title: Effects of seasonal climatic variability on several toxic contaminants in urban lakes: Implications for the impacts of climate change.
abstract: Climate change is supposed to have influences on water quality and ecosystem. However, only few studies have assessed the effect of climate change on environmental toxic contaminants in urban lakes. In this research, response of several toxic contaminants in twelve urban lakes in Beijing, China, to the seasonal variations in climatic factors was studied. Fluorides, volatile phenols, arsenic, selenium, and other water quality parameters were analyzed monthly from 2009 to 2012. Multivariate statistical methods including principle component analysis, cluster analysis, and multiple regression analysis were performed to study the relationship between contaminants and climatic factors including temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and sunshine duration. Fluoride and arsenic concentrations in most urban lakes exhibited a significant positive correlation with temperature/precipitation, which is mainly caused by rainfall induced diffuse pollution. A negative correlation was observed between volatile phenols and temperature/precipitation, and this could be explained by their enhanced volatilization and biodegradation rates caused by higher temperature. Selenium did not show a significant response to climatic factor variations, which was attributed to low selenium contents in the lakes and soils. Moreover, the response degrees of contaminants to climatic variations differ among lakes with different contamination levels. On average, temperature/precipitation contributed to 8%, 15%, and 12% of the variations in volatile phenols, arsenic, and fluorides, respectively. Beijing is undergoing increased temperature and heavy rainfall frequency during the past five decades. This study suggests that water quality related to fluoride and arsenic concentrations of most urban lakes in Beijing is becoming worse under this climate change trend.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences of Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences of Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China. Electronic address: xiaxh@bnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xinghui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences of Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing Three Gorges University, Wanzhou 404100, China.
authors.forename: Xinli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Mou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences of Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Baotong
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences of Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Pujun
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences of Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Haiyang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D002947:Cities; D057231:Climate Change; D005459:Fluorides / Q000032:analysis*; D060106:Lakes / Q000737:chemistry; D010636:Phenols / Q000032:analysis*; D012621:Seasons; D012643:Selenium / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000032:analysis; D060753:Water Quality
chemical_list: D010636:Phenols; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D012643:Selenium; D001151:Arsenic; D005459:Fluorides
keywords: Arsenic; Climatic variations; Fluorides; Selenium; Urban lakes; Volatile phenols; Water quality