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pollution Flashcards

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1
Q

ACIDIFICATION OF FRESHWATER
rainfall

A

Natural pH of rainfall 5.6 -> reaction of CO2 and rainfall (carbonic acid)
- Anthropogenic acidification (burning fossil fuels, SO2, NOx, acid rain (pH <5.6 as low as 3.5 – in E. USA and C Europe)

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2
Q

ACIDIFICATION OF FRESHWATER
Causes of acidification:

A

1) Industrial atmospheric pollution (SO2, H2S) coal power stations  sulphuric acid (China, US, Russia)
2) NOx from car exhausts (nitric acid w/ rainfall) (China, India, USA)
3) Land use change – afforestation – enhanced acidification processes (coniferous trees)

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3
Q

ACIDIFICATION OF FRESHWATER
Buffering can vary!

A
  • Wet deposition  BEDROCK (limestone high buffering, Granite low buffering)
  • Dry deposition  trees major interceptors compared to moorland (absorbed into vegetation)
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4
Q

ACIDIFICATION OF FRESHWATER
Key impacts:

A
  • Soil buffering decreases (esp with afforestation) areas with low buffering capacity vulnerable
  • Ionic changes in soil may cause Al3+ release (becomes mobile at low pH), increase conc in water, makes freshwater more oligotrophic, makes complexes with phosphate making it biologically unavailable. (AL LIABLE AT LOW PH AND TOXIC TO AQUATIC LIFE)
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5
Q

ACIDIFICATION OF FRESHWATER
Key impacts: e.g. river wye

A
  • Water acidification (River Wye, Wales) – Ledger 2025.
    o Exacerbated by land use, afforestation of conifers, increased deposition of gases (interception by canopy) increased acidity from litter fall, increased base cation uptake (Ca, Mg) decreases buffering, more rapid runoff to drainage ditches (reduced potential for buffering by soils)
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6
Q

ACIDIFICATION OF FRESHWATER
- BIODIVERSITY LOSS ACROSS AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS:
fish

A

 pH<5 harmful to eggs, fry and adult particulary where Na and Ca low
 blood high levels of Na, Ca, need to be replaced (active transport, gills)
 in acid water H+ absorbed in preference, excessive loss of Na ions can cause mortality
 can see decline of healthy fish stock, Arcitic Charr, Brown trout in Scottish lochs (Turnpenny, 1989)

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7
Q

ACIDIFICATION OF FRESHWATER
BIODIVERSITY LOSS ACROSS AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS:
o macroinvertebrates

A

 Al3+ and H+ dominate and absorbed instead of essential nutrients (Na, K, Ca)
 Gammarus (freshwater shrimp) v. sensitive, mayflies (<6.5 lose baetidae), stoneflies most tolerant (dominate pH 4-5)
* grazers acid sensitive (mayflies, snails, shrimp)
* shredders acid tolerant (stoneflies, peat waters)

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8
Q

ACIDIFICATION OF FRESHWATER
BIODIVERSITY LOSS ACROSS AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS:
o microbial communities

A

 fungi – reduce nutrient processing, reducing decomposition, more leaf litter available for shredders
 algae – shifts in assemblages (esp, diatoms) influences primary production and food availability to grazers

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9
Q

ACIDIFICATION OF FRESHWATER
recovery

A

legalisation reduced SO2, NOx emissions, some chemical recovery, biological recovery much slower and often incomplete

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10
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
Mechanisms of organic pollution:
SOURCE

A

domestic sewage, urban runoff, industrial waste, agriculture (sewage 11,00 million l per day) – WWF website 2025

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11
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
Mechanisms of Organic Pollution: oxygen depletion

A

due to microbial breakdown of organic matter (oxygen sag – oxygen levels decline downstream from a pollution source as decomposers metabolise waste materials, worst case scenario, anoxic)

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12
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
Mechanisms of Organic Pollution: suspended soils

A

reduce light penetration and smother habitats

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13
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
impact on biota: microorganisms

A

sewage fungus dominates, Sphaerotilus)

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14
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
impact on biota: algae

A

initial decline due to light reduction, recovery leads to blooms of filamentous algae (Stigeoclonium), diatoms, cyanobacteria

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15
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
impact on biota: invertebrates

A

tolerant species (worms, chironomids) increase, sensistive species (mayflies, Gammarus) decrease

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16
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
impact on biota: fish

A

mobile species may avoid pollution, and severe incidents eliminate sensitive fish like salmonids

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17
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
Biodiversity and ecosystem function:
hypothesis
1) Species are primarily redundant

A
  • Species are at least partially substitutable
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18
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
Biodiversity and ecosystem function:
hypothesis
2) Species are primarily singular

A
  • Implies species make unique contribution to ecosystem functioning
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19
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
Biodiversity and ecosystem function:
hypothesis
3) Species are idiosyncratic or unpredictable because their impacts are context-dependent

A
  • Means species contributions depend on various abiotic and biotic factors
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20
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
- Diversity stability hypothesis

A

ecological communities will decrease in ability to recover from disturbance and productivity as no. of species decreases (Johnson 1996)

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21
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
- Redundancy hypothesis

A

the loss of a few rivets (species) may go unnoticed but beyond a threshold losses can dive a catastrophic collapse (Ehrlich&Ehrlich 1981)

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22
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
- Keystone species hypothesis

A

some species may have disproportionately large influences on processes

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23
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
Anthropogenic perturbation lead to

A

non-random extinctions
- Tolerances to acidification, organic pollution are species-specific and related to: body size, physiology, morphology, life history

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24
Q

ORGANIC POLLUTION
Jonsson 2002: stimulating species loss following perturbation:

A

assessing effects on process rates
- Three species witin the shredder functional feeding group have different tolerance to pollution: crustacean, caddisfly, stonefly

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25
ORGANIC POLLUTION - Acidification and Jonsson 2002: organic pollution effects had different sequences of species loss
o Combinations of species performed better than single species treatments (of leaf litter breakdown) acidification and organic pollltuon reduce leaf litter breakdown o Complementarity and facitations, species differed in ways they feed, working together for faster breakdown
26
ORGANIC POLLUTION conclusions
ecosystems subject to multiple stressors, incl, acidification and organic pollution, these stressors lead to profound biodiversity loss, creating damaged ecosystems, biodiversity loss may reduce and lessen ‘insurance’ against environmental change
27
ECs: PHARMA Water pollution: historic and economic context
- Phase 1: chromic organic pollution and pathogens due to limited treatment of sewage exacerbated by a rapidly increasing population - Phase 2: point/diffuse pollution linked to intensification of industry – primary (agriculture) secondary (textiles) - Phase 3: emerging contaminants associated with industrial, medical and veterinary advances
28
ECs: PHARMA Planetary boundaries perspective
defines safe operating space for earth system, now outside this, production rate outpacing legislation
29
ECs: PHARMA Emerging contaminants
emerging relates to our understanding of their impacts and ability to detect them
30
ECs: PHARMA includes
- Includes pharmaceuticals, personal care products, nanomaterials, flame retardants, endocrine disruptors
31
ECs: PHARMA occurance
- The occurrence of ECS in the environment materialised recently (Kolpin 2002) o Most are currently not regulated, unknown knowledge of fate and toxicity
32
ECs: PHARMA Sources and pathways:
waste water, agriculture, urban runoff (in all these pathways there is potential for removal of contaminants)
33
ECs: PHARMA PPCPs:
ubiquitous in environment, pseudo-persistant (constant input maintains presence), endocrine distruptors (hormonal interference), bioaccumulation in food webs
34
ECs: PHARMA CASE STUDIES - Caffeine + ibuprofen
causes stress and metabolic changes in clams (Aguirre-martinez, 2015) o Environmentally relevant concs
35
ECs: PHARMA CASE STUDIES - Biofilm disruption:
diphenhydramine reduces bacterial and algal biomass (carbon), indirect effects on higher trophic levels (Rosi-marshal 2013)
36
ECs: PHARMA CASE STUDIES - Stimulants (cocaine):
alter aquatic insect emergence and timing (Lee 2016)
37
ECs: PHARMA CASE STUDIES - Pharma and aquatic foodwebs:
: austalia, pharma found in caddisfly downstream of wastewater effluent (Richmond 2018)
38
ECs: PHARMA CHALLENGES
no global regulation yet, complex mixture effects (chemical cocktails), pharmaceutical in public water supply (UK, Spain) (Wiley 2016)
39
ECs: MP WHAT
< 5mm, types: films, fibres, fragments, beads, foams, can be considered primary or secondary
40
ECs: MP issues
Eerkes-medrano 2018 – increasing in marine and freshwater
41
ECs: MP TRANSPORT AND FATE
processes; turbulent transport, aggregation with organic matter, biofouling (slows movement), burial, resuspension (don’t understand how biology of system interacts with the transport).
42
ECs: MP - Impact of particle shape and condition
- Impact of particle shape and condition (biofouling) on transport processes. Biofilms reduce distance and increase settlement. Fibres least prone to biofilm growth (Hoellein 2019)
43
ECs: MP hotspot
downstream of sewer overflows
44
ECs: MP UPTAKE BY BIOTA:
- Size specific uptake (gape determines plastic particle size). Feeding mode and selectivity determine uptake likelihood (A generalised feed is more likely to take up microplastics (than a specialist feeder) (Scherer 2017) - Pathways into food web: Windsor 2017, looked at Baetidae, Heptageniidae, and Hydropsychidae
45
ECs: MP FOOD WEB IMPACTS
- Field study assessing the bacterial community associated with MPs found in urban rivers (wang 2020), important for human health perspective o Species richness and evenness of bacteria are lower for microplastics o Distinct community composition associated with microplastics o Unique microhabitat for colonization and migration/transport o Antibiotic resistant genes are abundant in microplastic bacterial communities
46
ECs: MP MICROPLASTICS AND ARGS (Liu 2021)
- Wastewater treatment plants main source of MPs. WWTP are bioreactors for production of ARGs. Antibiotics sorb to MPs. MPs are associated with pathogenic bacteria
47
ECs: MP MPS AND PRIMARY PRODUCTERS (Li 2020)
- Experiment assessing impact of polystyrene on growth and photosynthesis of green algae
48
ECs: MP MPS AND PRIMARY PRODUCTERS (Li 2020) effects
o Reduction in growth and photosynthetic activity under increased MP concs o Implication for primary production and food webs o MPs attach and wrap around cells- cytotoxicity o Physical damage of cell membrane apparent
49
ECs: MP MPS AND PRIMARY PRODUCERS experiment 1
short exposure of group up fluro poluethylene. MP uptake apparent in juvenile and adult G. pulex. Ratio of body burden to available MP greater for juvenile. No impact on survivorship, feeding activity or development. BUT: G. pulex important for shredding invertebrate (implication for ecosystem function), interaction with other stressors (climate change) (weber 2018)
50
ECs: MP MPS AND PRIMARY PRODUCERS experiment 2
: effects of polyester fibres and polyethylene beads on zooplankton. Impact on survivorship, body size and reproduction rate assessed. Fibres more toxic during both acute exposure (no additive effect). Reduction in body size and reproduction rate for both beads and fibres (6x environ. Conc). Differing impact pathways, beads ingested while fibres reduced locomotion and cause morphological damage (Ziajahromi 2017)
51
ECs: MP MPs AND SECONDARY CONSUMERS: fish
feeding mode has implication for uptake likelihood (Wotton 2021).
52
ECs: MP MPs AND SECONDARY CONSUMERS: fish known impacts
cellular (cell death, oxidative stress), organ (altered metabolic activity), individual (mortality, movement impairment)
53
ECs: MP MPs AND SECONDARY CONSUMERS: fish unknown probable impacts
population (growth, number, stability), community (structure, species interaction), ecosystem (structure, resistance) (Parker 2021)
54
ECs: MP summary
MPs interact differently depending on size and shape. Impacts on biota vary across trophic levels. Implications for key ecosystem processes still largely unknown. future work needed on plastic cocktails and environmentally realistic exposures.
55
ECs: NMs AND POLLUTANT COCKTAILS NMS
engineered materials <100nm with enhanced properties (optical, catalytic, conductive). Exponential growth in manufacturing and its use by humans with myriad benefits. EXAMPLES: zerovalent metals (Ag, Fe), metal oxides (TiO2, ZnO), carbon nanotubes
56
ECs: NMs AND POLLUTANT COCKTAILS NMS assessing impacts
scenario A; toxicity increases linearly with conc. Scenario B; beneficial at low concs toxic above a threshold (e.g. many trace metals). Scenario C; NM aggregates as particle density increases and toxicity is reduced at high concs.
57
ECs: NMs AND POLLUTANT COCKTAILS NMS TOXICITY OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES
AgNPs have antimicrobial properties, routes to environment – manufacturing and household. Impact on Piaractus mesopotamicus (Bachetta 2017), exposure of fish to relevant cons, uptake apparent in major organs and scales, deleterious effects on antioxidant stress and DNA damage. ALSO, negative impacts on community structure and ecosystem function (Tlili 2017)
58
ECs: NMs AND POLLUTANT COCKTAILS POLLUTANT COCKTAILS
combined exposure to pharmaceuticals and NPs causes worse outcomes - Zebrafish heart deformities - S. American common toad
59
ECs: NMs AND POLLUTANT COCKTAILS POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: plastics
* Spheres less environmentally hazardous than fibres * Need a huge amount of information about how all these shapes, sizes, polymers and environmental chemistry interact and the potential risk associated with each combination
60
POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: future directions - identify influence on...
aquatic ecosystem functioning incl. non target organisms,
61
POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: future directions - determine interactions of...
emerging contaminants with other pollutants + impacts on ecosystem function,
62
POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: future directions - data collection from...
global S must be increased to better understand pharma pollution at global scale
63
POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: future directions better...
- Better monitoring techniques: real-time fluorescence sensors for DOM
64
POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: future directions - Regular monitoring of...
emerging contaminants required for national assessments of aquatic health
65
POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: future directions - Characterise ectoxicological effects of...
mixtures at environmentally relevant concs. And under more environmentally realistic conditions
66
POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: future directions - Understand...
climate specific and combined (heatwaves+droughts) impacts on breakdown, mobility, and transport in aquatic eocsystems (data collection in global S)
67
POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: future directions - Investment in...
treatment methodologies and tech for EC removal from wastewaters
68
POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: future directions - Regulation of...
pharmaceutical and other EC use and disposal
69
POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: future directions - Creation of...
open database (similar to pesticides)
70
POLLUTANT COCKTAILS: future directions - Cost effective, reliable and standardised methods...
to test for ECs must be developed to increase global monitoring capacity
71
TRADITIONAL MONITORING METHOD:
- 5 day biochemical oxygen demand test (BODs - Fluorescence for DOM monitoring/characterisation (can provide info on source, redox state, reactivity) - The proteus BOD: robust solution o Fluorescence based senor platform for real time BOD

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