Green remediation of tailings from the mine using inorganic agents

The poultry industry is the economic backbone of the south central region of Puerto Rico. However, as in other poultry production regions in the U.S., concern has risen regarding its potentially damaging impact on the environment. Eutrophication of rivers and lakes, induced by excessive nutrient runoff, has forced regulatory agencies to closely evaluate manure disposal practices. Thus, the need is critical for environmentally sound management practices in poultry producing areas. The impact of years of manure applications on the nutritional status of soils was ascertained by evaluating a number of samples from nine poultry farms of Puerto Rico. The farms were selected among those with the highest bird populations. Sixty-seven percent of the samples analyzed contained phosphorus levels (Olsen) in excess of what is considered adequate to support crop growth. Fifty-six percent of these exceeded levels considered by some states as critical for water quality purposes. Measured levels ranged from undetectable values up to 900 mg/kg P. A diagnostic tool known as the P index was used in an effort to identify areas of concern. According to this criterion, all farms studied had zones where nutrient runoff could threaten the quality of the surrounding water bodies.

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Chronic trace metals effects of mine tailings on estuarine assemblages revealed by environmental DNA

10.7287/peerj.preprints.27924v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Angelo F Bernardino ◽

Fabiano S Pais ◽

Louisi S Oliveira ◽

Fabricio A Gabriel ◽

Tiago O Ferreira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Trace Metals ◽

Mine Tailings ◽

Environmental Filtering ◽

Environmental Dna ◽

Mine Tailing ◽

Marine Ecology ◽

Estuarine Ecosystems ◽

Coastal Marine ◽

Doce River

Mine tailing disasters have occurred worldwide and contemporary release of tailings of large proportions raise concerns of the chronic impacts that trace metals associated with tailings may have on the aquatic biodiversity. Environmental metabarcoding (eDNA) offers an yet poorly explored opportunity for biological monitoring of impacted aquatic ecosystems from mine tailings and contaminated sediments. eDNA has been increasingly recognized to be an effective method to detect previously unrecognized small-sized Metazoan taxa, but their ecological responses to environmental pollution has not been assessed by metabarcoding. Here we evaluated chronic effects of trace metal contamination from sediment eDNA of the Rio Doce estuary, 1.7 years after the Samarco mine tailing disaster, which released over 40 million m3of iron tailings in the Rio Doce river basin. We identified 123 new sequence variants (eOTUs) of benthic taxa and an assemblage composition dominated by Nematoda, Crustacea and Platyhelminthes; typical of other estuarine ecosystems. We detected environmental filtering on the meiofaunal assemblages and multivariate analysis revealed strong influence of Fe contamination, supporting chronic impacts from mine tailing deposition in the estuary. This was in contrast to environmental filtering of meiofaunal assemblages of non-polluted estuaries. Here we suggest that the eDNA metabarcoding technique provides an opportunity to fill up biodiversity gaps in coastal marine ecology and may become a valid method for long term monitoring studies in mine tailing disasters and estuarine ecosystems with high trace metals content.

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Towards an odour-baited trap to control Musca sorbens, the putative vector of trachoma

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-91609-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ailie Robinson ◽

Jack Bickford-Smith ◽

Oumer Abdurahman Shafi ◽

Muluadam Abraham Aga ◽

Gemeda Shuka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Standard Deviation ◽

Field Studies ◽

Evidence Base ◽

Mass Trapping ◽

Eye Infections ◽

Mucous Membranes ◽

Environmentally Sound ◽

The Impact ◽

Local Transmission

AbstractMusca sorbens is a synanthropic filth fly that aggressively attacks people to feed from mucous membranes of the eyes, nose or mouth, from open sores, or from sweat. It has long been suspected that this fly contributes to the transmission of eye infections, particularly trachoma, and recent work has added to the evidence base that M. sorbens is a trachoma vector in Ethiopia. There are few options to control M. sorbens, largely due to a lack of evidence. Space spraying with insecticides is effective, but an environmentally sound and long-term sustainable solution would be better, for example, mass trapping. We tested commercially available and homemade trap types in a pilot (laboratory) study and three field studies. A homemade design, built from a bucket and two empty water bottles, baited with a commercially available lure, The Buzz, was found to be most effective. This trap caught 3848 M. sorbens over 26 trap ‘events’ (3- or 4-day periods); mean/median per 24 h 43.6 (standard deviation 137.10)/2.25 (IQR 0.25–12.67). The Buzz lure is cheap and effective for 4 weeks, and trap components cheap and locally available. Further studies are needed to understand the impact of this trap on local fly populations and the local transmission of trachoma.

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Chronic trace metals effects of mine tailings on estuarine assemblages revealed by environmental DNA

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.8042 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. e8042 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Angelo F. Bernardino ◽

Fabiano S. Pais ◽

Louisi S. Oliveira ◽

Fabricio A. Gabriel ◽

Tiago O. Ferreira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Trace Metals ◽

Mine Tailings ◽

Environmental Filtering ◽

Environmental Dna ◽

Mine Tailing ◽

Marine Ecology ◽

Estuarine Ecosystems ◽

Coastal Marine ◽

Doce River

Mine tailing disasters have occurred worldwide and contemporary release of tailings of large proportions raise concerns of the chronic impacts that trace metals may have on the aquatic biodiversity. Environmental metabarcoding (eDNA) offers an as yet poorly explored opportunity for biological monitoring of impacted aquatic ecosystems from mine tailings and contaminated sediments. eDNA has been increasingly recognized to be an effective method to detect previously unrecognized small-sized Metazoan taxa, but their ecological responses to environmental pollution has not been assessed by metabarcoding. Here, we evaluated chronic effects of trace metal contamination from sediment eDNA of the Rio Doce estuary, 1.7 years after the Samarco mine tailing disaster, which released over 40 million m3 of iron tailings in the Rio Doce river basin. We identified 123 new sequence variants environmental taxonomic units (eOTUs) of benthic taxa and an assemblage composition dominated by Nematoda, Crustacea and Platyhelminthes; typical of other estuarine ecosystems. We detected environmental filtering on the meiofaunal assemblages and multivariate analysis revealed strong influence of Fe contamination, supporting chronic impacts from mine tailing deposition in the estuary. This was in contrast to environmental filtering of meiofaunal assemblages of non-polluted estuaries. Here, we suggest that the eDNA metabarcoding technique provides an opportunity to fill up biodiversity gaps in coastal marine ecology and may become a valid method for long term monitoring studies in mine tailing disasters and estuarine ecosystems with high trace metals content.

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BIOGEOCHEMISTRY OF NICKEL DURING IRRIGATION

Forestry Engineering Journal ◽

10.34220/issn.2222-7962/2020.3/12 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 124-132

Author(s):

Tat'yana Kramareva ◽

Nadezhda Gorbunova ◽

Arkadi Gromovik ◽

Elena Kulikova

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Metal Content ◽

Crop Production ◽

Total Content ◽

High Metal Content ◽

High Metal ◽

Transformation Of Organic Matter ◽

Humus Horizons ◽

Hydrolytic Acidity

The geochemical feature of the study area is the enrichment of soil-forming and underlying rocks with Ni, and, as a consequence, a high metal content in groundwater and surface sources, the water of which is used for irrigation. The regular supply of the element with irrigation water leads to an increase in the total content of Ni and its exchange compounds in the upper humus horizons of the studied leached chernozems. Irrigation contributes to the accumulation of Ni in grain and phytomass of crop production. It is shown that long-term irrigation leads to the transformation of organic matter, a change in the pH of the soil solution and the values of hydrolytic acidity.

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Chronic trace metals effects of mine tailings on estuarine assemblages revealed by environmental DNA

10.7287/peerj.preprints.27924 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Angelo F Bernardino ◽

Fabiano S Pais ◽

Louisi S Oliveira ◽

Fabricio A Gabriel ◽

Tiago O Ferreira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Trace Metals ◽

Mine Tailings ◽

Environmental Filtering ◽

Environmental Dna ◽

Mine Tailing ◽

Marine Ecology ◽

Estuarine Ecosystems ◽

Coastal Marine ◽

Doce River

Mine tailing disasters have occurred worldwide and contemporary release of tailings of large proportions raise concerns of the chronic impacts that trace metals associated with tailings may have on the aquatic biodiversity. Environmental metabarcoding (eDNA) offers an yet poorly explored opportunity for biological monitoring of impacted aquatic ecosystems from mine tailings and contaminated sediments. eDNA has been increasingly recognized to be an effective method to detect previously unrecognized small-sized Metazoan taxa, but their ecological responses to environmental pollution has not been assessed by metabarcoding. Here we evaluated chronic effects of trace metal contamination from sediment eDNA of the Rio Doce estuary, 1.7 years after the Samarco mine tailing disaster, which released over 40 million m3of iron tailings in the Rio Doce river basin. We identified 123 new sequence variants (eOTUs) of benthic taxa and an assemblage composition dominated by Nematoda, Crustacea and Platyhelminthes; typical of other estuarine ecosystems. We detected environmental filtering on the meiofaunal assemblages and multivariate analysis revealed strong influence of Fe contamination, supporting chronic impacts from mine tailing deposition in the estuary. This was in contrast to environmental filtering of meiofaunal assemblages of non-polluted estuaries. Here we suggest that the eDNA metabarcoding technique provides an opportunity to fill up biodiversity gaps in coastal marine ecology and may become a valid method for long term monitoring studies in mine tailing disasters and estuarine ecosystems with high trace metals content.

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Ensuring sustainability in plastics use in Africa: consumption, waste generation, and projections

Environmental Sciences Europe ◽

10.1186/s12302-019-0254-5 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Joshua O. Babayemi ◽

Innocent C. Nnorom ◽

Oladele Osibanjo ◽

Roland Weber

Keyword(s):

Historical Analysis ◽

Thermal Recovery ◽

Waste Plastics ◽

African Countries ◽

Polymers And Plastics ◽

Global Challenge ◽

Plastic Bag ◽

Environmentally Sound ◽

Sound Management ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background Currently, plastic is at the top of the international agenda for waste management. Recent meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel and the Stockholm Conventions have expressed concerns over the impact of plastic waste, marine plastic litter, and microplastics, and emphasised the importance of reducing consumption and ensuring the environmentally sound management of waste plastics. This study presents the first continental historical analysis of mass importation and consumption of different polymers and plastics (primary and secondary forms, respectively) in Africa and the associated pollution potential. We identified, collated and synthesised dispersed international trade data on the importation of polymers and plastics into several African countries. Results The 33 African countries (total population of 856,671,366) with available data for more than 10 years imported approximately 86.14 Mt of polymers in primary form and 31.5 Mt of plastic products between 1990 and 2017. Extrapolating to the continental level (African population of 1.216 billion in 54 countries), about 172 Mt of polymers and plastics valued at $285 billion were imported between 1990 and 2017. Considering also the components of products, an estimated 230 Mt of plastics entered Africa during that time period, with the largest share going to Egypt (43 Mt, 18.7%), Nigeria (39 Mt, 17.0%), South Africa (27 Mt, 11.7%), Algeria (26 Mt, 11.3%), Morocco (22 Mt, 9.6%), and Tunisia (16 Mt, 7.0%). Additionally, primary plastic production in 8 African countries contributed 15 Mt during 2009–2015. The assessment showed that environmentally sound end-of-life management of waste plastics by recycling and energy recovery is in its infancy in Africa, but recycling activities and thermal recovery have started in a few countries. Conclusions Globally, the perception is that production and consumption of plastics can only increase in the future. Solutions are needed to tackle this global challenge. Certain policies and plastic bag bans could help reduce plastic consumption in the near future, as demonstrated by Rwanda. Furthermore, there is a need for innovative solutions such as the introduction of biodegradable polymers and other alternatives, especially for packaging.

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Suppressed, but Not Forgotten

Swiss Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1024/1421-0185/a000033 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 70 (1) ◽

pp. 5-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Beat Meier ◽

Anja König ◽

Samuel Parak ◽

Katharina Henke

Keyword(s):

Memory Trace ◽

Thought Suppression ◽

Test Phase ◽

Indirect Test ◽

Final Test ◽

Test Experiment ◽

And Control ◽

Cue Words ◽

The Impact

This study investigates the impact of thought suppression over a 1-week interval. In two experiments with 80 university students each, we used the think/no-think paradigm in which participants initially learn a list of word pairs (cue-target associations). Then they were presented with some of the cue words again and should either respond with the target word or avoid thinking about it. In the final test phase, their memory for the initially learned cue-target pairs was tested. In Experiment 1, type of memory test was manipulated (i.e., direct vs. indirect). In Experiment 2, type of no-think instructions was manipulated (i.e., suppress vs. substitute). Overall, our results showed poorer memory for no-think and control items compared to think items across all experiments and conditions. Critically, however, more no-think than control items were remembered after the 1-week interval in the direct, but not in the indirect test (Experiment 1) and with thought suppression, but not thought substitution instructions (Experiment 2). We suggest that during thought suppression a brief reactivation of the learned association may lead to reconsolidation of the memory trace and hence to better retrieval of suppressed than control items in the long term.

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