The alteration of physico-chemical properties of sediment organic matter (SOM) incubated under current-harvesting conditions as well as no-current producing conditions over 120 days using sediment microbial fuel cell systems was examined. The SOM was microbially oxidized under anaerobic conditions with an electrode serving as a terminal electron acceptor. It was found that SOM around the electrochemically-active electrodes became more humified, aromatic, and polydispersed, and had a higher average molecular weight, along with its partial degradation and electricity generation compared to that for the original sediment. These changes in SOM properties were analogous to those commonly observed in the early stages of the SOM diagenetic process (i.e. humification). Such a humification-like process was evidently more stimulated when electrical current was produced than no-current condition. These new findings associated with microbially-catalyzed electricity generation may present a potential for the energy-efficient remediation, monitoring, and/or management of the geo-environment. Sediment microbial fuel cells can stimulate the humification of sediment organic matter.

A heterotrophic arsenite [As(III)]-oxidizing bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens GW4 isolated from As(III)-rich groundwater sediment showed high As(III) resistance and could oxidize As(III) to As(V). The As(III) oxidation could generate energy and enhance growth, and AioR was the regulator for As(III) oxidase. To determine the related metabolic pathways mediated by As(III) oxidation and whether AioR regulated other cellular responses to As(III), isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) was performed in four treatments, GW4 (+AsIII)/GW4 (-AsIII), GW4-ΔaioR (+AsIII)/GW4-ΔaioR (-AsIII), GW4-ΔaioR (-AsIII)/GW4 (-AsIII) and GW4-ΔaioR (+AsIII)/GW4 (+AsIII). A total of 41, 71, 82 and 168 differentially expressed proteins were identified, respectively. Using electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and qRT-PCR, 12 genes/operons were found to interact with AioR. These results indicate that As(III) oxidation alters several cellular processes related to arsenite, such as As resistance (ars operon), phosphate (Pi) metabolism (pst/pho system), TCA cycle, cell wall/membrane, amino acid metabolism and motility/chemotaxis. In the wild type with As(III), TCA cycle flow is perturbed, and As(III) oxidation and fermentation are the main energy resources. However, when strain GW4-ΔaioR lost the ability of As(III) oxidation, the TCA cycle is the main way to generate energy. A regulatory cellular network controlled by AioR is constructed and shows that AioR is the main regulator for As(III) oxidation, besides, several other functions related to As(III) are regulated by AioR in parallel.

Light pollution or artificial light at night (ALAN) is increasingly recognised to be an important anthropogenic environmental pressure on wildlife, affecting animal behaviour and physiology. Early life experiences are extremely important for the development, physiological status and health of organisms, and as such, early exposure to artificial light may have detrimental consequences for organism fitness. We experimentally manipulated the light environment of free-living great tit nestlings (Parus major), an important model species in evolutionary and environmental research. Haptoglobin (Hp) and nitric oxide (NOx), as important indicators of immunity, health, and physiological condition, were quantified in nestlings at baseline (13 days after hatching) and after a two night exposure to ALAN. We found that ALAN increased Hp and decreased NOx. ALAN may increase stress and oxidative stress and reduce melatonin which could subsequently lead to increased Hp and decreased NOx. Haptoglobin is part of the immune response and mounting an immune response is costly in energy and resources and, trade-offs are likely to occur with other energetically demanding tasks, such as survival or reproduction. Acute inhibition of NOx may have a cascading effect as it also affects other physiological aspects and may negatively affect immunocompetence. The consequences of the observed effects on Hp and NOx remain to be examined. Our study provides experimental field evidence that ALAN affects nestlings' physiology during development and early life exposure to ALAN could therefore have long lasting effects throughout adulthood.

Carbon disulfide (CS₂) is seen an odor-toxic organic sulfur compound, which presents a major impact on global climate change. Therefore, the conversion of CS₂ into valuable chemicals is the key to reduce the concentration of CS₂ in the atmosphere. On the basis of a CS₂ fixation strategy, CS₂-storage materials (CS₂SMs) are firstly synthesized by the reaction of CS₂ with a binary ion-like liquid systems of ethylenediamine (EDA) and ethylene glycol derivatives (EGs) under mild condition. In view of the serious shortage of sulfur fertilizer and its important position in global agricultural production, it is a promising choice to use the CS₂SMs as a new type of green sulfur fertilizer to promote the growth of eggplant, tomato, sweet pepper and cucumber. In this work, the influence of CS₂SMs on the growth of plants were studied by taking plants irrigated by using various aqueous CS₂SMs solutions as experimental groups, and those irrigated by using water and NH₄HCO₃ as control groups. The experimental results showed that all CS₂SMs could promote plant height, stem diameter, root weight, flower bud number and leaf size. Especially, several CS₂SMs presented significant influence on fluorescence and fruit number. Further studies showed that the CS₂SMs as new energy resources sulfur-containing boosted leaf area, improved root development, enhanced photosynthesis and soil nutrient uptake, and promoted vegetative and reproductive growth of these four types of plants. Thus, this work provided a new strategy for the use of CS₂ as an indirect energy source for the experimental four plants.

To fully understand the impact of oil exposure, it is important to understand sublethal effects like how increased thermoregulatory costs may affect survival and reproduction. However, it is difficult and time-consuming to measure these effects in wild animals. We present a novel use of a bioenergetics model, Niche Mapper™, to estimate thermoregulatory impacts of oiling, using data from captive Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) experimentally exposed to oil. Oiled cormorants had significant increases in surface body temperatures following exposure. Niche Mapper accurately predicted surface temperatures and metabolic rates for unoiled and oiled cormorants and predicted 13–18% increased daily energetic demands due to increased thermoregulatory costs of oiling, consistent with increased food consumption observed in experimentally oiled cormorants. We show that Niche Mapper can provide valuable insight into sublethal oiling effects by quantifying the extent to which thermoregulatory costs divert energy resources away from important life processes like maintenance, reproduction and migration.

Taking Zhahan village in Qiongzhong County, Hainan, as an example, and based on its 160,000 tourist arrivals in 2019 and taking into account the real circumstances of Hainan, this research composes the emission models of carbon emissions from tourism transportation, tourism accommodation, tourism catering, other tourism activities and pollutants in this village. The outcomes indicate that Zhahan village's tourism catering consumes the most energy and emits the most carbon, accounting for 53.95% of all carbon emissions. Furthermore, the emission of tourism accommodation is the second, occupying 24.13%. Then, its tourism waste emission is the third, constituting 13.61%. In addition, its annual sewage discharge from tourism activities amounts to 15,144 t. This article promoted 1MW photovoltaic and 10 square solar hot water in the entire village, scientifically developing the evaluation system of rural tourism carbon emission, and making a low carbon brand of emission reduction coupling. The research and operation can be replicated and extended to enable the harmonious development of tourism development and organic unity of energy resource utilization.

Over 70 wood chemical plants operated in northern Pennsylvania between ca. 1890 and 1950, all located within 72 km of the New York state border. Their original purpose was to salvage the small unwanted hardwood trees left behind by the lumber mills, and to make charcoal, calcium acetate and methanol for a number of industrial uses via destructive distillation. At many old wood chemical plant sites, unknown quantities of wood tar remain as a residual contaminant and pose a pollution threat to aquatic life in nearby streams. Research on the composition and properties of residual wood tars from five abandoned industrial sites in Pennsylvania are described. Weathered wood tars were more viscous and contained fewer volatile and semivolatile organic compounds than did soil-buried tars. Phenol, 2-methylphenol (o-cresol), 4-methylphenol (p-cresol), and 2, 4-dimethylphenol were found in all sampled tars. These water-soluble phenolic compounds were released quasi-instantaneously in aqueous solution, followed by a slower rate of release, consistent with the behavior of similar compounds in other dense non-aqueous liquids. Air-exposed wood tar deposits developed a hard crust, which contained fewer volatiles and semivolatiles and had a higher softening point than other samples. These tars eroded to form a powdered soil colonized by lichens and mosses. Residual wood tar material found at one site was shown to be thermally altered, likely during the historical destruction of the chemical plant by fire. Recovered wood tar wastes have a relatively high heating value and may have use as a potential, but limited, alternate energy source.

The main purpose of the study is to identify the thin-bed reservoirs of the Eastern Folded Belt (Sylhet and Bandarban) and characterize them with diligence. A detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis has been carried out. It is based on thin-section petrographic analyses of sandstone samples. These samples are from the reservoir horizons of the Sylhet region and Bandarban region fields. The purpose of this analysis is to characterize the textural and mineralogical properties. Additionally, it aims to evaluate the post-depositional diagenetic changes. The results obtained from the field and laboratory analysis are studied extensively to characterize the thin-bed reservoirs. Samples from the Sylhet area are medium-coarse-grained, fairly sorted, tight packing, submature-mature sublithic characteristics. Contrarily, samples from the Bandarban region are mature-submature sublithic arenites, which are fine-medium-grained, moderately well-sorted, and moderately loosely packed. Despite the similarity of the detrital elements (quartz, feldspar, lithic grains, mica, etc.) in the two areas, silica cementation is more frequent in Sylhet region samples than early carbonate cementation in Bandarban region samples. Comparatively speaking, the sediments in the Sylhet region are more compact than those in the Bandarban region. The most important outcome of this study is that the thin bed of the unconventional reservoir and the conventional reservoir are in close proximity. The Thin-bed reservoir units of the Eastern Folded Belt are found to be medium to fine-grained and well sorted, with frequent alteration of sand-shale with the prevalence of parallel bedded sandstone. Average porosity is 4% to 12%, and pore spaces are interconnected. So, the permeability rate is good enough to flow the hydrocarbon through these pore spaces. Most importantly, the thin bed and tight reservoir (average porosity 4% to 12%, but pore spaces are not interconnected) are not more prominent than 1 meter or 2 meters. Subsequently, though the vertical thickness is not so high, they keep up a momentous tirelessness of horizontal progression. On the contrary, at whatever point it comes to a conventional reservoir, the vertical thickness is higher than that of the unconventional reservoir. But their lateral persistence is not as long as unconventional ones.

Vegetation plays an important role in the energy exchange, water cycle, carbon cycle, biogeochemical cycle, and maintenance of surface ecosystems. In recent years, regional vegetation cover has changed significantly. This study used statistical analyses, including the Mann-Kendall trend test, the Hurst exponent, and Pettitt test, to analyze the characteristics of temporal and spatial variation of vegetation coverage in the Xijiang River basin from 2000 to 2013. The results showed that vegetation coverage of 98.76% of the Xijiang River basin is weakly variable (Cv < 0.1). The area with significantly increased vegetation accounts for 43.45% of the total area (p < = 0.05). A total of 19.47% of vegetation coverage in the Xijiang River basin had significant change-points from 2004 to 2008 (p < = 0.05), and the area of concave change-points accounted for 25.99% of the total area of point increased the vegetation coverage. At an altitude of 500–2000 m, the altitude has an inhibitory effect on vegetation coverage. When the slope is less than 35 degrees, the slope has a promoting effect on vegetation coverage. Rich precipitation resources are the main source of soil water supply, and higher temperature provides better thermal energy resources, which may have a significant impact on vegetation growth in the future and cause time lag effects of climatic factors on vegetation coverage. The vegetation coverage and the area affected by the precipitation and temperature (time lag factors) accounted for 32.99% and 31.47% of the total watershed, respectively. The correlation between climatic factors, topographic factors, and vegetation coverage increased over time. The results from this study will help to further deepen the understanding of vegetation cover and its influencing factors, and provide a scientific basis for ecological restoration projects such as vegetation restoration in the Xijiang River basin of China.

The oil-water separation is a popular issue and the removal of oil from bulk water is also meaningful especially in oil spill incident, which not only wastes valuable energy resources but also threatens the ecological system and human health. Superhydrophobic and superoleophilic materials are very promising for the efficient oil removal from bulk water. Reported herein was a novel and easily operated superhydrophobic surface dip coating from a paint-like suspension containing two different sizes TiO₂ and perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane. Aluminum foil substrate, which is flexile and cost-efficient, was bonded with commercial water-proof double-sided adhesive tape (DSAT) to fix the paint to improve the mechanical strength. The coated aluminum foil exhibited rapid sorption/desorption rate (267 L/h m²), high oil sorption capacity (21 g/g), and excellent recyclability (≫ 15 recycling times). After 15 recycling times of sorption/desorption, the coated surface morphology still remained hierarchical micro- and nanostructures and the water contact angle still reached ~ 150°, indicating its superhydrophobic property. Meanwhile, the cost of oil removal of the coated material can match that of the commercial sorbent. We anticipate that the coated superhydrophobic aluminum foil will show outstanding performances on oil absorption and have good applications on a large scale.