Search Results (959)

Microplastics (MPs) are increasingly recognized as emerging contaminants, making a systematic understanding of the co-occurrence patterns between MPs and conventional heavy metals (HMs) essential for addressing composite environmental risks. This study investigated MP abundance, morphology, and polymer composition, together with HM concentrations and chemical speciation in greenhouse farmlands across the Anning Valley, China, spanning different cultivation histories (1–8 years) and soil depths (0–40 cm). The results revealed that longer cultivation histories were accompanied by a marked accumulation of MPs, characterized by pronounced topsoil enrichment. MPs abundance increased from 758.53 n/kg in newly cultivated plots to 3373.19 n/kg in long-term plots, with topsoil level being 2.6 times higher than those in deeper layers (2462.25 vs. 951.25 n/kg). Under long-term cultivation, heavy metal contamination escalated, and contamination hotspots shifted from deeper soil to the MP-rich topsoil. In topsoil, HM also exhibited a higher proportion of potentially mobile fractions, reflecting greater potential mobility and bioavailability. Statistical associations between MPs and HMs co-varied with soil pH, organic matter, and coarse soil fractions, indicating complex inter-relationships influenced by shared agricultural management practices. This association weakened with soil depth and varied among elements, with Cd showing the strongest relationship with MPs and becoming the dominant contributor to HM risks. These findings demonstrate that farmland MP–HM co-contamination is spatially heterogeneous and metal-specific, providing field-scale evidence for improving ecological risk assessment and soil quality management under long-term plastic use. Full article

Cultivated land health is fundamental to regional food security and sustainable agricultural development, particularly in hilly and mountainous areas where land fragmentation and natural constraints are pronounced. Taking Macheng City in the Dabie Mountains as the study area, this study constructed a 23-indicator cultivated land health evaluation system based on the Driving Force–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework using multi-source spatial and socioeconomic data for 2014 and 2024. Indicator weights were determined by the Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) method, and cultivated land health was evaluated using a TOPSIS–GRA coupling model. Hot spot analysis and the geographical detector were used to identify spatiotemporal patterns and driving factors. The combined proportion of healthy and very healthy cultivated land increased from 54.08% to 58.92%, although the five DPSIR subsystems showed divergent trends. High-value clusters were concentrated in western plains and river valleys, while persistent cold spots occurred in eastern mountainous areas. Agricultural mechanization was the dominant driver in 2024 (q = 0.4946). The driving mechanism shifted from labor and material inputs toward the joint influence of mechanization and natural background conditions. These findings provide empirical evidence that improvement in an aggregate cultivated land health index does not necessarily indicate balanced improvement across the underlying subsystems, offering a case-based reference for mountain–hill agricultural regions undergoing similar transitions. Full article

Shifting cultivation is often credited with ecological benefits once land is left fallow, yet how long that fallow period must last before soil properties recover remains poorly defined. This study examined soil physical and chemical recovery across a fallow chronosequence spanning one to seven years in northern Thailand. This research aims to identify the fallow duration at which soil functions approach a forest-like state. Soil samples from fallow plots of varying ages were compared against actively cultivated fields, orchards, and undisturbed natural forest. Soil physical properties—including bulk density and porosity—alongside available nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, remained statistically stable across the evaluated fallow stages. No statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) were observed when comparing these shifting cultivation stages to the natural forest soils. These quantitative results indicate that instead of a dynamic temporal trajectory, the local shifting cultivation system maintains a steady-state baseline, sustaining soil physical structure and nutrient pools at levels equivalent to the natural forest ecosystem. Most notably, seven-year fallow plots recorded the highest soil organic carbon and organic matter contents among all fallow ages, with a carbon stock of 77.85 ± 8.11 Mg ha⁻¹ that matched, and slightly exceeded, the 76.76 ± 12.09 Mg ha⁻¹ measured in adjacent natural forest. This highlights the potential of traditional shifting cultivation as a climate-resilient land-use practice for regional climate change mitigation. Full article

A two-stage system combining biofilm denitrification and iron electrocoagulation was evaluated for treatment of real hydroponic wastewater from soilless tomato cultivation. Biofilm reactors received sodium acetate (train A) or acetic acid (train B) at a C/N ratio of 1.5, followed by electrocoagulation with iron electrodes at 1.25 A/m²; hydraulic retention time was 12 h per stage. The biological stage removed 76.9–77.5% of total nitrogen (TN) and 94.3–95.7% of total phosphorus (TP), with elevated pH promoting phosphate precipitation with naturally occurring calcium and magnesium. After electrocoagulation, overall TN removal reached 83.6–86.7% and nitrogen speciation shifted from nitrite to nitrate dominance, although residual nitrite remained 21.9–22.1 mg N/L. Residual TN remained 96.7–126.8 mg N/L, above the 30 mg N/L discharge limit. Final TP decreased to 1.5–2.5 mg P/L, below the discharge limit. Overall TOC removal reached 96.3–97.0%. The cumulative sludge had a low volatile fraction (20.0–24.2% VSS) and was enriched in phosphorus and potassium, indicating potential for nutrient recovery. Thus, the sequential system achieved phosphorus compliance and substantial nitrogen reduction, but additional nitrogen treatment is required before discharge. Full article

In this study, two independent comparative Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) were conducted to evaluate the environmental performance of food waste prevention interventions under real supply chain conditions. The first assessed a retail-level price discount intervention (PDI) for sub-optimal tomatoes implemented by an online fresh produce retailer in Spain, while the second assessed a shelf-life allocation optimisation intervention (SLOI) for yogurt implemented by a Danish dairy manufacturer in collaboration with two wholesalers. Both studies followed the ISO 14040/44 standards, adopted an attributional framework, and applied the Environmental Footprint (EF) v3.1 method across 16 midpoint impact categories, comparing each intervention against a baseline reflecting conventional practice. The PDI achieved a 98.6% reduction in unsold tomatoes ending up as waste, lowering upstream cultivation demand by 6.7% per functional unit (1 t of tomatoes sold by retailer) and key impact categories by 6.7–7.1%, with tomato cultivation identified as the dominant hotspot (60–99% of total impacts). The SLOI reduced overproduction by 76% and total yogurt output by 5.9% per functional unit (1 t of yogurt supplied by wholesalers), resulting in a 94.6% reduction in factory waste and 18.8% reduction at the wholesale level. Environmental impacts decreased by 5.8–6.7%, with milk production as the dominant hotspot (88–99% of total impacts). No burden-shifting effects were observed, and sensitivity analyses confirmed the stability of results. Overall, both case studies showed that food waste prevention interventions, whether implemented at retail or supply chain levels, consistently reduced upstream environmental burdens per unit of product delivered. Full article

Halophyte crops offer a promising solution for food production and nutrient recovery in salt-affected coastal environments where conventional agriculture is increasingly constrained; yet, the cultivation performance of edible halophytes remains strongly influenced by the substrate configuration and nutrient management. This study evaluated, across three sequential experiments, how the substrate type (shallow floating raft versus expanded clay beads) and nutrient regime were associated with biomass production and allocation in three halophyte species, Salicornia bigelovii (glasswort), Sesuvium portulacastrum (sea purslane), and Batis maritima (saltwort), cultivated in a recirculating raceway system at the Naguabo Aquaculture Center, Puerto Rico, across three sequential experiments: no nutrient addition, nutrient-managed mixed culture (N:P = 4:1), and nutrient-managed species-separated culture. Floating raft substrate consistently enhanced the total biomass and productivity over clay, for glasswort and sea purslane in the two experiments where the substrate could be formally tested at the tank level (effect sizes that are large to extremely large), while saltwort showed no significant substrate effect in either; a consistent raft advantage was also observed descriptively under species-separated culture, though the confounded design of that experiment did not permit formal statistical testing. Nutrient management was associated with species-specific effects: sea purslane total and edible biomass were higher under enrichment; glasswort edible fractions remained stable while the total biomass was lower, indicating allocation shifts rather than yield gains; and saltwort biomass was higher under enrichment, though this increase was not statistically significant under species-separated culture. These findings indicate that halophyte productivity was associated with the substrate configuration, nutrient context, and species-specific physiology, with floating raft systems showing a consistent biomass advantage over clay within this system and nutrient strategies warranting species-specific tailoring. Full article

Occlusal splints used for bruxism prevention can accumulate Candida albicans biofilms, highlighting the need to evaluate disinfectant efficacy. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the nanomechanical properties and nanoadhesion force of C. albicans cells and the efficacy of disinfectant solutions on three occlusal splint resins: 3D Bio-Splint (3D-printed), EvoBlock Monocor (milled), and Vipicril (conventional heat-polymerized resin, control). Methods: Circular specimens (10 × 1.2 mm; n = 60 per resin for the microbiological assays) were polished, immersed in artificial saliva for 56 h, and subjected to 70 brushing cycles to simulate one week of use. After mature C. albicans biofilm formation, specimens were disinfected for 10 min with 0.25% sodium hypochlorite, 2% chlorhexidine, sodium perborate (Corega Tabs), 0.1% PHMB, or PBS (control). CFU/mL counts, XTT assay, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were performed. The surface roughness, Young’s modulus, and real-time adhesion of individual C. albicans cells onto the resins were measured by employing an atomic force microscopy (AFM) and AFM-based single-cell force spectroscopy (SCFS) with functionalized C. albicans probes. Results: The 3D-printed resin was the roughest material. Single-cell adhesion was characterized descriptively: the force and energy distributions obtained on the milled resin were shifted towards lower values in all four cell probes, whereas those obtained on the conventional and 3D-printed resins were similar. For biofilm formation, resin type, disinfection protocol, and their interaction significantly affected outcomes (p < 0.001). The printed resin showed the highest microbial load in the control group (63.4 × 10⁶ CFU/mL), whereas the milled resin showed the lowest (3.9 × 10⁵ CFU/mL). Chlorhexidine eliminated CFU counts in all resins, although residual metabolic activity ranged from 10.4% to 40.4%. PHMB on the printed resin showed the greatest discrepancy between residual CFU (4.9% of the control) and cell viability (93.4%), suggesting the persistence of metabolically active cells despite the reduction in cultivable microorganisms. The AFM nanocharacterization showed median Young’s modulus values of 9.92 GPa for the milled resin, 6.44 GPa for the 3D-printed resin, and 4.92 GPa for the conventional resin. Conclusions: The 3D-printed resin showed the highest surface roughness at nanoscale and was more susceptible to microbial colonization than the milled resin and more resistant to the effect of the disinfectants. Chlorhexidine was the most effective disinfectant, since it reduced the CFU to zero and significantly reduced the metabolic activity of C. albicans for all the occlusal splint resins. Full article

The Jiangsu coastal zone has experienced substantial land use/land cover (LULC) changes under intensified anthropogenic activities, while spectral confusion caused by land–sea interactions increases the difficulty of accurate LULC classification. This study investigated LULC dynamics in the Jiangsu coastal zone in 2000, 2008, 2016, and 2024 using Landsat imagery and the Google Earth Engine platform. A total of 33 features, including spectral bands, spectral indices, texture, topographic variables, and nighttime light data, were extracted. To improve classification accuracy and model generalization, a Pearson-SHAP-RFE feature selection framework was developed by integrating Pearson correlation analysis, SHapley Additive exPlanations, and recursive feature elimination. Four classification algorithms, namely Random Forest, Extreme Gradient Boosting, Classification and Regression Trees, and Support Vector Machine, were compared. Feature selection improved classification accuracy across the four algorithms, with improvements ranging from 4.05% to 5.15% compared with the spectral feature baseline. Random Forest achieved the highest overall accuracy of 92.28%, with a Kappa coefficient of 0.9019. The long-term classification results showed that LULC changes mainly occurred among forest–grassland, construction land, and cultivated land. Water bodies showed the smallest centroid shift, whereas cultivated land exhibited the greatest spatial displacement. Full article

Climate change can alter the potential distribution patterns of species, and the responses of medicinal plants to environmental change are directly relevant to resource conservation and the planning of suitable cultivation regions. Using the MaxEnt model, we combined occurrence records of four Alisma species (Alisma canaliculatum, A. gramineum, A. orientale, and A. plantago-aquatica) with climatic, topographic, edaphic, and human-activity variables to predict their potential suitable habitats under current conditions and two future periods (2041–2060 and 2081–2100) under three Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5). Two hypotheses were tested: (1) species with narrower thermal niches exhibit greater sensitivity to climate change; and (2) closely related species show significant divergence in dominant environmental factors and spatial responses. All models demonstrated good predictive performance (AUC > 0.9). Dominant environmental factors differed markedly among species: A. canaliculatum and A. orientale were primarily constrained by temperature-related variables, whereas A. gramineum and A. plantago-aquatica were more strongly associated with human activity intensity and precipitation-related variables. Consistent with the hypotheses, the potential suitable habitat of A. orientale was projected to change most strongly, while that of A. gramineum remained the most stable. Under the high-emission scenario, the potential suitable habitat of A. canaliculatum was projected to shift northward, accompanied by an increase in total suitable area. A. orientale and A. plantago-aquatica exhibited internal habitat reorganization, characterized by contraction of low-suitability areas and expansion of high-suitability areas. These findings clarify the niche differentiation patterns of closely related species and identify regions where habitat suitability may be retained, lost, or gained, thereby providing a scientific basis for the adaptive management and conservation planning of these medicinal plants under future climate change. Full article

Accurate acquisition of biomass and yield information for protected vegetable crops is essential for crop growth assessment, environmental regulation, optimal harvest timing, and production planning. With advances in machine vision, spectral sensing, and artificial intelligence technologies, research in this field is shifting from destructive sampling and single-time-point estimation toward non-contact, multisource, continuous monitoring and dynamic prediction. Focusing on protected leafy and fruit vegetables, this review summarizes biomass and yield indicators and their ground-truth measurement methods and compares the characteristics of RGB imaging, three-dimensional vision, spectral sensing, and environmental data. It then reviews advances in biomass estimation, continuous growth monitoring, and harvest prediction for leafy vegetables, as well as flower and fruit sensing, fruit counting, individual fruit mass estimation, and stage-specific harvest yield prediction for fruit vegetables. Current research is expanding from static estimation at the individual-plant level to growth-process monitoring and stage-specific yield prediction, but challenges remain, including interference from complex environments, difficulties in the spatiotemporal alignment of multisource data, incomplete continuous information, and limited model adaptability. Future research should strengthen robust sensing under complex conditions, dynamic multisource fusion, and mechanistic–data-driven integration, thereby advancing the field from individual-plant estimation toward dynamic monitoring of cultivation units and production decision support. Full article

As artificial intelligence automates routine technical operations, the irreplaceable human contribution shifts toward technical application innovation—making useful improvements within existing technical frameworks through contextual judgment and adaptive problem-solving. China’s vocational undergraduate education system, expanding from 15 pilot institutions in 2019 to 124 by June 2026, is uniquely positioned to cultivate this capability, yet how such innovation is activated through teacher–student interaction remains empirically unexamined. Grounded in symbolic interaction theory, this study employed an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. A qualitative phase (n = 10) using theory-informed qualitative analysis produced a three-layer account of symbolic transmission, symbolic reception, and interactive mechanisms. A quantitative phase (N = 386) developed a 35-item scale and conducted an initial psychometric evaluation across six institutions. Structural equation modeling showed that interactive mechanisms had the strongest association with technical application innovation capability (β = 0.453), that symbolic reception showed stronger associations with the outcome than symbolic transmission in student self-reports, and that 38–44% of the association between symbolic rules and innovation passed through interactive mechanisms. These patterns are consistent with an innovation-as-emergence-from-interaction framework and provide a starting point for positioning vocational undergraduate education in the AI era. Full article

The growing demand for sustainable protein sources has accelerated the development of plant-based, microbial, cultivated, and insect proteins. This review combines a systematic analysis of Scopus-indexed publications with bibliometric mapping in Biblioshiny and VOSviewer and a comparative synthesis across environmental, economic, technological, nutritional, and social dimensions. The bibliometric results show a shift from technology-specific studies toward sustainability, circular bioeconomy, life-cycle assessment, consumer acceptance, and protein-transition research. No platform consistently outperforms the others across all dimensions. Plant-based proteins are currently the most technologically mature and economically competitive; microbial proteins offer high resource efficiency and circularity; cultivated meat most closely reproduces conventional meat but remains constrained by cost and energy demand; and insect proteins support nutrient recycling but face persistent acceptance and regulatory barriers. The evidence indicates that future sustainable protein systems will depend on complementary rather than competing production platforms. Integrating these technologies according to their distinct functional and sustainability advantages provides a promising pathway toward resilient and resource-efficient food systems and offers a basis for research priorities, technology development, investment, and policy strategies supporting the global protein transition. Full article

Selenium (Se) biofortification of microalgae is a promising strategy for producing functional biomass with enhanced nutritional value. This study evaluates the effect of sodium selenite (Na₂SeO₃) supplementation to the culture medium on the biochemical profile of Limnospira platensis cultivated under intensive growth conditions with an elevated CO₂ concentration (3 vol.%). Two consecutive cultivation experiments were conducted using Na₂SeO₃ supplementations of 10, 20, 40, and 80 mg/L along with a control (0 mg/L). In the second experiment, biomass previously cultivated at 20 mg/L served as the inoculum to evaluate the response of a pre-adapted culture. Biomass productivity, protein, carbohydrate, lipid, pigment, CHNS composition, Se accumulation, and macro- and microelement contents were determined. Maximum biomass productivity (0.369 g·L⁻¹·day⁻¹) was obtained at 10 mg/L. The most severe disruptions to biochemical and elemental parameters occur at 80 mg/L. This concentration triggers a statistically significant reduction in protein content (down to 46.98% in the first experiment), an accumulation of mercury, an elevation in carbohydrates, and a corresponding shift in the C/N ratio. The second experiment demonstrated enhanced metabolic stability of the pre-adapted culture, including preservation of protein content under high selenium stress and normalization of copper accumulation, indicating the adaptive capacity of L. platensis to prolonged selenium exposure. The concentration of Se in the biomass grown under 0 (control), 10, 20 and 80 mg/L of Na₂SeO₃ was 0.5, 88.7, 394.0 and 762.0 mg/kg, respectively. Overall, a method for producing L. platensis biomass with a controlled Se content has been demonstrated. Based on these findings, Na₂SeO₃ concentrations of 10–40 mg/L are recommended for producing Se-enriched biomass, balancing productivity, nutritional quality, and elemental safety. The nutritional efficacy of the biomass obtained using this method should be the subject of future research. Full article

Long-term grape cultivation alters soil acid–base properties and nitrogen transformation processes, yet the mechanisms underlying the changes in soil physical and chemical properties as well as nitrogen components remain unclear. In this study, four grape vineyards with cultivation ages of 0.5 (newly established, Y0.5), 4 (Y4), 16 (Y16), and 22 years (Y22) in Penglai, Yantai, China, were selected as research subjects. Soil nitrogen pools, key nitrogen hydrolase activities, and chiA gene community assembly, as well as their internal regulatory relationships were investigated. The results revealed that cultivation age significantly reshaped soil nitrogen speciation: Y16 vineyards exhibited the highest concentrations of total nitrogen, mineral nitrogen, microbial biomass nitrogen, and labile hydrolyzable ammonium nitrogen (HAN), representing a critical inflection point of soil nitrogen supply capacity. With prolonged cultivation to 22 years, soil nitrogen pools shifted toward recalcitrant stable organic nitrogen (stable-SON), accompanied by significant accumulation of amino sugar nitrogen (ASN). Activities of N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), urease, amidase and leucine aminopeptidase were markedly suppressed in Y16 soils. Both Chao1 richness and Shannon diversity indices of chiA gene communities reached the minimum values at 16 years, and PCoA confirmed distinct community separation of Y16 from other age groups. Soil pH, ammonium nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen were the dominant environmental filters governing chiA community composition. Actinomycetota and Pseudomonadota dominated the chiA-harboring microbiota, with acid-tolerant Streptomyces significantly enriched in Y16, while keystone genera Nonomuraea and Pseudoxanthomonas mediated the conversion between labile and stable organic nitrogen pools. Redundancy analysis demonstrated that chiA community composition (25.5% explanation), chiA α-diversity (19.3% explanation), and NAG activity (14.6% explanation) were the primary drivers of soil organic nitrogen fraction variation. Results support a four-level cascading framework wherein stand-age-induced soil acidification and altered N inputs drive shifts in chiA-harboring microbial diversity and community structure, which in turn modulate nitrogen hydrolase activities and ultimately govern the reciprocal transformation between labile and stable organic nitrogen pools, resulting in stage-specific nitrogen supply capacity. This study clarifies the microbial gene–enzyme–nitrogen pool coupling mechanism in chronosequence vineyards and provides theoretical guidance for targeted nitrogen management of aged vineyards. Full article

This study examines how sustainable leadership fosters a regenerative mindset in the hospitality industry by enhancing ecological knowledge and promoting the development of sustainability-focused services. Drawing on Dynamic Capability Theory, the research demonstrates that sustainable leadership cultivates a range of organizational strengths, enabling hotels to transcend conventional sustainability practices and achieve substantive regenerative growth. A quantitative survey was administered to employees of four- and five-star hotels in Egypt. Data from 420 valid responses were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) using JASP (0.98.1). The measurement model was evaluated, and the structural model and hypothesis testing were conducted in JASP. The results indicate that sustainable leadership enhances both ecological knowledge and sustainability-oriented service innovation. Furthermore, ecological knowledge serves as a catalyst for innovation that reinforces regenerative orientation. This study advances Dynamic Capability Theory by introducing a stepwise framework that elucidates how sustainable leadership supports regenerative orientation through interconnected organizational strengths. It contributes to the field of regenerative hospitality by shifting the emphasis from harm reduction to the development of capabilities that generate enduring ecological and social value. Additionally, the research provides practical guidance for hotels seeking to initiate a regenerative transformation. Full article