The wide use of antibiotics in the animal husbandry and the relevant sustainable industries may promote the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), which constitutes a growing threat to human health. The objective of this study was to determine the abundance and diversity of sulfonamide- and tetracycline-resistant bacteria within an eco-agricultural system (EAS) in Hangzhou, China. We investigated samples at every link in the EAS, from livestock manure, to biogas residues and biogas slurry, to vegetable and ryegrass fields, to a fish pond. A combination of culture-based and 16S rRNA gene-based sequencing method was used in this study. Within the studied system, the average rate of bacterial resistance to sulfonamide (46.19 %) was much higher than that of tetracycline (8.51 %) (p < 0.01). There were 224 isolates that were enumerated and sequenced, 108 of which were identified to species level. The genera comprising the sulfamethoxazole-resistant (SMXʳ) bacteria were generally different from those of tetracycline-resistant (TCʳ) bacteria. Staphylococcus and Acinetobacter were the most dominant genera of SMXʳ bacteria (19.30 % of the total resistant bacteria) and TCʳ bacteria (14.04 % of the total resistant bacteria), respectively. Several strains of resistant opportunistic pathogens (e.g., Pantoea agglomerans) were detected in edible vegetable samples, which may exert a potential threat to both pig production and human health. In general, this study indicates that the EAS is an important reservoir of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, some of which may be pathogenic.

Tanning sludge enriched with high concentrations of Cr and other metals has adverse effects on the environment. Plants growing in the metalliferous soils may have the ability to cope with high metal concentrations. This study focuses on potentials of using native plants for bioindication and/or phytoremediation of Cr-contaminated sites. In the study, we characterized plants and soils from six tanning sludge storage sites. Soil in these sites exhibited toxic levels of Cr (averaged 16,492 mg kg⁻¹) and other metals (e.g., 48.3 mg Cu kg⁻¹, 2370 mg Zn kg⁻¹, 44.9 mg Pb kg⁻¹, and 0.59 mg Cd kg⁻¹). Different metal tolerance and accumulation patterns were observed among the sampled plant species. Phragmites australis, Zephyranthes candida, Cynodon dactylon, and Alternanthera philoxeroides accumulated moderate-high concentrations of Cr and other metals, which could make them good bioindicators of heavy metal pollution. High Cr and other metal concentrations (e.g., Cd and Pb) were found in Chenopodium rubrum (372 mg Cr kg⁻¹), Aster subulatus (310 mg Cr kg⁻¹), and Brassica chinensis (300 mg Cr kg⁻¹), being considered as metal accumulators. In addition, Nerium indicum and Z. candida were able to tolerate high concentrations of Cr and other metals, and they may be used as preferable pioneer species to grow or use for restoration in Cr-contaminated sites. This study can be useful for establishing guidelines to select the most suitable plant species to revegetate and remediate metals in tanning sludge-contaminated fields.

The particle size distribution and water-soluble inorganic ion (WSII) and carbonaceous species in size-segregated aerosols, Dp < 0.95, 0.95 < Dp < 1.5, 1.5 < Dp < 3.0, 3.0 < Dp < 7.2, and 7.2 < Dp < 10 μm, were investigated during Diwali firework displays in New Delhi, India. The firework activity had the maximum contribution to the mass loading of PM₀.₉₅ (786 μg/m³) followed by PM₀.₉₅–₁.₅ (216 μg/m³) with all other three fractions accounting to a total of 214 μg/m³. The percentage contributions of WSII to the total mass of aerosols were highest in first two size fractions (39 and 40 %, respectively), compared to other fractions. The firework marker ion (Mg²⁺, Cl⁻, and K⁺) mass concentration shows higher values in PM₀.₉₅ during Diwali compared to before Diwali period. The mass size distribution of particles, NH₄ ⁺, K⁺, Cl⁻, SO₄ ²⁻, Mg²⁺, and NO₃ ⁻, also showed changes on the Diwali night compared to previous and after days. The high Cl⁻/Na⁺ (5.6) and OC/EC (3.4) ratio of PM₀.₉₅ can be used as the indicators of firework displays. The lowering of mixing height on Diwali night to 50 m compared to before (277 mts) and after (269 mts) Diwali period further concentrated the aerosols in ambient atmosphere. Therefore, the firework display not only released the gaseous or elemental constituent but also influenced the temperature profile and both put together result in high aerosol concentrations, WSII, OC, and BC contents in ambient atmosphere. The alveolar, respirable, and inhalable fractions accounted for 64.6, 90.8, and 97.8 %, respectively, of the total PM₁₀ mass. People stay exposed to such high pollution level in short span of 6–8 h and experience adverse health impacts due to high mass concentrations and the chemical components of fine aerosols.

Compost amendment on agricultural soil is a current practice to compensate the loss of organic matter. As a consequence, dissolved organic carbon concentration in soil leachates can be increased and potentially modify the transport of other solutes. This study aims to characterize the processes controlling the mobility of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in deep soil layers and their potential impacts on the leaching of organic contaminants (pesticides and pharmaceutical compounds) potentially present in cultivated soils receiving organic waste composts. We sampled undisturbed soil cores in the illuviated horizon (60–90 cm depth) of an Albeluvisol. Percolation experiments were made in presence and absence of DOM with two different pesticides, isoproturon and epoxiconazole, and two pharmaceutical compounds, ibuprofen and sulfamethoxazole. Two types of DOM were extracted from two different soil surface horizons: one sampled in a plot receiving a co-compost of green wastes and sewage sludge applied once every 2 years since 1998 and one sampled in an unamended plot. Results show that DOM behaved as a highly reactive solute, which was continuously generated within the soil columns during flow and increased after flow interruption. DOM significantly increased the mobility of bromide and all pollutants, but the effects differed according the hydrophobic and the ionic character of the molecules. However, no clear effects of the origin of DOM on the mobility of the different contaminants were observed.

The objectives of this study are to analyse the pollution status and spatial correlation of soil heavy metals and identify natural and anthropogenic sources of these heavy metals at different spatial scales. Two hundred and twenty-four soil samples (0–20 cm) were collected and analysed for eight heavy metals (Cd, Hg, As, Cu, Pb, Cr, Zn and Ni) in soils of different land-use types in the Yangtze River Delta of Eastern China. The multivariate methods and factorial Kriging analysis were used to achieve the research objectives. The results indicated that the human and natural effects of different land-use types on the contents of soil heavy metals were different. The Cd, Hg, Cu, Pb and Zn in soils of industrial area were affected by human activities, and the pollution level of these heavy metals in this area was moderate. The Pb in soils of traffic area was affected by human activities, and eight heavy metals in soils of residential area and farmland area were affected by natural factor. The ecological risk status of eight heavy metals in soils of the whole study area was light. The heavy metals in soils showed three spatial scales (nugget effect, short range and long range). At the nugget effect and short range scales, the Cd, Hg, Cu, Pb and Zn in soils were affected by human and natural factors. At three spatial scales, the As, Cr and Ni in soils were affected by soil parent materials.

This study aimed to investigate the biodegrading potential of Arthrobacter sp. MCO, Arthrobacter sp. CSP, and Nocardioides sp. ATD6 in melamine-contaminated upland soil (melamine: approx. 10.5 mg/kg dry weight) after 30 days of incubation. The soil sample used in this study had undergone annual treatment of lime nitrogen, which included melamine; it was aged for more than 10 years in field. When R2A broth was used as the pre-culture medium, Arthrobacter sp. MCO could degrade 55 % of melamine after 30 days of incubation, but the other strains could hardly degrade melamine (approximately 25 %). The addition of trimethylglycine (betaine) in soil as an activation material enhanced the degradation rate of melamine by each strain; more than 50 % of melamine was degraded by all strains after 30 days of incubation. In particular, strain MCO could degrade 72 % of melamine. When the strains were pre-cultured in R2A broth containing melamine, the degradation rate of melamine in soil increased remarkably. The highest (72 %) melamine degradation rate was noted when strain MCO was used with betaine addition.

Nitrogen pollution in rivers is a research hotspot in the field of biogeochemistry. However, the types and sources of pollution have historically been poorly understood in the water catchments of the Loess Plateau in China. In this study, we have chosen the main waterway and four lesser branches of the Jinghe River that vary by land use. We investigated the concentrations and isotopic signatures of nitrogen in river water. Our results revealed that nitrate was the dominant nitrogen type in river catchments of the Loess Plateau. The δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O values showed that NO₃ ⁻ ions in the studied river samples were derived from precipitation, manure, sewage, soil organic nitrogen, and synthetic NO₃ ⁻ fertilizer. The δ¹⁸O-NO₃ ⁻ values during July 2012 (mean ± SD = +18.1 ± 1.5 ‰) were higher than those during the September 2013 (mean ± SD = +7.8 ± 3.7 ‰), which indicated that mixing with atmospheric NO₃ ⁻ resulted in the high δ¹⁸O values during July 2012. It appears that no intense nitrification and denitrification occurred in all five rivers according to the isotopic and chemical data. A Bayesian model was used to determine the contributions of four NO₃ ⁻ sources to all five rivers. Results showed that source contributions differ significantly between July and September, and the four potential NO₃ ⁻ sources also showed high variability between the different land use areas.

An improved approach based on the use of iron-doped polymeric beads (IPB) as Fenton catalyst in the pretreatment and biomass-doped polymeric bead (BPB) in the biological oxidation has been reported for the removal of different aromatic mixtures present as pollutants in the aqueous solutions. Degradation has been investigated at fixed loading of IPB as 2.5 % weight basis and varying loading of hydrogen peroxide so as to understand the effect of oxidant loading on the extent of degradation. It has been observed that the maximum removal efficiency as 75.5, 81.4, and 59.1 % was obtained for the benzene-toluene-naphthalene-xylene (BTNX), benzene-toluene-ethylbenzene-xylene (BTEX), and benzene-toluene-naphthalene-p-nitrophenol (BTNp-NP) mixtures, respectively, at a 40-min pretreatment and optimum pH of 3.5. The biodegradability index was also observed in the favorable range of 0.4 to 0.5 after the pretreatment at optimum H₂O₂ loading of 1.5 g L⁻¹. Maximum COD removal efficiency of 99.2, 99.3, and 99.6 % was obtained using the biological oxidation treatment for 40 h for the case of BTNX, BTEX, and BTNp-NP mixtures, respectively. Analysis of kinetic models revealed that degradation followed three distinct stages based on fitting of the three-stage model and BPB was found to be more efficient as compared to the primary activated sludge (PAS) and modified activated sludge (MAS). Reusability studies confirmed that both IPB and BPB were effective over many cycles giving stable performance during degradation without leaching of Fe³⁺ ions into the solution.

An important issue in assessing microplastics is whether this newly emerging type of pollution affects freshwater invertebrates. This study was designed to examine the interactions between the amphipod Gammarus fossarum and two types of microplastics. To determine the ingestion and egestion of polyamide (PA) fibres (500 × 20 μm), amphipods were exposed to four concentrations (100, 540, 2680, 13,380 PA fibres cm⁻² base area of glass beakers) and four exposure times (0.5, 2, 8, 32 h) as well as four post-exposure times (1, 2, 4, 16 h). We demonstrate a positive correlation between concentration and ingestion of PA fibres. Fibres were found in the gut after 0.5 h of exposure. Egestion was rapid and the digestive tract was empty 16 h after exposure ended. To investigate whether polystyrene (PS) beads (1.6 μm) can be taken up in the epithelial cells of the gut and the midgut glands, four concentrations (500, 2500, 12,500, 60,000 PS beads mL⁻¹) were tested. Cryosections exhibited fluorescent PS beads only within the gut lumen. In a 28-day feeding experiment with both, fibres and beads, we studied the amphipod’s feeding rate, assimilation efficiency and wet weight change. The exposure to PA fibres (2680 PA fibres cm⁻² base area of glass beakers) significantly reduced the assimilation efficiency of the animals. While both tested polymer types are ingested and egested, PA fibres can impair the health and ecological functions of freshwater amphipods under continuous exposure.

Nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and Fe–N-codoped TiO₂ layers on fly ash cenospheres (FAC) as floating photocatalyst were successfully prepared through sol–gel method. Photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet (UV)–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and nitrogen adsorption analyses for Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area. Photocatalytic efficiency of the prepared catalyst was evaluated through using the decomposition of Rhodamine B (RhB) as a model compound under visible light irradiation. Photocatalytic activity and kinetics of catalyst under visible light were detected in details from different Fe/Ti mole ratios by detecting photodegradation of RhB. Experimental results show that when the calcination temperature was 550 °C, the dosage of FAC was 3.0 g, and the mole ratio of Fe/Ti was 0.71 %; the synthesized Fe–N-TiO₂/FAC photocatalyst presented as anatase phase and that N and Fe ions were doped into TiO₂ lattice. The material’s specific surface area was 34.027 m²/g, and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy shows that the edge of the photon absorption has been red shifted up to 400–500 nm. Fe–N-codoped titanium dioxide on FAC had excellent photocatalytic activity during the process of photodegradation of RhB under visible light irradiation.