Search results for "Contaminants"
showing 10 items of 57 documents
A European Multi Lake Survey dataset of environmental variables, phytoplankton pigments and cyanotoxins
2018
Under ongoing climate change and increasing anthropogenic activity, which continuously challenge ecosystem resilience, an in-depth understanding of ecological processes is urgently needed. Lakes, as providers of numerous ecosystem services, face multiple stressors that threaten their functioning. Harmful cyanobacterial blooms are a persistent problem resulting from nutrient pollution and climate-change induced stressors, like poor transparency, increased water temperature and enhanced stratification. Consistency in data collection and analysis methods is necessary to achieve fully comparable datasets and for statistical validity, avoiding issues linked to disparate data sources. The Europea…
Caging techniques for field exposures of fish to chemical contaminants
2005
The article reviews current state-of-the-art to conduct fish caging as an assessment and monitoring technique in aquatic toxicology. A multitude of scientific, practical and management factors influence and may restrict how field research is carried out. For many purposes the advantages of transplant fish caging outweigh the alternative methodologies of impact studies of xenobiotics. However, besides mortality, virtually no study has evaluated the physiological consequences of caging fish. It is not known how caging itself affects the responses of fishes to chemical pollution. The used caging densities are commonly too high. However, with the aid of variables describing physiological stress…
Mushrooms as Biomonitors of Heavy Metals Contamination in Forest Areas
2018
Abstract The aim of the research was to assess the level of contamination with heavy metals (manganese, iron, nickel, copper, zinc, cadmium and lead) in two forest areas selected in different places in Poland: the first one in the Swietokrzyskie Province (forests of the Staporkow Forest Division) and the second one in the Opolskie Province (forests of the Kup Forest Division). The degree of contamination of these forest areas with analytes was found using edible large-fruited mushrooms naturally occurring there - the research was carried out using passive biomonitoring method. Heavy metals in mushrooms (separately in stems and hats) as well as in soil samples were determined by atomic absor…
The distribution of phthalate esters in indoor dust of Palermo (Italy).
2013
In this work, phthalic acid esters (PAEs): dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-n-butyl phthalate, benzyl butyl phthalate, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, and di-n-octyl phthalate in indoor dust (used as passive sampler) were investigated. The settled dust samples were collected from thirteen indoor environments from Palermo city. A fast and simple method using Soxhlet and GC–MS analysis has been optimized to identify and quantify the phthalates. Total phthalates concentrations in indoor dusts ranged from 269 to 4,831 mg/kg d.w. (d.w. = dry weight). The data show a linear correlation between total PAEs concentration and a single compound content, with the exclusion of the two …
Characterization of the contamination fingerprint of wastewater treatment plant effluents in the Henares River Basin (central Spain) based on target …
2022
The interest in contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) has increased lately due to their continued emission and potential ecotoxicological hazards. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are generally not capable of eliminating them and are considered the main pathway for CECs to the aquatic environment. The number of CECs in WWTPs effluents is often so large that complementary approaches to the conventional target analysis need to be implemented. Within this context, multitarget quantitative analysis (162 compounds) and a suspect screening (>40,000 suspects) approaches were applied to characterize the CEC fingerprint in effluents of five WWTPs in the Henares River basin (central Spain) durin…
The dark side of foetal bovine serum in extracellular vesicle studies
2022
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been shown to be involved in cell-cell communication and to take part in both physiological and pathological processes. Thanks to their exclusive cargo, which includes proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids from the originating cells, they are gaining interest as potential biomarkers of disease. In recent years, their appealing features have been fascinating researchers from all over the world, thus increasing the number of in vitro studies focused on EV release, content, and biological activities. Cultured cell lines are the most-used source of EVs; however, the EVs released in cell cultures are influenced by the cell culture conditions, such as the use of fo…
Ecotoxicity of sediments in rivers: Invertebrate community, toxicity bioassays and the toxic unit approach as complementary assessment tools
2015
The determination of the real toxicity of sediments in aquatic ecosystems is challenging and necessary for an appropriate risk assessment. Different approaches have been developed and applied over the last several decades. Currently, the joint implementation of chemical, ecological and toxicological tools is recommended for an appropriate and successful toxicity risk assessment. We chose the combination of the toxic unit approach with acute pore water tests (Vibrio fischeri, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata and Daphnia magna) and whole-sediment exposure tests (V. fischeri, Chironomus riparius), together with invertebrate community composition (multivariate analyses) to detect short and long-…
Contaminants of emerging concern in freshwater fish from four Spanish Rivers.
2019
This study investigated the occurrence of 135 contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) – pharmaceuticals, pesticides, a set of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) (parabens, bisphenols, hormones, triazoles, organophosphorus flame retardants and triclosan), UV-filters, perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) – in 59 fish samples, collected in 2010 in 4 Spanish Rivers (Guadalquivir, Júcar, Ebro and Llobregat). Of the 135 CECs, 76 including 8 pharmaceuticals, 25 pesticides, 10 EDCs, 5 UV-filters, 15 PFASs and 13 HFRs were detected. Pharmaceuticals were the less frequently found and at lower concentrations. Pesticides, EDCs, UV-filters, PFASs and HFRs were det…
Pesticide monitoring in the basin of Llobregat River (Catalonia, Spain) and comparison with historical data.
2014
Through an extensive sampling in the Llobregat River basin, the presence of 50 currently used pesticides in water, sediment, and biota was assessed. Pesticides were detected primarily in water (up to 56% of the analytes), whereas their presence in sediments was more intermittent, and in biota was scarce. Those at high concentrations in water were the benzimidazoles (carbendazim in 22% of the samples up to 697ngL-1), the organophosphorus (malathion in 54% of the samples up to 320ngL-1), and the ureas (diuron in 54% of the samples up to 159ngL-1). However, this pattern differed in sediments and biota, which were contaminated primarily with organophosphorus (higher Kow) (chlorpyrifos 93% of se…
Comparison of the Phytotoxkit microbiotest and chemical variables for toxicity evaluation of sediments
2006
The main objective of the research was to evaluate the suitability of the Phytotoxkit microbiotest as a tool for hazard assessment of sediments. The concentrations of oil derivatives, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn) were determined in sediment samples collected from the urban canal in Opole (Poland), in order to obtain a general insight of the level of sediment contamination. Phytotoxicity of sediments was estimated on the basis of seed germination and root elongation measurements, combined into an overall germination index (Gl). The results revealed spatial and vertical differentiation in sediment contamination. A good correlation …