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.

Nanoplastics are widely used in modern life, for example, in cosmetics and daily use products, and are attracting concern due to their potential toxic effects on environments. In this study, the uptake of nanopolystyrene particles by Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) and their toxic effects were evaluated. Nanopolystyrene particles with sizes of 50 and 200 nm were prepared, and the L4 stage of C. elegans was exposed to these particles for 24 h. Their uptake was monitored by confocal microscopy, and various phenotypic alterations of the exposed nematode such as locomotion, reproduction and oxidative stress were measured. In addition, a metabolomics study was performed to determine the significantly affected metabolites in the exposed C. elegans group. Exposure to nanopolystyrene particles caused the perturbation of metabolites related to energy metabolism, such as TCA cycle intermediates, glucose and lactic acid. Nanopolystyrene also resulted in toxic effect including induction of oxidative stress and reduction of locomotion and reproduction. Collectively, these findings provide new insights into the toxic effects of nanopolystyrene particles.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that phthalate plasticizers may act as “obesogens”, which are chemicals that exacerbate obesity. The gastrointestinal (GI) system is the primary exposure route for phthalates, however, the relationship between phthalate-driven perturbations of GI system functions that can influence obesity has yet to be examined. To address this knowledge gap, we exposed Danio rerio (zebrafish) for 60 days to either (1) Control feeding (5 mg/fish/day), (2) Overfeeding (20 mg/fish/day) or (3) Overfeeding with diethyl-hexyl phthalate (DEHP) (20 mg/fish/day with 3 mg/kg DEHP). After 60 days, Overfed and Overfed + DEHP zebrafish had elevated body mass, and hepatosomatic and gonadosomatic indices. RNAseq analysis of the GI revealed enrichment of gene networks related to lipid metabolism in the Overfed + DEHP group. Many of the enriched networks were under transcriptional control of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (pparα), a known modulator of lipid metabolism, immune function, and GI function. Real-time PCR confirmed that pparα was overexpressed in the Overfed + DEHP zebrafish, further revealing a pathway by which DEHP may influence lipid metabolism via the GI. These data increase our understanding of phthalate-driven effects on GI function and lipid metabolism, identifying gut-specific gene networks that may drive phthalate-exacerbated obesity.

Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from flue gas lead to a series of environmental problems. Biological removal of Nitrogen oxide (NOx) from flue gas by microalgae is a potential approach for reducing the problems caused by these emissions. However, few microalgal strains are reported to remove NOx from flue gas. Here, a microalga strain PF3 (identified as Scenedesmus obliquus), which can remove NOx and fix CO₂ from flue gas is isolated. The tolerance of Scenedesmus obliquus PF3 to CO₂, NO, SO₂ and its adaptabilities to environmental factors (pH and temperature), and its performance in the removal of NO and CO₂ are investigated. Scenedesmus obliquus PF3 showed biomass accumulation when sparged with 15% CO₂ or 500 ppm NO or 50 ppm SO₂, and bisulfite less than 2 mM showed no toxicity to Scenedesmus obliquus PF3. Additionally, PF3 grew well in a wide range of pH and temperatures from 4.5 to 10.5 and 15 °C–30 °C, respectively. When sparged with simulated flue gas (100 ppm NO, 10% CO₂, (N₂ as balance gas)), the microalgae culture system removed NO and CO₂ at a rate of 2.86 ± 0.23 mg L⁻¹ d⁻¹ and 1.48 ± 0.12 g L⁻¹ d⁻¹, respectively, where up to 96.9 ± 0.03% (2.77 ± 0.08 mg L⁻¹ d⁻¹) and 87.7 ± 6.22% (1.29 ± 0.01 mg L⁻¹ d⁻¹) of the removed NO and CO₂, respectively, were assimilated in algal biomass. These results suggest that Scenedesmus obliquus PF3 is a promising candidate for NOx removal and carbon fixation of flue gas.

Concrete, a cement-based product is the highest manufactured and second highest consumed product after water on earth. Across the world, production of cement is the most energy and emission intensive industry hence, the cement industry is currently under pressure to reduce greenhouse gases emissions (GHGEs). However, reducing the GHGEs of the cement industry especially for developing country like India is not an easy task. Cement manufacturing industry needs to focus on significant climate change mitigation strategies to reduce the GHGEs to sustain its production. This study aims at identifying significant climate change mitigation strategies of the cement manufacturing industry in the context of India. Extant literature review and expert opinion are used to identify climate change mitigation strategies of the cement manufacturing industry. In the present study, a model projects by applying both AHP and DEMATEL techniques to assess the climate change mitigation strategies of the cement industry. The AHP technique help in establishing the priorities of climate change mitigation strategies, while the DEMATEL technique forms the causal relationships among them. Through AHP, the results of this research demonstrate that Fuel emission reduction is on top most priority while the relative importance priority of the main remaining factors is Process emission reduction - Electric energy-related emission - Emission avoidance and reduction - Management mitigation measures. The findings also indicate that the main factors, Process emission reduction, and Fuel emission reduction are categorized in cause group factors, while the remaining factors, Electric energy-related emission, Emission avoidance and reduction and Management mitigation measures are in effect group factors. Present model will help supply chain analysts to develop both short-term and long-term decisive measures for effectively managing and reducing GHGEs.

The dissipation of famoxadone as well as the behaviour of its metabolites in environmental samples such as water and soil is a major concern. In this study, the dissipation of the target compound in both matrices was carried out applying an analytical method based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to Orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Orbitrap-MS). The dissipation of famoxadone was monitored over a period of 100 days after the plant protection product, Equation Pro®, was administered to the target matrices. This study was performed at two doses, normal and double in the case of soils and fivefold instead of double dose in water. The concentration of famoxadone steadily decreased during the monitoring period in both matrices. Half-life (DT₅₀) values were lower than 30 days in most cases except for loam soils, for which it was 35 days. Therefore, persistence of this pesticide in both matrices was low. Famoxadone metabolites such as IN-KF015 ((5RS)-5-methyl-5-(4-phenoxyphenyl)-1,3- oxazolidine-2,4-dione) and IN-JS940 ((2RS)-2-hydroxy-2-(4- phenoxyphenyl)propanoic acid) were detected in both matrices and their concentration increased while the concentration of the parent compound decreased. Metabolite IN-JS940 was the compound detected at highest concentration for both matrices. In water the maximum concentration was 20% of the initial famoxadone content and in soils it was 50% of initial famoxadone content. In addition, another metabolite, IN-MN467 ((5RS)-5-methyl-3-[(2-nitrophenyl)amino]- 5-(4-phenoxyphenyl)-1,3-oxazolidine-2,4-dione), was detected in soils, following the same behaviour as the other metabolites. These results provided ample information about the behaviour of metabolites and the necessity of knowing their toxicity in both matrices in order to detect possible risks for living beings.

Biological sulfate removal is challenging in cold climates due to the slower metabolism of mesophilic bacteria; however, cold conditions also offer the possibility to isolate bacteria that have adapted to low temperatures. The present research focused on the cold acclimation and characterization of sulfate-reducing bacterial (SRB) consortia enriched from an Arctic sediment sample from northern Finland. Based on 16S rDNA analysis, the most common sulfate-reducing bacterium in all enriched consortia was Desulfobulbus, which belongs to the δ-Proteobacteria. The majority of the cultivated consortia were able to reduce sulfate at temperatures as low as 6 °C with succinic acid as a carbon source. The sulfate reduction rates at 6 °C varied from 13 to 42 mg/L/d. The cultivation medium used in this research was a Postgate medium supplemented with lactate, ethanol or succinic acid. The obtained consortia were able to grow with lactate and succinic acid but surprisingly not with ethanol. Enriched SRB consortia are useful for the biological treatment of sulfate-containing industrial wastewaters in cold conditions.

In recent decades, most big cities in China have experienced severe air pollution accompanied by rapid economic and social development. Analysis of measurements of air pollutants form a fundamental basis for understanding the characteristics of air pollution and are important references for policy-making. In this study, five-year measurements of air pollutants at 6 sites in Lhasa, a typical high altitude big city in southwestern China, were analyzed from January 2013 to December 2017. Air pollutants at all the 6 sites in Lhasa generally displayed similar patterns of both diurnal and monthly variations, indicating the mixed atmospheric environment and the overall effect of the meteorological conditions in the city. Spatially, the air pollutant concentrations at the 6 sites were generally characterized by high concentrations of SO₂, NO₂, CO, PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅ at urban sites and high O₃ concentrations at suburban sites. In comparison with other provincial capital cities in China, Lhasa has low concentrations of air pollutants, except for O₃, and thus, better air quality. Although Lhasa has experienced rapid urbanization and economic development, air pollution conditions have remained rather stable and even decreased slightly in term of particular air pollutants. We suggested that the relatively isolated location, low air pollutant emissions associated with its industrial structure and renewable energy consumption, and effective air pollution control measures, collectively contributed to the synchronous improvement of the economy and air quality in Lhasa. Such “Lhasa pattern” may serve as a positive example for other regional hub cities in China and beyond that experience socioeconomic development and simultaneously seek to improve air quality.

Heavy metal pollution is a serious environmental problem globally, particularly in mines and tailings ponds. In this study, based on laboratory and field tests, the migration of heavy metal contaminants in a tailings pond and the retention behavior of a compacted bentonite engineered barrier system on the heavy metal contaminants were analyzed by a numerical simulation. The results demonstrate that the hydraulic conductivity of compacted bentonite is lower than that of the tailings from the laboratory tests. The hydraulic conductivity of the tailings sand decreased with an increase in the dry density and increased with an increase in the concentration of the chemical solution, which could be attributed to the large amounts of fine-grained soil contained in the tailings, according to the grain size distribution test. The hydraulic conductivity of the tailings from the engineering geological survey was between 2.0 × 10−6 and 9.0 × 10−5 m/s, and followed the order: tail coarse sand ＞ tail silty sand ＞ tail medium sand ＞ tail fine silt. The numerical simulation of the seepage could satisfactorily describe the actual working condition of the tailings dam. With the groundwater seepage, the migration range of the heavy metal contaminant in the researched tailings pond reached a maximum of 45 m for 5 years. The retention efficiencies of the 0.2 m engineered barrier against the heavy metal contaminant for 15 and 30 years were 45.4% and 57.2%, respectively. Moreover, the retention efficiency would exceed 87% when the engineered barrier thickness is increased to 0.5 m. The results of model validation show that the calculated results are in good agreement with the measured ones. These findings can provide effective ideas for the prevention and control of environmental pollution in mines and tailings ponds.

Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) are the most widely used pesticides in the world. The extensive use of them increases the potential human health risk, including the human inhalation toxicity risk. We studied the effect of the most famous GBH Roundup® (RDP) in the concentration range from 50 to 125 μg/mL on Mitochondria-Associated apoptosis and DNA damage in Human alveolar carcinoma cells (A549 cells). Alkaline comet assay, immunofluorescence assay and Flow Cytometric Analysis assay were employed to detect DNA damages and apoptosis of A549 cells. We found RDP caused concentration-dependent increases in DNA damages and proportion of apoptotic cells in A549 cells. RDP induced the DNA single-strand breaks and double-strand breaks; the collapse of mitochondrial membrane by increasing Bax/Bcl-2, resulting in the release of cytochrome c into cytosol and then activated caspase-9/-3, cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) in human lung tissue cells. The results demonstrate that RDP can induce A549 cells cytotoxic effects in vitro at the concentration lower than the occupational exposures level of workers, which means RDP has a potential threat to human health.