Environmental Science and Pollution Research最新文献

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is important to reduce the adverse effects of pesticides on human health. Nevertheless, there are several factors why farmers decide not to use PPE. With official data from the Continuous Area and Agricultural Production Survey (ESPAC) 2022, this paper analyzes the determinants of the use of PPE in Ecuadorian agriculture. This large data set (n = 10,039) with national representation provides a complete picture of the country’s diverse ethnicities, geographies, and crops. The results reveal that a majority of operators in the sample (96.53%) used at least one PPE item while handling pesticides, with long sleeve shirts and rubber boots the most frequently used PPE items. The results of a Poisson regression model show that the use of PPE is strongly influenced by ethnicity, with indigenous, afro-Ecuadorian, and montubio operators wearing fewer PPE items than their mestizo peers. Overall, wealthier and more educated operators who have received training on the use of pesticides are more willing to wear PPE. Similarly, those who use less toxic (Class II and Class III) pesticides wear more PPE items. Operators engaged in the production of rice, plantains, and potatoes are less willing to wear PPE items, while those growing bananas, oil palm, and broccoli tend to use more PPE items. Developing ethnic-specific training programs that observe indigenous knowledge, cultural beliefs, and practices and increasing the availability of low-cost PPE are explored as alternatives to promote the use of PPE in Ecuadorian agriculture.

Glacier retreat has become a major concern in recent decades, which is contributing to the formation and expansion of glacial lakes. These lakes are particularly susceptible to Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) due to adverse climatic conditions and geotectonic settings. In this paper, we utilize the multi-temporal Sentinel2 and Landsat imagery, digital elevation model (DEM), seismic and meteorological data to assess the susceptibility associated with more than thirteen hundred glacial lakes present in the Northwest Himalayan region of India. The Northwest Himalayan region witnessed ~ 8.71% growth in the total area of these lakes (area ≥ 0.01 km²) from 2018 to 2022, with elevations between 5000–6000 m exhibiting the most noticeable increase. We incorporated the analytic hierarchy process (AHP)–Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and AHP–complex proportional assessment (COPRAS) approaches to identify potentially dangerous glacial lakes (PDGLs), using 15 key criteria. More than 6 lakes were identified as having a high susceptibility to GLOF, whereas more than 16 lakes were categorized as moderately susceptible. The Indus sub-basin has the largest glacial lakes with a higher likelihood of a potential GLOF event, followed by the Jhelum and Qura-Qush sub-basins. To validate our approach, we studied the historical GLOF events that occurred in the study area. Our analysis finds that the majority of the past GLOFs are identified as PDGLs, either in the high or moderate category. This finding is consistent with the fact that these lakes indeed led to outburst events, therefore confirming the validity of the two approaches employed to evaluate the susceptibility of the glacial lakes. Furthermore, we observed that temperature in the region shows a rising trend across seasons, while precipitation decreases in spring, followed by winter and summer, with a gradual increase in autumn.

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) offers a sustainable method for producing bio-oil from algal biomass. Evaluating the microwave- and ultrasonic-pretreatment HTL and examining the quality of bio-oil obtained from HTL of marine macroalgae, namely Sargassum and Caulerpa, are the main objectives and novelty behind this work. Algal feedstocks were pretreated by microwave (500 W and 600 W) or ultrasonic (50 W and 75 W) before heating up to 350 oC for 35 min in the HTL reactor. Results showed that Sargassum and Caulerpa displayed completely different behaviors in pretreatment. The bio-oil yield from Sargassum went up by increasing microwave and ultrasonic pretreatment power. Although the microwave-assisted HTL of Caulerpa yielded more bio-oil than ultrasonication, it did not achieve the bio-oil production levels of the conventional HTL process. The highest yield and HHV of bio-oil were obtained for 22.4 wt% and 35.56 MJ/kg for Sargassum with microwave pretreatment, while the pretreatment power had a negative effect on those from Caulerpa by decreasing quantity and quality. It was also found that 56.41% of the bio-oil components were acids for Caulerpa, and 34.6% were ketones for Sargassum under conventional HTL. Thermal weight loss analysis showed that 70.4% of the bio-oil derived from Sargassum obtained by HTL following ultrasonic pretreatment possesses a boiling point below 243 °C which suggests the higher quality of the bio-oil derived from Sargassum with a significant proportion of lighter compounds. The results indicate that the bio-oil obtained from Sargassum had a higher quantity and quality than that for Caulerpa. Besides, the carbon recovery of bio-oil indicated the highest amount of carbon (70.12 wt%) was achieved through the microwave pretreatment of Sargassum. Also, differences in the cellular structure of the raw materials resulted in different quality and quantity of bio-oil.

The present study reported the effectiveness of multivariate statistical tools used to monitor spatio-temporal fluctuations in the water quality of Gharni reservoir. The Gharni reservoir is situated on the Gharni river sub-basin which is a tributary of the main river Manjara located in the Marathwada rainfall deficit area of Maharashtra, India. The water body is periodically sampled at five selected locations between August 2019 and January 2021 to assess water quality of 20 parameters. Different statistical techniques were employed to handle intricate data matrices, including cluster scanning/analysis (CA), factor examination (analysis)/principal component evaluation (analysis) (FA/PCA) for data reduction, and discriminant survey/analysis (DA) for data classification. This method of hierarchical CA categorized the five sampling stations into three groups and seasons into four groups/clusters based on resemblance in the recorded physico-chemical parameter readings. The FA/PCA successfully extracted a total of 14 factors, which accounted for 70% out of the total 20 measured variables. These factors were crucial in explaining 62% of the variability observed in the data. Furthermore, the analysis pointed out the specific components/factors responsible for the alteration in the quality of reservoir water. Additionally, the dominance of individual group was evaluated in relation to the comprehensive differentiability at five distinct sampled locations. The DA yielded 14 parameters with a 99% accuracy rate for assigning correct values. The varifactors (VF) developed in the factor analysis have shown that the variation in quality of surface water was interrelated to two groups. The first group included physico-chemical parameters like dissolved oxygen, temperature, and conductivity, whereas the second group covered nutrients like chlorophyll, phosphorus, and nitrogen and were deposited in the water by soil erosion during rainy season from agricultural land. This case study demonstrates the use of multivariate statistical tools as an excellent exploratory tool for analyzing and interpreting complex data sets. It highlights their effectiveness in assessing water quality and understanding its spatio-temporal variations, ultimately assisting in the management of reservoir water quality.

This study focused on how carotenoid pigments in bacteria attached to phytoplankton protect them from singlet oxygen produced by phytoplankton during senescence, specifically under illumination of the diatom Thalassiosira sp. Its effect was analyzed on bacterial membrane structure (photooxidation of bacterial membrane lipids such as mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and on DNA repair system in two bacterial species, non-pigmented Pseudomonas stutzeri and pigmented Dinoroseobacter shibae. In P. stutzeri cells, ¹O₂ transferred from phytodetritus was not completely scavenged by bacterial membranous MUFAs and reached the cytoplasm, allowing both ¹O₂ and UV radiation to cause a rapid response of DNA repair systems. In D. shibae, scavenging by bacterial membrane MUFAs and quenching by spheroidenone allowed only a small fraction of ¹O₂ to reach the cytoplasm, as shown by a delayed and lower repair system activation. The fact that Rhodobacteriales is the dominant order in bacterioplankton communities associated with algal blooms could thus be partly due to the protective effect of its constituent carotenoids against ¹O₂- and UV-induced damage.

Biogenic coal bed methane has attracted great attention in recent years. During the process of biogas production, the interaction between microorganisms and coal is a crucial step. Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) play an important role in biogas production. However, the interaction between SRB and coal has always remained an open problem. In the present work, the SRB strain Clostridium sp. and lignite were used to investigate the adsorption process with the extended DLVO (XDLVO) theory, calorimetry, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the adsorption rate has a positive correlation with pH when it went from 3 to 8. XDLVO theoretical analysis was in good agreement with the adsorption experimental result. Acid–base potential energy is a more critical factor driving the adsorption comparing with electrostatic potential energy and Lifshitz-van Der Waals potential energy. The adsorption process of Clostridium sp. cells on lignite surface can be divided into three main stages: the direct adsorption, or reversible adsorption; desorption process; and irreversible adsorption. From the SEM results, the intercellular cohesion is also a very important adsorption form. The morphology and roughness of coal surface may also have a key effect on adsorption. Overall, our results provide some insights into the surface energy changes of Clostridium sp. adsorbed on coal and their interactions from the perspective of adsorption kinetics.

The study presents seasonal changes in nitrosamine concentrations in inhalable particulate matter (PM₁₀) collected from the atmosphere of Zonguldak, Turkey, during heating and non-heating periods, possible source apportionment, and risk assessment of human health. The daily collected PM_2.5 and PM_2.5–10 samples were analyzed for nitrosodimethylamine, nitrosomethylethylamine, nitrosodiethylamine, nitrosopyrrolidine, nitrosodipropylamine, nitrosomorpholine, nitrosoethylbutylamine, nitrosopiperidine, mono-nitrosopiperazine, di-nitrosopiperazine, nitrosodibutylamine, and nitrosodiphenylamine by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The mean concentrations of total nitrosamines in PM₁₀ were found to be 19.04 ng/m³ in summer, 113.67 ng/m³ in winter, and 98.88 ng/m³ annually, with a peak of 253.56 ng/m³ occurring in winter. The source apportionment of the analyzed data was conducted using principal component analysis, resulting in two primary factors: “Coal-Fuel Oil Combustion-Cooking” and “Traffic Emissions-Secondary Atmospheric Reaction-Landfill.” These two factors collectively accounted for 82.944% of the total variance. In order to evaluate the health risks associated with the inhalation of mutagenic and carcinogenic nitrosamines present in airborne PM₁₀, cumulative lifetime cancer risks (LCR) were calculated for different age groups based on exposure time (ET) using annual mean concentrations. The average cumulative lifetime cancer risks, represented as the number of additional cancer cases per million exposed population, were in the range of 1.57–12.57 for the 0– < 1 age group, 4.18–33.52 for the 1– < 6 age group, 5.48–43.96 for the 6– < 21 age group, and 7.70–61.61 for the 21 < 70 age group. The estimated average cumulative lifetime cancer risks from inhalation exposure to nitrosamines in urban PM10 exceed the US Environmental Protection Agency’s guideline for a negligible risk level of 1 excess cancer case per 1 million exposed individuals across all age groups. LCRs exceed the maximum acceptable value of 10 at different exposure times in all age groups but do not exceed the intolerable value of 100 in any age group.

The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of relatively large (1–5 mm) fragments of high-density polyethylene films on two widespread earthworm species belonging to different ecological groups—endogeic Aporrectodea caliginosa and epigeic Lumbricus rubellus. In a microcosm experiment lasting 8 weeks, we tested the food dilution hypothesis, which suggests that the adverse effect of microplastic on earthworms is caused by the dilution of food by plastic, which has zero energetic value. Both earthworm species ingested plastic particles, and both species were seemingly limited by the availability of food. In particular, the addition of food substrate (aspen litter) to the soil had a significant positive effect on the weight of A. caliginosa. In contrast to our expectations, microplastic at relatively high concentrations (0.3% and 2.3% w/w in the soil for A. caliginosa, and 33% and 48% w/w in the litter for L. rubellus) had no significant effect on earthworm biomass. This suggests that the food dilution effect is not likely to be the main mechanism of the adverse effect of microplastic on earthworms. Our work adds to the growing evidence that in many cases microplastic does not harm soil animals.

Microbeads are small spherical plastic particles used as exfoliants in personal care products. Unfortunately, they have been found in the marine environment and are considered a significant contributor to global plastic pollution. In response, several countries have implemented microbead bans over the last few years. Here, we examined the exfoliant (scrubbing particles) composition of 28 facial scrubs from different regions in the presence and absence of microbead bans. We identified that over half of the exfoliant types identified in this study are microbeads, revealing the persistence of microbeads across various stages of microbead ban implementation. In regions with full bans, six out of eight products still contain microbeads, with some containing up to 6298 ± 1543 beads per gram of facial wash, suggesting the need for stronger legislation enforcement. We also identified challenges in distinguishing between microbeads composed of conventional plastics and synthetic waxes by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. This study highlights the need to broaden the scope of microbead bans to include synthetic waxes, as they are not currently regulated. These findings underscore the importance of a broader and clearly articulated definition of microbeads in legislation to guide industry formulation and consumer choice of microbead-free products.