Mediterranean Marine Mammals: Possible Future Trends and Threats Due to Mercury Contamination and Interaction with Other Environmental Stressors.

Despite decreasing anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emissions in Europe and the banning and restriction of many persistent organic pollutants (POPs) under the Stockholm Convention, Mediterranean marine mammals still have one of the highest body burdens of persistent pollutants in the world. Moreover, the Mediterranean basin is one of the most sensitive to climate change, with likely changes in the biogeochemical cycle and bioavailability of Hg, primary productivity, and the length and composition of pelagic food webs. The availability of food resources for marine mammals is also affected by widespread overfishing and the increasing number of alien species colonizing the basin.

Microplastic Interactions and Possible Combined Biological Effects in Antarctic Marine Ecosystems.

Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are the most remote regions on Earth, and their quite pristine environmental conditions are increasingly threatened by local scientific, tourism and fishing activities and long-range transport of persistent anthropogenic contaminants from lower latitudes. Plastic debris has become one of the most pervasive and ubiquitous synthetic wastes in the global environment, and even at some coastal Antarctic sites it is the most common and enduring evidence of past and recent human activities. Despite the growing scientific interest in the occurrence of microplastics (MPs) in the Antarctic environment, the lack of standardized methodologies for the collection, analysis and assessment of sample contamination in the field and in the lab does not allow us to establish their bioavailability and potential impact.

Background element content in the lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea: a comparative analysis of digestion methods.

In bioaccumulation studies, the interpretation of pollutant contents in the target biomonitor has to be performed by assessing a deviation from an unaltered reference condition. A common strategy consists in the comparison with background element content (BEC) values, often built up by uncritically merging methodologically heterogeneous data. In this respect, the acid digestion of samples was identified as a major step affecting BEC data.

Organisms in wall ecosystems as biomonitors of metal deposition and bioavailability in urban environments.

Vegetated walls are common structures in urban environments, and aiming to test the hypothesis that the biogenic crusts and plant and animal communities inhabiting these vertical surfaces can be more reliable indicators of atmospheric metal deposition than plants or animals inhabiting urban soils, we analyzed the chemical composition of the wall crusts, moss cushions (Tortula muralis) and the shells, soft tissues and feces of the stonework snail Papillifera papillaris collected in three small towns in Tuscany (Central Italy). Crusts and mosses from the same stones or bricks indicated that Cd, Pb, and Zn are the main pollutants released by vehicular traffic, while Hg and Cu probably originate from other sources. The soft tissues of P.

Background element content of the lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea: A supra-national state of art implemented by novel field data from Italy.

In biomonitoring, the knowledge of background element content (BEC) values is an essential pre-requisite for the correct assessment of pollution levels. Here, we estimated the BEC values of a highly performing biomonitor, the epiphytic lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea, by means of a careful review of literature data, integrated by an extensive field survey. Methodologically homogeneous element content datasets, reflecting different exposure conditions across European and extra-European countries, were compiled and comparatively analysed.

Infraspecific variability in baseline element composition of the epiphytic lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea in remote areas: implications for biomonitoring of air pollution.

The epiphytic lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea is widely used as biomonitor of airborne trace elements and other contaminants and consists of two taxonomic varieties (var. furfuracea and var. ceratea).

Moss and lichen biomonitoring of atmospheric mercury: A review.

Long-range transport and residence time of elemental Hg (Hg°) in air promote global dispersion and deposition in remote ecosystems. Many biotic and abiotic factors contribute to the photoreduction and phytovolatilization of Hg from terrestrial ecosystems, and the assessment of deposition and volatilization fluxes is very challenging. Mosses and lichens are widespread in nature and constitute the dominant vegetation in alpine and polar ecosystems.

Distribution of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in holm oak plant-soil system evaluated along urbanization gradients.

Heavy metals (HMs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analysed in topsoil and in Quercus ilex L. leaves from holm oak woodlands located along urbanization gradients (urban, periurban and extraurban sites) in two Italian regions (Campania and Tuscany). In each sampling site, the metal bioavailability factors (MBFs) and the pollutant bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) were calculated to estimate the fraction of each total metal concentration in soil potentially available to root uptake and to know the fate of both HMs and PAHs in the plant-soil system.

Persistent pollutants and the patchiness of urban green areas as drivers of genetic richness in the epiphytic moss Leptodon smithii.

We determined genetic variation and metal and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations in Leptodon smithii moss collected in holm oak stands at cities, outskirts and remote areas of Campania and Tuscany (Italy) to investigate if anthropogenic pressure (pollutant emissions and land use change) affects moss genetic richness. In both regions, metal and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations reflected the trend urban>outskirts>remote areas, excepting Tuscany remote site. In both regions, the moss gene diversity increased from urban to remote areas.

Estimating atmospheric mercury concentrations with lichens.

The uptake kinetics of elemental gaseous Hg (Hg(0)) in three species of epiphytic lichens (Pseudevernia furfuracea, Evernia prunastri, and Xanthoria parietina) were investigated under four different Hg concentrations (10, 15, 30, and 45 μg/m(3)) and three different temperatures (10, 20, and 30 °C) with the aim of evaluating the lichen efficiency for Hg(0) accumulation and their potential use in the estimate of atmospheric concentrations of this metal in the field. The results showed that under our experimental conditions the lichens accumulated Hg according to exposure time and that the metal is not released back to the atmosphere after Hg(0) was removed from the air (clearance). Pseudevernia furfuracea showed the highest Hg accumulation capacity and Evernia prunastri showed the lowest, but in these species the metal uptake kinetics was affected by temperature.

Effects of soil pollutants, biogeochemistry and microbiology on the distribution and composition of enchytraeid communities in urban and suburban holm oak stands.

Holm oaks form typical urban woodlands in the Mediterranean region. We aimed at characterizing the enchytraeid communities in these environments and searching for possible correlations with soil parameters, including the traffic contamination. Samples of litter and topsoil were collected at different spatial scales and seasons in Naples and Siena cities and in two suburban stands.

Holm Oak (Quercus ilex L.) canopy as interceptor of airborne trace elements and their accumulation in the litter and topsoil.

We investigated the role of urban Holm Oak (Quercus ilex L.) trees as an airborne metal accumulators and metals' environmental fate. Analyses confirmed Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn as a main contaminants in Siena's urban environment; only Pb concentrations decreased significantly compared to earlier surveys.

Biotic interactions as a structuring force in soil communities: evidence from the micro-arthropods of an Antarctic moss model system.

Current meta-community theories postulate that the structure of local communities depends on dispersal, environmental filtering, and biotic interactions. However, disentangling the relative effects of these factors in the field and for diverse assemblages is a major challenge. A solution is to address natural but simple communities (i.

Baseline element composition of foliose and fruticose lichens along the steep climatic gradient of SW Patagonia (Aisén Region, Chile).

Samples of foliose (Nephroma antarcticum) and fruticose (Usnea sp.) lichens were collected across a steep climatic and vegetation gradient in a remote, almost pristine region of SW Chilean Patagonia. Concentrations of major and trace elements in lichens from the rainforest were among the lowest ever reported worldwide for foliose and fruticose lichens and can be considered background levels for the region.

Selective uptake of major and trace elements in Erica andevalensis, an endemic species to extreme habitats in the Iberian Pyrite Belt.

To assess the ecophysiological traits and the phytoremediation potential of the endemic heather Erica andevalensis, we determined the concentrations of major and trace elements in different plant parts and in rizosphere soils from Riotinto mining district (Huelva, Spain). The results showed that E. andevalensis may grow on substrates with very high As, Cu, Fe and Pb concentrations (up to 4114, 1050, 71900 and 15614 microg/g dry weight, respectively), very low availability of macro- and micronutrients and with pH values ranging from 3.

Spatial patterns and autocorrelation in the response of microarthropods to soil pollutants: the example of oribatid mites in an abandoned mining and smelting area.

Although exogenous factors such as pollutants can act on endogenous drivers (e.g. dispersion) of populations and create spatially autocorrelated distributions, most statistical techniques assume independence of error terms.

Iron demand by thermophilic and mesophilic bacteria isolated from an antarctic geothermal soil.

The thermophilic bacterial strain MP 4 assigned to a new species, likely of the genus Alicyclobacillus, was isolated from geothermal soils on the NW slope of Mount Melbourne, Antarctica. These soils have high iron concentrations and the strain MP 4 requires iron additions for growth. Four mesophilic bacterial strains Paenibacillus validus MP 5, MP 8, and MP 10, and P.

Enhanced deposition and bioaccumulation of mercury in Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems facing a coastal polynya.

Mercury emitted by anthropogenic and natural sources occurs in the atmosphere mostly in the gaseous elemental form, which has a long lifetime in tropical and temperate regions. Once deposited in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems the metal is partly re-emitted into the air, thus assuming the characteristics of global pollutants such as persistent volatile chemicals. In polar regions, during and after the sunrise, the photochemically driven oxidation of gaseous Hg by reactive halogens may result in areas of greatly enhanced Hg deposition.

Organochlorine pollutants in soils and mosses from Victoria Land (Antarctica).

The major organochlorine (OC) pollutants, i.e. pentachlorobenzene (PCBz), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and DDTs have been analyzed in soils and mosses from coastal areas of Victoria Land (70-80 degrees S, 160-170 degrees E).

Element concentrations in Chianti Classico appellation wines.

The concentrations of 21 elements (Al, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Si, Sr, Ti, V and Zn) were determined in wine samples of the very popular Italian Chianti Classico appellation, vintage 1997. Concentrations of most elements in Chianti Classico wines fell in the range of European red wines. Data variability (expressed as a coefficient of variation, CV) was maximum for elements more prone to exogenous contamination such as Cu (a residue of vineyard treatments; CV = 165), Pb (from atmospheric contamination; CV = 99) or Ni (from wine-making contamination; CV = 78).