Due to technical limitations, there have been minimal studies performed on thermal preferences and thermotactic behaviors of aquatic ectotherm species commonly used in ecotoxicity testing. In this work, we demonstrate an innovative, purpose-built and miniaturized electrothermal array for rapid thermal preference behavioral tests. We applied the novel platform to define thermal preferences in multiple invertebrate and vertebrate species. Specifically, Dugesia notogaea (freshwater planarians), Chironomus tepperi (nonbiting midge larvae), Ostracoda (seed shrimp), Artemia franciscana (brine shrimp), Daphnia carinata (water flea), Austrochiltonia subtenuis (freshwater amphipod), Physa acuta (freshwater snail), Potamopyrgus antipodarum (New Zealand mud snail) and larval stage of Danio rerio (zebrafish) were tested. The Australian freshwater water fleas, amphipods, snail Physa acuta as well as zebrafish exhibited the most consistent preference to cool zones and clear avoidance of zones >27 °C out of nine species tested. Our results indicate the larval stage of zebrafish as the most responsive species highly suitable for prospective development of multidimensional behavioral test batteries. We also showcase preliminary data that environmentally relevant concentrations of pharmaceutical pollutants such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) ibuprofen (9800 ng/L) and insecticide imidacloprid (4600 ng/L) but not anti-depressant venlafaxine (2200 ng/L) and (iv) anticonvulsant medications gabapentin (400 ng/L) can perturb thermal preference behavior of larval zebrafish. Collectively our results demonstrate the utility of simple and inexpensive thermoelectric technology in rapid exploration of thermal preference in diverse species of aquatic animals. We postulate that more broadly such technologies can also have added value in ecotoxicity testing of emerging contaminants.

Significant concerns have been raised regarding to the pollution of antibiotics in recent years due to the abuse of antibiotics and their high detection rate in water. Herein, a novel super adsorbent, boronic acid-modified bacterial cellulose microspheres with a size of 415 μm in diameter was prepared through a facile water-in-oil emulsion method. The adsorbent was characterized by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses to confirm its properties. The microspheres were applied as packing materials for the adsorption of tetracycline (TC) from an aqueous solution and hoggery sewer via the reversible covalent interaction between cis-diol groups in TC molecules and the boronic acid ligand. TC adsorption performance had been systemically investigated under various conditions, including the pH, temperature, TC concentration, contact time, and ionic strength. Results showed that the adsorption met pseudo-second-order, Elovich kinetic model and Sips, Redlich-Peterson isothermal models. And the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic, with the maximum TC adsorption capacity of 614.2 mg/g. After 18 adsorption-desorption cycles, the adsorption capacity remained as high as 84.5% compared with their original adsorption capacity. Compared with other reported adsorption materials, the microspheres had high adsorption capacity, a simple preparation process, and excellent recovery performance, demonstrating great potential in application on TC removal for water purification and providing new insights into the antibiotic's adsorption behavior of bacterial cellulose-based microspheres.

Inhalation exposure to fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) represents a global concern due to the adverse effects in human health. In the last years, scientific community has been adopted the assessment of the PM₂.₅-bound pollutant fraction that could be released (bioaccessible fraction) in simulated lung fluids (SLFs) to achieve a better understanding of PM risk assessment and toxicological studies. Thus, bioaccessibility of 49 organic pollutants, including 18 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 12 phthalate esters (PAEs), 11 organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs), 6 synthetic musk compounds (SMCs) and 2 bisphenols in PM₂.₅ samples was evaluated. The proposed method consists of a physiologically based extraction test (PBET) by using artificial lysosomal fluid (ALF) to obtain bioaccessible fractions, followed by a vortex-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction (VALLME) and a final analysis by programmed temperature vaporization-gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (PTV-GC-MS/MS). The highest inhalation bioaccessibility ratio was found for bisphenol A (BPA) with an average of 83%, followed by OPFRs, PAEs and PAHs (with average bioaccessibilities of 68%, 41% and 34%, respectively). Correlations between PM₂.₅ composition (major ions, trace metals, equivalent black carbon (eBC) and UV-absorbing particulate matter (UVPM)) and bioaccessibility ratios were also assessed. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) suggested that PAHs, PAES and OPFRs bioaccessibility ratios could be positively correlated with PM₂.₅ carbonaceous content. Furthermore, both inverse and positive correlations on PAHs, PAEs and OPFRs bioaccessibilites could be accounted for some major ions and metal (oid)s associated to PM₂.₅, whereas no correlations comprising considered PM₂.₅ major ions and metal (oid)s contents and BPA bioaccessibility was observed. In addition, health risk assessment of target PM₂.₅-associated PAHs via inhalation was assessed in the study area considering both total and bioaccessible concentrations, being averaged human health risks within the safe carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic levels.

The concentration of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) makes remarkable difference to environmental fate. In the field of passive sampling, the partition coefficients between polystyrene-divinylbenzene resin (XAD) and air (i.e., KXAD₋A) are indispensable to obtain POPs concentration, and the KXAD₋A is generally thought to be governed by temperature and molecular structure of POPs. However, experimental determination of KXAD₋A is unrealistic for countless and novel chemicals. Herein, the Abraham solute descriptors of poly parameter linear free energy relationship (pp-LFER) and temperature were utilized to develop models, namely pp-LFER-T, for predicting KXAD₋A values. Two linear (MLR and LASSO) and four nonlinear (ANN, SVM, kNN and RF) machine learning algorithms were employed to develop models based on a data set of 307 sample points. For the aforementioned six models, R²ₐdⱼ and Q²ₑₓₜ were both beyond 0.90, indicating distinguished goodness-of-fit and robust generalization ability. By comparing the established models, the best model was observed as the RF model with R²ₐdⱼ = 0.991, Q²ₑₓₜ = 0.935, RMSEₜᵣₐ = 0.271 and RMSEₑₓₜ = 0.868. The mechanism interpretation revealed that the temperature, size of molecules and dipole-type interactions were the predominant factors affecting KXAD₋A values. Concurrently, the developed models with the broad applicability domain provide available tools to fill the experimental data gap for untested chemicals. In addition, the developed models were helpful to preliminarily evaluate the environmental ecological risk and understand the adsorption behavior of POPs between XAD membrane and air.

Estuarine environments faced with contaminations from coastal zones and the inland are vital sinks of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). However, little is known about the temporal-spatial pattern of ARGs and its predominant constraints in estuarine environments. Here, we leveraged metagenomics to investigate ARG profiles from 16 China's estuaries across 6 climate zones in dry and wet seasons, and disentangled their relationships with environmental constraints. Our results revealed that ARG abundance, richness, and diversity in dry season were higher than those in wet season, and ARG abundance exhibited an increasing trend with latitude. The prevalence of ARGs was significantly driven by human activities, mobile gene elements, microbial communities, antibiotic residuals, physicochemical properties, and climatic variables. Among which, climatic variables and human activities ranked the most important factors, contributing 44% and 36% of the total variance of observed ARGs, respectively. The most important climatic variable shaping ARGs is temperature, where increasing temperature is associated with decreased ARGs. Our results highlight that the prevalence of ARGs in estuarine environments would be co-driven by anthropogenic activities and climate, and suggest the dynamics of ARGs under future changing climate and socioeconomic development.

Garden pruning waste is becoming a problem that intensifies the garbage siege. It is of great significance to purify polluted water using biochar prepared from garden pruning waste. Herein, the interaction mechanism between BPS and oriental plane tree biochar (TBC) with different surface functional groups was investigated by adsorption experiments, spectroscopic analysis and theoretical calculations. Adsorption kinetics and isotherm of BPS on TBC can be satisfactorily fitted into pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir models, respectively. A rapid adsorption kinetic toward BPS was achieved by TBC in 15 min. As compared with TBC prepared at low temperature (300 °C) (LTBC), the maximum adsorption capacity of TBC prepared at high temperature (600 °C) (HTBC) can be significantly improved from 46.7 mg g⁻¹ to 72.9 mg g⁻¹. Besides, the microstructure and surface functional groups of HTBC were characterized using SEM, BET-N₂, and XPS analysis. According to density functional theory (DFT) theoretical calculations, the higher adsorption energy of HTBC for BPS was mainly attributed to π-π interaction rather than hydrogen bonding, which was further supported by the analysis of FTIR and Raman spectra as well as the adsorption thermodynamic parameters. These findings suggested that by improving π-π interaction through high pyrolysis temperature, BPS could be removed and adsorbed by biochar with high efficacy, cost-efficiency, easy availability, and carbon-negative in nature, contributing to global carbon neutrality.