Toxicity Assessment of Contaminated Soils from a Mining Area in Northeast Italy by Using Lipid Peroxidation Assay.

Contamination by heavy metals in soils may strongly affect the environmental quality. Lipid peroxidation caused by heavy metals in plants was investigated as a relevant bioassay of toxicity. Soils and wild plants (dandelion and willow) were collected from an abandoned mine area in northeast Italy, and the concentration of different heavy metals (Ni, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe and Mn) were measured and analyzed. Soils affected by mining activities presented total Zn, Cu, and Pb concentrations (2566, 3975, 20,815 mg kg−1 respectively) above toxic thresholds, and 58% for Fe. Heavy metal-induced oxidative stress was evidenced by the generation of reactive radicals, followed by an increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) production up to 41.64 μM in willow leaves. We found that MDA concentration in plant tissues differed significantly among species and plant organs. The higher concentration of metal in soil corresponded with the higher concentration of MDA in the plant. The combined results of metal concentration, MDA content and translocation coefficients in plants show that the investigated plants are rather highly tolerant towards environmental pollution. This suggests that they could be useful in phytoremediation of metal contaminated sites

Metal bioaccumulation and oxidative stress in ulva laetevirens in the venice lagoon: Early warning biomarker for metal bioaccumulation

Transitional water systems (TWSs) may be threatened by various metals originating from increased agricultural, industrial activities, or urban effluents. Macroalgae are one of the biological quality elements used to monitor and assess the health status of TWS due to their structural and functional key role in marine ecosystems. Here, metal accumulation from the macroalgae Ulva laetevirens Areschoug (1854) and oxidative stress by lipid peroxidation (LPO) biomarker were investigated during four sampling seasons from three sampling sites (SMM: Santa Maria del Mare; PM: Porto Marghera; SG: San Giuliano) of Venice Lagoon, affected by different anthropogenic stressors. The metal pollution index (MPI) scores for U. laetevirens increased in the order SMM < PM < SG (sea inlet < industrial area < Osellino River estuary), with average values per site of 2.99, 4.37, and 6.33, respectively. The level of LPO was statistically correlated with the concentration of toxic metal(loid)s (As, Pb, Hg) measured in macroalgae, and seasonality affected both levels of LPO and metal bioaccumulation, with peak values during spring and summer. These findings highlighted the efficiency and usefulness of the oxidative stress test (LPO) on the common macroalga U. laetevirens as an early warning signal for health assessment in aquatic ecosystems

Diversity and dynamics of seaweed associated microbial communities inhabiting the lagoon of venice

Seaweeds are a group of essential photosynthetic organisms that harbor a rich diversity of associated microbial communities with substantial functions related to host health and defense. Environmental and anthropogenic stressors may disrupt the microbial communities and their metabolic activity, leading to host physiological alterations that negatively affect seaweeds’ performance and survival. Here, the bacterial communities associated with one of the most common seaweed, Ulva laetevirens Areshough, were sampled over a year at three sites of the lagoon of Venice affected by different environmental and anthropogenic stressors. Bacterial communities were characterized through Illumina sequencing of the V4 hypervariable region of 16S rRNA genes. The study demonstrated that the seaweed associated bacterial communities at sites impacted by environmental stressors were host-specific and differed significantly from the less affected site. Furthermore, these communities were significantly distinct from those of the surrounding seawater. The bacterial communities’ composition was significantly correlated with environmental parameters (nutrient concentrations, dissolved oxygen saturation, and pH) across sites. This study showed that several more abundant bacteria on U. laetevirens at stressed sites belonged to taxa related to the host response to the stressors. Overall, environmental parameters and anthropogenic stressors were shown to substantially affect seaweed associated bacterial communities, which reflect the host response to environmental variations

Concentrations of potentially toxic elements and soil environmental quality evaluation of a typical Prosecco vineyard of the Veneto region (NE Italy)

Purpose The aim of this work was to assess the concentrations of potentially toxic elements and to evaluate the soil quality of a typical Prosecco Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin vineyard of the Veneto region, NE Italy. Materials and methods Soil samples and leaves of Taraxacum officinale and Vitis vinifera were collected during spring–summer 2014. Element determination (Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, P, Pb, V, and Zn) were performed with ICP-OES after microwave digestion of samples. Soil quality was assessed via the biological soil quality (BSQ-ar) index. Lipid peroxidation test was performed to evaluate the vegetation oxidative stress, based on malondialdehyde (MDA) content via spectrophotometer. Results and discussion High concentrations of Al,Mg, and P were identified in soil, while high contents of Al, Cu, Fe, and Zn were found in V. vinifera leaves. The high concentrations in soil are probably due to agricultural activities, whereas those in leaves are probably due to atmospheric deposition and repeated use of foliar sprays in viticulture. The bioconcentration factor showed an effective transport of Cu, P, and Zn, from soil to leaf. The BSQ-ar values registered were similar to those obtained in preserved soils; hence, the biological class (VI) of these soils is high. The MDA content in T. officinale and V. vinifera leaves was below the reference value for T. officinale (2.9 ± 0.2 μM), suggesting that the metal content did not stress the vegetation in the investigated site. Conclusions The MDA value for V. vinifera (1.1 ± 0.7 μM) could be adopted as another control value for soil quality, which in our case is of Bgood quality.^ Moreover, our results suggest that high concentrations of elements detected in the analyzed samples do not influence negatively the quality of soil, but a better agronomic management could improve soil quality in the studied area