Adsorptive immobilization of cadmium and lead using unmodified and modified biochar: A review of the advances, synthesis, efficiency and mechanisms.

Biochar is an environmentally friendly adsorbent material with excellent adsorption performance due to its extensive pore structure, large specific surface area, and numerous surface functional groups. It is commonly used to treat inorganic and organic pollutants. In recent years, with increasing focus on controlling soil pollution caused by heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), the potential application of biochar has attracted much attention.

Factors Affecting Mammalian Occupancy and Species Richness in Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal.

Species richness is an important metric used for undertaking conservation management decisions. However, species richness estimates are influenced by species detection probabilities, with potential to entirely overlook species during surveys. Occupancy models which account for imperfect detection provide unbiased estimates, ensuring accurate estimates of richness.

Vertical and diel niches modulate thermal selection by rainforest frogs.

Thermoregulatory behaviour determines an organism's body temperature and therefore its physiological condition, and may differ for organisms situated across climate gradients. Species' preferred or selected temperatures may be higher in warmer locations-referred to as coadaptation-or lower in warmer temperatures-countergradient variation. Here, we tested if rainforest amphibians exhibited coadaptation or countergradient thermal selection across an underappreciated spatial climate gradient (vertical height from forest floor to canopy) and separating diel activity (diurnal versus nocturnal behaviour).

Prey responses to direct and indirect predation risk cues reveal the importance of multiple information sources.

Prey can use several information sources (cues) to assess predation risk and avoid predation with a variety of behavioural responses (e.g., changes in activity, foraging, vigilance, social behaviour, space use, and reproductive behaviour).

Aged Microplastics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes: A Review of Aging Effects on Their Interactions.

Microplastic aging affects the dynamics of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) on microplastics, yet no review presents the effects of microplastic aging on the associated ARGs. This review, therefore, aims to discuss the effects of different types of microplastic aging, as well as the other pollutants on or around microplastics and the chemicals leached from microplastics, on the associated ARGs. It highlights that microplastic photoaging generally results in higher sorption of antibiotics and ARGs due to increased microplastic surface area and functional group changes.

Transferability of ecological forecasting models to novel biotic conditions in a long-term experimental study.

Ecological forecasting models play an increasingly important role for managing natural resources and assessing our fundamental knowledge of processes driving ecological dynamics. As global environmental change pushes ecosystems beyond their historical conditions, the utility of these models may depend on their transferability to novel conditions. Because species interactions can alter resource use, timing of reproduction, and other aspects of a species' realized niche, changes in biotic conditions, which can arise from community reorganization events in response to environmental change, have the potential to impact model transferability.

The influence of sample size and sampling design on estimating population-level intra specific trait variation (ITV) along environmental gradients.

Understanding the relationship between intraspecific trait variability (ITV) and its biotic and abiotic drivers is crucial for advancing population and community ecology. Despite its importance, there is a lack of guidance on how to effectively sample ITV and reduce bias in the resulting inferences. In this study, we explored how sample size affects the estimation of population-level ITV, and how the distribution of sample sizes along an environmental gradient (i.

Enhancing nitrogen transformation and humification in cow manure composting through psychrophilic and thermophilic nitrifying bacterial consortium inoculation.

Excessive nitrogen release during composting poses significant challenges to both the environment and compost quality. Biological enhancement of humification and nitrogen conservation is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach to composting. The aim of this study was to develop a psychrophilic and thermophilic nitrifying bacterial consortium (CNB) and investigate its role in nitrogen transformation and humification during cow manure composting.

How changes projected by climate models can inform climate adaptation and marine sanctuary management: A collaborative prototype methodology.

Coral reefs are highly important ecosystems providing habitat for biodiverse marine life and numerous benefits for humans. However they face immense risks from climate change. To date, Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) climate models have aided global discussions on possible policy responses to adapt to change, but tailored climate projections at a useful scale for environmental managers are often prohibitively expensive to produce.

Biodegradation of bisphenol-A in water using a novel strain of Xenophilus sp. embedded onto biochar: Elucidating the influencing factors and degradation pathway.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is an emerging hazardous contaminant, which is ubiquitous in the environment and can cause endocrine disruptor and cancer risks. Therefore, biodegradation of BPA is an essential issue to mitigate the associated human health. In this work, a bacterial strain enables of degrading BPA, named BPA-LRH8 (identified as Xenophilus sp.

Unraveling spatial heterogeneity of soil legacy phosphorus in subtropical grasslands.

Humans have profoundly altered phosphorus (P) cycling across scales. Agriculturally driven changes (e.g.

Soil legacy phosphorus and loss risk in subtropical grasslands.

The accumulation of soil legacy phosphorus (P) due to past fertilization practices poses a persistent challenge for agroecosystem management and water quality conservation. This study investigates the spatial distribution and risk assessment of soil legacy P in subtropical grasslands managed for cow-calf operations in Florida, with two pasture types along the intensity gradient: improved vs semi-native pastures. Soil samples from 1438 locations revealed substantial spatial variation in soil legacy P, with total P concentrations ranging from 11.

The effect of thermal treatment on the transformation and transportation of arsenic and cadmium in soil.

Thermal treatment can effectively decontaminate soils but alter their properties. Previous research mainly focused on volatile organic compounds and metals, i.e.

Bringing traits back into the equation: A roadmap to understand species redistribution.

Ecological and evolutionary theories have proposed that species traits should be important in mediating species responses to contemporary climate change; yet, empirical evidence has so far provided mixed evidence for the role of behavioral, life history, or ecological characteristics in facilitating or hindering species range shifts. As such, the utility of trait-based approaches to predict species redistribution under climate change has been called into question. We develop the perspective, supported by evidence, that trait variation, if used carefully can have high potential utility, but that past analyses have in many cases failed to identify an explanatory value for traits by not fully embracing the complexity of species range shifts.

Camera trap surveys of Atlantic Forest mammals: A data set for analyses considering imperfect detection (2004-2020).

Camera traps became the main observational method of a myriad of species over large areas. Data sets from camera traps can be used to describe the patterns and monitor the occupancy, abundance, and richness of wildlife, essential information for conservation in times of rapid climate and land-cover changes. Habitat loss and poaching are responsible for historical population losses of mammals in the Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot, especially for medium to large-sized species.

Iodine enrichment in the groundwater in South China and its hydrogeochemical control.

In North China, iodine-rich groundwater has been extensively studied, but few in South China. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of iodine-rich groundwater in South China and identify potential contamination sources. The results revealed that the average concentration of iodine in groundwater was 890 µg/L, with a maximum concentration of 6350 µg/L, exceeding the permitted levels recommended by the World Health Organization (5-300 µg/L).

Estimation and interpretation problems and solutions when using proportion covariates in linear regression models.

Proportion variables, also known as compositional data, are very common in ecology. Unfortunately, few scientists are aware of how compositional data, when used as covariates, can adversely impact statistical analysis. We describe here how proportion covariates result in multicollinearity and parameter identifiability problems.

The status of forest carbon markets in Latin America.

Tropical rainforests of Latin America (LATAM) are one of the world's largest carbon sinks, with substantial future carbon sequestration potential and contributing a major proportion of the global supply of forest carbon credits. LATAM is poised to contribute predominantly towards high-quality forest carbon offset projects designed to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, halt biodiversity loss, and provide equitable conservation benefits to people. Thus, carbon markets, including compliance carbon markets and voluntary carbon markets continue to expand in LATAM.

Scale up urban agriculture to leverage transformative food systems change, advance social-ecological resilience and improve sustainability.

Scaling up urban agriculture could leverage transformative change, to build and maintain resilient and sustainable urban systems. Current understanding of drivers, processes and pathways for scaling up urban agriculture, however, remains fragmentary and largely siloed in disparate disciplines and sectors. Here we draw on multiple disciplinary domains to present an integrated conceptual framework of urban agriculture and synthesize literature to reveal its social-ecological effects across scales.

Grassland intensification effects cascade to alter multifunctionality of wetlands within metaecosystems.

Sustainable agricultural intensification could improve ecosystem service multifunctionality, yet empirical evidence remains tenuous, especially regarding consequences for spatially coupled ecosystems connected by flows across ecosystem boundaries (i.e., metaecosystems).

Adaptability of sulfur-disproportionating bacteria for mine water remediation under the pressures of heavy metal ions and high sulfate content.

Biological sulfide production processes mediated by sulfate/sulfur reduction have gained attention for metal removal from industrial wastewater (e.g., mine water (MW) and metallurgical wastewater) via forming insoluble metal sulfides.