Inequality in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions intensity has risen in rural China from 1993 to 2020.

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in crop production while ensuring emission equity is crucial for sustainable agriculture in China, yet long-term large-scale data on GHG emissions intensity (GEI) are limited. Using an extensive dataset based on surveyed farm households (n > 430,000 households) from 1993 to 2020, we reveal that 2015 was a turning point for GEI levels, which dropped 16% in 2020, while inequality-measured as average GHG emissions per unit planted area-increased 13%. The key driving forces behind such trends included farmland input, all other inputs, agricultural labour input and total factor productivity but not capital input.

Elevating water table reduces net ecosystem carbon losses from global drained wetlands.

Drained wetlands are thought to be carbon (C) source hotspots, and rewetting is advocated to restore C storage in drained wetlands for climate change mitigation. However, current assessments of wetland C balance mainly focus on vertical fluxes between the land and atmosphere, frequently neglecting lateral carbon fluxes and land-use effects. Here, we conduct a global synthesis of 893 annual net ecosystem C balance (NECB) measures that include net ecosystem exchange of CO, along with C input via manure fertilization, and C removal through biomass harvest or hydrological exports of dissolved organic and inorganic carbon, across wetlands of different status and land uses.

A comparison between constructed wetland substrates: Impacts on microbial community and wastewater treatment.

Constructed wetlands (CWs) can play a crucial role in treating wastewater, and in the context of this study, the distillation byproduct of the whisky industry known as 'spent lees'. Here, we assess several different CW substrates (pea gravel, LECA and Alfagrog), with and without the addition of 20% biochar, in mesocosms set up to treat spent lees. Among the substrates tested, LECA + biochar and gravel + biochar showed promising results, with greater dissolved copper (dissCu) reduction, chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, organic carbon (OC) reduction, and pH modulation.

Water quality effects of peat rewetting and leftover conifer brash, following peatland restoration and tree harvesting.

Harvesting of plantation conifers on peatlands is carried out as part of restoration and forestry operations. In particular, in the UK and Ireland, conifer plantations on drained ombrotrophic blanket and raised bogs are increasingly being removed (by harvesting), along with blocking of drainage ditches to help raise water tables to reinitiate and restore bog vegetation and function. However, both tree harvesting and peatland restoration operations can have significant impacts on water quality at local and catchment scales.

Comparing DNA isolation and sequencing strategies for 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis in biofilm containing environments.

Bacteria are primarily responsible for biological water treatment processes in constructed wetland systems. Gravel in constructed wetlands serves as an essential substrate onto which complex bacterial biofilms may successfully grow and evolve. To fully understand the bacterial community in these systems it is crucial to properly isolate biofilms and process DNA from such substrates.

Impacts of large-scale climatic circulation on floods through precipitation and temperature in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin.

The importance of large-scale climatic circulation impacts on precipitation and floods in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin (LMRB) has been widely acknowledged. However, the mechanisms related to the impacts of circulation on floods are not yet fully understood. To address this issue, circulations were characterized by using the climate indices, and floods were represented by the flood volume and simulated using an improved hydrological-hydrodynamic model.

Enhanced phosphate removal and potential recovery from wastewater by thermo-chemically calcinated shell adsorbents.

Shell from the seafood processing industry is an under-utilised waste resource worldwide. Calcite, the major component of shell is commonly used in wastewater treatment for the removal of phosphorus (P). Here, mussel and oyster shell-based adsorbents (MSB and OSB) were used for removal of P as phosphate (PO) from aqueous solution and secondary wastewater, following preparation through chemical calcination at 700 °C.

Restoration of afforested peatland: Immediate effects on aquatic carbon loss.

Peatland restoration is undertaken to bring back key peatland ecosystem services, including carbon storage. In the case of drained, afforested blanket peatlands, restoration through drain blocking and tree removal may impact upon aquatic carbon concentrations and export, which needs to be accounted for when considering the carbon benefits of restoration. This study investigated concentrations and export of aquatic carbon from a drained, afforested blanket bog catchment, where 12% of the catchment underwent drain blocking and conifer removal (termed 'forest-to-bog' restoration), and from two control catchments: one in open bog and one that remained afforested.

Assessing hospital impact on pharmaceutical levels in a rural 'source-to-sink' water system.

It is widely recognised that inadequate removal of pharmaceuticals in wastewater may lead to their presence in surface waters. Hospitals are key point-sources for pharmaceuticals entering municipal waterways, and rural hospitals are of concern as receiving wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) may be smaller, less advanced and thus less efficient. While most research has focused on urban settings, here we present results from a rural ''source-to-sink'' study around a hospital.

Measuring restoration progress using pore- and surface-water chemistry across a chronosequence of formerly afforested blanket bogs.

During the restoration of degraded bogs and other peatlands, both habitat and functional recovery can be closely linked with nutrient cycling, which is reflected in pore- and surface-water chemistry. Several peatland restoration studies have shown that the time required for recovery of target conditions is slow (>10 years); for heavily-impacted, drained and afforested peatlands of northern Scotland, recovery time is unknown. We monitored pore- and surface-water chemistry across a chronosequence of formerly drained, afforested bog restoration sites spanning 0-17 years, using a space-for-time substitution, and compared them with open blanket bog control sites.

Exploring the effectiveness of an integrated exercise/CBT intervention for young men's mental health.

Objective: This pilot study investigated the effectiveness of a team-based sport/psychosocial intervention (Back of the Net, BTN) with an individual exercise (IE) and a control condition for the mental health of young men.

Design: Ten-week randomized control trial and eight-week post-intervention follow-up. Methods.