Articles in Press

Natural diversity of intermittently closed and open lakes and lagoons (ICOLLs) depends on mutual interactions of several factors: (i) an impact of sea water and land background; (ii) temporary meteorological situation; (iii) hydrological conditions; and (iv) the shape of lake basin. However, some regional, local or even sudden impacts including anthropogenic ones create their final ecological status. To identify heavy metals risk assessment in ICOLLs located in Polish coastline wide range of them were determined in water and bottom sediment samples collected in 10 water reservoirs. Multidimensional data set of 20 variables was explored by the use of chemometrics according to seasonality (Spring, Summer, Autumn), sample type (water, sediment) and level of isolation (fully isolated, partially and fully connected lakes). The results showed that 70.5% and 77% of the data variance can be explained by the use of principal component analysis for waters and sediments, respectively. Waters of fully isolated or partially connected lakes are more abundant with Ir, Nd and Sm, while less abundant with Pr and Sr. Bottom sediments taken from Jamno lake show significant contamination by heavy metals of the highest environmental concern (Al, Cr, Cu, Ni, Ti and Zn).

Heavy metals are one of the main pollutants of river, lake and canal sediments. Stabilization technology proved to be an effective method for solving this problem. Stabilization covers a wide range of remediation techniques that are used to transform waste into forms that will be less problematic for the environment. Stabilization of the Great Backi Canal sediment was carried out by using nanomaterials, namely nano zero-valent iron (nZVI). Two different approaches for the synthesis of nanomaterials were used, conventional and so-called "green" method. For conventional, borohydridemethod, nZVI was stabilized with native clay as porous material which proved to be very effective because of its specific surface area. Extract of oak leaves was used for green method which contains polyphenols as promising agents for the nZVI synthesis. Assessment of the treatment efficiency was performed by using semi-dynamic leaching test ANS 16.1. In order to stimulate leaching conditions, similar to those at the landfill, ANS 16.1 method was modified by using humic acid solution. These results showed that metals were successfully immobilized in the sediment.

Biological treatment is one of the most preferable strategies to complete and safe removal of pollutants. Pyrene (PY) is the first member of high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HMW-PAHs) that represents various concerns to biological life and human health. In this study, two different algal strains exhibited different capability to degrade PY along 30 days of incubation in the light. Dry weight, total chlorophyll, and carotenoids were growth parameters that were determined to detect robust of two algal strains to get used of PY as a source of carbon. Oscillatoria sp. could degrade 95% while Chlorella sp. could degrade 78.71 % of PY (50 mg/L) after 30 days of incubation. Both algal strains could completely remove 10 and 30 mg/L of PY. On the other hand, the degradation capability of Oscillatoria sp. was significantly exceeded than Chlorella sp. under the same incubation condition and at (50 and 100 mg/L) of PY.

Plant-associated microorganisms, especially endophytic fungi, represent an untapped resource for the discovery of biologically active natural products. The objectives of this study were to isolate, identify endophytic fungi, and produce their bioactive metabolites from the leaves of two varieties of Egyptian artichoke namely: French Hyrious and Egyptian Baladi. In addition, assess of their total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC). The results of this novel study show a total of 35 endophytic fungal species belonging to 14 genera were isolated from both artichoke leaves with gross total counts of colonizing endophytic fungi ranged from 71 to 123 cfu which is matching 78.89% to 136.67% of colonization frequency. All taxa recovered were assigned to Ascomycetes. In addition, there is high species richness and diversity indices of endophytic filamentous fungi in the leaves Baladi Artichoke as compared to its French rival.  Alternaria alternata were found to be the most frequently isolated dominant species. The TAC, TPC and TFC of the fungal cultures ranged from 163 to 681 mgAAE/gDW, 10.38 to 40.30 mgGAE/ gDW, and 13.92 to 173.55 mgQE/gDW, respectively. Furthermore, LC-ESI-MS/MS confirmed the presence of 1,3-dicaffeoylquinic acid and 1,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid in the methanolic extract of A. alternata. Hence, this novel study suggested that the metabolites produced by endophytic fungi associated with Egyptian artichoke could be explored as an economic and potential natural resources with diverse pharmaceutical and biological activities.