A thorough understanding of the labile status and dynamics of phosphorus (P) and iron (Fe) across the sediment-water interface (SWI) is essential for managing internal P release in eutrophic lakes. Fe-coupled inactivation of P in sediments is an important factor which affects internal P release in freshwater lakes. In this study, two in-situ high-resolution diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) techniques, Zr-Oxide DGT and ZrO-Chelex DGT, were used to investigate the release characteristics of P from sediments in a large freshwater lake (Dongting Lake, China; area of 2691 km2) experiencing a regional summer algal bloom. Two-dimensional distributions of labile P in sediments were imaged with the Zr-Oxide DGT without destruction of the original structure of the sediment layer at four sites of the lake. The concentration of DGT-labile P in the sediments, ranging from 0.007 to 0.206 mg L−1, was highly heterogeneous across the profiles. The values of apparent diffusion flux (Fd) and release flux (Fr) of P varied between −0.027–0.197 mg m−2 d−1 and 0.037–0.332 mg m−2 d−1, respectively. Labile P showed a high and positive correlation (p < 0.01) with labile Fe(II) in the profiles, providing high-resolution evidence for the key role of Fe-redox cycling in labile P variation in sediments.

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of biochars on the availability of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) to ryegrass in an alkaline contaminated soil. Biochars only slightly decreased or even increased the availability of heavy metals assesses by chemical extractant (a mixture of 0.05 mol L−1 ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium, 0.01 mol L−1 CaCl2, and 0.1 mol L−1 triethanolamine). The significantly positive correlation between most chemical-extractable heavy metals and the ash content in biochars indicated the positive role of ash in this extraction. Biochars significantly reduced the plant uptake of heavy metals, excluding Mn. The absence of a positive correlation between the chemical-extractable heavy metals and the plant uptake counterparts (except for Mn) indicates that chemical extractability is probably not a reliable indicator to predict the phytoavailability of most heavy metals in alkaline soils treated with biochars. The obviously negative correlation between the plant uptake of heavy metals (except for Mn) and the (O + N)/C and H/C indicates that biochars with more polar groups, which were produced at lower temperatures, had higher efficiency for reducing the phytoavailability of heavy metals. The significantly negative correlations between the plant uptake of Mn and ryegrass biomass indicated the “dilution effect” caused by the improvement of biomass. These observations will be helpful for designing biochars as soil amendments to reduce the availability of heavy metals to plants in soils, especially in alkaline soils.

This study is a systematic assessment of different houses and apartments, their ages and renovation status, indoors and outdoors, and in summer vs. winter, with a goal of bringing some insight into the major sources of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and their variability. Indoor and outdoor air concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and novel flame retardants (NFRs) were determined at 17–20 homes in Czech Republic in winter and summer.Indoor concentrations were consistently higher than outdoor concentrations for all compounds; indoor/outdoor ratios ranged from 2–20, with larger differences for the current use NFRs than for legacy PCBs. Seasonal trends differed according to the use status of the compounds: the PCBs had higher summer concentrations both indoors and outdoors, suggesting volatilization as a source of PCBs to air. PBDEs had no seasonal trends indoors, but higher summer concentrations outdoors. Several NFRs (TBX, PBT, PBEB) had higher indoor concentrations in winter relative to summer. The seasonal trends in the flame retardants suggest differences in air exchange rates due to lower building ventilation in winter could be driving the concentration differences.Weak relationships were found with building age for PCBs, with higher concentrations indoors in buildings built before 1984, and with the number of electronics for PBDEs, with higher concentrations in rooms with three or more electronic items. Indoor environments are the primary contributor to human inhalation exposure to these SVOCs, due to the high percentage of time spent indoors (>90%) combined with the higher indoors levels for all the studied compounds. Exposure via the indoor environment contributed ∼96% of the total chronic daily intake via inhalation in summer and ∼98% in winter.

Intense biomass burning (BB) events are widespread in tropical and subtropical Asia. However, the impact of BB aerosols on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), especially on Tibetan glaciers, is poorly understood. In this study, BB signals are revealed using the specific molecular tracer levoglucosan in snow and ice samples from different Tibetan glaciers. Tibetan glaciers mainly act as receptors of BB emissions from surrounding regions. Significant differences in levoglucosan concentrations in glacier samples collected from two slopes on the same mountain range indicate that high mountains can act as natural barriers to block the transport of smoke aerosols to the TP. Levoglucosan concentrations show a decreasing trend from west to east on glaciers impacted by the Indian summer monsoon on the southern edge of the TP, while the opposite pattern was observed on glaciers under the prevailing westerlies along the northern edge. The emission sources, the controlling climate system, as well as deposition and degradation during transport determined the spatial distribution regimes of levoglucosan concentration on Tibetan glaciers.

Mangroves are complex and dynamic ecosystems highly dependent on diverse microbial activities. In the last decades, these ecosystems have been exposed to and affected by diverse human activities, such as waste disposal and accidental oil spills. Complex microbial communities inhabiting the soil and sediment of mangroves comprise microorganisms that have developed mechanisms to adapt to organic and inorganic contaminants. The resistance of these microbes to contaminants is an attractive property and also the reason why soil and sediment living microorganisms and their enzymes have been considered promising for environmental detoxification. The aim of the present study was to identify active microbial genes in heavy metals, i.e., Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb and Hg, and antibiotic resistomes of polluted and pristine mangrove sediments through the comparative analysis of metatranscriptome data. The concentration of the heavy metals Zn, Cr, Pb, Cu, Ni, Cd, and Hg and abundance of genes and transcripts involved in resistance to toxic compounds (the cobalt-zinc-cadmium resistance protein complex; the cobalt-zinc-cadmium resistance protein CzcA and the cation efflux system protein CusA) have been closely associated with sites impacted with petroleum, sludge and other urban waste. The taxonomic profiling of metatranscriptome sequences suggests that members of Gammaproteobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria classes contribute to the detoxification of the polluted soil. Desulfobacterium autotrophicum was the most abundant microorganism in the oil-impacted site and displayed specific functions related to heavy metal resistance, potentially playing a key role in the successful persistence of the microbial community of this site.

Development of exposure assessment model is the key component for epidemiological studies concerning air pollution, but the evidence from China is limited. Therefore, a linear mixed effects (LME) model was established in this study in a Chinese metropolis by incorporating aerosol optical depth (AOD), meteorological information and the land use regression (LUR) model to predict ground PM10 levels on high spatiotemporal resolution. The cross validation (CV) R² and the RMSE of the LME model were 0.87 and 19.2 μg/m³, respectively. The relative prediction error (RPE) of daily and annual mean predicted PM10 concentrations were 19.1% and 7.5%, respectively. This study was the first attempt in China to estimate both short-term and long-term variation of PM10 levels with high spatial resolution in a Chinese metropolis with the LME model. The results suggested that the LME model could provide exposure assessment for short-term and long-term epidemiological studies in China.

Atlantic old sessile oak woodlands are of high conservation importance in Europe, listed in the European Union (EU) Habitats Directive Annex I, and known for their rich bryophyte communities. Their conservation status ranges from unfavourable to bad across their known distribution, which is predominantly within the UK and Ireland, but also extends into Iberia and Brittany. The objectives of this study were to determine if nitrogen (N) deposition, a known driver of terrestrial biodiversity loss, was a significant predictor of community composition in old sessile oak woodlands (i.e., EU Habitats Directive Annex I class: 91A0), and to identify significant changes in individual plant species and community-level abundance (i.e., change points) along an N deposition gradient. Relevé data from 260 Irish oak woodland plots were evaluated using Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Threshold Indicator Taxa ANalysis (TITAN). Nitrogen deposition accounted for 14% of the explainable variation in the dataset (inertia = 0.069, p < 0.005). A community scale change point of 13.2 kg N ha−1 yr−1 was indicated by TITAN, which falls within the current recommended critical load (CL) range for acidophilous Quercus-dominated (oak) woodlands (10–15 kg N ha−1 yr−1). The results suggest that the current CL is sufficient for maintaining a core group of indicator species in old sessile oak woodlands, but many nutrient sensitive species may disappear even at the CL range minimum.

Over the past twenty years microplastic pollution has been recorded in all major marine habitats, and is now considered to be of high environmental concern. Correspondingly, the number of reports of microplastic ingestion by marine species is increasing. Despite this, there are still relatively few studies which address the uptake and retention of microplastic in wild populations. Langoustine, Nephrops norvegicus, sampled from the Clyde Sea Area, have previously been seen to contain large aggregations of microplastic fibres. The large proportion of contaminated individuals and size of the microplastic aggregations observed suggests that Nephrops are at high risk of microplastic ingestion. In this study the levels of ingested microplastic in populations of N. norvegicus from the Clyde Sea Area, North Minch and North Sea are examined. Animals in the near-shore, Clyde Sea population showed both a higher percentage of microplastic containing individuals and much greater weights of microplastic retained in the gut. N. norvegicus revealed that only a small percentage of individuals from the North Sea and Minch contained microplastic, predominantly single strands. An expanded sample from the Clyde Sea Area was examined to identify the factors influencing microplastic retention. This revealed that males, larger individuals, and animals that had recently moulted contained lower levels of microplastic. The presence of identified food items in the gut was not seen to correlate with microplastic loads. Observations of microplastic in the shed stomach lining of recently moulted individuals and the lack of aggregations in wild-caught individuals suggests that ecdysis is the primary route of microplastic loss by N. norvegicus. Therefore the large aggregations observed in wild-caught animals are believed to build up over extended periods as a result of the complex gut structure of N. norvegicus.

The cities of today present requirements that are dissimilar to those of the past. There are cities where the industrial and service sectors are in decline, and there are other cities that are just beginning their journey into the technological and industrial sectors. In general, the political and social realms have been restructured in terms of economics, which has resulted in an entirely different shape to the primitive structures of civilization. As people begin to understand the dynamic nature of landscapes, they stop seeing landscapes as a static scene. Sustainable cities must be simultaneously economically viable, socially just, politically well managed and ecologically sustainable to maximize human comfort. The present research suggests a multi-disciplinary approach for attaining a holistic understanding of urban environmental quality and human well-being in relation to sustainable urban development.

High molecular weight organic compounds (HMW-OCs), formed as secondary organic aerosols (SOA), have been reported in many laboratory studies. However, little evidence of HMW-OCs formation, in particular during winter season in the real atmosphere, has been reported. In January 2013, Beijing faced historically severe haze pollution, in which the hourly PM2.5 concentration reached as high as 974 μg m−3. Four typical haze events (HE1 to HE4) were identified, and HE2 (Jan. 9–16) was the most serious of these. Based on the hourly observed chemical composition of PM2.5 and the daily organic composition analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), we found that abundant ion peaks in m/z 200–850 appeared on heavy haze days, whereas these were negligible on a clear day, indicating the existence of HMW-OCs in the wintertime haze. A negative nonlinear correlation between HMW-OCs and O3 suggested that gas oxidation was not likely to be the dominant mechanism for HMW-OCs formation. During the heavy haze events, the relative humidity and mass ratio of H2O/PM2.5 reached as high as 80% and 0.2, respectively. The high water content and its good positive correlation with HMW-OCs indicated that an aqueous-phase process may be a significant pathway in wintertime. The evidence that acidity was much higher during HE2 (0.37 μg m−3) than on other days, as well as its strong correlation with HMW-OCs, indicated that acid-catalyzed reactions likely resulted in HMW-OCs formation during the heavy winter haze in Beijing.