Tunnel construction in watershed area of urban lakes would accelerate eutrophication by inputting nutrients into them, while mechanisms underlying the internal phosphorus cycling as affected by construction events are scarcely studied. Focusing on two main pathways of phosphorus releasing from sediment (enzymatic mineralization and anaerobic desorption), spatial and temporal variations in phosphorus fractionation, and activities of extracellular enzymes (alkaline phosphatase, β-1,4-glucosidase, leucine aminopeptidase, dehydrogenase, lipase) in sediment were examined, together with relevant parameters in interstitial and surface waters in a Chinese urban lake (Lake Donghu) where a subaqueous tunnel was constructed across it from October 2013 to July 2014. Higher alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) indicated phosphorus deficiency for phytoplankton, as illustrated by a significantly negative relationship between APA and concentration of dissolved total phosphorus (DTP). Noticeably, in the construction area, APAs in both sediment and surface water were significantly lower than those in other relevant basins, suggesting a phosphorus supply from some sources in this area. In parallel, its sediment gave the significantly lower iron-bound phosphorus (Fe(OOH)∼P) content, coupled with significantly higher ratio of iron (II) to total iron content (Fe²⁺/TFe) and dehydrogenase activities (DHA). Contrastingly, difference in the activities of sediment hydrolases was not significant between the construction area and other basins studied. Thus, in the construction area, subsidy of bioavailable phosphorus from sediment to surface water was attributable to the anaerobic desorption of Fe(OOH)∼P rather than enzymatic mineralization. Finally, there existed a significantly positive relationship between chlorophyll a concentration in surface water and Fe(OOH)∼P content in sediment. In short, construction activities within lakes may interrupt cycling patterns of phosphorus across sediment-water interface by enhancing release of redox-sensitive phosphate, and thereby facilitating phytoplankton growth in water column.

Recently observed rapid climate changes have focused the attention of researchers and river managers on the possible effects of increased flooding frequency on the mobilization and redistribution of historical pollutants within some river systems. This text summarizes regularities in the flood-related transport, channel-to-floodplain transfer, and storage and remobilization of heavy metals, which are the most persistent environmental pollutants in river systems. Metal-dispersal processes are essentially much more variable in alluvia than in soils of non-inundated areas due to the effects of flood-sediment sorting and the mixing of pollutants with grains of different origins in a catchment, resulting in changes of one to two orders of magnitude in metal content over distances of centimetres. Furthermore, metal remobilization can be more intensive in alluvia than in soils as a result of bank erosion, prolonged floodplain inundation associated with reducing conditions alternating with oxygen-driven processes of dry periods and frequent water-table fluctuations, which affect the distribution of metals at low-lying strata. Moreover, metal storage and remobilization are controlled by river channelization, but their influence depends on the period and extent of the engineering works. Generally, artificial structures such as groynes, dams or cut-off channels performed before pollution periods favour the entrapment of polluted sediments, whereas the floodplains of lined river channels that adjust to new, post-channelization hydraulic conditions become a permanent sink for fine polluted sediments, which accumulate solely during overbank flows. Metal mobilization in such floodplains takes place only by slow leaching, and their sediments, which accrete at a moderate rate, are the best archives of the catchment pollution with heavy metals.

Due to natural and production activities, mercury contamination has become one of the major environmental problems over the world. Mercury contamination is a serious threat to human health. Among the existing technologies available for mercury pollution control, the adsorption process can get excellent separation effects and has been further studied. This review is attempted to cover a wide range of adsorbents that were developed for the removal of mercury from the year 2011. Various adsorbents, including the latest adsorbents, are presented along with highlighting and discussing the key advancements on their preparation, modification technologies, and strategies. By comparing their adsorption capacities, it is evident from the literature survey that some adsorbents have shown excellent potential for the removal of mercury. However, there is still a need to develop novel, efficient adsorbents with low cost, high stability, and easy production and manufacture for practical utility.

Emissions of nitrous oxide (N₂O) from wetland ecosystems are globally significant and have recently received increased attention. However, relatively few direct studies of these emissions in response to water depth-related changes in sediment ecosystems have been conducted, despite the likely role they play as hotspots of N₂O production. We investigated depth-related differential responses of the dissolved inorganic nitrogen distribution in Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. rhizosphere versus non-rhizosphere sediments to determine if they accelerated N₂O emissions and the release of inorganic nitrogen. Changes in static water depth and P. australis growth both had the potential to disrupt the distribution of porewater dissolved NH₄⁺, NO₃⁻, and NO₂⁻ in profiles, and NO₃⁻ had strong surface aggregation tendency and decreased significantly with depth. Conversely, the highest NO₂⁻ contents were observed in deep water and the lowest in shallow water in the P. australis rhizosphere. When compared with NO₃⁻, NH₄⁺, and NO₂⁻, fluxes from the rhizosphere were more sensitive to the effects of water depth, and both fluxes increased significantly at a depth of more than 1 m. Similarly, N₂O emissions were obviously accelerated with increasing depth, although those from the rhizosphere were more readily controlled by P. australis. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed that water depth was significantly related to N₂O emission and NO₂⁻ fluxes, and N₂O emissions were also strongly dependent on NO₂⁻ fluxes (r = 0.491, p < 0.05). The results presented herein provide new insights into inorganic nitrogen biogeochemical cycles in freshwater sediment ecosystems.

Three biodegradable materials (i.e. wood chips (WC), digested sewage sludge (DSS), and lignin (LG)) obtained as by-products of industrial processes were selected for biochar (BC) production under slow pyrolysis conditions at 450 and 700 °C. At 450 °C, the analysed trace metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) showed the same temperature trend with concentrations which varied depending on the feedstock, increasing in BCs from WC (by as much as 191 %) and DSS (by as much as 288 %) and decreasing in BC from LG (by as much as 46 %). At 700 °C, in all the BCs, the total concentration of Ni, Pb, and Zn increased (by as much as 135, 248, 283 %, respectively) and Cr decreased (by as much as 69 %) whereas the total concentration of Cd and Cu increased or decreased depending on the feedstock. The most suitable pyrolysis temperature for reducing trace metal leachability and bioavailability (450 or 700 °C) depends on the trace metal considered. The temperature of 450 °C was effective in stabilising Cr and Ni in the analysed BCs as these trace metals were not prone to leaching or present in bioavailable forms. In all the BCs, an increase in pyrolysis temperature made trace metals such as Zn and Cu more stable in the char matrix, decreasing in the bioavailable fractions, hindering leachability of Zn, and decreasing leachability of Cu to less than 1 % of the total Cu concentration. Trace metals such as Cd and Pb did not show a clear temperature trend, increasing or decreasing in the bioavailable or leachable fractions depending on the feedstock.

Fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) is one of the major pollutants in metropolitan areas. The current study was conducted to observe the effects of PM₂.₅ on cardiac autonomic modulation. The participants included 619 men and women aged from 35–75 in a residential area in Shanghai, China. All the participants were divided into four categories according to the distance between their apartments and major road. In addition, individual PM₂.₅ was measured using SIDEPAKTM AM510 (TSI, USA) from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. At the end of the individual PM₂.₅ measurement, the systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, heart rate (HR), low-frequency (LF), high-frequency (HF), and LF/HF were determined. The association between individual PM₂.₅ level and the above health effects was analyzed using generalized linear regression. The results showed that the average concentration of individual PM₂.₅ was 95.5 and 87.0 μg/m³ for men and women. Residential distance to major road was negatively correlated with the individual PM₂.₅. The results indicated that per 1.0 μg/m³ increase of individual PM₂.₅ was associated with a 2.3 % increase for systolic pressure, 0.3 % increase for diastolic pressure, 0.4 % decrease for LF, and 0.4 % decrease for HF. Nevertheless, there was no statistical association between individual PM₂.₅ and heart rate and LF/HF in the total model. In addition, the similar results were found in men and women excluding a significant association between PM₂.₅ and the heart rate in men. The alterations of cardiac autonomic modulation hinted that PM₂.₅ exposure might be associated with the potential occurrence of cardiovascular disease, such as arrhythmia and ischemic heart diseases.

Preparation and characterization of a novel activated carbon obtained from vine shoots by ZnCl₂ activation and its rifampicine removal capacity were investigated in this study. The effects of activation temperature and impregnation ratio (precursor/ZnCl₂) on the activated carbon properties were investigated. The prepared activated carbon was characterized by BET surface area, surface functional group analysis by Boehm’s titration and FT-IR analysis, pHₚzc, iodine number, SEM-EDX, and particle size distribution. The results showed that the surface area, pore size, and pore volume of the activated carbon increased with the increasing temperature and impregnation ratio and reached maxima at the impregnation ratio of 40/30 at 700 °C. Under the optimal conditions, it was determined that the BET surface area, total pore volume, iodine number, and pHₚzc of the activated carbon were 1689 m²/g, 0.842 cm³/g, 1276 mg/g, and 4.8, respectively, and it has mainly acidic functional groups (total 0.2516 meq/g) on its surface. The activated carbon obtained was evaluated for rifampicine removal efficiency depending on contact time, adsorbent dosage, and initial concentration of rifampicine. Maximum adsorption capacity of rifampicine by the activated carbon (Q°) was determined according to Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The adsorption data was best fitted to the Langmuir isotherm with R ² of 0.983 and Q° was found to be 476.2 mg/g.

Changes in soil exchangeable cations relative to soil acidification are less studied particularly under long-term cash crop plantation. This study investigated soil acidification in an Ali-Periudic Argosols after 10-year (2002–2012) long-term continuous tobacco plantation. Soils were respectively sampled at 1933 and 2143 sites in 2002 and 2012 (also 647 tobacco plants), from seven tobacco plantation counties in the Chongqing Municipal City, southwest China. After 10-year continuous tobacco plantation, a substantial acidification was evidenced by an average decrease of 0.20 soil pH unit with a substantial increase of soil sites toward the acidic status, especially those pH ranging from 4.5 to 5.5, whereas 1.93 kmol H⁺ production ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ was mostly derived from nitrogen (N) fertilizer input and plant N uptake output. After 1 decade, an average decrease of 27.6 % total exchangeable base cations or of 0.20 pH unit occurred in all seven tobacco plantation counties. Meanwhile, for one unit pH decrease, 40.3 and 28.3 mmol base cations kg⁻¹ soil were consumed in 2002 and 2012, respectively. Furthermore, the aboveground tobacco biomass harvest removed 339.23 kg base cations ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ from soil, which was 7.57 times higher than the anions removal, leading to a 12.52 kmol H⁺ production ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ as the main reason inducing soil acidification. Overall, our results showed that long-term tobacco plantation not only stimulated soil acidification but also decreased soil acid-buffering capacity, resulting in negative effects on sustainable soil uses. On the other hand, our results addressed the importance of a continuous monitoring of soil pH changes in tobacco plantation sites, which would enhance our understanding of soil fertility of health in this region.

Photolysis is a major transformation pathway for triclosan, an antibacterial agent frequently detected in aquatic environment. Though many studies have been conducted on the influence of dissolved organic matter on the photolysis of triclosan, there are still controversies and the mechanism involved is still not clear. In the present study, influence of humic acid on the photolysis of triclosan in molecular form and anionic form was investigated. Reactive substances involved were identified and photolysis pathways were proposed. The addition of humic acid significantly enhanced the photolysis of triclosan in molecular form and inhibited that of triclosan in anionic form. •OH and intra-humic acid ¹O₂ played the dorminant role in the enhanced photolysis of triclosan. Different photolysis pathways of triclosan in different forms in the presence of humic acid were proposed, and dioxin products were not found during the indirect photolysis. Here, we show that humic acid has the opposing effects on the photolysis of triclosan in different forms. These findings will help us better understand the photolysis process of triclosan in natural waters.

The efficiency of low-cost, abundantly available local forestry waste, oak (Quercus robur) acorn peel (OP), to remove toxic Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions was studied in a batch system as a function of contact time, adsorbate concentration, adsorbent dosage, and pH. In an equilibrium time of 420 min, the maximum Cr removal by OP at pH 2 and 10 was 100 and 97 %, respectively. The sorption data fitted well with Langmuir adsorption model. Evaluation using Langmuir expression presented a monolayer sorption capacity of 47.39 mg g⁻¹ with an equilibrium sorbent dose of 5 g L⁻¹ and pH 7. Uptake of Cr by OP was described by pseudo-second-order chemisorption model. ICP-OES, LC-ICPMS analysis of the aqueous and solid phases revealed that the mechanism of Cr(VI) removal is by ‘integrated adsorption and reduction’ mechanism. ESEM-EDX and XRD analysis of OP before and after adsorption also confirmed that both adsorption and reduction of Cr(VI) to less toxic Cr³⁺ forms followed by complexation onto the adsorbent surface contributed to the removal of Cr(VI). Consistent with batch studies, OP effectively removed (>95 %) Cr from the real water samples collected from lake and sea. The results of this study illustrate that OP could be an economical, green, and effective biomaterial for Cr(VI) removal from natural aquatic ecosystems and industrial effluents.