In recent years measurable concentrations of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been shown in the aquatic environment as a result of increasing human consumption. Effects of five frequently used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (diclofenac, diflunisal, ibuprofen, mefenamic acid and piroxicam in 0.1 mg ml−1 concentration) in batch cultures of cyanobacteria (Synechococcus elongatus, Microcystis aeruginosa, Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii), and eukaryotic algae (Desmodesmus communis, Haematococcus pluvialis, Cryptomonas ovata) were studied. Furthermore, the effects of the same concentrations of NSAIDs were investigated in natural algal assemblages in microcosms. According to the changes of chlorophyll-a content, unicellular cyanobacteria seemed to be more tolerant to NSAIDs than eukaryotic algae in laboratory experiments. Growth of eukaryotic algae was reduced by all drugs, the cryptomonad C. ovata was the most sensitive to NSAIDs, while the flagellated green alga H. pluvialis was more sensitive than the non-motile green alga D. communis. NSAID treatments had weaker impact in the natural assemblages dominated by cyanobacteria than in the ones dominated by eukaryotic algae, confirming the results of laboratory experiments. Diversity and number of functional groups did not change notably in cyanobacteria dominated assemblages, while they decreased significantly in eukaryotic algae dominated ones compared to controls. The results highlight that cyanobacteria (especially unicellular ones) are less sensitive to the studied, mostly hardly degradable NSAIDs, which suggest that their accumulation in water bodies may contribute to the expansion of cyanobacterial mass productions in appropriate environmental circumstances by pushing back eukaryotic algae. Thus, these contaminants require special attention during wastewater treatment and monitoring of surface waters.

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing and significant threat to global public health, requiring better understanding of the sources and mechanisms involved in its emergence and spread. We investigated the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) before and after treatment in five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) located in different areas of the Monastir Governorate (Tunisia). Three of these WWTPs (Frina, Sahline and Zaouiet) use a conventional activated sludge process as secondary treatment, whereas the WWTP located in Beni Hassen applies an ultraviolet disinfection step after the activated sludge process and the WWTP located in Moknine treats wastewater using naturally aerated lagoons as a secondary treatment process. The abundance of six ARGs (blaCTX-M, blaTEM, qnrA, qnrS, sul I and ermB) and the class 1 integron-integrase gene (intI1) were determined by quantitative PCR. All ARGs and the intI1 gene were detected in the wastewater samples, except the blaCTX-M gene, which was not detected in both influent and effluent samples from Sahline and Beni Hassen WWTPs, and the qnrS gene, which was not detected neither in the WWTP influent in Moknine nor in the WWTP effluent in Beni Hassen. Although the relative concentration of ARGs was generally found to be similar between samples collected before and after the wastewater treatment, the abundance of blaCTX-M, blaTEM, and qnrS genes was higher in the effluent of the Frina WWTP which, unlike other WWTPs, not only receives domestic or industrial sewage but also untreated hospital waste. To the best of our knowledge, this study quantified for the first time the abundance of ARGs in different Tunisian WWTPs, and the results agree with previous studies suggesting that conventional wastewater treatment does not efficiently reduce ARGs. Therefore, these findings could be useful to improve the design or operation of WWTPs.

While the potential of plants to uptake polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is widely acknowledged, empirical evidence of the effects of this process on local atmospheric PAH concentrations and human health is tenuous. We measured gaseous PAH concentrations using passive samplers in urban tree-covered areas and adjacent open, treeless areas in a near-road environment in Finland to gain information on the ability of urban vegetation to improve air quality. The ability of urban, mostly deciduous, vegetation to affect PAHs was season dependent: during summer, concentrations were significantly higher in tree-covered areas, while in the fall, concentrations in open areas exceeded those in tree-covered areas. During winter, concentrations in tree-covered areas were either lower or did not differ from those in open areas. Results of this study imply that the commonly believed notion that trees unequivocally improve air quality does not apply to PAHs studied here.

This study investigated whether the rotavirus infection rate in children is associated with temperature and air pollutants in Hangzhou, China. This study applied a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) to assess the effects of daily meteorological data and air pollutants on the rotavirus positive rate among outpatient children. There was a negative correlation between temperature and the rotavirus infection rate. The impact of temperature on the detection rate of rotavirus presented an evident lag effect, the temperature change shows the greatest impact on the detection rate of rotavirus approximate at lag one day, and the maximum relative risk (RR) was approximately 1.3. In 2015, the maximum cumulative RR due to the cumulative effect caused by the temperature drop was 2.5. Particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and PM10 were the primary air pollutants in Hangzhou. The highest RR of rotavirus infection occurred at lag 1–1.5 days after the increase in the concentration of these pollutants, and the RR increased gradually with the increase in concentration. Based on the average concentrations of PM2.5 of 53.9 μg/m3 and PM10 of 80.6 μg/m3 in Hangzhou in 2015, the cumulative RR caused by the cumulative effect was 2.5 and 2.2, respectively. The current study suggests that temperature is an important factor impacting the rotavirus infection rate of children in Hangzhou. Air pollutants significantly increased the risk of rotavirus infection, and dosage, lag and cumulative effects were observed.

The coastal wetland vegetation component of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment documented significant injury to the plant production and health of Louisiana salt marshes exposed to oiling. Specifically, marsh sites experiencing trace or greater vertical oiling of plant tissues displayed reductions in cover and peak standing crop relative to reference (no oiling), particularly in the marsh edge zone, for the majority of this four year study. Similarly, elevated chlorosis of plant tissue, as estimated by a vegetation health index, was detected for marsh sites with trace or greater vertical oiling in the first two years of the study. Key environmental factors, such as hydrologic regime, elevation, and soil characteristics, were generally similar across plant oiling classes (including reference), indicating that the observed injury to plant production and health was the result of plant oiling and not potential differences in environmental setting. Although fewer significant impacts to plant production and health were detected in the latter years of the study, this is due in part to decreased sample size occurring as a result of erosion (shoreline retreat) and resultant loss of plots, and should not be misconstrued as indicating full recovery of the ecosystem.

The use of zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) has been advocated for the remediation of both soils and groundwater. A key parameter affecting nZVI remediation efficacy is the mobility of the particles as this influences the reaction zone where remediation can occur. However, by engineering nZVI particles with increased stability and mobility we may also inadvertently facilitate nZVI-mediated contaminant transport away from the zone of treatment. Previous nZVI mobility studies have often been limited to model systems as the presence of background Fe makes detection and tracking of nZVI in real systems difficult. We overcame this problem by synthesising Fe-59 radiolabelled nZVI. This enabled us to detect and quantify the leaching of nZVI-derived Fe-59 in intact soil cores, including a soil contaminated by Chromated-Copper-Arsenate. Mobility of a commercially available nZVI was also tested. The results showed limited mobility of both nanomaterials; <1% of the injected mass was eluted from the columns and most of the radiolabelled nZVI remained in the surface soil layers (the primary treatment zone in this contaminated soil). Nevertheless, the observed breakthrough of contaminants and nZVI occurred simultaneously, indicating that although the quantity transported was low in this case, nZVI does have the potential to co-transport contaminants. These results show that direct injection of nZVI into the surface layers of contaminated soils may be a viable remediation option for soils such as this one, in which the mobility of nZVI below the injection/remediation zone was very limited. This Fe-59 experimental approach can be further extended to test nZVI transport in a wider range of contaminated soil types and textures and using different application methods and rates. The resulting database could then be used to develop and validate modelling of nZVI-facilitated contaminant transport on an individual soil basis suitable for site specific risk assessment prior to nZVI remediation.

In this study, we conducted a 14-month investigation in Daya Bay, southern China to understand the effects of oyster farming on phytoplankton community and biomass by using size-fractionated phytopigments. Results proved the filtering effects of oysters on phytoplankton biomass. During the oyster culture period, the average concentration of total chlorophyll a (sum of size-fractionated Chl a) within the farming area was approximately 60% lower than that at the reference site. Phytoplankton depletion in the aquaculture zone mainly occurred in micro-sized fractions (>20 μm) of Chl a, fucoxanthin, and peridinin. The influence of oyster filtration on nano-sized (2.7–20 μm) pigments seemed less than that on micro-sized ones. The depletion of peridinin and 19′-hex-fucoxanthin in aquaculture zone was higher than those of the other pigments, which indicated that flagellated cells might be selectively filtered by oysters and could be more easily influenced by oyster aquaculture. The pico-sized Chl a (<2.7 μm) comprised 24% of total Chl a on the average in the aquaculture zone during the cultural period compared to 6% in the reference site. Picoeukaryote abundance, which was determined via flow cytometry, was significantly higher in the aquaculture zone than in the non-aquaculture areas. The abundance of picoeukaryote is significantly and positively correlated with the concentrations of pico-sized prasinoxanthin, violaxanthin, and neoxanthin, indicating that picoeukaryote is dominated by those in prasinophyte. The results suggest that oyster aquaculture might stimulate the growth of prasinophyte, although the seasonal variations are mainly controlled by the water temperature in the study area. This research highlights the successful use of size-fractionated phytopigments to estimate size-specific phytoplankton biomass and community, which can be applied as a routine method to monitor the environmental effect and food resources of bivalve aquaculture.

Motor vehicle emissions are increasingly becoming one of the important factors affecting the urban air quality in China. It is necessary and useful to policy makers to demonstrate the situation given the relevant pollutants reduction measures are taken. This paper predicted the reduction potentials of conventional pollutants (PM10, NOx, CO, HC) under different control strategies and policies in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region during 2011–2020. There are the baseline and 5 control scenarios designed, which presented the different current and future possible vehicular emissions control measures. Future population of different kinds of vehicles were predicted based on the Gompertz model, and vehicle kilometers travelled estimated as well. After that, the emissions reduction under the different scenarios during 2011–2020 could be estimated using emission factors and activity level data. The results showed that, the vehicle population in the BTH region would continue to grow up, especially in Tianjin and Hebei. Comparing the different scenarios, emission standards updating scenario would achieve a substantial reduction and keep rising up for all the pollutants, and the scenario of eliminating high-emission vehicles can reduce emissions more effectively in short-term than in long-term, especially in Beijing. Due to the constraints of existing economical and technical level, the reduction effect of promoting new energy vehicles would not be significant, especially given the consideration of their lifetime impact. The reduction effect of population regulation scenario in Beijing cannot be ignorable and would keep going up for PM10, CO and HC, excluding NOx. Under the integrated scenario considering all the control measures it would achieve the maximum reduction potential of emissions, which means to reduce emissions of PM10, NOx, CO, HC, by 56%, 59%, 48%, 52%, respectively, compared to BAU scenario for the whole BTH region in 2020.

Lead concentrations and isotopic compositions of contaminated urban soils and house dusts from Athens, Greece, have been determined to identify possible sources of Pb contamination and examine relationships between these two environmental media. Different soil particle sizes (<2000 μm, <200 μm, <100 μm, <70 μm, <32 μm) and chemical fractions (total, EDTA-extractable and acetic acid-extractable (HAc)) were analyzed for their Pb content and isotopic composition. Metal(loid)s (Pb, Zn, Cu, As, Ni, Cr, Mn, Fe) are significantly enriched in the finest fraction. The Pb isotopic compositions were similar for the different soil particle size fractions and different chemical extractions. The HAc extraction proved to be a useful procedure for tracing anthropogenic Pb in urban soil. The range of 206Pb/207Pb ratios (1.140–1.180) in Athens soil suggests that the Pb content represents an accumulated mixture of Pb deposited from past vehicular emissions and local natural sources. The contribution of anthropogenic Pb to total soil Pb ranged from 36% to 95%. The Pb isotopic composition of vacuum house dusts (206Pb/207Pb = 1.1.38–1.167) from Athens residents is mostly comparable to that of urban soil suggesting that exterior soil particles are transferred into homes. As a result, anthropogenic Pb in house dust from Athens urban environment principally originated from soil particles containing Pb from automobile emissions (former use of leaded gasoline).

With the increasing environmental application and discharge of iron-based nanoparticles (NPs), a comprehensive understanding of their fate and ecotoxicological effect in the aquatic environment is very urgent. In this study, toxicities of 4 zero-valent iron NPs (nZVI) of different sizes, 2 Fe2O3 NPs of different crystal phases, and 1 type of Fe3O4 NPs to a green alga (Chlorella pyrenoidosa) were investigated, with a focus on the effects of particle size, crystal phase, oxidation state, and environmental aging. Results show that the algal growth inhibition of nZVI increased significantly with decreasing particle size; with similar particle sizes (20–30 nm), the algal growth inhibition decreased with oxidation of the NPs with an order of nZVI > Fe3O4 NPs > Fe2O3 NPs, and α-Fe2O3 NPs presented significantly higher toxicity than γ-Fe2O3 NPs. The NP-induced oxidative stress was the main toxic mechanism, which could explain the difference in algal toxicity of the NPs. The NP-cell heteroagglomeration and physical interactions also contributed to the nanotoxicity, whereas the effect of NP dissolution was negligible. The aging in distilled water and 3 surface water samples for 3 months increased surface oxidation of the iron-based NPs especially nZVI, which decreased the toxicity to algae. These findings will be helpful for the understanding of the fate and toxicity of iron-based NPs in the aquatic environment.