Mesopotamia Environmental Journal

In 2012 during wet season (March, April, May) and dry season (July, August, September, October), ten locations were selected from extra north to extra south of Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq to determine some roadside pollutants in lichens and soils. The most abundant species were Collema cristatum, Diploschistes scruposus, Lecanora dispersa, Lecanora murales, Pertusaria flavicunda, Placidium lacinulatum, Thelomma californicum and Verrucaria maura. In lichens pH, total nitrogen and sulfate (SO4) concentration were at the range of 6.96 - 8.05, 1.86 - 6.05ppm and 39 - 79ppm, respectively. Among heavy metals the concentration of Cd Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn levels were ranged from 0.79 to 1.56ppm, 70.21 - 293.57ppm, 26.44 - 38.23ppm, 12383.34 - 16948.32ppm, 228.54 - 583.04ppm and 24.30 - 2840.40ppm respectively. In studied soils, the concentration of above mentioned parameters were at level of normal range. There were a correlation between concentrations of studied pollutants in soil and lichens. The results of location pollution accumulation (LPA) revealed that Dibaga location was the most polluted area, while Barzewa location was the least polluted location. Based on the species pollutant accumulation (SPA), the best indicators for air quality monitoring assessment was Collema cristatum, Licanora muralis.

Corn plant (Zea mays) was used to remediate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from crude oil polluted soil. The results of physical and chemical analysis of soil revealed that soil was sandy loam, slightly alkaline pH and poor of phosphorus. Zea mays plant and its roots associated microorganisms applied to treat polluted soil with crude oil (rhizoremedation) applying augmentation teqnique by inoculating polluted soil with Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria and Penicillium expansum fungi. Total CFU count of bacteria was increased with time while total CFU fungal count was decreased. PAHs were decreased gradually with time, there is a complete removal for many compounds after two months specially when treated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa while inoculation with Penicillium expansum was less efficient.

In this study , a new and available adsorbent was used to get rid of the sifranin-O dye in the aqueous solutions, four experiments were done , to test the effects of contact time, initial dye concentration, adsorbent weight added and the changing in the pH value respectively on the adsorption process, the results show that the best contact time was 60 mints which suggested that the new proposed adsorbent C. flumina shell is a fast adsorbent, also it was found that the removal efficiency (R%) increased with increase of the initial dye concentration up to 40mg /L which reach R%=54.7, after that the R5 decrease, and there was a direct correlation between the increase of adsorbent weight added and the upturn R% , the results show that the removal of Sifranin-O dye increase in the Alkali medium to reach the highest R% =83.55

Seasonal variations in the concentrations of six heavy metals (Cd, Cu,Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) were determined in different tissues (muscles, livers , Ovaries , Intestines and gills) of Epinephelus coioides (serranidae) and Euryglossa orientalis from Al-Amiq port within National Iraqi Waters at Northern Arabian Gulf during the period October 2014 and November 2015. Heavy metals in fish samples were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) after acid digestion. Two-way ANOVA statistics were used to compare the data among seasons, species, and organs (level of 0.05). the bioaccumulation of the heavy metals was species-related as the accumulations of the heavy metals analysed in the tested two fishes were of the following trend: Epinephelus coioides > Euryglossa orientalis. Accumulation of total heavy metals in Epinephelus coioides, the following order Zn > Cu > Cd > Mn > Ni > Pb is found, while that for Euryglossa orientalis, the following order: Cu > Zn > Mn > Cd > Ni > Pb is found. In the organs of Epinephelus coioides, heavy metals Cd, Cu, and Zn recorded the higher concentrations during summer season, high concentrations of Mn recorded during spring, and lower concentrations were recorded for Ni and Pb during all seasons. In the organs of Euryglossa orientalis higher concentrations of heavy metals were recorded for Cd during summer season, Cu during autumn season, Mn during spring season, Ni and Zn were low during all seasons, and Zn during winter season. The levels of Cd, Ni, and Zn in this study were higher than the maximum permissible limits (FAO, and WHO) for human consumption and that of Cu, Mn, and Pb are still lower.

The present study was carried out to contribute to the knowledge of freshwater algae in Iraq .This study carried out on Phytoplankton community in Al-Salhia river ( small shatt Al-Arab), and contains the description of many algal species that were identified in the Al-Salhia river and nine new records will be added to the Algal Flora list of Iraq, A total of 66 taxa of phytoplankton identified during this study belonged to four division of algae dominated by chlorophyta which constitute 56.06 % of the total number of the species followed by cyanophyta by 31.81 % and euglenophyta by 7.57 % respectively , pyrrophyta constitute the 4.54 % . Samples were collected at (5) stations, from March 2014 to February 2015.

This study involves removing of Methylene blue dye (MB) using some plants material (Citrus utrantiforlial) by using batch system. The effect of dye concentrations, contact time, and adsorbent dosages on adsorption process respectively . the obtained results show that, MB dye removal was significantly enhanced with the use of adsorbent weight 0.7 mg which showed removal efficiency up to 94% . While the best contact time was 90 min with removal efficiency 94.02, and there was a reverse correlation between the initial dye concentration and the removal efficiency

The experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of light colors on growth and survival of juvenile common carp Cyprinus carpio. Five different light colors were tested in triplicates. Juveniles fish were fed to satiation twice a day for 60 days. The fish was significantly affected by light intensity. The survival percentage rate of the fish was also assessed and varied from 40% to 90% at different treatments. The results also showed that growth performance was significantly affected by the light colors. The effect of red light was better than other colors lights , where the red light gave the best fish percentage weight gain (WG = 88.5 %), specific growth rate (SGR = 2.90 %) and daily growth rate (DGR = 12.81 %) . The lowest mean values of feed conversation ratio (FCR = 0.564) was showed in red light while The highest mean values of feed conversation ratio (FCR = 0.603) was found in dark condition. These details can be applied to start steady mass-scale and sustainable farming technology for common carp and will improve the culturing effectiveness of the fish juveniles.