Cigarette butt decomposition and associated chemical changes assessed by 13C CPMAS NMR.

ABSTRACT: Cigarette butts (CBs) are the most common type of litter on earth, with an estimated 4.5 trillion discarded annually. Apart from being unsightly, CBs pose a serious threat to living organisms and ecosystem health when discarded in the environment because they are toxic to microbes, insects, fish and mammals. In spite of the CB toxic hazard, no studies have addressed the effects of environmental conditions on CB decomposition rate. In this study we investigate the interactive effects of substrate fertility and N transfer dynamics on CB decomposition rate and carbon quality changes. We carried out an experiment using smoked CBs and wood sticks, used as a slow decomposing standard organic substrate, incubated in both laboratory and field conditions for two years. CB carbon quality changes dur

SUBMITTER: Bonanomi G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4307979 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature