Environmental Research

Correction to: Bioaccumulation of Zinc and Copper in Tissues of Chicken Fed Corn Grain Irrigated with Different Water Regimes The article listed above was initially published with incorrect first author name and incomplete acknowledgments.

Which Water Sources Do People Revert to in Times of War? Evidence from the Sana'a Basin, Yemen Abstract Current war in Yemen affects the lives of Yemenis, their properties, and basic needs through several impacts and damages on fuel, electricity, and water systems. This paper investigates how this war has affected the people's main water sources. The war impact framework developed in this study is the combination of difference-in-difference (DID) and Human Rights to Water and Sanitation (HRWS) framework, as so far there are no tools to gage the impact of wars on people's choices of water sources. The availability, accessibility, and prices of water keep unstable. Decentralized systems of water and energy showed more stability than public-centralized systems. The majority of families relied on the public water and electricity systems before the war. Now, while the war is ongoing the public water networks and electricity grids serve not more than 10% of families. Solar energy has become the first energy source. Rainwater started to be collected as secondary water source. Getting water and energy through renewable sources is accepted and supported by locals. Many people are willing to continue using these new sources. This study verifies the importance of renewable resources transition to achieve secure sustainable water management.

Effects of Co-occurring Species Present in Swine Lagoons on Adsorption of Copper on Eggshell Abstract There is a significant interest in mitigating copper from swine lagoons. Adsorptive removal of copper using eggshells was proposed to be an effective approach. Most of the previous research on the adsorption of copper was focused on single and binary metals. However, in swine lagoons, copper always co-occurs with acetate, ammonia, and zinc. Hence, in this research, adsorption of copper (0–150 mg L−1) on eggshells was studied in the presence of different concentrations (low, medium, and high) of acetate (250, 500, and 1000 mg L−1) ammonia (250, 500, and 1000 mg L−1), and zinc (25, 50, and 100 mg L−1), for the first time. Results indicated that at highest concentrations, adsorption was negatively affected (< 20%) by acetate and zinc. Ammonia, however, was found to enhance copper adsorption (30%) presumably by formation of ternary complexes. Considering their easy availability, eggshells appear to be promising and a practical solution for copper abatement in lagoons. Graphical Abstract

A Comparison of Some Interpolation Techniques for Determining Spatial Distribution of Nitrogen Compounds in Groundwater Abstract The aim of the study was to analyse spatial variability of selected parameters of subsurface waters in the area of approximately 10 ha, located in the valley of the Ciemięga River in the village of Snopków, near Lublin, Poland. For the purpose of this study, nine sections were delimited, each with four points of collecting groundwater. In the groundwater samples, there were measured \({\text{NH}}_{4}^{ + }\) , \({\text{NO}}_{3}^{-} ,\) and \({\text{NO}}_{2}^{-}\) . Due to the small number of samples, the analysis was limited to deterministic interpolation methods. The following methods were compared using leave-one-out cross-validation procedure: triangulation, inverse distance weighting, radial base function, and modified Shepard's method. The methods which proved to be optimal were used to create spatial variability maps of the analysed parameters. Spatial interpolation and visualization of the results were performed in Surfer ver.16, and other calculations were conducted using R software.

Assessment of the Petroleum Oil Degradation Capacity of Indigenous Bacterial Species Isolated from Petroleum Oil-Contaminated Soil Abstract Petroleum hydrocarbons are highly toxic to plants, animals, and humans and are carcinogenic effects to plants, animals, and humans. The present study is focused to enhance the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons using potential indigenous bacterial isolates. Bacteria were isolated from different petroleum oil-contaminated sites and characterized. Bacterial growth was evaluated under different physico-chemical parameters. The petroleum hydrocarbon degradation potentiality was assessed using GC–MS analysis. Forty-nine bacterial isolates were screened; only three isolates (ALK-14, ALK-16, and ALK-23) have good potential to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons and were identified as Alcaligenes species ALK-14, Bacillus methylotrophicus ALK-16, and Enterobacter species ALK-23, respectively, on the basis of morphology, biochemical characterization, and 16S rRNA sequencing. Optimum growth of Alcaligenes species ALK-14, Bacillus methylotrophicus ALK-16, and Enterobacter species ALK-23 occurred at pH 7, 6, and 6, respectively. Petroleum oil concentration found suitable for growth of selected bacterial isolates Alcaligenes species ALK-14, Bacillus methylotrophicus ALK-16, and Enterobacter species ALK-23 were 4%, 8%, and 4% (v/v), respectively. Among different nitrogen sources, ammonium nitrate was found suitable source for the maximum growth of Alcaligenes species ALK-14, Bacillus methylotrophicus ALK-16 at the concentration of 0.15 and 0.2%, respectively, and sodium nitrate for Enterobacter species ALK-23 at the concentration of 0.2%. All bacterial isolates showed maximum growth at 30 °C temperature. Synergistic effect on the growth of bacterial isolates under favourable conditions increased up to 11–28%. GC–MS analysis indicated that the hydrocarbon compounds in the range of C20–C44 were present in petrol. Maximum hydrocarbon degradation by Alcaligenes species ALK-14, Bacillus methylotrophicus ALK-16, and Enterobacter species ALK-23 was 11.65%, 8.11%, and 5.59%, respectively. The degradation of docosane 11-decyl, hexatriacontane, and eicosane by Alcaligenes species ALK-14 was 100%, 60%, and 48.8%, respectively. The degradation of docosane 11-decyl by, Bacillus methylotrophicus ALK-16, was 80%. Degradation of hexatriacontane by Enterobacter species ALK-23 was 31%. Further understanding of the metabolic processes of these organisms on crude oil hydrocarbons degradation will increase possibilities to develop strategies for removing crude oil pollutants from oil-impacted environments.

The Potential Impact of Underwater Exhausted CO 2 from Innovative Ships on Invertebrate Communities Abstract Liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered ships equipped with an underwater exhaust system to reduce the ship's water resistance could form a future generation of energy-efficient ships. The potential consequences of the underwater exhaust gas to the local ecosystems are still unknown. Especially, the CO2 levels may locally exceed estimated future global levels. The present study exposes marine communities to a wide range of CO2dosages, resulting in pH 8.6–5.8 that was remained for 49 days. We found that the zooplankton and benthic community were adversely affected by high CO2 exposure levels. In detail, (1) between pH 6.6 and 7.1 polychaete worms became the dominating group of the benthic community and their larvae dominated the zooplankton group. (2) Due to the reduced grazing pressure and the flux of nutrients from decaying organic material planktonic microalgae (phytoplankton) stared blooming at the highest exposure level. The periphyton (fouling microalgae) community was not able to take advantage under these conditions. (3) Marine snails' (periwinkle) shell damage and high mortality were observed at pH < 6.6. However, the growth of the surviving periwinkles was not directly related to pH, but was positively correlated with the availability of periphyton and negatively correlated with the polychaete worm density that most likely also used the periphyton as food source. Our result indicates that the impact of underwater exhaust gasses depends on various factors including local biological and abiotic conditions, which will be included in future research.

Assessment of the Potential of Indole-3-Acetic Acid Producing Bacteria to manage Chemical Fertilizers Application Abstract Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) has a vital role in stimulation of root growth and nutrients acquisition from soil. The study was conducted to isolate rhizospheric (R) and endophytic (E) IAA producer bacteria from the rhizosphere soil and surface sterilized root of wheat, and evaluate the effects of isolates to managing of chemical fertilizers application. For this, we examined the influence of different chemical fertilizer application rates (40, 60, 80 and 100%) coupled with R (Bacillus toyonensis) and E (Pseudomonas mosselii) IAA producer bacteria on wheat growth. Results indicated that supplementing 80% of the recommended chemical fertilizers rate with E isolates resulted in increase of wheat growth indices, which were similar to 100%-fertilizer need without bacterial inoculant. It seems that application of reduced chemical fertilizers integrated with IAA producer bacteria can positively affect the plant growth and led to decrease of chemical fertilizers application. Then optimal condition for IAA release was determined by P. mosselii and B. toyonensis. Results revealed that optimal growth medium conditions for isolates defined to be at l-tryptophan concentration of 3.0 mg mL−1 at 96 h of incubation and 32 °C by spectrophotometry. Increase in l-tryptophan concentration (> 3.0 mg m−1) significantly decreased the IAA production. These results could be attributed to a possible inhibition towards the indigenous (and/or exogenous) soil microbial population by the higher concentrations of l-tryptophan. Glucose used as carbon source, gave the most IAA production (22.9 μg mL−1) in E isolate. About R isolate use of sucrose in the medium culture stimulates IAA production.

Alkaline Sustained-Release Material Based on In Situ Manganese Removal Technique of Groundwater Abstract To improve the pH of groundwater for in situ manganese removal, we prepared high-performance and long-life alkali sustained-release materials (ASRMs) from calcium oxide (CaO) and cement (CEM) by a physical mixing method. The ASRMs were tested by alkali-releasing experiments under dynamic conditions and filtration experiments. Surface microstructures were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectrometry. ASRMs exhibited high alkali-releasing performance and effective pH controllability. The optimal matching conditions were flow rate of 5.0 ml/min, solid–liquid ratio of 13.5 g/l, and CaO:CEM weight ratio of 1:20. Under the influence of flow velocity, initial dosage and raw material ratio, the Elovich equation well fitted alkali release with correlation coefficients above 0.982476. The release kinetic equation of ASRMs was determined on MATLAB. In these conditions, the ASRMs could release well and maintain the aqueous pH over 9.5, with a long releasing life of 10 days. This study can be referred to for practical application of this technology into groundwater restoration.

Release of Nutrients and Trace Elements from Wood-, Agricultural Residue- and Manure-Based Biochars Abstract Biochar has been used in many applications as a remediation material, but less attention has been paid to the potential release of various soluble components that may alter the effectiveness of the remediation process. Here, we report the release of nutrients, trace elements, anions and cations from 36 types of biochars. A batch-style experiment was performed by mixing biochar and water at a mass ratio of 1:75. Elevated concentrations of these components were observed in the majority of the solutions mixed with the biochars. No significant differences were observed between low-temperature (low-T, 300 °C) and high-temperature (high-T, 600 °C) biochars in terms of NO3−, Cl−, Na+, Ca2+, Fe, Cu, PO4-P, NH3-N, and K+ concentrations (P < 0.05). Agricultural residue biochars released significantly less Cl−, Na+, Mn, Ca2+, and K+ than manure-based biochars. The observation of nutrients and metal ions in solution was supported by the results of scanning electron microscope/energy-dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX) analysis. The release of elevated concentrations of anions, cations, trace elements, and nutrients may affect receiving water bodies after the application of biochar.

Bioaccumulation of Zinc and Copper in Tissues of Chicken Fed Corn Grain Irrigated with Different Water Regimes Abstract Water scarcity in agriculture sector enforces farmers to apply urban waste water without considering its pollutant effects on the environment. The aim of present research was to observe the effect of sewage, canal and ground water on accumulation of zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in different parts of corn plants and also in tissues of chicken that were reared on grains of corn crop in two growing seasons, spring and autumn during 2016. Representative samples of water, soil, grains and different chicken parts were assayed for Zn and Cu contents. There were higher concentrations of Zn (8.97–11.47 mg/kg) and Cu (14.73–15.45 mg/kg) in sewage water irrigated soil compared with other sources of water. In spring season, the highest concentration of zinc (5.28 mg/kg) and copper (2.65 mg/kg) was found in grains of Sadaf variety at sewage water treatment. In autumn season, maximum level of zinc (0.38 mg/kg) was found in grains of Sadaf variety at sewage water treatment and copper (3.60 mg/kg) was found in grains of MMRI variety at sewage water treatment. Similarly the group of chickens that consumed the grains raised with sewage water showed higher concentrations of Zn and Cu in their all body parts. However, Cu in contrast to Zn was found above the permissible limits in selected chicken parts due to irrigation with sewage water showing the transferability of this metal threatening the health issues. The values of transfer factor for Zn were greater than Cu. Target hazard quotient (THQ) was also calculated to estimate the potential consumer health risk of Zn and Cu contamination from consumption of selected chicken parts (liver, breast meat and gizzard) and the THQ values for both Cu and Zn were < 1 indicating that the consumption of these chicken edibles was safe for human. However, this study can only be regarded as preliminary since there is a dire need for more comprehensive study for the public awareness to combat health issues.

Alexandros Sfakianakis
Anapafseos 5 . Agios Nikolaos
Crete.Greece.72100
2841026182

6948891480

alsfakia@gmail.com