The growth and cadmium (Cd) accumulation of emergent plant Nasturtium officinale R. Br. cuttings taken from plants grafted onto rootstocks of four terrestrial Cruciferae species were studied in a pot experiment. Scions from N. officinale seedlings were grafted onto rootstocks of Brassica chinensis L., Raphanus sativus L., Brassica napus L., and Rorippa dubia (Pers.) H. Hara. Cuttings were taken after 1 month and grown in Cd-contaminated soil (10 mg Cd kg⁻¹) for 60 days. Compared with non-grafted N. officinale, grafting onto R. sativus and B. napus rootstocks increased the root, shoot, and whole plant biomasses of N. officinale cuttings. Brassica napus rootstock was more effective than R. sativus rootstock for increasing the biomass of N. officinale cuttings. The four rootstocks decreased or had no significant effect on photosynthetic pigment contents in N. officinale cuttings compared with non-grafted N. officinale. Only grafting onto B. napus rootstock enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities. Compared with non-grafted N. officinale, R. sativus and B. napus rootstocks decreased the Cd contents in roots and shoots of N. officinale cuttings, whereas the other rootstocks had no significant effect on the shoot Cd content. The four rootstocks had no increase effects on Cd extraction by N. officinale cuttings. Therefore, cutting after grafting did not enhance the phytoremediation ability of N. officinale for growth in Cd-contaminated soil. However, R. sativus and B. napus rootstocks decreased the Cd content in N. officinale cuttings, which offers a potential approach for N. officinale safety production as a wild vegetable in Cd-contaminated soils.

Surveys of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-pE) in stream water and untreated wastewater were carried out in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Thirty-six samples of water were collected from 18 streams in Okinawa Prefecture, as well as ten samples of wastewater flowing into four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). We investigated bacterial species, Escherichia coli O antigen, ESBL phenotype, ESBL genotype, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) type of isolates, and total viable count and fecal coliforms as indicator organisms. The relation between indicator organisms and ESBL-pE was also validated using the same samples. A total of 141 ESBL-pE including 107 E. coli, 15 Klebsiella pneumoniae, 2 Proteus mirabilis, and 17 other species was isolated from stream water and wastewater. Of the 141 ESBL-pE, 14.9% and 54.6% were found to be blaCTX-M-15 and blaCTX-M-14-like types, respectively, which have been found in hospital isolates in Okinawa. Two pairs of possibly related patterns according to PFGE criteria were isolated from stream water and wastewater in two districts. When ESBL-pE was significantly isolated, total viable count and fecal coliform boundaries were ≥ 6.0 × 10³ CFU/ml and ≥ 4.3 × 10² most probable number/100 ml, respectively. These results suggested that ESBL-pE isolated from stream water is human derived, and that total viable count and fecal coliforms will be useful as indicators for confirming the spread of ESBL-pE to the environment by means of simple hygiene surveys.

Climate change has become a real threat, and its impacts are being felt throughout the world. Temperature is considered one of the significant elements by the recent consequences of climate change and global warming, specially the salinity which is increased at higher temperature. Turfgrasses are adversely affected due to an increasing trend in salinity. The main aim of this investigation was to find out salt-tolerant ecotypes from native species of UAE to mitigate the salinity problem. Performance of a native grass, Aeluropus lagopoides, was investigated under high saline conditions during the year 2014 under the UAE climatic conditions. The experiment was planned under randomised complete block design (RCBD) with two factors and four replications. During the experiment, 50 ecotypes of Aeluropus lagopoides, alongside Paspalum vaginatum (as control), were tested at different salt levels, i.e. 0, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 75 dSm⁻¹. Significant differences were found among various ecotypes as well as salinity levels for different agronomic traits including green cover, canopy stiffness, leaf colour and salinity of leaf rinseates. Most of the ecotypes tolerated salinity up to 30 dSm⁻¹, maintaining the quality, but beyond this level the quality declined. However, some of the ecotypes survived under high salinity, even beyond sea level (75 dSm⁻¹). All the ecotypes, except RUA2, RUA3 and RUA1, showed better performance than P. vaginatum, the prevailing commercial turfgrass in the UAE. Based on their performance, the ecotypes RUDA7, FA5, RA3, RUDA2 and RA2 could be used for turf purposes under saline conditions.

We investigated the treatment efficiency of micro-polluted NO₃⁻-dominated river water with low C/N ratio by five parallel pilot-scale IVCWs with different plant and substrate collocation. When the mean concentration was 2.24 and 0.193 mg L⁻¹ in influent, IVCWs achieved an average (mass) removal rate of (0.09 g m⁻² day⁻¹) 46.8% and (0.77 g m⁻² day⁻¹) 62.3% for TN and TP, respectively, during 1 year of operation. Water quality was significantly improved from grade V to meet the criterion of grade IV of surface water. Through the comparison of removal rate by different IVCWs, we found that lack of carbon sources in influent limited the denitrification in the middle and bottom layers (ML, BL) of IVCW. Zeolites deployed in the upper layer (UL) of IVCW reduced the overall N removal efficiency compared with gravels, due to a stronger nitrification but weaker denitrification. Canna indica (C. indica) was superior to Arundo donax (A. donax) and Thalia dealbata (T. dealbata) for N removal in the UL of IVCW due to higher aboveground biomass accumulation and microbial removal during the first 10 months. Stronger nitrification and denitrification were simultaneously facilitated near the rhizosphere of C. indica. When entered into Dec., A. donax performed higher N removal efficiency than the other two species. The internal replenishment of peats in the ML as carbon sources significantly improved N and P removal efficiency. Zeolites with stronger capacity of ammonium (NH₄⁺) adsorption was more in favor of anammox in the BL, when compared with roseites, but both of them were not conducive to the growth of denitrifiers. However, the deployment of shale ceramisites obtained an opposite result. Gemmata and Pirellula as anammox bacteria were more enriched in the zeolite layer, whereas some anaerobic denitrifiers (Corynebacterium and Paludibacter) and heterotrophic denitrifiers including Bacillus, Geobacter, Pseudomonas, and Lactococcus were more found in shale ceramisite. Supply of peats as carbon sources in the ML was beneficial for the adhesion of anammox bacteria and denitrifiers in the BL of shale ceramisites. An ideal model composed of C. indica + A. donax (DFU)-gravel (UL)-anthracite+peat (ML)-zeolite+shale ceramsite (BL)-Acorus calamus (UFU) was proposed for treating this type of river water to achieve high efficiency.

NaY and Na13X zeolites were modified by different modification manners including H⁺ modification, metal ion modification (Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, or Ce³⁺), and H⁺ modification followed by metal ion modification to investigate their deep desulfurization behavior in gasoline. The sorbents were characterized by X-ray diffraction, FTIR of chemisorbed pyridine, N₂ adsorption, and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The desulfurization performance of these sorbents was evaluated in model gasoline containing thiophene and cyclohexane with thiophene concentration of 500 mg/L, and the results were analyzed to investigate the effect of preparation methods on adsorption desulfurization behavior. The result indicates that H⁺ modification or metal ion modification could all improve the desulfurization performance of both NaY and Na13X zeolites, except for Na13X modified by Cu²⁺ and Ni²⁺. For Cu²⁺ or Ni²⁺ ion exchanging, the crystal structure of Na13X would be destroyed, resulting in a much lower desulfurization efficiency than that of the parent Na13X. The desulfurization efficiency of sorbents prepared via H⁺ modification followed by metal ion modification is higher than that of sorbents prepared by single H⁺ modification or single metal ion modification, because the former is more conducive to improve the content of metal elements on the sorbents than the latter. In addition, the increase of the specific surface area and pore volume of the sorbents would directly lead to the improvement of desulfurization performance of the sorbents. Compared with Na13X, the H⁺ modification on NaY zeolite can significantly enhance the desulfurization performance of the sorbents. Among those prepared sorbents, the CuHY has the highest desulfurization efficiency. The influence of thiophene concentration (100–1000 mg/L) on desulfurization efficiency of CuHY sorbent was evaluated. The results indicate that the desulfurization efficiency of CuHY sorbent is nearly 100% at room temperature, when the thiophene concentration is lower than 300 mg/L. Moreover, its desulfurization behavior could be described by Langmuir isothermal equation. Graphic abstract .

Production of Scenedesmus sp. biomass in chicken slaughterhouse wastewater (CSWW) is a promising alternative technique for commercial culture medium due to the high nutritional content of the generated biomass to be used as fish feeds. The current work deals with optimising of biomass production in CSWW using response surface methodology (RSM) as a function of two independent variables, namely temperature (10–30 °C) and photoperiod (6–24 h). The potential application of biomass yield as fish feeds was evaluated based on carbohydrate, protein and lipid contents. The results revealed that the best operating parameters for Scenedesmus sp. biomass production with high contents of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids were determined at 30 °C and after 24 h. The actual and predicted values were 2.47 vs. 3.09 g, 1.44 vs. 1.27 μg/mL, 29.9 vs. 31.60% and 25.75 vs. 28.44%, respectively. Moreover, the produced biomass has a high concentration of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) as follows: 35.91% of C15:1; 17.58% of C24:1 and 14.11% of C18:1N9T. The biomass yields have 7.98% of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5N3) which is more appropriate as fish feeds. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis of biomass revealed that the main functional groups included hydroxyl (OH), aldehyde (=C–H), alkanes and acyl chain groups. Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopic analysis (EDS) indicated that the surface morphology and element distribution in biomass produced in BBM and CSWW were varied. The findings have indicated that the biomass produced in CSWW has high potential as fish feeds.

Shengjin Lake wetland is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. It is a typical lake-type wetland and is also an ideal place for rare cranes to overwintering. The changes of wetland landscape are closely related to the habitat quality of wintering cranes. It is of great significance to study the habitat change of wintering cranes in wetland for wetland ecological restoration and restoration. In this paper, we analyze four kinds of winter cranes and wetland landscape pattern types from the years 1986 to 2015. Also, we adopted the Pearson correlation analysis method to analyze the relationship between wetland landscape types and crane population, and the main landscape types of cranes habitat were obtained. We selected disturbance degree, food richness, vegetation cover, and hydrological condition as the main factors affecting wintering habitat of cranes. We established a habitat suitability index model for wintering cranes and generated habitat suitability assessment maps by ArcGIS. The results show that the change of landscape pattern in Shengjin Lake protected area was obvious, the number of wetland patches increased, the fragmentation degree of landscape increased, the landscape patch difference became smaller, and the diversity index and evenness index increased gradually. From 1986 to 2015, the number of wintering cranes decreased and the habitat suitability index of wintering cranes decreased from 0.845 to 0.465, and the habitat suitability of wintering cranes fell from 13,577.11 to 7424.42 ha, which showed the overall habitat deteriorated significantly and had a positive correlation between the crane population and habitat suitability.

With rapid development of global wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), acidification and enhanced CO₂ release in receiving waters caused by high-CO₂ treated wastewater input have raised concerns. Insights into the variations in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) species in treated wastewater contribute to understanding the mechanisms of the acidification process. Here, we investigated three large-scale municipal WWTPs that discharged into the coast of Qingdao, China, for variations in effluent DIC species and their control mechanisms. The results showed that the effluent DIC concentrations, with a range of 2554–5718 μmol/L, significantly exceeded the concentration in seawater and mainly increased from winter to spring and decreased from summer to autumn. The effluent DIC and its δ¹³CDIC showed a good negative correlation. The ratios of effluent DIC to total alkalinity (DIC/TAlk) ranged from 1.00 to 1.24, and the proportions of CO₂ in DIC ranged from 0.9 to 19.7%; both sets of values significantly exceeded those in seawater. The proportions of CO₃²⁻ in DIC were only ~ 0.4%. These features determined that the CO₂ concentrations in effluents fluctuated from 3 to 80 times the concentration in seawater, whereas the CO₃²⁻ concentrations were less than 1/15 of those in seawater. Organic matter degradation and nitrogen removal processes made important contributions to the high effluent CO₂ concentrations. The increase in solubility induced by decreased temperature may be the main cause for the higher effluent CO₂ concentrations during winter as well as spring months with low effluent temperatures. Correspondingly, the effluent pH values were significantly lower than the seawater pH values and showed a good negative logarithmic correlation with the DIC/TAlk values, reflecting the control of DIC species on the pH values in treated wastewater. Variations in DIC species in treated wastewater can cause changes in the affected region and the degree of the induced acidification in receiving waters.

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have been responsible for numerous outbreaks of serious infections in humans worldwide. Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis are the principal species that are frequently associated with vancomycin resistance determinants, thus usually implicated in hospital- and community-acquired infections in humans. The study aim was to determine the antibiotic resistance and virulence profiles of VREs isolated from surface and groundwater samples that are used by humans in the North West Province, South Africa. A total of 170 water samples were collected and analyzed. Eighty-one potential isolates were screened for characteristics of Enterococcus species using preliminary biochemical tests, PCR assays and sequence analysis. The antimicrobial resistance profiles of the isolates against nine antibiotics were determined and a dendrogram was generated to access the relatedness of the isolates. The isolates were screened for the presence of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes by multiplex PCR analysis. A total of 56 isolates were confirmed as Enterococcus species and the proportion of E. faecium (46.9%) was higher than E. faecalis (29%) and E. saccharolyticus (1.2%). Sequence data of E. faecium, E. faecalis, and E. saccharolyticus isolates revealed 97 to 98% similarities to clinical strains deposited in NCBI Genbank. Large proportions (44; 78.6%) of the isolates were resistant to vancomycin while 16 and 3.6% of the isolates possessed the vanA and vanB genes respectively. The MAR phenotype Vancomycin-Nalidixic Acid-Streptomycin-Chloramphenicol-Ampicillin-Oxytetracycline-Gentamycin-Nitrofurantoin-Sulphamethoxazole indicated that some isolates were resistant to all of the nine antibiotics tested. Cluster analysis of antibiotic resistance data revealed two major clusters. Sixteen (36.4%), 14 (27.3%), 3 (6.8%), and 2 (4.5%) of the VRE isolates possessed the gel, asa1, hyl, and esp virulence genes respectively while the cylA gene was not detected in the study. Multiple antibiotic-resistant enterococci were also resistant to vancomycin and possessed virulence determinants indicating that they can pose severe public health complications on individuals who consume contaminated water.

The Paris agreement (2015) seems a significant achievement towards a global mitigation policy to climate change. However, implementing the promised Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) targets by the participating countries has become a real challenge. In this aspect, the input-output life cycle assessment (IO-LCA) model provides an important assessment mechanism to design suitable abatement policies limiting the rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The present paper develops an IO-LCA model for Pakistan and estimates all the direct and indirect GHG emissions caused by all the production activities during all the stages of production. This task is achieved in three phases. In phase 1, the Pakistan input-output table (IOT) is constructed. In phase 2, the GHG environmental satellite accounts are created for each sector in the economy. In phase 3, the GHG emissions are linked to different categories of final demand.