PFAS in agroecosystems: Sources, impacts, and opportunities for mitigating risks to human and ecosystem health.

Concerns regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their precursors have driven increased research into their sources, impacts, and mitigation strategies, aiming to reduce their prevalence in the environment. While much of this research has centered on known large sources of PFAS (e.g.

The influence of complex matrices on method performance in extracting and monitoring for microplastics.

Previous studies have evaluated method performance for quantifying and characterizing microplastics in clean water, but little is known about the efficacy of procedures used to extract microplastics from complex matrices. Here we provided 15 laboratories with samples representing four matrices (i.e.

Quantitative assessment of visual microscopy as a tool for microplastic research: Recommendations for improving methods and reporting.

Microscopy is often the first step in microplastic analysis and is generally followed by spectroscopy to confirm material type. The value of microscopy lies in its ability to provide count, size, color, and morphological information to inform toxicity and source apportionment. To assess the accuracy and precision of microscopy, we conducted a method evaluation study.

The emergence, trajectory, and impacts of emerging contaminants publications in the Journal of Environmental Quality.

As analytical capabilities in the early 2000s began to enable the detection of chemicals in environmental media at increasingly small concentrations, chemicals with the potential to cause adverse human and ecosystem health effects began to be found nearly ubiquitously worldwide. The types of chemicals that were targeted for analysis included natural and synthetic hormones, human and veterinary pharmaceuticals, chemicals in personal care products, novel pesticides, nanoparticles, microplastics, and other chemicals of natural and synthetic origin. The impacts of these chemicals on environmental and human health in many cases remain unknown.

Continuous Hydrologic and Water Quality Monitoring of Vernal Ponds.

Vernal ponds, also referred to as vernal pools, provide critical ecosystem services and habitat for a variety of threatened and endangered species. However, they are vulnerable parts of the landscapes that are often poorly understood and understudied. Land use and management practices, as well as climate change are thought to be a contribution to the global amphibian decline.

Estrogen Transport in Surface Runoff from Agricultural Fields Treated with Two Application Methods of Dairy Manure.

This study compares two methods of dairy manure application-surface broadcast and shallow disk injection-on the fate and transport of natural estrogens in surface runoff from 12 field plots in central Pennsylvania. Ten natural surface runoff events were sampled over a 9-mo period after fall manure application. Results show that the range of estrogen concentrations observed in surface runoff from the broadcast plots was several orders of magnitude higher (>5000 ng L) than the concentrations in runoff from the shallow disk injection plots (<10 ng L).