ALBERT

Beschreibung:    Criteria and indicators assessment is one of the ways to evaluate management strategies for mountain watersheds. One framework for this, Integrated Watershed Management (IWM), was employed at Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh using a multi-criteria analysis approach. The IWM framework, consisting of the design and application of principles, criteria, indicators, and verifiers (PCIV), facilitates active participation by diverse professionals, experts, and interest groups in watershed management, to explicitly address the demands and problems to measure the complexity of problems in a transparent and understandable way. Management alternatives are developed to fulfill every key component of IWM considering the developed PCIV set and current situation of the study area. Different management strategies, each focusing on a different approach (biodiversity conservation, flood control, soil and water quality conservation, indigenous knowledge conservation, income generation, watershed conservation, and landscape conservation) were assessed qualitatively on their potential to improve the current situation according to each verifier of the criteria and indicator set. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), including sensitivity analysis, was employed to identify an appropriate management strategy according to overall priorities (i.e., different weights of each principle) of key informants. The AHP process indicated that a strategy focused on conservation of biodiversity provided the best option to address watershed-related challenges in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2148-x Authors Shampa Biswas, School of Environmental Sciences and Management, Independent University, Bangladesh Plot-16, Block - B, Aftabuddin Ahmed Road, Bashundhara R/A., 1229 Dhaka, Bangladesh Harald Vacik, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, Institute of Silviculture, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter Jordanstr. 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria Mark E. Swanson, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State University, Johnson Hall, P.O. Box 646410, Pullman, WA 99164-6410, USA S. M. Sirajul Haque, Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, 4331 Chittagong, Bangladesh Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Lead (Pb) is a toxic heavy metal that is widely distributed throughout the environment. Pb is an important neurotoxic metal and children are more susceptible to its effect due to their higher absorption rate and greater susceptibility of the developing nervous system. In this work, we evaluated the lead exposure levels in children living near a metallurgical plant and identified risk factors associated with its internal dose. All children, aged 1–10 years and 11 months, living near a metallurgical plant in the great Salvador area, Brazil were evaluated in this cross-sectional study and compared with children from a non exposed area. Occipital hair and blood were used to assess exposure. Air lead levels in the respirable fraction (PM 2.5 ) were also measured in both areas. Blood lead levels (BLL), hair lead levels (PbH) and air lead were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Spearman correlations analysis was used to evaluate correlations between BLL, PbH and descriptors. Significant risk factors were modeled using multivariate linear regression analysis. Air lead levels were approximately ten-folds lower than EPA reference concentration (0.15 μg/m 3 ). Median BLL and PbH were1.65 ± 1.45 μg/dL and 1.26 ± 3.70 μg/g, respectively, in exposed children. In the referents, medians were BLL 1.20 ± 1.20 μg/dL; PbH 2.09 ± 2.06 μg/g. No significant difference was observed in biomarkers levels between boys and girls. It was observed a positive weak correlation (Spearman rho = 0.197, p  = 0.033) between BLL and PbH. Our data show that children’s lead body burden measured as BLL or PbH are low when compared with the recommended reference values. Despite that, we were able to identify four risk factors associated with increased biological lead levels: age, living near industrial site, environmental tobacco smoking and, above all, domestic waste burning. In order to prevent such avoidable exposure, environmental education and proper waste management should be implemented, especially in developing countries. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2137-0 Authors José Antonio Menezes-Filho, Laboratory of Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil Gustavo Freitas de Sousa Viana, Laboratory of Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil Ciro Rodrigues Paes, Laboratory of Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    An experiment was conducted under laboratory conditions to investigate the effect of two systemic herbicides viz., pendimethalin and quizalofop, at their recommended field rates (1.0 kg and 50 g active ingredient ha  − 1 , respectively) on the growth and activities of non-symbiotic N 2 -fixing bacteria in relation to mineralization and availability of nitrogen in a Typic Haplustept soil. Both the herbicides, either singly or in a combination, stimulated the growth and activities of N 2 -fixing bacteria resulting in higher mineralization and availability of nitrogen in soil. The single application of quizalofop increased the proliferation of aerobic non-symbiotic N 2 -fixing bacteria to the highest extent while that of pendimethalin exerted maximum stimulation to their N 2 -fixing capacity in soil. Both the herbicides, either alone or in a combination, did not have any significant difference in the stimulation of total nitrogen content and availability of exchangeable NH 4  +  while the solubility of NO 3  −  was highly manifested when the herbicides were applied separately in soil. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-5 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2093-8 Authors Amal C. Das, Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, 741 252 West Bengal, India Hemanta Nayek, Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, 741 252 West Bengal, India S. Devi Nongthombam, Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, 741 252 West Bengal, India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    An area of 0.6 km 2 in the manganese nodule field of the Central Indian Basin was physically disturbed and sediments discharged in the near bottom waters to simulate seabed mining and study its impact on benthic ecosystem. An estimated 2 to 3 tonnes of sedimentary organic carbon (C org ) was resuspended into the water column during a 9-day experiment. The majority of the sediment cores from within the disturbed area and areas towards the south showed a ~30% increase in C org content as well as an increase in carbon burial rates after disturbance, though with a reduction in carbon/phosphorus ratios. High specific surface area (SSA~25 m 2  g  − 1 ) and low C org /SSA ratios (mostly 〈0.5) are typical of deep-sea sediments. The increased C org values were probably due to the organic matter from dead biota and the migration and redeposition of fine-grained, organic-rich particles. Spatial distribution patterns of C org contents of cores taken before and after disturbance were used to infer the direction of plume migration and re-sedimentation. A positive relationship was observed between total and labile C org and macrobenthos density and total bacterial numbers prior to disturbance, whereas a negative relationship was seen after disturbance owing to drastic reduction in the density of macrofauna and bacteria. Overall decrease in labile organic matter, benthic biota and redistribution of organic matter suggest that the commercial mining of manganese nodules may have a significant immediate negative effect on the benthic ecosystem inducing changes in benthic community structure. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2154-z Authors B. Nagender Nath, National Institute of Oceanography, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Dona Paula, Goa 403 004, India N. H. Khadge, National Institute of Oceanography, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Dona Paula, Goa 403 004, India Sapana Nabar, National Institute of Oceanography, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Dona Paula, Goa 403 004, India Chandralata RaghuKumar, National Institute of Oceanography, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Dona Paula, Goa 403 004, India B. S. Ingole, National Institute of Oceanography, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Dona Paula, Goa 403 004, India A. B. Valsangkar, National Institute of Oceanography, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Dona Paula, Goa 403 004, India Rahul Sharma, National Institute of Oceanography, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Dona Paula, Goa 403 004, India K. Srinivas, Department of Marine Sciences, Goa University, Taleigao Plateau, Goa 403 206, India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The aim of the research involved identification and semi-quantitative determination of unknown volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds emitted to air by sewage sludge formed in the process of municipal wastewater treatment in a sewage treatment plant. Samples taken directly after completion of the technological process as well as the sludge stored on the premise of the sewage treatment plant were analyzed. A simple method using off-line headspace solid-phase microextraction combined with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry has been proposed for extraction and detection of organic pollutants. For reliable identification of compounds, combination of two independent parameters: mass spectra and linear temperature programmed retention indices were employed. Over 170 compounds of different structure were identified including aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, esters, carbonyls, as well as sulfur, nitrogen, and chlorine containing compounds. The prevailing substances included: ethyl ether, n -hexane, p -xylene, o -xylene, mesitylene, m -ethylbenzene, limonene, n -decane, n -undecane, and n -dodecane. A few compounds such as methanetiol, dimethyl polisulfide, octaatomic sulfur, phthalic anhydride, and indoles were identified in the sludge for the first time. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2158-8 Authors Urszula Kotowska, Institute of Chemistry, University of Bialystok, ul. Hurtowa 1, 15-399 Bialystok, Poland Maciej Żalikowski, Institute of Chemistry, University of Bialystok, ul. Hurtowa 1, 15-399 Bialystok, Poland Valery A. Isidorov, Institute of Chemistry, University of Bialystok, ul. Hurtowa 1, 15-399 Bialystok, Poland Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    This paper reports the utilization of 4-(2-pyridylazo) resorcinol (PAR) as a chelating reagent for in-column derivatization and the determination of trace Co, Fe, and Ni ions by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detector. A good separation of Co, Fe, and Ni chelates were achieved by using an Inertsil ODS-3 column and a mobile phase, consisted of methanol–THF–water mixture (50:5:45) containing ammonium acetate buffer (pH 5.0) and PAR. After full optimization, good repeatability of retention times (relative standard deviation (RSD) 〈 0.05%) and peak areas (RSD 〈 1.7%) was achieved as well as a good linearity ( r 2  〉 0.9991). The detection limits ( S / N  = 3), expressed as micrograms per liter, were 0.50 (Co), 9.07 (Fe), and 2.00 (Ni). The applicability and the accuracy of the developed method were estimated by the analysis of spiked water samples and certified reference material BCR 715 wastewater-SRM. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2201-9 Authors Aysen Hol, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Art, Pamukkale University, 20017 Denizli, Turkey Umit Divrikli, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Art, Pamukkale University, 20017 Denizli, Turkey Latif Elci, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Art, Pamukkale University, 20017 Denizli, Turkey Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    In soil magnetometry, two types of measurements are usually performed. The first type is measurements performed on the soil surface, frequently using an MS2D sensor. The second type includes measurements of magnetic susceptibility carried out in the soil profile, usually to a depth of about 30 cm. Up to now, such measurement results were analyzed separately. However, it is possible and advantageous to integrate these two types of measurements. The goal of the study was to integrate measurements of magnetic susceptibility performed on the soil surface and in the soil profile. More specifically, the goal was to obtain 3-dimensional spatial distributions of magnetic susceptibility of the topsoil horizon. Results show that it is possible to effectively integrate measurements of magnetic susceptibility performed on the soil surface and in the soil profile. Moreover, the 3-dimensional spatial distribution that is obtained shows the magnetic susceptibility of the top 20 cm of soil, which includes the soil horizons where most of the heavy metals are accumulated. The analysis of such a spatial distribution can be very helpful in delineating areas where the heightened magnetic susceptibility is a result of the influence of anthropogenic pollution from those areas where it results from lithogenic origin. It is possible to investigate where the volumes of soil with heightened magnetic susceptibility are located in the soil profile and in this way investigate which characteristic type of soil profile it is. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2187-3 Authors Jarosław Zawadzki, Environmental Engineering Systems Institute, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 20, 00-661 Warsaw, Poland Tadeusz Magiera, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sklodowskiej-Curie 34, 41-819 Zabrze, Poland Piotr Fabijańczyk, Environmental Engineering Systems Institute, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 20, 00-661 Warsaw, Poland Grzegorz Kusza, Department of Land Protection, Opole University, Oleska 22, 45-052 Opole, Poland Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The objective of this study is to assess the risk of insufficient water supply posed by high-turbidity water. Several phenomena can pose risks to the sufficiency of a water supply; this study concerns risks to water treatment plants from particular properties of rainfall and raw water turbidity. High-turbidity water can impede water treatment plant operations; rainfall properties can influence the degree of soil erosion. Thus, water turbidity relates to rainfall characteristics. Exceedance probabilities are presented for different rainfall intensities and turbidities of water. When the turbidity of raw water is higher than 5,000 NTU, it can cause operational problems for a water treatment plant. Calculations show that the turbidity of raw water at the Ban-Sin water treatment plant will be higher than 5,000 NTU if the rainfall intensity is larger than 165 mm/day. The exceedance probability of high turbidity (turbidity 〉5,000 NTU) in the Ban-Sin water treatment plant is larger than 10%. When any water treatment plant cannot work regularly, its ability to supply water to its customers is at risk. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-6 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2176-6 Authors Chia-Ling Chang, Department of Water Resources Engineering and Conservation, Feng Chia University, No.100, Wenhwa Rd., Seatwen, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China Chung-Sheng Liao, Department of Water Resources Engineering and Conservation, Feng Chia University, No.100, Wenhwa Rd., Seatwen, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    In this study, a survey for the spatial distribution of heavy metals in Chaohu Lake of China was conducted. Sixty-two surface water samples were collected from entire lake including three of its main river entrances. This is the first systematic report concerning the content, distribution, and origin of heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Cd, Hg, Zn, and Ni) in the Chaohu Lake water. The results showed that heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Zn, and Ni) concentrations in the estuary of Nanfei River were relatively higher than those in the other areas, while content of Hg is higher in the southeast lake than northwest lake. Moreover, Cd has locally concentration in the surface water from the entire Chaohu Lake. The heavy metal average concentrations, except Hg, were lower than the cutoff values for the first-grade water quality (China Environment Quality Standard) which was set as the highest standard to protect the social nature reserves. The Hg content is between the grades three and four water quality, and other heavy metals contents are higher than background values. The aquatic environment of Chaohu Lake has apparently been contaminated. Both the cluster analysis (CA) and correlation analysis provide information about the origin of heavy metals in the Lake. Our findings indicated that agricultural activities and adjacent plants chimneys may contribute the most to Cd and Hg contamination of Chaohu Lake, respectively. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2149-9 Authors Guolian Li, CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China Guijian Liu, CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China Chuncai Zhou, CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China Chen-Lin Chou, Illinois State Geological Survey (emeritus), University of Illinois, Champaign, IL 61820, USA Liugen Zheng, CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China Jizhong Wang, CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The paper presents water-quality evaluation based on an 8-year monitoring programme in the Gdansk Municipality region, on the Southern coast of the Baltic Sea. The studies were carried out from 2000 to 2007 by surface water analysis at 15 various sites within eight watercourses. Sampling sites included rather urbanized or developed lands, farming fields and non-polluted city recreational areas such as parks and forests. Most of the watercourses were sampled monthly at two locations, one within the upper course of the watercourse and the other near its mouth. In all samples, eight parameters of water quality were determined: total suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, water temperature, oxygen saturation, 5-day biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total phosphorus and total nitrogen concentration. Interpretation of the obtained results revealed that examination of those basic physicochemical parameters permits to discriminate initially watercourses with respect to level of water contamination. During the research, a large dataset was obtained and it was described by both basic statistical parameters and chemometric method of cluster analysis. The paper presents relations between analysed parameters and influence of land exploitation mode on water quality and describes variation of the results both in space and time. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2096-5 Authors Monika Cieszynska, Department of Environmental Protection and Hygiene of Transport, Medical University of Gdansk, Powstania Styczniowego 9B str., 81-519 Gdynia, Poland Marek Wesolowski, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Medical University of Gdansk, Al. Gen. J. Hallera 107, 80-416 Gdansk, Poland Maria Bartoszewicz, Department of Environmental Protection and Hygiene of Transport, Medical University of Gdansk, Powstania Styczniowego 9B str., 81-519 Gdynia, Poland Malgorzata Michalska, Department of Environmental Protection and Hygiene of Transport, Medical University of Gdansk, Powstania Styczniowego 9B str., 81-519 Gdynia, Poland Jacek Nowacki, Department of Environmental Protection and Hygiene of Transport, Medical University of Gdansk, Powstania Styczniowego 9B str., 81-519 Gdynia, Poland Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The multidisciplinary socio-economic study of fisheries in the bordering part of the Danube River between Serbia and Croatia (at the following sites: Apatin, Bačka Palanka, Bačko Novo Selo, Bezdan, and Sombor) that was performed in order to investigate various aspects of fish resource utilization (management, policy of protection and exploitation of freshwater fishery resources, present fisheries legislation, catch statistics), was realized during 2004 and 2005. Data were collected via survey with a structured interview. Socio-economic circumstances, together with ecological factors, have had an influence on the fish stock and number of commercial fishermen. Awareness of the occurring problems, both economic and ecological ones, is apparent, regardless of whether it is assessed in the field of commercial or recreational fishing. Fishery sector in Serbia is in a prolonged process of transition, with the enforcement of fishing regulations, but also the lack of control that leaves space for illegal commercial fishing. The statements, consciousness, experience and behavior of commercial fishermen represent a good basis for planning the sustainable development of fishing in this section of the Danube River. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2140-5 Authors Marija Smederevac-Lalić, Institute for Multidisciplinary Research, Kneza Višeslava 1, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Radmilo Pešić, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia Slobodan Cvejić, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Čika Ljubina 18-20, Belgrade, Serbia Predrag Simonović, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 16, Belgrade, Serbia Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Heavy metals released from different sources in urban environment get adsorbed on respirable particulate matter less than 10 μm in size (PM 10 ) and are important from public health point of view causing morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the ambient air quality monitoring was carried out to study the temporal and special pattern in the distribution of PM 10 and associated heavy metal content in the atmosphere of Nagpur, Maharashtra State, India during 2001 as well as in 2006. PM 10 fraction was observed to exceed the stipulated standards in both years. It was also observed that minimum range of PM 10 was observed to be increased in 2006 indicating increase in human activity during nighttime also. Six heavy metals were analyzed and were observed to occur in the order Zn 〉 Fe 〉 Pb 〉 Ni 〉 Cd 〉 Cr in 2006, similar to the trend in other metro cities in India. Lead and Nickel were observed to be within the stipulated standards. Poor correlation coefficient ( R 2 ) between lead and PM 10 indicated that automobile exhaust is not the source of metals to air pollution. Commercial and industrial activity as well as geological composition may be the potential sources of heavy metal pollution. Total load of heavy metals was found to be increased in 2006 with prominent increase in zinc, lead, and nickel in the environment. Public health impacts of heavy metals as well as certain preventive measures to mitigate the impact of heavy metals on public health are also summarized. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2133-4 Authors Pramod R. Chaudhari, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, 440020 India Rakhi Gupta, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, 440020 India Daulat Ghilagi Gajghate, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, 440020 India Satish R. Wate, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, 440020 India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The soils adjacent to an area of historical mining, ore processing and smelting activities reflects the historical background and a mixing of recent contamination sources. The main anthropogenic sources of metals can be connected with historical and recent mine wastes, direct atmospheric deposition from mining and smelting processes and dust particles originating from open tailings ponds. Contaminated agriculture and forest soil samples with mining and smelting related pollutants were collected at different distances from the source of emission in the Pb–Zn–Ag mining area near Olkusz, Upper Silesia to (a) compare the chemical speciation of metals in agriculture and forest soils situated at the same distance from the point source of pollution (paired sampling design), (b) to evaluate the relationship between the distance from the polluter and the retention of the metals in the soil, (c) to describe mineralogy transformation of anthropogenic soil particles in the soils, and (d) to assess the effect of deposited fly ash vs. dumped mining/smelting waste on the mobility and bioavailability of metals in the soil. Forest soils are much more affected with smelting processes than agriculture soils. However, agriculture soils suffer from the downward metal migration more than the forest soils. The maximum concentrations of Pb, Zn, and Cd were detected in a forest soil profile near the smelter and reached about 25 g kg  − 1 , 20 g kg  − 1 and 200 mg kg  − 1 for Pb, Zn and Cd, respectively. The metal pollutants from smelting processes are less stable under slightly alkaline soil pH then acidic due to the metal carbonates precipitation. Metal mobility ranges in the studied forest soils are as follows: Pb 〉 Zn ≈ Cd for relatively circum-neutral soil pH (near the smelter), Cd 〉 Zn 〉 Pb for acidic soils (further from the smelter). Under relatively comparable pH conditions, the main soil properties influencing metal migration are total organic carbon and cation exchange capacity. The mobilization of Pb, Zn and Cd in soils depends on the persistence of the metal-containing particles in the atmosphere; the longer the time, the more abundant the stable forms. The dumped mining/smelting waste is less risk of easily mobilizable metal forms, however, downward metal migration especially due to the periodical leaching of the waste was observed. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-20 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2135-2 Authors Vladislav Chrastný, Czech Geological Survey, Geologická 6, 152 00 Praha 5, Czech Republic Aleš Vaněk, Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Praha 6, Czech Republic Leslaw Teper, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, 60 Będzińska St, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland Jerzy Cabala, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, 60 Będzińska St, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland Jan Procházka, Applied Ecology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, University of South Bohemia, Studentská 13, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic Libor Pechar, Applied Ecology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, University of South Bohemia, Studentská 13, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic Petr Drahota, Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Resources, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43 Praha 2, Czech Republic Vít Penížek, Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Praha 6, Czech Republic Michael Komárek, Department of Agro-Environmental Chemistry and Plant Nutrition, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Praha 6, Czech Republic Martin Novák, Czech Geological Survey, Geologická 6, 152 00 Praha 5, Czech Republic Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The surface water qualities of Hussainsagar, an eutrophic urban lake in the midst of twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad (India) receiving large quantities of external inputs—both untreated municipal sewage containing industrial effluents, and treated sewage, a large number of annually immersed idols of God and Goddess, and intense boating activities were assessed in relation to the concentration of elements including heavy metals of the water along the necklace road of the lake. Elemental analyses of water using ICP-MS revealed 26 elements including heavy metals—As, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cu, Fe, Mn, Se, Ba, Zn, Mo, V, Co, Ag, Sr, Rb, Mg, K, Ca, Al, Si, Sb, Na, Li, and B, in the surface water of the lake. Of these, the first 15 elements were found in elevated concentrations in the water at the outfall point of the untreated municipal sewage (site 3), which was the main dominating source of contamination of the lake water while Cu and Sb were recorded in higher concentrations at the outfall of treated effluent from Sewage Treatment Plant, and three elements (Ba, Si, and B) were in higher concentration at the sites of outfall of sewage flowing from an oxygenated pond (site 4), Ca, Zn, and Sr, at the site immersed with idols (site 1), and Pb, Ag, and Al at the center of the lake (site 5) with intense boating activities. Concentrations of most of these elements exceeded the maximum permissible limits of national (Indian Council Medical Research) standards for drinking water. The concentrations of most of the elemental contaminants showed significant positive correlations between them. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2094-7 Authors M. Vikram Reddy, Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry Central University, Pondicherry, 605 014 India K. Sagar Babu, Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry Central University, Pondicherry, 605 014 India V. Balaram, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, 500 606 Andhra Pradesh, India M. Satyanarayanan, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, 500 606 Andhra Pradesh, India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The main objective of this study was to investigate the concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in inter-tidal sediments of the Kenting coast, Taiwan, to assess the levels and origin of PAHs, and to provide useful information on the potential ecological risk of PAHs to benthic organisms. The total concentrations of 38 PAHs ranged from 0.2 to 493 ng/g dry weight. The high variation in total PAH concentrations was caused by the sand content of the sediment in the area. Compared with other coasts and bays in the world, the concentrations of PAHs in the inter-tidal surface sediment of the Kenting coast is low to moderate. Based on the sediment quality guidelines, the total PAH concentrations were below the effects range low value, indicating that the PAH levels in the Kenting area were within minimal effects ranges for benthic organisms. Principal component analysis and isomer ratios were analyzed to identify the contamination source in the inter-tidal surface sediment of the Kenting coast. The results of compounds’ pattern and origin analysis suggest that the source of PAHs in the inter-tidal surface sediment of the Kenting coast is the combustion of petroleum and biomass. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2202-8 Authors Jing-O Cheng, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Pingtung, Taiwan Fung-Chi Ko, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Pingtung, Taiwan Jan-Jung Li, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Pingtung, Taiwan Te-Hao Chen, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Pingtung, Taiwan Ying-Ming Cheng, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Pingtung, Taiwan Chon-Lin Lee, Department of Marine Environment and Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    This paper presents the implementation of a Geospatial approach for improving the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) disposal suitability site assessment in growing urban environment. The increasing trend of population growth and the absolute amounts of waste disposed of worldwide have increased substantially reflecting changes in consumption patterns, consequently worldwide. MSW is now a bigger problem than ever. Despite an increase in alternative techniques for disposing of waste, land-filling remains the primary means. In this context, the pressures and requirements placed on decision makers dealing with land-filling by government and society have increased, as they now have to make decisions taking into considerations environmental safety and economic practicality. The waste disposed by the municipal corporation in the Bhagalpur City (India) is thought to be different from the landfill waste where clearly scientific criterion for locating suitable disposal sites does not seem to exist. The location of disposal sites of Bhagalpur City represents the unconsciousness about the environmental and public health hazards arising from disposing of waste in improper location. Concerning about urban environment and health aspects of people, a good method of waste management and appropriate technologies needed for urban area of Bhagalpur city to improve this trend using Multi Criteria Geographical Information System and Remote Sensing for selection of suitable disposal sites. The purpose of GIS was to perform process to part restricted to highly suitable land followed by using chosen criteria. GIS modeling with overlay operation has been used to find the suitability site for MSW. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2127-2 Authors Prem Chandra Pandey, Department of Remote Sensing, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, 835215 Ranchi, India Laxmi Kant Sharma, Department of Remote Sensing, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, 835215 Ranchi, India Mahendra Singh Nathawat, Department of Remote Sensing, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, 835215 Ranchi, India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The Floristic Quality Index (FQI) has been used as a tool for assessing the integrity of plant communities and for assessing restoration projects in many regions of the USA. Here, we develop a modified FQI (FQI mod ) for coastal Louisiana wetlands and verify it using 12 years of monitoring data from a coastal restoration project. Plant species that occur in coastal Louisiana were assigned a coefficient of conservatism (CC) score by a local group with expertise in Louisiana coastal vegetation. Species percent cover and both native and non-native species were included in the FQI mod which was scaled from 0–100. The FQI mod scores from the long-term monitoring project demonstrated the utility of this index for assessing wetland condition over time, including its sensitivity to a hurricane. Ultimately, the FQI developed for coastal Louisiana will be used in conjunction with other wetland indices (e.g., hydrology and soils) to assess wetland condition coastwide and these indices will aid managers in coastal restoration and management decisions. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2125-4 Authors Kari F. Cretini, National Wetlands Research Center, Coastal Restoration Assessment Branch, U.S. Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA Jenneke M. Visser, Department of Renewable Resources and Institute for Coastal Ecology and Engineering, University of Louisiana Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 70506, USA Ken W. Krauss, National Wetlands Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Lafayette, LA 70506, USA Gregory D. Steyer, National Wetlands Research Center, Coastal Restoration Assessment Branch, U.S. Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Heavy metals are dangerous to aquatic organisms and it can be bioaccumulated in the food chain leading to diseases in human. Cumulative effects of metals or chronic poisoning may occur as a result of long-term exposure even to low concentrations. The accumulation of heavy metals varies depending upon the species, environmental conditions, and inhibitory processes. Concentrations of zinc, copper, lead, and cadmium were determined in finfish and shellfish species in the Gangetic delta using a PerkinElmer Sciex ELAN 5000 ICP mass spectrometer and expressed as milligrams per kilogram of dry weight. In finfish and shellfish species the concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd were comparatively higher at stations 1 and 2 than the permissible level of WHO. The concentration of metals exhibited significant spatial variation and followed the order station 1 〉 station 2 〉 station 3 〉 station 4, which may be related to different degree of contamination in different location. The metal accumulation exhibited species specificity. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2111-x Authors Abhijit Mitra, Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35. B.C. Road, Kolkata, 700 019 India Ranju Chowdhury, Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35. B.C. Road, Kolkata, 700 019 India Kakoli Banerjee, Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35. B.C. Road, Kolkata, 700 019 India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Environmental genotoxicity and cytotoxicity effects in the gills of mussels Mytilus edulis , from the Baltic Sea areas close to the Būtingė oil terminal (Lithuania) before and after accidental oil spill in 31 January 2008 were studied. Mussels from the oil spillage zones were collected in 12 days, in 3 and 6 months after the spill to determine the effects of the spill. Mussels sampled in 2006–2007 were used for the assessment of the background levels of genotoxicity and cytotoxicity in the Būtingė oil terminal area. Comparison of the responses in M. edulis before and after the oil spill revealed significant elevation of frequencies of micronuclei (MN), nuclear buds (NB) and fragmented-apoptotic (FA) cells. Environmental genotoxicity and cytotoxicity levels in mussels from the Palanga site before the accident (in June 2007) served as a reference. Six months after the accident, in July 2008, 5.6-fold increase of MN, 2.9-fold elevation of NB, and 8.8-fold elevation of FA cells were observed in mussels from the same site. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2100-0 Authors Janina Baršienė, Institute of Ecology of Nature Research Centre, Akademijos str. 2, 08412 Vilnius, Lithuania Aleksandras Rybakovas, Institute of Ecology of Nature Research Centre, Akademijos str. 2, 08412 Vilnius, Lithuania Galina Garnaga, Center of Marine Research, Taikos av. 26, 91149 Klaipėda, Lithuania Laura Andreikėnaitė, Institute of Ecology of Nature Research Centre, Akademijos str. 2, 08412 Vilnius, Lithuania Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    A simple, sensitive and reliable HPLC-FLD method for the routine determination of 4-nonylphenol, 4-NP and 4- tert -octylphenol, 4- t -OP content in water samples was developed. The method consists in a liquid–liquid extraction of the target analytes with dichloromethane at pH  3.0–3.5 followed by the HPLC-FLD analysis of the organic extract using a Zorbax Eclipse XDB C8 column, isocratic elution with a mixed solvent acetonitrile/water 65:35, at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and applying a column temperature of 40°C. The method was validated and then applied with good results for the determination of 4-NP and 4- t -OP in Ialomiţa River water samples collected each month during 2006. The concentration levels of 4-NP and 4- t -OP vary between 0.08–0.17 μg/L with higher values of 0.24–0.37 μg/L in the summer months for 4-NP, and frequently 〈0.05 μg/L but also between 0.06–0.09 μg/L with higher values of 0.12–0.16 μg/L in July and August for 4- t -OP and were strongly influenced by sesonial and anthropic factors. The method was also applied on samples collected over 2 years 2007 and 2008 from urban wastewaters discharged into sewage or directly into the rivers by economic agents located in 30 Romanian towns. Good results were obtained when the method was used for analysis of effluents discharged into surface waters by 16 municipal wastewater treatment plants, during the year 2008. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2151-2 Authors Ioana Cruceru, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, 2-14 Blvd Regina Elisabeta, 030018 Bucharest, Romania Vasile Iancu, National Research and Development Institute for Industrial Ecology-ECOIND, 90-92 Sos. Panduri, 050663 Bucharest, Romania Jana Petre, National Research and Development Institute for Industrial Ecology-ECOIND, 90-92 Sos. Panduri, 050663 Bucharest, Romania Irinel Adriana Badea, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, 2-14 Blvd Regina Elisabeta, 030018 Bucharest, Romania Luminita Vladescu, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, 2-14 Blvd Regina Elisabeta, 030018 Bucharest, Romania Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Seasonal spatial and temporal changes of selected eco-chemical parameters in section of the Danube River flowing through Serbia were analyzed. Data for electrical conductivity (EC), dry and suspended matter, residue on ignition, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD-5), ultraviolet extinction, dissolved oxygen (DO), oxygen saturation, pH, nitrates, total phosphorus, and nitrogen were collected between 1992 and 2006. The use of monthly medians combined with linear regression and two-sided t test has been proven to be the best approach for resolving trends from natural variability of investigated parameters and for determining trend significance. Patterns of temporal changes between different months were examined. It was also determined that spatial trends of some parameters oscillate in predictable manner, increasing in one part of the year and declining in the other. Regression slope coefficients, an excellent indicator for determining when the water quality is changing the most along the course of the Danube, reach their maximum during summer for temperature ( t ), electric conductivity, nitrates, and total N, while in the same season suspended matter, COD, BOD-5, DO, and oxygen saturation coefficients reach their minimum. Correlations for used data sets of selected parameters were analyzed for better understanding of their behavior and mutual relations. It was observed that as Danube flows through Serbia, its general eco-chemical status either stagnates or improves, but the rate of river self-purification often depends on the season of the year. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-24 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2153-0 Authors Konstantin Ilijević, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Ivan Gržetić, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Ivan Živadinović, Srbijavode, Bulevar umetnosti 2, 11070 Novi Beograd, Serbia Aleksandar Popović, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The concentrations of trace metals (Cu, Zn, Mn, Ni, and Fe) from suspended particulate matter (SPM) and biota in Izmir Bay (Eastern Aegean Sea) were studied in order to evaluate the environmental impact of the anthropogenic metals before building of Wastewater Treatment Plant. SPM samples were collected in wet and dry periods from Izmir Bay. Metal concentrations in SPM (Cu, 0.36–2.19; Mn, 0.07–11.3; Ni, 0.43–7.81; Zn, 7.33–269; Fe, 1.00–266 μgdm  − 3 ) were comparable to those reported for other moderately polluted bays. Maximum metal concentrations in SPM were observed during summer season. SPM metal concentrations displayed a clear spatial trend with values increasing with proximity to urban centers. Cu and Zn concentrations in SPM were especially high in the inner bay. SPM were found to be contaminated by Zn. The vertical profile of Mn, Zn, and Ni concentrations in SPM had a maximal value at the upper layer and decreased to minimal value at the bottom layer of the inner bay in summer, in contrast to the observed pattern of Fe and Cu. Maximum Cu concentrations were obtained in Penaeus kerathurus . Also, maximum Zn and Fe concentrations were found in Mytilus galloprovincialis . Relatively high Cu levels were found in Sardina pilcardus and Mullus barbatus than other fish species. Besides, Cu levels were lower in Diplodus annularis and Merluccius merluccius . Finally, metal levels in biota tissues were lower than the limits of European Dietary Standards and Guidelines. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2138-z Authors Aynur Kontas, Institute of Marine Sciences & Technology, Dokuz Eylul University, Inciralti, 35340 Izmir, Turkey Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Dust from haul and transport roads are the major source of air pollution in opencast coal mining areas. Dust generated during mining operations pollutes air which causes different health problems. Various available techniques are implemented in the field to minimize and control dust in mining areas. However, they are not very effective because dust deposited on road surfaces are not removed by these techniques. For effective control of dust in opencast mining areas, it has to be regularly collected from road surfaces and may be converted into solid form, and subsequently can be used as a domestic fuel considering its physicochemical properties. The present paper describes a comparative study of qualitative and quantitative aspects of road dust samples of four coalfields of India. The pH of the dust was found to be in the range of 5.1–7.7. Moisture, ash, volatile matter, fixed carbon, water-holding capacity, bulk density, and specific gravity of dust samples were found to be in the range of 0.5–3.0%, 45–76%, 12.6–20.0%, 10.2–45.3%, 21.17–31.71%, 1.15–1.70, and 1.73–2.30 g cm −3 , respectively. Observing the overall generation and characteristics of coal dust, it is suggested that coal dust from haul and transport roads of mining areas can be effectively collected and used as domestic fuel. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2197-1 Authors K. Mandal, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad, 826015 India A. Kumar, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad, 826015 India N. Tripathi, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad, 826015 India R. S. Singh, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad, 826015 India S. K. Chaulya, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad, 826015 India P. K. Mishra, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad, 826015 India L. K. Bandyopadhyay, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad, 826015 India Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The effect of wastewater exposure on scales and chromatophores of freshwater fish Channa punctatus was studied using wastewater dilutions (60–100%) from an international water channel Tung Dhab drain at an interval of 15 and 30 days. The exposed fish showed significant alterations such as uprooted and damaged lepidonts and dispersal of chromatophores. These observations strongly suggest that fish scales can be successfully employed as indicators of wastewater pollution. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2147-y Authors Rajbir Kaur, Aquatic Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Guru Nanak Dev University Campus, Amritsar, Punjab, India Anish Dua, Aquatic Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Guru Nanak Dev University Campus, Amritsar, Punjab, India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Urban wetland parks are a new type of urban park that have developed rapidly in recent years and have caught the attention of multiple governmental departments. The objective of this paper was to describe the trophic states of creeks and their relationship to water levels in an urban wetland park in Xixi, China. The study was based on temporal and spatial data collected monthly between March 2009 and March 2010. The results indicated that: (1) water quality significantly changed from upstream to downstream in study creeks. From upstream to downstream, water quality of creeks I and III improved; however, the water quality of creek IV and V declined; (2) trophic states in Xixi creeks differed according to seasons. Overall, the nutrition in creeks was measured at the slight eutrophication level. Nutrition was highest in summer and lowest in winter; (3) the relationship between water quality and water level differed dramatically between creeks. Water quality and water level in creek I was significantly negatively correlated, while no obvious trends were observed in other creeks. In order to improve water quality in creeks, the valid technique is to strengthen the management of inflowing water quality and then control water levels. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2128-1 Authors Yufeng Li, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Ecological Construction, College of Geographical Science, Nanjing Normal University, 1 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing, 210046 Jiangsu, China Hongyu Liu, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Ecological Construction, College of Geographical Science, Nanjing Normal University, 1 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing, 210046 Jiangsu, China Jingfeng Hao, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Ecological Construction, College of Geographical Science, Nanjing Normal University, 1 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing, 210046 Jiangsu, China Nan Zheng, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Ecological Construction, College of Geographical Science, Nanjing Normal University, 1 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing, 210046 Jiangsu, China Xiao Cao, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Ecological Construction, College of Geographical Science, Nanjing Normal University, 1 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing, 210046 Jiangsu, China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Nonresponse caused by denied access and hazardous conditions are a concern for the USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, whose mission is to quantify status and trends in forest resources across the USA. Any appreciable amount of nonresponse can cause bias in FIA’s estimates of population parameters. This paper will quantify the magnitude of nonresponse and describe the mechanisms that result in nonresponse, describe and qualitatively evaluate FIA’s assumptions regarding nonresponse, provide a recommendation concerning plot replacement strategies, and identify appropriate strategies to pursue that minimize bias. The nonresponse rates ranged from 0% to 21% and differed by land owner group; with denied access to private land the leading cause of nonresponse. Current FIA estimators assume that nonresponse occurs at random. Although in most cases this assumption appears tenable, a qualitative assessment indicates a few situations where the assumption is not tenable. In the short-term, we recommend that FIA use stratification schemes that make the missing at random assumption tenable. We recommend the examination of alternative estimation techniques that use appropriate weighting and auxiliary information to mitigate the effects of nonresponse. We recommend the replacement of nonresponse sample locations not be used. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2051-5 Authors Paul L. Patterson, U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 2150A Centre Ave, Suite 350, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA John W. Coulston, U.S. Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 4700 Old Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919, USA Francis A. Roesch, U.S. Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 200 WT Weaver Boulevard, Asheville, NC 28804-3454, USA James A. Westfall, U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 11 Campus Blvd, Suite 200, Newtown Square, PA 19073, USA Andrew D. Hill, U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 1992 Folwell Ave, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Urban areas are continuously expanding today, extending their influence on an increasingly large proportion of woods and trees located in or nearby urban and urbanizing areas, the so-called urban forests. Although these forests have the potential for significantly improving the quality the urban environment and the well-being of the urban population, data to quantify the extent and characteristics of urban forests are still lacking or fragmentary on a large scale. In this regard, an expansion of the domain of multipurpose forest inventories like National Forest Inventories (NFIs) towards urban forests would be required. To this end, it would be convenient to exploit the same sampling scheme applied in NFIs to assess the basic features of urban forests. This paper considers approximately unbiased estimators of abundance and coverage of urban forests, together with estimators of the corresponding variances, which can be achieved from the first phase of most large-scale forest inventories. A simulation study is carried out in order to check the performance of the considered estimators under various situations involving the spatial distribution of the urban forests over the study area. An application is worked out on the data from the Italian NFI. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2050-6 Authors Piermaria Corona, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente Forestale e delle sue Risorse (DISAFRI), Università della Tuscia, via San Camillo de Lellis, s.n.c., 01100 Viterbo, Italy Mariagrazia Agrimi, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente Forestale e delle sue Risorse (DISAFRI), Università della Tuscia, via San Camillo de Lellis, s.n.c., 01100 Viterbo, Italy Federica Baffetta, Dipartimento di Economia Politica e Statistica, Università di Siena, P.za S. Francesco 8, 53100 Siena, Italy Anna Barbati, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente Forestale e delle sue Risorse (DISAFRI), Università della Tuscia, via San Camillo de Lellis, s.n.c., 01100 Viterbo, Italy Maria Vincenza Chiriacò, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente Forestale e delle sue Risorse (DISAFRI), Università della Tuscia, via San Camillo de Lellis, s.n.c., 01100 Viterbo, Italy Lorenzo Fattorini, Dipartimento di Economia Politica e Statistica, Università di Siena, P.za S. Francesco 8, 53100 Siena, Italy Enrico Pompei, Corpo Forestale dello Stato, Inventario Nazionale delle Foreste e dei Serbatoi forestali di Carbonio (CFS-INFC), via Carducci 5, 00187 Rome, Italy Riccardo Valentini, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente Forestale e delle sue Risorse (DISAFRI), Università della Tuscia, via San Camillo de Lellis, s.n.c., 01100 Viterbo, Italy Walter Mattioli, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente Forestale e delle sue Risorse (DISAFRI), Università della Tuscia, via San Camillo de Lellis, s.n.c., 01100 Viterbo, Italy Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Air samples were collected in Beijing from June through August 2008, and concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in those samples are here discussed. This sampling was performed to increase understanding of the distributions of their compositions, illustrate the overall characteristics of different classes of VOCs, assess the ages of air masses, and apportion sources of VOCs using principal compound analysis/absolute principal component scores (PCA/APCS). During the sampling periods, the relative abundance of the four classes of VOCs as determined by the concentration-based method was different from that determined by the reactivity approach. Alkanes were found to be most abundant (44.3–50.1%) by the concentration-based method, but aromatic compounds were most abundant (38.2–44.5%) by the reactivity approach. Aromatics and alkenes contributed most (73–84%) to the ozone formation potential. Toluene was the most abundant compound (11.8–12.7%) during every sampling period. When the maximum incremental reactivity approach was used, propene, toluene, m,p-xylene, 1-butene, and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene were the five most abundant compounds during two sampling periods. X/B, T/B, and E/B ratios in this study were lower than those found in other cities, possibly due to the aging of the air mass at this site. Four components were extracted from application of PCA to the data. It was found that the contribution of vehicle exhaust to total VOCs accounted for 53% of VOCs, while emissions due to the solvent use contributed 33% of the total VOCs. Industrial sources contributed 3% and biogenic sources contributed 11%. The results showed that vehicle exhausts (i.e., unburned vehicle emissions + vehicle internal engine combustion) were dominant in VOC emissions during the experimental period. The solvent use made the second most significant contribution to ambient VOCs. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2086-7 Authors An Jun-lin, Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of Ministry of Education, School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China Wang Yue-si, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, LAPC, Beijing, 100029 China Wu Fang-kun, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, LAPC, Beijing, 100029 China Zhu Bin, Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of Ministry of Education, School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Enteric methane (CH 4 ) emission in ruminants, which is produced via fermentation of feeds in the rumen and lower digestive tract by methanogenic archaea, represents a loss of 2% to 12% of gross energy of feeds and contributes to global greenhouse effects. Globally, about 80 million tonnes of CH 4 is produced annually from enteric fermentation mainly from ruminants. Therefore, CH 4 mitigation strategies in ruminants have focused to obtain economic as well as environmental benefits. Some mitigation options such as chemical inhibitors, defaunation, and ionophores inhibit methanogenesis directly or indirectly in the rumen, but they have not confirmed consistent effects for practical use. A variety of nutritional amendments such as increasing the amount of grains, inclusion of some leguminous forages containing condensed tannins and ionophore compounds in diets, supplementation of low-quality roughages with protein and readily fermentable carbohydrates, and addition of fats show promise for CH 4 mitigation. These nutritional amendments also increase the efficiency of feed utilization and, therefore, are most likely to be adopted by farmers. Several new potential technologies such as use of plant secondary metabolites, probiotics and propionate enhancers, stimulation of acetogens, immunization, CH 4 oxidation by methylotrophs, and genetic selection of low CH 4 -producing animals have emerged to decrease CH 4 production, but these require extensive research before they can be recommended to livestock producers. The use of bacteriocins, bacteriophages, and development of recombinant vaccines targeting archaeal-specific genes and cell surface proteins may be areas worthy of investigation for CH 4 mitigation as well. A combination of different CH 4 mitigation strategies should be adopted in farm levels to substantially decrease methane emission from ruminants. Evidently, comprehensive research is needed to explore proven and reliable CH 4 mitigation technologies that would be practically feasible and economically viable while improving ruminant production. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-24 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2090-y Authors Amlan Kumar Patra, Department of Animal Nutrition, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, 37, K. B. Sarani, Belgachia, Kolkata, 700037 India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) partitioning among dissolved phase, suspended particulate matter, pore water, and sediment was studied in one moderately contaminated river (Yongding New River) and two highly contaminated drainage canals (South Drainage Canal and North Drainage Canal) of Tianjin, China. PAHs concentrations in sediment (ranged from 0.2 to 195 μg/g) showed positive relations with both total organic carbon contents (ranged from 0.7% to 31.1%, dw) and black carbon contents (ranged from 0.1% to 2.1%, dw) in the sediments. Moreover, most of the measured organic carbon normalized partition coefficients of PAHs in the three streams were 0.76 to 1.54 log units higher than the predicted values. These indicated that strong and nonlinear sorption of PAHs by carbonaceous geosorbents such as black carbon (BC) existed in the streams, and BC was an important part of the carbonaceous particles controlling the partitioning of PAHs in the sediments of this study. PAH component ratio analyses suggested that PAHs in the three streams, effluent samples from wastewater treatment plants, and soil samples by the riverbank had similar main sources, which is coal/petroleum combustion. We suggested the transportation and transformation of both carbonaceous particles and PAHs during wastewater treatment process, surface runoff, etc, should be studied further in order to make decisions on PAHs controlling measures. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2083-x Authors Weixiao Qi, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085 China Jiuhui Qu, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085 China Huijuan Liu, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085 China Chengzhi Hu, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085 China Huachun Lan, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085 China Huimin Ren, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085 China Wei Xu, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085 China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Two honey samples are taken from two parts of the same honeycomb: one that contacts to the surface of the wire and the other taken from the surface that does not contact the wires. Heavy metal contents of these two samples were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry). The Mo, Cd, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni and Zn contents of the honey in contact with wire is higher when compared to the other. Especially, Fe and Zn contents of honey in contact with wire is much higher than the non-contact one. These values are, respectively, 190.21 and 112.76 ppm. Besides, Ni content of honey in contact with wire is approximately 50% higher. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-3 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2123-6 Authors Mehmet Musa Özcan, Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Selcuk, 42031 Konya, Turkey Fahad Y. AL Juhaimi, Department of Food Science & Nutrition, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The oxides of nitrogen—NO x (NO and NO 2 )—are an important constituent of the troposphere. The availability of relatively higher spatial (0.25° grid) and temporal (daily) resolution data from ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) onboard Aura helps us to better differentiate between the point sources such as thermal power plants from large cities and rural areas compared to previous sensors. The annual and seasonal (summer and winter) distributions shows very high mean tropospheric NO 2 in specific pockets over India especially over the Indo-Gangetic plains (up to 14.2 × 10 15 molecules/cm 2 ). These pockets correspond with the known locations of major thermal power plants. The tropospheric NO 2 over India show a large seasonal variability that is also observed in the ground NO 2 data. The multiple regression analysis show that the influence of a unit of power plant (in gigawatts) over tropospheric NO 2 (×10 15  molecules/cm 2 ) is around ten times compared to a unit of population (in millions) over India. The OMI data show that the NO 2 increases by 0.794 ± 0.12 (×10 15  molecules/cm 2 ; annual) per GW compared to a previous estimate of 0.014 (×10 15  molecules/cm 2 ) over India. The increase of tropospheric NO 2 per gigawatt is found to be 1.088 ± 0.18, 0.898 ± 0.14, and 0.395 ± 0.13 (×10 15  molecules/cm 2 ) during winter, summer, and monsoon seasons, respectively. The strong seasonal variation is attributed to the enhancement or suppression of NO 2 due to various controlling factors which is discussed here. The recent increasing trend (2005–2007) over rural thermal power plants pockets like Agori and Korba is due to recent large capacity additions in these regions. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2087-6 Authors Anup K. Prasad, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Schmid College of Science, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA Ramesh P. Singh, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Schmid College of Science, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA Menas Kafatos, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Schmid College of Science, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Pasture selection by livestock is an essential topic for rangeland management, especially in trace element-contaminated soils. We have studied the composition (nutrients and trace elements) of a grass-based diet from soils affected by a mine spill at different growth stages (October 2008 to May 2009). A diet based on other plants (mainly Compositae species) was also studied (May 2009) for comparison. Faeces and mane hair of horses feeding on these pastures were also analysed. Micronutrient (Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn) and potentially toxic trace element (As, Cd, Pb, Tl) concentrations were below the maximum tolerable levels (MTL) for horses, except for Fe (at early growth of pastures) and Cd (in the diet based on ‘other’ plants). Values of potential ingestion of Fe by horses were higher than 10 mg kg body weight  − 1 day  − 1 . Cadmium concentrations in some pasture samples (those composed of Compositae species) were higher than 3 mg kg  − 1 . Potential toxicity of such Cd levels in pastures is uncertain, since a high disparity of criteria about MTL by cattle exists (between 0.5 and 10 mg kg  − 1 diet). Nutrient concentrations were adequate for horses, which could counteract possible harmful effects derived from trace element ingestion. The analyses of excreta and mane hair point to the low risk of toxicity derived from the consumption of these contaminated pastures. However, the ingestion of regenerating pastures (autumnal samples) should be avoided due to the greater risk of ingestion of contaminated soil attached to the plant material. Management of these pastures by grazing requires periodic monitoring. Special attention should be given to Fe and particularly Cd (non-essential element) which accumulates in animal organs, where it could provoke uncertain long-term effects. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2097-4 Authors Paula Madejón, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC., PO Box 1052, 41080 Sevilla, Spain Maria T. Domínguez, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC., PO Box 1052, 41080 Sevilla, Spain Jose M. Murillo, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC., PO Box 1052, 41080 Sevilla, Spain Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The Korean government recently proposed expanding the number of soil-quality standards to 30 by 2015. The objectives of our study were to construct a reasonable protocol for screening priority soil contaminants for inclusion in the planned soil quality standard expansion. The chemical ranking system of soil pollution substances (CROSS) was first developed to serve as an analytical tool in chemical scoring and ranking of possible soil pollution substances. CROSS incorporates important parameters commonly used in several previous chemical ranking and scoring systems and the new soil pollution parameters. CROSS uses soil-related parameters in its algorithm, including information related to the soil environment, such as soil ecotoxicological data, the soil toxic release inventory (TRI), and soil partitioning coefficients. Soil TRI and monitoring data were incorporated as local specific parameters. In addition, CROSS scores the transportability of chemicals in soil because soil contamination may result in groundwater contamination. Dermal toxicity was used in CROSS only to consider contact with soil. CROSS uses a certainty score to incorporate data uncertainty. CROSS scores the importance of each candidate substance and assigns rankings on the basis of total scores. Cadmium was the most highly ranked. Generally, metals were ranked higher than other substances. Pentachlorophenol, phenol, dieldrin, and methyl tert-butyl ether were ranked the highest among chlorinated compounds, aromatic compounds, pesticides, and others, respectively. The priority substance list generated from CROSS will be used in selecting substances for possible inclusion in the Korean soil quality standard expansion; it will also provide important information for designing a soil-environment management scheme. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2109-4 Authors Seung-Woo Jeong, Department of Environmental Engineering, Kunsan National University, Kunsan, 573-701 South Korea Youn-Joo An, Department of Environmental Science, Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Sediment samples were collected in two Polish ports of international significance—the Port of Gdańsk and the Port of Gdynia (Gulf of Gdańsk, Baltic Sea)—in order to assess their butyltin and phenyltin contamination; this was done in 2008, just after the total ban on using harmful organotins in antifouling paints on ships came into force. Altogether, 21 sampling stations were chosen to present a diversity of port sites: from port canals and shipyards to anchorages and dumping sites. The organic carbon content and grain size of all the sediment samples were determined, and some environmental parameters (oxygen content, salinity) were measured as well. Total concentrations of butyltin compounds in sediment samples were very different and ranged between 1 and 18,520 ng Sn g  − 1  d.w. Phenyltin contents were distinctly lower and ranged from below the limit of detection (most samples) to 660 ng Sn g  − 1  d.w. The highest concentrations of organotins were found in the shipyards, the maximum total organotin content (19,180 ng Sn g  − 1 d.w.) being found in the Gdańsk Ship Repair Yard ‘Remontowa’. Butyltin degradation indices indicate a recent tributyltin input into the port sediments. The results obtained from this work prove that the international ban on using organotins may not be enough to protect the marine environment. It is necessary to monitor organotin contamination in ports and establish concentration limits of these compounds for the disposal of dredged material at sea. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-1889-x Authors Anna Filipkowska, Marine Pollution Laboratory, Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Powstańców Warszawy 55, 81-712 Sopot, Poland Grażyna Kowalewska, Marine Pollution Laboratory, Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Powstańców Warszawy 55, 81-712 Sopot, Poland Bruno Pavoni, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Venice, Calle Larga S. Marta 2137, 30123 Venice, Italy Leszek Łęczyński, Department of Marine Geology, Institute of Oceanography, University of Gdańsk, Al. M. Piłsudskiego 46, 81-378 Gdynia, Poland Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The analysis of heavy metals is very important for assessing the feasibility of the agricultural utilization for the municipal sludge. In this paper, a four-step sequential extraction method was applied to extract heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Mn, Cr, and Ni) in municipal sludges from seven individual wastewater treatment plants located in Jilin and Heilongjiang Province, China, for estimating the mobility and bioavailability of the metal ions in the agricultural application. The total concentrations of heavy metals and their chemical fractions after the sequential extraction were determined. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to analyze the relations of heavy metals fractions in the municipal sludges. Experimental results indicated that the total concentrations of Cu, Zn, Cr, and Ni in all sludge samples were below the threshold values set out by the Chinese legislation (GB18918-2002). Specially, Zn had a high bioavailability and mobility, Cu and Cr had potential bioavailability, while Mn mainly existed in the residual fraction of municipal sludge. On the other hand, Ni had different mobility in different municipal sludge. PCA results were confirmed by the environmental behavior of heavy metals. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2067-x Authors Jiangcheng Tu, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090 China Qingliang Zhao, State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resources and Environments (SKLUWRE), School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 2603#, Harbin, 150090 China Liangliang Wei, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090 China Qianqian Yang, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090 China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Pore waters play an important role in phosphorus dynamics in aquatic ecosystems. Phosphorus concentrations in pore waters are much higher than above the bottom. This is confirmed by the results of this study concerning the hypereutrophic lake. Pore water was analyzed at 11 sampling stations in the upper layer of bottom sediments. This water was separated by centrifugation and phosphorus level was measured spectrophotometrically with ascorbic acid as a reducer. Total phosphorus concentration in pore waters ranged from 0.5 to 8.1 mgP l  − 1 (mean 3.2 mgP l  − 1 ). Mean phosphorus concentration in pore water samples of this lake was the highest in summer and the lowest in winter. High concentrations were observed in samples from the pelagial and low from the macrophyte zone. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-8 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2056-0 Authors Katarzyna Kowalczewska-Madura, Department of Water Protection, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznań, Poland Ryszard Gołdyn, Department of Water Protection, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznań, Poland Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The heavy metal contamination in Lake Ohrid, a lake shared between Albania and Macedonia, was studied. Lake Ohrid is believed to be one of the oldest lakes in the world, with a large variety of endemic species. Different anthropogenic pressures, especially heavy metal influxes from mining activities, might have influenced the fragile equilibrium of the lake ecosystem. Heavy metal concentrations in water, sediment, emergent vegetation, and fish were investigated at selected sites of the lake and a study of the heavy metals in five tributaries was conducted. The lake surface water was found to have low levels of heavy metals, but sediments contained very high levels mostly near river mouths and mineral dump areas with concentrations reaching 1,501 mg/kg for Ni, 576 mg/kg for Cr, 116.8 mg/kg for Co and 64.8 g/kg for Fe. Sequential extraction of metals demonstrates that heavy metals in the sediment are mainly present in the residual fraction varying from 75% to 95% in different sites. High heavy metal levels (400 mg/kg Ni, 89 mg/kg Cr, and 39 mg/kg Co) were found in plants (stem of Phragmites australis ), but heavy metals could not be detected in fish tissue (gill, muscle, and liver of Salmo letnica and Salmothymus ohridanus ). Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2081-z Authors Egina Malaj, Department of Environmental Resources, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, P.O. Box 3015, 2601DA Delft, The Netherlands Diederik P. L. Rousseau, Department of Environmental Resources, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, P.O. Box 3015, 2601DA Delft, The Netherlands Gijs Du Laing, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry and Applied Ecochemistry, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium Piet N. L. Lens, Department of Environmental Resources, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, P.O. Box 3015, 2601DA Delft, The Netherlands Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Previous studies have proposed that Pardosa astrigera L. Koch (Lycosidae) can be used as a biological indicator of heavy metal contamination in soil. In this study, we estimated the bioaccumulation levels and the bioconcentration factors (BCF) of four heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in adult female P. astrigera collected from various field sites according to heavy metal content gradient and broods. The relationship between heavy metal content in the soil and that in spiders was different depending on the heavy metals and the broods. However, heavy metal content in P. astrigera increased with increasing heavy metal content in the soil. While the heavy metal content in the soil was in the order of Zn 〉 Pb 〉 Cu 〉 Cd, its content in P. astrigera was in the order Zn 〉 Cu 〉 Cd 〉 Pb. The BCF for Cd in both of the broods was distinctly higher than those of the other heavy metals evaluated. These results indicate that P. astrigera may be useful as a biological indicator of Cd soil contamination. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-7 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2077-8 Authors Myung-Pyo Jung, Entomology Program, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Kwanak-ro 599, Shillim 9-dong, Kwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-921 South Korea Joon-Ho Lee, Entomology Program, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Kwanak-ro 599, Shillim 9-dong, Kwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-921 South Korea Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    A number of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, toluene, ethylbenzene, m , p -xylene, styrene, and o - xylene released during food decaying processes were measured from three types of decaying food samples (Kimchi (KC), fresh fish (FF), and salted fish (SF)). To begin with, all the food samples were contained in a 100-mL throwaway syringe. These samples were then analyzed sequentially for up to a 14-day period. The patterns of VOC release contrasted sharply between two types of fish (FF and SF) and KC samples. A comparison of data in terms of total VOC showed that the mean values for the two fish types were in the similar magnitude with 280 ± 579 (FF) and 504 ± 1,089 ppmC (SF), while that for KC was much lower with 16.4 ± 7.6 ppmC. There were strong variations in VOC emission patterns during the food decaying processes between fishes and KC that are characterized most sensitively by such component as styrene. The overall results of this study indicate that concentration levels of the VOCs differed significantly between the food types and with the extent of decaying levels through time. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2070-2 Authors Nhu-Thuc Phan, Department of Environment and Energy, Sejong University, 98 Gun Ja Dong, Seoul, 143-747 South Korea Ki-Hyun Kim, Department of Environment and Energy, Sejong University, 98 Gun Ja Dong, Seoul, 143-747 South Korea Eui-Chan Jeon, Department of Environment and Energy, Sejong University, 98 Gun Ja Dong, Seoul, 143-747 South Korea Uk-Hun Kim, Department of Environment and Energy, Sejong University, 98 Gun Ja Dong, Seoul, 143-747 South Korea Jong Ryeul Sohn, Department of Environmental Health, Korea University, Seoul, 136-703 South Korea Sudhir Kumar Pandey, Department of Environment and Energy, Sejong University, 98 Gun Ja Dong, Seoul, 143-747 South Korea Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Frequent dust storms and recent environmental changes were found to affect the human health especially in residents of arid countries. Investigations on the PM 2.5 fugitive dust in six Kuwait Governorate areas using dispersion Gaussian plume modeling revealed significant relationship between low rate of pollutant emission, low wind velocity, and stable weather conditions’ matrix causing high rate of dust deposition in summer than in winter. The rate of dust deposition and trace metals levels in PM 2.5 were in the sequence of G-VI 〉 G-I 〉 G-II 〉 G-V 〉 G-III 〉 G-IV. Trace metals were observed in the sequence of Al 〉 Fe 〉 Zn 〉 Ni 〉 Pb 〉 Cd irrespective of the Governorate areas and the two seasons. The high rate of dust deposition and trace metals in PM 2.5 was reflected by the vast open area, wind velocity, and rapid industrialization besides natural and anthropogenic sources. A combination of air dispersion modeling and nephalometric and gravimetric studies of this kind not only determines the seasonal qualitative and quantitative analyses on the PM 2.5 dust deposition besides trace metals apportionment in six Kuwait Governorate areas, but also characterizes air pollution factors that could be used by environmentalist to deduce preventive measures. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-7 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2074-y Authors A. H. Bu-Olayan, Department of Chemistry, Kuwait University, POB 5969, Safat, 13060 Kuwait B. V. Thomas, Department of Chemistry, Kuwait University, POB 5969, Safat, 13060 Kuwait Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Concentration levels of six natural and anthropogenic origin steroid estrogens, namely, diethylstilbestrol (DES), estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), ethinylestradiol (EE2), and estradiol-17-valerate (Ev), from different effluents in Beijing were assessed. Sampling sites include two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), a chemical plant, a hospital, a pharmaceutical factory, a hennery, and a fish pool. In general, concentrations of estrogens in the effluents varied from no detection (nd) to 11.1 ng/l, 0.7 to 1.2 × 10 3  ng/l, nd to 67.4 ng/l, nd to 4.1 × 10 3  ng/l, nd to 1.2 × 10 3  ng/l, and nd to 11.2 ng/l for DES, E1, E2, EE2, E3, and Ev, respectively. The concentration levels of steroid estrogens from different effluents decreased in the order of pharmaceutical factory and WWTP inlets 〉 hospital 〉 hennery 〉 chemical factory 〉 fish pool. This study indicated that natural estrogens E1, E2, and E3 and synthetic estrogen EE2 are the dominant steroid estrogens found in the different Beijing effluents. For source identification, an indicator (hE = E3/(E1 + E2 + E3)) was used to trace human estrogen excretion. Accordingly, hE in effluents from the hospital and WWTP inlets exceeded 0.4, while much smaller values were obtained for the other effluents. Human excretions were the major contributor of natural estrogens in municipal wastewater. Estimation results demonstrated that direct discharge was the major contributor of steroid estrogen pollution in receiving waters. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2073-z Authors Yiqi Zhou, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 2871, Beijing, 100085 People’s Republic of China Jinmiao Zha, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 2871, Beijing, 100085 People’s Republic of China Yiping Xu, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 2871, Beijing, 100085 People’s Republic of China Bingli Lei, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 2871, Beijing, 100085 People’s Republic of China Zijian Wang, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 2871, Beijing, 100085 People’s Republic of China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    When agricultural lands are no longer used for agriculture and allowed to recover its natural vegetation, soil organic carbon can accumulate in the soil. Measurements of soil organic carbon and aggregate stability changes under various forms of land use are needed for the development of sustainable systems. Therefore, comparison of soil samples taken from both agricultural and nearby area close to land-mined fields where no agricultural practices have been done since 1956 can be a good approach to evaluate the effects of tillage and agriculture on soil quality. The objective of this study was to compare tillage, cropping and no tillage effects on some soil-quality parameters. Four different locations along the Turkey–Syria border were selected to determine effects of tillage and cropping on soil quality. Each location was evaluated separately because of different soil type and treatments. Comparisons were made between non-tilled and non-cropped fallow since 1956 and adjacent restricted lands that were tilled about every 2 years but not planted (T) or adjacent lands tilled and planted with wheat and lentil (P). Three samples were taken from the depths of 0–20 and 20–40 cm each site. Soil organic carbon (SOC), pH ,electrical conductivity, water soluble Ca ++ , Mg ++ , and , extractable potassium (K + ) and sodium (Na + ), soil texture, ammonium ( –N) and nitrate (NO 3 –N), extractable phosphorous and soil aggregate stability were determined. While the SOC contents of continuous tillage without cropping and continuous tillage and cropping were 2.2 and 11.6 g kg −1 , respectively, it was 30 g kg −1 in non-tilled and non-planted site. Tillage of soil without the input of any plant material resulted in loss of carbon from the soil in all sites. Soil extractable NO 3 −N contents of non-tilled and non-cropped sites were greatest among all treatments. Agricultural practices increased phosphorus and potassium contents in the soil profile. P 2 O 5 contents of planted soils were approximately 20 to 39 times greater than those of non-tilled and non-cropped soils at different sites. FTIR spectra showed that never tilled sites had greater phenol, carboxylic acid, amide, aromatic compounds, polysaccharide and carbohydrates than other treatments. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2066-y Authors Ali Rıza Ozturkmen, Agricultural Faculty, Soil Science Department, Harran University, 63000 Sanlıurfa, Turkey Yasemin Kavdir, Agricultural Faculty, Soil Science Department, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, 17020 Çanakkale, Turkey Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    In Taiwan, the immediate health care requirements of students and faculty members are satisfied by on-campus medical service centers. The air quality within these centers should comply with the guidelines laid down by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Accordingly, this study performed an experimental investigation into the efficiency of various chlorine dioxide applications in disinfecting a local student health center (SHC). The air quality before and after disinfection were evaluated in terms of the bioaerosol levels of bacteria and fungi. The average background levels of bacteria and fungi before disinfection were found to be 1,142 ± 455.4 CFU/m 3 and 520 ± 442.4 CFU/m 3 , respectively. Chlorine dioxide (0.3 mg/m 3 ) was applied using three different methods, namely a single, one-off application, multiple applications within a single day, and regular (daily) applications. Among the three disinfection methods, the regular application method was found to yield a high disinfection efficiency for both bacteria and fungi, i.e., 6.5 ± 0.7% and 4.2 ± 0.3%, respectively. The average residual bacteria and fungi levels after regular daily interval disinfection were 318.8 ± 51.5 CFU/m 3 and 254.0 ± 43.8 CFU/m 3 , respectively. Therefore, the results suggest that the air quality guidelines prescribed by the Taiwan EPA for SHCs and other healthcare facilities can best be achieved by applying chlorine dioxide at regular (daily) intervals. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-7 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-1998-6 Authors Ching-Shan Hsu, Department of Environmental Resource Management, Chia-Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, 71710 Taiwan Ming-Chun Lu, Department of Environmental Resource Management, Chia-Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, 71710 Taiwan Da-Ji Huang, Department of Environmental Resource Management, Chia-Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, 71710 Taiwan Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The main purpose for this study is to observe the seasonal and monthly variations for arsenic (As) in total suspended particulates (TSP) concentration and dry deposition at five characteristic sampling sites during the years 2009 and 2010 in central Taiwan. The results show that the highest and lowest monthly average As concentrations in TSP occurred in January and May at Bei-shi (suburban/coastal) and Quan-xing (industrial) sampling sites. In addition, the results show that the highest and lowest monthly average As dry deposition occurred in October and May at Chang-hua (downtown) and Gao-mei (wetland) sampling sites. This study reflected that the mean highest As concentrations in TSP and mean highest As dry deposition occurred at Quan-xing (industrial). However, the mean lowest As concentrations in TSP and mean lowest As dry deposition also occurred at Gao-mei (wetland). Regarding seasonal variation, the results show that the As average seasonal concentration order in TSP was winter 〉 spring 〉 fall 〉 summer, respectively, at Chang-hua (downtown) and He-mei (residential) sampling sites. Finally, the order of As average seasonal dry deposition was fall 〉 winter 〉 spring 〉 summer, respectively, at Chang-hua (downtown), He-mei (residential), and Gao-mei (wetland) sampling sites. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-1997-7 Authors Guor-Cheng Fang, Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, HungKuang University, Sha-Lu Taichung, 433, Taiwan Yi-Liang Huang, Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, HungKuang University, Sha-Lu Taichung, 433, Taiwan Jun-Han Huang, Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, HungKuang University, Sha-Lu Taichung, 433, Taiwan Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Water crisis is one of the most serious problems faced by the world today. Phytoremediation is one of the serious efforts towards sustainability. Macrophyte-based wastewater treatment systems have several potential advantages compared with conventional treatment systems. Duckweeds ( Lemna spp., Spirodela spp., Wolffia spp.) are small, green freshwater, free-floating aquatic plants. The primary objective of this work was to analyze the role of duckweeds in organic waste and nutrient removal from domestic wastewater being generated from hostels of Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi (India). Interesting results were obtained in which the BOD value reduced by 94.45% and the level of orthophosphate at the end of the work was found to be reduced by 79.39%. The duckweeds flourished well during the experimental period in the pH range of 7 to 8; it can be said that, other factors remaining favorable, the optimum pH for duckweed growth ranges from 7 to 8. Therefore, it can be concluded that this treatment can be successfully carried out on a large scale. Also, it is a low-cost solution to wastewater treatment problems and could satisfy the discharge standards. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-7 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2265-6 Authors Anima Priya, Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, West Bengal, India Kirti Avishek, Environmental Science & Engineering Group, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, 835215 Jharkhand, India Gopal Pathak, Environmental Science & Engineering Group, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, 835215 Jharkhand, India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Despite California policies requiring assessment of ambient wetland condition and compensatory wetland mitigations, no intensive monitoring tools have been developed to evaluate freshwater wetlands within the state. Therefore, we developed standardized, wadeable field methods to sample macroinvertebrate communities and evaluated 40 wetlands across Northern California to develop a macroinvertebrate index of biotic integrity (IBI). A priori reference sites were selected with minimal urban impacts, representing a best-attainable condition. We screened 56 macroinvertebrate metrics for inclusion in the IBI based on responsiveness to percent urbanization. Eight final metrics were selected for inclusion in the IBI: percent three dominant taxa; scraper richness; percent Ephemeroptera, Odonata, and Trichoptera (EOT); EOT richness; percent Tanypodinae/Chironomidae; Oligochaeta richness; percent Coleoptera; and predator richness. The IBI (potential range 0–100) demonstrated significant discriminatory power between the reference (mean = 69) and impacted wetlands (mean = 28). It also declined with increasing percent urbanization ( R 2  = 0.53, p  〈 0.005) among wetlands in an independent validation dataset ( n  = 14). The IBI was robust in showing no significant bias with environmental gradients. This IBI is a functional tool to determine the ecological condition at urban (stormwater and flood control ponds), as well as rural freshwater wetlands (stockponds, seasonal wetlands, and natural ponds). Biological differences between perennial and non-perennial wetlands suggest that developing separate indicators for these wetland types may improve applicability, although the existing data set was not sufficient for exploring this option. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-22 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2214-4 Authors Kevin B. Lunde, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 130 Mulford Hall #3114, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Vincent H. Resh, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 130 Mulford Hall #3114, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Urbanization and the subsequent changes in land use/cover inevitably influence the quality and even the quantity of stream water. This issue is widely studied through evaluations on land-use change scenarios or comparisons among historical patterns at the same watershed. However, observational stream discharge changes through urbanization gradient have rarely been discussed. In this study, we analyzed 5-year discharge data from 13 gauges in the Danshui River network with a wide range of urbanization gradient to explore the impacts on observational hydrological characteristics in individual catchments. The results reveal that stream discharge in pristine watersheds is characterized by a larger proportion of baseflow and is less fluctuating. When the forest coverage is 〈90%, the discharge fluctuation almost doubles. Meanwhile, the baseflow fraction decreases gradually with the increase of paddy area, which may concomitantly result from the increasing irrigation. Such a drop in baseflow may threaten the maintenance of the minimum flow required for the stream aquatic ecosystem. Furthermore, we simulated the stream discharges by TOPMODEL with blind land-use-independent parameters. The results show that the simulated discharges are satisfactory, particularly for the pristine catchments, but not as fitting for the paddy-intensive watersheds perhaps due to the unexpected irrigation. On the whole, the calibrated parameters are dependent with the landscape characteristics. The landscape-based parameter estimations can be applied to simulate discharge well, meaning the potential to assess the ungauged watersheds. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2374-2 Authors Jr-Chuan Huang, Department of Geography, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Chun-Chiang Lin, Department of Health and Leisure Management, Lan Yang Institute of Technology, Ilan, Taiwan Shih-Chien Chan, Department of Geography, National Changhua University of Education, Changhua, Taiwan Tsung-Yu Lee, Department of Geography, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Shih-Chieh Hsu, Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Cheing-Tung Lee, Department of Geography, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Jiun-Chuan Lin, Department of Geography, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The study assessed the radiological risks associated with the presence of natural and artificial radionuclides in the Bory Stobrawskie forests (PL). Using the conversion factors given by UNSCEAR and the measurements results of 232 Th series, 238 U series, 40 K, and 137 Cs specific activities in the 10-cm soil layer the values of absorbed dose ( D ) and the annual effective dose equivalent derived from terrestrial gamma radiation ( E ) were calculated. The calculated dose was compared with doses directly measured on the area studied. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-7 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2380-4 Authors Agnieszka Dołhańczuk-Śródka, Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, Opole University, ul. kard. B. Kominka 4, 45-032 Opole, Poland Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The dissipation of ethofenprox in cabbage and soil under open conditions was investigated at two primary cabbage-growing regions, Beijing and Kunming in China. Samples were extracted with acetonitrile and determined by ultra-performance liquid chromatography with a single quadrupole detector. Dissipation of ethofenprox from cabbage and soil can be best explained by a first-order decay process. The half-lives of ethofenprox were 1.9 and 2.3 days in cabbage and 20.0 and 13.0 days in soil at Beijing and Kunming, respectively. The concentration of ethofenprox residue was reduced by 90% taking 7 and 60 days in cabbage and soil. Dissipation rates in cabbage and soil at two geographically separated experimental fields differed, suggesting that this was affected by complicated factors, such as local climate and soil characteristics. These data could provide guidance for the proper and safe use of this pesticide on cabbage in China. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-5 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2377-z Authors Dali Sun, Key Laboratory of Natural Pesticide and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, Laboratory of Insect Toxicology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642 China Li Li, State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China Hongwu Liang, State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China Wei Li, State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China Ran Ji, Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Industry, SINOPEC, Beijing, 100013 China Yijun Wu, State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China Chenglan Liu, Key Laboratory of Natural Pesticide and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, Laboratory of Insect Toxicology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642 China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    This study was performed to elucidate the distribution, concentration trend and possible sources of total mercury (Hg T ) and methylmercury (MeHg) in sediment cores (〈63 μm particle size; n  = 75) of Sundarban mangrove wetland, northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, India. Total mercury was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) in a Leco AMA 254 instrument and MeHg by gas chromatography–atomic fluorescence spectrometry (GC-AFS). A wide range of variation in Hg T (0.032–0.196 μg g −1 dry wt.) as well as MeHg (0.04–0.13 ng g −1 dry wt.) concentrations revealed a slight local contamination. The prevalent low Hg T levels in sediments could be explained by sediment transport by the tidal Hugli (Ganges) River that would dilute the Hg T values via sediment mixing processes. A broader variation of MeHg proportions (%) were also observed in samples suggesting that other environmental variables such as organic carbon and microbial activity may play a major role in the methylation process. An overall elevated concentration of Hg T in surface layers (0–4 cm) of the core is due to remobilization of mercury from deeper sediments. Based on the index of geoaccumulation ( I geo ) and low effects-range (ER-L) values, it is considered that the sediment is less polluted by Hg T and there is less ecotoxicological risk. The paper provides the first information of MeHg in sediments from this wetland environment and the authors strongly recommend further examination of Hg T fluxes for the development of a detailed coastal MeHg model. This could provide more refine estimates of a total flux into the water column. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2336-8 Authors Mousumi Chatterjee, Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35, B.C. Road, Calcutta, India João Canário, IPIMAR/INRB IP, Av. Brasilia, 1499-006 Lisbon, Portugal Santosh Kumar Sarkar, Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35, B.C. Road, Calcutta, India Vasco Branco, IPIMAR/INRB IP, Av. Brasilia, 1499-006 Lisbon, Portugal Nallamuthu Godhantaraman, Academic Staff College, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai, 600025 India Bhaskar Deb Bhattacharya, Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35, B.C. Road, Calcutta, India Asokkumar Bhattacharya, Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35, B.C. Road, Calcutta, India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Rock, sediment and water samples from areas characterised by hydrothermal alterations in the Sabatini and Vico Volcanic Districts, near Rome and the large city of Viterbo, respectively, were collected and analysed to determine the total fluorine (F) content and to understand the F geochemical background level in the volcanic districts of central Italy. Leaching and alteration processes controlling the high concentration of F in water were also investigated. Fluorine concentrations were directly determined (potentiometrically) by an F selective electrode in water samples, while the procedure for rock samples included preliminary F dissolution through alkaline fusion. F concentrations higher than 800 mg kg −1 were commonly found in the analysed rocks and sediments; the concentration depended on the lithology and on the distance from the alteration areas. A specific successive sampling campaign was conducted in three areas where the F content in sediments was particularly high; in the same areas, measurements of CO 2 flux were also performed to investigate the possible deep origin of F. To verify the relationships among the high F contents in rocks and sediments, the leaching processes involved and the presence of F in the aquifer, we also collected water samples in the western sector of the Sabatini Volcanic District, where hydrothermal manifestations and mineral springs are common. The data were processed using a GIS system in which the F distribution was combined with morphological and geological observations. The main results of our study are that (1) F concentrations are higher in volcanic and recently formed travertine (especially in hydrothermally altered sediments) than in sedimentary rocks and decrease with distance from hydrothermal alteration areas, (2) F is more easily leached from hydrothermally altered rocks and from travertine and (3) sediments enriched with F may indicate the presence of deep regional fractures that represent direct pathways of hydrothermal fluids from the crust to the surface. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2381-3 Authors Donatella De Rita, Università degli Studi di Roma Tre, L.go S.Leonardo Murialdo 1, I-00146 Rome, Italy Carlo Cremisini, Centro Ricerche ENEA Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, I-00060 Rome, Italy Alessandro Cinnirella, Università degli Studi di Roma Tre, L.go S.Leonardo Murialdo 1, I-00146 Rome, Italy Fabio Spaziani, Centro Ricerche ENEA Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, I-00060 Rome, Italy Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The impact of intensive aquifer exploitation has been observed in numerous places around the world. Mexico is a representative example of this problem. In 2010, 101 out of the 653 aquifers recognized in the country, showed negative social, economic, and environmental effects related to intensive exploitation. The environmental effects include, among others, groundwater level decline, subsidence, attenuation, and drying up of springs, decreased river flow, and deterioration of water quality. This study aimed at determining the hydrochemical changes produced by intensive aquifer exploitation and highlighting water quality modifications, taking as example the Valle de Toluca, Salamanca, and San Luis Potosi aquifers in Mexico’s highlands. There, elements such as fluoride, arsenic, iron, and manganese have been detected, resulting from the introduction of older groundwater with longer residence times and distinctive chemical composition (regional flows). High concentrations of other elements such as chloride, sulfate, nitrate, and vanadium, as well as pathogens, all related to anthropogenic pollution sources (wastewater infiltration, irrigation return flow, and atmospheric pollutants, among others) were also observed. Some of these elements (nitrate, fluoride, arsenic, iron, and manganese) have shown concentrations above Mexican and World Health Organization drinking water standards. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2376-0 Authors M. V. Esteller, Centro Interamericano de Recursos del Agua (CIRA), Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Cerro Coatepec S/N, 50130 Toluca, Mexico R. Rodríguez, Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior C.U., 04510 México, D.F., Mexico A. Cardona, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Avda Manuel Nava 8, Zona Universidad, 78290 San Luis Potosi, Mexico L. Padilla-Sánchez, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Avda Manuel Nava 8, Zona Universidad, 78290 San Luis Potosi, Mexico Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Soil acidification, caused by elevated anthropogenic deposition, has led to concerns over nutrient imbalances in Ontario’s sugar maple ( Acer saccharum Marsh.) forests. In this study, soil chemistry, foliar chemistry, crown condition, and tree growth were measured at 36 sugar maple stands that included acidic (pH 〈 4.4), moderately acidic (4.4 ≤ pH 〈 5.4), and non-acidic (pH ≥ 5.4) soil groups. Acidic sites had significantly lower foliar P, Ca, and Mg concentrations, and the Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System indicated that P, rather than Ca or Mg, was the most limiting nutrient. This is in spite of widespread reports of net Ca losses from acidified soils. Mass balance studies in the region indicate that in acidic forest soils, P input from deposition is greater than stream export. Low foliar P is therefore most likely due to low P availability to trees resulting from accumulation in organic matter/biomass and/or adsorption to Fe and Al hydroxides which are more prevalent in acidic soils. Despite differences in foliar nutrition, there were no significant differences in crown condition or tree growth across the study region, suggesting that low P availability is not yet having a widespread detrimental effect on tree health. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2390-2 Authors N. J. Casson, Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, Canada K9J 7B8 M. C. Eimers, Department of Geography, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, Canada K9J 7B8 S. A. Watmough, Environmental and Resource Studies, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, Canada K9J 7B8 Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a policy tool used for evaluating a project proposal from physical and socioeconomic environmental perspectives. Its aim is to reduce the impact of development on environment, hence, ensuring environmental sustainability. It is mandatory to submit an Environmental Impact Statement before starting a mega project as required by Environmental Protection Act of 1997 and Environmental Policy of Pakistan. Public consultation plays a key role in an EIA system, identifying the likely aspects and impacts of a development activity. This aspect has been ignored in effective enactment of environmental legislation in Pakistan. Sufficient legislative instruments are there to support EIA system in the country but the agencies responsible for the enforcement of environmental regulations have failed to do so. The current research gives an insight into the actual status of EIA system in Pakistan along with the feedback of EIA specialists and university teachers of the concerned departments. A new index has been devised on the basis of questionnaire response to work out the overall performance of EIA system in Pakistan or any other country. The weaknesses and deficiencies of each EIA stage have been worked out for Pakistan and elaborated with the help of the controversial Zero point Interchange Project in the capital city of Pakistan. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2088-5 Authors Rashid Saeed, Department of Management Science, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Sahiwal Campus, 57000 Pakistan Ayesha Sattar, Department of Environmental Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, 44000 Pakistan Zafar Iqbal, Department of Environmental Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, 44000 Pakistan Muhammad Imran, Department of Environmental Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, 44000 Pakistan Raziya Nadeem, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040 Pakistan Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    A semi-continuous water-quality monitoring system was installed in Yunlin Offshore Industrial Park (YOIP), the largest industrial park in Taiwan, in 2007 to provide real-time water-quality information such as pH, water depth, dissolved oxygen, temperature, turbidity, conductivity, and chlorophyll. To interpret the large quantities of high-frequency data generated by this system, information theory was applied for data analysis and extraction of useful information for further coastal water-quality management. Information theory is a branch of applied mathematics that involves the quantification of information. Shannon entropy is a key measure of information that was calculated in this study to reveal the inherent uncertainty of water-quality information. The applicability of Shannon entropy for signaling possible coastal pollution events in the YOIP was explored and results showed that it provides new insight into the inherent uncertainty or randomness of the original data. Specially, when Shannon entropy was high, multiple instable readings were observed for turbidity and salinity. This indicates that Shannon entropy may be a useful new tool for exploratory data analysis. It can be used as a supplementary indicator along with the original environmental data to signify some episodes of water-quality degradation. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2297-y Authors Ta-Kang Liu, Institute of Ocean Technology and Marine Affairs, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, Tainan City, Taiwan, Republic of China 70101 Jin-Li Yu, Tainan Hydraulics Laboratory, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, Tainan City, Taiwan, Republic of China 70101 Chung-Ling Chen, Institute of Ocean Technology and Marine Affairs, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, Tainan City, Taiwan, Republic of China 70101 Ping-Sheng Wei, Institute of Ocean Technology and Marine Affairs, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, Tainan City, Taiwan, Republic of China 70101 Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Concern over steroid estrogens has increased rapidly in recent years due to their adverse health effects. Effluent discharge from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is the main pollutant source for environmental water. To understand the pollutant level and fate of steroid estrogens in WWTPs, the occurrence of estrone (E1), 17-β-estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), and 17-β-ethinylestradiol (EE2) was investigated in the Gaobeidian WWTP in Beijing, China. Water samples from influent as well as effluent from second sedimentation tanks and advanced treatment processes were taken monthly during 2006 to 2007. In influent, steroid estrogen concentrations varied from 11.6 to 1.1 × 10 2  ng/l, 3.7 to 1.4 × 10 2  ng/l, no detection (nd) to 7.6×10 2  ng/l and nd to 3.3 × 10 2  ng/l for E1, E2, E3, and EE2, respectively. Compared with documented values, the higher steroid estrogen concentrations in the WWTP influent may be due to higher population density, higher birthrate, less dilution, and different sampling time. Results revealed that a municipal WWTP with an activated sludge system incorporating anaerobic, anoxic, and aerobic processes could eliminate natural and synthetic estrogens effectively. The mean elimination efficiencies were 83.2%, 96.4%, 98.8%, and 93.0% for E1, E2, E3, and EE2, respectively. The major removal mechanism for natural estrogens and synthetic estrogen EE2 were biodegradation and sorption on the basis of mass balance in water, suspension particles, and sludge. In the WWTP effluent, however, the highest concentrations of E1, E2, E3, and EE2 attained were 74.2, 3.9, 5.1, and 4.6 ng/l, respectively. This is concerning as residual steroid estrogens in WWTP effluent could lead to pollution of the receiving water. Advanced flocculation treatment was applied in the WWTP and transformed the residual estrogen conjugates to free species, which were reduced further by filtration with removal shifting from 32% to 57% for natural estrogen, although no EE2 was removed. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2459-y Authors Yiqi Zhou, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 2871, Beijing, 100085 People’s Republic China Jinmiao Zha, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 2871, Beijing, 100085 People’s Republic China Zijian Wang, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 2871, Beijing, 100085 People’s Republic China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Total suspended particle (TSP) collected at the fifth floor of House Dust in Hunan University, China, was analyzed in terms of microscopic morphology and chemical composition. The fine particles (50 nm–2 μm) in the TSP were analyzed by a high-resolution transmission electron microscope equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer (HRTEM/EDS). Results showed that the particles were in shapes of plate, irregular and agglomerate. Based on EDS results, these fine particulate matter was primarily composed of Fe-rich (35.82–61.29%), Ca-rich (30.18–36.77%) and Si-rich (18.95–32.28%) particles. Other elements mainly including Mg (0.47–4.97%), Al (0.45–14.57%), S (0.45–4.73%), K (1.13–2.13%) and Zn (0.67–3.85%) were also observed. The sources analysis indicated that the HRTEM particles mainly originated from coal combustion, traffic emission, vehicles exhaust emission and fugitive soil or cement particulate matter. The coarse particles (4–50 μm) were detected by environmental scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray detector (ESEM/EDS). Based on a simple algorithm, ESEM particles were categorized into five groups: C-bearing (46.15%, 67% and 86.98%), Si + Ca-bearing (21.48 + 11.80%, 16.51 + 10.81% and 16.32 + 10.62%), Si + Al-bearing (20.06 + 12.40%, 20.16 + 11.22% and 15.31 + 11.25%), Si-bearing (34.40%, 26.92% and 27.15%) particles and aggregates, most of which exhibit obvious crystalline structure, and these ESEM particles mainly derived from vehicles exhaust emission, coal combustion, soil, and biomass burning, while the aggregates are indicative of atmospheric reaction progress. HRTEM/EDS and ESEM/EDS are mutual complementary in analyzing the characteristic and determining the sources of TSP. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2452-5 Authors Yunbo Zhai, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082 People’s Republic of China Zongmin Fu, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082 People’s Republic of China Lafang Wang, School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha, 410079 People’s Republic of China Guangming Zeng, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082 People’s Republic of China Caiting Li, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082 People’s Republic of China Hongmei Chen, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082 People’s Republic of China Yuanming Lan, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082 People’s Republic of China Pei Lu, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082 People’s Republic of China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Lake Taihu provides vital ecological services for humans in China; it receives a great deal of attention regarding its ecological and environmental conditions. In this study, the ecological risks of eight individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water were assessed using probabilistic distributions of the hazard quotient based on Monte Carlo simulation. The results show that the 95th percentile of the hazard quotients ranged from 0.00074 to 2.831, and the ecological risk of Flua was highest, followed by, in descending order of risk, B[a]P 〉 Pyr 〉 Ant 〉 Phe 〉 Flu 〉 Ace 〉 Chr. The probabilities of hazard quotients exceeding a decision criteria of 0.3 were 18.09%, 6.51%, 3.76%, and 2.85% for Flua, B[a]P, Pyr, and Ant, respectively, indicating their potential ecological risks to aquatic organisms. The spatial distribution of hazard quotients for these four individual PAHs with potential ecological risk were obtained using Geographic Information System (GIS), and similar spatial distribution patterns were also observed in the lake. The highest ecological risks of these four individual PAHs to aquatic organisms were found in Meiliang Bay, followed by Gonghu Bay and Xukou Bay. The uncertainty within the ecological risk assessment was also discussed. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2460-5 Authors Guanghui Guo, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640 China Fengchang Wu, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012 China Hongping He, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640 China Ruiqing Zhang, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640 China Chenglian Feng, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012 China Huixian Li, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012 China Ming Chang, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012 China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    For many millennia humans and reptiles have interacted, but the attitude of humans towards these animals has depended on culture, environment, and personal experience. At least 719 reptile species are known to occur in Brazil and about 11% of this fauna has been exploited for many different purposes, including bushmeat, leather, ornamental and magic/religious uses, and as folk medicines. Brazil can therefore serve as an interesting case study for better understanding reptile use by human societies, and the present paper catalogues some of the reptile species being used in Brazil and discusses implications for their conservation. A literature review indicated that 81 reptile species are culturally important in this country, with 47 (58%) species having multiple uses, 54 being used for medicinal purposes, 38 as food, 28 for ornamental or decorative purposes, 20 used in magic/religious practices, 18 as pets, and 40 are commonly killed when they come into contact with humans. Regarding their conservation status, 30 (37.5%) are included on State's Red List, Brazilian Red List or the IUCN Red List. There are many forms of interaction between reptiles and humans in Brazil—although most of them are quite negative in terms of wildlife conservation—which reinforces the importance of understanding such uses and interactions in the context of protecting reptiles in Brazil. A better understanding of the cultural, social, and traditional roles of these reptiles is fundamental to establishing management plans for their sustainable use. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-25 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2465-0 Authors Rômulo Romeu Nóbrega Alves, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Av. das Baraúnas, 351/Campus Universitário Bodocongó, 58109-753 Campina Grande, PB, Brazil Kleber Silva Vieira, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia da Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia), Laboratório de Ecofisiologia Animal, 58051-900 João Pessoa, PB, Brazil Gindomar Gomes Santana, Departamento de Botânica, Ecologia e Zoologia, Bolsista de Desenvolvimento Científico Regional (DCR/CNPq/FAPERN), Ecologia e Zoologia, Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade (LECOB), Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Lagoa Nova, 59072-970 Natal, RN, Brazil Washington Luiz Silva Vieira, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia da Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia), Laboratório de Ecofisiologia Animal, 58051-900 João Pessoa, PB, Brazil Waltécio Oliveira Almeida, Departamento de Química Biológica Bolsista Produtividade da Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—FUNCAP, Universidade Regional do Cariri, Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz 1161, CEP, 63100-000 Crato, CE, Brazil Wedson Medeiros Silva Souto, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia da Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia), Laboratório de Ecofisiologia Animal, 58051-900 João Pessoa, PB, Brazil Paulo Fernando Guedes Pereira Montenegro, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia da Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Laboratório de Ecofisiologia Animal, 58051-900 João Pessoa, PB, Brazil Juarez Carlos Brito Pezzuti, Núcleo de Altos Estudos Amazônicos—NAEA, Universidade Federal do Pará—UFPA, Belem, Brazil Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Canopy cover is well known to influence the distribution of macroinvertebrates in temperate streams. Very little is known about how this factor influences stream communities in Afrotropical streams. The effects and possible interactions of environmental factors and canopy cover on macroinvertebrate community structure (abundance, richness, and diversity) were examined in four stations in Eriora River, southern Nigeria bimonthly from May to November 2010. The river supported diverse macroinvertebrates in which the upstream sampling stations with dense canopy cover were dominated by Decapoda, Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Gastropoda, Trichoptera, and Coleoptera while Diptera and Coleoptera were the benthic organisms found predominant at downstream stations with less canopy cover. Some caddisfly species such as Agapetus agilis , Trichosetodes species and the stonefly Neoperla species were present upstream and were found to be potential bioindicators for a clean ecosystem. The blood worm Chironomus species and Tabanus sp. were abundant at the downstream of the river and are considered potential bioindicators for an organically degrading ecosystem. Some environmental factors varied temporally with significantly higher macroinvertebrate abundance and richness in May. We found out that canopy cover and environmental factors affected macroinvertebrates abundance, diversity, and richness and that the individual taxon had varying responses to these factors. These results help identify the mechanisms underlying the effects of canopy cover and other environmental factors on Afrotropical stream invertebrate communities. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2432-9 Authors Francis O. Arimoro, Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, Delta State University, P.M.B. 1 Abraka, Nigeria Grace E. Obi-Iyeke, Department of Botany, Delta State University, P.M.B 1 Abraka, Nigeria Prince J. O. Obukeni, Department of Botany, Delta State University, P.M.B 1 Abraka, Nigeria Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Underground mining activities may potentially play a role on the initiation and reactivation of the slope movements. However, an adequate attention has not yet been paid to these problems; in this study, the possible influence of present and former mining activities on the selected set of model slope deformations in the Ostrava–Karviná Coalfield (Opliji, Repiste and Orlova Lazy District) was analysed and a methodology for their observation for application to similar conditions and influence was described. Isocatabase maps, terrain deformation parameters calculated for the point lying on the slope deformation surface, length measurement by zone extensometer and dilatometer measurement in cracks was also provided for evaluation of the underground mining impact. It was found that inclinations of both boreholes were evidence of underground mining impact, and localization of inclinometer measurement on boreholes in the active part as well as in the near vicinity was very important as an important result of this study. Analysis of underground mining activity influence on model localities in relation to performed mining operations, subsidence and other influences on the ground surface was also determined. Thus, the study will contribute to a more objective knowledge of these problems of interest for the professional public and also for the state administration to solve problems associated with the utilisation and settlement of such affected areas. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-25 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2453-4 Authors Marian Marschalko, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Institute of Geological Engineering, VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava, 17 Listopadu 15, 708-33 Ostrava, Czech Republic Işık Yilmaz, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Geological Engineering, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey Martin Bednárik, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Engineering Geology, Comenius University, Mlynská Dolina, 842-15 Bratislava, Slovak Republic Karel Kubečka, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Building Structures, VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava, 17 Listopadu 15, 708-33 Ostrava, Czech Republic Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    In the present study, the magnitude of contamination of vegetables with heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Cu and Zn) was determined in a long-term wastewater-irrigated agricultural land. Heavy metal concentrations in vegetables were several folds higher in wastewater-irrigated site compared to clean water-irrigated area. The wastewater-irrigated crops analysed in this study are heavily contaminated with heavy metals. Concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cd and Cr in all the sewage-fed vegetables were beyond the safe limit of FAO/WHO and Indian standard. Contamination is at its highest level in radish and spinach. Daily intake values of Pb, Cd and Ni through consumption of sewage-fed vegetables exceeded the recommended oral dose of metal for both adult and children. The study concludes that wastewater irrigation led to accumulation of heavy metals in vegetables causing potential health risk to consumers. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2450-7 Authors N. Gupta, Department of Environmental Science, Government Degree College Khumulwng, Tripura (West), Tripura, India D. K. Khan, Department of Environmental Science, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, 741235 Nadia, West Bengal, India S. C. Santra, Department of Environmental Science, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, 741235 Nadia, West Bengal, India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The worldwide occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms makes it necessary to perform environmental risk assessment procedures to monitor the effects of microcytins on fish. Oxidative stress biomarkers are valuable tools in this regard. Considering that zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) is a common model species in fish toxicology and the zebrafish gill is potentially useful in screening waterborne pollutants, this study investigated the oxidative stress response in zebrafish gill exposed to subchronic microcystin-LR (MCLR) concentrations (2 or 20 μg/l) via measurement of toxin accumulation, protein phosphatase (PP) activity, and the antioxidant parameters (glutathione- S -transferase—GST; glutathione—GSH; superoxide dismutase—SOD; catalase—CAT; glutathione peroxide—GPx; glutathione reductase—GR), as well as levels of hydroxyl radical (OH) and lipid peroxidation (LPO). The results showed that after 30 days exposure, MCLR accumulated in zebrafish gill and MCLR exposure induced PP activity in gill. A linear inhibition of GST activity and GSH content was observed in the gills, revealing that they were involved in the first step of MCLR detoxification. The 2 μg/l MCLR treatment neglectably affected OH content and the antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GPx, and GR), however oxidative stress was induced under the 20 μg/l MCLR treatment in which an enhanced OH content and alterations of the antioxidant enzymes were observed in the treated gills, although both treatments exerted little effect on LPO level. The principal component analysis results indicated that the most sensitive biomarkers of MCLR exposure were GST and GSH in zebrafish gill. So, D. rerio could be regarded as a suitable bioindicator of MCLR exposure by measuring CAT, GR, GST, and GSH as biomarkers. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2457-0 Authors Yao Chen, Xiamen Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Xiamen, 361008 China Song-Fu Zeng, Xiamen Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Xiamen, 361008 China Yu-Feng Cao, Xiamen Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Xiamen, 361008 China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Bacteria play a significant role in water contamination. Chemicals are mostly used for the treatment of bacteriologically contaminated water. The use of bacterial interactions is a new approach to limit the pathogens' growth. Detection of antimicrobial substances produced by lactic acid bacteria against the waterborne pathogens is the objective of this work. Microbiological and biochemical methods were used to identify lactic acid bacteria having an antimicrobial activity. Evaluation of antimicrobial activity with growth kinetic measurements was performed. Four isolates of lactic acid bacteria obtained from whey and curd were identified. The predominant species belonging to the Lactobacillus genera are: Lactobacillus rhamnosus , Lactobacillus sakei , Lactobacillus paracasei , and Lactobacillus paraplantarum . The present study revealed that the Lactobacillus consortium is able to inhibit Staphylococcus aureus 's growth along with Escherichia coli and Vibrio species. In mixed culture, after 24 h, the Lactobacillus consortium reduces the growth of S. aureus by 2.03 log; moreover, the growth of the latter bacteria totally ceased after 72 h of incubation. The protein produced by the Lactobacillus consortium was responsible for arresting the growth of S. aureus . Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2447-2 Authors Ghyandeep L. Gaikwad, EIRA Division, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg, Nagpur, 440020 India Prateksha Gupta, EIRA Division, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg, Nagpur, 440020 India Satish R. Wate, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg, Nagpur, 440020 India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The concentration of mercury was determined in samples of the lichen Hypogymnia physodes , the moss Pleurozium schreberi , and the soil humus collected in Polish and Czech Euroregions Praded and Glacensis. The sampling sites were located in Bory Stobrawskie, Bory Niemodlińskie and Kotlina Kłodzka in Poland, and in Jeseniki and Gory Orlickie in the Czech Republic. The mean concentrations of mercury accumulated in the lichen (0.129 mg g −1 ), in the moss (0.094 mg g −1 ) and in soil (0.286 mg g −1 ) were fairly close to the corresponding concentrations in other low-industrialized regions. The highest concentrations of mercury were observed in the lichen and the moss samples from Kotlina Kłodzka. The primary deposition of mercury was evaluated using the comparison factor, defined as the ratio of a difference between the concentrations of a bioavailable analyte in lichens and in mosses, to the arithmetic mean of these concentrations. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2456-1 Authors Andrzej Kłos, Chair of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, University of Opole, 4 kard. B. Kominka Str., 45-032 Opole, Poland Małgorzata Rajfur, Chair of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, University of Opole, 4 kard. B. Kominka Str., 45-032 Opole, Poland Ivo Šrámek, Health Institute in Hradec Králové (ZÚHK), Habrmanova 154, 501-01 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic Maria Wacławek, Chair of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, University of Opole, 4 kard. B. Kominka Str., 45-032 Opole, Poland Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The distribution and accumulation of trace metals in the sediments of the Cochin estuary during the pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon periods were investigated. Sediment samples from 14 locations were collected and analysed for the metal contents (Mg, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb), organic carbon, total nitrogen, total sulphur and grain size. The data were processed using statistical tools like correlation, factor and cluster analysis. The study revealed an enrichment of Cd and Zn in the study area particularly at station 2, which is confirmed by enrichment factor, contamination factor and geoaccumulation index. The factor analysis revealed that the source of Cd and Zn may be same. The study indicated that the spatial variation for the metals like Mg, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb were predominant unlike Mn which shows a temporal variation. The strong association of trace metals with Fe and Mn hydroxides and oxides are prominent along the Cochin estuary. The anthropogenic inputs of industrial effluents mainly control the trace metals enrichment in the Cochin estuary. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2418-7 Authors P. M. Deepulal, Department of Chemical Oceanography, School of Marine Sciences, CUSAT, Kochi, 682516 India T. R. Gireesh kumar, Department of Chemical Oceanography, School of Marine Sciences, CUSAT, Kochi, 682516 India C. H. Sujatha, Department of Chemical Oceanography, School of Marine Sciences, CUSAT, Kochi, 682516 India Rejomon George, Department of Chemical Oceanography, School of Marine Sciences, CUSAT, Kochi, 682516 India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The monitoring of resource condition is receiving renewed attention across several levels of government in Australia. This interest is linked to substantial investment in environmental remediation and aquatic ecosystem restoration in particular. In this context, it is timely to consider principles which ought to guide the development and implementation of monitoring programmes for wetland ecosystems. A framework is established which places monitoring in the context of the strategic adaptive management of wetlands. This framework requires there has to be clear goals for the extent and condition of the resource, with these goals being defined within thresholds of acceptable variability. Qualitative and, where possible, quantitative conceptual models linking management interventions to management goals should be the basis of indicator selection and assessment. The intensity of sampling ought to be informed by pilot surveys of statistical power in relation to the thresholds of acceptable variability identified within the management plan. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2405-z Authors Neil Saintilan, Rivers and Wetlands Unit, Office of Environment and Heritage, PO Box A290, Sydney, NSW 1232, Australia Sarah Imgraben, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water and Communities, GPO Box 787, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Short-sediment cores and flooding water were collected at 0, 5, 15, 25 and 50 min of tidal inundation in the two sites colonised by pure stands of Spartina maritima (low marsh) and Sarcocornia fruticosa (high marsh) from the Rosário salt marsh (Tagus estuary, SW Europe). Concentrations of NH 4 + , NO 3 −  + NO 2 − and HPO 4 2− , Fe and Mn were measured in tidal flooding water and pore water. Flooding water is enriched in nutrients, particularly ammonium due to local discharge of untreated urban effluents. Nevertheless, NH 4 + and NO 3 −  + NO 2 − concentrations in flooding waters at t  = 5 min (NH 4 +  = 246 ± 7 μM, NO 3 −  + NO 2 −  = 138 ± 1 μM for S. fruticosa and NH 4 +  = 256 ± 8 μM, NO 3 −  + NO 2 −  = 138 ± 1 μM for S. maritima ) rose sharply at both vegetated sites. An increase was also registered for HPO 4 2− and total dissolved Fe although the subsequent decrease was smoother. Advective transport induced by the two daily pulses of inundation is several orders of magnitude higher than the diffusive fluxes during submerged periods. In addition, solutes are exported from the sediment with the inundation and imported in submerged periods. The exported amount of inorganic nitrogen during tidal inundation (export of 3,200 μmol N m −2  day −1 to the water column), is not counterbalanced by the sink of −290 μmol N m −2  day −1 occurred during the submerged period. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2439-2 Authors M. Caetano, IPIMAR/INRB National Institute of Biological Resources, Av. Brasília, 1449-006 Lisbon, Portugal P. Bernárdez, IIM-CSIC Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas, C/Eduardo Cabello, 6, 36208 Vigo, Spain J. Santos-Echeandia, IPIMAR/INRB National Institute of Biological Resources, Av. Brasília, 1449-006 Lisbon, Portugal R. Prego, IIM-CSIC Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas, C/Eduardo Cabello, 6, 36208 Vigo, Spain C. Vale, IPIMAR/INRB National Institute of Biological Resources, Av. Brasília, 1449-006 Lisbon, Portugal Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Heavy metal (Cu, Cd, Zn) concentration of the muscle, gill, and liver of Otolithes rubber , Pampus argenteus , Parastromateus niger , Scomberomorus commerson , and Onchorynchus mykiss are determined by anodic stripping voltammetry method. The results show that the concentration of Cu, Cd, and Zn varied between 0.44 and not detected, 0.585 and 0.001, and 0.450 and 0.005 μg/g, respectively. It is interesting that in O. mykiss , the mean value of copper concentration was more than other marine organisms of this study, while in P. niger , the mean value of copper was minimum. The results of this study indicate that in the different tissues of fish species ( O. rubber , P. argenteus , P. niger , S. commerson , and O. mykiss ), the concentrations of Cu, Cd, and Zn were significantly lower than the permissible FAO/WHO levels. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-5 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2445-4 Authors S. Sobhanardakani, Department of Environment, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran L. Tayebi, Department of Environment, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran A. Farmany, Young Researchers Club, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran M. Cheraghi, Department of Environment, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Discharge measurement in a tidal stream is always a difficult task. Owing to the complex flow conditions, discharge measurement in tidal streams has to be finished quickly, and must be highly efficient in order to yield an accurate measurement of real-time discharge. Measuring the discharge of tidal streams is done in three steps: (1) establishing the stage and cross-sectional area relation, (2) estimating the index velocity by using a velocity distribution equation based on the probability concept, (3) establishing the relationship between the index and mean velocities. Then the cross-sectional area and mean velocity can be estimated by the gage height and index velocity, respectively. The discharge of tidal streams is computed as the product of the cross-sectional area and mean velocity. The velocity distribution of the Taipei Bridge and Guan-du Bridge in the Tanshui River were established and analyzed to demonstrate the use of discharge measurement by index velocity for estimating the discharge of this tidal stream. The results reveal no large difference between the discharges measured by the conventional methods and the index velocity. This pilot study proposed a cost-effectiveness and efficient method. It is an easy, quick, and accurate model for measuring the real-time discharge of a tidal stream. It makes automatic, real-time, and continuous monitoring of the discharge in a tidal stream become possible. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2430-y Authors Yen-Chang Chen, Department of Civil Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan Tsung-Ming Yang, Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Nien-Sheng Hsu, Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Ting-Ming Kuo, Department of Civil Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Phytoremediation is a well-known promising alternative to conventional approaches used for the remediation of diffused and moderated contaminated soils. The evaluation of the accumulation, availability, and interactions of heavy metals in soil is a priority objective for the possible use of phytoremediation techniques such as phytoextraction and phytostabilization. The soils used in this work were collected from a number of sites inside a protected area in the Apulia region (Southern Italy), which were contaminated by various heavy metals originated from the disposal of wastes of different sources of origin. Soils examined contained Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in amounts exceeding the critical limits imposed by EU and Italian laws. However, the alkaline conditions, high organic matter content, and silty to silty loamy texture of soils examined would suggest a reduced availability of heavy metals to plants. Due to the high total content but the low available fraction of heavy metals analyzed, especially Cr, phytoextraction appears not to be a promising remediation approach in the sites examined, whereas phytostabilization appears to be the best technique for metal decontamination in the studied areas. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2444-5 Authors K. Farrag, Central Lab for Environmental Quality Monitoring (CLEQM), National Water Research Center (NWRC), Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI), City, Egypt N. Senesi, Dipartimento di Biologia e Chimica Agroforestale e Ambientale, Università di Bari, Via Amendola, 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy P. Soler Rovira, Instituto de Ciencias Agrarias, Centro de Ciencias Medioambientales, C.S.I.C., Serrano 115 dpdo, 28006 Madrid, Spain G. Brunetti, Dipartimento di Biologia e Chimica Agroforestale e Ambientale, Università di Bari, Via Amendola, 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The city of Salamanca in central Mexico is surrounded by heavy industry, i.e., a refinery, a thermoelectric plant and chemical industries. Variable concentrations of vanadium (V) have been reported in the groundwater, and their presence has been related to particulates so this hypothesis was tested by sampling soil in the urban area and the surrounding uncontaminated country site. The 0–10-cm soil layer in the industrial and rural area was analyzed for V and other metal trace elements found in hydrocarbons, i.e., chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and nickel (Ni). The concentrations of V were higher in the urban rather than in the rural soil, reaching values of 〉600 mg kg −1 in the urban soils. In the rural area, V in the soil was related to regional geology, i.e., volcanic rocks such as basalts and rhyolites but not in the urban area where it was related to particulate distribution mostly emitted from the industries burning fuel oil number 6. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2343-9 Authors Hector Hernandez, Postgraduate Program in Earth Sciences, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico, Mexico Ramiro Rodriguez, Natural Resources Department, Geophysics Institute, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), 04510 Mexico, Mexico Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Modeling the impact of air pollution is one of the most important approaches for managing damages to the ecosystem. This problem can be solved by sensing and modeling uncertain spatial behaviors, defining topological rules, and using inference and learning capabilities in a spatial reasoning system. Reasoning, which is the main component of such complex systems, requires that proper rules be defined through expert judgments in the knowledge-based part. Use of genetic fuzzy capabilities enables the algorithm to learn and be tuned to proper rules in a flexible manner and increases the preciseness and robustness of operations. The main objective of this paper was to design and evaluate a spatial genetic fuzzy system, with the goal of assessing environmental risks of air pollution due to oil well fires during the Persian Gulf War. Dynamic areas were extracted and monitored through images from NOAA, and the data were stored in an efficient spatial database. Initial spatial knowledge was determined by expert consideration of the application characteristics, and the inference engine was performed with genetic learning (GL) algorithms. Finally, GL (0.7 and 0.03), GL (0.7 and 0.08), GL (0.98 and 0.03), GL (0.98 and 0.08), and Cordon learning methods were evaluated with test and training data related to samples extracted from Landsat thematic mapper satellite images. Results of the implementation showed that GL (0.98, 0.03) was more precise than the other methods for learning and tuning rules in the concerned application. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2421-z Authors Rouzbeh Shad, Civil Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ferdowsi University, Mashad, Iran Arefeh Shad, Civil Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ferdowsi University, Mashad, Iran Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    In this research, two types of sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) with 8 h of cycle times, namely non-powdered activated carbon (NPAC-SBR) and powdered activated carbon (PAC-SBR), were used for the treatment of raw leachates at Kulim and Pulau Burung landfill sites. To test the performance of SBRs, phenols, total iron, zinc, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, color, suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, and total dissolved salts removal efficiencies and sludge volume index (SVI) were studied at both sites. The rates of phenols removal, for instance in NPAC-SBRs and PAC-SBRs at Kulim, were 25% and 55%, respectively, whereas those at Pulau Buring were 94.81% and 97.75%, respectively. PAC as adsorbent in PAC-SBRs enhanced the removal efficiencies of the aforementioned pollutants from leachates at both sites. In addition, PAC as adsorbent decreased the SVI values at Kulim (59.7 mL/g) and Pulau Burung (91.4 mL/g) leachates and improved the nitrification and denitrification processes. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2409-8 Authors Shuokr Qarani Aziz, School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia Hamidi Abdul Aziz, School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia Mohd Suffian Yusoff, School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia Soraya Mohajeri, School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The level of three alkylphenols (APs) 4-nonylphenol, 4-octylphenol and 4- tert -octylphenol was monitored in various water samples using a new developed and validated HPLC method. The HPLC method employed a column with a mixed-mode stationary phase (C18/SCX) using a mobile phase of water to methanol = 15:85 ( v / v ) delivered at a flow rate of 1 mL/min at room temperature. Both diode array, DAD and fluorescence, FLD detectors were employed. The method is linear when APs concentration ranged from 0.025 to 0.5 μg/mL with a DAD detection at 279 nm and between 0.0008 and 0.1 μg/mL when the detection was made by FLD (excitation at 220 nm, emission at 315 nm). The limit of detection and limit of quantitation for alkylphenols were found to be 5 and 15 ng/mL, respectively (detection by DAD). The method was employed with good results for the determination of APs in the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in various water samples. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2403-1 Authors Ioana Cruceru, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, 4-12 Blvd Regina Elisabeta, 030018 Bucharest, Romania Andreea Florescu, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, 4-12 Blvd Regina Elisabeta, 030018 Bucharest, Romania Irinel Adriana Badea, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, 4-12 Blvd Regina Elisabeta, 030018 Bucharest, Romania Luminita Vladescu, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, 4-12 Blvd Regina Elisabeta, 030018 Bucharest, Romania Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    In order to characterize the status of indoor air pollution in some important facilities, a list of key criteria pollutants [particulate matter (PM 10 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), formaldehyde (HCHO), and bioaerosol] was measured from a total of 91 randomly selected sites in 18 different cities, Korea (February 2006 to December 2009). The target facilities include 43 child care facilities, 38 medical facilities, 6 elementary schools, and 4 postnatal care centers. The results showed that some air pollutants (e.g., CO and HCHO) did not exceed the recommended guideline [e.g., the Korean indoor air standard (KIAS) values of 10 ppm and 100 ppb, respectively]. However, concentration of PM 10 , CO 2 , and bioaerosol occasionally exceeded their respective guidelines (e.g., seven, three, and two cases). Discrete seasonalities were observed from indoor pollutants because of varying ventilation practice (e.g., summer time dominance of PM 10 , HCHO, and bioaerosol or winter dominance of CO 2 and CO). However, as the concentrations of the indoor pollutants were scarcely above the recommended guideline level, more diversified approaches are desirable to diagnose the status of indoor pollution and to provide a realistic strategy for the improvement of IAQ. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2428-5 Authors Ehsanul Kabir, Department of Environment & Energy, Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea K.-H. Kim, Department of Environment & Energy, Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea Jong Ryeul Sohn, Department of Environmental Health, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea Bo Youn Kweon, Gyeong-gi Do Institute of Health & Environment, 324-1 Pajang-dong, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do 440-290, Republic of Korea Jong Hyun Shin, Gyeong-gi Do Institute of Health & Environment, 324-1 Pajang-dong, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do 440-290, Republic of Korea Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential risk of pretilachlor, thiobencarb, and propanil pollutants in the water system of the rice fields of the Muda area. The study included two areas that used different irrigation systems namely non-recycled (N-RCL) and recycled (RCL) water. Regular water sampling was carried out at the drainage canals during the weeding period from September to October 2006 in the main season of 2006/2007 and April–May 2007 in off season of 2007. The herbicides were extracted by the solid-phase extraction method and identified using a GC–ECD. Results showed that the procedure for identification of the three herbicides was acceptable based on the recovery test values, which ranged from 84.1% to 96.9%. A wide distribution pattern where more than 79% of the water samples contained the herbicide pollutants was observed at both the areas where N-RCL and RCL water was supplied for the two seasons. During September to October 2006, high weedicide residue concentration was observed at the N-RCL area and it ranged from 0.05 to 1.00 μg/L for pretilachlor and propanil and 10–25 μg/L for thiobencarb. In the case of the area with RCL water, the weedicide residue ranged from 1 to 5 μg/L for pretilachlor and propanil and 10–25 μg/L for thiobencarb. The highest residue level reached was 25–50, 50–100, and 100–200 μg/L for pretilachlor, propanil, and thiobencarb, respectively. During April to May 2007, high residue concentration frequently occurred at the area supplied with N-RCL irrigation water and it ranged from 0.05 to 1.00, 10 to 25, and 25 to 50 μg/L for pretilachlor, propanil, and thiobencarb, respectively. The highest residue level reached was 25–50 μg/L for pretilachlor and 100–200 μg/L for propanil and thiobencarb. There was an accelerated increase in the concentration of the herbicide residues, with the maximum levels reached at the early period of weedicide application, followed by a sharp decrease after the rice fields were completely covered with the rice crop. During the main season of 2006/2007, the concentration of propanil residue gradually rose, although that of the other herbicides declined. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2424-9 Authors Prayitno Sapari, School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia B. S. Ismail, School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    In this work, two N/S-containing chelating agents 2-(4-methoxybenzylideneamino)thiophenol (2-4-MBAT) and 2-(4-chlorobenzylideneamino) benzenethiol (2-4-CBABT) were synthesized as new sorbents and were used for preconcentration of Zn 2+ and Cu 2+ ions in food and vegetable samples. In the proposed procedure, the trace amount of Zn 2+ and Cu 2+ ions from 250 mL of sample solution at pH = 5.0 was preconcentrated by 1 g of activated carbon (AC) loaded with 15 mg of 2-4-MBAT and 2-4-CBABT separately. The breakthrough volumes (maximum sample volume that their metal ions quantitatively can be enriched) for solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure based on the AC modified with 2-4-MBAT and 2-4-CBABT were 800 and 750 mL, respectively. The sorbed Zn 2+ and Cu 2+ ions were efficiently eluted by 8 mL of 4 mol L −1 HNO 3 and preconcentration factor of 112.5 and 93.7 and experimental enhancement factor of 30 and 35 ions were obtained for Zn 2+ and Cu 2+ , respectively. The application of this enrichment procedure allowed the extraction of trace metal ions with recoveries exceeding of 90%. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2443-6 Authors M. Ghaedi, Department of Chemistry, Yasouj University, Yasouj, 75914-35 Iran H. Tavallali, Department of Chemistry, Payame Noor University, 19395-9697 Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran M. Montazerozohori, Department of Chemistry, Yasouj University, Yasouj, 75914-35 Iran E. Zahedi, Department of Chemistry, Payame Noor University, 19395-9697 Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran M. Amirineko, Department of Chemistry, Payame Noor University, 19395-9697 Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran S. Khodadoust, Department of Chemistry, Yasouj University, Yasouj, 75914-35 Iran G. Karimipour, Department of Chemistry, Yasouj University, Yasouj, 75914-35 Iran Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The impact of Attenda abattoir, Ogbomoso southwestern Nigeria on four water sources was investigated using geoelectrical imaging and microbiological analysis. 2D electrical resistivity imaging indicated groundwater contamination by leachate from the abattoir. Electrical resistivity values measured by the traverse run directly on the waste dump and other areas impacted by the waste from the abattoir are generally very low (6.68–16.7 Ωm) in comparison to other positions (135–288 Ωm). The total viable bacteria count of the water samples ranged from 0.49 × 10 6 to 2.85 × 10 8  cfu/ml and all samples are contaminated with coliforms with the most probable number (MPN)/100 ml ranging from 110 to ≥1,600 MPN/100 ml. Among bacteria isolated from the study site ( n  = 95), resistance to eight antibiotics ranged from 35.8% to 94%. In addition, 85% of Streptococcus agalactiae ( n  = 31) and Staphylococci ( n  = 9) showed haemolytic activity while 92% of all isolates showed β -lactamase activity. These results suggest that operations of the abattoir may impact negatively on surrounding aquatic ecosystem and endanger the health of surrounding residents who use water from the wells for domestic purposes. Furthermore, such aquatic ecosystems may serve as reservoir of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2285-2 Authors Olawale Olufemi Adelowo, Dept of Pure and Applied Biology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P. M. B 4000 Ogbomoso, Nigeria Ismail A. Akinlabi, Department of Earth Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P. M. B 4000 Ogbomoso, Nigeria Obasola Ezekiel Fagade, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology Laboratory, Dept of Botany and Microbiology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Highways and main roads are a potential source of contamination for the surrounding environment. High traffic rates result in elevated heavy metal concentrations in road runoff, soil and water seepage, which has attracted much attention in the recent past. Nonetheless, investigations of pollutants in roadside soils are still a subject of major interest due to the rapid development of traffic systems and increasing traffic all over the world. The accumulation of the heavy metals Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn in soils along the oldest federal highway of the world has been studied by sampling a roadside transect of 125 by 10 m. In addition, heavy metal concentrations of Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni and Cr in soil solutions from different distances (2.5, 5 and 10 m) from the hard shoulder of the highway and from three soil depths (10, 30, and 50 cm) were investigated. The results show that heavy metal concentrations are up to 20 times increased compared to the geochemical background levels and a reference site of 800-m distance from the roadside. Soil matrix concentrations in the topsoil (0–10 cm) mostly exceeded the precautionary values of the German Federal Soil Protection and Contamination Ordinance (BBodSchV). The concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn in the soil matrix tended to decrease with distance from the roadside edge, whereas the concentrations in the soil solution increased at a distance of 10 m onwards due to a lower soil pH. Because of both high pH values and a high sorption capacity of the soils, soil solution concentrations seldom exceeded the trigger values of the German Federal Soil Protection and Contamination Ordinance (BBodSchV) for transferring soil solution to groundwater. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2433-8 Authors Björn Kluge, Department of Ecology, Soil Conservation Group, Berlin Institute of Technology, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 1, 10587 Berlin, Germany Gerd Wessolek, Department of Ecology, Soil Conservation Group, Berlin Institute of Technology, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 1, 10587 Berlin, Germany Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell phone towers is a form of environmental pollution and is a new health hazard, especially to children and patients. The present studies were taken to estimate the microwave/RF pollution by measuring radiation power densities near schools and hospitals of Chandigarh city in India. The cell phone radiations were measured using a handheld portable power density meter TES 593 and specific absorption rates were estimated from the measured values. These values of electromagnetic radiation in the environment were compared with the levels at which biological system of humans and animals starts getting affected. The values were also compared with the international exposure limits set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). The highest measured power density was 11.48 mW/m 2 which is 1,148% of the biological limit. The results indicated that the exposure levels in the city were below the ICNIRP limit, but much above the biological limit. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-6 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2436-5 Authors A. K. Dhami, Department of Applied Sciences, Sant Baba Bhag Singh Institute of Engineering & Technology, Khiala, P.O. Padhiana, Jalandhar, Punjab, India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Soil heavy metal pollution due to wastewater reuse was assessed by means of the concentration factor (CF) and/or pollution load index (PLI).In this respect, a greenhouse pot experiment was conducted, using a completely randomized block design, including five treatments of treated municipal wastewater (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%), in four replications. Brassica oleracea var. Capitata was used as a test crop. The optimum CFs were expressed as a function of maximum dry matter of cabbage plant parts yield, and the values obtained per plant part were as follows: stems—Zn-CF 2.96, Co-CF 0.85, Ni-CF 0.92; whole plant—Cu-CF 3.90, Ni-CF 0.87, and Pb-CF 11.52; and leaves—Pb-CF 11.78. The PLI was calculated as the geometric mean of the CF of each metal, and was related to the maximum dry mater yield of cabbage stems and heads. The optimum values found were: stems PLI 1.99–2.55 and heads 2.25. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2420-0 Authors Ioannis K. Kalavrouziotis, Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Ioannina, Seferi 1, Agrinio, Greece Prodromos H. Koukoulakis, National Agricultural Research Foundation, Atladidos 8, GR-54454 Thessaloniki, Greece Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung: s   In order to evaluate the current state of the environmental quality of soils in Beijing, we investigated contents of 14 metals in Beijing urban soils inside the 5th ring road by even grids sampling. Statistic analyses were conducted to identify possible heavy metal pollutants, as well as the effects of land uses on their accumulation. Our results revealed that the urban soils in Beijing were contaminated by Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn. Land uses and urbanization ages affected the accumulation of the four heavy metals in soils significantly. Soils in industrial areas have the highest average Cu and Zn contents, while Pb contents in park areas and Cd in agricultural areas are the highest. The accumulations of Pb and Zn in urban soils increase significantly with sampling plots approaching the city center. And Pb, Cd, and Zn contents in soils in traffic areas also tend to increase in the city center. However, residential areas have the lowest contents of all the four heavy metals. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2388-9 Authors Meie Wang, State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese academy of sciences, Beijing, 100085 China Bernd Markert, Lehrstuhl für Umweltverfahrenstechnik, Internationales Hochschulinstitut Zittau, Markt 23, 02763 Zittau, Germany Weiping Chen, State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese academy of sciences, Beijing, 100085 China Chi Peng, State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese academy of sciences, Beijing, 100085 China Zhiyun Ouyang, State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese academy of sciences, Beijing, 100085 China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The pesticide diazinon was determined in its insecticidal formulations by square wave adsorptive stripping voltammetry. The method of its determination is based on the irreversible reduction reaction at the hanging mercury drop electrode. The optimal signal was detected at −1.05 V vs. Ag/AgCl in Britton–Robinson buffer at pH 4.4. Various parameters such as pH, buffer concentration, frequency, amplitude, step potential, accumulation time, and potential were investigated to enhance the sensitivity of the determination. The highest response was recorded at an accumulation potential −0.4 V, accumulation time 60 s, amplitude 75 mV, frequency 100 Hz, and step potential 5 mV. The pesticide electrochemical behavior was considered under experimental conditions. The electroanalytical procedure enabled diazinon determination in the concentration range 4.0 × 10 −8 –3.9 × 10 −7  mol L −1 in supporting electrolyte. The detection and quantification limit were found to be 1.1 × 10 −8 and 3.7 × 10 −8  mol L −1 , respectively. The method was applied successfully in the determination of the active ingredients in the insecticidal formulations Diazinon 10GR and Beaphar 275. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-8 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2442-7 Authors Dariusz Guziejewski, Department of Instrumental Analysis, University of Lodz, Pomorska 163, 90-236 Lodz, Poland Sławomira Skrzypek, Department of Instrumental Analysis, University of Lodz, Pomorska 163, 90-236 Lodz, Poland Witold Ciesielski, Department of Instrumental Analysis, University of Lodz, Pomorska 163, 90-236 Lodz, Poland Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Proper assessment of air quality status in an atmosphere based on limited observations is an essential task for meeting the goals of environmental management. A number of classification methods are available for estimating the changing status of air quality. However, a discrepancy frequently arises from the quality criteria of air employed and vagueness or fuzziness embedded in the decision making output values. Owing to inherent imprecision, difficulties always exist in some conventional methodologies like air quality index when describing integrated air quality conditions with respect to various pollutants parameters and time of exposure. In recent years, the fuzzy logic-based methods have demonstrated to be appropriated to address uncertainty and subjectivity in environmental issues. In the present study, a methodology based on fuzzy inference systems (FIS) to assess air quality is proposed. This paper presents a comparative study to assess status of air quality using fuzzy logic technique and that of conventional technique. The findings clearly indicate that the FIS may successfully harmonize inherent discrepancies and interpret complex conditions. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2412-0 Authors T. Mandal, Environmental Science & Engineering Group, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, 835215 India A. K. Gorai, Environmental Science & Engineering Group, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, 835215 India G. Pathak, Environmental Science & Engineering Group, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, 835215 India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The microbiological quality of drinking water in municipal water distribution systems (WDS) depends on several factors. Free residual chlorine and/or chloramines are typically used to minimize bacterial recontamination and/or regrowth in WDS. Despite such preventive measures, regrowth of heterotrophic (HPC) and opportunistic bacteria in bulk water and biofilms has yet to be controlled completely. No approach has shown complete success in eliminating biofilms or HPC bacteria from bulk water and pipe surfaces. Biofilms can provide shelter for pathogenic bacteria and protect these bacteria from disinfectants. Some HPC bacteria may be associated with aesthetic and non-life threatening diseases. Research to date has achieved important success in understanding occurrence and regrowth of bacteria in bulk water and biofilms in WDS. To achieve comprehensive understanding and to provide efficient control against bacteria regrowth, future research on bacteria regrowth dynamics and their implications is warranted. In this study, a review was performed on the literature published in this area. The findings and limitations of these papers are summarized. Occurrences of bacteria in WDS, factors affecting bacteria regrowth in bulk water and biofilms, bacteria control strategies, sources of nutrients, human health risks from bacterial exposure, modelling of bacteria regrowth and methods of bacteria sampling and detection and quantification are investigated. Advances to date are noted, and future research needs are identified. Finally, research directions are proposed to effectively control HPC and opportunistic bacteria in bulk water and biofilms in WDS. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-51 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2407-x Authors Shakhawat Chowdhury, Department of Civil Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261 Saudi Arabia Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    This study compared the accuracy of fuzzy habitat preference models (FHPMs) and habitat preference curves (HPCs) obtained from the FHPMs in order to assess the effect of two types of data [log-transformed fish population density (LOG) and presence–absence (P/A) data] on the habitat preference evaluation of Japanese medaka ( Oryzias latipes ). Three independent data sets were prepared for each type of data. The results differed according to the data sets and the types of data used. The HPCs showed a similar trend, whilst the degrees of preference were different. The model accuracy also differed according to the data sets used. Although almost no statistical difference was observed, on average, the P/A-based models showed a better performance according to the threshold-independent performance measures, whilst the LOG-based models showed better performance in predicting absence of the fish. These results can be explained partly from the different shapes of HPCs. This case study of Japanese medaka demonstrated the effect of different types of data on habitat preference evaluation. Further studies should build on the present finding and evaluate the effects of data characteristics such as the size of data sets and the prevalence for better understanding and reliable assessment of the habitat for target species. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2410-2 Authors Shinji Fukuda, Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Fukuoka, 812-8581 Japan Ans M. Mouton, Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Kliniekstraat 25, 1070 Brussels, Belgium Bernard De Baets, KERMIT, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The geochemical distribution and enrichment of ten heavy metals in the surface sediments of Vembanad Lake, southwest coast of India was evaluated. Sediment samples from 47 stations in the Lake were collected during dry and wet seasons in 2008 and examined for heavy metal content (Al, Fe, Mn, Cr, Zn, Ni, Pb, Cu, Co, Cd), organic carbon, and sediment texture. Statistically significant spatial variation was observed among all sediment variables, but negligible significant seasonal variation was observed. Correlation analysis showed that the metal content of sediments was mainly regulated by organic carbon, Fe oxy-hydroxides, and grain size. Principal component analysis was used to reduce the 14 sediment variables into three factors that reveal distinct origins or accumulation mechanisms controlling the chemical composition in the study area. Pollution intensity of the Vembanad Lake was measured using the enrichment factor and the pollution load index. Severe and moderately severe enrichment of Cd and Zn in the north estuary with minor enrichment of Pb and Cr were observed, which reflects the intensity of the anthropogenic inputs related to industrial discharge into this system. The results of pollution load index reveal that the sediment was heavily polluted in northern arm and moderately polluted in the extreme end and port region of the southern arm of the lake. A comparison with sediment quality guideline quotient was also made, indicating that there may be some ecotoxicological risk to benthic organisms in these sediments. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2389-8 Authors A. Paneer Selvam, Institute for Ocean Management, Anna University, Chennai, India S. Laxmi Priya, Institute for Ocean Management, Anna University, Chennai, India Kakolee Banerjee, Institute for Ocean Management, Anna University, Chennai, India G. Hariharan, Institute for Ocean Management, Anna University, Chennai, India R. Purvaja, Institute for Ocean Management, Anna University, Chennai, India R. Ramesh, Institute for Ocean Management, Anna University, Chennai, India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    In this paper we describe a statistical analysis of the inter-laboratory data summarized in Rosati et al. ( 2008 ) to assess the performance of an analytical method to detect the presence of dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11, 2001. The focus of the inter-lab study was the measurement of the concentration of slag wool fibers in dust which was considered to be an indicator of WTC dust. Eight labs were provided with two blinded samples each of three batches of dust that varied in slag wool concentration. Analysis of the data revealed that three of labs, which did not meet measurement quality objectives set forth prior to the experimental work, were statistically distinguishable from the five labs that did meet the quality objectives. The five labs, as a group, demonstrated better measurement capability although their ability to distinguish between the batches was somewhat mixed. This work provides important insights for the planning and implementation of future studies involving examination of dust samples for physical contaminants. This work demonstrates (a) the importance of controlling the amount of dust analyzed, (b) the need to take additional replicates to improve count estimates, and (c) the need to address issues related to the execution of the analytical methodology to ensure all labs meet the measurement quality objectives. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2426-7 Authors Henry D. Kahn, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC 20460, USA Jacky A. Rosati, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA Andrew P. Bray, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC 20460, USA Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Urban sprawl is a worldwide phenomenon happening particularly in rapidly developing regions. A study on the spatiotemporal characteristics of urban sprawl and urban pattern is useful for the sustainable management of land management and urban land planning. The present research explores the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban sprawl in the context of a rapid urbanization process in a booming economic region of southern China from 1979 to 2005. Three urban sprawl types are distinguished by analyzing overlaid urban area maps of two adjacent study years which originated from the interpretation of remote sensed images and vector land use maps. Landscape metrics are used to analyze the spatiotemporal pattern of urban sprawl for each study period. Study results show that urban areas have expanded dramatically, and the spatiotemporal landscape pattern configured by the three sprawl types changed obviously. The different sprawl type patterns in five study periods have transformed significantly, with their proportions altered both in terms of quantity and of location. The present research proves that urban sprawl quantification and pattern analysis can provide a clear perspective of the urbanization process during a long time period. Particularly, the present study on urban sprawl and sprawl patterns can be used by land use and urban planners. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2431-x Authors Zhi-qiang Lv, Department of Land Resource Management, Chongqing Technology and Business University, 400067 Chongqing, China Fu-qiang Dai, Department of Land Resource Management, Chongqing Technology and Business University, 400067 Chongqing, China Cheng Sun, Department of Geography, Guangdong Institute of Eco-environment and Soil Sciences, 510650 Guangzhou, China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The paper evaluates the status of selected fluvial lakes situated in the central part of the Elbe River and the impact of anthropogenic activities including comparison with the Elbe River water quality on them. To achieve the goals of the project, eight researched lakes differed from each other in the intensity of communication with the river, morphometric parameters and in the possibility of anthropogenic contamination (industrial, agricultural and municipal) were chosen. Besides observing the hydrological regime, the research was focused on physical and chemical parameters of water. To sum up, the lakes communicating above ground with the river showed similarities in several parameters, e.g. organic load or conductivity was nearly at the same level, which was lower than in the separated ones. Although the values of nitrates were higher in the river, their content did not reach such concentrations even in the connected lakes because of their more stagnant character. In general, although the Elbe River has a significant effect on water quality of researched lakes, especially in the case of lakes with a restricted communication with the river, their water quality is a result of local conditions, e.g. possibility of contamination by sewage waters, land use in the vicinity, etc. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2419-6 Authors Dagmar Chalupová, Faculty of Science, Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Charles University in Prague, Albertov 6, 128 43 Prague 2, Czech Republic Petra Havlíková, Faculty of Science, Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Charles University in Prague, Albertov 6, 128 43 Prague 2, Czech Republic Bohumír Janský, Faculty of Science, Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Charles University in Prague, Albertov 6, 128 43 Prague 2, Czech Republic Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Occupational exposure to inhalational anesthetics occurs routinely in operating rooms. It could induce serious health hazards and diseases. This exposure assessment is a crucial step in determining risks. In this study, a pen-shaped holder for solid-phase microextraction (SPME) sampler was successfully applied as a time-weighted average sampling tool for workshift exposure assessment of operation room staff to halothane. It proved to be very convenient for use in occupational environments such as operation rooms. Samples were analyzed by a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The validity of the SPME method was checked in real-world conditions with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 103 standard method for the determination of inhalational anesthetics. A good agreement between OSHA 103 and SPME methods was obtained and results demonstrated no statistically significant differences in anesthetic concentrations determined by the two analytical methods ( p  ≥ 0.05). It is concluded that SPME in retracted mode could successfully be applied in occupational exposure assessment purposes. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-8 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2434-7 Authors Mohammad Javad Zare Sakhvidi, Department of Occupational Health, Research Centre for Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Hamedan University of Medical Science, Hamadan, Iran AbdulRahman Bahrami, Department of Occupational Health, Research Centre for Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Hamedan University of Medical Science, Hamadan, Iran Alireza Ghiasvand, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Lorestan University, Khoramabad, Iran Hossein Mahjub, Department of Biostatics and Epidemiology, Research Centre for Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Hamedan University of Medical Science, Hamedan, Iran Ludovic Tuduri, LPTC-Institut des Sciences Moléculaires, UMR 5255 CNRS-Université Bordeaux 1, Site universitaire, 24019 Périgueux Cedex, France Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Concentrations of the elements Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn were measured in the fronds of the fern Athyrium distentifolium from the Sudety and Tatra mountains (Poland). The A. distentifolium sites in the Sudety mountains which were influenced by long-range metal transport from the former Black Triangle were distinguished by the principal component and classification analysis (PCCA) . These sites were situated on the west side slopes of one of the ranges in the Sudety mountains (within a 150-km radius of the heart of the former Black Triangle) at an altitude of 700 m asl, and exposed to prevailing winds. This most affected area had significantly higher foliar concentrations of Cu, Cr and Ni which are typical for long-range transported airborne elements occurring in coal fly ash emitted by lignite combustion industry. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2425-8 Authors Aleksandra Samecka-Cymerman, Department of Ecology, Biogeochemistry and Environmental Protection, Wrocław University, ul. Kanonia 6/8, 50-328 Wroclaw, Poland Krzysztof Kolon, Department of Ecology, Biogeochemistry and Environmental Protection, Wrocław University, ul. Kanonia 6/8, 50-328 Wroclaw, Poland Lucyna Mróz, Department of Ecology, Biogeochemistry and Environmental Protection, Wrocław University, ul. Kanonia 6/8, 50-328 Wroclaw, Poland A. J. Kempers, Department of Environmental Sciences, Huygens Building, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    The present study describes an operational method, based on the Katerji et al. (Eur J Agron 33:218–230, 2010) model, for determining the daily evapotranspiration (ET) for soybean inside open top chambers (OTCs). It includes two functions, calculated day par day, making it possible to separately take into account the effects of concentrations of air ozone and plant water stress. This last function was calibrated in function of the daily values of actual water reserve in the soil. The input variables of the method are (a) the diurnal values of global radiation and temperature, usually measured routinely in a standard weather station; (b) the daily values of the AOT40 index accumulated (accumulated ozone over a threshold of 40 ppb during daylight hours, when global radiation exceeds 50 Wm −2 ) determined inside the OTC; and (c) the actual water reserve in the soil, at the beginning of the trial. The ensemble of these input variables can be automatable; thus, the proposed method could be applied in routine. The ability of the method to take into account contrasting conditions of ozone air concentration and water stress was evaluated over three successive years, for 513 days, in ten crop growth cycles, excluding the days employed to calibrate the method. Tests were carried out in several chambers for each year and take into account the intra- and inter-year variability of ET measured inside the OTCs. On the daily scale, the slope of the linear regression between the ET measured by the soil water balance and that calculated by the proposed method, under different water conditions, are 0.98 and 1.05 for the filtered and unfiltered (or enriched) OTCs with root mean square error (RMSE) equal to 0.77 and 1.07 mm, respectively. On the seasonal scale, the mean difference between measured and calculated ET is equal to +5% and +11% for the filtered and unfiltered OTCs, respectively. The ability of the proposed method to estimate the daily and seasonal ET inside the OTCs is therefore satisfactory following inter- and intra-annual tests. Finally, suggestions about the applications of the proposed method for other species, different from soybean, were also discussed. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2427-6 Authors Gianfranco Rana, CRA—Research Unit for Agriculture in Dry Environments, Via C. Ulpiani, 5, 70125 Bari, Italy Nader Katerji, INRA-UMR 1091 EGC, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France Marcello Mastrorilli, CRA—Research Unit for Agriculture in Dry Environments, Via C. Ulpiani, 5, 70125 Bari, Italy Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Labile fractions of soil organic matter (SOM) respond rapidly to land management practices and can be used as a sensitive indicator of changes in SOM. However, there is little information about the effect of agroforestry practices on labile SOM fractions in semiarid regions of China. In order to test the effects of land use change from monocropping to agroforestry systems on labile SOM fractions, we investigated soil microbial biomass C (MBC) and N, particulate organic matter C (POMC) and N (POMN), as well as total organic C (TOC) and total N (TN) in the 0- to 15-cm and the 15- to 30-cm layers in 4-year-old poplar-based agroforestry systems and adjoining monocropping systems with two different soil textures (sandy loam and sandy clay loam) in a semiarid region of Northeast China. Our results showed that poplar-based agroforestry practices affected soil MBC, POMC, and POMN, albeit there was no significant difference in TOC and TN. Agroforestry practices increased MBC, POMC, and POMN in sandy clay loam soils. However, in sandy loam soils, agroforestry practices only increased MBC and even decreased POMC and POMN at the 0- to 15-cm layer. Our results suggest that labile SOM fractions respond sensitively to poplar-based agroforestry practices and can provide early information about the changes in SOM in semiarid regions of Northeast China and highlight that the effects of agroforestry practices on labile SOM fractions vary with soil texture. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2462-3 Authors Rong Mao, State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110164 China De-Hui Zeng, State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110164 China Lu-Jun Li, State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110164 China Ya-Lin Hu, State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110164 China Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Air samples for PM 10 (dp 〈 10 μm in aerodynamic diameter) were collected from March 2007 to February 2008 near Taj Mahal—a historically sensitive site in Agra. Each sample collected on 20.3 × 25.4-cm Whatman quartz microfiber filter using respirable dust sampler was analyzed gravimetrically for mass concentrations and chemically for elements such as Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, Ca, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Br, Rb, Cd, Ba, and Pb by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy and inorganic ions such as NH 4 + , K + , SO 4 2− , NO 3 − , F − , and Cl − by ion chromatograph. Annual average of PM 10 155.47 ± 77.97 μg/m 3 was three times high the annual average NAAQ standard of 50 μg/m 3 for sensitive area. PM 10 as well as K + , Cl − , As, and Pb were higher in winter while crust elements and secondary aerosols were higher in summer. The average equivalent ratio of NH 4 + to sum up of SO 4 2− and NO 3 − was greater than unity which indicates high source strength of ammonia and alkaline nature of aerosols in Agra. Source apportionment of PM 10 was carried out by factor analysis using principal component analysis (varimax rotated factor matrix method) of SPSS. Five sources contributing to PM 10 were identified as crust material, vehicular emissions, industrial emissions, coal and biomass burning, and secondary aerosols. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2392-0 Authors Rai Singh, Department of Environmental Studies, School of Life Sciences, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Khandari Campus, Agra, 282002 India Bhupendra S. Sharma, Department of Environmental Studies, School of Life Sciences, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Khandari Campus, Agra, 282002 India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Identifying the possible sources of potential harmful metals in groundwater systems plays a crucial role in evaluating the potential risks to residents and local plant cover. An attempt was made to define the origin of Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mo, Ni, and Pb in groundwater using multivariate statistic approaches [principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical cluster analysis], and tailings sequential extraction by the method of Tessier et al. The concentrations of studied elements were measured in 42 samples collected from 15 stations surrounding and downward the tailings dam of Miduk Copper Complex, central province of Kerman, Iran. According to the PCA results, confirmed by cluster dendrogram and metal content measurement of tailings sequential extracts, two components accounting for nearly73% of the total variance, controlled the heavy metal variability and classified the possible source of groundwater contamination into two categories: (1) upper seepage which controls the variability of Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, and Pb and (2) toe seepage of tailings dump affecting on Mo and Al concentration in downstream groundwater. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2411-1 Authors Maryam Kargar, Environment Department, Natural Resources Faculty, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Neamatolah Khorasani, Environment Department, Natural Resources Faculty, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Mahmoud Karami, Environment Department, Natural Resources Faculty, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Gholamreza Rafiee, Fishering Department, Natural Resources Faculty, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Reza Naseh, Research and Development Center of National Iranian Copper Industry Company (NICICO), Tehran, Iran Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    Rising O 3 concentrations in agricultural areas have been identified as a significant threat to crop production in Asia including India. The present work reports the results of a field study conducted to assess the usefulness of higher than recommended NPK dose in modifying the physiological, growth, yield, and seed quality responses of two mustard ( Brassica campestris L. var. Vardan and Aashirwad) varieties under ambient ozone level at a rural site of India, using open-top chambers. Twelve hourly mean O 3 concentrations ranged between 27.7 and 59.04 ppb during the growth period. Plants in nonfiltered chambers (NFCs) showed reductions in photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and growth parameters compared to the plants in filtered chambers (FCs), but reductions were of lower magnitude at 1.5 times recommended dose of NPK (1.5 RNPK) compared to recommended (RNPK). Yield and seed quality reduced significantly in plants of NFCs compared to FCs at RNPK, but no significant differences were recorded at 1.5 RNPK. There were higher N uptake and N uptake efficiency of plants in FCs compared to NFCs. Nitrogen utilization efficiency increased in Vardan, but decreased in Aashirwad in NFCs compared to FCs suggesting higher capability of N acquisition and utilization under ambient O 3 , which led to a less pronounced reduction in the yield of the former than the latter variety. The differential nitrogen utilization efficiency in these varieties may be potentially used as measure of sensitivity characteristics in breeding programs for yield improvement in mustard under the present trend of increase in O 3 concentrations. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2386-y Authors Poonam Singh, Laboratory of Air Pollution and Global Climate Change, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005 India Shalini Singh, Laboratory of Air Pollution and Global Climate Change, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005 India S. B. Agrawal, Laboratory of Air Pollution and Global Climate Change, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005 India Madhoolika Agrawal, Laboratory of Air Pollution and Global Climate Change, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005 India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369

Beschreibung:    A study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pollution in roadside soil was conducted at a developing city locations of Jalandhar (Punjab), India in winter season to ascertain the contamination levels and their distribution behavior in roadside soil. PAHs concentration level of ten locations was measured at 1, 2, and 3 m distances from roadside soil covering all the major traffic intercepts within a city. Samples were extracted in acetone and dichloromethane (1:1) using soxhlet extraction. The extracts were filtered on a silica gel micro column to remove impurities and eluate was subjected to GC-FID. The total average PAHs concentration (city average) was found to be 4.04 μg g −1 , whereas the concentration of 16 individual PAHs was found to vary between 0.008 and 28.4 μg g −1 . The average concentration of noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic PAHs in all the samples was 2.17 and 6.41 μg g −1 (ratio 1:2.95). The concentration of five ringed PAHs was found to be 45% to 60%, whereas two ringed PAHs were found to be in the range from 0.28% to 0.56% in all most all locations. The average highest PAHs concentration for any individual location was found as 12.23 μg g −1 at DAV Chowk at 1 m distance and minimum concentration was 0.98 μg g −1 at Maqsuda Chowk at 1 m distance from roadside. DiB (ah) A was the individual PAHs found in highest concentration in all the intercepts ranging between 1.26 and 28 μg g −1 . At most of the city intercepts, total carcinogenic PAHs concentration was found to range from 60% to 80% in comparison to noncarcinogenic PAHs (20%–40%) at most of the intercepts. The pollution level our study was compared with other cities of India/worldwide. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2416-9 Authors Vaneet Kumar, Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, 144011 Punjab, India N. C. Kothiyal, Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, 144011 Punjab, India Journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Online ISSN 1573-2959 Print ISSN 0167-6369