Measurements of chemical persistence in natural environments can provide insight into behavior not easily replicated in laboratory studies. However, it is difficult to find environmental situations suitable for such measurements, particularly for substances with half-lives exceeding several weeks. The objective of this study was to demonstrate that a strategic postflood monitoring campaign can be used to quantify transformation half-lives on the scale of months in a real aquatic system. Water samples were collected in the upper Brisbane River estuary on 36 occasions over 37 weeks and analyzed for 127 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), pesticides, and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). High quality time trend data were obtained for 41 substances. For many of these, data on the input of a wastewater treatment plant to the upper estuary were also obtained. A mass balance model of the estuary stretch was formulated and parametrized using PFASs as persistent benchmarking chemicals. Transformation half-life estimates were obtained for 10 PPCPs and 7 pesticides ranging from 18 to 260 days. Furthermore, insight was obtained into dominant transformation processes as well as the magnitude of chemical inputs to the estuary and their sources. The approach developed shows that under certain conditions, estuaries can be used to quantify the persistence of organic contaminants with half-lives of the order of several months.
Scientific paper
Differential susceptibility of rat primary neurons and neural stem cells to PFOS and PFOA toxicity
Per and polifluorinated substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous and persistent contaminants. Studies have indicated that fetuses and infants can be exposed to these chemicals in utero and through breastfeeding. Despite this, limited data about their effects on brain development are available. Here, we compared the effects of perfluoroctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) exposure in rat primary neurons and neural stem cells (NSC). Treatment with 1-250 mu M of either of these compounds caused no effects on cell viability or proliferation in primary neurons, while PFOS exposure increased the NSC proliferation already at the lowest concentration tested (1-100 mu M). Further analysis showed that both PFOS and PFOA caused morphological alterations of NSC-derived neurons. The neurons derived from NSC treated with either of the PFAS demonstrated a decrease in cell body area. Exposure to 1 and 10 mu M PFOA also affected the neurite network and caused an increase in the number of processes and branches per cell. None of the PFAS caused morphological alterations in primary neurons. These data suggest that NSC, mimicking the immature brain, is clearly more susceptible to PFOS and PFOA exposure than the primary neurons. The PFAS-induced alterations in NSC may be related to neurobehavioral alterations observed in rodents developmentally exposed to these compounds, and show the importance to consider the effects of these compounds on human brain development and disease. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
Scientific paper
Biodegradation of metoprolol in oxic and anoxic hyporheic zone sediments: unexpected effects on microbial communities
Metoprolol is widely used as a beta-blocker and considered an emerging contaminant of environmental concern due to pseudo persistence in wastewater effluents that poses a potential ecotoxicological threat to aquatic ecosystems. Microbial removal of metoprolol in the redox-delineated hyporheic zone (HZ) was investigated using streambed sediments supplemented with 15 or 150 mu M metoprolol in a laboratory microcosm incubation under oxic and anoxic conditions. Metoprolol disappeared from the aqueous phase under oxic and anoxic conditions within 65 and 72 days, respectively. Metoprolol was refed twice after initial depletion resulting in accelerated disappearance under both conditions. Metoprolol disappearance was marginal in sterile control microcosms with autoclaved sediment. Metoprolol was transformed mainly to metoprolol acid in oxic microcosms, while metoprolol acid and alpha-hydroxymetoprolol were formed in anoxic microcosms. Transformation products were transient and disappeared within 30 days under both conditions. Effects of metoprolol on the HZ bacterial community were evaluated using DNA- and RNA-based time-resolved amplicon Illumina MiSeq sequencing targeting the 16S rRNA gene and 16S rRNA, respectively, and were prominent on 16S rRNA rather than 16S rRNA gene level suggesting moderate metoprolol-induced activity-level changes. A positive impact of metoprolol on Sphingomonadaceae and Enterobacteriaceae under oxic and anoxic conditions, respectively, was observed. Nitrifiers were impaired by metoprolol under oxic and anoxic conditions. Collectively, our findings revealed high metoprolol biodegradation potentials in the hyporheic zone under contrasting redox conditions associated with changes in the active microbial communities, thus contributing to the attenuation of micropollutants.
Scientific paper
Deposition of light-absorbing particles in glacier snow of the Sunderdhunga Valley, the southern forefront of the central Himalayas
Anthropogenic activities on the Indo-Gangetic Plain emit vast amounts of light-absorbing particles (LAPs) into the atmosphere, modifying the atmospheric radiation state. With transport to the nearby Himalayas and deposition to its surfaces the particles contribute to glacier melt and snowmelt via darkening of the highly reflective snow. The central Himalayas have been identified as a region where LAPs are especially pronounced in glacier snow but still remain a region where measurements of LAPs in the snow are scarce. Here we study the deposition of LAPs in five snow pits sampled in 2016 (and one from 2015) within 1 km from each other from two glaciers in the Sunderdhunga Valley, in the state of Uttarakhand, India, in the central Himalayas. The snow pits display a distinct enriched LAP layer interleaved by younger snow above and older snow below. The LAPs exhibit a distinct vertical distribution in these different snow layers. For the analyzed elemental carbon (EC), the younger snow layers in the different pits show similarities, which can be characterized by a deposition constant of about 50 mu g m(-2) mm(-1) snow water equivalent (SWE), while the old-snow layers also indicate similar values, described by a deposition constant of roughly 150 mu g m(-2) mm(-1) SWE. The enriched LAP layer, contrarily, displays no similar trends between the pits. Instead, it is characterized by very high amounts of LAPs and differ in orders of magnitude for concentration between the pits. The enriched LAP layer is likely a result of strong melting that took place during the summers of 2015 and 2016, as well as possible lateral transport of LAPs. The mineral dust fractional absorption is slightly below 50% for the young- and old-snow layers, whereas it is the dominating light-absorbing constituent in the enriched LAP layer, thus, highlighting the importance of dust in the region. Our results indicate the problems with complex topography in the Himalayas but, nonetheless, can be useful in large-scale assessments of LAPs in Himalayan snow.
Scientific paper
Correlating seasonal changes of naturally produced brominated compounds to biomarkers in perch from the Baltic Sea
Hydroxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (OH-PBDEs), naturally produced by algae and cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea, are potent disrupters of energy metabolism as well as endocrine disruptors and neurotoxins. In this study, European perch (Perca fluviatilis) from the Baltic Sea were sampled from May until October. OH-PBDEs and ten biomarkers were measured in each individual (n = 84 over 18 sampling time points) to study potential correlations between exposure to OH-PBDEs and changes in biomarkers. Several biomarkers showed significant non-linear seasonal variation. In the perch, ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity, plasma lactate concentration, and plasma glucose concentration showed a significant positive log-linear correlation with OH-PBDEs, whereas lipid percentage and liver somatic index showed a significant negative log-linear correlation with OH-PBDEs. These results strengthen the concern that OH-PBDEs could cause negative health effects for fish in the Baltic Sea.
Scientific paper
Wintertime Air Quality in Megacity Dhaka, Bangladesh Strongly Affected by Influx of Black Carbon Aerosols from Regional Biomass Burning
Salam, A; Andersson, A; Jeba, F; Haque, MI; Khan, MDH; Gustafsson, O
bay
,
biomass burning
,
black carbon
,
chemical characteristics
,
dual carbon isotope (delta c-13 and delta c-14)
,
elemental carbon
,
particulate matter
,
source apportionment
,
wintertime air quality
Clean air is a key parameter for a sustainable society, and currently, megacity Dhaka has among the worst air qualities in the world. This results from poorly constrained contributions of a variety of sources from both local emissions and regional influx from the highly polluted Indo-Gangetic Plain, impacting the respiratory health of the 21 million inhabitants in the Greater Dhaka region. An important component of the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is black carbon (BC) aerosols. In this study, we investigated the combustion sources of BC using a dual carbon isotope (delta C-13 and Delta C-14) in Dhaka during the high-loading winter period of 2013/14 (regular and lockdown/hartal period) in order to guide mitigation policies. On average, BC (13 +/- 6 mu g m(-3)) contributed about 9% of the PM2.5 (145 +/- 79 mu g m(-3)) loadings. The relative contribution from biomass combustion under regular conditions was 44 +/- 1% (with the rest from fossil combustion), while during periods of politically motivated large-scale lockdown of business and traffic, the biomass burning contribution increased to 63 +/- 1%. To reduce the severe health impact of BC and other aerosol pollution in Dhaka, mitigation should therefore target regional-scale biomass/agricultural burning in addition to local traffic.
Scientific paper
CASCADE – The Circum-Arctic Sediment CArbon DatabasE
constraints
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cross-shelf transport
,
degradation
,
fate
,
laptev sea
,
old carbon
,
permafrost
,
preservation
,
river
,
terrestrial organic-matter
Biogeochemical cycling in the semi-enclosed Arctic Ocean is strongly influenced by land-ocean transport of carbon and other elements and is vulnerable to environmental and climate changes. Sediments of the Arctic Ocean are an important part of biogeochemical cycling in the Arctic and provide the opportunity to study present and historical input and the fate of organic matter (e.g., through permafrost thawing). Comprehensive sedimentary records are required to compare differences between the Arctic regions and to study Arctic biogeochemical budgets. To this end, the Circum-Arctic Sediment CArbon DatabasE (CASCADE) was established to curate data primarily on concentrations of organic carbon (OC) and OC isotopes (delta C-13, Delta C-14) yet also on total N (TN) as well as terrigenous biomarkers and other sediment geochemical and physical properties. This new database builds on the published literature and earlier unpublished records through an extensive international community collaboration. This paper describes the establishment, structure and current status of CASCADE. The first public version includes OC concentrations in surface sediments at 4244 oceanographic stations including 2317 with TN concentrations, 1555 with delta C-13-OC values and 268 with Delta C-14-OC values and 653 records with quantified terrigenous biomarkers (high-molecular-weight n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids and lignin phenols). CASCADE also includes data from 326 sediment cores, retrieved by shallow box or multi-coring, deep gravity/piston coring, or sea-bottom drilling. The comprehensive dataset reveals large-scale features of both OC content and OC sources between the shelf sea recipients. This offers insight into release of pre-aged terrigenous OC to the East Siberian Arctic shelf and younger terrigenous OC to the Kara Sea. Circum-Arctic sediments thereby reveal patterns of terrestrial OC remobilization and provide clues about thawing of permafrost. CASCADE enables synoptic analysis of OC in Arctic Ocean sediments and facilitates a wide array of future empirical and modeling studies of the Arctic carbon cycle. The database is openly and freely available online (https://doi-org.ezp.sub.su.se/10.17043/cascade; Martens et al., 2021), is provided in various machine-readable data formats (data tables, GIS shapefile, GIS raster), and also provides ways for contributing data for future CASCADE versions. We will continuously update CASCADE with newly published and contributed data over the foreseeable future as part of the database management of the Bolin Centre for Climate Research at Stockholm University.
Scientific paper
Inconsistencies in How Environmental Risk Is Evaluated in Sweden for Dumping Dredged Sediment at Sea
Bruce, P; Bradshaw, C; Ohlsson, Y; Sobek, A; Christiernsson, A
Millions of tons of dredged sediment are dumped at sea annually. International conventions limit dumping when there is a risk of adverse ecological effects, for example if the sediment is contaminated. However, the perception of risk differs substantially among stakeholders and in Sweden there is a lack of guidelines for how to address such risk. In the current study, we examined exemptions to the Swedish ban on dumping at sea, to explore the extent of dumping and how ecological aspects were considered in the evaluation of risks. We analyzed data from all cases granted exemption by county administrative boards and all court cases considering exemption to the ban from the beginning of 2015 to June 2020. We found that while dumping is the least common alternative management method for dredged sediment in total number of cases (98/792), dumping is the main method in terms of volume (30.8/38.2 million m(3)). When considering exemptions, the courts mainly evaluated the risk of exposure to contaminants and resuspended sediment for the environment adjacent to the dumpsite. The risks from contaminants were characterized based on various lines of reasoning, mainly relying on reference values not based on a scientific correlation to environmental risk. We argue that the evaluations were not in line with current regulations and international conventions as they insufficiently accounted for the ecotoxicological risk of the dumped sediment. These issues are potentially similar in other Baltic Sea countries, where there is a similar dependency on binary chemical limit values.
Scientific paper
Evolution of Turbulent Swirling Flow in a Small-Scale Cyclone with Increasing Flow Rate: A LES Study
The flow field, vortex behaviour and pressure losses in a small-scale cyclone have been studied at a wide range of flow rate 0.23-39.7 NLPM (measured at 1 atm and 20 degrees C) using the LES simulations that have been validated based on experimental measurements of the cyclone pressure drop. The following flow characteristics such as (1) the radial distribution of the tangential velocity; (2) the maximum tangential velocity and axial downward flow rate; (3) natural vortex length and rotation frequency of the vortex end; and (4) pressure losses in the cyclone have been analysed as a function of Reynolds number. The radial distribution of the tangential velocity inside the cyclone has been described by a proposed equation for adapted Burger's vortex. The position of the lower end of the vortex (natural vortex length) as well as its rotational frequency have been investigated with the pressure sensing method. A unique vortex behaviour such as "vortex end jump" was revealed at some Reynolds numbers. Additionally, a deep analysis of the pressure losses in the cyclone has been performed which showed that the main pressure losses (up to 48%) occur in the vortex finder. Four flow regimes were revealed and a one-term power series model has been proposed to describe the effects of the Reynolds number on the Euler number (dimensionless pressure losses).
Scientific paper
Interaction of prenatal bisphenols, maternal nutrients, and toxic metal exposures on neurodevelopment of 2-year-olds in the APrON cohort
a exposure
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behavior
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bisphenol a
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bisphenol s
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bpa
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early-childhood
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heavy metals
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inner-city children
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maternal nutrients
,
neurodevelopment
,
oxidative stress
,
samples
,
selenium
,
united-states
Background: Epidemiological studies suggest that Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a developmental neurotoxicant, but the modifying effects of maternal nutrient status or neurotoxicant metal co-exposures have not been reported. Bisphenol-S (BPS) is being used as a BPA-alternative, but few epidemiological studies have evaluated its effects. Objectives: To examine if prenatal maternal BPA or BPS exposure are associated with children's neurodevelopment at two years of age while adjusting for effect-measure modification by sex, maternal nutrients, and co-exposure to neurotoxic metals. Methods: Total BPA and BPS concentrations were analyzed in spot maternal urine from the second trimester; metals and maternal nutrient status were analyzed in blood. Child neurodevelopment was evaluated with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-III (Bayley-III) at age 2 (394 maternal-child pairs) and linear regression was used to investigate associations. Results: Among nutrients and neurotoxic metals, selenium (Se) and cadmium (Cd) were the most significant predictors of Bayley-III scale scores. Higher maternal Cd was significantly correlated with poorer motor performance (p < 0.01), and higher levels of maternal Se were significantly associated with poorer performance on the cognitive, motor, and adaptive behavior scales (p < 0.05). While maternal Cd did not modify relationships between bisphenol exposures and Bayley-III scores, both maternal Se and child sex were significant effectmeasure modifiers. Associations between BPA exposure and social emotional scores were negative for boys (p = 0.056) but positive for girls (p = 0.046). Higher exposure to bisphenols was associated with lower motor scores among children with lower levels of maternal Se. Conclusion: Higher maternal Cd was associated with poorer motor development, but it was not an effect-measure modifier of bisphenols' effects on motor development. Maternal Se may be protective against adverse effects of bisphenols, and additional nutrient-bisphenol interaction studies examining sex-specific effects of BPA and BPS on child development are warranted.
Scientific paper
A review of how we assess denitrification in oyster habitats and proposed guidelines for future studies
Excess nitrogen (N) loading and resulting eutrophication plague coastal ecosystems globally. Much work is being done to remove N before it enters coastal receiving waters, yet these efforts are not enough. Novel techniques to remove N from within the coastal ecosystem are now being explored. One of these techniques involves using oysters and their habitats to remove N via denitrification. There is substantial interest in incorporating oyster-mediated enhancement of benthic denitrification into N management plans and trading schemes. Measuring denitrification, however, is expensive and time consuming. For large-scale adoption of oyster-mediated denitrification into nutrient management plans, we need an accurate model that can be applied across ecosystems. Despite significant effort to measure and report rates of denitrification in oyster habitats, we are unable to create such a model, due to methodological differences between studies, incomplete data reporting, and inconsistent measurements of environmental variables that may be used to predict denitrification. To make a model that can predict denitrification in oyster habitats a reality, a common sampling and reporting scheme is needed across studies. Here, we provide relevant background on how oysters may stimulate denitrification, and the importance of oyster-mediated denitrification in remediating excess N loading to coastal systems. We then summarize methods commonly used to measure denitrification in oyster habitats, discuss the importance of various environmental variables that may be useful for predicting denitrification, and present a set of guidelines for measuring denitrification in oyster habitats, allowing development of models to support incorporation of oyster-mediated denitrification into future policy decisions.
Scientific paper
Variability in Toxicity of Plastic Leachates as a Function of Weathering and Polymer Type: A Screening Study with the Copepod Nitocra spinipes
The production and use of plastic over many decades has resulted in its accumulation in the world's oceans. Plastic debris poses a range of potential risks to the marine environment and its biota. Especially, the potential hazards of small plastic debris and chemicals associated with plastic have not been extensively studied. When buoyant plastic is exposed to ultraviolet radiation, it will slowly degrade and leach chemicals into surrounding waters. These leachates can include additives, sorbed organic pollutants, and degradation products of the plastic polymers. While most hazard assessments have focused on studying adverse effects due to the uptake of plastic, toxicity studies of the leachates of plastics are less common. To begin to address this knowledge gap, we studied the acute toxicity of leachates from diverse plastics in the harpacticoid copepod Nitocra spinipes. Our results show that leachates caused a higher toxicity after plastic was exposed to ultraviolet light compared to leaching in darkness. We observed differences in toxicity for different polymer types: polyvinyl chloride and polypropylene resulted in the most toxic leachates, while polystyrene and poly[ethylene terephthalate] were least toxic. Furthermore, we observed increased toxicity of leachates from some plastics that had been weathered in the real marine environment compared to matching new materials. Our results indicate that both weathering condition and polymer type influence the toxicity of plastic leachates.
