biomonitoring Articles
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Expect a Busy Year at EPA
Untitled Document Since 2004 is an election year, some for obvious reasons might think the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) might not be as ambitious as it otherwise could be. However, there is little likelihood of a precipitous decline in rulemaking activities. This column summarizes key rulemaking and policy developments expected in 2004. ...
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How lichens and mosses reflect atmospheric deposition of natural and artificial radionuclides
In a national survey in Slovenia, two biomonitors, the epiphytic lichen Hypogymnia physodes and the terrestrial moss Hypnum cupressiforme, were analysed for 210Pb and 137Cs. Further, the results for 210Pb were compared with outdoor 222Rn and with precipitation data. 210Pb activity concentrations in moss carpets and lichen thalli ranged between 180?2450 and 200?1990 Bq kg-1, respectively. 210Pb ...
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Environmental chemicals in people: challenges in interpreting biomonitoring information
Biomonitoring, the measurement of chemicals in blood, urine, and other tissues or fluids, is becoming an increasingly common tool in the study of human exposure to environmental chemicals and the potential health effects of those chemicals. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) now includes biomonitoring data for hundreds of chemicals as well as information on other health ...
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Chemical Body Burdens: A Look at Biomonitoring (PDF)
Researchers, public health officials, regulators, and others have long been in search of a reliable diagnostic tool to identify and measure the presence of chemical substances, and their breakdown products, in human bodily fluids. The utility of such a tool is almost limitless, and has staggering implications for all participants in the chemical producer and user community.That tool, ...
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Spatial mapping of the city of Lisbon using biomonitors
Biomonitoring is used to study the performance of a single air sampler as representing air elemental concentrations in Lisbon. A database of chemical elements' concentrations was obtained by analysing exposed lichens and bark, hung on courtyard trees of 22 Lisbon basic schools from January to May 2008 and June to October 2008 (winter and summer campaigns). Electric conductivity was also measured ...
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Biomonitoring of concentrations of platinum group elements and their correlations to other metals
Biomonitoring of Pt, Pd, Pb, Mn, Cu, Fe and Zn was conducted using leaves (two and six months old) of laurel (Laurus nobilis L.) ornamental shrubs grown in 14 sampling sites located on the central green belts of six avenues and streets of Athens. In this biomonitoring, we determined, for the first time in Greece, the concentrations of the new urban "pollutants" Pt and Pd, and we estimated the ...
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Large-scale biomonitoring of trace element air pollution: local variance, data comparability and its relationships to human health
This paper addresses large-scale biomonitoring surveys on trace element air pollution. It discusses local variances, the comparability of data, obtained over a large geographical area, and the possibilities to discuss findings in the context of human health issues. The local variances are principally considered as basic properties of the survey, associated with local sites, and, together with ...
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Element-enrichment factors in Parmotrema bangii and Cryptomeria japonica of Portuguese islands of the central North Atlantic
Owing to their abundance and ability to accumulate airborne elements, the epiphytic lichen Parmotrema bangii (Vain.) Hale and bark from its phorophyte, the Japanese cedar Cryptomeria japonica (L. fil.) D. Don, were chosen as atmospheric biomonitors and collected at five islands of the Azores archipelago, in the central North Atlantic - Sao Miguel and Santa Maria (eastern group); Terceira, Sao ...
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Study on air pollution in Beijing's major industrial areas using multielements in biomonitors and NAA techniques
Three kinds of plant leaves, Chinese white poplar, arborvitae and pine needles were evaluated as a biomonitor for air pollution studies. Thirty-two trace elements have been determined by using relative and the K0 methods of instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). The results indicated that Chinese white poplar leaves are a good biomonitor in particular seasons and the pine needles are ...
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Chemicals in Our Bodies: The Next Frontier
Several well-organized nongovernmental organizations have initiated campaigns to heighten awareness about the presence of chemicals in our bodies to jump-start the collection of biomonitoring data. The results of these initiatives will influence risk-assessment practices, legislation and regulatory developments for years to come. Biomonitoring is the laboratory measurement of chemicals in blood, ...
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Effect of 137Cs gamma radiation on the system bioindicator Tradescantia pallida
The use of the bioindicator Tradescantia clone 4430 as a biomonitor is limited to a short period of time in regions of hot climate. This paper describes the use of Tradescantia pallida as a bioindicator, to verify its sensitivity to gamma radiation from a 137Cs source and to monitor places of low doses of ionising radiation in tropical climates. Specimens of the T. pallida were exposed to ...
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On the road from environmental biomonitoring to human health aspects: monitoring atmospheric heavy metal deposition by epiphytic/epigeic plants: present status and future needs
For the past few years, a strong and intensive combined study by analytical scientists and biologists on bioindication and biomonitoring has developed. To achieve a more public-related prophylactic healthcare feature derived from these biotechniques in the future, the collaboration between analytical scientists, ecotoxicologists and especially human toxicologists has to be strongly intensified ...
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Sustainable sampling of native bromeliads for environmental monitoring
By analysing the leaves of bromeliads, the availability of chemical elements in the atmosphere can be assessed. However, sampling steps affect the reliability of using such plants for environmental quality studies. This paper describes a novel and sustainable sampling methodology for conservation units, in which small discs (6 mm diameter) of bromeliad leaves could be taken without removing ...
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Biomonitoring of air quality employing in situ Ramalina celastri in Argentina
The lichen Ramalina celastri was employed as an in situ biomonitor for the study of air quality and heavy metal distribution in the central region of the Argentine Republic. The thallus content of copper, iron, manganese, cobalt, zinc, nickel and lead was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Pigments, hydroperoxy conjugated dienes, malondialdehyde and sulfur were also measured. Some ...
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Clarifying relationships between persistent organic pollutant concentrations and age in wildlife biomonitoring: Individuals, cross‐sections, and the roles of lifespan and sex
Relationships between persistent organic pollutant (POP) levels and age in wildlife biomonitoring are often interpreted as changes in contaminant burden as organisms age. However cross‐sectional body burden‐age trends (CBATs) obtained from biomonitoring studies, which sample individuals of different age at the same time, should not be confused with longitudinal body burden‐age trends (LBATs) ...
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Manufacturers Come to Grips with Realities of Biomonitoring
Untitled Document Regulatory initiatives based upon biomonitoring data have expanded greatly in recent years. For the manufacturing sector, this poses both opportunities and risks. Biomonitoring, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is the “direct measurement of environmental chemicals in the human body, specifically ...
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Native plant bioaccumulation strategies: a baseline study for biomonitoring the Atlantic Forest
The atmosphere may act as an important source of chemical elements for the Atlantic Forest, one of the hottest world biodiversity hotspots. However, chemical responses for chemical element availability are not expected to be equal for each plant species. In this sense, the present work encompasses a baseline study for biomonitoring purposes based on the identification of different strategies of ...
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Biomonitoring in the forest zone of Ghana: the primary results obtained using neutron activation analysis and lichens
The first heavy metal deposition survey using biological indicators in the forest belt of Ghana was carried out in the year 2002?2003. The selected sampling areas included two mining centres, industrial areas and farming communities. Levels of ten chemical elements namely, Al, As, Cr, Fe, Hg, Mn, Sb, Th, Ti and V present in the lichens at high concentrations that are suspected to be resulting ...
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A biomonitoring study: trace metals in seagrass, algae and molluscs in a marine reference ecosystem (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea)
Marine organisms were tested as possible biomonitors of heavy metal contamination in Ustica (island of the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea). The concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn were measured in the phanerogam Posidonia oceanica L. Delile, the two brown algae Padina pavonica (L.) Thivy and Cystoseira sp., and the two gastropod molluscs Monodonta turbinata Born and Patella caerulea L. collected at ...
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Atmospheric chemical element pollution in an urban water-associated environment
Nowadays, sustainability has become a complicated issue mainly in urban centres. Owing to the atmospheric emissions, the incorporation of toxic chemical elements is still not well known for urban water-associated ecosystems. Tillandsia bromeliads were employed as passive biomonitors of air pollution. Otherwise, the tank bromeliad Canistropsis billbergioides, native to the Atlantic Forest, was ...
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