Under normal circumstances, insects such as blow flies will oviposit and larvae will colonize a carcass as soon as possible. However, insect colonization on a carcass may be delayed due to the effects of wrapping, shallow burial, addition of lime derivatives to mitigate scavenging and odor, or extreme weather. The impacts of delayed insect colonization on carcass decomposition and its subsequent effect on soil chemistry profiles have not been examined to date. The objectives of this study were to determine soil chemistry dynamics associated with porcine carcasses experiencing delayed insect colonization for 7-day or 14-day. Soil chemistry profiles such as ammonium-N (NH4 -N), orthophosphate-P (PO4 -P), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were significantly different among treatments: insect inclusion (immediate access of blow fly colonization on porcine carcasses), 7-day insect exclusion and 14-day insect exclusion (blow fly access was delayed up to 7-day and 14-day). Furthermore, significant differences of soil chemical profiles were detected between days of decomposition and soil regions. Soil moisture, NH4 -N, PO4 -P, and DOC were significantly higher when insects were excluded from the porcine carcass suggesting loss of tissue from larval feeding reduced the mass of nutrients entering the soil. This study provides useful information for forensic science in cases where insect colonization is delayed for a period of time postmortem and soil chemistry in the cadaver decomposition island is considered for estimating postmortem interval.
Pulau Kapas is tropical island which dominantly depends on land-supplied and groundwater for freshwater sources. The groundwater quality was monitored monthly, to identify the possible factors effecting the groundwater quality throughout May to October 2022. Physico-chemical parameters were in-situ measured and groundwater were collected for nutrients analysis in the laboratory. The concentration of ammonium, phosphate, nitrite, and nitrate were in the range of 0.07-1.08 mg/L, 0.00-0.06 mg/L, BDL-18 × 10-4 mg/L and 0.01-0.19 mg/L, respectively. The cluster and principal component analysis unveiled the seawater intrusion for freshwater needs was the dominant factor affecting the groundwater. Followed by the dissolution of soil particles surrounds the groundwater table, and the surface run-off by rainfall. In conclusion, the groundwater was affected by geogenic factors as it was not extensively extracted due to movement control order of Covid-19 event. This has provided significant insight for a better management plan in sustaining the groundwater of Pulau Kapas.
Improper use of urea may cause environmental pollution through NH3 volatilization and NO3 (-) leaching from urea. Clinoptilolite zeolite and compost could be used to control N loss from urea by controlling NH4 (+) and NO3 (-) release from urea. Soil incubation and leaching experiments were conducted to determine the effects of clinoptilolite zeolite and compost on controlling NH4 (+) and NO3 (-) losses from urea. Bekenu Series soil (Typic Paleudults) was incubated for 30, 60, and 90 days. A soil leaching experiment was conducted for 30 days. Urea amended with clinoptilolite zeolite and compost significantly reduced NH4 (+) and NO3 (-) release from urea (soil incubation study) compared with urea alone, thus reducing leaching of these ions. Ammonium and NO3 (-) leaching losses during the 30 days of the leaching experiment were highest in urea alone compared with urea with clinoptilolite zeolite and compost treatments. At 30 days of the leaching experiment, NH4 (+) retention in soil with urea amended with clinoptilolite zeolite and compost was better than that with urea alone. These observations were because of the high pH, CEC, and other chemical properties of clinoptilolite zeolite and compost. Urea can be amended with clinoptilolite zeolite and compost to improve NH4 (+) and NO3 (-) release from urea.
The potential application of Chlorella vulgaris UMACC 001 for bioremediation of textile wastewater (TW) was investigated using four batches of cultures in high rate algae ponds (HRAP) containing textile dye (Supranol Red 3BW) or TW. The biomass attained ranged from 0.17 to 2.26 mg chlorophyll a/L while colour removal ranged from 41.8% to 50.0%. There was also reduction of NH(4)-N (44.4-45.1%), PO(4)-P (33.1-33.3%) and COD (38.3-62.3%) in the TW. Supplementation of the TW with nutrients of Bold's Basal Medium (BBM) increased biomass production but did not improve colour removal or reduction of pollutants. The mechanism of colour removal by C. vulgaris is biosorption, in accordance with both the Langmuir and Freundlich models. The HRAP using C. vulgaris offers a good system for the polishing of TW before final discharge.
An optical biosensor based on glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) immobilized in a chitosan film for the determination of ammonium in water samples is described. The biosensor film was deposited on a glass slide via a spin-coating method. The ammonium was measured based on beta-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) oxidation in the presence of alpha-ketoglutaric acid at a wavelength of 340 nm. The biosensor showed optimum activity at pH 8. The optimum chitosan concentrations and enzyme loading were found to be at 2% (w/v) and 0.08 mg, respectively. Optimum concentrations of NADH and alpha-ketoglutaric acid both were obtained at 0.15 mM. A linear response of the biosensor was obtained in the ammonium concentration range of 0.005 to 0.5 mM with a detection limit of 0.005 mM. The reproducibility of the biosensor was good, with an observed relative standard deviation of 5.9% (n=8). The biosensor was found to be stable for at least 1 month when stored dry at 4 degrees C.
A field investigation was conducted at all water treatment plants throughout 11 states and Federal Territory in Peninsular Malaysia. The sampling points in this study include treatment plant operation, service reservoir outlet and auxiliary outlet point at the water pipelines. Analysis was performed by solid phase micro-extraction technique with a 100 microm polydimethylsiloxane fibre using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection to analyse 54 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of different chemical families in drinking water. The concentration of VOCs ranged from undetectable to 230.2 microg/l. Among all of the VOCs species, chloroform has the highest concentration and was detected in all drinking water samples. Average concentrations of total trihalomethanes (THMs) were almost similar among all states which were in the range of 28.4--33.0 microg/l. Apart from THMs, other abundant compounds detected were cis and trans-1,2-dichloroethylene, trichloroethylene, 1,2-dibromoethane, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, chlorobenzene, 1,4-dichlorobenzene and 1,2-dichloro - benzene. Principal component analysis (PCA) with the aid of varimax rotation, and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) method were used to statistically verify the correlation between VOCs and the source of pollution. The multivariate analysis pointed out that the maintenance of auxiliary pipelines in the distribution systems is vital as it can become significant point source pollution to Malaysian drinking water.
Atmospheric deposition nitrogen (ADN) increases the N content in soil and subsequently impacts microbial activity of soil. However, the effects of ADN on paddy soil microbial activity have not been well characterized. In this study, we studied how red paddy soil microbial activity responses to different contents of ADN through a 10-months ADN simulation on well managed pot experiments. Results showed that all tested contents of ADN fluxes (27, 55, and 82kgNha-1 when its ratio of NH4+/NO3--N (RN) was 2:1) enhanced the soil enzyme activity and microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen and 27kgNha-1 ADN had maximum effects while comparing with the fertilizer treatment. Generally, increasing of both ADN flux and RN (1:2, 1:1 and 2:1 with the ADN flux of 55kgNha-1) had similar reduced effects on microbial activity. Furthermore, both ADN flux and RN significantly reduced soil bacterial alpha diversity (p<0.05) and altered bacterial community structure (e.g., the relative abundances of genera Dyella and Rhodoblastus affiliated to Proteobacteria increased). Redundancy analysis demonstrated that ADN flux and RN were the main drivers in shaping paddy soil bacteria community. Overall, the results have indicated that increasing ADN flux and ammonium reduced soil microbial activity and changed the soil bacterial community. The finding highlights how paddy soil microbial community response to ADN and provides information for N management in paddy soil.
Jakara River Basin has been extensively studied to assess the overall water quality and to identify the major variables responsible for water quality variations in the basin. A total of 27 sampling points were selected in the riverine network of the Upper Jakara River Basin. Water samples were collected in triplicate and analyzed for physicochemical variables. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationship of water quality parameters and revealed a significant relationship between salinity, conductivity with dissolved solids (DS) and 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and nitrogen in form of ammonia (NH4). Partial correlation analysis (r p) results showed that there is a strong relationship between salinity and turbidity (r p=0.930, p=0.001) and BOD5 and COD (r p=0.839, p=0.001) controlling for the linear effects of conductivity and NH4, respectively. Principal component analysis and or factor analysis was used to investigate the origin of each water quality parameter in the Jakara Basin and identified three major factors explaining 68.11 % of the total variance in water quality. The major variations are related to anthropogenic activities (irrigation agricultural, construction activities, clearing of land, and domestic waste disposal) and natural processes (erosion of river bank and runoff). Discriminant analysis (DA) was applied on the dataset to maximize the similarities between group relative to within-group variance of the parameters. DA provided better results with great discriminatory ability using eight variables (DO, BOD5, COD, SS, NH4, conductivity, salinity, and DS) as the most statistically significantly responsible for surface water quality variation in the area. The present study, however, makes several noteworthy contributions to the existing knowledge on the spatial variations of surface water quality and is believed to serve as a baseline data for further studies. Future research should therefore concentrate on the investigation of temporal variations of water quality in the basin.
The use of the enzyme alanine dehydrogenase (AlaDH) for the determination of ammonium ion (NH(4)(+)) usually requires the addition of pyruvate substrate and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) simultaneously to effect the reaction. This addition of reagents is inconvenient when an enzyme biosensor based on AlaDH is used. To resolve the problem, a novel reagentless amperometric biosensor using a stacked methacrylic membrane system coated onto a screen-printed carbon paste electrode (SPE) for NH(4)(+) ion determination is described. A mixture of pyruvate and NADH was immobilized in low molecular weight poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) membrane, which was then deposited over a photocured pHEMA membrane (photoHEMA) containing alanine dehydrogenase (AlaDH) enzyme. Due to the enzymatic reaction of AlaDH and the pyruvate substrate, NH(4)(+) was consumed in the process and thus the signal from the electrocatalytic oxidation of NADH at an applied potential of +0.55 V was proportional to the NH(4)(+) ion concentration under optimal conditions. The stacked methacrylate membranes responded rapidly and linearly to changes in NH(4)(+) ion concentrations between 10-100 mM, with a detection limit of 0.18 mM NH(4)(+) ion. The reproducibility of the amperometrical NH(4)(+) biosensor yielded low relative standard deviations between 1.4-4.9%. The stacked membrane biosensor has been successfully applied to the determination of NH(4)(+) ion in spiked river water samples without pretreatment. A good correlation was found between the analytical results for NH(4)(+) obtained from the biosensor and the Nessler spectrophotometric method.