Eco-Environment & Health最新文献

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is more widespread in animals than previously thought, and it may be able to infect a wider range of domestic and wild species. To effectively control the spread of the virus and protect animal health, it is crucial to understand the cross-species transmission mechanisms and risk factors of SARS-CoV-2. This article collects published literature on SARS-CoV-2 in animals and examines the distribution, transmission routes, biophysical, and anthropogenic drivers of infected animals. The reported cases of infection in animals are mainly concentrated in South America, North America, and Europe, and species affected include lions, white-tailed deer, pangolins, minks, and cats. Biophysical factors influencing infection of animals with SARS-CoV-2 include environmental determinants, high-risk landscapes, air quality, and susceptibility of different animal species, while anthropogenic factors comprise human behavior, intensive livestock farming, animal markets, and land management. Due to current research gaps and surveillance capacity shortcomings, future mitigation strategies need to be designed from a One Health perspective, with research focused on key regions with significant data gaps in Asia and Africa to understand the drivers, pathways, and spatiotemporal dynamics of interspecies transmission.

Amyloid nanofibrils (ANFs) are supramolecular polymers originally classified as pathological markers in various human degenerative diseases. However, in recent years, ANFs have garnered greater interest and are regarded as nature-based sustainable biomaterials in environmental science, material engineering, and nanotechnology. On a laboratory scale, ANFs can be produced from food proteins via protein unfolding, misfolding, and hydrolysis. Furthermore, ANFs have specific structural characteristics such as a high aspect ratio, good rigidity, chemical stability, and a controllable sequence. These properties make them a promising functional material in water decontamination research. As a result, the fabrication and application of ANFs and their composites in water purification have recently gained considerable attention. Despite the large amount of literature in this field, there is a lack of systematic review to assess the gap in using ANFs and their composites to remove contaminants from water. This review discusses significant advancements in design techniques as well as the physicochemical properties of ANFs-based composites. We also emphasize the current progress in using ANFs-based composites to remove inorganic, organic, and biological contaminants. The interaction mechanisms between ANFs-based composites and contaminants are also highlighted. Finally, we illustrate the challenges and opportunities associated with the future preparation and application of ANFs-based composites. We anticipate that this review will shed new light on the future design and use of ANFs-based composites.

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are considered forever chemicals, gaining increasing attention for their hazardous impacts. However, the ecological effects of PFAAs remain unclear. Environmental DNA (eDNA), as the environmental gene pool, is often collected for evaluating the ecotoxicological effects of pollutants. In this study, we found that all PFAAs investigated, including perfluorohexanoic acid, perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorononanoic acid, and perfluorooctane sulfonate, even at low concentrations (0.02 and 0.05 mg/L), expedited the enzymatic degradation of DNA in a nonlinear dose–effect relationship, with DNA degradation fragment sizes being lower than 1,000 bp and 200 bp after 15 and 30 min of degradation, respectively. This phenomenon was attributed to the binding interaction between PFAAs and AT bases in DNA via groove binding. van der Waals force (especially dispersion force) and hydrogen bonding are the main binding forces. DNA binding with PFAAs led to decreased base stacking and right-handed helicity, resulting in loose DNA structure exposing more digestion sites for degrading enzymes, and accelerating the enzymatic degradation of DNA. The global ecological risk evaluation results indicated that PFAA contamination could cause medium and high molecular ecological risk in 497 samples from 11 contamination-hot countries (such as the USA, Canada, and China). The findings of this study show new insights into the influence of PFAAs on the environmental fates of biomacromolecules and reveal the hidden molecular ecological effects of PFAAs in the environment.

Japan recently announced the plan to discharge over 1.2 million tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, which contained hazardous radionuclides such as ⁶⁰Co, ⁹⁰Sr, ¹²⁵Sb, ¹²⁹I, ³H, ¹³⁷Cs, and ⁹⁹TcO₄⁻, etc. The contaminated water will pose an enormous threat to global ecosystems and human health. Developing materials and technologies for efficient radionuclide removal is highly desirable and arduous because of the extreme conditions, including super acidity or alkalinity, high ionic strength, and strong ionizing radiation. Recently, advanced porous material, such as porous POPs, MOFs, COFs, PAFs, etc., has shown promise of improved separation of radionuclides due to their intrinsic structural advantages. Furthermore, emerging technologies applied to radionuclide removal have also been summarized. In order to better deal with radionuclide contamination, higher requirements for the design of nanomaterials and technologies applied to practical radionuclide removal are proposed. Finally, we call for comprehensive implementation of strategies and strengthened cooperation to mitigate the harm caused by radioactive contamination to oceans, atmosphere, soil, and human health.

The spatial disparity of air pollutants is one of the key influential factors for environmental inequality. We quantitatively evaluated the evolution of PM_2.5 spatial disparity in China during 2013–2020, and investigated the associations between PM_2.5 spatial disparity and economic indicators. Differences in PM_2.5 between more- and less-polluted cities declined over time, suggesting decreased absolute disparity. However, the more polluted cities in 2013 remained so in 2017 and 2020, and vice versa, indicating persistent relative disparity. PM_2.5 pollution levels increased with higher GDP per capita in less-developed areas of China, but such negative effects weakened over time, while economic development tended to promote cleaner air in developed areas of China. Therefore, policies to improve air quality and promote economic development simultaneously are needed in China to reduce the disparity of air pollution and promote all people to enjoy environmental equality.

Liquid crystal monomers (LCMs) are a family of synthetic organic chemicals applied in the liquid crystal displays (LCDs) of various electric and electronic products (e-products). Due to their unique properties (i.e., persistence, bioaccumulative potential, and toxicity) and widespread environmental distributions, LCMs have attracted increasing attention across the world. Recent studies have focused on the source, distribution, fate, and toxicity of LCMs; however, a comprehensive review is scarce. Herein, we highlighted the persistence and bioaccumulation potential of LCMs by reviewing their physical–chemical properties. The naming rules were suggested to standardize the abbreviations regarding LCMs. The sources and occurrences of LCMs in different environmental compartments, including dust, sediment, soil, leachate, air and particulate, human serum, and biota samples, were reviewed. It is concluded that the LCMs in the environment mainly originate from the usage and disassembly of e-products with LCDs. Moreover, the review of the potential recycling and removal technologies regarding LCMs from waste LCD panels suggests that a combination of natural attenuation and physic-chemical remediation should be developed for LCMs remediations in the future. By reviewing the health risks and toxicity of LCMs, it is found that a large gap exists in their toxicity and risk to organisms. The fate and toxicity investigation of LCMs, and further investigations on the effects on the human exposure risks of LCMs to residents, especially to occupational workers, should be considered in the future.

Nanotechnology-enabled fertilizers and pesticides, especially those capable of releasing plant nutrients or pesticide active ingredients (AIs) in a controlled manner, can effectively enhance crop nutrition and protection while minimizing the environmental impacts of agricultural activities. Herein, we review the fundamentals and recent advances in nanofertilizers and nanopesticides with controlled-release properties, enabled by nanocarriers responsive to environmental and biological stimuli, including pH change, temperature, light, redox conditions, and the presence of enzymes. For pH-responsive nanocarriers, pH change can induce structural changes or degradation of the nanocarriers or cleave the bonding between nutrients/pesticide AIs and the nanocarriers. Similarly, temperature response typically involves structural changes in nanocarriers, and higher temperatures can accelerate the release by diffusion promoting or bond breaking. Photothermal materials enable responses to infrared light, and photolabile moieties (e.g., o-nitrobenzyl and azobenzene) are required for achieving ultraviolet light responses. Redox-responsive nanocarriers contain disulfide bonds or ferric iron, whereas enzyme-responsive nanocarriers typically contain the enzyme’s substrate as a building block. For fabricating nanofertilizers, pH-responsive nanocarriers have been well explored, but only a few studies have reported temperature- and enzyme-responsive nanocarriers. In comparison, there have been more reports on nanopesticides, which are responsive to a range of stimuli, including many with dual- or triple-responsiveness. Nano-enabled controlled-release fertilizers and pesticides show tremendous potential for enhancing the utilization efficiency of nutrients and pesticide AIs. However, to expand their practical applications, future research should focus on optimizing their performance under realistic conditions, lowering costs, and addressing regulatory and public concerns over environmental and safety risks.

Salt marsh plants play a vital role in mediating nitrogen (N) biogeochemical cycle in estuarine and coastal ecosystems. However, the effects of invasive Spartina alterniflora on N fixation and removal, as well as how these two processes balance to determine the N budget, remain unclear. Here, simultaneous quantifications of N fixation and removal via ¹⁵N tracing experiment with native Phragmites australis, invasive S. alterniflora, and bare flats as well as corresponding functional gene abundance by qPCR were carried out to explore the response of N dynamics to S. alterniflora invasion. Our results showed that N fixation and removal rates ranged from 0.77 ± 0.08 to 16.12 ± 1.13 nmol/(g·h) and from 1.42 ± 0.14 to 16.35 ± 1.10 nmol/(g·h), respectively, and invasive S. alterniflora generally facilitated the two processes rates. Based on the difference between N removal and fixation rates, net N₂ fluxes were estimated in the range of −0.39 ± 0.14 to 8.24 ± 2.23 nmol/(g·h). Estimated net N₂ fluxes in S. alterniflora stands were lower than those in bare flats and P. australis stands, indicating that the increase in N removal caused by S. alterniflora invasion may be more than offset by N fixation process. Random forest analysis revealed that functional microorganisms were the most important factor associated with the corresponding N transformation process. Overall, our results highlight the importance of N fixation in evaluating N budget of estuarine and coastal wetlands, providing valuable insights into the ecological effect of S. alterniflora invasion.