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The main objective of this study was to investigate the 2019 and 2022 oil spill events that occurred off the coast of the State of Ceará, Northeastern Brazil. To further assess these mysterious oil spills, we investigated whether the oils stranded on the beaches of Ceará in 2019 and 2022 had the same origin, whether their compositional differences were due to weathering processes, and whether the materials from both were natural or industrially processed. We collected oil samples in October 2019 and January 2022, soon after their appearance on the beaches. We applied a forensic environmental geochemistry approach using both one-dimensional and two-dimensional gas chromatography to assess chemical composition. The collected material had characteristics of crude oil and not refined oils. In addition, the 2022 oil samples collected over 130 km of the east coast of Ceará had a similar chemical profile and were thus considered to originate from the same source. However, these oils had distinct biomarker profiles compared to those of the 2019 oils, including resistant terpanes and triaromatic steranes, thus excluding the hypothesis that the oil that reached the coast of Ceará in January 2022 is related to the tragedy that occurred in 2019. From a geochemical perspective, the oil released in 2019 is more thermally mature than that released in 2022, with both having source rocks with distinct types of organic matter and depositional environments. As the coast of Ceará has vast ecological diversity and Marine Protected Areas, the possibility of occasional oil spills in the area causing severe environmental pollution should be investigated from multiple perspectives, including forensic environmental geochemistry.

18 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were evaluated in the Jaguaribe River to explore the influence of grain size, organic carbon, humic and fulvic acids and black carbon on their adsorption onto sediment. The ∑PAHs concentrations variated from 0.6 to 3752.0 ng g−1 with highest concentrations in the estuarine zone. The PAHs predominant source along the river was from mixed sources, mainly related to biomass combustion, small oil spills related to recreational nautical activities and runoff from cities. Organic and inorganic parameters presented influence on PAHs distribution along the river, with humic acid as a determinant factor. These research findings are of importance to an assessment of the fate and transport of PAHs in estuarine systems.

Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-06T16:08:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2019-03-15 Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Anthropogenic molecular markers were used to assess chemicals inputs and ecological risks associated from multiple sources to sediments in one of the largest tropical mangrove forests of South America, with a particular focus on lesser studied compounds resulting from rural activities. Total concentrations ranged from 23.4 to 228.2 ng g−1 for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (∑PAHs), 750.4 to 5912.5 ng g−1 for aliphatic hydrocarbons (∑AHs), 32.4 to 696.6 ng g−1 for pesticides (∑pesticides), 23.1 to 2109.7 ng g−1 for coprostanol and sterols (∑sterols), 139.3 to 580.2 ng g−1 for naturals hormones (∑natural hormones) and 334.1 to 823.4 ng g−1 for synthetics hormones (∑synthetic hormones). The PAHs and AHs used as traditional anthropogenic markers showed a mixture between natural and anthropogenic sources, related mainly to inputs from higher plants, phytoplankton and both, biomass and petroleum combustion. Rural activities linked to agricultural pest control are the predominant source of pesticides, although minor inputs from pesticides used in urban public health campaigns and household activities were also detected. Synthetic hormones levels are two to three orders of magnitude greater than natural hormones levels and no correlations were observed between the main sewage markers and synthetic hormone concentrations, rural activities such as animal husbandry, which use drugs in management, may be the predominant anthropogenic sources of these compounds in the region. Traditional markers failed to detect ecological risks in rural areas, where synthetic substances (e.g. pesticides and hormones) are widely used and introduced in the environment. Instituto Oceanográfico Universidade de São Paulo, Praça do Oceanográfico, 191 Instituto de Ciências do Mar Universidade Federal do Ceará, Av. Abolição, 3207 Departamento de Química Analítica e Físico-Química Universidade Federal do Ceará Centro de Investigação em Ecotoxicologia Aquática e Poluição (NEPEA) São Paulo State University (UNESP Campus do Litoral Paulista), Praça Infante Dom Henrique, s/n. Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole road Centro de Investigação em Ecotoxicologia Aquática e Poluição (NEPEA) São Paulo State University (UNESP Campus do Litoral Paulista), Praça Infante Dom Henrique, s/n. Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico: 150.01.00/09 CNPq: 480583/2012-9 CNPq: 484171/2010-0

We reviewed 20 years of levels, sources, and environmental risks related to the main petroleum hydrocarbons in the northeast region of Brazil. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review to serve as a comprehensive baseline for future monitoring programmes related to the oil spill disaster in 2019/2020. Most contamination levels of both PAHs and AHs were classified as low, except those in specific areas influenced by human activities, such as ports, highly urbanised mangroves, or rivers of medium-sized cities with inadequate liquid and solid waste treatment. Most hydrocarbons were linked to natural sources and burning processes, except in regions of extraction activities and petrochemical facilities as well as highly urbanised areas, where degraded petroleum and oil hydrocarbons predominated. Only 2.5% of the samples exceeded threshold effect levels for ∑

This work describes the development of an analytical protocol combining cleanup by liquid–solid extraction and GC–MS for the determination of emerging and traditional multi-molecular markers. The procedure was used for the environmental assessment of a coastal region with multiple human activities. Global recovery rates ranged from 45.49% to 119.4% for the 46 substances analyzed: pesticides (73.7%–97.7%), PAHs (52.5%–93.7%), sterols (66.7%–119.4%) and natural and synthetic hormones (45.5%–119.1%) and the rates were compared to those reported in studies on both individual classes and multi-classes of contaminants. The analytical protocol demonstrated satisfactory efficiency and could be used successfully in environmental assessments and source assignment studies. The environmental assessment study revealed that the Acarau River in northeastern Brazil is influenced by the combination of urban and rural activities. The sources of PAHs are vehicular traffic and the burning of biomass; pesticides stem from pest control in agribusiness and public health campaigns; sterols and hormones stem from a combination of natural inputs, human sewage (treated and raw) and animal husbandry activities.

On December 9, 2014, ∼94 000 gallons of furnace oil spilled into the Shela River in Bangladesh, a designated World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It was the largest recorded oil spill in the Sundarbans region. Visually, furnace oil appears similar to heavy fuel oil, but little is known about its composition even though it is heavily utilized worldwide. A shift in global oil production to heavier, less well-known feeds (i.e., heavy oil and bitumen) requires molecular-level knowledge for efficient response, damage assessment, and restoration in the event of any oil spill. However, little is known about the chemical composition of furnace oil in chronic and acute releases. For the first time, we catalog the molecular-level composition of a relatively unknown furnace oil collected immediately after the 2014 Bangladesh spill and compare it to a well-characterized intermediate fuel oil (IFO) spilled in Texas City, Texas (U.S.A.) in March 2014. Through a co...

In early September 2019, dense crude oil began to wash the beaches of Brazil's tropical coast. Four months after the first report, the oil has already been found along >3000 km of the Brazilian coastline on >980 beaches and was recently observed along the Amazon coast, making this oil spill the most extensive and severe environmental disaster ever recorded in Brazilian history, in the South Atlantic basin, and in tropical coastal regions worldwide. Four features of this oil-spill disaster make it unique: 1) the characteristics of the oil spill; 2) the characteristics of the affected region in tropical Brazil; 3) the significant number of protected areas (>55) and tropical ecosystems affected by the oil; and 4) the absence of measures and/or flaws in the measures taken by the federal government to address this environmental and social emergency. The affected species and poor human communities in Brazil should receive focused attention in the coming decades owing to the long-term impacts of the oil contamination. Environmental monitoring and response measures must be implemented to minimize the ecological, economic, and social effects of the spill. Biodiversity and climate regulation losses considering blue carbon environments should drive discussions regarding mining accidents and global consequences related to pre-salt oil exploitation, new spill events, and their global impacts. These measures are particularly relevant in areas with high tropical biodiversity and high social inequality, as in the present case, which represents one of the worst-case scenarios of an environmental and governmental disaster.

This manuscript is a bibliographic review about analyses of different classes of pesticide in fruits using QuEChERS as sample preparation methodology. The aim is to clarify different trends and facilitate decision-making by the scientific community in order to carry out further studies in this field. It is well known that different countries have different pesticides regulations for maximum level of pesticide residue permitted. The comparative analysis amongst the main producer countries reveals that for some fruits they are not studied enough. Recent improvements to QuEChERS make it possible to minimize the pesticides instability due the matrix pH, and achieving cleaner extracts. Regarding the detection systems, the tandem MS are preferred once they have high sensitivity and selectivity, although traditional techniques (GC-ECD and HPLC-DAD) are still commonly used due to their accessibility and good sensitivity to some pesticides. Also, studies involving metabolites usually show that they are more toxic than their precursor compounds.

Molecular markers are useful tools to characterize natural and anthropogenic impacts on coastal zones. Distribution of n-alkanes showed that the Pacoti River was predominantly influenced by terrigenous input. Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) indices showed a mix of natural sources, especially pyrogenic influences. Sterol and hormone levels showed sewage discharge. Integrated geographic assessment showed that pyrogenic process and sewage discharge are predominant along the river because of natural and different anthropogenic activities. The upstream region is influenced by rural activities such as livestock and discharge from the sewage treatment plant, whereas the estuarine region is influenced by urban and industrial activities, predominantly the discharge of treated or untreated sewage, vehicle traffic, and manufacture of red ceramics. On the other hand, on the river mouth, there is the predominance of aquaculture activities. Traditional anthropogenic markers are not sufficient for producing a comprehensive assessment of anthropogenic impacts in areas with multiple activities.

In this study, the adsorption efficiency of cashew peduncle bagasse (CPB) is reported for the removal of single-(mono-) and multi-metal ions (Cd2+; Cu2+; Ni2+; Pb2+; and Zn2+) from synthetic and natural effluents using fixed-bed columns. The percentage of saturation realised in this study using a mono-elemental system was as follows: Pb2+ > Cd2+ > Zn2+ > Ni2+ > Cu2+. The metal ion recovery rate was determined by column elution; we demonstrated 100% metal ion recovery using 40 mL of HCl or HNO3 (0.1 mol L−1) as the eluent, with the exception of Pb2+. The adsorbent regeneration process decreased the removal efficiencies to 90% (Pb2+), 44% (Cu2+), 99% (Ni2+), 81% (Cd2+) and 74% (Zn2+) after the first cycle. The breakthrough curves and kinetic adsorption factors controlling the adsorption process were also studied. The Thomas model has produced the best fit with the experimental data.

This study aimed to evaluate the supplementation levels of an exogenous alpha-amylase in broilers diets and compare two indicators in determining the diets energy. The experiment was divided into two parallel evaluations, being one of performance and the other of metabolism. In performance assay, 1,700 one-day-old Cobb-500 male chicks were used. The animals were distributed in 50 experimental plots and evaluated five treatments with ten replicates in a completely randomized design (CRD). The treatments were: a positive control (PC), a negative control (NC) and three alpha-amylase supplementation levels 200, 400 and 600 g/t, and the NC was formulated with 50 and 90 kcal of energy reduction in relation to the PC to the phases from 1 to 21 days and from 22 to 42 days, respectively. In the metabolism assay were used 240 animals, 150 birds for stage from 14 to 21 days and 90 birds to stage from 35 to 42 days of age and the treatments were the same as the performance assay, with six replicates per treatment in CRD.

The first diagnosis of risk of environmental contamination was conducted for an area of intense agricultural activity in the semiarid cearense (Baixo Jaguaribe and Litoral de Aracati area). We verified the use of 201 rural products (pesticides) in the region, comprising 151 active ingredients. Regarding the active ingredients evaluated, 15.9% were associated with sediment and 29.8% were dissolved in surface water. The study showed that 13.2% to 36.4% of the active ingredients evaluated were classified as potential contaminants of groundwater resources. The study also revealed the most abundant pesticides and which environmental compartment must be evaluated.

For the analysis of petroleum hydrocarbons, comprehensive two-dimensional chromatography (GC × GC) provides better separations with complex mixtures, increased signal-to-noise, and ordered and cleaner chromatograms for identifying unknown compounds. It has matured significantly in the past decade and has become a well-established method within oil spill forensics research including peer-reviewed publications on the study of oil spills, natural seeps, and the analysis of unknowns. This chapter provides an introduction to the method, the present state of the instrumentation, and highlights some of the strengths of GC × GC including accurate determination of biomarkers ratios, the constraint of fate processes by interpreting changes in the two-dimensional space, and in general, the production of intuitive maps on the inventory of petroleum hydrocarbons in a given sample that expands the list of target compounds for forensics study and presents approaches to investigate unknown or new products and crudes. GC × GC–FID and GC × GC–TOF–MS will not replace GC–MS as the workhorse of routine oil spill forensic work anytime soon, but is better suited to address specific challenges. In conclusion, GC × GC based methods are powerful tools for oil spill scientists studying difficult cases, and these methods are here to stay.

Between the 1940s and 1990s, immeasurable amounts of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were used in endemic disease control campaigns and agriculture in the tropical semi-arid regions of Brazil. The present study evaluated the legacy of banned OCP usage, considering the levels, ecological risk and dependence on sediment physicochemical properties for the fate and distribution in the Jaguaribe River. The sum concentration of OCPs (ΣOCPs) ranged from 5.09 to 154.43 ng·g(-1), comparable to the levels found in other tropical and subtropical regions that have traditionally used OCPs. The environmental and geographical distribution pattern of p,p-DDT, p,p-DDD and p,p-DDE shows that the estuarine zone contained more than 3.5 times the levels observed in the fluvial region, indicating that the estuary of the Jaguaribe River is a sink. The temporal pattern indicates application of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethanes (DDTs) in the past; however, there is evidence of recent input of these pesticides. High ecological risk was observed for levels of γ-hexachlorocyclohexanes (γ-HCH) and heptachlor, and moderate ecological risk was observed for levels of DDTs in sediments from the Jaguaribe River. The heptachlor, γ-HCH and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) concentrations depend on the organic and inorganic fractions of sediment from the Jaguaribe River, whereas the p,p-DDE, p,p-DDD, p,p-DDT and α-endosulfan concentrations depend solely on the organic fraction of the sediment.

Pesticides are used mostly in rural areas for agriculture, but urban pest control, public health campaigns, and household and veterinary products can also be important sources of these contaminants. This aim of this study was to estimate household pesticide contamination in sediments of two urban estuaries due to pest control: Coco and Ceara rivers located in the metropolitan area of Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil. Cypermethrin and malathion were found in both rivers. Cypermethrin levels had the same magnitudes as other studied urban areas and were highest in the estuary, while malathion was similar in both fluvial and estuarine zones.

Phlebotomine sandflies are vectors of important pathogens world-wide, including Leishmania spp. in the Neotropics. Entomoparasites have been described from phlebotomines, including virus, bacteria, protozoa, fungi, nematodes, and mites, some of which are capable of killing the host. In the present study, interference, fluorescence, and scanning electron microscopies were used for the first time to detect and morphologically characterize a new entomoparasite infecting Lutzomyia longipalpis. Several filiform larvae and eggs in different stages were encountered in the abdomen of female and male insects. Pairs of large egg-bearing nematodes found within cyst-like structures or free in the hemocel accompanied by larvae could be the adult sexual stages. This entomoparasite infects sand flies naturally in the field. We believe that stress caused by the colonization procedure produced an increase in the infection rate among sand flies affecting their development. These findings could be applied to future biological control studies of sand fly vectors.