This HOT article is featured on the front cover of Issue 6. Why not download it today to read the results of this interesting study – it’s free to access for 6 weeks:
Rapid analysis of neonicotinoid insecticides in guttation drops of corn seedlings obtained from coated seeds
Andrea Tapparo, Chiara Giorio, Matteo Marzaro, Daniele Marton, Lidia Soldà and Vincenzo Girolami
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 1564-1568
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10085H, Paper
Analysing the effects of sampling techniques on the physical parameters and concentrations of selected POPs in river samples
The last few decades has seen a huge increase in the amount of data we collect to monitor our environment. But making sure we do so in a representative and comparable way is vital for extracting valuable information on what we are monitoring whether it be pollutants, contaminants or climate change.
In this HOT paper Thorsten Pohlert and colleagues from the Federal Institute of Hydrology have taken on the mammoth task of analysing the effect of sampling techniques for suspended matter in stream water in a 5 year dataset. They look at the effect that three different sampling devices – continuous-flow centrifuges, floating collectors and sedimentation tanks – have on the on subsequent particle-size distribution and concentration of total organic carbon and selected persistent organic pollutants.
Download the article to read their recommendations on the type of sampling technique that is most suitable for the nature of the sample and the analyte – it’s free to access for 4 weeks:
Effects of sampling techniques on physical parameters and concentrations of selected persistent organic pollutants in suspended matter
Thorsten Pohlert, Gudrun Hillebrand and Vera Breitung
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10045A, Paper
Their goal is to identify the key research questions that must be answered in order to increase our ability to see what the future holds for a warmer Arctic – why not check out the article today, you might get some ideas for your next project!
This article is free to access for the next four weeks:
Global climate change and contaminants—an overview of opportunities and priorities for modelling the potential implications for long-term human exposure to organic compounds in the Arctic
James M. Armitage, Cristina L. Quinn and Frank Wania
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10131E
Why not also take a look at this review article by Susan Nash at Griffith University, describing the challenges faced by the research community in obtaining accurate information on the impact of persistent organic pollutants in Antarctica:
Persistent organic pollutants in Antarctica: current and future research priorities
Susan Bengtson Nash
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 497-504
Richard Luthy talks to JEM Deputy Editor Michael Smith about safeguarding water quality and how military service in the Vietnam War led him to environmental science
Richard Luthy is the Silas H Palmer professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, US. His interests include water quality and water reuse for ecosystem and human requirements
What inspired you to become an environmental scientist?
From an early age, I was influenced by my father who gave me gifts that inspired my curiosity. At one time, I had a gigantic chemistry set and used to do the experiments in the garage. I later went on to study chemical engineering. In the late 1960s, there was a race to the moon and a race to the bottom of the ocean. Jacques Cousteau was very active then and, almost on a whim, I decided I wanted to study ocean engineering. At that time, the Vietnam War had started – I was advised that it was better to volunteer than be drafted, so I volunteered for the navy civil engineer corps and became a deep sea diver leading a team in underwater construction. By the early 1970s, the US Environmental Protection Agency was founded and the Clean Water Act was passed. Around this time, I read Rachel Carson’s book about the dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane – or DDT – problem, Silent Spring. Being in the military gave me time to think about my future and environmental issues and I decided that on leaving the navy, I would do a PhD in environmental engineering.
What’s your main focus?
I’ve always had an interest in physical chemical processes and in trying to understand what mechanisms are at work in environmental systems such as sediments and wetlands. Everything is connected in natural systems – some connections are more important than others and we need to try to quantify these. The use of modelling can then enable you to make predictions about the system. My work is focused particularly on water quality.
What’s the most exciting thing about the work you do?
I enjoy working with colleagues from other disciplines, including biology and the social sciences. We’re looking at how to manage contaminants in sediments and I’ve learned a lot about aquatic biology, which you need to understand as well as how compounds are taken up and how we can control the availability of contaminants in sediments. Better management and use of our water resources are two of the most important problems in the western United States. It has been exciting partnering with excellent colleagues in the various disciplines and by working together, we have been able to put forward proposals to address the challenges ahead.
What’s the next big challenge?
In California, the water infrastructure is old, fragile and needs replacement. Back in the 1950s, we pumped water all over the place but now we’ve got to think about energy costs and the competing needs of agriculture and other human activities. Of course, part of the solution will come from technology that requires less energy. We are also thinking more about ecosystems. For example, the issue is no longer about not killing fish with discharge from wastewater treatment plants, we now have to consider how to leave the fish with enough water to live in. Ecosystems have an equal claim to water as industry and agriculture and we have to find a way of satisfying these competing claims.
There are issues with regard to management and institutions. In California, there are around 500 different major water suppliers, each with their own pricing structure. That makes it difficult to introduce a new water process or system since you have to discuss the changes with all those different bodies. Also, we view groundwater as a separate entity to surface water, but they’re connected. Having one set of laws that govern groundwater and another set for surface water makes the management of both resources much more difficult. Financial costs are the biggest hurdle in introducing improvements in water reuse, so it’s important to have business models that help us recover these costs.
Another issue is how we deal with climate change and risk in the future. There are risks from natural phenomena and from intentional acts and in the end you want a system that is robust and resilient. In the field of water quality and supply, we can either do things differently or just keep muddling along. Human society needs water and changes will happen anyway in how we maintain our water supplies, but ideally you like that change to happen in a way that is well planned, cost effective and serves the various needs I’ve described.
To read more see the Chemistry World story.
Articles of interest:
New methods to monitor emerging chemicals in the drinking water production chain
Annemarie van Wezel, Margreet Mons and Wouter van Delft, J. Environ. Monit., 2010, 12, 80
DOI: 10.1039/b912979k
Implementation of E.U. Water Framework Directive: source assessment of metallic substances at catchment levels
Ho-Sik Chon, Dieudonne-Guy Ohandja and Nikolaos Voulvoulis, J. Environ. Monit., 2010, 12, 36
DOI: 10.1039/b907851g
Fate and removal of estrogens in municipal wastewater
LeeAnn Racz and Ramesh K. Goel, J. Environ. Monit., 2010, 12, 58
DOI: 10.1039/b917298j
In this Perspective article David Lindenmayer (The Australian National University) and Gene Likens (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies) prevent their view on developing effective monitoring programs for agriculture.
The article was written in response to an opinion piece published in Nature proposing a global network for agricultural monitoring, which the authors believe fails to successfully address this important issue. They argue that the framework proposed by Sachs et al is likely to be ineffective, due to their analysis of previous monitoring programs. They present a new framework, based on their research which aims to understand change in environmental phenomena in agricultural ecosystems and answer critical questions about sustainable agriculture.
This interesting piece is currently free to access for 4 weeks – why not read it and give us your opinion?
Effective monitoring of agriculture
David B. Lindenmayer and Gene E. Likens
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00691B
On the outside front cover we have a HOT article from Rai Kookana on the sorption properties of fullerenes in soil – showing that they may form colloidal nanoparticles which affects the way they partition:
Sorption of nano-C60 clusters in soil: hydrophilic or hydrophobic interactions?
Mohsen Forouzangohar and Rai S. Kookana
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 1190-1194
DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00689K
Occurrence and removal of titanium at full scale wastewater treatment plants: implications for TiO2 nanomaterials
Paul Westerhoff, Guixue Song, Kiril Hristovski and Mehlika A. Kiser
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 1195-1203
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10017C
Other HOT articles in this issue also include:
Effects of silver and cerium dioxide micro- and nano-sized particles on Daphnia magna
Birgit K. Gaiser, Anamika Biswas, Philipp Rosenkranz, Mark A. Jepson, Jamie R. Lead, Vicki Stone, Charles R. Tyler and Teresa F. Fernandes
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 1227-1235
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10060B
Challenges for physical characterization of silver nanoparticles under pristine and environmentally relevant conditions
Robert I. MacCuspie, Kim Rogers, Manomita Patra, Zhiyong Suo, Andrew J. Allen, Matthew N. Martin and Vincent A. Hackley
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 1212-1226
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10024F
C60 molecules are well as hydrophobic compounds with a high KOC value. But what happens when fullerene molecules are released into the environment?
Mohsen Forouzangohar and Rai Kookana from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation have expanded on previous work that considered environmental C60 sorption on a purely molecular basis and assumed phase partitioning into soil organic matter is the main mechanism for the sorption of the hydrophobic C60 molecules. They have shown that they may actually exist in the form of nano-C60 clusters in the environment – rather than as C60 molecules – and that hydrophobic interactions of this compound with soil organic matter are not likely to be the dominant mechanism governing its mobility in the environment. Instead, net surface charge and hydrophilic interactions are expected to play a much more significant role, which could lead to much higher aqueous concentrations of the fullerenes in the environment than previously anticipated.
This interesting article is the cover article from our themed issue on Environmental Nanotechnology and it’s free to access for 6 weeks:
Sorption of nano-C60 clusters in soil: hydrophilic or hydrophobic interactions?
Mohsen Forouzangohar and Rai S. Kookana
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 1190-1194
DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00689K
As the use of nanoparticles in consumer and commercial products continues to rise, information on their effect on the environment is crucial. Numerous studies have been conducted on nanoparticle toxicity but exposure studies have received, well, less exposure.
This paper offers a method for collecting and analysing titanium dioxide nanomaterials from municipal wastewater treatment plants – a major entry point of nanoparticles into aquatic environments. Paul Westerhoff (Arizona State University) and colleagues show that there is a clear possibility of TiO2 nanoparticles being released into the environment when conventional separation and filtration methods are used. Microfiltration appears to reduce the levels of nanoparticles in the discharged effluent however.
Interestingly, the study also found that silica nanoparticles were present in much higher concentrations than TiO2, quantification of which were beyond the scope of this study, but are the subject of ongoing research.
This HOT article is part of our forthcoming themed issue on Environmental Nanotechnology and is free to access for 4 weeks.
Occurrence and removal of titanium at full scale wastewater treatment plants: implications for TiO2 nanomaterials
Paul Westerhoff, Guixue Song, Kiril Hristovski and Mehlika A. Kiser
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10017C
This month sees the following articles in JEM that are in the top ten most accessed:-
Persistent organic pollutants in Antarctica: current and future research priorities
Susan Bengtson Nash
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 497-504 DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00230E, Perspective
The release of engineered nanomaterials to the environment
Fadri Gottschalk and Bernd Nowack
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00547A, Critical Review
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in effluent matrices: A survey of transformation and removal during wastewater treatment and implications for wastewater management
Rebekah L. Oulton, Tamar Kohn and David M. Cwiertny
J. Environ. Monit., 2010, 12, 1956-1978 DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00068J, Critical Review
Quantitation of persistent organic pollutants adsorbed on plastic debris from the Northern Pacific Gyre’s “eastern garbage patch”
Lorena M. Rios*, Patrick R. Jones, Charles Moore and Urja V. Narayan
J. Environ. Monit., 2010, 12, 2226-2236 DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00239A, Paper
Presence and partitioning properties of the flame retardants pentabromotoluene, pentabromoethylbenzene and hexabromobenzene near suspected source zones in Norway
Hans Peter H. Arp, Thomas Møskeland, Patrik L. Andersson and Jenny Rattfelt Nyholm
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 505-513 DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00258E, Paper
Polyfluoroalkyl compounds in the aquatic environment: a review of their occurrence and fate
Lutz Ahrens
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 20-31 DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00373E, Critical Review
Occurrence of organochlorine pesticides in indoor dust
Elvira V. Bräuner, Philipp Mayer, Lars Gunnarsen, Katrin Vorkamp and Ole Raaschou-Nielsen
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 522-526 DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00750A, Communication
Organophosphates in aircraft cabin and cockpit air-method development and measurements of contaminants
Kasper Solbu, Hanne Line Daae, Raymond Olsen, Syvert Thorud, Dag Gunnar Ellingsen, Torsten Lindgren, Berit Bakke, Elsa Lundanes and Paal Molander
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00763C, Paper
How does exposure to nitrogen dioxide compare between on-road and off-road cycle routes?
T. Bean, N. Carslaw, M. Ashmore, A. Gillah and C. Parkinson
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 1039-1045 DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00332H, Paper
Occurrence and removal efficiencies of eight EDCs and estrogenicity in a STP
Zhaohan Zhang, Yujie Feng, Peng Gao, Ce Wang and Nanqi Ren
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C0EM00597E, Paper
Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.
Fancy submitting an article to JEM? Then why not submit to us today alternatively email us your suggestions.
This HOT article from Birgit Gaiser (Edinburgh Napier University) and colleagues presents a detailed study into the effect of silver and cerium dioxide nanoparticles on the common freshwater test organism Daphnia magna.
Both species of nanoparticles (NPs) are currently used extensively – silver in consumer products for their antibacterial properties, and cerium dioxide in slurries for silicon wafer planarization – and usage is only expected to increase. It is therefore essential to to assess their potentially damaging effects on the environment due to factors such as particle size, material, and concentration. This study investigated acute and chronic toxicity of well characterised nano- and micron- sized particles in Daphnia magna, confirming the “nano-hypothesis” – that nano-sized particles were more toxic than equal concentrations of micron-sized particles (for Ag NPs). Confirming previous studies, CeO2 NPs were only toxic at concentrations significantly above environmentally relevant levels. The study also uncovered sub-lethal effects of silver nanoparticles, such as moulting and impaired growth of D. magna, which the authors hope will improve our understanding of the mechanism that causes toxic effects.
This HOT article is part of our forthcoming themed issue on Environmental Nanotechnology and is free to access for 4 weeks. The careful characterisation of the nanoparticles makes this study particularly valuable – why not read Robert MacCuspie’s article on the challenges for physical characterization of silver nanoparticles which is also part of this themed issue.
Effects of silver and cerium dioxide micro- and nano-sized particles on Daphnia magna
Birgit K. Gaiser, Anamika Biswas, Philipp Rosenkranz, Mark A. Jepson, Jamie R. Lead, Vicki Stone, Charles R. Tyler and Teresa F. Fernandes
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10060B, Paper
