeable metal forms were the dominant source of mobile metals. Collectively, our data revealed that high metal concentrations in overlying seawater released from contaminated sediments under acidic conditions may strengthen the existing contamination gradients in Maluan Bay and represent a potential risk to ecosystem health in coastal environments.

In this study, the influence of temperature and light intensity on the growth of seedlings and adults of four species of green tide algae (Ulva prolifera, Ulva compressa, Ulva flexuosa and Ulva linza) from the Yellow Sea was evaluated. The results indicated that the specific growth rate (SGR) of seedlings was much higher than that of adults for the four species. The adaptability of U. prolifera is much wider: Adult daily SGRs were the highest among the four species at 15–20°C with 10–600μmol·m−2·s−1 and 25–30°C with 200–600μmol·m−2·s−1. SGRs were 1.5–3.5 times greater than the other three species at 15–25°C with 200–600μmol·m−2·s−1. These results indicate that U. prolifera has better tolerance to high temperature and light intensity than the other three species, which may in part explain why only U. prolifera undergoes large-scale outbreaks and floats to the Qingdao coast while the other three species decline and disappear at the early stage of blooming.