Pesticide contamination of the upper Elbe River and an adjacent floodplain area

Purpose: Pesticide contamination of river waters is a global problem, and therefore, authorities regularly monitor the water quality status. Especially, flood events might transport large pesticide loads downstream and impact adjacent areas such as sensible floodplain environments by deposing particle bound pesticides or by contaminating the environments by dissolved substances directly. Unfortunately, only little attempts were made to quantify the pesticide pollution of such environments, as the monitoring of soil and sediment contamination is by far more time consuming and complicated compared to the analysis of water samples.Materials and methods: In the study presented, we therefore used a holistic approach starting with the reconstruction of the inundation characteristics of a floodplain located in the upper part of the river Elbe, Germany, by using nearby gauging data, screened databases for pesticide concentrations and calculated pesticide loads, and finally, sampled the floodplain soils along an elevation (inundation) gradient.Results: As expected, the reconstructed inundation characteristics showed that the low-lying areas of the backwater inflow of the floodplain were flooded more frequently compared to the areas at higher elevation, whereby even the highest elevations sampled were at least flooded during each decade. Furthermore, pesticide concentrations of the river waters and calculated pesticide loads revealed that 13 pesticides can be found regularly, whereby atrazine, terbuthylazine, metazachlor, metolachlor, isoproturon, and chlorotoluron are the main contaminants.Conclusion: Concluding, a spatial pattern in the contamination could be detected. High residues of simazine and ethofumesate were associated with areas of less and more frequent inundations, respectively. The transformation products of atrazine and terbuthylazine (2-hydroxy-atrazine and 2-hydroxy-terbuthylazine) were detected, whereby the quantity could be well explained by the inundation characteristics and pesticide loads of the river water.Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH (4205

A polymorphism in the gene of the endocannabinoid-degrading enzyme FAAH (FAAH C385A) is associated with emotional-motivational reactivity

RATIONALE: The endocannabinoid (eCB) system is implicated in several psychiatric disorders. Investigating emotional-motivational dysfunctions as underlying mechanisms, a study in humans revealed that in the C385A polymorphism of the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), the degrading enzyme of the eCB anandamide (AEA), A carriers, who are characterized by increased signaling of AEA as compared to C/C carriers, exhibited reduced brain reactivity towards unpleasant faces and enhanced reactivity towards reward. However, the association of eCB system with emotional-motivational reactivity is complex and bidirectional due to upcoming compensatory processes. OBJECTIVES: Therefore, we further investigated the relationship of the FAAH polymorphism and emotional-motivational reactivity in humans. METHODS: We assessed the affect-modulated startle, and ratings of valence and arousal in response to higher arousing pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures in 67 FAAH C385A C/C carriers and 45 A carriers. RESULTS: Contrarily to the previous functional MRI study, A carriers compared to C/C carriers exhibited an increased startle potentiation and therefore emotional responsiveness towards unpleasant picture stimuli and reduced startle inhibition indicating reduced emotional reactivity in response to pleasant pictures, while both groups did not differ in ratings of arousal and valence. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings emphasize the bidirectionality and thorough examination of the eCB system's impact on emotional reactivity as a central endophenotype underlying various psychiatric disorders

Pesticide contamination of the upper Elbe River and an adjacent floodplain area

PurposePesticide contamination of river waters is a global problem, and therefore, authorities regularly monitor the water quality status. Especially, flood events might transport large pesticide loads downstream and impact adjacent areas such as sensible floodplain environments by deposing particle bound pesticides or by contaminating the environments by dissolved substances directly. Unfortunately, only little attempts were made to quantify the pesticide pollution of such environments, as the monitoring of soil and sediment contamination is by far more time consuming and complicated compared to the analysis of water samples.Materials and methodsIn the study presented, we therefore used a holistic approach starting with the reconstruction of the inundation characteristics of a floodplain located in the upper part of the river Elbe, Germany, by using nearby gauging data, screened databases for pesticide concentrations and calculated pesticide loads, and finally, sampled the floodplain soils along an elevation (inundation) gradient.ResultsAs expected, the reconstructed inundation characteristics showed that the low-lying areas of the backwater inflow of the floodplain were flooded more frequently compared to the areas at higher elevation, whereby even the highest elevations sampled were at least flooded during each decade. Furthermore, pesticide concentrations of the river waters and calculated pesticide loads revealed that 13 pesticides can be found regularly, whereby atrazine, terbuthylazine, metazachlor, metolachlor, isoproturon, and chlorotoluron are the main contaminants.ConclusionConcluding, a spatial pattern in the contamination could be detected. High residues of simazine and ethofumesate were associated with areas of less and more frequent inundations, respectively. The transformation products of atrazine and terbuthylazine (2-hydroxy-atrazine and 2-hydroxy-terbuthylazine) were detected, whereby the quantity could be well explained by the inundation characteristics and pesticide loads of the river water

Pestizidrückstände in einer Flussaue der Ober Elbe

Bisherige Monitoringstudien zur Erfassung der Belastungssituation mit org. Spurenstoffen (u.a. Pestiziden) von Überflutungsflächen entlang der Elbe fokussierten zumeist Altlasten, d.h. Aldrin, DDT, Lindan, während moderne/aktuelle Pestizide wenig beachtet wurden. Literaturstudien zeigen überdies, dass Monitoringprogramme, die auf aquatische Pestizidbelastung ausgerichtet sind, ein wesentlich breiteres Spektrum an Stoffgruppen abdecken, als solche, die die Situation im Boden erfassen. Aufgrund seines herausragenden Stellenwerts in der öffentlichen wie auch politischen Diskussion wird Wasser als das höchste natürliche Schutzgut angesehen, welches über die Trinkwasser Verordnung auf nationaler Ebene mit einem Grenzwert von 0.1 µg/l für jegliche Pestizide geschützt ist. Im Gegensatz hierzu wird der Boden vor Pestizidbelastungen weder auf nationaler noch internationaler Ebene rechtlich geschützt, obgleich pestizidbelastete Böden einerseits als Senke aber auch als Reservoir für org. Schadstoffe dienen können, deren Langzeitfolgen nur schwer einzuschätzen sind. Die aufwändige Aufbereitung von Bodenproben, d.h. Extraktion der Zielsubstanzen, erschwert zudem die Durchführung von standardisierten Monitoringverfahren der Belastungssituation in Böden. Im Rahmen dieser Studie wurden in einer Flussaue und eines Altarm-Zulaufs der Ober Elbe mittels accelerated solvent extraction und UHPLC-MS/MS Detektion 2 Herbizide (Simazin, Ethofumesat), 2 Transformationsprodukte (2-hydroxy-Atrazin, 2-hydroxy-Terbuthylazin) sowie ein Fungizid (Azoxystrobin) über einen breiten Konzentrationsbereich (Ethofumesat >> 2-hydroxy-Atrazin > 2-hydroxy-Terbuthylazin > Simazin >> Azoxystrobin) nachgewiesen. Der Abgleich von Gewässermonitoring-Ergebnissen und den Ergebnissen dieser Studie legt die Vermutung nahe, dass Stoffe, die regulär in Wasserproben nachgewiesen werden auch in angrenzenden terrestrischen Systemen auftreten können. Zusätzlich zeigt sich, dass der Zulauf des Altarms, aufgrund häufigerer Überflutung und damit einhergehender Deposition belasteter Sedimente, absolut gesehen höher belastet ist, als die eigentliche Flussaue, da Azoxystrobin hauptsächlich und Ethofumesat ausschließlich in Proben des Zulaufs detektiert wurden. Weitere Studien sind jedoch notwendig, um Strukturen und Prozesse der Pestiziddeposition in Flussauen, insbesondere die Herkunft der Belastung hinreichend bemessen zu können