In the metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil, ozone and particulate matter (PM) are the air pollutants that pose the greatest threat to air quality, since the PM and the ozone precursors (nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds) are the main source of air pollution from vehicular emissions. Vehicular emissions can be measured inside road tunnels, and those measurements can provide infor...

General comments: The authors test the impact of nutrient supply and nutrient stoichiometry on production, partitioning and elemental composition of phytoplanktonderived dissolved (DOC, DON, DOP) and particulate (POC, PON, POP) organic matter in shipboard mesocosm incubations conducted at three nutrient enrichment concentrations. They present clear observations of a decline in organic matter pr...

The abundance and heterotrophic activity of attached and free-living bacteria were examined seasonally in coastal water. Heterotrophic activity was determined by the uptake of [C]glucose. The density of attached bacteria was always minor, not showing a seasonal variation, whereas the free-living bacteria were more numerous and showed a marked seasonal variation, their density being higher under...

Ocean colour is the water-leaving radiance in the visible and near-infrared just above the ocean surface owing to selective absorption and scattering by phytoplankton and its pigments such as chlorophyll, as well as dissolved organic matter and suspended particulate matter in the subsurface ocean waters. Ocean colour carries useful information concerning biogeochemical properties of the water b...

Carbon compounds account for a large fraction of airborne particulate matter (‘carbonaceous aerosols’). Their presence raises a number of scientific questions dealing with climate issues and possible effects on human health. This review describes the current state of knowledge with respect to the ambient concentrations levels (elemental carbon, organic carbon and organic matter) and the various...

In the year 1974, Larry Pomeroy first proposed that microbes were true movers of energy and nutrients in marine food webs (Pomeroy, 1974). This idea was later formalized as the “microbial loop” (Azam et al., 1983; Pomeroy et al., this issue) in which energy and carbon lost from the planktonic food web in the form of dissolved organic matter (DOM) was recovered and repackaged by heterotrophic ba...

conclusions according to the results obtained, the largest numbers of deaths and illnesses were due to the high average pm10 concentration or an increase in the number of days of exposure to this pollutant. background particulate matters have harmful effects on human health and can intensify mortality and disease. objectives the purpose of this study was to evaluate the health impacts of partic...