Intensive and paired soil and rice grain survey and multiple-field liming experiments were conducted to assess soil acidification in the past 30 years, quantify the relationships of Cd phytoavailability with soil acidity, and determine efficacies of liming on soil acidity and Cd phytoavailability in paddy soils of central subtropical China at a regional scale. Soil pH, total and extractable Cd (Cdtot and Cdext), rice grain Cd were determined, and all measured data were analyzed separately in groups of 0.1 pH units intervals. Paddy soil pH averagely declined at 0.031 unit yr−1 between 1980s and 2014 (P < 0.01). Piecewise means of log Cd transfer ratio kept around −0.062 between soil pH 4.0 and 5.5 and around −1.31 between pH 6.9 and 7.3, whereas linearly decreased by a factor of 0.76 with pH 5.5–6.9, and by a factor of 1.38 with pH 7.3–8.2 (P < 0.01), respectively. Similar responses to soil pH were observed for soil Cdext to Cdtot ratio. However, the former exhibited a lag effect to soil acidification in the acidic soils and a leading effect in alkaline soils. Liming increased soil pH by 0.50 units, and decreased rice grain Cd by 35.3% and log Cd transfer ratio by a factor of 0.76 (P < 0.01). The piecewise relationship based on the survey precisely predicted the changes in Cd transfer ratio across the multiple-field liming experiments. In conclusion, soil acidification occurred and accelerated in the past 30 years, and piecewise-linearly increased Cd phytoavailability of paddy soils in central subtropical China. Mitigating soil acidification, i.e. liming, should be preferentially implemented to minimize Cd phytoavailability.

Few studies have been conducted on the alternatives to legacy flame retardants in avian species worldwide. In this study, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and alternative flame retardants such as novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) and dechlorane plus (DP) were determined in livers of 10 species of birds from Korea to elucidate species-specific accumulation, biological factors that affect accumulation, and bioaccumulation potentials of these contaminants. Among the emerging alternative flame retardants, the highest occurrence was found for bis(2-ethylhexyl)-3,4,5,6-tetrabromo-phthalate (BEHTBP), syn-DP, anti-DP, and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE). PBDE concentrations (median: 17.1 ng/g lipid wt) measured in our study were within the ranges reported in previous studies, while the concentrations of BEHTBP, BTBPE and DP were greater than those reported earlier. Residential predatory birds showed significantly greater concentrations of PBDEs and NBFRs than migratory predators and passerine birds. The concentrations of PBDEs, BEHTBP, and DP in residential predatory birds were significantly correlated with increasing stable nitrogen isotope ratio (δ15N), which indicated biomagnification potentials of these contaminants. Our results suggest that the concentrations and accumulation patterns of PBDEs, NBFRs, and DP depend on the feeding habits and migration patterns of avian species. This is the first report on the accumulation of emerging alternatives to PBDEs in birds from Korea.

Dissolved organic matters (DOMs) extracted from wheat straw (SDOM) and cow manure (MDOM) were used to investigate their effects on the suspension stability and aggregation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Two types of DOM can effectively disperse and stabilize the MWCNTs. At initial MWCNT concentration of 500 mg/L, suspended MWCNT concentration ranged from 8.0 to 17.9 mg/L as DOM were varied from 50 to 200 mg/L dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The critical coagulation concentration (CCC) values were estimated to be 41.4 mM NaCl and 5.3 mM CaCl2 in the absence of DOM. The presence of SDOM and MDOM significantly retarded the aggregation rate of MWCNTs. The CCC values increased to 120 mM NaCl and 14.8 mM CaCl2 at SDOM concentration of 20 mg/L DOC. Due to its higher aromaticity and molecular weight, MDOM showed higher ability to stabilize MWCNTs, with CCC values of 201 mM and 15.8 mM at 20 mg/L DOC. These findings revealed that DOMs originated from agricultural wastes will have great impact on the dispersion and stabilization of MWCNTs, thus their fate in the aquatic environment.

Recently, inhalable particulate matter has been reported to carry microorganisms responsible for human allergy and respiratory disease. The unique geographical environment and adverse weather conditions of Urumqi cause double pollution of dust and smog, but research on the microbial content of the atmosphere has not been commenced. In this study, 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequencing were conducted to investigate the microbial composition of Urumqi's PM1 and PM10 pollutants in winter. Results showed that the bacterial community is mainly composed of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria accounted for the most proportion which was significant difference in some aforementioned studies. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota constitute the main part of the fungal microbial community. The difference of bacterial relative abundance in sample point is greater than in particle sizes. The sequences of several pathogenic bacteria and opportunistic pathogens were also detected, such as Acinetobacter, Delftia, Serratia, Chryseobacterium, which may impact on immunocompromised populations (elderly, children and postoperative convalescence patients), and some fungal genera may cause several plant diseases. Our findings may serve an important reference value in the global air microbial propagation and air microbial research in desert.

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) plays diverse roles in carbon biogeochemical cycles. Here, we explored the link between DOC and pCO2 using high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) with UV254 detection and excitation emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy to determine the molecular weight distribution (MW) and the spectral characteristics of DOC, respectively. The relationship between DOC and pCO2 was investigated in the Poyang Lake wetlands and their adjacent aquatic systems. The results indicated significant spatial variation in the DOC concentrations, MW distributions, and pCO2. The DOC concentration was higher in the wetlands than in the rivers and lakes. pCO2 was high in wetlands in which the dominant vegetation was Phragmites australis, whereas it was low in wetlands in which Carex tristachya was the dominant species. DOC was divided into five fractions according to MW, as follows: super-low MW (SLMW, <1 kDa); low MW (LMW, 1–2.5 kDa); intermediate MW (IMW, 2.5–3.5 kDa); high MW (HMW, 3.5–6 kDa); and super-high MW (SMW, > 40 kDa). Rivers contained high proportions of HMW and extremely low amounts of SLMW, whereas wetlands had relatively high proportions of SLMW. The proportion of SMW (SMWp) was particularly high in wetlands. We found that pCO2 significantly positively correlated with the proportion of IMW, and significantly negatively correlated with SMWp. These data improve our understanding of the MW of bioavailable DOC and its conversion to CO2. The present results demonstrate that both the content and characteristics of DOC significantly affect pCO2. pCO2 and DOC must be studied further to help understanding the role of the wetland on the regional CO2 budget.

A total of 21 surface sediments collected from the Yellow River Estuary, China were analyzed for 40 kinds of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Their levels, spatial distribution, congener profiles and possible sources were investigated. Only ten congeners were detected in the sediments. The total concentrations of the lower brominated BDEs (∑PBDEslow, PBDEs excluding BDE 209) and BDE 209 ranged from 0.482 ng/g to 1.07 ng/g and 1.16–5.40 ng/g, with an average value of 0.690 and 2.79 ng/g, respectively, which were both at the low end of the global contamination level. The congener profiles were dominated by BDE 209, with the average value accounting for 79.2% of the total PBDEs in the sediment samples. Among the nine lower brominated BDE congeners, BDE 47, 99 and 183 had high abundances. Although the commercial Penta/Octa-BDE products have been banned in most countries, the residual commercial Penta/Octa/Deca-BDE products and the debromination of highly brominated BDE compounds such as BDE 209 were still found to be the possible sources for the trace level of PBDEs in the present study area. In spite of the gradual removal of the commercial PBDEs in the world, the present research results further suggested that scientific attention should not be reduced on the issue of environmental contamination caused by these outdated chemical compounds.

The present study was aimed to assess the genotoxic effect in fish caused by convoy, an insecticide commercial formulation containing quinalphos, present in the aquatic waterbody. For this purpose a freshwater teleost, silver barb was exposed to sublethal concentrations (25% and 50% of LC50) of convoy and erythrocytic cellular abnormalities (ECA) and erythrocytic nuclear abnormalities (ENA) tests were performed in addition to the commonly used micronucleus (MN) assay using peripheral erythrocytes and DNA contents in the different tissues after 1, 24, 36, 48, and 72 h of exposures. The obtained results indicated that acute exposure of different sub lethal concentrations of convoy to the fish resulted in significant alterations of erythrocytes as well as significant reduction of DNA contents in blood and vital organs and tissues, such as the brain, liver, kidney and muscle. Compared to each treatment excluding control group, frequencies of ECA, ENA, and MN were found to be elevated with exposure time of the doses. From this study, we conclude that convoy is a hazardous chemical to silver barb. Bioassays can be used as a tool for screening aquatic pollution, especially for insecticides.

The development of the eye in vertebrates is dependent upon glucocorticoid signalling, however, specific components of the eye are sensitive to synthetic glucocorticoids. The presence of synthetic glucocorticoids within the aquatic environment may therefore have important consequences for fish, which are heavily reliant upon vision for mediating several key behaviours. The potential ethological impact of synthetic glucocorticoid oculotoxicity however has yet to be studied. Physiological and behavioural responses which are dependent upon vision were selected to investigate the possible toxicity of prednisolone, a commonly occurring synthetic glucocorticoid within the environment, during early life stages of zebrafish. Although exposure to prednisolone did not alter the morphology of the external eye, aggregation of melanin within the skin in response to increasing light levels was impeded and embryos exposed to prednisolone (10 μg/l) maintained a darkened phenotype. Exposure to prednisolone also increased the preference of embryos for a dark environment within a light dark box test in a concentration dependent manner. However the ability of embryos to detect motion appeared unaffected by prednisolone. Therefore, while significant effects were detected in several processes mediated by vision, changes occurred in a manner which suggest that vision was in itself unaffected by prednisolone. Neurological and endocrinological changes during early ontogeny are considered as likely candidates for future investigation.

Pyrethroids and metals were simultaneously detected in aquatic environment and showed antagonistic lethality to the benthic invertebrate, Chironomus dilutus. Accelerated biotransformation of pyrethroids in organism by the presence of metals was proposed as the likely reason for the antagonism. Mechanistic explanation for the role of toxicokinetics of pyrethroids in the antagonistic interaction would help better understanding the reasons for the joint toxicity. The goal was achieved in the current study by evaluating the impact of cadmium on toxicokinetic parameters of permethrin in C. dilutus, and by explaining the interaction through quantifying the activity and gene expression of biotransformation-related enzymes. Toxicokinetic parameters were simulated using a first-order kinetic model. Bioconcentration factors and uptake and elimination rate constants for permethrin were not significantly changed with the addition of cadmium at sublethal level, neither did the activity of enzymes, including glutathione S-transferase (GST), carboxylesterase (CarE), catalase and lipid peroxidation. Yet, the activities of metabolism-related enzymes (GST and CarE) showed an elevating tendency with adding cadmium. Furthermore, the expression of metabolism-related genes, including cytochrome P450 and glutathione S-transferase genes were significantly up-regulated in C. dilutus exposed to a mixture of permethrin and cadmium compared with permethrin only. Although co-exposure to cadmium did not induce toxicokinetic changes of permethrin in C. dilutus, it did enhance the activity of metabolic enzymes which were encoded by the metabolism-related genes, suggesting an acceleration of biotransformation of permethrin to less toxic metabolites in the midges. This possibly explained the antagonistic interaction for permethrin and cadmium.

We investigate the relationship between winter aerosol concentrations over East Asia and variability in the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) using GEOS-Chem 3-D global chemical transport model simulations and ground-based aerosol concentration data. We find that both observed and modeled surface aerosol concentrations have strong relationships with the intensity of the EAWM over northern (30–50°N, 100–140°E) and southern (20–30°N, 100–140°E) East Asia. In strong winter monsoon years, compared to weak winter monsoon years, lower and higher surface PM2.5 concentrations by up to 25% are shown over northern and southern East Asia, respectively. Analysis of the simulated results indicates that the southward transport of aerosols is a key process controlling changes in aerosol concentrations over East Asia associated with the EAWM. Variability in the EAWM is found to play a major role in interannual variations in aerosol concentrations; consequently, changes in the EAWM will be important for understanding future changes in wintertime air quality over East Asia.