Efficacy of activated bentonite, activated carbon, and natural phosphate under experimental conditions was tested as low-cost adsorbents for spiramycin antibiotic removal from aqueous solution. Equilibrium kinetic and isotherm adsorption process are well described by pseudo-second order and Langmuir isotherm models for activated bentonite and activated carbon, while natural phosphate follows pseudo-first order and Freundlich models, respectively. Obtained results revealed that activated bentonite has the highest adsorption capacity (260.3 mg/g) as compared to activated carbon (80.3 mg/g) and natural phosphate (1.7 mg/g). The adsorption capacity decreases for all adsorbents in the presence of NaCl. The adsorption processes are facilitated in the alkaline pH range for activated bentonite and activated carbon, whereas, for natural phosphate, the acidic pH range is favorable. They are involving ion exchange and hydrogen bond mechanisms as well as Van der Waals forces and also π interactions for activated carbon. Thermodynamic calculation shows that spiramycin adsorption is endothermic and spontaneous on all adsorbents. The activated bentonite reusability is more efficient by more than 95% in two-step desorption using NaOH and HCl eluents compared to activated carbon. Thus, activated bentonite is a promising adsorbent for spiramycin removal from aqueous solution.

Management procedures (MPs) based on data-limited methods (DLMs) recently developed to give management advices for data-limited stocks worldwide are scarce or yet to be implemented on freshwater species. In this study, case studies (CSs) were developed using length-frequency data (LFD) of common carp species harvested from Dianshan Lake to estimate life-history parameters from existing methods. These CSs were later used to examine their influences when tested with various MPs under scenarios when operating models (OMs) were subjected to observation and estimation uncertainties. The results after management strategy evaluation (MSE) was run for various defined OMs showed that three MPs emerged best for providing managing advice. For high yield to be maintained during short-term periods, MinlenLopt1 suggested the smallest length at full retention (sLFR) to be 42.11 cm; while Slotlim and matlenlim2 suggested that to maintain biomass and stable spawning biomass (SBMSY) and also avoid overfishing from occurring in this fishery, sLFR should be 56.1 cm. Values given by these MPs allowed the removal of species that spawned at least once. Also, life-history parameters derived from CS4 presented the best results, being more reliable in presenting better inputs for effective management of the said fishery.

This study investigates levels of bacteria through population indicators as well as the levels of antibiotic-resistance bacteria in dairy manure. Although overall bacteria levels may be reduced during manure processing, it is of interest whether changes in management practices could lead to increased levels of antibiotic-resistance bacteria, which are becoming more prevalent in agricultural soils, groundwater, and surface water. Appropriate manure treatments are needed not only to reduce the potential risk of exporting antibiotic-resistant bacteria to an environment, but also reduce antibiotic-resistant bacteria exposure to animals if processed water is recycled. Results from this research revealed manure separation under relatively low speed centrifuge with 100 ppm polyacrylamide (PAM) emulsion addition reduced bacteria indicators population such as total coliforms and Escherichia coli (E. coli) significantly in the liquid stream compared to no PAM added. However, the percentages of antibiotic-resistant isolates in liquid stream after centrifuge with PAM were higher compared to raw manure and no PAM added. Antibiotic resistance (cephalosporin, florfenicol, penicillin, or tetracycline) was observed or 65.38% of bacterial isolates in manure from a large dairy farm in Wisconsin and 39.29% of isolates demonstrated multidrug resistance. The results from this study strongly suggest that appropriate manure treatment is essential in order to help minimize the abundance of antibiotic resistance in our water environment.

Sponge gourd (Luffa aegyptiaca) was grown in pots with and without inoculation with two arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, viz., Glomus macrocarpum and Glomus monosporum singly and in combination. Seven-day-old plants were treated with 18.9 μg Cd g⁻¹ soil and 155.4 μg Ni g⁻¹ soil alone and in combination. At 90 days old stage, dry weight of root, shoot, and fruit; uptake of heavy metals in root, stem, leaves, and fruits; percent mycorrhizal root colonization; and spore number in the root zone were determined. When applied singly, the uptake of Cd and Ni in host plants was enhanced more effectively by G. monosporum than G. macrocarpum. The larger proportion of Cd uptake in uninoculated host was retained in the roots but in inoculated plants (with both Glomus sp.), major amounts of the Cd were translocated to the above ground parts including fruits. The leaves were the main sinks of Ni in inoculated plants. The overall tissue burden of both heavy metals in the host was enhanced relatively more effectively on association with G. monosporum as compared with G. macrocarpum. The uptake of Cd was relatively higher in plants treated with both the metals and both the AM fungi. Despite the relatively higher uptake of both the heavy metals in inoculated plants, the host dry weight was significantly higher compared with uninoculated plants. The percent mycorrhizal root colonization of the host by both AM fungi was higher in plants grown without either of the heavy metals. The combined application of both the heavy metals reduced the spore density in the root zone soil of host. The results show that the AM fungi enhanced the uptake of Cd and Ni by the host but alleviated the toxicity by promoting plant growth.

This research project explores the performance of soils intended to support ornamental plants serving an ecological benefit within bioremediating rain gardens. Three plots of identical plantings were installed in autumn of 2015 into three different planting media in Northeast Ohio, USA. A control soil blend was tested against two experimental soil blends in the field under natural conditions for 3 years to explore any potential differences in overall plant performance. The control planting soil was created following current Ohio Department of Natural Resources specifications for rain garden planting soils which consist of no less than 80% sand and no more than 10% clay by volume. Test soil blends incorporated lightweight expanded shale to combat the potential negative effects of high sand soils for plants (i.e., high matric potential) while maintaining required engineering benefits (i.e., fast infiltration rate coupled with good physical, chemical, and biological filtration). Our analysis suggests that incorporating expanded shales into bioremediating gardens as a replacement to high sand content can maintain all engineering specifications and may increase survival rates of plant life beyond rates currently found in high sand content rain gardens. Survival rate for plants in the control plot was at 48.3% while experimental plots one and two were 96.5% and 75.8% respectively. The research team suggests that these increased survival rates could contribute to more widespread adoption and implementation of stormwater management practices, especially small-scale, interconnected rain gardens in the urban environment as designated by low-impact development standards.

Concerns regarding disinfection by-product (DBP) formation during drinking water treatment have led water utilities to apply treatment processes to reduce the concentration of DBP precursor natural organic matter (NOM). However, these processes often do not remove bromide, leading to high bromide to dissolved organic carbon (DOC) ratios after treatment, which can increase the formation of more toxic brominated DBPs. In the current study, we investigated the formation and effect of DBPs in a matrix of synthetic water samples containing different concentrations of bromide and DOC after disinfection with chlorine. Trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids were analysed by chemical analysis, while effect was evaluated using in vitro bioassays indicative of the oxidative stress response and bacterial toxicity. While the addition of increasing bromide concentrations did not alter the sum molar concentration of DBPs formed, the speciation changed, with greater bromine incorporation with an increasing Br:DOC ratio. However, the observed effect did not correlate with the Br:DOC ratio, but instead, effect increased with increasing DOC concentration. Water samples with low DOC and high bromide did not exceed the available oxidative stress response effect-based trigger value (EBT), while all samples with high DOC, irrespective of the bromide concentration, exceeded the EBT. This suggests that treatment processes that remove NOM can improve drinking water quality, even if they are unable to remove bromide. Further, iceberg modelling showed that detected DBPs only explained a small fraction of the oxidative stress response, supporting the application of both chemical analysis and bioanalysis for monitoring DBP formation.

Central nervous system is sensitive and vulnerable to microwave radiation. Numerous studies have reported that microwave could damage cognitive functions, such as impairment of learning and memory ability. However, the biological effects and mechanisms of accumulative microwave radiation on cognitive functions were remained unexplored. In this study, we analyzed differential expressed proteins in rat models of microwave-induced cognitive impairment by iTRAQ high-resolution proteomic method. Rats were exposed to 2.856 GHz microwave (S band), followed by 1.5 GHz microwave exposure (L band) both at an average power density of 10 mW/cm² (SL10 group). Sham-exposed (control group), 2.856 GHz microwave-exposed (S10 group), or 1.5 GHz microwave-exposed (L10 group) rats were used as controls. Hippocampus was isolated, and total proteins were extracted at 7 days after exposure, for screening differential expressed proteins. We found that accumulative microwave exposure induced 391 differential expressed proteins, including 9 downregulated and 382 upregulated proteins. The results of GO analysis suggested that the biological processes of these proteins were related to the adhesion, translation, brain development, learning and memory, neurogenesis, and so on. The cellular components mainly focused on the extracellular exosome, membrane, and mitochondria. The molecular function contained the protein complex binding, protein binding, and ubiquitin-protein transferase activity. And, the KEGG pathways mainly included the synaptic vesicle cycle, long-term potentiation, long-term depression, glutamatergic synapse, and calcium signaling pathways. Importantly, accumulative exposure (SL10 group) caused more differential expressed proteins than single exposure (S10 group or L10 group). In conclusion, 10 mW/cm² S or L band microwave induced numerous differential expressed proteins in the hippocampus, while accumulative exposure evoked strongest responses. These proteins were closely associated with cognitive functions and were sensitive to microwave.

Habitat loss and fragmentation are listed among the most significant effects of urbanization, which is regarded as an important threat to wildlife. Owls are the top predators in most terrestrial habitats, and their presence is a reliable indicator of ecosystem quality and complexity. However, influence of urbanization on owl communities, anthropogenic noise in particular, has not been investigated so far. The aim of this study was to identify the role of noise and landcover heterogeneity in the species richness of owl assemblage in the urban ecosystem. Owls were surveyed in the city of Kraków (southern Poland) on 65 randomly selected sample plots (1 km²). The area of main landcover types, landcover diversity index, mean size of landcover patch, and nocturnal noise level were defined within the sample plots and correlated with owl species richness. Five owl species were recorded in the study area with forests as the dominant landcover type for Tawny and Ural owls, grasslands for Long-eared and Barn owls, and gardens for Little owls. In total, 52% of sample plots were occupied by at least one species (1–3 species per plot). The number of owl species was positively correlated with landcover diversity index and negatively correlated with nocturnal noise emission. This study demonstrates that species richness of owls in urban areas may be shaped by landcover heterogeneity and limited by noise intensity. This indicates that noise changes top predator assemblage, which in consequence may disturb predator-prey interactions within human-transformed habitats.

The development of powdery photocatalyst has long been studied, yet the low recovery in water is still its bottleneck. In this work, magnetic recyclable lanthanum-doped TiO₂/copper ferrite/diatomite (La-TCD) ternary composite was synthesized via sol-gel method. The physicochemical properties of various hybrid catalysts were characterized and studied, and their photocatalytic properties were evaluated via the decomposition of antibiotic oxytetracycline and disinfection of bacteria Escherichia coli under visible light. The formation of heterojunction between La-doped TiO₂ and copper ferrite hindered the recombination of photo-induced charge carriers and improved the photocatalytic activity. The photodecomposition rate of OTC was accelerated by the high adsorption ability of diatomite, due to the adsorption and decomposition synergistic effect between catalysts and substrate diatomite. The optimal La dopant amount as well as optimal catalyst dosage was determined. The composite could simply be recovered from waterbody via an external magnet, and the repetition tests indicated no obvious decrease of photoactivity. This nanocomposite presented good potential to be applied in environmental remediation process, due to its high photocatalytic efficiency under visible light, as well as its good reusability and stability.

Trees can be used as good indicators to evaluate the increase in atmospheric heavy metal concentrations. In the last two decades, air pollution in the city of Ankara has rapidly increased with the ever-increasing traffic density. In the present study, the depositions of aluminum (Al), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), chrome (Cr), cadmium (Cd), sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), barium (Ba), phosphor (P), magnesium (Mg), arsenic (As), and boron (B) in the rings of oak trees were analyzed using a GBC Integra XL–SDS-270 ICP-OES device. The study found that heavy metal concentrations in tree rings varied over the past 20 years; furthermore, there was a significant relationship between the heavy metal concentrations in tree rings and the atmospheric heavy metal concentrations. There was an increase in the concentrations of nutritional elements (Na, P, and Mg) in 2010 when there was excessive precipitation. As a result, the concentrations of all elements in the woods of different ages were significantly different at a confidence interval of 95% for As, 99% for Cd, and 99.9% for other elements.