Increasing cadmium (Cd) pollution in agricultural soils has raised serious concerns worldwide. Several exogenous substances can be used to mitigate the toxic effects of Cd in plants. Zinc (Zn) is one of the essential plant micronutrients and is involved in several physiological functions in plants. Zn may alleviate Cd toxicity in plants owing to the chemical similarity of Zn with Cd. Published reports demonstrated that Zn can alleviate toxic effects of Cd in plants by increasing plant growth, regulating Cd uptake, increasing photosynthesis, and reducing oxidative stress. Literature demonstrated that the role of Zn on Cd accumulation by plants is very controversial and depends upon several factors including concentrations of Cd and Zn in the medium, exposure duration, plant species and genotypes, and growth conditions. This review highlights the role of Zn in reducing Cd toxicity in plants and provides new insight that proper level of Zn in plants may enhance plant resistance to excess Cd.

The combined effect of polystyrene (PS) particles and triphenyltin chloride (TPTCl) to the green algae Chlorella pyrenoidosa was studied. The 96 h IC₅₀ of TPTCl to the green algae C. pyrenoidosa was 30.64 μg/L. The toxicity of PS particles to C. pyrenoidosa was size-dependent, with the 96 h IC₅₀ at 9.10 mg/L for 0.55 μm PS but no toxicity observed for 5.0 μm PS. The exposure to 0.55 μm PS led to damage on structure of algal cells, which could in turn cause inhibition on photosynthesis and population growth of the green algae. TPTCl concentrations in test medium were lowered by 15–19% at presence of 0.55 μm PS particles, indicating a reduced bioavailability of TPTCl. In spite of this reduced bioavailability, the presence of PS increased the toxicity of TPTCl, which might be attributed to facilitated uptake of TPTCl by the green algae after the damage of cell structure. The overall results of the present study provided important information on the effect of PS on the bioavailability and toxicity of TPTCl to phytoplankton species.

Recently, the residues of some common and widely used herbicides (acetochlor, bispyribac-sodium, bentazon, bensulfuron-methyl, halosulfuron-methyl, and quinclorac) were detected in the surface water, soil, sediments, and fish tissues as the agricultural drainage problems. In this study, juveniles of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus were exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of these herbicides as 2.625, 0.800, 36.00, 2.50, 1.275, and 11.250 mg/l for acetochlor, bispyribac-sodium, bentazon, bensulfuron-methyl, halosulfuron-methyl, and quinclorac respectively for 96 h. Some hemato-biochemical parameters were evaluated. In comparison with the control group, sub-lethal concentrations of all tested herbicides induced alterations in the shape of erythrocytes. Also, in all tested herbicides, hematological parameters of exposed fish exhibited a significant decrease in red blood cell count except bentazon. However, all tested herbicides showed an insignificant reduction in mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration and total white blood cells except bensulfuron-methyl. For biochemical parameters, most tested herbicides induced a significant increase in levels of cholesterol, albumin, globulin, albumin/globulin ratio, activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and total plasma protein (only with acetochlor), urea, and creatinine (except bentazon and halosulfuron-methyl that exhibited non-significant decrease in creatinine level) compared with the control. In conclusion, the fish blood profiles can be used as good biomarkers for laboratory study to assess the toxicity of the tested rice herbicides at a sub-acute level especially acetochlor on O. niloticus. Graphical Abstract

The significance of the natural geographical characteristics and ecological formation of the Coastline Mediterranean Countries (CMC) suggests a further examination of the dynamics of the renewable energy consumption (renewables) within the aforesaid region. As such, the dynamic impact of carbon emissions and the housing construction policy vis-à-vis dwellings, building and residential developments on the renewable energy consumption is investigated among Spain, France, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel. The dynamic autoregressive distributed lag methods of the pooled mean group, mean group and dynamic fixed-effect estimators are adopted for the empirical investigation over the periods 1999–2014 with real income and tourism employed as an additional variable. Using the PMG estimators, empirical results show that positive and statistically significant relationship exists among the variables in the long run. A 1% increase in housing construction policy, real income tourism and carbon emissions leads to (0.955), (8.622), (0.007) and (6.805) increase in renewable energy growth, while deviations in the short run significantly adjust to long-run equilibrium under an unforeseen disturbance at a moderate annual speed of about 73% annually. The inference from the short-run estimated coefficients indicates that housing construction policy is not a driver of renewables in Israel. From a policy standpoint, proposed strategic housing development policy and environmental pollution mitigation policy by policymakers should be void of causing a disservice toward the enrichment of renewable energy generation domestically in the panel countries.

This study was aimed at providing a comprehensive environmental analysis of Germany from 1990 to 2015. First, an ecological footprint analysis of the country was conducted using bio-capacity and ecological footprint data. Second, possible decoupling of the country’s economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions was examined using the decoupling factor adopted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Third, the factors affecting aggregated and sector (electricity and heat production) emission changes were identified using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method. The empirical findings revealed that Germany experienced a slowly decreasing ecological deficit over the entire period. The decoupling-factor calculations showed absolute decoupling of the country’s real GDP and CO₂ emissions. Based on the LMDI calculations, per capita income and population had increasing impacts on aggregated emissions, whereas energy intensity and carbon intensity curbed them substantially. For electricity and heat production, economic activity was the only CO₂-accelerating factor observed in the study period. In addition, the fuel structure effect, pollution effect, and electricity intensity considerably reduced the emissions of electricity and heat production. It, therefore, is possible to conclude that Germany is an impressive example of environmental sustainability for other nations.

The linkage between financial development and energy consumption is widely investigated in the literature. However, the non-linear relationship between financial development and energy demand is still under debate. Therefore, this study aims to examine the non-linear relationship between financial development, economic growth, and energy consumption in OECD countries. The study uses the Driscoll–Kraay standard errors panel regression model for spanning from 1980 to 2016. The empirical findings indicate that an inverted U-shape relationship exists between financial development and energy consumption as well as between economic growth and energy consumption. Moreover, the feedback hypothesis is found between financial development and energy use. Additionally, income and energy use granger cause each other. The innovative findings contribute to extant literature, which is of special interest to the country’s policymakers regarding energy efficiency.

In order to control bacterial adhesion and metal corrosion in the circulating cooling water system, it is necessary to prepare a nanocomposite-modified coating with antibacterial and anticorrosive functions. Copper and zinc composite oxide (CuZnO) was synthesized to prepare CuZnO@RGO nanocomposites. The antibacterial mechanism of CuZnO@RGO nanocomposites was investigated using gram-negative bacteria E. coli and gram-positive bacteria S. aureus as the two model microorganisms. The antibacterial properties of CuZnO@RGO nanocomposites on mixed bacteria were researched in the cooling water system. In addition, the CuZnO@RGO waterborne polyurethane (WPU) composite coating (CuZnO@RGO/WPU) was synthesized. The antibacterial performance, hardness, and corrosion inhibition performance of CuZnO@RGO/WPU composite coating in the cooling water system were also investigated. The results showed that after adding CuZnO@RGO nanocomposites to E. coli or S. aureus suspension, the protein leakage after 20 h was 9.3 times or 7.2 times higher than that in the blank experiment. The antibacterial rate of CuZnO@RGO nanocomposites in circulating cooling water reached 99.70% when the mass fraction of RGO was 15%. When the mass fraction of CuZnO@RGO accounting for CuZnO@RGO/WPU composite coating was 2%, the antibacterial rate, hardness, and corrosion inhibition efficiency were 94.35%, 5H, and 93.30%, respectively.

The phosphorus (P) fraction and its release characteristics from sediment in response to flood events across different land covers (i.e., reclaimed land with dominant vegetation of Phragmites australis and/or Typha orientalis, grassland with dominant vegetation of annual and perennial forbs, and bare land) in the lakeshore of Chaohu Lake were investigated. The results indicated that the re-flooding of a restored wetland led to P release. IP (inorganic P) was the major P fraction in the soils pre-flood and post-flood. For all the soil samples, the rank order of P fractions was Ca-P (P associated with calcium) > OP (organic P) > Fe/Al-P (P bound to Al, Fe, and Mn oxides and hydroxides). During flooding, Fe/Al-P contributed the most as the P release source in the soils and to the P sources for the overlying water. In reclaimed land, Fe/Al-P release correlated significantly with soil pH. In grassland, Fe/Al-P release correlated significantly with soil pH and Al content. In bare land, Fe/Al-P release correlated significantly with Al and clay content. The max TP release rates were also significantly influenced by land cover, and the values in bare land, grassland, and reclaimed land were 9.91 mg P m⁻² day⁻¹, 8.10 mg P m⁻² day⁻¹, and 5.05 mg P m⁻² day⁻¹, respectively. The results showed that the P release processes might be regulated by different factors across different land covers, and that the re-introduction of vegetation during wetland restoration must be taken into account prior to flood events to avoid an undesirable degradation of water quality.

Protected areas (PAs) are considered a cornerstone of biodiversity conservation, and the number and extent of PAs are expanding rapidly worldwide. While designating more land as PAs is important, concerns about the degree to which existing PAs are effective in meeting conservation goals are growing. Unfortunately, conservation effectiveness of PAs and its underlying determinants are often unclear across large spatial scales. Using PAs in China as an example, we evaluated the effectiveness of 472 PAs established before 2000 in reducing deforestation between 2000 and 2015. Our results show that the majority (71%) of the PAs were effective in reducing deforestation. Without their establishment, deforestation within the PAs would have increased by about 50% (581 km²), with about 1271 megaton of carbon per year not being sequestered. We also found some attributes of PAs, including surrounding deforestation level, roughness of terrain, and travel time to the nearest city, are significantly related to their effectiveness in reducing deforestation. Our findings highlight the need of systematically evaluating the effectiveness of PAs and incorporating this effectiveness into conservation planning and management to more fully realize the goals of PAs not only in China but also around the world.

Protection of water sources which are used for irrigation has raised great interest in the last years among the environmental strategists due to potential water scarcity worldwide. Excessive boron (B) in irrigation water poses crucial environmental problems in the agricultural zones and it leads to toxicity symptoms in crops, as well as human beings. In the present research, economic water treatment models consist of dried common wetland plants (Lemna gibba, Phragmites australis, and Typha latifolia) and Lemna gibba accumulation was tested and assessed to create a simple, cost-effective, and eco-friendly method for B removal from irrigation water. Significant amount of B was removed from irrigation water samples by EWTMs and B concentrations decreased below < 1 mg L⁻¹ when the components were exposed to 4 and 8 mg L⁻¹ initial B concentrations. Moreover, the results from batch adsorption study demonstrated that dried L. gibba had a higher B loading capacity compare to other dried plants, and B sorption capacity of dried L. gibba was found as 2.23 mg/g. The optimum pH value for sorption modules was found as neutral pH (pH = 7) in the batch adsorption experiment. Boron sorption from irrigation water samples fitted the Langmuir model, mostly B removed from irrigation water during the first 2 h of contact time. Techno-economic analysis indicated that EWTM is a promising method that appears to be both economically and ecologically feasible, and it can also provide a sustainable and practical strategy for farmers to prevent B toxicity in their agricultural zones.