Daunting amounts of microplastics are present in surface waters worldwide. A main category of microplastics is synthetic microfibers, which originate from textiles. These microplastics are generated and released in laundering and are discharged by wastewater treatment plants or enter surface waters from other sources. The polymers that constitute many common synthetic microfibers are mostly denser than water, and eventually settle out in aquatic environments. The interaction of these microfibers with submerged aquatic vegetation has not been thoroughly investigated but is potentially an important aquatic sink in surface waters. In the Laurentian Great Lakes, prolific growth of macrophytic Cladophora creates submerged biomass with a large amount of surface area and the potential to collect and concentrate microplastics. To determine the number of synthetic microfibers in Great Lakes Cladophora, samples were collected from Lakes Erie and Michigan at multiple depths in the spring and summer of 2018. After rinsing and processing the algae, associated synthetic microfibers were quantified. The average loads of synthetic microfibers determined from the Lake Erie and Lake Michigan samples were 32,000 per kg (dry weight (dw)) and 34,000 per kg (dw), respectively, 2–4 orders of magnitude greater than loads previously reported in water and sediment. To further explore this sequestration of microplastics, fresh and aged Cladophora were mixed with aqueous mixtures of microfibers or microplastic in the laboratory to simulate pollution events. Microscopic analyses indicated that fresh Cladophora algae readily interacted with microplastics via adsorptive forces and physical entanglement. These interactions mostly cease upon algal senescence, with an expected release of microplastics in benthic sediments. Collectively, these findings suggest that synthetic microfibers are widespread in Cladophora algae and the affinity between microplastics and Cladophora may offer insights for removing microplastic pollution.Macroalgae in the Laurentian Great Lakes contain high loads of synthetic microfibers, both entangled and adsorbed, which likely account for an important fraction of microplastics in these surface waters.

It is a common practice to maintain soil fertility based on the paddy-upland rotation with green manure in the subtropical region of China. However, rare studies are known about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the paddy-upland rotation with green manure incorporation. Therefore, we conducted a field experiment of two years to compared with the effect of two kinds of green manure (CV: Chinese milk vetch and OR: Oilseed rape), and two kinds of cropping system (DR: double rice system and PR: paddy-upland rotation) on greenhouse gases emissions. We have found that the annual accumulation of CH₄ of Chinese milk vetch-rice-sweet potato || soybean was significantly reduced by 32.95%∼63.22% compared with other treatments, mainly because Chinese milk vetch reduced the abundance of methanogens by reducing soil C/N ratio. Meanwhile increasing soil permeability resulting from paddy-upland rotation also reduced soil CH₄ emission. However, The annual accumulation of N₂O of Chinese milk vetch-rice-sweet potato || soybean was increased by 17.39%∼870.11% compared with other treatments, mainly attributed to paddy-upland rotation decreased soil pH and nosZ abundance and increased nirK and nirS, thus enhancing N₂O emission, meanwhile the Chinese milk vetch incorporation and its interaction with the paddy-upland rotation has greatly enhanced the contents of NO₃⁻-N and abundance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA). The area-scaled global warming potential (GWP) and the biomass-scaled greenhouse gas emissions intensity (GHGI) of Chinese milk vetch-rice-sweet potato || soybean was reduced by 19.01%∼50.69% and 5.38%∼35.77% respectively. Thereby, the Chinese milk vetch-rice-sweet potato || soybean cropping system was suitable for agricultural sustainable development.

This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates the most recent evidence to examine whether use of improved biomass cookstoves in households in low-middle income countries results in reduction in mean concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter of size 2.5 μm (PM₂.₅) in the cooking area, as well as reduction in mean systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of adults using the cookstoves when compared to adults who use traditional three stone fire or traditional biomass cookstoves.We searched databases of scientific and grey literature. We included studies if published between January 2012 and June 2021, reported impact of ICS interventions in non-pregnant adults in low/middle-income countries, and reported post-intervention results along with baseline of traditional cookstoves. Outcomes included 24- or 48-h averages of kitchen area PM₂.₅, CO, mean SBP and DBP. Meta-analyses estimated weighted mean differences between baseline and post-intervention values for all outcome measures.Eleven studies were included; ten contributed estimates for HAP and four for BP. Interventions lead to significant reductions in PM₂.₅ (−0.73 mg/m³, 95% CI: −1.33, −0.13), CO (−8.37 ppm, 95%CI: −13.20, −3.54) and SBP (−2.82 mmHg, 95% CI: −5.53, −0.11); and a non-significant reduction in DBP (−0.80 mmHg, 95%CI: −2.33, 0.73), when compared to baseline of traditional cookstoves. Except for DBP, greatest reductions in all outcomes came from standard combustion ICS with a chimney, compared to ICS without a chimney and advanced combustion ICS.Among the reviewed biomass stove types, ICS with a chimney feature resulted in greatest reductions in HAP and BP.

The influence of intercalated anions on the structure and composition of green rusts supplies a theoretical possibility for the investigation of the structural modification of Feᴵᴵ/Feᴵᴵᴵ (oxyhydr)oxide materials. β-Cyclodextrin was intercalated into the mixed-valent iron-based hydroxide layers to synthesize new green rust materials (β-CD GRs), pursuing high-capacity uraniumⱽᴵ (Uⱽᴵ) sorption. The molar ratios of Feᴵᴵ to Feᴵᴵᴵ and the molar ratios of β-CD GR to Feᴵᴵ + Feᴵᴵᴵ had a significant effect on the synthesis of β-CD GRs. The synthesis process was further optimized by the quadric predictor and desirability function in a central composite design in combination. Both strong acidity and alkalinity were harmful to the adsorption of β-CD GRs towards Uⱽᴵ. The pseudo-first-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model were appropriate in fitting the whole adsorption process. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of β-CD GRs was 2548.61 mg/g. The presence of mimic groundwater constituents explicitly deteriorated the interaction between β-CD GR and Uⱽᴵ species. Nanoscale nodules and particles were formed on the β-CD GR after the adsorption experiments. The peaks at 1159 and 609 cm⁻¹ vanished with the band at 1103 cm⁻¹ being left-shifted to 1117 cm⁻¹ in the FTIR spectra of β-CD GR during the heterogeneous process. The intercalation of β-CD brought obvious enhancement of Uⱽᴵ species sorption to the GR material, which was combinedly driven by several reaction pathways and different from the unmodified GRs.

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is an effective indicator for water pollution. However, since DO is a non-optically active parameter and has little impact on the spectrum captured by satellite sensors, research on estimating DO by remote sensing at multiple spatiotemporal scales is limited. In this study, the support vector regression (SVR) models were developed and validated using the remote sensing reflectance derived from both Landsat and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and synchronous DO measurements (N = 188) and water temperature of Lake Huron and three other inland waterbodies (N = 282) covering latitude between 22–45 °N. Using the developed models, spatial distributions of the annual and monthly DO variability since 1984 and the annual monthly DO variability since 2000 in Lake Huron were reconstructed for the first time. The impacts of five climate factors on long-term DO trends were analyzed. Results showed that the developed SVR-based models had good robustness and generalization (average R² = 0.91, root mean square percentage error = 2.65%, mean absolute percentage error = 4.21%), and performed better than random forest and multiple linear regression. The monthly DO estimates by Landsat and MODIS data were highly consistent (average R² = 0.88). From 1984 to 2019, the oxygen loss in Lake Huron was 6.56%. Air temperature, incident shortwave radiation flux density, and precipitation were the main climate factors affecting annual DO of Lake Huron. This study demonstrated that using SVR-based models, Landsat and MODIS data could be used for long-term DO retrieval at multiple spatial and temporal scales. As data-driven models, combining spectrum and water temperature as well as extending the training set to cover more DO conditions could effectively improve model robustness and generalization.

To understand the characteristics of particulate matter (PM) and other air pollutants in Xinjiang, a region with one of the largest sand-shifting deserts in the world and significant natural dust emissions, the concentrations of six air pollutants monitored in 16 cities were analyzed for the period January 2013–June 2019. The annual mean PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, CO, and O₃ concentrations ranged from 51.44 to 59.54 μg m⁻³, 128.43–155.28 μg m⁻³, 10.99–17.99 μg m⁻³, 26.27–31.71 μg m⁻³, 1.04–1.32 mg m⁻³, and 55.27–65.26 μg m⁻³, respectively. The highest PM concentrations were recorded in cities surrounding the Taklimakan Desert during the spring season and caused by higher amounts of wind-blown dust from the desert. Coarse PM (PM₁₀₋₂.₅) was predominant, particularly during the spring and summer seasons. The highest PM₂.₅/PM₁₀ ratio was recorded in most cities during the winter months, indicating the influence of anthropogenic emissions in winters. The annual mean PM₂.₅ (PM₁₀) concentrations in the study area exceeded the annual mean guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) by a factor of ca. ∼5–6 (∼7–8). Very high ambient PM concentrations were recorded during March 19–22, 2019, that gradually influenced the air quality across four different cities, with daily mean PM₂.₅ (PM₁₀) concentrations ∼8–54 (∼26–115) times higher than the WHO guidelines for daily mean concentrations, and the daily mean coarse PM concentration reaching 4.4 mg m⁻³. Such high PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ concentrations pose a significant risk to public health. These findings call for the formulation of various policies and action plans, including controlling the land degradation and desertification and reducing the concentrations of PM and other air pollutants in the region.

A wider characterization of indoor air quality during sleep is still lacking in the literature. This study intends to assess bioburden before and after sleeping periods in Portuguese dwellings through active methods (air sampling) coupled with passive methods, such as electrostatic dust cloths (EDC); and investigate associations between before and after sleeping and bioburden. In addition, and driven by the lack of information regarding fungi azole-resistance in Portuguese dwellings, a screening with supplemented media was also performed. The most prevalent genera of airborne bacteria identified in the indoor air of the bedrooms were Micrococcus (41%), Staphylococcus (15%) and Neisseria (9%). The major indoor bacterial species isolated in all ten studied bedrooms were Micrococcus luteus (30%), Staphylococcus aureus (13%) and Micrococcus varians (11%). Our results highlight that our bodies are the source of the majority of the bacteria found in the indoor air of our homes. Regarding air fungal contamination, Chrysosporium spp. presented the highest prevalence both in after the sleeping period (40.8%) and before the sleeping period (28.8%) followed by Penicillium spp. (23.47% morning; 23.6% night) and Chrysonilia spp. (12.4% morning; 20.3% night). Several Aspergillus sections were identified in air and EDC samples. However, none of the fungal species/strains (Aspergillus sections Fumigati, Flavi, Nidulantes and Circumdati) were amplified by qPCR in the analyzed EDC. The correlations observed suggest reduced susceptibility to antifungal drugs of some fungal species found in sleeping environments. Toxigenic fungal species and indicators of harmful fungal contamination were observed in sleeping environments.

Soil magnetic susceptibility (MS) is an important parameter in pollution studies owing to its relationship with atmospheric deposition, and the concomitance of technogenic magnetic particles (TMPs) with potentially toxic elements (PTEs), Fe and Mn. In this study, we performed a detailed soil study under tree canopies for a forest area with high historical TMP-bearing industrial dust deposition. The technogenic sources of magnetic signals in topsoil were analyzed via scanning electron microscope electron dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), while the minor role of geogenic sources was obtained from soil profile analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show soil TMP distribution in three dimensional (3D) space. In addition, using the data from 275 soil cores and 8250 individual measurements, 3D maps of MS for four tree species were plotted. There is a noticeable difference between coniferous (spruce and pine) and deciduous (beech and oak) species regarding depth of maximum concentration of magnetic particles in the topsoil. For beech and oak, maximum MS values were measured at 3 cm depth; pine and spruce, maximum MS values were measured at 5 cm depth. However, no significant differences were found among tree species in terms of mean MS or PTE contents. This suggests that there is little different among tree species in terms of dust capture over their life span. Significant correlations between MS and other parameters (PTEs and organic matter contents) present new possibilities for spatial 3D analysis of topsoil horizons.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of different green manure treatments on net GWP and GHGI in upland soil. Barley (B), hairy vetch (HV), and a barley/hairy vetch mixture (BHV) were sown on an upland soil on November 4, 2017 and October 24, 2018. The aboveground biomass of these green manures was incorporated into soil on June 1, 2018 and May 8, 2019. In addition, a fallow treatment (F) was installed as the control. Maize was transplanted as the subsequent crop after incorporation of green manures. Green manuring significantly affected CO₂ and N₂O emission, but not CH₄. Average cumulative soil respiration across years with HV and BHV were 37.0 Mg CO₂ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and 35.8 Mg CO₂ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, respectively and significantly higher than those with under F and B (32.7 Mg CO₂ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and 33.0 Mg CO₂ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, respectively). Cumulative N₂O emissions across years with F and HV were 6.29 kg N₂O ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and 5.44 kg N₂O ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, respectively and significantly higher than those with B and BHV (4.26 kg N₂O ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and 4.42 kg N₂O ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, respectively). The net ecosystem carbon budget for HV (−0.5 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) was the greatest among the treatments (F; −1.61 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, B; −3.98 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, and BHV; −0.91 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) because of its high biomass yields and the yield of maize after incorporation of HV. There was no significant difference of GHGI among F, HV, and BHV. Incorporation of HV or BHV could reduce net CO₂ emissions per unit of maize grain production as well as F.

Aquatic pollution from emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) is of key environmental importance in India and globally, particularly due to concerns of antimicrobial resistance, ecotoxicity and drinking water supply vulnerability. Here, using a broad screening approach, we characterize the composition and distribution of EOCs in groundwater in the Gangetic Plain around Patna (Bihar), as an exemplar of a rapidly developing urban area in northern India. A total of 73 EOCs were detected in 51 samples, typically at ng.L⁻¹ to low μg.L⁻¹ concentrations, relating to medical and veterinary, agrochemical, industrial and lifestyle usage. Concentrations were often dominated by the lifestyle chemical and artificial sweetener sucralose. Seventeen identified EOCs are flagged as priority compounds by the European Commission, World Health Organisation and/or World Organisation for Animal Health: namely, herbicides diuron and atrazine; insecticides imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, clothianidin and acetamiprid; the surfactant perfluorooctane sulfonate (and related perfluorobutane sulfonate, perfluorohexane sulfonate, perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluoropentane sulfonate); and medical/veterinary compounds sulfamethoxazole, sulfanilamide, dapson, sulfathiazole, sulfamethazine and diclofenac. The spatial distribution of EOCs varies widely, with concentrations declining with depth, consistent with a strong dominant vertical flow control. Groundwater EOC concentrations in Patna were found to peak within ∼10 km distance from the River Ganges, indicating mainly urban inputs with some local pollution hotspots. A heterogeneous relationship between EOCs and population density likely reflects confounding factors including varying input types and controls (e.g. spatial, temporal), wastewater treatment infrastructure and groundwater abstraction. Strong seasonal agreement in EOC concentrations was observed. Co-existence of limited transformation products with associated parent compounds indicate active microbial degradation processes. This study characterizes key controls on the distribution of groundwater EOCs across the urban to rural transition near Patna, as a rapidly developing Indian city, and contributes to the wider understanding of the vulnerability of shallow groundwater to surface-derived contamination in similar environments.