In urbanized regions with expansive impervious surfaces and often low vegetation cover, air pollution due to motor vehicles and other combustion sources, is a problem. The poor air quality days in Montreal, Quebec are mainly due to fine particulate matter and ozone. Businesses using wood ovens are a source of particulates. Careful vegetation selection and increased green roof usage can improve air quality. This paper reviews different green roofs and the capability of plants in particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3) as well as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) level reductions. Both the recommended green roof category and plants to reduce these pollutants in Montreal's zone 5 hardiness region are provided. Green roofs with larger vegetation including shrubs and trees, or intensive green roofs, remove air pollutants to a greater extent and are advisable to implement on existing, retrofitted or new buildings. PM is most effectively captured by pines. The small Pinus strobus ‘Nana’, Pinus mugho var. pumilio, Pinus mugho ‘Slowmound’ and Pinus pumila ‘Dwarf Blue’ are good candidates for intensive green roofs. Drought tolerant, deciduous broadleaved trees with low biogenic volatile organic compound emissions including Japanese Maple or Acer palmatum ‘Shaina’ and ‘Mikawa-Yatsubusa’ are options to reduce O3 levels. Magnolias are tolerant to NO2 and it is important in their metabolic pathways. The small cold-tolerant Magnolia ‘Genie’ is a good option to remove NO2 in urban settings and to indirectly reduce O3 formation. Given the emissions by Montreal businesses' wood ovens, calculations performed based on their respective complex roof areas obtained via Google Earth Pro indicates 88% Pinus mugho var. pumilio roof coverage can annually remove 92.37 kg of PM10 of which 35.10 kg is PM2.5. The removal rates are 4.00 g/m2 and 1.52 g/m2 for PM10 and PM2.5, respectively. This paper provides insight to addressing air pollution through urban rooftop greening.

To achieve a better contaminant removal efficiency in a low-temperature and high-salt environment, two novel strains of cold- and salt-tolerant ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), i.e., Ochrobactrum sp. (HXN-1) and Aquamicrobium sp. (HXN-2), were isolated from the surface sediment of Liaohe Estuarine Wetland (LEW), China. The optimization of initial ammonia nitrogen concentration, pH, carbon–nitrogen ratio, and petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) to improve the ammonia-oxidation capacity of the two bacterial strains was studied. Both bacterial strains showed a high ammonia nitrogen removal rate of over 80% under a high salinity of 10‰. Even at a temperature as low as 15°C, HXN-1 and HXN-2 could achieve an ammonia nitrogen removal rate of 53% and 62%, respectively. The cold- and salt-tolerant AOB in this study demonstrated a high potential for ammonia nitrogen removal from LEW.

The UK may be required to expand its bioenergy production in order to make a significant contribution towards the delivery of its ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050. However, some trees grown for bioenergy are emitters of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including isoprene and terpenes, precursors in the formation of tropospheric ozone, an atmospheric pollutant, which require assessment to understand any consequent impacts on air quality. In this initial scoping study, VOC emission rates were quantified under UK climate conditions for the first time from four species of eucalypts suitable for growing as short-rotation forest for bioenergy. An additional previously characterised eucalypt species was included for comparison. Measurements were undertaken using a dynamic chamber sampling system on 2-3 year-old trees grown under ambient conditions. Average emission rates for isoprene, normalised to 30 °C and 1000 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ PAR, ranged between 1.3 μg C gdw⁻¹ h⁻¹ to 10 μg C gdw⁻¹ h⁻¹. All the eucalypt species measured were categorised as ‘medium’ isoprene emitters (1–10 μg C gdw⁻¹ h⁻¹). Total normalised monoterpene emission rates were of similar order of magnitude to isoprene or approximately one order of magnitude lower. The composition of the monoterpene emissions differed between the species and major compounds included eucalyptol, α-pinene, limonene and β-cis-ocimene. The emission rates presented here contribute the first data for further studies to quantify the potential impact on UK atmospheric composition, if there were widespread planting of eucalypts in the UK for bioenergy purposes.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution is a serious heavy metal pollution in paddy fields, but its effect and underlying mechanism on soil arthropod overwintering and cold resistance are still unclear. In the present study, adult females of the wolf spider Pirata subpiraticus exposed to Cd stress underwent a simulated temperature process (25℃ → 16℃ → 8℃ → 4℃). The mortality rate and content of nutrients in the Cd-treated spiders were dramatically elevated after low-temperature treatment compared to those in the Cd-free control spiders under the same temperature condition. To uncover the putative modulatory mechanism of Cd on cold tolerance in P. subpiraticus, we employed an in-depth RNA sequencing analysis and yielded a total of 888 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Besides, we characterized genes that participate in multiple cryoprotectant syntheses, including arginine, cysteine, glucose, glycerol, heat shock protein, and mannose. The enrichment analyses found that most of the DEGs involved in biological processes and pathways were related to carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism. Notably, ten Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, such as starch and sucrose metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, mineral absorption, and vitamin digestion and absorption, were distinctively enriched with downregulated genes. Meanwhile, we also identified that seven DEGs might inhibit the KEGG pathway of ovarian steroidogenesis and potentially cripple ovarian function and fecundity in the spider. The decreased egg sac weight, number of hatched spiderlings, and vitellin concentration further supported the view that Cd exposure vitiates the overwintering spider’s fecundity. Collectively, the comparative analysis provides a novel perspective regarding the survival response and fecundity on the cold tolerance of spiders under Cd stress and offers a profound insight for evaluating Cd-induced toxicity on overwintering arthropods.

There are a large number of active cold-adapted microorganisms in the perennial cold environment. Due to their high-efficiency and energy-saving catalytic properties, cold-adapted microorganisms have become valuable natural resources with potential in various biological fields. In this study, a series of cold response strategies for microorganisms were summarized. This mainly involves the regulation of cell membrane fluidity, synthesis of cold adaptation proteins, regulators and metabolic changes, energy supply, and reactive oxygen species. Also, the potential of biocatalysts produced by cold-adapted microorganisms including cold-active enzymes, ice-binding proteins, polyhydroxyalkanoates, and surfactants was introduced, which provided a guidance for expanding its application values. Overall, new insights were obtained on response strategies of microorganisms to cold environments in this review. This will deepen the understanding of the cold tolerance mechanism of cold-adapted microorganisms, thus promoting the establishment and application of low-temperature biotechnology.

In anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) systems, temperature may regulate the activity of functional bacteria (e.g., anammox bacteria) and the composition of the microbial population, ultimately determining the performance of the anammox reactor. Knowledge of the dynamic changes in nitrogen removal rates and the microbial anammox community at low and/or ambient temperature is still limited. This study explored the response of an anammox sequencing batch reactor (SBR) to a gradient of decreasing temperature (33, 25, 20, 15, 10 °C), followed by recovery to 22 °C, over 360 days. Particularly, the specific anammox activity (SAA) and microbial community were assessed. The anammox reaction in the SBR remained stable and efficient at 20–33 °C, with a total nitrogen removal load of 0.4 g-N L⁻¹ day⁻¹ and an SAA of > 0.32 g-N g-VSS⁻¹ day⁻¹; 10 °C was the turning point for the anammox bacterial metabolic activity, at which the SAA decreased by 91% compared with that at 33 °C. After the temperature was returned to 22 °C, the anammox activity recovered to 0.24 g-N g-VSS⁻¹ day⁻¹. The apparent activation energy for the anammox reaction was 68.4 kJ mol⁻¹ at 10–33 °C and 152.9 kJ mol⁻¹ at 10–20 °C. High-throughput sequencing results revealed that Kuenenia was the dominant species of anammox bacteria, and Kuenenia had a higher tolerance to low temperature than Candidatus Brocadia and Candidatus Jettenia. This study clearly shows the effectiveness of anammox bioreactors for treatment of wastewater at ambient temperatures of 15–33 °C.

Plants integrate and monitor low temperature signals to cope with the continual variations in their environment. Arabidopsis thaliana cold responsive-element binding factor 3 (AtCBF3) plays its role in various cellular activities by modulating multiple genes induced under chilling stress. In this work, AtCBF3 transcription was remarkably induced following chilling stress. AtCBF3-overexpressors namely AtCBF3-Rio Grande, AtCBF3-Moneymaker, and AtCBF3-Roma showed defensible response to various levels of chilling stress, while their isogenic wild type plants indicated hypersensitive response to chilling stress. Detailed photosynthetic studies revealed that AtCBF3 gene has harmonious influences on the expression of a large set of genes by virtue of improved stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, intercellular CO₂ concentration, and photosynthetic rate compared to wild type plants. The AtCBF3 lines limited the water status-mediated hypersensitive response by lowering leaf osmotic potential due to overexpression of AtCBF3 under chilling stress. Biochemical analyses followed by phenotypic studies demonstrated that AtCBF3 plants exhibited membrane stability and lush green appearance by limiting membrane ions leakage and malondialdehyde contents and by accumulating more proline, soluble sugars, chlorophyll contents, carotenoid contents, and antioxidant enzymes relative to wild type plants. Hence, with a several lines of evidence, these findings support that tomato transgenic plants overexpressing Arabidopsis CBF3 show enhanced chilling tolerance.

Chilling stress hampers the optimal performance of maize under field conditions precipitously by inducing oxidative stress. To confer the damaging effects of chilling stress, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of some natural and synthetic plant growth regulators, i.e., salicylic acid (SA), thiourea (TU), sorghum water extract (SWE), and moringa leaf extract (MLE) on chilling stress tolerance in autumn maize hybrid. Foliar application of growth regulators at low concentrations was carried out at six leaf (V6) and tasseling stages. An increase in crop growth rate (CGR), leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), plant height (PH), grain yield (GY), and total dry matter accumulation (TDM) was observed in exogenously applied plants as compared to control. In addition, improved physio-biochemical, phenological, and grain nutritional quality attributes were noticed in foliar-treated maize plots as compared to non-treated ones. SA-treated plants reduced 20% electrolyte leakage in cell membrane against control. MLE and SA were proved best in improving total phenolic, relative water (19–23%), and chlorophyll contents among other applications. A similar trend was found for photosynthetic and transpiration rates, whereas MLE and SWE were found better in improving CGR, LAI, LAD, TDM, PH, GY, grains per cob, 1000 grain weight, and biological yield among all treatments including control. TU and MLE have significantly reduced the duration in phenological events of crop at the reproductive stage. MLE, TU, and SA also improved the grain protein, oil, and starch contents as compared to control. Enhanced crop water productivity was also observed in MLE-treated plants. Economic analysis suggested that MLE and SA applications were more economical in inducing chilling stress tolerance under field conditions. Although eliciting behavior of all growth regulators improved morpho-physiological attributes against suboptimal temperature stress conditions, MLE and SA acted as leading agents which proved to be better stress alleviators by improving plant physio-biochemical attributes and maize growth.

Earthworms are useful soil-decomposing animals that possess various saccharification enzymes such as cellulases and amylases. Earthworms have also been traditionally used as antipyretic agents and medicines for preventing thrombotic diseases such as brain infarction. We previously developed a novel earthworm dietary supplement with fibrinolytic, cellulase, and amylase activities using high-pressure technology. However, the optimal temperature and pH required for amylase activity in bioindustry have not yet been investigated. In the present study, we purified and characterized two α-amylases of Eisenia fetida Waki, EfAMY1 and EfAMY2, which were monomeric enzymes of 63.8 kDa and 64.0 kDa, with specific activities of 69.2 and 40.4 units/mg, respectively. The optimal pH was 5.5 for both enzymes, and the optimal temperatures were 45 °C and 35 °C for EfAMY1 and EfAMY2, respectively; however, the enzymes were stable over a wide pH range (5–10) and at high temperature (up to 40 °C). These amylases showed higher specific activity and cold tolerance than those previously reported. These data should help to promote the development of E. fetida AMYs as functional dietary supplements and in biomass utilization.

Large-scale copper (Cu) mining activities in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula produced millions of metric tons of mining wastes also known as stamp sands. The stamp sands containing high concentrations of Cu were disposed of into several lakes connected to the Lake Superior. Eventually, as aquatic organisms in these lakes started to exhibit toxicity symptoms, the stamp sands were dredged and discarded on the lake shores. Consequently, these areas turned into degraded, marginal lands and were collectively classified as a Torch Lake Superfund site by the US EPA. Due to the lack of vegetative cover, the Cu-rich stamp sands eroded into the lakes, affecting the aquatic life. To alleviate this issue, a sustainable restoration plan (SRP) was developed and tested in a greenhouse environment prior to field implementation. Cold-tolerant oilseed crops, camelina (Camelina sativa) and field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense), were grown on compost-fertilized stamp sands, which reduced soil erosion by acting as a vegetative cap. Oilseed plants produced normal yield, demonstrating their potential utilization as biofuel feedstock. Prior to implementing the SRP in field-scale in the Torch Lake Superfund site, a public opinion survey of the local community was conducted to understand the views of residents. Door-to-door survey was performed in July–August 2015, which yielded a response rate of 68.1%. Results showed that residents were generally concerned with stamp sand erosion into the Torch Lake and were overwhelmingly supportive of the SRP, which would not only provide environmental benefits but could boost the local economy via biofuel production. To gauge the general environmental awareness of the respondents, the survey included questions on climate change. Most of the respondents acknowledged that climate change is real and anthropogenically mediated. Having college education and a relatively high annual household income showed a positive and significant correlation with climate change awareness.