The integration of omics and cultivation-dependent methods could effectively determine the biological risks associated with the utilization of soil conditioners in agriculture.

In the circular economy, reusing agricultural residues, treated biowaste, and sewage sludges-commonly referred to as soil conditioners-in agriculture is essential for converting waste into valuable resources. However, these materials can also contribute to the spread of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens in treated soils. In this study, we analyzed different soil conditioners categorized into five groups: compost from source-separated biowaste and green waste, agro-industrial digestate, digestate from anaerobic digestion of source-separated biowaste, compost from biowaste digestate, and sludges from wastewater treatment plants.

Treated wastewater: A hotspot for multidrug- and colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Wastewater treatment plants are hotspots for the release of antimicrobial resistant pathogenic bacteria into aquatic ecosystems, significantly contributing to the cycle of antimicrobial resistance. Special attention should be paid to antimicrobial resistant ESKAPE bacteria, which have been identified as high-priority targets for control measures. Among them, Klebsiella pneumoniae is particularly noteworthy.

Anthropogenic pollution may enhance natural transformation in water, favouring the spread of antibiotic resistance genes.

Aquatic ecosystems are crucial in the antimicrobial resistance cycle. While intracellular DNA has been extensively studied to understand human activity's impact on antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG) dissemination, extracellular DNA is frequently overlooked. This study examines the effect of anthropogenic water pollution on microbial community diversity, the resistome, and ARG dissemination.

Causal networks of phytoplankton diversity and biomass are modulated by environmental context.

Untangling causal links and feedbacks among biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and environmental factors is challenging due to their complex and context-dependent interactions (e.g., a nutrient-dependent relationship between diversity and biomass).

European fish-based assessment reveals high diversity of systems for determining ecological status of lakes.

Triggered by the adoption of the Water Framework Directive, a variety of fish-based systems were developed throughout Europe to assess the ecological status of lakes. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of all existing systems and summarizes sampling methods, fish community traits (metrics) and the relevant anthropogenic pressures assessed by them. Twenty-one European countries developed fish-based assessment systems.

White-Nose Syndrome Confirmed in Italy: A Preliminary Assessment of Its Occurrence in Bat Species.

Although no mass mortality has been recorded so far, the precise demographic effect of white-nose syndrome (WNS) on European bats still remains to be ascertained. Following the first isolation of in Italy, further surveys were performed to assess the distribution of the fungus in NW Italy and its effects on bats. Data were collected from March 2019 to April 2020 at sites used for hibernation (six sites) and/or for reproduction (four sites) in Piedmont and Aosta Valley.

Biogeochemical and photobiological responses of subarctic lakes to UV radiation.

Solar ultraviolet radiation (UV) induces photodegradation of optically and functionally important organic compounds in lakes and may negatively impact aquatic biota. We disentangled UV impacts on dissolved organic matter (DOM) transformation, and algal and zoobenthic micro-organisms in two shallow subarctic lakes in NW Finnish Lapland; in a high-UV + low-DOM (tundra, Iso-Jehkas) and a low-UV + high-DOM (mountain birch woodland, Mukkavaara) system. In addition to site and seasonal comparisons, in situ experiments with three treatments (DARK, photosynthetically active radiation [PAR], UV + PAR) were set up floating on the lakes for four weeks during midsummer.

Alpine headwaters emerging from glaciers and rock glaciers host different bacterial communities: Ecological implications for the future.

Mountain glacier shrinkage represents a major effect of the current global warming and 80-100% of the Alpine glaciers are predicted to vanish within the next few decades. As the thawing rate of mountain permafrost ice is much lower than for glacier ice, a shift from glacial to periglacial dynamics is predicted for Alpine landscapes during the 21st century. Despite the growing literature on the impacts of deglaciation on Alpine hydrology and ecosystems, chemical and biological features of waters emerging from Alpine rock glaciers (i.

First Isolation of Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the Fungal Causative Agent of White-Nose Disease, in Bats from Italy.

White-nose disease, caused by the dermatophyte Pseudogymnoascus destructans, is a devastating pathology that has caused a massive decline in the US bat populations. In Europe, this fungus and the related infection in bats have been recorded in several countries and for many bat species, although no mass mortality has been detected. This study reports for the first time the presence of P.

Urbanization and climate change impacts on surface water quality: Enhancing the resilience by reducing impervious surfaces.

Climate change and urbanization are key factors affecting the future of water quality in urbanized catchments. The work reported in this paper is an evaluation of the combined and relative impact of climate change and urbanization on the water quality of receiving water bodies in the context of a highly urbanized watershed served by a combined sewer system (CSS) in northern Italy. The impact is determined by an integrated modelling study involving two years of field campaigns.

Surrogate measures for providing high frequency estimates of total phosphorus concentrations in urban watersheds.

Until robust in situ sensors for total phosphorus (TP) are developed, continuous water quality measurements have the potential to be used as surrogates for generating high frequency estimates. Their use has widespread implications for water quality monitoring programmes considering that TP, in particular, is generally recognised as the limiting factor in the process of eutrophication. Surrogate measures for TP concentration, such as turbidity, have proved useful within natural and agricultural contexts, but their predictive capability for urban watersheds is considered more difficult, due to the different sources of TP, though a strict relationship with turbidity/suspended matter has been clearly described even for these environments.

Total phosphorus reference condition for subalpine lakes: a comparison among traditional methods and a new process-based watershed approach.

Different methods for estimating the total phosphorus (TP) reference conditions of lakes have rarely been compared. This work tests the uncertainty and accuracy of the most frequently used approaches (Morpho-edaphic index -MEI-, export coefficient, diatoms and pigment-inferred TP models) for 35 subalpine lakes. Furthermore, we propose a new process-based watershed approach that was tested on a subalpine environment and consists of combining a space for time substitution with a space for space substitution.