Research Watch
Air Construction impacts. The authors estimate emission rates of fugitive dust for surface road construction based on measurements of total suspended particulates during various construction phases. Chang, Y.-M., et at. 'An Estimation on Overall Emission Rate of Fugitive Dust Emitted From Road Construction Activity," Environ. Eng. Sci. 1999,16(5), 375-388) Global urban air pollution. This comprehensive review presents 103 references about urban air quality worldwide and includes such topics as present-day records, air quality indicators, local emissions and global pollution, global growth and increasing urbanization, hazardous pollutants, and national and international legislation. (Fenger, J., et al. "Urban Air Quality," Atmos. Environ. 1999, 33 (29), 4877-4900)
Monitoring vehicle emissions Direct measurement of pollutant emissions from on-road vehicles is difficult because of their spatial and temporal variations and vehicle-to-vehicle differences. To address this issue, K. Bradley and co-workers used open-path Fourier transform infrared (OP-FTIR) spectroscopy and measured a fleet average, fuel-based N20 emission ratio. The ratio—important because automotive exhaust is thought to be a main source of this greenhouse gas—obtained from OP-FTIR measurements was in close agreement with EPA's estimated emission rate of 0.41 ± 0.04 g N20/kg fuel. The results indicate that OP-FTIR provides a viable option for such measurements. Other emissions potentially measurable by this technique include NH3, NO, N02, aromatics, and aldehydes. {Environ. Sci. Techno!., this issue, pp. 897-899)
region of Australia suggest that natural selection operating across ecological gradients can be more important than geographic isolation in similar habitats in generating phenotypic diversity. (Schneider, C. J., et al. "A Test of Alternative Models of Diversification in Tropical Rainforests: Ecological Gradients Versus Rainforest Refugia," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1999, 96 (24), 13,869-13,873)
Biodiversity
Chemistry
Ecological risks of transgenic animals. Using Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) as a model, deterministic equations predict that a transgene introduced into a natural population by a small number of transgenic fish will spread as a result of enhanced mating advantage. In addition, the reduced viability of offspring will cause eventual local extinction of both populations. (Muir, W. M., et al. "Possible Ecological Risks of Transgenic Organism Release When Transgenes Affect Mating Success: Sexual Selection and the Trojan Gene Hypothesis," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1999, 96 (24), 13,853-13,856)
Chlorocarbon formation. PCDD and PCDF formation rates from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, activated carbon, and phenol were compared. (Lino, E, et al. "Formation Rates of Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans and Dibenzo-p-dioxins From Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Activated Carbon, and Phenol," Chemosphere 1999, 39 (15), 2749-2756)
Tropical rainforests. Results based on comparison of mitochondrial and morphological divergence in eight populations of a widespread leaf-litter skink in the Wet Tropics Rainforest
Data errors. The influence of thermodynamic data errors upon the results of equilibrium calculations of complex chemical reacting systems is examined. (Belov, G V, et al. "Influence of Thermodynamic and Thermochemical Data Errors on Calculated Equilibrium Composition," Ber. Bunsen-Ges. Phys. Chem. 1998, 102 (12), 1874-1879) Dioxins in fly ash. Results based on the fly ash samples collected from
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three municipal waste incinerators in Taiwan, which were equipped with different air pollution control devices, suggest that environmental conditions in control equipment may cause an increase in fly ash dioxin content. Chang, M. B., et al. "Dioxin Contents in Fly Ash From Large-Scale MSW Incinerators in Taiwan," Chemosphere 1999, 39 (15), 2671-2680) PCB Dechlorination. The potential role of methanogens and sulfate reducers in polychlorinated biphenyl dechlorination was studied using the specific inhibitors 2-bromoethanesulfonate for methanogens and molybdate for sulfate reducers. (Kim, J., et al. "Reductive Dechlorination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls: Interactions of Dechlorinating Microorganisms With Methanogens and Sulfate Reducers," /. Environ. Chem. 1999, 18 (12), 2696-2702)
Climate Change Haze damage. The effects of atmospheric aerosols and regional haze from air pollution on yields of rice and winter wheat crops grown in China were assessed. (Chameides, W. L., et al. "Case Study of the Effects of Atmospheric Aerosols and Regional Haze on Agriculture: An Opportunity to Enhance Crop Yields in China
Through Emission Controls?" Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1999, 96 (24), 13,626-13,633) Paleocene thermal maximum. Evidence from the subtropical western North Atlantic links a massive release of biogenic methane 55.5 million years ago to a warming of deep-ocean and high-latitude surface waters, a large perturbation in the combined ocean-atmospheric carbon cycle, a mass extinction event in benthic faunas, and a radiation of mammalian orders. (Katz, M. E., et al. "The Source and Fate of Massive Carbon Input During the Latest Paleocene Thermal Maximum," Science 1999, 286 (5444), 1531-1533)
Groundwater Lead contamination. Contaminated soil from a shooting range leached sufficient lead to pose environmental risks to surface and groundwater due to lead mobility and evaluated remediation alternatives. (Bruell, R., et al. "Evaluation of Remedial Alternatives of Lead From Shooting Range Soil," Environ. Eng. Sci. 1999, 16(5), 403-414) Road salt cyanide. Available information on iron cyanide in road salt as well as its potential effects on water quality are summarized, and further study is recommended to determine levels of total and free cyanide in surface and groundwater adjacent to salt storage facilities, as well as along treated roads having open drainage ditches. (Paschka, M. G., et al., "Potential Water-Quality Effects From Iron Cyanide Anticaking Agents in Road Salt," Water Environ. Res. 1999, 71 (6), 1235-1239)
Health Synergistic effects. Observed synergisms between contaminants suggest that future revisions of fish-consumption guidelines should consider contaminant interactions. (Bemis, J. C; Seegal, R. E, "Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Methylmercury Act Synergistically To Reduce Rat Brain Dopamine Content In Vitro," Environ. Health Perspect. 1999,107 (11), 879-885)
Lake Baikal pollution Lake Baikal contains high levels of PCBs, and concentrations of PCDD/Fs in Baikal seals are comparable to those in the Baltic Sea. A. Mamontov and co-workers analyzed fish and soil samples to trace the sources of these compounds. Fish sampling indicated that PCDD/F and PCB contamination does not originate from background inputs, and soil inventory results indicated a major atmospheric source in the Usol'ye area. Cumulative deposition to the lake was estimated to be 1.2 kg of TEQ (PCDD/F + PCB); cumulative deposition of PCB to Lake Baikal was comparable to a 1986 Lake Superior PCB inventory. A large chloralkali chemical complex in Usol'ye Sibirskoe was the suspected contamination source. (Environ. Sci. Technol., this issue, pp. 741-747)
ter high-volume air sampler, particle and vapor phases of 11 pesticides were collected, and atmospheric concentrations were simultaneously measured at remote, rural, and urban sites in France. (Sanusi, A., et al. "Gas-Particle Partitioning of Pesticides in Atmospheric Samples," Atmos. Environ. 1999, 33 (29), 4941-4951) Temperature effects. This study found a positive correlation between temperature and the acute toxicity and accumulation of two organophosphate insecticides and pentachlorobenzene. (Lydy, M. J., et al. "Effects of Temperature on the Toxicity of M-parathion, Chlorpyrifos, and Pentachlorobenzene to Chironomus tentans," Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 1999, 37 (4), 542-547)
Soil Modeling Source apportionment. Ambient PM 10 and PM 2 f) data collected in fall and winter of the 1995 Integrated Monitoring Study were used in chemical mass balance modeling to estimate contributions from geological and carbonaceous sources. (Magliano, K. L., et al. "Spatial and Temporal Variations in PM I0 and PM2 5 Source Contributions and Comparison to Emissions During the 1995 Integrated Monitoring Study," Atmos. Environ. 1999, 33 (29), 4757-4773)
Pesticides Microbial food web. Agricultural pesticides were found to alter both functional and structural aspects of the estuarine microbial food web, which plays an important role in nutrient cycling and transfer of nutrients to higher trophic levels. (DeLorenzo, M. E., et al. "Effects of the Agricultural Pesticides Atrazine, Deethylatrazine, Endosulfan, and Chlorpyrifos on an Estuarine Microbial Food Web," Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 1999, 18 (12), 2824-2835) Pesticides in air. Using an Amberlite XAD-2 resin plug and glass fiber fil-
Conservation tillage. The authors examined the use of conservation tillage and economic, demographic, geographic, and policy factors affecting its adoption. (Uri, N. D., et al. "Factors Affecting the Use of Conservation Tillage in The United States," Water, Air, SoilPollut. 1999, 116 (3^), 621-638) Herbicide transport. An experiment conducted on a clay loam soil examined wind-eroded sediment as a transport mechanism for two soilincorporated and four surface-applied herbicides and assessed the potential hazard of environmental transport of herbicides on wind-eroded sediment, as well as implications for off-site air and water quality. (Larney, E J., "Herbicide Transport on Wind-Eroded Sediment," Can. J. Environ. Qual. 1999, 28 (5), 1412-1421)
Toxicity Arsenic exposure. A study of arsenic exposure in 126 schoolchildren to determine its potential health risk to local populations around mining areas in the Minas Gerais mining districts in southeastern Brazil. (Matschult, ]., et al. "Human and Environmental Contamination in the Iron Quadrangle, Brazil," Appl. Geochem. 1999, 15 (2), 181-190)
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