Environments, Volume 12, Issue 7

The use of chloride-based deicing salts, particularly sodium chloride (NaCl) and calcium chloride (CaCl₂), is a common practice in cold regions for maintaining road safety during winter. However, the accumulation of salt residues in adjacent soils po...

As marine heatwaves increase in frequency, more rapid means of documenting their impacts are needed. Herein, several thousand coral reef photos were captured before, during, and/or after high-temperature-induced bleaching events in the Central Red Se...

Feathers are commonly used to monitor trace elements in birds, including heavy metals. Typically, a single feather is analyzed to avoid harming living birds, assuming it reflects the organism’s overall contamination. To verify this assumption,...

Native and invasive plants of the riverain region undergo a range of environmental stresses that result in excess reactive oxygen species (ROS). Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is a relatively stable and quickly quantifiable way among different ROS. The her...

This study aims to improve the understanding of, and provide insights into, the environmental fate of herbicides currently used in agriculture, which is addressed through the analysis of the quality of canal water used for irrigation and the agricult...

CO₂-biomethanation was studied in the present manuscript by considering the direct injection of hydrogen into a conventional anaerobic digester treating sewage sludge within a simulated wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The plant was simulated using...

The worldwide air pollution situation reveals significant environmental challenges. In addition to being a major contributor to the deterioration of air quality, particulate matter (PM) is also an important factor affecting the performance of solar e...

Animal production generates gas emissions. It is imperative to reduce them as projections suggest that emissions will continue to increase with rising temperatures, alongside the intensification of agriculture to meet global food demand. Slurry acidi...

Air pollution caused by CO₂ emissions has become a global issue of vital importance, posing irreversible risks to health and life when concentration of CO₂ becomes too high. This study aims to estimate the CO₂ emissions and carbon footprint of the pu...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the concept of Water Quality Volume (WQv) as a Best Management Practice (BMP) to treat the first 25.4 mm of rainfall in urban areas, aiming to capture approximately 90% of annual runoff. Howeve...

Improper emissions from industrial activities pose toxicological risks to groundwater safety. Based on an environmental forensic identification case involving livestock (sheep) damage caused by groundwater pollution in a pastoral area, we comprehensi...

The advance of the soil desertification process and water salinisation hinders reforestation actions in the Brazilian semiarid region due to the negative effects on the initial establishment of seedlings. Knowledge of potential species for overcoming...

In the intersecting field of energy consumption and human well-being, many macro-level studies link national energy use with well-being. These studies often rely on aggregate data, however, limiting insights into intra-national inequities and diverse...

Urban pluvial flooding (UPF) is an increasingly critical issue due to rapid urbanization and intensified precipitation driven by climate change that yet remains understudied in the Caribbean. This study analyzes the effects of UPF resulting from the...

Stream metabolism is traditionally defined as the combined metabolism of all aerobic organisms in a stream. Its component processes of oxygenic photosynthesis and aerobic respiration create and consume dissolved oxygen (DO) and therefore can be measu...

Macrophytes are important components of aquatic ecosystems performing essential ecological functions. Their species composition and density reflect the ecological status of water bodies. The optimal ratio of morphological types of macrophytes is an i...

Nanomaterials (NMs) are currently widely used in a wide range of industrial production and scientific applications, starting from molecular and medical diagnostics to agriculture. In the agricultural and food systems, NMs are now used in various ways...

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation can be used to inactivate microorganisms, with upper-room UV germicidal irradiation (UR-UVGI) representing a promising approach. This study investigated the inactivation of the airborne surrogate virus Phi6 by a UR-UVGI sys...

Livestock contributes to global warming through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reducing these emissions is an ongoing challenge for the small ruminant sector. Despite its significant role in national economies, limited studies on the carbon footprin...

The use of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) is steadily growing as the world’s population both increases and ages. Many of these products are released into the environment via municipal wastewater treatment plants and onsite w...

The biosphere (as the habitat of all species, including humans) and its self-organization, to provide deep interactions and support biodiversity, require full understanding and appropriate environmental policy making [...]

The presence of persistent contaminants in soils is of growing concern around the world. Contaminated soils can affect numerous ecological environments and lead to significant health risks to humans, affecting soil biodiversity, structure and geomech...

Substantial boosts in the low-energy nano-oxygenation of incoming process water were achieved at a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) upstream of activated sludge (AS) aeration lanes on a single-pass basis by means of an electric field nanob...

This study investigates the salinization processes affecting the coastal aquifer within the Torre Guaceto State Nature Reserve, a Mediterranean coastal area characterized by a unique ecological value of a brackish wetland threatened by water-intensiv...

Extreme weather events, such as marine heatwaves (MHWs), pose serious threats to the aquaculture sector, facilitating the occurrence of disease outbreaks and compromising farmed animals’ welfare and survival. Hence, finding eco-innovative strat...

The increasing occurrence of micropollutants in aquatic environments has become a global concern due to their persistence, potential toxicity, and resistance to conventional water treatment processes [...]

The use of trees to revegetate urban areas contaminated by mining activity is a low-cost, low-maintenance technique, of which the success will depend on the plant species, planting methods, and geochemical processes at the soil-plant interface. This...

Trail erosion is a global issue, particularly in mountainous regions, that is largely driven by increased tourist flows and uncontrolled trampling. Our study was conducted in the Bucegi Mountains, Southern Carpathians, Romania, along three of the mos...

Changing climatic conditions are significant determinants of agricultural productivity. Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state and the second-largest agricultural producer in Brazil. The suitability of its land for farming can be used as a proxy...

Microalgae have long been recognized for their potential in biofuel production and wastewater treatment, but their broader capabilities remain underexplored. This opinion paper presents a case for a significant shift in how microalgae are conceptuali...

Water is scarce in semi-arid regions due to environmental limitations; this situation is aggravated by changes in land use and land cover (LULC). In this respect, the basic ecological functions of Permanent Preservation Areas (PPAs) help to maintain...

Shallow lakes are highly vulnerable to pollution due to their small water volume. Those that receive effluent from the drainfields of onsite wastewater treatment systems (septic tanks) may contain pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) th...

Drinking Water Safety Plans (DWSP) in buildings serve to identify health hazards associated with the drinking water system. Sanitation Safety Plans (SSP) fulfill the same purpose for the sewage system. Water Safety Plans (WSP) include DWSPs, SSPs, an...

The standard methods for sediment phosphorus (P) fractionation are impractical for use with suspended solids due to the inherent difficulties associated with collecting sufficient sample quantities for analysis. To allow the fractionation analysis of...

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are important contributors to indoor and occupational air pollution, such as environments involving the extensive use of paints and solvents. The routine measurement of VOCs is often limited by resource constraints,...

As a legacy of historical metal mining and the processing and smelting of metalliferous ores, metal pollution is a serious environmental problem in many areas around the globe. This review summarizes the history, technical development and environment...

This study explores the bioaccumulation behavior of heavy metals (cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn)) in lavender (Lavandula spp.) cultivated under controlled greenhouse conditions to assess its potential in sustainable phytoremediation. The plan...

The progressive commercial deployment of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) raises concerns about their terrestrial ecotoxicity. We exposed adult Cornu aspersum (150 snails; five replicates of three animals per time-point) to 50 mg L⁻¹ MWCN...

Air pollution is one of the most serious environmental threats, with particulate matter PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 representing its most harmful components, significantly affecting public health. These particles are primarily generated by transport, industry, re...

The intensive use of nitrogen (N) fertilizers in maize (Zea mays L.) cropping in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) contributes significantly to nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions. Due to limited data on emissions and emission factors (EFs) in SSA, this study inves...

Ocean ecosystem services provisioning is driven by phytoplankton, which form the base of the ocean food chain in aquatic ecosystems and play a critical role as the Earth‘s carbon sink. Phytoplankton is highly sensitive to temperature, making it...