In this study, antimicrobial-resistance patterns were analyzed in Escherichia coli isolates from raw (RW) and treated wastewater (TW) of two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), their marine outfalls (MOut), and mouth of the Vistula River (VR). Susceptibility of E. coli was tested against different classes of antibiotics. Isolates resistant to at least one antimicrobial agent were PCR tested for the presence of integrons. Ampicillin-resistant E. coli were the most frequent, followed by amoxicillin/clavulanate (up to 32 %), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (up to 20 %), and fluoroquinolone (up to 15 %)-resistant isolates. Presence of class 1 and 2 integrons was detected among tested E. coli isolates with rate of 32.06 % (n = 84) and 3.05 % (n = 8), respectively. The presence of integrons was associated with increased frequency of resistance to fluoroquinolones, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, amoxicillin/clavulanate, piperacillin/tazobactam, and presence of multidrug-resistance phenotype. Variable regions were detected in 48 class 1 and 5 class 2 integron-positive isolates. Nine different gene cassette arrays were confirmed among sequenced variable regions, with predominance of dfrA1-aadA1, dfrA17-aadA5, and aadA1 arrays. These findings illustrate the importance of WWTPs in spreading of resistance genes in the environment and the need for inclusion of at least monitoring efforts in the regular WWTP processes.

Macrophyta are the initial link introducing toxic mercury to the trophic chain. Research was carried out at 24 stations located within the Polish coastal zone of the Southern Baltic, in the years 2006–2012. Fifteen taxa were collected, belonging to four phyla: green algae (Chlorophyta), brown algae (Phaeophyta), red algae (Rhodophyta) and flowering vascular plants (Angiospermophyta), and total mercury concentrations were ascertained. The urbanisation of the coastal zone has influenced the rise in Hg concentrations in macroalgae, and the inflow of contaminants from the river drainage area has contributed to an increase in metal concentration in vascular plants. At the outlets of rivers possessing the largest drainage areas in the Baltic (the Vistula and the Oder), no increases in mercury concentration were observed in macrophyta. Increase in environmental quality and a prolonged vegetative season results in the growing coverage of algae on the seabed and in consequence leads to rapid introduction of contemporary mercury and Hg deposited to sediments over the past decades into the trophic chain. Thriving phytobenthos was found to affect faster integration of Hg into the trophic web.

Controversy surrounds the green credentials of hydroelectricity because of the potentially large emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) from associated reservoirs. However, limited and patchy data particularly for China is constraining the current global assessment of GHG releases from hydroelectric reservoirs. This study provides the first evaluation of the CO₂and CH₄emissions from China’s hydroelectric reservoirs by considering the reservoir water surface and drawdown areas, and downstream sources (including spillways and turbines, as well as river downstream). The total emission of 29.6 Tg CO₂/year and 0.47 Tg CH₄/year from hydroelectric reservoirs in China, expressed as CO₂equivalents (eq), corresponds to 45.6 Tg CO₂eq/year, which is 2-fold higher than the current GHG emission (ca. 23 Tg CO₂eq/year) from global temperate hydropower reservoirs. China’s average emission of 70 g CO₂eq/kWh from hydropower amounts to 7 % of the emissions from coal-fired plant alternatives. China’s hydroelectric reservoirs thus currently mitigate GHG emission when compared to the main alternative source of electricity with potentially far great reductions in GHG emissions and benefits possible through relatively minor changes to reservoir management and design. On average, the sum of drawdown and downstream emission including river reaches below dams and turbines, which is overlooked by most studies, represents the equivalent of 42 % of the CO₂and 92 % of CH₄that emit from hydroelectric reservoirs in China. Main drivers on GHG emission rates are summarized and highlight that water depth and stratification control CH₄flux, and CO₂flux shows significant negative relationships with pH, DO, and Chl-a. Based on our finding, a substantial revision of the global carbon emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs is warranted.

In recent years, all-male cultures of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) have been the most preferred mode of production in aquaculture industry. All-male individuals achieve higher somatic growth rate and shut high energy losses associated with gonadal development and reproduction. The economic advantages of culturing all-male tilapia have led to the development of procedures for producing unisex cultures, using 17α-methyltestosterone (MT). Despite widespread use of the MT in tilapia farming, the implications of hormone treatment in relation to human health and the environment have raised a number of concerns in the scientific community. In this review, the hormonal application processes, economic and ecological significance of MT, food safety and residual MT, comparative uses of steroids in aquaculture, animal husbandry, and medicine have been briefly reviewed for regulatory guidelines, and finally, future research perspectives have been addressed. The review can be used as policy-making guidelines in aquaculture framework development as can be emphasized in African continent, among others. The most important conclusion to draw is that the quantity of MT used in conventional practice is large compared to the actual dose required for sex reversal, fish produced are safe for human consumptions, and the environmental hazards should be further emphasized.

Concentrations of hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs) were determined in surface sediments of Shanghai, China. The concentrations of total HBCD diastereoisomers (ΣHBCD) ranged from 0.01 to 13.70 ng g⁻¹ dry weight (dw) with a mean value of 3.41 ng g⁻¹ dw, which was up to several orders of magnitude lower than those reported for sediments from European countries. The ΣHBCD concentrations in sediments from chemical/textile industrial or densely populated areas were generally higher than those from rural or less chemical/textile industrialized areas in Shanghai. A high proportion of α-HBCD was observed in sediment samples and was significantly higher than that of commercial HBCD products. This might be due to thermal isomerization from γ-HBCD to α-HBCD and slower degradation rate of α-HBCD compared to γ-HBCD in anaerobic conditions. The mass inventory of ΣHBCD in surface sediments of Shanghai was estimated at 164.4 kg, representing a significant source of HBCDs to the Shanghai environment. This indicates that further study on potential transfer of HBCDs from sediments to aquatic organisms and ecological risk assessments is required.

Elemental and isotopic analyses of carbon in environmental matrices usually highlight multiple pools of different composition and ¹³C/¹²C (δ¹³C ‰) isotopic ratio. Interpretation necessarily needs the characterization of the diverse end-members that usually are constituted by inorganic and organic components. In this view, we developed a routine protocol based on coupling of elemental and isotopic analyses that is able to discriminate the inorganic (IC) and organic (OC) contributions to the total carbon (TC) content. The procedure is only based on thermal destabilization of the different carbon pools and has been successfully applied on different environmental matrices (rocks, soils, and biological samples) with a mean C elemental and isotopic recoveries of 99.5 % (SD = 1.3 %) and 0.2 ‰ (SD = 0.2 ‰), respectively. The thermally based speciation (TBS) leads us to define precise isotopic end-members, which are unaffected by any chemical treatment of the sample, to be used for accurate mass balance calculation that represents a powerful tool to quantify the distinct carbon pools. The paper critically evaluates the method explaining the potentials and the current limits of the proposed analytical protocol.

Nowadays, nitrogen (N) deposition has become a growing global concern due to urbanization activities increasing the large amount of reactive N in the atmosphere. However, it remains unclear whether urbanization affects the composition and main sources of N deposition in rapidly urbanizing areas such as in China. One-year measurement of wet inorganic N deposition was conducted using ion-exchange resin (IER) columns in the range of 260 km from urban to rural areas in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, south China. An increasing pattern of wet inorganic deposition along the urbanization gradient was observed and it increased in the order: rural (15.26 ± 0.20 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) < suburban/rural (21.45 ± 3.73 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) < urban (31.16 ± 0.44 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) < urban/suburban sites (34.15 ± 5.73 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹). Nitrate N (NO₃⁻–N) accounted for 53.5–79.1 % of total wet inorganic N deposition, indicating a significant negative correlation with distance from the urban core. Based on moss δ¹⁵N-values the main source of NO₃⁻–N was considered to be emitted from vehicles. Our results demonstrate that urbanization has large impacts on the regional pattern of wet inorganic N deposition. Thus, controlling NOx emission, especially vehicle emission will become an effective strategy for N pollution abatement in China.

Predictive toxicology using chemometric tools can be very useful in order to fill the data gaps for ionic liquids (ILs) with limited available experimental toxicity information, in view of their growing industrial uses. Though originally promoted as green chemicals, ILs have now been shown to possess considerable toxicity against different ecological endpoints. Against this background, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models have been developed here for the toxicity of ILs against the green algae Scenedesmus vacuolatus using computed descriptors with definite physicochemical meaning. The final models emerged from E-state indices, extended topochemical atom (ETA) indices and quantum topological molecular similarity (QTMS) indices. The developed partial least squares models support the established mechanism of toxicity of ionic liquids in terms of a surfactant action of cations and chaotropic action of anions. The models have been developed within the guidelines of the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for regulatory QSAR models, and they have been validated both internally and externally using multiple strategies and also tested for applicability domain. A preliminary attempt has also been made, for the first time, to develop interspecies quantitative toxicity-toxicity relationship (QTTR) models for the algal toxicity of ILs with Daphnia toxicity, which should be interesting while predicting toxicity of ILs for an endpoint when the data for the other are available.

Pharmaceuticals have been recognized as a new class of environmental pollutants in recent years. But data about their potential for transfer and biomagnification in aquatic food chains are still lacking. In this study, bioaccumulation of the macrolide antibiotic roxithromycin (ROX) was determined in an experimental aquatic food chain involving the green algae Scenedesmus obliquus, the water flea Daphnia magna and the crucian carp Carassius auratus. After 48 h of exposure, S. obliquus accumulated ROX from media, with bioconcentration factors (BCFs) of 74.6, 46.3, and 24.5 l kg⁻¹ at nominal exposure concentrations of 4, 20, and 100 μg l⁻¹, respectively. After 48 h of feeding ROX-contaminated algae, D. magna was able to accumulate ROX in all three concentration treatments, but biomagnification did not occur at this trophic level, as biomagnification factors (BMFs) varied from 0.21 to 0.29 in different concentration treatments were well below one. In tissues (muscle, gill, liver, and bile) of C. auratus fed with contaminated daphnia for 8 days, no biomagnification was observed. However, this species did accumulate a certain degree of ROX through food chain transfer, and the tissue burden was greatest in the liver > muscle > gill and lowest in the bile. This work suggests that the trophic transfer should be a matter of concern for ecological risk assessments of pharmaceutical substances in aquatic food webs.

To study the impact of oxygen regimes on the removal of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in oil-spill-affected coastal marine sediments, we used a thin-layer incubation method to ensure that the incubated sediment was fully oxic, anoxic, or was influenced by oxic-anoxic switches without sediment stirring. Hydrocarbon content and microbial assemblages were followed during 60 days to determine PAH degradation kinetics and microbial community dynamics according to the oxygenation regimes. The highest PAH removal, with 69 % reduction, was obtained at the end of the experiment under oxic conditions, whereas weaker removals were obtained under oscillating and anoxic conditions (18 and 12 %, respectively). Bacterial community structure during the experiment was determined using a dual 16S rRNA genes/16S rRNA transcripts approach, allowing the characterization of metabolically active bacteria responsible for the functioning of the bacterial community in the contaminated sediment. The shift of the metabolically active bacterial communities showed that the selection of first responders belonged to Pseudomonas spp. and Labrenzia sp. and included an unidentified Deltaproteobacteria—irrespective of the oxygen regime—followed by the selection of late responders adapted to the oxygen regime. A novel unaffiliated phylotype (B38) was highly active during the last stage of the experiment, at which time, the low-molecular-weight (LMW) PAH biodegradation rates were significant for permanent oxic- and oxygen-oscillating conditions, suggesting that this novel phylotype plays an active role during the restoration phase of the studied ecosystem.