Macroalgae supersede corals in the reefs worldwide, converting the coral-dominant systems into algal-dominant ones. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) released by macroalgae play a prominent role in degrading the coral reefs by stimulating the bacterial growth and metabolism. However, the long-term remineralization of macroalgal DOC and their contribution to the carbon pool are least studied. In this study, we quantified the DOC released by five species of macroalgae that affected live corals through their physical contact and their subsequent remineralization for 100 days by coral mucus bacteria. Also, we analyzed the changes in bacterial community structure after 30 days of exposure to the macroalgal DOC. All the macroalgae released a significant amount of DOC ranging from 2.2 ± 0.17 to 8.1 ± 0.36 μmol C g⁻¹ h⁻¹ (mean ± SD). After 100 days, between 9.2 and 30.9% of the macroalgal DOC remained recalcitrant to bacterial remineralization. There was no apparent change in the dominant bacterial groups exposed to the DOC released by the green macroalgae Caulerpa racemosa and Halimeda sp. In comparison, the Proteobacteria group decreased with a prominent increase in the Firmicutes, Planctomycetes, and Bacteroidetes group in the samples exposed to DOC released by the brown macroalgae Turbinaria ornata, Sargassum tenerrimum, and Padina gymnospora. These inclusive data suggest that the DOC released by different species of macroalgae differed on their lability to microbial mineralization and highlight the comparable patterns in microbial responses to macroalgal exudates across different species.

The existing models that measure the environmental pollution impact of ecotourism suffer from the problems of low success rate and poor accuracy. We propose a new model to evaluate the environmental pollution impact better. Environmental pollution data are first obtained from the scenic areas of ecotourism. Then, based on the primary parameters of scenic spots, pollution coefficients are determined, and conversion data are used to construct a model to evaluate the pollution impact of ecotourism on scenic spots. Based on the analysis of carbon emission amounts, the monetary value of environmental pollution is determined. Experimental results are provided to show that our proposed model performs better than the existing models.

As countries compete to achieve a better economic freedom in the last decades, there is almost no empirical query on the likelihood of its environmental quality (de)merit and/or its effect on the attainment of Global Goals. In the case of Russia, the country with a relatively unimpressive economic freedom ranking according to Fraser Institute (2020) and Heritage.org (Heritage 2020), the current study examined the validity of the rise and fall hypothesis via-a-vis U- or inverted U-shaped hypothesis of economic freedom and carbon emissions in comparison to the rise and fall hypothesis of income-environmental degradation relationship. The study found a U-shaped hypothesis and an inverted U-shaped hypothesis for economic freedom-carbon emissions relationship in the short run and long run respectively as against an inverted U-shaped hypothesis for income-carbon emissions relationship in both terms. Moreover, coal, natural gas, and oil energy utilizations that are the country’s main energy sources exert a significant and damaging effect on the country’s environmental quality in the short and long run. However, the study posited that nuclear energy utilization in Russia has an environmental quality benefit in both short run and long run. Importantly, this study offers a significantly useful economic and energy policy for Russia, thus reenacting the country’s 2030 Global Goals outlook.

Synthetic musk fragrances (SMFs) in aquatic environments have been of increasing concern because of their potential characteristic of persistent, bioaccumulated, and ecological harm. However, little is known about the distribution of SMFs in river-lake systems. In this study, the occurrence and risks of six SMFs measured in sediments from Lake Chaohu (eastern China) and the rivers flowing into it were investigated. The total sedimentary SMF concentrations ranged from 2.43 to 15.5 ng/g in Lake Chaohu (median = 5.17 ng/g), and 2.34–104 ng/g in the rivers (median = 10.6 ng/g). Overall, moderate levels of SMFs were found in comparison with previous results from other areas. Galaxolide and tonalide dominated in the rivers whereas cashmeran was dominant in Lake Chaohu. A source assessment indicated that the discharge from industries contributed importantly to the pollution of SMFs in the studied waters, in addition to the inputs from domestic sewage. Our estimates suggested that the current sedimentary SMF concentrations were likely to pose extremely low ecological risk to aquatic organisms. However, more studies are needed to focus on the spatial and temporal trends in distribution as well as the ecotoxicological implications of SMFs in the Lake Chaohu area because there is a general lack of relevant information.

Petroleum refinery industry (PRI) projects are inherently unsustainable for the most part, because of their environmentally and socially negative potential effects; nonetheless, their development is inevitable due to their deep positive impact on economic development for stakeholders and the society at large. With these competing realities, it is extremely important to develop tools that can quantify the level of sustainability of various alternatives, so managers can make informed decisions about how to go forward with these projects. Due to the complexity of life cycle and sustainability assessment of PRI projects, in addition to their complicated multidisciplinary nature, indicator-based approaches are used oftentimes as sustainability assessment tools. In this paper, an indicator-based sustainability framework is proposed based on the literature review at the qualitative level to cover the pillars of sustainability (which is social, economic, and environmental). Then, a quantitative set of sustainability assessment factors is developed which tries to address global sustainability concerns and to reinforce the understanding of sustainability by utilizing quantitative means. UN sustainability indicators were used as the basis for the study, and the framework was developed further to reflect the specifics of PRI projects; the result of this step is 140 quantitative sustainability factors. To realize the highly relevant global concerns regarding sustainability assessment factors to be applied to PRI projects, the screening process has been done by Delphi technique in combination with Fuzzy set theory, to select the most important as well as relevant indicators which results in 101 relevant quantitative sustainability factors; then, a panel of experts has converted the screened quantitative factors to meaningful ones for PRI projects. The expert panel has then interpreted the list of factors, according to expert judgments. Finally, a comparative study has been done to see how the results will compare with those of frequently used systems. The results of the study are of primary importance due to their applicability in sustainable decision-making, as well as for future studies. The reinforced indicator-based sustainability framework will make a core, not only to assess existing plants with various characteristics but also for new refineries that are going to be developed based on sustainability principles.

This paper investigates the role of institutional quality in moderating the impact of energy consumption on CO₂ emission, with other variables such as trade, capital formation, FDI, financial development and population in 39 developing countries for 1995–2017. We use mean group (MG), augmented mean group (AMG), common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG) estimator, dynamic system GMM, panel grouped-mean FMOLS and panel quantile regression for the empirical results. From the different estimation techniques, we find that institutional quality moderates energy consumption and strengthens its effectiveness in abating carbon emissions. The combined influence of institutional quality and sector wise energy consumption on emissions is significant and negative. Our finding also confirms the Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the presence of institutional quality. Renewable energy consumption is also found to reduce emissions significantly in the long run. Given the importance of institutional quality and renewable energy in reducing CO₂ emission, the policymakers need to improve the quality of institutions and deploy more renewable energy for final consumption to achieve long-term climate goals.

Cyprodinil and thiacloprid are two of the most commonly used pesticides in Turkey. It is more likely to reach humans or animals due to their widespread use. This study aims to investigate whether there is a DNA damage risk due to cyprodinil and thiacloprid exposure. Zebrafish, which is used as a model organism in health and environmental research, and comet assay were chosen to demonstrate this damage. Ten zebrafish per group were exposed to 2 different concentrations for each pesticides (0.31 and 0.155 mg/L for cyprodinil and 1.64 and 0.82 mg/L for thiacloprid) for 21 days. After, gills were excised and comet assay was performed. Photos of an average of 50 cells per slide were taken and were analyzed with visual evaluation program. DNA damage was found to be increased in the 0.31 mg/L cyprodinil, 0.82 mg/L thiacloprid, and 1.64 mg/L thiacloprid treatment groups when compared to the control group (p < 0.001). Average tail DNA percentage parameter values were 9.45 ± 0.51, 10.30 ± 0.34, 11.17 ± 0.33, and 2.47 ± 0.06 respectively. Cyprodinil and thiacloprid were identified as genotoxic agents that should be investigated further.

To accelerate the transformation and application of basic research results, the Chinese government has repeatedly mentioned in a government work report that it is necessary to support research and innovation collaborations between knowledge research institutions and enterprises. However, few studies have focused on the evolution of collaborations between these organizations and the impact of collaborations on innovation performance (IP) in the field of renewable energy under the background of government-funded support (GFS). Based on scientific publications, we construct a GFS collaboration network in the wind power field to investigate the evolution of network structure characteristics, attribute proximity variables, and applied research collaboration (ARC), and we study the impact of network evolution on the IP of actors. The results show that the focal actor of the collaboration network prefers to engage in ARC with partners who are familiar and have the same knowledge base in different provinces. This collaboration tendency will reduce geographical proximity and increase the direct ties, indirect ties, technological proximity, and ARC of the ego network. Among them, direct ties have an inverted U-shaped effect on IP, geographical proximity has a significantly negative impact on IP, and the remaining variables have positive impacts on IP. Taken together, when the direct ties is within a certain range, these collaboration tendencies in a GFS collaboration network positively affect the IP of research institutions and enterprises.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are contaminants of increasing interest due to intense mining activities for commercial purposes and ultimately released in the environment. We exposed juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to a representative mixture of the five most abundant REEs for 96 h at concentrations similar found in lakes contaminated by mining activities at 0.1, 1, 10, and 100X whereas the 1x mixture contained cerium (Ce, 280 μg/L), lanthanum (La, 140 μg/L), neodymium (Nd, 120 μg/L), praseodymium (Pr, 28 μg/L), and samarium (Sm, 23 μg/L). We investigated the expression of 14 genes involved in oxidative stress, DNA repair, tissue growth/proliferation, protein chaperoning, xenobiotic biotransformation, and ammonia metabolism in the liver. In addition, DNA damage, oxidative stress (lipid peroxidation or LPO), inflammation (cyclooxygenase or COX activity), detoxification mechanisms (glutathione-S-transferase activity or GST), and labile zinc were determined in gills. The data revealed that genes involved in oxidative stress-catalase (cat), heat shock proteins 70 (hsp70), and glutamate dehydrogenase (glud) were upregulated while glutathione S-transferase (gst) and metallothionein (mt) gene expressions were downregulated. The mixture was genotoxic and increased labile Zn in gills of exposed trout. These changes occurred at concentrations 600 times lower than the LC₅₀ for this mixture indicating effects below the 1X concentration. Based on principal component analysis and concentration-dependent reponses, the following sublethal effects were considered the most important/significant: DNA strand breaks (genotoxicity), labile Zn, cat, gst, hsp70, sparc, mt, and glud. These effects of fish juveniles are likely to occur in environments under the influence of mining activities.

One of most reduction reasons of simple conventional solar still productivity is the coupling between high solar intensity and the high ambient temperature in the same time. The high intensity increases the saline water temperature, while the outside temperature increases the glass temperature, and consequently reduction in saline water and glass temperature difference leads to reduction in condensation and productivity. The present theoretical study focuses on the completion of the absorbed solar energy in the basin to be constant during the day. The basin water will be in high temperature level all day especially at the time of low outside temperature far away the noon. The absorbed heat in the basin is held constant at αw Iₘₐₓ by extra heat from wind turbine power with battery storage system all day hours. The results show that the solar still productivity with constant heat supply is more than that with same amount of variable energy during sun rise time only (6 AM to 6 PM) by 69.133%. So, constant absorbed heat in the water basin (αw Iₘₐₓ) through the 24 h of the day enhances the performance with productivity up to 248% with the hybrid solar and electric power consumption of the wind turbine power. The water in the basin is held constant at 2 cm via makeup water to compensate the evaporation rate.