Green tide outbreaks caused by overgrowth of Ulva prolifera in the Yellow Sea of China can cause serious ecological stress with concomitant economic hardships, especially to marine fisheries. In this study, short-term effects (14 days) were evaluated using fresh algae U. prolifera (FU), and a 7-day assessment of the effects of decomposing U. prolifera (DU) algal effluent was conducted to determine the effects on the environmental and intestinal microbiota, intestinal transcriptome and mortality of the commercial marine benthic fish, Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus). The results revealed that algal degradation altered the microbial community structure of fish farm water and fish intestines and increased the relative abundance of the pathogens Flavobacteriaceae in water and Vibrio in fish intestines. Fish intestinal tissue structure appeared to be damaged, as indicated in pathological sections, and transcriptome analysis showed intestinal inflammation after exposure, which may have caused an increase in fish mortality. The degradation of U. prolifera led to a bloom of potential pathogenic bacteria and the inflammation of fish intestines, which resulted in disease in the flounder population that reduced fish harvests and might pose a potential health threat.

Aggrandized technological and industrial progression in past decades have occasioned immense depreciation in the quality of environment and ecosystem, majorly due to augmentation in the number of obnoxious pollutants incessantly being released in soil, water or air. Arsenic (As) is one such hazardous metalloid contaminating the environment which has the potential to detrimentally affect the life on earth. Even in minute quantity, As is known to cause various critical diseases in humans and toxicity in plants. Recent studies on nanoparticles (NPs) approve of their ability to qualify the criterion of becoming a potent tool for mitigating As-induced phytotoxicity. Nanoparticles are reported to promote plant growth under As-stress by stimulating various alterations at physiological, biochemical, and molecular levels. In this review, we provide an up-to-date compilation of research that has been carried out in comprehending the mechanisms utilized by nanoparticles including controlled As uptake and distribution in plants, maintenance of ROS homeostasis during stress and chelation and vacuolar sequestration of As so as to reduce the severity of toxicity induced by As, and potential areas of research in this field will also be indicated for future perspectives.

Air pollution and extreme heat have been responsible for more than a million deaths in China every year, especially in densely urbanized regions. While previous studies intensively evaluated air pollution episodes and extreme heat events, a limited number of studies comprehensively assessed atmospheric hot-and-polluted-episodes (HPE) – an episode with simultaneously high levels of air pollution and temperature – which have potential adverse synergic impacts on human health. This study focused on the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of China due to its high temperature in summer and poor air quality throughout a year. We employed geostatistical downscaling to model meteorology at a spatial resolution of 1 km, and applied a machine learning algorithm (XGBoost) to estimate a high-resolution (1 km) daily concentration of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm (PM₂.₅) and ozone (O₃) for June to October over 20 years (2000–2019). Our results indicate an increasing trend (∼50%) in the frequency of HPE occurrence in the first decade (2000–2010). Conversely, the annual frequency of HPE occurrence reduced (16.7%), but its intensity increased during the second decade (2010–2019). The northern cities in the PRD region had higher levels of PM₂.₅ and O₃ than their southern counterparts. During HPEs, regional daily PM₂.₅ exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) and Chinese guideline levels by 75% and 25%, respectively, while the O₃ exceeded the WHO O₃ standard by up to 69%. Overall, 567,063 (95% confidence interval (CI): 510,357–623,770) and 52,231 (95%CI: 26,116–78,346) excessive deaths were respectively attributable to exposure to PM₂.₅ and O₃ in the PRD region. Our findings imply the necessity and urgency to formulate co-benefit policies to mitigate the region's air pollution and heat problems.

Urban stormwater is an important pathway for transporting anthropogenic pollutants to water bodies. Phthalate esters (PAEs) are endocrine disruptors owing to their estrogenic activity and potential carcinogenicity and their ubiquitous presence has garnered global interest. However, their transportation by urban stormwater has been largely overlooked. This study, for the first time, investigated 15 PAEs in stormwater from six major stormwater drains in the highly urbanized Hong Kong, a major metropolitan city in China. The results showed that PAEs were ubiquitous in the stormwater of Hong Kong, with total concentrations (∑₁₅PAEs) spanning from 195 to 80,500 ng/L. Bis(2-n-butoxyethyl) phthalate (DBEP), diisopentyl phthalate (DiPP), dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP) and di-n-pentyl phthalate (DnPP) were detected in stormwater for the first time. Spatial variations in PAEs were observed among different stormwater drains, possibly due to the different land use patterns and intensities of human activities in their respective catchments. The highest and lowest levels of ∑₁₅PAEs were found in Kwai Chung (3860 ± 1960 ng/L) and the Ng Tung River (672 ± 557 ng/L), respectively. Additionally, significantly higher concentrations of ∑₁₅PAEs in stormwater were found in the wet season (2520 ± 2050 ng/L) than in the dry season (947 ± 904 ng/L). Principal component analysis classified domestic and industrial origins as two important sources of PAEs in the stormwater of Hong Kong. Stormwater played a crucial role in transporting PAEs, with an estimated annual flux of 0.705–29.4 kg. Thus, possible stormwater management measures were proposed to protect the receiving environment and local ecosystems from stormwater.

Microcystis blooms pose a major threat to the quality of drinking water. Cyanobactericidal bacteria have attracted much attention in the research community as a vehicle for controlling Microcystis blooms because of their ecological safety. Nonetheless, most studies on cyanobactericidal bacteria have been conducted on a laboratory scale but have not been scaled-up as field experiments. Thus, our understanding of the microbial response to cyanobactericidal bacteria in natural ecosystems remains elusive. Herein, we applied Paucibacter aquatile DH15 to control Microcystis blooms in a 1000 L mesocosm experiment and demonstrated its potential with the following results: (1) DH15 reduced Microcystis cell density by 90.7% within two days; (2) microcystins released by Microcystis death decreased to the control level in four days; (3) during the cyanobactericidal processes, the physicochemical parameters of water quality remained safe for other aquatic organisms; and (4) the cyanobactericidal processes promoted the growth of eukaryotic microalgae, replacing cyanobacteria. The cyanobactericidal processes accelerated turnover rates, decreased stability, and altered the functional profile of the microbial community. Network analysis demonstrated that this process resulted in more complex interactions between microbes. Overall, our findings suggest that strain DH15 could be considered a promising candidate for controlling Microcystis blooms in an eco-friendly manner.

Microplastics are emerging contaminants ubiquitously distributed in the environment, with rivers acting as their main mode of transport in surface freshwater systems. However, the relative importance of hydrologic processes and source-related variables for benthic microplastic distribution in river sediments is not well understood. We therefore sampled and characterized microplastics in river sediments across the Meramec River watershed (eastern Missouri, United States) and applied a hydrologic modeling approach to estimate the relative importance of river discharge, river sediment load, land cover, and point source pollution sites to understand how these environmental factors affect microplastic distribution in benthic sediments. We found that the best model for the Meramec River watershed includes both source-related variables (land cover and point sources) but excludes both hydrologic transport-related variables (discharge and sediment load). Prior work has drawn similar and dissimilar conclusions regarding the importance of anthropogenic versus hydrologic variables in microplastic distribution, though we acknowledge that comparisons are limited by methodological differences. Nevertheless, our findings highlight the complexity of microplastic pollution in freshwater systems. While generating a universal predictive model might be challenging to achieve, our study demonstrates the potential of using a modeling approach to determine the controlling factors for benthic microplastic distribution in fluvial systems.

Microplastics (MPs) are an emerging global concern as they are abundant in the environment and can act as vectors of various contaminants. However, whether and how MPs can be vectors of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), especially extracellular ARGs (eARGs), remains far from explicit. This study addresses the adsorption of both intracellular ARGs (iARGs) and eARGs by four types of MPs in municipal wastewater, and then explores the potential horizontal gene transfer of iARGs and eARGs exposed to MPs. Results indicate that though MPs significantly adsorbed both iARGs and eARGs, eARGs were adsorbed with a significantly higher fold enrichment (2.0–5.0 log versus 2.0–3.3 log) and rate (0.0056 min⁻¹ versus 0.0037 min⁻¹) than iARGs. While all four types of MPs adsorbed ARGs, polypropylene MPs showed the highest adsorption capacity for ARGs. Background constituents such as humic acid and antibiotics significantly inhibited adsorption of iARGs, but not eARGs on MPs. The presence of sodium chloride didn't significantly affect adsorption of iARGs or eARGs. The adsorption of ARGs was well explained by the extended Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (XDLVO) interaction energy profile. Higher eARG adsorption was attributed to a lower energy barrier between MPs and eARGs than that between MPs and iARGs. Exposure to MPs enhanced horizontal gene transfer of both iARGs and eARGs by 1.5 and 2.0 times, respectively. The improved contact potential between donors and recipients, as well as the increased cell permeability of recipients induced the improved horizontal gene transfer by MPs. This study underscores the need to address ARG propagation through adsorption to MPs.

The North Sea and its coastal zones are heavily impacted by anthropogenic activities, which has resulted in significant chemical pollution ever since the beginning of the industrialization in Europe during the 19th century. In order to assess the chemical Anthropocene, natural archives, such as sediment cores, can serve as a valuable data source to reconstruct historical emission trends and to verify the effectiveness of changing environmental legislation. In this study, we investigated 90 contaminants covering inorganic and organic pollutant groups analyzed in a set of sediment cores taken in the North Seas' main sedimentation area (Skagerrak). We thereby develop a chemical pollution fingerprint that records the constant input of pollutants over time and illustrates their continued great relevance for the present. Additionally, samples were radiometrically dated and PAH and PCB levels in porewater were determined using equilibrium passive sampling. Furthermore, we elucidated the origin of lead (Pb) contamination utilizing non-traditional stable isotopic analysis. Our results reveal three main findings: 1. for all organic contaminant groups covered (PAHs, OCPs, PCBs, PBDEs and PFASs) as well as the elements lead (Pb) and titanium (Ti), determined concentrations decreased towards more recent deposited sediment. These decreasing trends could be linked to the time of introductions of restrictions and bans and therefor our results confirm, amongst possible other factors, the effectiveness of environmental legislation by revealing a successive change in contamination levels over the decades. 2. concentration trends for ΣPAH and ΣPCB measured in porewater correspond well with the ones found in sediment which suggests that this method can be a useful expansion to traditional bulk sediment analysis to determine the biologically available pollutant fraction. 3. Arsenic (As) concentrations were higher in younger sediment layers, potentially caused by emissions of corroded warfare material disposed in the study area after WW II.

Plastic pollution in the natural environment is causing increasing concern at both the local and global scale. Understanding the dispersion of plastic through the environment is of key importance for the effective implementation of preventive measures and cleanup strategies. Over the past few years, various models have been developed to estimate the transport of plastics in rivers, using limited plastic observations in river systems. However, there is a large discrepancy between the amount of plastic being modelled to leave the river systems, and the amount of plastic that has been found in the seas and oceans. Here, we investigate one of the possible causes of this mismatch by performing an extensive uncertainty analysis of the riverine plastic export estimates. We examine the uncertainty from the homogenisation of observations, model parameter uncertainty, and underlying assumptions in models. To this end, we use the to-date most complete time-series of macroplastic observations (macroplastics have been found to contain most of the plastic mass transported by rivers), coming from three European rivers. The results show that model structure and parameter uncertainty causes up to four orders of magnitude, while the homogenisation of plastic observations introduces an additional three orders of magnitude uncertainty in the estimates. Additionally, most global models assume that variations in the plastic flux are primarily driven by river discharge. However, we show that correlations between river discharge (and other environmental drivers) and the plastic flux are never above 0.5, and strongly vary between catchments. Overall, we conclude that the yearly plastic load in rivers remains poorly constrained.

Estuaries are considered as important sources of the global emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Urbanized estuaries often experience eutrophication under strong anthropogenic activities. Eutrophication can enhance phytoplankton abundance, leading to carbon dioxide (CO₂) consumption in the water column. Only a few studies have evaluated the relationship between GHGs and eutrophication in estuaries. In this study, we assessed the concentrations and fluxes of CO₂, methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) in combination with a suite of biogeochemical variables in four sampling campaigns over two years in a highly urbanized tropical estuary in Southeast Asia (the Saigon River Estuary, Vietnam). The impact of eutrophication on GHGs was evaluated through several statistical methods and interpreted by biological processes. The average concentrations of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O at the Saigon River in 2019–2020 were 3174 ± 1725 μgC-CO₂ L⁻¹, 5.9 ± 16.8 μgC-CH₄ L⁻¹ and 3.0 ± 4.8 μgN-N₂O L⁻¹, respectively. Their concentrations were 13–18 times, 52–332 times, and 9–37 times higher than the global mean concentrations of GHGs, respectively. While CO₂ concentration had no clear seasonal pattern, N₂O and CH₄ concentrations significantly differed between the dry and the rainy seasons. The increase in eutrophication status along the dense urban area was linearly correlated with the increase in GHGs concentrations. The presence of both nitrification and denitrification resulted in elevated N₂O concentrations in this urban area of the estuary. The high concentration of CO₂ was contributed by the high concentration of organic carbon and mineralization process. GHGs fluxes at the Saigon River Estuary were comparable to other urbanized estuaries regardless of climatic condition. Control of eutrophication in urbanized estuaries through the implantation of efficient wastewater treatment facilities will be an effective solution in mitigating the global warming potential caused by estuarine emissions.