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Environmental Chemistry of Arsenic

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

Environmental Chemistry of Arsenic. Edited by William T. Frankenberger, Jr., Marcel Dekker, Inc., 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016. 2002. 410 p. $175 hardcover. ISBN 0-8247-0676-5.

This book was published in the series "Books in Soils, Plants, and the Environment" of Marcel Dekker, Inc. It consists of 16 well- written chapters with topics ranging from general presentations of As-related issues to very specific microbe-based discussions such as the characterization of newly discovered arsenite-oxidizing bacteria. Chapter 1 covers arsenic poisoning from a historical perspective and represents a useful source of more general information on (mis)uses of As until now. Chapter 2 presents an overview on the analytical methods available for the determination of total As concentrations as well as for different As compounds and species. Chapter 3 provides a comprehensive summary of the various As compounds including a concise description and their occurrence in the environment. The following three chapters deal with As exposure to humans, including As speciation in the human body and food (Chapter 4), factors affecting As availability via soil ingestion (Chapter 5), and drinking water pathways (Chapter 6). Biochemical processes controlling As concentrations in ground and surface waters are covered by Chapter 7, whereas Chapter 8 presents an overview on the cycling of As (V)/(III) in soils and natural waters as influenced by chemical and microbiological processes. Chapter 9 discusses techniques of potential applications of As chemistry for the removal of arsenic from waters such as adsorption to oxides, ion exchange, and coagulation-microfiltration for As, also addressing their practical limitations. The remaining chapters cover As chemistry as related to microbial As metabolism, including molecular genetics of bacterial As resistance and enzymatic transformations of inorganic As (Chapter 10), respiratory reduction of As and genetical characterization of relevant microorganisms (Chapters 11 and 12), arsenite oxidation as a detoxification pathway as well as a source of energy (Chapters 13-15), and methylation and volatilization of As (Chapter 16).

There is an ever-growing interest in As-related environmental issues. Thus, a state-of-the-art reference, as claimed on the back of the book, is needed and highly appreciated. The concept of this new book is mainly based on chapters dealing with microbially induced or mediated transformation processes of As, including their genetic and functional characterization in bacteria and on As chemistry of natural waters and its implications for humans. Chapters 5 and 8 cover some aspects of the fate of As in soils; however, we feel that a chapter focusing on general As-soil relationships would have contributed toward a more comprehensive coverage of the topic as indicated by the title Environmental Chemistry of Arsenic. Soil-plant relationships are completely missing. Such relationships may also have an impact on the fate of As in the environment. Microbial activity and diversity are known to be largely enhanced at the soil-root interface, the so-called rhizosphere. This is largely due to the active and passive release of easily accessible photosynthates by plant roots, providing a rich energy source for soil microbes. The enhanced microbial activity at the soil-root interface includes also plant-microbe symbiosis such as mycorrhiza, which has been also shown to affect potentially As(V)/ (III) cycling and to contribute to the As tolerance of the host organism.

Some chapters of the book refer also to remedial techniques, particularly for water purification. Commonly used engineering- based processes do a much better job of removing As(V) than As(III). Using As-oxidizing bacteria for transformation of As(III) to As(V) for pretreatment sounds exciting, if applicable on a larger scale.

The book is very well-written, though we think that some important points of the fate of As in the environment have not been treated. Microbiologists will benefit most from this volume. However, scientists and students from other disciplines (chemists, nutritionists, soil scientists, plant scientists, agronomists, etc.) should use it as a valuable source. As a state-of-the-art reference, the book will certainly find its way into institutional and university libraries.

WALTER J. FITZ AND WALTER W. WENZEL

Institute of Soil Science

BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences

Gregor Mendel Strasse 33

A-1180 Vienna, Austria

(walter.fitz@boku.ac.at)

Copyright American Society of Agronomy Jul/Aug 2003

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