Given the rising nitrous oxide (N₂O) concentration in the atmosphere, it has become increasingly important to identify hot spots and hot moments of N₂O emissions. With field measurements often failing to capture the spatiotemporal dynamics of N₂O emissions, estimating them with modeling tools has become an attractive alternative. Therefore, we incorporated several semi-empirical equations to estimate N₂O emissions with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool from nitrification and denitrification processes in soil. We then used the model to simulate soil moisture and the N₂O flux from grassland soils subjected to long-term grazing (> 60 years) at different intensities in Alberta, Canada. Sensitivity analysis showed that parameters controlling the N₂O flux from nitrification were most sensitive. On average, the accuracy of N₂O emission simulations were found to be satisfactory, as indicated by the selected goodness-of-fit statistics and predictive uncertainty band, while the model simulated the soil moisture with slightly higher accuracy. As expected, emissions were higher from the plots with greater grazing intensity. Scenario analysis showed that the N₂O emissions with the recommended fertilizer rate would dominate the emissions from the projected wetter and warmer future. The combined effects of fertilization and wetter and warmer climate scenarios would increase the current N₂O emission levels by more than sixfold, which would be comparable to current emission levels from agricultural soils in similar regions.

The purpose of this research is to design a new bioremediation-electrokinetic (Bio-EK) remediation process to increase treatment efficiency of chromium contamination in soil. Upon residual chromium analysis, it is shown that traditional electrokinetic-PRB system (control) does not have high efficiency (80.26%) to remove Cr(VI). Bio-electrokinetics of exogenous add with reduction bacteria Microbacterium sp. Y2 and electrokinetics can enhance treatment efficiency Cr(VI) to 90.67% after 8 days’ remediation. To optimize the overall performance, integrated bio-electrokinetics were designed by synergy with 200 g humic substances (HS) into the systems. According to our results, Cr(VI) (98.33%) was effectively removed via electrokinetics. Moreover, bacteria and humic substances are natural, sustainable, and economical enhancement agents. The research results indicated that the use of integrated bio-electrokinetics is an effective method to remediate chromium-contaminated soils.

Formation water (FoW) is a by-product from oil and gas production and usually has high concentrations of soluble salts and metals. Calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) have been shown to reduce the toxicity of metals to aquatic animals, and previous study showed that high waterborne Ca exerts mild effect against disturbances on Na⁺ regulation in Amazonian armored catfish tamoatá (Hoplosternum littorale) acutely exposed to high Fe, Mn, and Ba levels. Here, we hypothesized that high Mg levels might also reduce the toxic effects of these metals on Na⁺ regulation of tamoatá. The exposure to 5% FoW promoted an increase in Na⁺ uptake and a rapid accumulation of Na⁺ in all tissues analyzed (kidney<plasma<gills<carcass<liver), besides increasing the branchial activity of both NKA and v-type H⁺-ATPase in fish. High waterborne Mg lowered Na⁺ efflux rates and markedly inhibited Na⁺ uptake, and also reduced both NKA activity and newly Na⁺ accumulation in gills of fish. High Fe levels increased Na⁺ net losses and inhibited Na⁺ uptake in tamoatá. The diffusive Na⁺ losses and the newly accumulated Na⁺ in gills were reduced in fish exposed to high Mn and Ba. High waterborne Ba also inhibited NKA in gills, while both high Mn and Ba inhibited v-type H⁺-ATPase in kidney of tamoatá. High Mg did not lessen the toxic effect of Fe on Na⁺ net fluxes, and reduced even more Na⁺ uptake and the newly Na⁺ accumulation in gills and plasma, and did not prevent the inhibition of both NKA and v-type H⁺-ATPases in kidney. Furthermore, Mg did not attenuate the effect of Mn on inhibition Na⁺ uptake, keeping the activity of v-type H⁺-ATPase in kidney significantly lowered. High Mg levels mildly attenuated the effects of Ba in Na⁺ balance by increasing the new accumulation of Na⁺ in liver, and restore the activity of both NKA and v-type H⁺-ATPase in gills of tamoatá. Overall, high waterborne Mg does not have a strong contribution to, or have only minor effects, in protecting tamoatá against disruptions in Na⁺ regulation mediated by high Fe, Mn, and Ba levels.

The chemical composition of atmospheric particulate (PM10) in the Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) region (NE Italy) has been characterized for the first time with the help of exploratory data analysis (EDA) techniques (uni-, bi-, and multivariated, i.e., principal components analysis), molecular and elemental diagnostic ratios, and seasonal trends. Despite that the available analytical data was limited to the parameters routinely analyzed on PM10 by ARPA FVG (11 elements and 16 PAH congeners), the large number of samples and of measured chemical parameters, together with the applied techniques of data analysis, allowed us to extract useful latent information from the dataset, resulting in a greater knowledge of both regional and local features. Specifically, we succeeded in matching data patterns to the known pollution sources of some sampling stations, both industrial (two secondary fusion steelworks and one coke oven) and urban (traffic and domestic heating), and in defining the mainly urban or mainly industrial feature of some questionable sampling stations. This is of paramount importance to check for possible industrial inputs in urban stations, allowing policymakers to implement the most appropriate response.

High intensity agricultural production systems are problematic not only for human health and the surrounding environment, but can threaten the provision of ecosystem services on which farm productivity depends. This research investigates the effects of management practices in Costa Rica on on-farm insect diversity, using three different types of banana farm management systems: high-input conventional system, low-input conventional system, and organic system. Insect sampling was done using pitfall and yellow bowl traps, left for a 24-h period at two locations inside the banana farm, at the edge of the farm, and in adjacent forest. All 39,091 individual insects were classified to family level and then morphospecies. Insect species community composition and diversity were compared using multivariate statistics with ordination analysis and Monte Carlo permutation testing, and revealed that each of the management systems were significantly different from each other for both trap types. Insect diversity decreased as management intensity increased. Reduced insect diversity resulted in fewer functional groups and fewer insect families assuming different functions essential to ecosystem health. Organic farms had similar species composition on the farm compared to adjacent forest sites, whereas species composition increasingly differed between farm and forest sites as management intensity increased. We conclude that while organic production has minimal impact on insect biodiversity, even small reductions in management intensity can have a significantly positive impact on on-farm insect biodiversity and functional roles supported.

The current study focused on pollution control by titania through photocatalytic degradation of aldicarb pesticide in aqueous medium. Titania, which is an efficient photocatalyst, can bring about degradation of aqueous organic pollutants under UV and visible light irradiation. Here, we prepared titania by sol-gel method from titanium tetraisopropoxide and doped non-metals like N and S from sources such as urea and thiourea, respectively. The prepared catalyst was characterized by XRD, UV-Vis.DRS, TEM, XPS, etc. Photocatalytic activity of the catalyst was evaluated from extend of degradation of aldicarb pesticide by measuring its concentration with the help of HPLC. It was found that the modified catalyst showed better photocatalytic degradation than pure titania in visible light.

Dust is an atmospheric phenomenon that causes adverse environmental effects. It is deemed to have harmful effects on health, economics, and climate. This study aimed to analyze the content published on the phenomenon of dust in the widely circulated newspapers in Iran. We investigated the content of all national and provincial newspapers that were published between July and August 2014. Data on the materials related to the dust phenomenon in the newspapers were categorized and coded. From a total of 510 newspaper issues, 143 articles were devoted to the dust phenomenon which 74.1% of them were published in provincial newspapers. Among the national newspapers, Hamshahri newspaper with 16 headlines and from the provincial newspapers; Karoon with 23 headlines published the highest number of articles on dust phenomenon. 45.5% of content on dust were printed on the first page of the newspapers. The most common approach to the type of content published in these newspapers was an interview. Moreover, we noticed that 28.7% of the content published in the newspapers was related to the health issue. The media plays an important role in the transmission of health information. Weaknesses in addressing the causes of dust occurrence and also in providing solutions for the dust control and prevention were noticeable in the content published in the newspaper. It seems necessary to take practical measures to disseminate relevant information to dust and also address the needs of the target audience community influenced by the dust phenomenon properly.

According to “the Layout Scheme of the Chemical Industry in Jiangsu Province From 2016 to 2030” and “the Development Planning in the Coastal Area of Jiangsu Province, China,” several chemical industry clusters will be located in the coastal area of Jiangsu province, China, and the risk of surface water pollution will be inevitably higher in the densely populated region. To get to know the risk acceptance level of the residents near the clusters, public perception was analyzed from the five risk factors: the basic knowledge about the pollution, the negative effects on aquatic environment imposed by the clusters, the positive effects brought by the clusters, the trust of controlling aquatic pollution, and the acceptance of the clusters. Twenty-four statements were screened out to describe the five factors, and about 600 residents were covered in three typical clusters surveyed. On the whole, the youth showed a higher interest on the survey, and middle-aged people were likely to be more concerned about aquatic pollution incident. There was no significant difference on risk perception of the three clusters. The respondents investigated had good knowledge background on aquatic pollution and the residents identified with the benefits brought by the clusters. They were weak in risk awareness of pollution originated from the chemical enterprises’ groups. Although the respondents regarded that chemical industry clusters did not expose all points of pollutants’ generation to the public, they inclined to trust the administration agencies on controlling the pollution and welcome the construction of chemical clusters in their dwelling cities. Besides, risk perception showed obvious spatial distribution. The closer were the samples’ sites to the clusters and the rivers receiving pollutants, the higher were the residents’ perceived risk, benefit, and trust. However, there was no identical spatial difference on risk acceptance, which might be comprehensively influenced by various factors. Demographic variables on diverse risk acceptance levels were further illustrated, and some useful conclusions might be provided for managing the response of residents to aquatic pollution and helping identify effective precautionary measures in the vicinity of chemical industry clusters.

The pollution characteristics and ecological risk of 12 classified as sulfonamide, trimethoprim, quinolone, and tetracycline antibiotics in Dongting Lake, China, were studied. The total concentrations of the antibiotics ranged from 1.06 to 135.40 ng L⁻¹ for all sampling sites. The highest average concentration was observed for sulfadiazine, followed by sulfamethoxazole. The detection frequencies (over 60%) of sulfonamides were higher than those of other antibiotics. The direct discharge of the aquaculture, livestock, and poultry wastewater might be the main pollution sources of antibiotics in the Dongting Lake. The pollution levels of antibiotics decreased in the order of East Dongting Lake > South Dongting Lake > West Dongting Lake, which may be related to the distribution and the scale of the aquaculture, livestock, and poultry sources. The seasonal changes of antibiotic concentration were relatively diversified, with the dry season generally having higher concentrations than the wet season. The results of the ecological risk assessment indicated that sulfamethoxazole, ciprofloxacin, and sarafloxacin might pose a significant risk to the aquatic organisms in Dongting Lake, especially in Potou and Nandu. This study enriches the research of emerging pollutants in freshwater lake. Graphical abstract

Todays, bioactive compounds extracted from Spirulina platensis have been intensively studied for their therapeutical values. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of S. platensis extract on DNA damage and chromosomal aberrations induced by cadmium in rats. Four groups of male albino rats (n = 7 rats) were used. The first group served as a control group and received distilled water. The second group was exposed intraperitoneally to cadmium chloride (CdCl₂) (3.5 mg/kg body weight dissolved in 2 ml distilled water). The third group included the rats that were orally treated with S. platensis extract (1 g/kg dissolved in 5 ml distilled water, every other day for 30 days). The fourth group included the rats that were intraperitoneally and orally exposed to cadmium chloride and S. platensis, respectively. The experiment in all groups was extended for 60 days. The results of cadmium-mediated toxicity revealed significant genetic effects (DNA fragmentation, deletion or disappearance of some base pairs of DNA, and appearance of few base pairs according to ISSR-PCR analysis). Moreover, chromosomes showed structural aberrations such as reduction of chromosomal number, chromosomal ring, chromatid deletions, chromosomal fragmentations, and dicentric chromosomes. Surprisingly, S. platensis extract plus CdCl₂-treated group showed less genetic effects compared with CdCl₂ alone. Further, S. platensis extract upon CdCl₂ toxicity was associated with less chromosomal aberration number and nearly normal appearance of DNA fragments as indicated by the bone marrow and ISSR-PCR analysis, respectively. In conclusion, the present novel study showed that co-treatment with S. platensis extract could reduce the genotoxic effects of CdCl₂ in rats.