Determination of ultratrace elements in natural waters by solid-phase extraction and atomic spectrometry methods

none4M. GROTTI; M.L. ABELMOSCHI; F. SOGGIA; R. FRACHEGrotti, Marco; Abelmoschi, MARIA LUISA; Soggia, Francesco; Frache, Robert

Ionomic profiling of Nicotiana langsdorffii wild-type and mutant genotypes exposed to abiotic stresses

none5F. Ardini; F. Soggia; M.L. Abelmoschi; E. Magi; M. GrottiArdini, Francisco; Soggia, Francesco; Abelmoschi, MARIA LUISA; Magi, Emanuele; Grotti, Marc

Retrospective biomonitoring of chemical contamination in the marine coastal environment of Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica) by environmental specimen banking

Antarctica offers a good opportunity to investigate planetary-scale pollution and climate change and provides baseline values for contaminants such as Trace Elements (TEs) and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Literature data on contaminant levels in the Antarctic environment indicate that Long-Range Atmospheric Transport (LRAT) is the primary pathway by which pollutants from surrounding continents are carried to this pristine environment. However, local contamination sources represented by the local scientific stations are also not negligible. Climate change and global warming are altering the global budget of anthropogenic contaminants and their monitoring in Antarctica ecosystems is very important to protect the global environment.\ud In this work, eighty specimens of Adamussium colbecki (Smith, 1902), a benthic Antarctic scallop, collected from 1996 to 2009 and stored in the Antarctic Environmental Specimen Bank, were analyzed to quantify TEs and POPs, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Metals concentrations were not affected by anthropogenic contributions, highlighting a natural accumulation with the age of the organism. Similarly, no temporal trend was found for PCNs, PCBs and PAHs. However, specimens collected during the summer 1997-98 showed enhanced concentration levels of PCBs and PAHs that could refer to a local anthropogenic source of contamination

Effect of heat stress on the ionomic profile of <i>Nicotiana langsdorffii</i> wild-type and mutant genotypes

<p>Possible changes in the ionome of <i>Nicotiana langsdorffii</i> wild-type and transgenic specimens following heat stress have been explored, considering both variations in the total concentration of 28 major and trace elements and their root/aerial part partitioning. In order to reveal the statistically significant effects, the natural variability was evaluated by the analysis of 10 individual specimens for each genotype. It was found that heat stress affects the plant ionome in a complex way, depending on the element and the genetic modification. A significant decrease in the total concentration was observed for several elements (e.g. Fe and Zn), whereas fewer elements (e.g. Ca and Mg) showed the opposite trend. The heat stress also affected the elemental distribution within the plants, determining accumulation in roots (e.g. Mo, P and Zn in transgenic plants) or in the aerial part (e.g. K) and indicating an altered efficiency of ion transport or uptake processes, respectively. Finally, analytical data for the heat stress were merged with those previously obtained for chemical and water stresses and analysed by multivariate analysis, making it possible to display the different ionomic signatures of each stress and suggest suitable indicators for plant biomonitoring studies.</p