The influence of long-term exposure to background pollution on the response and recovery of the invasive species Corbicula fluminea to ammonia stress was investigated using a multi-marker approach. Wild clams of the tidal freshwater areas of two estuaries of the NW Iberian coast with different levels of pollution, the estuaries of Minho river (reference) and of Lima river (contaminated), were collected and exposed individually to different treatments: 8 and 14 days in dechlorinated tap water (DTW), 8 and 14 days in 1 mg L⁻¹of ammonia (AM), and 8 days in AM followed by 6 days in DTW. After each defined time (0, 8, and 14 days), the clams were sacrificed and the activity of the enzymes glutathione S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), cholinesterase (ChE), octopine dehydrogenase (ODH), and the lipid peroxidation (LPO) levels were used as effect criteria. At the beginning of the bioassay, the clams from the polluted estuary presented significantly higher background levels of GST, CAT, GR, GPx, and LPO than those from the reference one indicating long-term exposure to oxidative stressors. In general, C. fluminea from both estuaries presented little sensibility to ammonia with no significant differences found between exposed and control clams for most of the biomarkers. That low sensibility of C. fluminea could be seen as advantageous for its invasion ability.

In the present work, the role of chemical compounds of one abundant vegetable waste, exhausted coffee, on Cr(VI), Cu(II), and Ni(II) sorption has been investigated. For this purpose, exhausted coffee was subjected to sequential extractions by using dichloromethane (DCM), ethanol (EtOH), water, and NaOH 1 %. The raw and treated biomass resulting from the extractions were used for metal ions sorption. Sorption results were discussed taking into consideration polarity and functional groups of raw and treated biomass. In general, the successive removal of extractives led to an insignificant increase in the studied metal ions sorption after DCM, EtOH, and water. The sorption results using free-extractive materials showed that metal sorption can be effectively achieved without this non-structural fraction of the sorbent. Alkaline hydrolysis destroyed in part the structural compounds of the sorbent resulting in an insignificant decrease of chromium removal while a significant increase of copper and nickel sorption was observed. The determination of elemental ratios of exhausted coffee and all treated biomass evidenced the involvement of oxygen functional groups in copper and nickel sorption. FTIR analysis confirmed the involvement of lignin moieties in the chromium sorption by exhausted coffee. As a final remark, this study shows that the sequential extraction opens new expectations to the total valorisation of lignocellulosic-based biomasses. The extractives can be removed and used as a biosource of valuable compounds, and the resulting waste can be used as a sorbent for metal ions keeping the same capacity for metal sorption as the non-extracted biomass.

Stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) and solid phase microextraction (SPME) are well-established sample preparation methods for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aqueous samples. However, complex matrices especially characterized by slurry particles and dissolved organic matter (DOM) can hamper the extraction of PAH with both SBSE and SPME and lead to different results. Thus, we produced aqueous eluates from PAH-contaminated soils differing in particle size distribution and organic matter content and determined the PAH concentration in the eluates with both SBSE and SPME. Furthermore, we tested the influence of filtration on the PAH analysis. The excess finding of PAH with SBSE compared to SPME ranged from −16.6 to 24.5 %. The differences increased after filtration. We found a strong positive correlation of the excess finding to the total organic carbon content (TOC) and a negative one to the pH value. The results indicate that SBSE is less affected by complex matrices than SPME.

This study investigates the impacts on the Australian native eastern long-necked turtle Chelodina longicollis of wetland waters derived from (1) precipitation and groundwater flow and wetlands also supplemented with (2) irrigation runoff from agricultural lands, (3) tertiary-treated sewage effluent and (4) harvested stormwater. Influences of water quality parameters on population attributes of the turtle population are considered. A total of 951 C. longicollis were captured in a mark-recapture study over 8 months. Overall, a female sex ratio bias was observed, and a larger number of smaller turtles were found in wetlands not contaminated by recycled tertiary-treated effluent. Dissolved oxygen, temperature, surface area and emergent vegetation had the greatest impact on turtle population structure. The lower the dissolved oxygen, the smaller the surface area of the wetland, and the higher the percentage of emergent vegetation, the greater the number of juveniles present. Water quality parameters which would be detrimental to fish predators appear to provide a ‘safe haven’ for juvenile turtles at the most vulnerable life stage of turtles.

Integrating vegetation into architecture has become widely recognized as a multi-beneficial practice in architecture and engineering design to combat an array of environmental issues. Urban areas have microclimates that are different than the climates of their surrounding rural areas. Patterns in these differences over the years have shown that urban microclimates tend to be significantly warmer in comparison. This phenomenon is now recognized as the urban “heat island” effect. While the associated consequences of this urban heating are far reaching, excess energy expenditure, air pollution emissions, and threats to human health are among the most critical for evaluation. The integration of vegetative green space in urban planning, coupled with highly reflective materials in place of conventional paved surfaces on roads and rooftops have proven to be effective methods of urban heat island mitigation. While as separate entities these methods are effective, innovative technology has brought forth greening roofs which allows vegetation to compensate where other roof-cooling strategies fall short. Substantially, vertical greenery systems compensate where greening roofs fall short. This paper explores both integrated vegetation as an optimal mitigation strategy for urban heat islands and vertical plant walls as an optimal design.

Representative sediment samples rich in nitrogen and phosphorus (both continuous and intermittently submerged) were used to conduct dynamic water level (WL) regulation experiments with various WL velocity modes (0, 3, and 6 cm/day). The experiments lasted three WL regulating cycles (6 months), and each single cycle included four WL dynamic phases: decline, stable, ascend, and re-stable. During the experiment, a greater nutrient stock caused higher nutrient release fluxes for continuously submerged sediments when compared to corresponding intermittently submerged sediments regardless of WL regulation. Moreover, continuous submerged sediment nutrient release showed a similar “U” pattern to the intermittently submerged sediment, and nutrient concentrations within the water phase generally increased with rising WL and decreased with dropping WL. Rapid WL regulation such as 6 cm/day promoted nitrogen release, and slow WL regulation at 3 cm/day favored phosphorus leaching. When three WL regulation cycles were finished, WL regulation of 6 cm/day resulted in 18 and 25 % decline of sediment mean organic matter (OM) content for continuous and intermittently submerged sediment, respectively. However, increased WL regulation cycles impacted on sediment nitrogen and phosphorus stock in different manners. For example, a WL regulation of 6 cm/day led to a 582 mg/kg decline and 322 mg/kg increase for intermittently submerged sediment in terms of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) content, respectively. Results indicated that direct WL regulation insignificantly affected sediment nutrient release, but changed the overlying water conditions such as pH and redox potential (redox), and then indirectly changed the nutrient release dynamics.

The reversible and resistant components of adsorption and desorption of munition constituents (MCs) on soils was studied to determine the environmental fate of these contaminants. The long-term desorption of MCs has applicability in formulating accurate risk assessments for operational military ranges. Batch experiments near 1:1 (w/v) soil-to-solution ratios reflecting field conditions using solutions containing mixtures of HMX, RDX, and nitroglycerine (NG) were conducted. The three soils used varied from 0.04 to 13.3 % organic matter. The experiment involved one adsorption step followed by four consecutive desorption steps. Adsorption times were 2, 5, 10, and 30 days. For each adsorption time, desorption times were carried out for 1, 12, 24 and 72 h and 30 days. The reversible/resistant component model was applied to the data. The model predicted the desorption concentrations of the MCs in the soil with root mean square errors of approximately 0.05 to 0.2 μg g soil⁻¹. The extent of desorption hysteresis is not changed by the length of desorption time, irrespective of the initial adsorption time.

The analysis of 18 elements in muscle, liver, gills, and gonads of sichel (Pelecus cultratus), ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernua), and European perch (Perca fluviatilis), caught at a polluted segment of the Danube River near Belgrade, was carried out with the aim to expand the knowledge about the ecotoxicology of these species for monitoring purposes and the possible impact on human health. Generally, the elemental concentration significantly differed between species and tissues (p < 0.0001), and a statistical interaction between these two factors was observed (p < 0.0001). In muscle and liver, concentrations of Hg and Se were statistically higher in ruffe than in sichel and European perch. In gills, statistically highest concentrations of Mn, Sr, and Zn were found in sichel, and of Fe in European perch. In gonads, statistically highest concentrations of As were detected in sichel, of Zn in ruffe, and of Mn and Mo in European perch. The highest number of coefficients of partial correlations between fish weight and element levels was found in sichel (11 in total). Of all analyzed elements, Al and B had the highest number of partial correlations in tissues. The levels of Hg exceeded the maximum acceptable concentration (0.5 mg kg⁻¹) in all muscle samples, which can pose a risk for human consumption. Different diet preferences of the investigated fish species resulted in a different accumulation of elements in tissues, and ruffe (as a species that consume mainly benthic macroinvertebrates) accumulated the highest level of Hg, which makes it suitable for monitoring of this element in water bodies.

Biochar has attracted recent research interest as a metal adsorbent. The heavy metal adsorption capacity of biochar can be controlled by the carbonization of biochar. The adsorption characteristics of heavy metals (Pb, Cu, and Cd) by peat moss-derived biochars produced under different carbonization conditions were investigated by a series of batch experiments. Biochars were produced by the pyrolysis of peat moss over a temperature range of 400–1000 °C for 30–90 min. Biochar produced at 800 °C for 90 min was the most efficient for the removal of Pb and Cu, when weight loss ratio was considered. The pseudo-second-order and Langmuir models adequately described kinetics and isotherms, respectively, of heavy metal adsorption on peat moss-derived biochar, indicating that heavy metal ions were chemically adsorbed on the adsorption sites as uniform monolayer. The peat moss-derived biochar showed the highest maximum adsorption capacity for Pb (81.3 mg/g), followed by Cd and Cu, which were 39.8 and 18.2 mg/g, respectively. This study shows that peat moss-derived biochar is an effective adsorbent to remediate heavy metal-contaminated water.

To develop an efficient adsorbent for humic acid, the present study represents the first attempt to investigate the capability of zeolitic imidazole frameworks to remove humic acid from water. Zeolitic imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8) is particularly selected as a prototype ZIF to adsorb humic acid owing to its high stability in aqueous solutions. ZIF-8 was synthesized and characterized using scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), powder X-ray diffraction pattern (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and then used to adsorb humic acid under various conditions. The structure of ZIF-8 was found to remain intact after the exposure to humic acid in water. Factors affecting the adsorption were examined, including solid-to-liquid ratio, mixing time, temperature, pH, presence of salt, and surfactants. The adsorption capacity of ZIF-8 was found to be much higher than that of activated carbon, fly ash, zeolites, graphite, etc., showing its promising potential for removal of humic acid. The adsorption mechanism could be attributed to the electrostatic interaction between the positive surface of ZIF-8 and the acidic sites of humic acid, as well as the π–π stacking interaction between imidazole of ZIF-8 and benzene rings of humic acid. The humic acid adsorption to ZIF-8 could be enhanced in the acidic conditions, and the adsorption process remained highly stable in the solutions of a wide range of NaCl concentrations. ZIF-8 can be also regenerated by simple ethanol-washing process and reused for humic acid adsorption. These features enable ZIF-8 to be an efficient and stable adsorbent to remove humic acid from water.