Litter surveys were carried out in August and September 2020 to determine the contribution of Sabaki River and estuary in modifying the quantities of litter entering the oceans. The river discharged 0.035 items ms translating to an estimated annual litter flux of between 6,622,560 and 614,952,000. The surveys in the estuary revealed that plastics contributed 90.8% of the total litter. Wet and dry zones had mean litter accumulation rates of 2.7 ± 1.1 and 4.4 ± 3.5 items m day respectively. 69.8% and 77.4% of branded litter were of Kenyan origin and food packaging material respectively. The litter turnover was slightly higher in the dry beach zone compared to the wet zone with a Whitakker Beta diversity of 0.36 and 0.33 respectively. Sabaki estuary acted as a sink for litter during flooding (through burial) and as a source (through exposure of buried litter due to wind and rain action).
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113397 | DOI Listing |
Ecology
January 2025
Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Department of Biology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.
Fungi play a crucial role in aquatic leaf litter decomposition. Aquatic fungi have long been thought to spend the majority of their lives in the water. Here, we explore the possibility of an amphibious life cycle, where phyllosphere fungi spend part of their life cycle in aquatic systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Laboratoire de Géologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, Paris 75005, France.
The insulative properties of soil organic carbon (SOC) and surface organic layers (moss, lichens, litter) regulate surface-atmosphere energy exchanges in the Arctic through a coupling with soil temperatures. However, a physical description of this process is lacking in many climate models, potentially biasing their high-latitude climate predictions. Using a coupled surface-atmosphere model, we identified a strong feedback loop between soil insulation, surface air temperature, and snowfall.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Manage
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China. Electronic address:
In farmland shelterbelt systems, the decomposition and/or apoptosis of forest fine root litter could affect farmland soil properties at the tree-crop interface, particularly the soil nitrogen (N) cycling. However, how fine root litter affect the ammonia (NH) and nitrous oxide (NO) losses from farmland soil and the crop production is little known. A soil column experiment covering a whole rice season was conducted to evaluate the dynamics aforesaid in response to fine root litter of Populus (RP) and Metasequoia glyptostroboides (RM) with 0 and 240 kg ha N fertilizer input.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
January 2025
Department of Geography, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California at Berkeley, USA.
Wetland macrophytes play a critical role in the performance of treatment wetlands (TWs), primarily through nutrient uptake. However, this retention is temporary, as nutrients are released back into the water upon the decomposition of plant litter. The removal of stored nutrients from TWs can be efficiently achieved by harvesting plants during the peak of the growing season, albeit with significant ecological disturbance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPak J Pharm Sci
January 2025
Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Alkhurmah University College, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia.
The purpose of the current study was to investigate the potential ameliorating murine reproductive effects of herbal tea extracts against bisphenol A-induced (BPA) cytotoxicity. A comparative study was applied among red, green and blue teas in mice groups. Samples were coded as RTE, GTE and BTE groups, respectively.
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