Ecotoxicological relevance of glyphosate and flazasulfuron to soil habitat and retention functions - Single vs combined exposures.

Glyphosate (GLY) and flazasulfuron (FLA) are two non-selective herbicides commonly applied together. However, research focused on their single and combined ecotoxicological impacts towards non-target organisms is still inconclusive. Therefore, this study aimed to test their single effects on soil's habitat and retention functions, and to unravel their combined impacts to earthworms and terrestrial plants.

Chemical characterization of riverine sediments affected by wastewater treatment plant effluent discharge.

This study was aimed at assessing the contribution of wastewater treatment effluents to the contamination profile of the sediments of receiving waterways. Three wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) were addressed, encompassing different population equivalent sizes, urbanization degrees and treatment methods translating differences in expected contamination patterns. Within each WWTP system, the assessment targeted the effluent and sediment samples collected upstream and downstream the effluent discharge point; contaminants belonging to several concerning chemical classes (metals and metalloids; pesticides; pharmaceuticals and personal care products, PPCPs; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs) were quantified both in effluent and sediment samples.

Nano-FeO as a tool to restore plant growth in contaminated soils - Assessment of potentially toxic elements (bio)availability and redox homeostasis in Hordeum vulgare L.

This work aimed to evaluate the potential of FeO nanoparticles (nano-FeO) to alleviate potentially toxic elements (PTEs) - induced stress in barley plants (Hordeum vulgare L.), focusing on bioaccumulation patterns and on plant growth and redox homeostasis. To achieve this goal, plants grew in two agricultural soils, contaminated by different levels of PTEs, collected from an industrial area, previously amended, or not, with 1% (w/w) nano-FeO.

Sources of carbohydrates on bulk deposition in South-Western of Europe.

Scarce information is available concerning the presence of carbohydrates in rainwater. The existence of carbohydrates in bulk deposition at the town of Estarreja (Portugal), at industrial (I) and background (BG) locals, in winter and spring seasons 2016, was assessed. Seventeen carbohydrates and related compounds were identified: monosaccharides (ribose, arabinose, xylose, glucose, galactose, fructose), disaccharides (sucrose, trehalose, maltose, cellobiose), polyols (arabinitol, xylitol, myo-inositol, mannitol, glucitol, maltitol), and the anhydromonosaccharide levoglucosan.

Availability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to earthworms in urban soils and its implications for risk assessment.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a global problem, and in urban soils they can be found at potentially hazard levels. Nevertheless, the real risks that these contaminants pose to the environment are not well known, since the bioavailability of PAHs in urban soils has been poorly studied. Therefore, the bioavailability of PAHs in some selected urban soils from Lisbon (Portugal) was evaluated.

Lead and PAHs contamination of an old shooting range: A case study with a holistic approach.

Soil pollution at firing ranges is an issue of growing importance, due to the accumulation in soils of contaminants derived from ammunition and clay targets. The concentration of Pb and PAHs was determined in five soils of an abandoned shooting range in Galicia (northwest Spain), and an ecotoxicological characterization was performed in order to obtain an assessment of risks. Therefore, the retention capacity of soils was assessed using test organisms of different trophic levels, and the role of soils as habitat for soil invertebrates was assessed by reproduction tests and bioaccumulation assays with earthworms.

Source and pathway analysis of lead and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Lisbon urban soils.

One hundred soil samples were collected from urban spaces, in Lisbon, Portugal, in two surveys that were carried out in consecutive years, to assess the potential adverse human health effects following exposure to potentially toxic elements and organic compounds in the urban soils. The study hereby described follows on from the earlier work of the authors and aims at performing a source-pathway-fate analysis of lead (Pb) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the urban soils in order to increase current knowledge on factors influencing exposure of the population. Various techniques were combined to achieve the proposed goal.

Risk assessment of urban soils contamination: The particular case of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

The assessment of soil quality and characterization of potential risks to the environment and human health can be a very difficult task due to the heterogeneity and complexity of the matrix, the poor understanding about the fate of contaminants in the soil matrix, scarcity of toxicological/ecotoxicological data and variability of guidelines. In urban soils these difficulties are enhanced by the patchy nature of urban areas and the presence of complex mixtures of organic and inorganic contaminants resulting from diffuse pollution caused by urban activities (e.g.

Sewage contamination of sediments from two Portuguese Atlantic coastal systems, revealed by fecal sterols.

Fecal sterols in sediments were used to assess the degree of sewage contamination in Ria de Aveiro lagoon and Mondego River estuary for the first time. Coprostanol, the major fecal sterol, averaged 1.82 ± 4.

Catalog of total excitation-emission and total synchronous fluorescence maps with synchronous fluorescence spectra of homologated fluorescent pesticides in large use in Morocco: development of a spectrometric low cost and direct analysis as an alert method in case of massive contamination of soils and waters by fluorescent pesticides.

The purpose of this research is to develop a direct spectrometric approach to monitor soils and waters, at a lower cost than the widely used chromatographic techniques; a spectrometric approach that is effective, reliable, fast, easy to implement, and without any use of organic solvents whose utilization is subject to law limitation. It could be suitable at least as an alert method in case of massive contamination. Here, we present for the first time a catalog of excitation-emission and total synchronous fluorescence maps that may be considered as fingerprints of a series of homologated pesticides, in large use in Morocco, aiming at a direct detection of their remains in agricultural soils and neighboring waters.

Geochemistry, mineralogy, solid-phase fractionation and oral bioaccessibility of lead in urban soils of Lisbon.

An urban survey of Lisbon, the largest city in Portugal, was carried out to investigate its environmental burden, emphasizing metallic elements and their public health impacts. This paper examines the geochemistry of lead (Pb) and its influence on human health data. A total of 51 soil samples were collected from urban recreational areas used by children to play outdoors.

The prediction of PAHs bioavailability in soils using chemical methods: state of the art and future challenges.

The evaluation of the available fraction of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) is extremely important for assessing their risk to the environment and human health. This available fraction, which can be solubilized and/or easily extracted, is believed to be the most accessible for bioaccumulation, biosorption and/or transformation by organisms. Based on this, two main types of chemical methods have been developed, closely related to the concepts of bioaccessibility and freely available concentrations: non-exhaustive extractions and biomimetic methods.

Pesticide application to agricultural fields: effects on the reproduction and avoidance behaviour of Folsomia candida and Eisenia andrei.

The objective of this work was to assess the impact of pesticide application to non-target soil organisms simulating what happens following pesticide application in agricultural fields and thus obtaining higher realism on results obtained. For that purpose, three commercial formulations containing the insecticides chlorpyrifos and endosulfan and the herbicide glyphosate were applied to a Mediterranean agricultural field. The soil was collected after spraying and dilution series were prepared with untreated soil to determine the impact of the pesticides on the avoidance behaviour and reproduction of the earthworm Eisenia andrei and the collembolan Folsomia candida.

Levels, sources and potential human health risks of organic pollutants in urban soils.

Urban soil quality may be severely affected by PAH and PCB contamination, impairing environmental and human health. A comprehensive study was conducted in two contrasting Portuguese urban areas (Lisbon and Viseu) in order to assess the levels of these contaminants and potential risks to human health, to identify sources and study their behavior in soils. The concentrations of PAHs and PCBs were related to the size of the city.

Major inputs and mobility of potentially toxic elements contamination in urban areas.

Soil quality in urban areas is affected by anthropogenic activities, posing a risk to human health and ecosystems. Since the pseudo-total concentrations of potentially toxic elements may not reflect their potential risks, the study of element mobility is very important on a risk assessment basis. This study aims at characterising the distribution and major sources of 34 elements in two Portuguese urban areas (Lisbon and Viseu), with different geological characteristics, industrial and urban development processes.

Characterization and validation of a Portuguese natural reference soil to be used as substrate for ecotoxicological purposes.

This study describes the first attempt to validate a Portuguese natural soil (PTRS1) to be used as reference soil for ecotoxicological purposes, aimed to both: (i) obtain ecotoxicological data for the derivation of Soil Screening Values (SSVs) with regional relevance, acting as a substrate to be spiked with ranges of concentrations of the chemicals under evaluation and (ii) act as control and as substrate for the dilution of contaminated soils in ecotoxicological assays performed to evaluate the ecotoxicity of contaminated soils, in tier 2 of risk assessment frameworks, applied to contaminated lands. The PTRS1 is a cambisol from a granitic area integrated in the Central Iberian Zone. After chemical characterization of the soil in terms of pseudo-total metals, PAHs, PCBs and pesticide contents, it was possible to perceive that some metals (Ba, Be, Co, Cr and V) surpass the Dutch Target Values (Dtvs) corrected for the percentage of organic matter and clay of the PTRS1.

Lead availability in soils from Portugal's Centre Region with special reference to bioaccessibility.

Previous environmental biomonitoring studies indicated higher environmental lead (Pb) pollution levels at the districts of Aveiro and Leiria (Portugal). In evaluating the risk for human health, which is associated with contaminated soils after oral uptake, total soil concentrations have generally been held against criteria established from toxicological studies based upon the assumption that the uptake of the contaminant is similar in the toxicological studies and from the soils assessed. This assumption is not always valid, as most toxicological studies are carried out with soluble forms of the contaminants, whereas many soil contaminants are or become embedded in the soil matrix and thus exhibit limited availability.

Carbofuran effects in soil nematode communities: using trait and taxonomic based approaches.

This work intends to implement the use of native soil nematode communities in ecotoxicological tests using a model pesticide and two geographically nematode communities (Mediterranean and sub-tropical) in order to obtain new perspectives on the evaluation of the toxic potential of chemical substances. The environmental condition of the nematode communities was described using a trait-based approach (grouping the organisms according to their feeding traits) and a traditional taxonomic method (identification to family level). Effects on total nematode abundance, number of families and abundance of nematode feeding groups as well as potential shifts in both trophic and family structure were assessed.

In situ aquatic bioassessment of pesticides applied on rice fields using a microalga and daphnids.

This study assessed the effects of episodic contamination on a drainage canal adjacent to an area of intensive rice production (Coimbra, Portugal). Four monitoring periods were considered [i) before herbicide application (day-14), ii) at the first application day (day 0), iii) 3 or 5 and iv) 6days after]. Each one consisted in three complementary evaluation lines: a) physico-chemical analyses, b) whole effluent toxicity (WET) assays with Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, c) in situ bioassays to assess microalgae (P.

Gas chromatography - optical fiber detector for assessment of fatty acids in urban soils.

Fatty acids have been used as biomarkers of the microbial community composition of soils and they are usually separated and quantified by gas-chromatography coupled to a flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The aim of this study was to develop, validate and apply a methodology based on gas chromatography coupled to optical fiber detection (GC-OF) for screening five fatty acids used as indicators of fungal and bacterial communities in urban soils. The performance of the GC-OF methodology (optical fiber detector at 1,550 nm) was evaluated by comparison with the GC-FID methodology and it was found that they were comparable in terms of linear range, detection limit and analytical errors.

Sources of potentially toxic elements and organic pollutants in an urban area subjected to an industrial impact.

Urban and industrial development has caused a major impact on environmental soil quality. This work assesses the extent and severity of contamination in a small urban area subjected to an industrial impact and identifies the major anthropogenic inputs. Twenty-six soil samples were collected from agricultural and urban sites, and concentrations of potentially toxic elements (As, Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn), PAHs and PCBs, were determined.

Structural effects of the bioavailable fraction of pesticides in soil: suitability of elutriate testing.

This study focused the ecotoxicological evaluation of four different pesticides (chlorpyrifos, glyphosate, vinclozolin, endosulfan), sprayed into an agricultural soil, using a standard battery of aquatic bioassays for testing of soil elutriates: Vibrio fischeri -Microtox(®); Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata growth inhibition; Daphnia magna acute and chronic toxicity. Despite relevant pesticide residues were recovered from the soil matrix (concentrations higher than 1000 μg kg(-1)), much lower concentrations could be retrieved from elutriates (highest records for endosulfan of ca. 250 ng L(-1)and 1400 ng L(-1); dissolved and particulate concentration, respectively) and little effects were generally found in the bioassays.

Assessment of fatty acid as a differentiator of usages of urban soils.

The determination of fatty acids (FA) has been extensively used as a sensitive and reproducible parameter for characterizing the soil microorganism communities and to detect various environmental stresses. The aim of this study was to assess the variability of FA in urban soils, in an attempt to use it as a differentiator of urban soil usage. FA were extracted from soils of five different usages (ornamental gardens, ornamental gardens/roadsides, roadsides, parks and urban agricultural areas) in three Portuguese cities and FA concentration was determined by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

The variability of polychlorinated biphenyls levels in urban soils from five European cities.

The concentration of PCBs in topsoils from five European cities was assessed and the highest levels were found in Glasgow (Scotland), followed by Torino (Italy), Aveiro (Portugal), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Uppsala (Sweden). All cities showed the presence of local sources in addition to diffuse contamination from global atmospheric transport. The association of general soil parameters with PCBs in Glasgow and with heavier congeners in Torino and Ljubljana indicates that retention of these compounds is occurring.