The lack of an efficient and standardized method to disperse soil particles and quantitatively subsample the nanoparticulate fraction for characterization analyses is hindering progress in assessing the fate and toxicity of metallic engineered nanomaterials in the soil environment. This study investigates various soil extraction and extract preparation techniques for their ability to remove nanoparticulate Ag from a field soil amended with biosolids contaminated with engineered silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), while presenting a suitable suspension for quantitative single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (SP-ICP-MS) analysis. Extraction parameters investigated included reagent type (water, NaNO, KNO, tetrasodium pyrophosphate (TSPP), tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH)), soil-to-reagent ratio, homogenization techniques as well as procedures commonly used to separate nanoparticles from larger colloids prior to analysis (filtration, centrifugation, and sedimentation). We assessed the efficacy of the extraction procedure by testing for the occurrence of potential procedural artifacts (dissolution, agglomeration) using a dissolved/particulate Ag mass ratio and by monitoring the amount of Ag mass in discrete particles. The optimal method employed 2.5 mM TSPP used in a 1:100 (m/v) soil-to-reagent ratio, with ultrasonication to enhance particle dispersion and sedimentation to settle out the micrometer-sized particles. A spiked-sample recovery analysis shows that 96% ± 2% of the total Ag mass added as engineered AgNP is recovered, which includes the recovery of 84.1% of the particles added, while particle recovery in a spiked method blank is ∼100%, indicating that both the extraction and settling procedure have a minimal effect on driving transformation processes. A soil dilution experiment showed that the method extracted a consistent proportion of nanoparticulate Ag (9.2% ± 1.4% of the total Ag) in samples containing 100%, 50%, 25%, and 10% portions of the AgNP-contaminated test soil. The nanoparticulate Ag extracted by this method represents the upper limit of the potentially dispersible nanoparticulate fraction, thus providing a benchmark with which to make quantitative comparisons, while presenting a suspension suitable for a myriad of other characterization analyses.

Few soil invertebrate species are available for the toxic assessment of soils from boreal or other northern ecozones, yet these soils cover the majority of Canada's landmass as well as significant portions of Eurasia. Oppia nitens (C.L. Koch) is an herbivorous and fungivorous oribatid mite found in soil throughout Holarctic regions, including Canada. Soil tests using O. nitens were performed using 15 different forest soil types and horizons to investigate test variability in adult survival and reproduction. Adult survival (86.1 +/- 1.1%) was consistent across soil types, with a coefficient of variation (CV) of 15%. However, reproduction varied significantly, ranging from 2.9 (+/-1.1) to 86.2 (+/-11.7) individuals, with a corresponding CV of 118 and 30%, respectively. Of the soil factors assessed (NH(3), NO(3), pH, phosphorus [P], organic matter content (OM), carbon:nitrogen (C:N), sand, silt, clay, and sodium adsorption ratio), soil organic matter (OM) explained 68% of the variation observed for reproduction. Increasing the OM using Sphagnum sp. peat moss resulted in optimal reproduction at 7% OM (8% peat content) with the lowest variability (CV of 20%). When assessing the toxicity of a reference chemical, boric acid, the effect of peat amendment reduced lethality to adults with no observable difference on reproduction. The use an age-synchronized culture reduced the test variability for reproduction relative to the use of unsynchronized cultures. Oppia nitens is a good candidate species for a standardized test design, with adult survival easily assessed in a relatively simple design. A long-term reproduction test with O. nitens will require the use of a synchronized population and, on occasion, OM amendment when testing soils with low organic matter content.

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The objectives of this study were to examine the effects of two contaminated site soils on seedling emergence and growth, compare the responses of different endpoints and species sensitivity, and develop appropriate statistical methods for the analysis of concentration‐response curves. Plants were exposed to field‐collected soils contaminated with amines or condensate. We reparameterized three nonlinear models (logistic, logistic with hormesis, and exponential) to determine any inhibiting concentration for a specified percent effect and confidence interval using regression analysis. Weighting procedures were applied, when necessary, to accommodate heteroscedasticity. This nonlinear regression approach was very satisfactory when used with data sets, each with 11 treatments, and produced an accurate, easily interpreted, and quantitative description of the data, which also provided qualitative information. The IC50s ranged from 2 to 96% contamination for condensate‐contaminated soil and from 3 to 38% contamination for amine‐contaminated soil. The responses were specific to species, endpoint, and soil. Mass measurements were generally more sensitive and precise than length measurements. Definitive tests were more sensitive than acute tests for endpoints other than emergence.

Abstract-The objectives of this study were to examine the effects of two contaminated site soils on seedling emergence and growth, compare the responses of different endpoints and species sensitivity, and develop appropriate statistical methods for the analysis of concentration-response curves. Plants were exposed to field-collected soils contaminated with amines or condensate. We reparameterized three nonlinear models (logistic, logistic with hormesis, and exponential) to determine any inhibiting concentration for a specified percent effect and confidence interval using regression analysis. Weighting procedures were applied, when necessary, to accommodate heteroscedasticity. This nonlinear regression approach was very satisfactory when used with data sets, each with 11 treatments, and produced an accurate, easily interpreted, and quantitative description of the data, which also provided qualitative information. The IC50s ranged from 2 to 96% contamination for condensate-contaminated soil and from 3 to 38% contamination for amine-contaminated soil. The responses were specific to species, endpoint, and soil. Mass measurements were generally more sensitive and precise than length measurements. Definitive tests were more sensitive than acute tests for endpoints other than emergence.