Various crustaceans are farmed using aquaculture, and food deprivation or fasting can occur due to changing of environmental or management strategies. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying responses to starvation in crustaceans remain unclear. To address this, 12 hepatopancreas transcriptomes were compared for oriental river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense) from four fasting stages (0, 7, 14 and 21 d). Gene Ontology functional annotation and Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes were subsequently performed. During the early stages of starvation (0–7 d), drug metabolism via the cytochrome P450 pathway and metabolism of xenobiotics by the cytochrome P450 pathway were enriched, suggesting that they metabolised compounds generated under starvation stress. As starvation proceeded (7–14 d), the retinol (vitamin A) metabolism pathway was activated, based on three up-regulated genes (CYP3, ADH and UGT), along with the two p450 pathways. Meanwhile, vitamin A was gradually consumed. As acute starvation was reached (14–21 d), vitamin A deficiency decreased the mRNA expression levels of IGF-I that is involved in the mTOR signalling pathway, which ultimately affected the growth and development of M. nipponense. Our results implicate drug/xenobiotic metabolism by cytochrome P450s in adaptation to starvation stress. Furthermore, metabolic cascades (CYP and retinol pathways) and growth (mTOR signalling) pathways are clearly triggered in crustaceans during starvation. The findings expand our understanding of the genes associated with hepatopancreas functioning in M. nipponense, and the underlying molecular mechanisms that govern the responses of crustaceans to starvation stress.

It is a great challenge to identify the many and varied sources of soil heavy metal pollution. Often little information is available regarding the anthropogenic factors and enterprises that could potentially pollute soils. In this study we use freely available geographical data from a search engine in conjunction with machine learning methodologies to identify and classify potentially polluting enterprises in the Yangtze Delta, China. The data were classified into 31 separate and four integrated industry types by five different machine learning approaches. Multinomial naive Bayesian (NB) methods achieved an accuracy of 87% and Kappa coefficient of 0.82 and were used to classify the geographic data from more than 260,000 enterprises. The relationship between the different industry classes and measurements of soil cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) concentrations was explored using bivariate local Moran's I analysis. The analysis revealed areas where different industry classes had led to soil pollution. In the case of Cd, elevated concentrations also occurred in some areas because of excessive fertilization and coal mining. This study provides a new approach to investigate the interaction between anthropogenic pollution and natural sources of soil heavy metals to inform pollution control and planning decisions regarding the location of industrial sites.

A key criterion of the UK Government's policy on sustainable forest management is safeguarding the quality and quantity of water. Forests and forestry management practices can have profound effects on the freshwater environment. Poor forest planning or management can severely damage water resources at great cost to other water users; in contrast good management that restores and maintains the natural functions of woodland can benefit the whole aquatic ecosystem.Forests and forest management practices can affect surface water acidification. Monitoring of water chemistry in ten forest and two moorland acid-sensitive catchments in upland Wales commenced in 1991. The streams were selected to supplement the United Kingdom Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UWMN) with additional examples of afforested catchments. Analysis of 22 years of water chemistry data revealed trends indicative of recovery from acidification. Excess sulphate exhibited a significant coherent decline, accompanied by increases in pH and “charge-balance based” acid neutralising capacity (CB-ANC). Alkalinity and “alkalinity-based” acid neutralising capacity (AB-ANC) exhibited fewer trends, possibily due to the variable responses of the organic - carbonate species to increasing pH in these low alkalinity streams. Whilst total anthropogenic acidity declined, dissolved organic carbon and Nitrate-Nitrogen (NNO₃) concentrations have risen, and the contribution of NNO₃ to acidification has increased.Between-stream variability was analysed using Principal Component Analysis of the trend slopes. Hierarchical clustering of the changes in stream water chemistry indicated three distinct clusters with no absolute distinction between moorland and forest streams. Redundancy analysis was used to test for significant site-specific variables that explained differences in the trend slopes, with rainfall, crop age, base cation concentration and forest cover being significant explanatory variables.

This study investigated bacterial diversities in surface water and sediment of the East Lake located in Wuhan, China. Bacterial community of lake water was mainly composed of Proteobacteria (31.1%), Actinobacteria (25.0%), Bacteroidetes (18.6%), Cyanobacteria (18.9%), Planctomycetes (2.4%) and Verrucomicrobia (1.4%), while more abundant and richer bacterial community was found in the sediments, e.g. 46.1% for Proteobacteria, 10.1% for Bacteroidetes, 8.7% for Chloroflexi, 8.4% for Acidobacteria, 5.0% for Cyanobacteria, 3.6% for Firmicutes, 3.1% for Planctomycetes, 2.8% for Actinobacteria and 2.3% for Nitrospirae. The decreased bacterial community richness and abundance was found in poor-quality water. Moreover, Bacterial Eutrophic Index (BEI) was firstly put forward to quantitatively describe the water quality of a freshwater ecosystem, which was defined as the ratio of abundance of Cyanobacteria and Actinobacteria in water. It was demonstrated BEI was well correlated to Carlson's Trophic State Index (TSI) (Spearman's ρ = 0.848, p < 0.01). The average TSI and BEI were determined to be 64 and 0.81, suggesting that East Lake could be classified as a medium eutrophic level.

Behavioural responses to contaminants are an important endpoint in ecotoxicology because they link effects at biochemical or cellular levels to impacts on individual fitness. Due to the increasing use of silver in nanomaterials, studies of its effects on the behaviour of aquatic organisms are important to assess the risks of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) released into the environment. The aim of this work was to evaluate the behavioural effects of silver on the marine amphipod Echinogammarus marinus after exposure to AgNO3 via water and AgCl or AgNP via food. Swimming activity of the amphipods was tracked during 6 min alternating dark and light conditions. Animals swam slower and responded less to light at higher concentrations of silver in the water. No differences were found in the behaviour of animals exposed via feeding up to 28 days, hence, longer exposure times may be required for the observation of effects. This is the first work to appraise behaviour effects of silver ions and AgNP on marine amphipods. Although the protocol has been successfully developed for this purpose, specimens appeared to habituate to test conditions during the experiments. Therefore, the need for further understanding of baseline behaviours in these model organisms is discussed.

The contamination of marine ecosystems by contaminants of emerging concern such as personal care products or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances is of increasing concern. This work assessed the concentrations of selected contaminants of emerging concern in water and sediment of European aquaculture areas, to evaluate their co-variation with legacy contaminants (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and faecal biomarkers, and estimate the risks associated with their occurrence. The 9 study sites were selected in 7 European countries to be representative of the aquaculture activities of their region: 4 sites in the Atlantic Ocean and 5 in the Mediterranean Sea. Musks, UV filters, preservatives, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were detected in at least one of the sites with regional differences. While personal care products appear to be the main component of the water contamination, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were mostly found in sediments. As expected, generally higher levels of personal care products were found in sewage impacted sites, urbanised coasts and estuaries. The risk assessment for water and sediment revealed a potential risk for the local aquatic environment from contaminants of both legacy and emerging concern, with a significant contribution of the UV filter octocrylene. Despite marginal contributions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to the total concentrations, PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) aqueous concentrations combined to its low ecotoxicity thresholds produced significant hazard quotients indicating a potential risk to the ecosystems.

Concentrations of common pollutants in groundwater continue to increase, and emerging pollutants are also increasingly found worldwide, thereby increasingly impacting human activities. In this new situation, it is necessary, albeit more difficult, to once again recognize the hydrochemical genesis of groundwater and to subsequently screen the typical pollutants. Taking the groundwater of the Songnen Plain of Northeast China as an example, the hydrochemical genesis was identified using space interpolation, characteristic element ratio and factor analysis methods based on 368 groundwater samples. Subsequently, the typical pollutants with potential impacts on the health of the local residents were screened by the index system method newly established. All the measured hydrochemical compositions show an obvious spatial variation, with a uniform hydrochemical type of HCO3–Ca in the whole area. Both the major compositions (K, Na, Ca, Mg, HCO3, Cl and SO4) and trace compositions (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, As, F, I and Se) are mainly protogenetic in an environment impacted by the lixiviation of groundwater in the migration process in the strata, although these compositions have been impacted by human activities to varying degrees. The mass concentration of NO3–N has exceeded most of the major compositions except for HCO3 and Ca, which means the nitrogen pollution problem is already very serious; and this problem is mainly caused by the utilization of fertilizers and the discharge of industrial wastewater and domestic sewage. Human activities have obviously disrupted the natural dynamic balance of these chemicals between the environment and the groundwater, thereby intensifying the release of F, Fe and Mn from the environment. TDS, total hardness, tri-nitrogen, F, Fe, Mn, Pb and As in some parts are found to exceed the standards of groundwater quality to varying degrees. As, Pb, Fe, NO3–N, NO2–N, Mn, F and NH4–N are finally screened as the typical pollutants.

Rivers are an important source of marine anthropogenic litter, but the particular origins of riverine litter itself have not been well established. Here we used a citizen science approach where schoolchildren examined litter at riversides and identified possible sources at over 250 sampling spots along large and small rivers in Germany, during autumn 2016 and spring 2017. Litter densities have an overall median of 0.14, interquartile range 0–0.57 items m−2 and an overall average (±standard deviation) of 0.54 ± 1.20 litter items m−2. Litter quantities differed only little by sampling year. The principal litter types found were plastics and cigarette butts (31% and 20%, respectively), followed by glass, paper, and metal items, indicating recreational visitors as the principal litter source. At many sites (85%), accumulations of litter, consisting principally of cigarettes and food packaging, have been found. At almost all sampling sites (89%), litter potentially hazardous to human health has been observed, including broken glass, sharp metal objects, used personal hygiene articles and items containing chemicals. In the search for litter sources, the schoolchildren identified mainly people who use the rivers as recreational areas (in contrast to residents living in the vicinity, illegal dumping, or the river itself depositing litter from upstream sources). These results indicate the urgent need for better education and policy measures in order to protect riparian environments and reduce input of riverine litter to the marine environment.

Exposure to phthalates is reported to be associated with increased incidence of microalbuminuria and low-grade albuminuria in children and adolescents. However, this phenomenon of phthalate-related nephrotoxicity is unknown in adults.Urine samples of 1663 adults from the 2012 Shanghai Food Consumption Survey (SHFCS) were measured for 10 metabolites of 6 phthalates and for renal function parameters. Their associations were explored by linear and logistic regression models.Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that all three renal function parameters (albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR), β2-microglobulin (B2M), and N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase (NAG)) are positively associated with six metabolites, including mono-benzylphthalate (MBzP), mono-2-ethylhexylphthalate (MEHP), mono-2-ethyl-5-oxohexyphthalate (MEOHP), mono-2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexylphthalate (MEHHP), mono-2-ethyl-5-carboxypentylphthalate (MECPP), and mono-2-carboxymethyl-hexyl phthalate (MCMHP) (P < 0.05). Logistic analysis showed that the prevalence of hyperALBuria, hyperB2Muria, hyperNAGuria, or potentially impaired renal function (PIRF) were positively associated with urinary levels of MBzP, MEOHP, and MECPP, respectively (P < 0.05). Co-exposure to identified risk metabolites monoethylphthalate (MEP), MBzP, MEHP, MEOHP, MECPP, MEHHP, and MCMHP increased the risk of having impaired renal function.Certain metabolites of phthalates, including bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and benzyle butyl phthalate (BBzP), were associated with impaired renal function in Shanghai adults.

Integrated systems with appropriate bio-filters can be used to treat aquaculture effluents. However, the information on bio-filters that alters the ecological functions of the bacterioplankton community (BC) in biodegradation of the aquaculture effluents remains controversial. In this study, we implemented a comprehensive restoration technology combined with bio-filters [biofilm, clam (Tegillarca granosa), and macrophytes (Spartina anglica)] to investigate their influence on the stability of the BC and nutrient removal. We found that the diversity of BC was linked with biogeochemical factors in processing and upcycling nitrogen-rich effluents into high-value biomass. The BC exhibited significant distinct patterns in the bio-filter areas. Potential biomarkers for constrained harmfully algae-bacteria (Nitriliruptoraceae, Bacillales, and Rhodobacteraceae) and nutrient removal were significantly higher in the bio-filters areas. The bio-filters significantly promoted the restoration effects of N and P balance by reducing 82.34% of total nitrogen (TN) and 81.64% of total phosphorus (TP) loads at the water interface. The main mechanisms for TN and TP removal and nutrient transformation were achieved by assimilation and absorption by the emergent macrophytes (Spartina anglica). The bio-filters significantly influenced the biodegradability and resolvability of particulate organic matter through ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification of microbes, which meliorated the nutrient removal. Beside bio-filter effects, the BC was significantly controlled by abiotic factors [nitrate (NO₃⁻-N), dissolved oxygen (DO), total nitrogen (TN), and water temperature (WT)], and biotic factors (chlorophyll ɑ and green algae). Our study revealed that the co-existence system with bio-filters may greatly improve our understanding on the ecological functions of the BC in aquaculture systems. Overall, combined bio-filters provide an opportunity for the development of efficient and optimized aquaculture wastewater treatment technology.