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Toxicity of Alkyllead Salts to Anaerobic Nitrogen Transformations in Sediment
Author(s) -
Blais Jean Simon,
Marshall William D.,
Knowles Roger
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1988.00472425001700030019x
Subject(s) - acetylene , denitrification , chemistry , environmental chemistry , sediment , nitrate , nitrous oxide , nitrogen fixation , nitrogen , denitrifying bacteria , ethylene oxide , ethylene , nuclear chemistry , organic chemistry , biology , paleontology , copolymer , catalysis , polymer
Four alkyllead chlorides (Me 3 PbCl, Me 2 PbCl 2 , Et 3 PbCl, Et 2 PbCl 2 ; Me = CH 3 , Et = C 2 H 5 ) were separately tested (at 0.1, 1.0, 5.0, and 10.0 µ g L −1 ) for their inhibitory properties against denitrification and N 2 fixation in a lake sediment as determined by acetylene blockage and acetylene reduction techniques. In the presence of added nitrate, glucose, and acetylene, alkyllead salts only moderately inhibited nitrous oxide, ethylene, and carbon dioxide accumulation by whole slurry incubations. These effects were more pronounced in supernatant from sediment. In general, ethylleads were more toxic than methyllead salts and dialkylleads were more inhibitory than their trialkyl homologs to these transformations. Successive incubations indicated that microbes adapted to the presence of these toxicants, a phenomenon also observed with other heavy metals. At the highest concentrations, which have been reported in sediments, no serious hazard to N transformations exists.