The BEAM-project: prediction and assessment of mixture toxicities in the aquatic environment

Freshwater and marine ecosystems are exposed to various multi-component mixtures of pollutants. Nevertheless, most ecotoxicological research and chemicals regulation focus on hazard and exposure assessment of individual substances only, the problem of chemical mixtures in the environment is ignored to a large extent. In contrast, the assessment of combination effects has a long tradition in pharmacology, where mixtures of chemicals are specifically designed to develop new products, e.g. human and veterinary drugs or agricultural and non-agricultural pesticides. In this area, two concepts are frequently used and are thought to describe fundamental relationships between single substance and mixture effects: Independent Action (Response Addition) and Concentration Addition. The question, to what extent these concepts may also be applied in an ecotoxicological and regulatory context may be considered a research topic of major importance, as the concepts would allow to make use of already existing single substance toxicity data for the predictive assessment of mixture toxicities. Two critical knowledge gaps are identified: (a) There is a lack of environmental realism, as a huge part of our current knowledge about the applicability of the concepts is restricted to artificial situations with respect to mixture composition or biological effect assessment. (b) The knowledge on what exactly is needed for using the concepts as tools for the predictive mixture toxicity assessment is insufficient. Both gaps seriously hamper the necessary, scientifically sound consideration of mixture toxicities in a regulatory context.In this paper, the two concepts will be briefly introduced, the necessity of considering the toxicities of chemical mixtures in the environment will be demonstrated and the applicability of Independent Action and Concentration Addition as tools for the prediction and assessment of mixture toxicities will be discussed. An overview of the specific aims and approaches of the BEAM project to fill in the identified knowledge gaps is given and first results are outlined.     

Microbial Degradation of Tar Oil Compounds under Different Redox Conditions

The microbial transformation of typical tar oil compounds such as acridine, benzo(b)thiophene, dibenzofuran, indane, and indene under different redox conditions was investigated in microcosm studies. Under aerobic conditions the inherent contamination in polluted soil as well as the added N‐, S‐, O‐ heterocyclic and homocyclic compounds were transformed predominantly apart from thiophene. 1‐Indanone was detected by RP‐HPLC‐DAD and GC‐MS as an intermediate metabolite from indane and indene. Under nitrate and sulfate reducing conditions indane, benzo(b)thiophene, and dibenzofuran were transformed in assays with the polluted soil samples from well B 65 and B 66 within 426 days, whereas they were persistent in assays with the highly polluted soil B 67. All heterocyclic and homocyclic compounds added to the non‐contaminated soil from well B 85 were not degraded under nitrate and sulfate reducing conditions, too. The results indicate that for the decision, wether natural attenuation can be implemented in the remediation of contaminated site, in addition to BTEX and PAHs especially the fate of further tar oil compounds in anoxic aquifers has to be considered.     

Floodplain Residents' Preferences for Water Level Management Options in Flood Control Projects in Bangladesh

A maximum difference conjoint (MDC) model was part of a questionnaire toassess floodplain residents' preferences for the outcomes of water level managementinside an enclosed embankment system on the left bank of the Dhaleswari River, calledthe Compartmentalization Pilot Project (CPP)-Tangail. The outcomes were described as(a) varied flood depths in the rice field, (b) incidence of flooding on the courtyard andinside homes, (c) changes in floodplain and culture fisheries, and (d) varied conditionsof drainage congestion. Following a standard survey, the respondents from inside andoutside a completed section of the compartment (Cluster 1b) were shown profiles of these flood management outcomes and were asked to indicate for each profile the one most preferred and the one least preferred item. The results of the study indicated that the respondents had a clear preference for preventing flooding of their homes and courtyards and for an ideal water depth of 2 ft in the aman rice fields. At the same time, they also showed a strong concern about malfunctioning of sluices and to a lesser extent about the changes in the fish habitat. The successful application of the MDC as an approach to model tradeoffs among rural residents of Bangladesh shows that a relatively complex quantitative survey method, incorporating choice cards as pictograms, can be applied successfully even in a developing country.     

Palaeoecology and Archaeology of the Kärlich–Seeufer Open-Air Site (Middle Pleistocene) in the Central Rhineland, Germany

The Kärlich–Seeufer archaeological site in Germany's central Rhineland was excavated between 1980 and 1992. The site provides evidence for hominid activity during a Middle Pleistocene interglaciation known up to now only from the Kärlich clay pit and therefore defined as the Kärlich Interglaciation, which is considered to be post-Cromer IV and pre-Holstein (sensu stricto) in age. The site is characterized by Acheulean artifacts, a fauna dominated byElephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus,and a unique and outstanding preservation of wooden and other palaeobotanical remains. Assuming all finds are associated, the site previously was interpreted as an elephant hunting camp with a wooden structure, together with wood and bone implements preservedin situ.Recent analysis of the same features has shown that the site can also be interpreted as a reworked archaeological sample. Hominid occupation occurred in the vicinity of a small lake with prevailing meso-oligotrophic conditions. Expanding boreal forests and fen vegetation characterized the landscape.     

Reconstruction of atmospheric CO2 from ice-core data and the deep-sea record of ontong Java plateau: the Milankovitch chron

We provide a reconstruction of atmospheric CO₂ from deep-sea sediments, for the past 625000 years (Milankovitch chron). Our database consists of a Milankovitch template of sea-level variation in combination with a unique data set for the deep-sea record for Ontong Java plateau in the western equatorial Pacific. We redate the Vostok ice-core data of Barnola et al. (1987). To make the reconstructions we employ multiple regression between deep-sea data, on one hand, and ice-core CO₂ data in Antarctica, on the other. The patterns of correlation suggest that the main factors controlling atmospheric CO₂ can be described as a combination of sea-level state and sea-level change. For best results squared values of state and change are used. The square-of-sea-level rule agrees with the concept that shelf processes are important modulators of atmospheric CO₂ (e.g., budgets of shelf organic carbon and shelf carbonate, nitrate reduction). The square-of-change rule implies that, on short timescales, any major disturbance of the system results in a temporary rise in atmospheric CO₂.     

Genesis and distribution of mineral waters as a consequence of recent lithospheric dynamics: the Rhenish Massif,Central Europe

Three major, interdependent processes control the genesis and distribution of mineral and thermal waters in the Rhenish Massif, Central Europe: (a) Magmatic processes in the upper mantle provide most of the CO₂ to produce bicarbonate waters in shallow aquifers. (b) Extension of the brittle upper crust enables the ascent of sodium chloride waters. (c) Uplift and erosion shape the massif's relief, which determines the extent of flow systems and the distribution of thermal springs. The chemistry of mineral waters further depends on the aquifers' mineral composition. A comprehensive set of hydrological, chemical, tectonic and geophysical data on the Rhenish Massif has been compiled. It was used to classify the mineral waters and to map the spatial distribution of water properties. The composition of cuttings from several representative wells producing different water types shows that the hydrothermal alteration of the aquifer rocks consists mainly of kaolinization of chlorite and dissolution of feldspar. Numerical transport simulations favour two modes of groundwater flow: topography-driven flow and the pressure-driven ascent of basement brines along active faults. Thermal convection is less important.     

Dynamik der Schilfröhrichte am Bodensee unter dem Einfluss von Wasserstandsvariationen

On the basis of different sets of aerial photos the dynamics of the reed bed areas of Lake Constance were investigated in relation to the dynamics of the water levels. The objectives of the study were to quantify the changes of reed areas due to different flood events in the last decades and their recovery in the time periods between these events. The results should given information of the relevance of water level variations on reed bed dynamics and the regeneration times of reed beds after extreme disturbance events.Following the extreme flood at Lake Constance in 1999 the reed belts of Lake Constance lost approximately 30 ha (24%) of the lakeside reed beds. The loss is comparable to the situation in the late 1960s, when approximately 40 ha died back due to the extreme flood in 1965 and the high spring water levels in the subsequent years. In the time period between the extreme floods of 1965 and 1999, the reed areas expanded to nearly 85% of the area before 1965. The expansion rates increased with increasing distance to the flood event of 1965. Especially in periods with series of years of low spring water level the expansion rates were high.The damage degrees of the reed areas in the years 2000 and 2002 showed a clear relation to the elevation (i.e. average water level) of the stands. The damage degree increased with decreasing elevation. Furthermore the regeneration process of severely damaged stands was related to the elevation level of the stands. Whereas stands at high elevation regenerate fast, those at low elevation died off completely in the years after the extreme flood. This supports the hypothesis that the water level flutuations play a major role in the reed dynamics of Lake Constance.As a consequence of the climate change an increase in the frequency of high spring water levels is expected. Thus, it seems unlikely that reed stands will ever expand again to the same area as before 1965.     

The measurement of sulfate mineral solubilities in the Na-K-Ca-Cl-SO4-H2O system at temperatures of 100, 150 and 200°C

At T > 100°C development of thermodynamic models suffers from missing experimental data, particularly for solubilities of sulfate minerals in mixed solutions. Solubilities in Na⁺-K⁺-Ca²⁺-Cl⁻-SO₄²⁻/H₂O subsystems were investigated at 150, 200°C and at selected compositions at 100°C. The apparatus used to examine solid-liquid phase equilibria under hydrothermal conditions has been described.In the system NaCl-CaSO₄-H₂O the missing anhydrite (CaSO₄) solubilities at high NaCl concentrations up to halite saturation have been determined. In the system Na₂SO₄-CaSO₄-H₂O the observed glauberite (Na₂SO₄ · CaSO₄) solubility is higher than that predicted by the high temperature model of Greenberg and Møller (1989), especially at 200°C. At high salt concentrations, solubilities of both anhydrite and glauberite increase with increasing temperature. Stability fields of the minerals syngenite (K₂SO₄ · CaSO₄ · H₂O) and goergeyite (K₂SO₄ · 5 CaSO₄ · H₂O) were determined, and a new phase was found at 200°C in the K₂SO₄-CaSO₄-H₂O system. Chemical and single crystal structure analysis give the formula K₂SO₄ · CaSO₄. The structure is isostructural with palmierite (K₂SO₄ · PbSO₄). The glaserite (“3 K₂SO₄ · Na₂SO₄”) appears as solid solution in the system Na₂SO₄-K₂SO₄-H₂O. Its solubility and stoichiometry was determined as a function of solution composition.