A total of 1345 specimens belonging to 58 different species of wild fish and seafood from the western Mediterranean Sea were analyzed to assess total mercury levels and to estimate which species meet the EU recommendations for human consumption (0.5 μg g⁻¹ ww) in all cases. All fish species were caught off the Mediterranean coasts and intended for human consumption. All specimens were collected from local markets located in Spain, Italy and France that sell fish caught by local fishermen (Eivissa, Menorca, Mallorca, Alacant, L'Ampolla, Ametlla de Mar, Marseille, Genoa, Civitavecchia, Alghero) at different time periods. Mercury concentrations were measured by thermal decomposition-gold amalgamator-atomic absorption spectrometry. Only thirteen species were found that did not exceed 0.5 μg g⁻¹ ww in any specimen analyzed. These safe species were sardines (Sardina pilchardus), anchovies (Engraulis encrasicolus), blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), picarel (Spicara smaris), blackspot seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo), gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), pearly razorfish (Xyrichtys novacula), surmullet (Mullus surmuletus), painted comber (Serranus scriba), brown meagre (Sciaena umbra), salema (Sarpa salpa), common dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) and squid (Loligo vulgaris). These species occupy different trophic levels, have different lengths and average weights, but show a low mercury concentration than others living in the same environments. Potential human consumption of these species as sole source of fish would imply estimated weekly intakes representing between 49% and 70% of the recommended provisional tolerable weekly intake of methylmercury in the worst case. Health authorities should pay specific attention to species that do not meet EU thresholds and make appropriate precautionary health recommendations, especially for pregnant women and children.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant rhizosphere microbes reportedly enhance plant tolerance to abiotic stresses and promote plant growth in contaminated soils. The co-contamination of soil by heavy metals (e.g., Cd) and rare earth elements (e.g., La) represents a severe environmental problem. Although the influence of AMF in the phytoremediation of contaminated soils is well documented, the underlying interactive mechanisms between AMF and rhizosphere microbes are still unclear. We conducted a greenhouse pot experiment to evaluate the effects of AMF (Claroideoglomus etunicatum) on maize growth, nutrient and metal uptake, rhizosphere microbial community, and functional genes in soils with separate and combined applications of Cd and La. The purpose of this experiment was to explore the mechanism of AMF affecting plant growth and metal uptake via interactions with rhizosphere microbes. We found that C. etunicatum (i) significantly enhanced plant nutritional level and biomass and decreased metal concentration in the co-contaminated soil; (ii) significantly altered the structure of maize rhizosphere bacterial and fungal communities; (iii) strongly enriched the abundance of carbohydrate metabolism genes, ammonia and nitrate production genes, IAA (indole-3-acetic acid) and ACC deaminase (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate) genes, and slightly altered the abundance of P-related functional genes; (iv) regulated the abundance of microbial quorum sensing system and metal membrane transporter genes, thereby improving the stability and adaptability of the rhizosphere microbial community. This study provides evidence of AMF improving plant growth and resistance to Cd and La stresses by regulating plant rhizosphere microbial communities and aids our understanding of the underlying mechanisms.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are increasingly released into the aquatic environments because of their extensive use in consumer products and industrial applications. Some researchers have explored the toxicity of AgNPs to nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) cycles, but little is known about the role of aquatic plants in regulating the impact of AgNPs on these biogeochemical processes and related microorganisms. Here, two 90-day pot experiments were conducted to determine the effect of AgNPs on denitrification rates and greenhouse gas emissions in riparian wetland soils, with or without emergent plants (Typha minima Funck). As a comparison, the toxicity of equal concentration of AgNO₃ was also determined. The results showed that AgNPs released a great quantity of free Ag⁺, most of which was accumulated in soils, while little (less than 2%) was absorbed by plant shoots and roots. Both AgNPs and AgNO₃ could increase the soil redox potential and affect the growth and nutrient (N and phosphorus) uptake of plants. In soils with plants, there was no significant difference in denitrification rates and emissions of N₂O and CH₄ between control and AgNPs or AgNO₃ treatments at all tested concentrations (0.5, 1 and 10 mg kg⁻¹). However, low levels of AgNPs (0.5 mg kg⁻¹) significantly enhanced CO₂ emission throughout the experiment. Interestingly, in the absence of plants, a high dosage (10 mg kg⁻¹) of AgNPs generally inhibited soil denitrification and stimulated the emissions of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O in the short-term. Meanwhile, the abundance of key denitrifying genes (nirS and nirK) was significantly increased by exposure to 10 mg kg⁻¹ AgNPs or AgNO₃. Our results suggest that emergent plants can alleviate the short-term negative effects of AgNPs on N and C cycling processes in wetland soils through different pathways.

Exposure measurement error is an important source of bias in epidemiological studies. We assessed the validity of employing ambient (outdoor) measurements as proxies of personal exposures at individual levels focusing on fine particles (PM₂.₅) and black carbon (BC)/elemental carbon (EC) on a global scale. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis and searched databases (ISI Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE®, Ovid Embase, and Ovid BIOSIS) to retrieve observational studies in English language published from 1 January 2006 until 5 May 2021. Correlation coefficients (r) between paired ambient (outdoor) concentration and personal exposure for PM₂.₅ or BC/EC were standardized as effect size. We used random-effects meta-analyses to pool the correlation coefficients and investigated the causes of heterogeneity and publication bias. Furthermore, we employed subgroup and meta-regression analyses to evaluate the modification of pooled estimates by potential mediators. This systematic review identified thirty-two observational studies involving 1744 subjects from ten countries, with 28 studies for PM₂.₅ and 11 studies for BC/EC. Personal PM₂.₅ exposure is more strongly correlated with ambient (outdoor) concentrations (0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.57–0.68) than personal BC/EC exposure (0.49, 95% CI: 0.38–0.59), with significant differences in ṝ (0.14, 95% CI: 0.03–0.25; p < 0.05). The results demonstrated that the health status of participants was a significant modifier of pooled correlations. In addition, the personal to ambient (P/A) ratio for PM₂.₅ and average ambient BC/EC levels were potential effect moderators of the pooled ṝ. The funnel plots and Egger's regression test indicated inevident publication bias. The pooled estimates were robust through sensitivity analyses. The results support the growing consensus that the validity coefficient of proxy measures should be addressed when interpreting results from epidemiological studies to better understand how strong health outcomes are affected by different levels of PM₂.₅ and their components.

Since lead, cadmium and arsenic have completely opposite chemical behaviors, it is very difficult to stabilize all these three heavy metals simultaneously. Herein, a novel iron-doped hydroxyapatite composite (Fe-HAP) was developed via an ultrasonic-assisted microwave hydrothermal method for the simultaneous remediation of lead-, cadmium-, and arsenic-co-contaminated soil in Hunan Province, South China. Using DTPA/sodium bicarbonate extractant to extract bioavailable Pb, Cd and As in soil after Fe-HAP remediation for 60 days, the immobilization efficiencies were 79.77%, 51.3% and 37.5% for Pb, Cd and As, respectively. The soil extractable and exchangeable fractions of Pb, Cd and As decreased significantly. In batch experiments, the adsorption kinetics of Pb, Cd and As on Fe-HAP were well described by pseudo-second-order models, indicating that the adsorption is controlled by chemisorption. In the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, the maximum adsorption capacities of Cd²⁺ and As(V) were 476.2 mg g⁻¹ and 195.69 mg g⁻¹, respectively, while Pb²⁺ fit the Freundlich model better. The XRD, SEM and XPS analyses indicated that Fe-HAP formed stable minerals of Pb₅(PO₄)₃OH, Cd₃(PO₄)₂·4H₂O, Cd(OH)₂ and Fe₃(AsO₄)₂·6H₂O with Pb, Cd and As. Overall, its facile and efficient immobilization performance indicate that Fe-HAP has potential for practical applications in integrative remediation of Pb-, Cd-, and As- co-contaminated soil.

Amyl salicylate (AS) is a fragrance massively used as a personal care product and following the discharged in wastewaters may end up in the aquatic environment representing a potential threat for the ecosystem and living organisms. AS was recently detected in water of the Venice Lagoon, a vulnerable area continuously subjected to the income of anthropogenic chemicals. The lagoon is a relevant area for mollusc farming, including the Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) having an important economic and ecological role. Despite high levels of AS occurred in water of the Lagoon of Venice, no studies investigated the possible consequences of AS exposures on species inhabiting this ecosystem to date. For the first time, we applied a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the potential effects of the fragrance AS on Mediterranean mussels. To reach such a goal, bioaccumulation, cellular, biochemical, and molecular analyses (RNA-seq and microbiota characterization) were measured in mussels treated for 7 and 14 days with different AS Venice lagoon environmental levels (0.1 and 0.5 μg L⁻¹). Despite chemical investigations suggested low AS bioaccumulation capability, cellular and molecular analyses highlighted the disruption of several key cellular processes after the prolonged exposures to the high AS concentration. Among them, potential immunotoxicity and changes in transcriptional regulation of pathways involved in energy metabolism, stress response, apoptosis and cell death regulations have been observed. Conversely, exposure to the low AS concentration demonstrated weak transcriptional changes and transient increased representation of opportunistic pathogens, as Arcobacter genus and Vibrio aestuarianus. Summarizing, this study provides the first overview on the effects of AS on one of the most widely farmed mollusk species.

Facing billions of tons of pollutants entering the ocean each year, aquatic toxicity is becoming a crucial endpoint for evaluating chemical adverse effects on ecosystems. Notably, huge amount of toxic chemicals at environmental relevant doses can cause potential adverse effects. However, chronic aquatic toxicity effects of chemicals are much scarcer, especially at population level. Rotifers are highly sensitive to toxicants even at chronic low-doses and their communities are usually considered as effective indicators for assessing the status of aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, the no observed effect concentration (NOEC) for population abundance of rotifers were selected as endpoints to develop machine learning models for the prediction of chemical aquatic chronic toxicity. In this study, forty-eight binary models were built by eight types of chemical descriptors combined with six machine learning algorithms. The best binary model was 1D & 2D molecular descriptors – random trees model (RT) with high balanced accuracy (BA) (0.83 for training and 0.83 for validation set), and Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) (0.72 for training set and 0.67 for validation set). Moreover, the optimal model identified the primary factors (SpMAD_Dzp, AMW, MATS2v) and filtered out three high alerting substructures [c1cc(Cl)cc1, CNCO, CCOP(=S)(OCC)O] influencing the chronic aquatic toxicity. These results showed that the compounds with low molecular volume, high polarity and molecular weight could contribute to adverse effects on rotifers, facilitating the deeper understanding of chronic toxicity mechanisms. In addition, forecast models had better performances than the common models embedded into ECOSAR software. This study provided insights into structural features responsible for the toxicity of different groups of chemicals and thereby allowed for the rational design of green and safer alternatives.

Herein, a two-dimensional (2-D) vertically-averaged hydrodynamic model was applied to study the heavy metal particle footprints pre- and post-Three Gorges Dam (TGD) in Poyang Lake. Two defined indexes-Reserve Impact Index (σRII) and Species Impact Index (ηSII) were applied to assess the potential impact of the copper footprint on nature reserves and sensitive species quantitatively. The results demonstrated that the movement speed, distribution, and trajectory of copper particle footprints differed enormously pre- and post-TGD. By contrast, the post-TGD footprints were more complex because of the dam-induced variations in hydrology and meteorology. TGD had both pros and cons for the copper footprint on the reserves based on the results of σRII. It had changed the way for the transport of heavy metals and altered the patterns of exposure risk in the reserves. Sustainable management of Poyang Lake could be achieved by optimizing daily monitoring works. The ηSII for Finless Porpoises do not differ significantly between scenarios, but the ηSII for Siberian White Cranes increased by 0.92 and 0.83 for the two periods pre- and post-TGD, respectively. Heavy metals in food sources and the excreta of Siberian White Cranes could be of great concern in future studies. This study provides a theoretical basis for the in-depth study of the TGD-induced impact on Poyang Lake and provides a reference for the long-term treatment of Poyang Lake and the protection of key species.

River floodplain ecosystems host one of the highest freshwater molluscan biodiversity on Earth. However, multiple human disturbances, such as loss of hydrological connectivity and deterioration of water quality, are seriously threatening most floodplain lakes throughout the world. Given the high imperilment rate of freshwater molluscs but the scarcity of studies examining the anthropogenic effects on this fauna, we test the response of mollusc assemblages to river-lake disconnection and eutrophication in 30 lakes in the Yangtze River floodplain, China. The species richness of entire Mollusca, Gastropoda and Bivalvia and 6 dominant families were all much lower at disconnected lakes than that in connected lakes, and decreased with increasing water eutrophication. The assemblage structure differed significantly among four lake groups for datasets based on entire Mollusca, Gastropoda and Bivalvia, indicating the serious impacts of hydrological disconnection and eutrophication. Moreover, the connected lakes showed significantly lower values of average taxonomic distinctness (Δ⁺) but higher values of variation in taxonomic distinctness (Λ⁺) than disconnected lakes. Such variations were triggered by the extirpation of congeneric and endemic species (mainly from families Unionidae and Viviparidae), which giving a waring of the loss of mollusc endemism in this region. In general, the present study showed that river-lake disconnection and deterioration of water quality resulted in serious biodiversity declines of both gastropods and bivalves in the Yangtze River floodplain lakes. A systematic approach including restoration of river-lake connectivity and habitats and improvement of water quality should be implemented in the conservation planning in this large river floodplain.

Legionella species are the etiological agent of Legionnaires' disease, a pathology easily contracted from water circuits and by the inhalation of aerosol droplets. This bacterium mainly proliferates in water: Legionella pneumophila is the most commonly isolated specie in water environments and consequently in water system, although further Legionella species have frequently been isolated, including Legionella dumoffii. The simultaneous presence of the two species in the water system can therefore lead to the simultaneous infection of several people, giving rise to harmful outbreaks. Ultraviolet inactivation of waterborne microorganisms offers a rapid and effective treatment technique and recently is getting more attention mostly to eliminate unsafe level of contamination. To tackle the issue, the inactivation of the two species of Legionella spp., namely L. pneumophila and L. dumoffii, by means of UV-A light emitting diodes (UV-A LED) system is explored. We used a commercially available UV-A LED at 365 nm wavelength, and the UV-A dose is given incrementally to the Legionellae with a concentration of 10⁶ CFU/mL in 0.9% NaCl (aq) solution. In this study, with a UV-A-dose of 1700 mJ/cm², the log-reduction of 3-log (99.9% inactivation) for L. pneumophila and 2.1-log (99.1% inactivation) for L. dumoffii of the contaminated water are achieved. The Electrical Energy per Order (EEO) is evaluated and showed this system is more economic and efficient in comparison with UV-C and UV-B LEDs. Following the support of this preliminary study with additional tests, aiming to validate the technology, we expect this device may be installed in water plants such as cooling systems or any water purification station in either industrial or home scales to reduce the risk of this infectious disease, preventing consumers' health.