Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts blog

Jayakody Sumith and Kelly Munkittrick from the University of New Brunswick look at designing studies to assess the health of fish in developing countries, by applying methodology currently in use in monitoring programmes in Canada.

Study design considerations for assessing the health of fish populations impacted by agriculture in developing countries: a Sri Lankan case study
Jayakody A. Sumith and Kelly R. Munkittrick
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 2105-2123

By monitoring dissolved zinc in the Deûle river, Baghdad Ouddane from the University of Lille et al., uncovered rapid concentration changes in a short period of time, indicating the need to better characterize the dynamic behaviour of trace metals in the aquatic environments
and to revise water quality assessments.

Evidence of highly dynamic geochemical behaviour of zinc in the Deûle river (northern France)
Beatriz Lourino-Cabana, Gabriel Billon, Aurélie Magnier, Emilie Prygiel, Willy Baeyens, Jean Prygiel, Oyvind Mikkelsen and Baghdad Ouddane
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 2124-2133

Tatiana Dillenburg Saint’Pierre, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and colleagues investigate trace aerosols in the tropics, which have so far been poorly studied, increasing our understanding of the long range transport, composition and solubility of airborne particulates in this region.

Chemical composition, sources, solubility, and transport of aerosol trace elements in a tropical region
Adriana Gioda, Beatriz Silva Amaral, Isabela Luizi Gonçalves Monteiro and Tatiana Dillenburg Saint’Pierre
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 2134-2142

The changing concentrations of toxic and essential elements were examined in pregnant women by Jon Øyvind Odland and teams from the University of Tromsø, McMaster University and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research.

Changes in maternal blood concentrations of selected essential and toxic elements during and after pregnancy
Solrunn Hansen, Evert Nieboer, Torkjel M. Sandanger, Tom Wilsgaard, Yngvar Thomassen, Anna Sofia Veyhe and Jon Øyvind Odland
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 2143-2152

A national picture for river aluminium levels in England and Wales has been revealed by researchers at Lancaster University and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford, UK. Aluminium can have toxic effects in rivers particularly in the Al3+ form and 54 river sites in rural, agricultural and urban locations were involved in the study.

The work by Paul Scholefield and colleagues showed, for example, that for mid Wales there are limited declines in aluminium following acidification recovery, and unexpected variations for organic and colloidal aluminium. Among other findings the study has highlighted the need for further investigation of the hydrogeochemical ecotoxicological relevance of colloidal aluminium.

Read the full article here

Aluminium in UK rivers: a need for integrated research related to kinetic factors, colloidal transport, carbon and habitat
Colin Neal, Philip Rowland, Margaret Neal, Helen P. Jarvie, Alan Lawlor, Darren Sleep and Paul Scholefield
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10362H, Paper

The quality of our water is always a key environmental issue, but measuring pathogens in water sources can be tricky.  Instead, bacteria such as E. coli – which in themselves do not cause illness but are present alongside pathogens in contaminated water –  have historically been used as indicators of water quality.  This method has been criticised, and new technologies now enable quicker and easier detection of actual pathogens such as Salmonella.

In this hot paper, Alexandria Boehm‘s group at Stanford University have conducted the first study on the fate of non-seeded Salmonella and faecal bacterial indicators E. coli and enterococci in urban surface waters, specifically a creek in California with levels of E. coli that often exceed EPA limits. Surprisingly, the EPA has not yet set any Salmonella standards for drinking and recreational waters so these studies will be valuable in beginning to determine acceptable levels, as methodologies they have developed for monitoring the source and fate of the bacteria can be transferred to other water bodies.

To read more about their findings download the paper – it’s free to access for 4 weeks:

Sources and fate of Salmonella and fecal indicator bacteria in an urban creek
Lauren M. Sassoubre, Sarah P. Walters, Todd L. Russell and Alexandria B. Boehm
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10213C

One of the jobs of an environmental regulatory body is to establish acceptable levels of containments in the ecosystem under its jurisdiction.  But can the data they are basing their decisions on be relevant when standard toxicity tests have been carried out on non-native species, or when tests have not been carried out across the whole ecosystem?

This Critical Review from Samantha Eslava Martins and Adalto Bianchini at the Federal University of Rio Grande, Brazil, presents the first database of toxicological tests performed with Brazilian aquatic species.  Brazil has a hugely varied ecosystem and by analysing the database they were able to identify large gaps in current research efforts – both geographical and in the species tested.

Such an approach could be easily adopted by other countries, and could be a valuable tool to help researchers understand where more information is needed or to help policy makers make more realistic decisions about the protection of the environment.

As with all our HOT articles, this one is also free to access for 4 weeks, so why not take a look:

Toxicity tests aiming to protect Brazilian aquatic systems: current status and implications for management
Samantha Eslava Martins and Adalto Bianchini
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00787K

Assessing exposure is an important aspect of complying with the EU REACH regulations.  In the pharmaceutical industry accurately determining occupational exposure to API can be difficult due to the nature of the pharmaceutical process.  There are modelling tools available to help give confident assessments of exposure, one of the most sophisticated of which is the Advanced REACH Tool (ART).

In this HOT paper Patricia McDonnell (National University of Ireland Galway) and colleagues from across Europe have optimised ART to model airborne exposure of workers in the pharmaceutical industry, by refining and validating the inhalable dust algorithm.

If you’re interested in evaluating exposure assessment models why not download the paper – it’s free to access for 4 weeks:

Validation of the inhalable dust algorithm of the Advanced REACH Tool using a dataset from the pharmaceutical industry
Patricia E. Mc Donnell, Jody M. Schinkel, Marie A. Coggins, Wouter Fransman, Hans Kromhout, John W. Cherrie and Erik L. Tielemans
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 1597-1606
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10189G