environmental science and pollution research articles

Environmental Science and Pollution Research

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Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

Unveiling microplastics pollution in alaskan water and snow.

While microplastics (MPs) are globally prevalent in marine environments, extending to the Arctic and sub-arctic regions, the extent and distribution of MPs in terrestrial waters, drinking water sources, and recreational water in these areas remain unknown. This field study establishes a baseline for MPs in surface water sources, including lakes, rivers, and creeks, as well as in snow across three geo-locations (i.e., Far North, Interior, and Southcentral) in Alaska. Results (mean ± SE) show that the highest MP counts exist in snow (681±44 L-1), followed by lakes (361±76 L-1), creeks (377±88 L-1), and rivers (352±98 L-1). The smallest MPs (i.e., 89.6±3 µm) also happened to have occurred in snow, followed by their larger sizes in lakes (153.4±13 µm), rivers (267.6±28 µm), and creeks (319.5±25 µm). The physical morphology of MPs varies widely. MP fragments are predominant (i.e., nearly 62-74%) in these sites, while MP fibers (nearly 13-21%), pellets (nearly 13-18%), and films (<6%) also exist in appreciable quantities. Geolocation-wise, the Far North, where MPs were collected from off-road locations, shows the highest MP counts (695±58 L-1), compared to Interior (473±64 L-1) and Southcentral (447±62 L-1) Alaska. Results also indicate that the occurrence of MPs in the source waters and snow decreases with increasing distance from the nearest coastlines and towns or communities. These baseline observations of MPs in terrestrial waters and precipitation across Alaska indicate MP pollution even in less-explored environments. This can be seen as a cause for concern with regard to MP exposure and risks in the region and beyond.

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S. Dev, D. Schwarz, M. Rashedin, M. I. Hasan, D. Kholodova, S. Billings, D. L. Barnes, N. Misarti, N. B. Saleh and S. Aggarwal, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2024, Accepted Manuscript , DOI: 10.1039/D4EW00092G

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Impacts of environmental issues on health and well-being: a global pollution challenge

Carlos lodeiro.

1 BIOSCOPE Group, LAQV@REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, University NOVA of Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal

2 ProteoMass Scientific Society. Madan Park, Rúa dos Inventores, 2825-182 Caparica, Portugal

José Luis Capelo-Martínez

Hugo m. santos, elisabete oliveira.

Every 2 years, the environmental, chemical, and health research communities meet in Costa de Caparica, Portugal to showcase the latest technologies, methodologies and research advances in pollution detection, contamination control, remediation, and related health issues. Since its inception in 2015, the International Caparica Conference on Pollution Metal Ions and Molecules (PTIM) has become a biennial global forum to hear from those who protect the land, the water, and the air at all environmental scales. During past PTIM editions, we have learned about numerous efforts to develop new recovery and clean-up processes to restore the natural equilibria of our planet. Soil, land, water, and air are the key focus of efforts that will require deeper understanding and better control.

Every 2 years, the environmental, chemical, and health research communities meet in Costa de Caparica, Portugal to showcase the latest technologies, methodologies and research advances in pollution detection, contamination control, remediation, and related health issues. Since its inception in 2015, the International Caparica Conference on Pollution Metal Ions and Molecules (PTIM) has become a biennial global forum to hear from those who protect the land, the water, and the air at all environmental scales. During past PTIM editions, we have learned about numerous efforts to develop new recovery and clean-up processes to restore the natural equilibria of our planet. Soil, land, water, and air are the key focus of efforts that will require deeper understanding and better control. We have also become aware of more and more cases of spill contamination, degradation of land and water, destruction of marine environments, misconduct by cities and enterprises, and the general disrespect of the environment shown by humans.

In 2019 and 2020, we have witnessed once again how deeply health is connected with the environment. Our world is currently experiencing an extreme, yet predictable, health crisis linked to poor stewardship of the planet. Outbreaks of zoonoses, diseases that are transmissible between animals and humans, particularly those caused by coronaviruses, have led scientists to raise repeated alerts since 2002. Indeed, it is a problem followed daily by the environment program of the United Nations (UN 2020 ) and the World Health Organization (WHO 2020 ). The global pandemic produced by the dangerous, previously unknown virus SARS-CoV-2, has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths across five continents, with equally widespread economic and social repercussions. This problem resonates all too pertinently with the title of the third Environmental Science and Pollution Research (ESPR) special issue dedicated to the 3rd PTIM 2019—Impacts of Environmental Issues on Health and Well-being—a global pollution challenge.

A surprising upside of the COVID-19 global pandemic has been the real-time observations of the numerous environmental effects of lockdown with the world becoming visibly greener and more habitable. Unusual benefits such as cleaner air and water, lower CO 2 emissions, and sudden relief from constant physical disturbance and noise were behind many beautiful pictures of wildlife on land and in the oceans. Now, the question is whether humans can consolidate these positive effects.

The degradation of our blue planet is not just an environmental problem, because it presents serious global economic and health risks too. Trade, employment, and well-being all rely on nature, starting with the quality of the food we consume, the stability of our climate and weather, the purity of the air we breathe, the control of emergent and circulating disease, and as we have discovered from the various quarantine measures around the world, essential spaces for human contact, leisure, and relaxation. Without our natural environment, there would be no life and society. The appearance of COVID-19 helped nature send us an important message: our planet is able to restore itself in the absence of persistent pressure from human activities on the land, air, and water.

The PTIM conference series is already a well-established international scientific forum in the field of environmental, chemistry, health, and well-being sciences, all hot fields in these COVID-19 times. The previous two editions in 2015 and 2017 were devoted to “New toxic emerging contaminants: beyond the toxicological effects”, (Lodeiro et al. 2019 ) and “Global pollution problems, trends in detection and protection” (Lodeiro et al. 2016 ). Now, the central theme is health. In November 2019, the third edition of this superb conference took place once again in Costa de Caparica, Portugal, keeping to our tradition of collegiality and scientific endeavor to help the environment. We listened to amazing plenary talks by Joanna Burger (USA) on the temporal trends in heavy metals in the US Atlantic Coast Estuaries (Ostrom et al. 1999 ; Burger 2019 ) and by Elena Rodica Ionescu (France) on toxicity and biosensing of environmental pollutants (Ionescu et al. 2006 ; Zhou et al. 2019 ). Jia-Qian Jiang (UK) spoke about water and wastewater treatments using double hydroxide materials (Wang et al. 2019 ; Jiang and Lloyd 2002 ), Shin Takahashi (Japan) delighted us with a presentation about the persistence of organic pollutants in the Asia Pacific Region (Monirith et al. 2003 ; Anh et al. 2019 ), and Jose Luis Gomez-Ariza (Spain) captivated us with a talk combining analysis and health problems in relation to metallomics and metabolomics in environmental metal toxicity assessment (Rodriguez-Moro et al. 2020 ; Gómez-Ariza et al. 2000 ). Making this edition even more extraordinary was the presence of outstanding keynote speakers, namely Ana Luisa Fernando (Portugal) (Souza and Fernando 2016 ), Erika Kothe (Germany) (Haferburg and Kothe 2007 ), Binoy Sarkar (UK) (Sarkar et al. 2010 ), Yongchun Zhao (China) (Xin et al. 2020 ), Jerzy Jozef Zajac (France) (Muller et al. 2019 ), Tamara Garcia Barrera (Spain) (Callejón-Leblic et al. 2020 ), Michael Gochfield (USA) (Gochfeld 2003 ; Burger et al. 2020 ), and Elisabete Oliveira (Portugal) (Marcelo et al. 2020 ; Oliveira et al. 2018 ), who explained their research covering topics as diverse as nanoparticles and food, antibiotic resistance and heavy metals, environmental clean-up applications of clay minerals, power plant wastewater metal analysis, metabolomics and the role of selenium, mechanisms of mercury and selenium toxicity, and the use of mesoporous nanomaterials and chemosensors for removing toxic agents and emerging contaminants. The picture was completed by the participation of close to 170 research fellows from five continents, contributing 70 oral talks, 20 “shotgun” presentations by young researchers, and more than 40 poster communications.

We would like to congratulate Prof. Joanna Burger, who received the Proteomass Scientific Society Career Award 2019 for her contributions to eco-toxicology, behavioral toxicology, ecology, and environmental monitoring and assessment (Ostrom et al. 1999 : Burger 2019 ) (Fig. ​ (Fig.1 1 ).

Participants at PTIM 2019 in Costa de Caparica, Portugal (above), and Professor Joanna Burger receiving the Career Award Ceremony with PTIM chairs Prof. José Luis Capelo-Martínez and Prof. Carlos Lodeiro (below)

Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank all our fellows who have contributed to this special issue of the ESPR journal published by Springer Editorial. We thank the ESPR Editor-in-Chief Prof. Philippe Garrigues who agreed to publish this special issue, and to the editorial assistants Ms. Fanny Creusot, Ms. Joanne Berbon, and Ms. Florence Delavaud. Thanks for the acceptance to publish this special issue dedicated to the Third International Caparica Congress on Pollutant Toxic Ions and Molecules, PTIM2019 edition, allowing us to act as Guest Editors. The chairs of the 3rd PTIM 2019 conference, and the Guest Editors Jose Luis Capelo-Martínez, Carlos Lodeiro, Hugo Miguel Santos, and Elisabete Oliveira thank the PROTEOMASS Scientific Society (Portugal) (General Funding Grant) as the main organizer, partners LAQV-REQUIMTE, Green Chemistry Associated Laboratory, NOVA School of Science and Technology, and NOVA University Lisbon.

Biographies

Carlos lodeiro: dr. carlos lodeiro.

(H-index: 38) graduated in Chemistry in 1995, received his PhD in chemistry in the research group of Prof. Rufina Bastida (Macrocyclic Chemistry) in 1999 by the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. In 1999, he moved to the University NOVA of Lisbon (UNL) in Portugal as European Marie Curie postdoctoral researcher in a project concerning molecular devices and machines to the group of Prof. Fernando Pina (Supramolecular Photochemistry), and in 2004, he became a fellow researcher and invited assistant lecturer at the REQUIMTE-CQFB, Chemistry Department (UNL). In 2008, Dr. Lodeiro got the habilitation in Chemistry in Spain, and a year later in 2009, he moved to the University of Vigo, Faculty of Sciences of Ourense (FCOU), Spain as IPP (Isidro Parga Pondal) researcher-lecturer. Since 2012 to 2017, he was Assistant Professor at the Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, University NOVA of Lisbon. In 2017, he got the habilitation in Inorganic Analytical Chemistry in Portugal at the FCT-UNL, and in 2018, he became associate professor in the Chemistry Department, LAQV-REQUIMTE Research unit, Faculty of Science and Technology, University NOVA of Lisbon. Presently, he is a co-head of the BIOSCOPE research group ( www.bioscopegroup.org ), co-CEO of the PROTEOMASS Scientific Society, and founder Co-CEO of the Chemicals start-up Nan@rts. His research interest comprises (i) physical-organic and physical-inorganic chemistry of fluorescent dyes and sensors, (ii) synthesis of functionalized nanoparticles, nanocomposites, and nanomaterials, (iii) applications of nanomaterials in environmental research, (iv) application of nanomaterials in bio-medical research, (v) supramolecular analytical proteomics, (vi) Onco and Nanoproteomics (vii) Nanoproteomics apply to Biomarker development. C. Lodeiro is author or co-author of close to 265 manuscripts, 1 patent, 14 book chapters, and 5 books, and his publications have more than 5698 citations (Google Scholar). Dr. Lodeiro is fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry since 2014 and a member of the Portuguese Chemistry Society (2003) and American Chemical Society (2016).

: Dr. José Luis Capelo (H-index: 39) got his PhD in the University of Vigo (2002) in the group of Prof. Carlos Bendicho (Analytical Chemistry), made a post-doc in the IST in Lisbon in the group of Prof. Ana Mota (2002–2005), and then, he was appointed as researcher at REQUIMTE (FCT-UNL, 2005–2009). Then, he moved to the University of Vigo as principal investigator as IPP (Isidro Parga Pondal) researcher-lecturer (2009–2012). He was appointed assistant professor in the FCT-UNL in 2012, where currently he is based. In 2017, he got the habilitation in Biochemistry Analytical Proteomics in Portugal at the FCT-UNL, and in 2018, he became associate professor in the Chemistry Department, FCT-UNL. Dr. Capelo is fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry since 2014, and a member of the Portuguese Chemistry Society and American Chemical Society. He co-leads the BIOSCOPE research group ( www.bioscopegroup.org ) and he is co-CEO of the PROTEOMASS Scientific Society and founder co-ceo of the Chemicals start-up Nan@rts. J. L. Capelo has developed research on the following topics: (i) quantification of metal and metal species in environmental and food samples, (ii) new methods to speed protein identification using mass spectrometry-based workflows, (iii) accurate bottom-up protein quantification, (iv) bacterial identification through mass spectrometry, (v) fast determination of steroids in human samples, (vi) biomarker discovery and development, (vii) application of sensors and chemosensors to the detection/quantification of metal ions, and (viii) nanoproteomics and nanomedicine. J.L Capelo is author or co-author of more than 245 manuscripts, 2 patents, 12 book chapters, and 4 books. His publications have more than 5500 citations.

: Dr. Hugo Miguel Santos (H-index: 22) graduated in Applied Chemistry from University NOVA of Lisbon and completed a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from the same university in 2010 in the group of Prof. José Luis Capelo (Analytical Proteomics). During his Ph.D., he stayed 6 months at the Turku Centre for Biotechnology (Finland) working with state-of-the-art MS instrumentation for biomedical research with Prof. Garry Corthals. H.M. Santos took up a post-doc at the University of Vigo (2010–12 to 2011–03) followed by a move to the Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology (Barcelona, Spain, 2011–04 to 2012–03) to advance biomedical applications of mass spectrometry and translational research in the group of Prof. Xavier Avilés. In 2011, H.M. Santos moved to FCT NOVA to continue his research in Biological Mass Spectrometry. Currently, he is an assistant researcher – FCT Investigator Program at LAQV-REQUIMTE FCT NOVA (Portugal). H.M. Santos published 105 articles in international peer review journals which have received more than 2100 citations. H.M. Santos is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and American Chemical Society. His scientific interests are focused on (i) the identification of molecules involved in complex biological processes, characterize their structure, and monitor how their abundance may change during these processes, in order to gain insights into the underlying molecular mechanisms; (ii) nano-proteomics and nano-medicine; (iii) application of chemosensor to the detection/quantification of metals; (iv) mass spectrometry analysis of organic molecules, metal complexes, and supramolecular systems; (v) phosphoproteomics and personalized medicine; and (vi) biomarker development.

: Dr. E. Oliveira (H-index: 22) graduated, in 2006, in Applied Chemistry from FCT-University Nova of Lisbon, Portugal, in 2007, she obtained a Master in Biotechnology and completed a PhD degree in Biotechnology in 2010 in the Group of Prof. Carlos Lodeiro, at the same University. In 2013, she obtained a second PhD degree in “Food Science and Technology” by Science Faculty of Ourense Campus in the University of Vigo, Spain; actually, she is an assistant researcher in the LAQV REQUIMTE FCT UNL by the “Estimulo” in Science FCT Program. E. Oliveira is author or co-author of more than 70 papers in international peer review journals, 5 book chapters, and 3 books which have received more than 1380 citations. In 2008, E. Oliveira received the prize in Creativity and Quality in Research Activity in sensors area, attributed by Foundation Calouste Gulbenkian, Portugal and in 2016, she was awarded with the Prize For Women in Science, “Medalhas de Honra L’Oréal Portugal para as Mulheres na Ciência in healthy Sciences field. Her scientific interests are focused in (i) synthesis of new bio-inspired fluorescence chemosensors, (ii) supramolecular chemistry (photophysics and photochemistry), (iii) their multifunctional applications in vitro (solution and solid studies) and in vivo (cell imaging studies); and (iv) synthesis of new emissive nanomaterials, as Quantum Dots and Mesopourous Silica for drug delivery and biomarker discovery in biological and environmental samples.

Funding information

This work is funded by the supporters and sponsors Bruker, Paralab, Norleq, Labor Spirit, Sciex, Castelbel, Turismo de Portugal, TAP Air Portugal, Turismo de Lisboa, IATA, Springer (ESPR journal), Chemosensors MDPI journal, Edinburgh Instruments, Nanoarts, Royal Society of Chemistry through the Environmental Sustainability and Energy Division, and the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ).

Special Issue: 3 rd PTIM, International Caparica Conference on Pollutant Toxic Ions and Molecules.

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Contributor Information

Carlos Lodeiro, Email: tp.lnu.tcf@elc .

José Luis Capelo-Martínez, Email: tp.lnu.tcf@mclj .

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‘Forever chemicals’ found to rain down on all five Great Lakes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“The Ins and Outs of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in the Great Lakes: The Role of Atmospheric Deposition” Environmental Science & Technology

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals,” have become persistent pollutants in the air, water and soil. Because they are so stable, they can be transported throughout the water cycle, making their way into drinking water sources and precipitation. According to findings published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology , precipitation introduces similar amounts of PFAS into each of the Great Lakes; however, the lakes eliminate the chemicals at different rates.

Consuming PFAS has been linked to negative health outcomes. And in April 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated two forever chemicals — PFOS and PFOA — as hazardous substances, placing limits on their concentrations in drinking water. The Great Lakes are a major freshwater source for both the U.S. and Canada, and the EPA reports that the surrounding basin area is home to roughly 10% and 30% of each country’s population, respectively. Previous studies demonstrated that these lakes contain PFAS. But Marta Venier at Indiana University and colleagues from the U.S. and Canada wanted to understand where the compounds come from and where they go.

Between 2021 and 2022, 207 precipitation samples and 60 air samples were taken from five sites surrounding the Great Lakes in the U.S.: Chicago; Cleveland; Sturgeon Point, N.Y.; Eagle Harbor, Mich.; and Sleeping Bear Dunes, Mich. During the same period, 87 different water samples were collected from the five Great Lakes. The team analyzed all the samples for 41 types of PFAS and found:

• ·In precipitation samples, PFAS concentrations largely remained the same across sites, suggesting that the compounds are present at similar levels regardless of population density.
• In air samples, Cleveland had the highest median concentration of PFAS and Sleeping Bear Dunes the lowest, suggesting a strong connection between population density and airborne PFAS.
• In the lake water samples, the highest concentration of PFAS were in Lake Ontario, followed by Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Superior.
• ·The concentration of PFOS and PFOA in lake water decreased compared to data from previous studies as far back as 2005, but the concentration of a replacement PFAS known as PFBA remained high, suggesting that further regulation efforts may be needed.

The team calculated that airborne deposition from precipitation is primarily how PFAS get into the lakes, while they’re removed by sedimentation, attaching to particles as they settle to the lakebed or flowing out through connecting channels. Overall, their calculations showed that the northernmost lakes (Superior, Michigan and Huron) are generally accumulating PFAS. Further south, Lake Ontario is generally eliminating the compounds and levels in Lake Erie remain at a steady state. The researchers say that this work could help inform future actions and policies aimed at mitigating PFAS’ presence in the Great Lakes. 

The authors acknowledge funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News . ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

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Cheung Receives NIH Grant to Research Water Contaminants and Human Health

Kei-Hoi Cheung, PhD , professor of biomedical informatics and data science, has been awarded a grant by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to research environmental health data and drinking water contamination using AI methods.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines emerging contaminants , or contaminants of emerging concern, as “chemicals that have not previously been detected in water, or that are being detected at significantly different levels than expected.” These potential pollutants include pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and endocrine disrupting chemicals caused by industrial land use and agricultural runoff. Researchers and government agencies warn that these chemicals may pose adverse health and ecological effects.

Only a fraction of these contaminants have been extensively evaluated, but Cheung’s project aims to address this. The study will explore how new data and metadata standards can be used to harmonize diverse environmental health information. Integrating a variety of data types in this way could help other researchers investigate drinking water contaminants and their associated impact on human health. To extract and integrate these data types, Cheung’s team will deploy artificial intelligence (AI) techniques like natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning. They also plan to build an environmental exposure knowledge graph, and engage with users to evaluate the impact of their project.

“There is a great desire by the data science, exposure science, and epidemiology communities to use data and metadata standards to accelerate environmental research workflow, gain new knowledge, and increase data reuse,” said Cheung, who is also a professor of biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health. “Bringing this desire to fruition requires a set of community-driven standards for describing environmental exposures and linking them to human health and disease-related data.”

Cheung's co-investigators at Yale include Nicole Deziel, PhD, MHS , associate professor of epidemiology, Vasilis Vasiliou, PhD , Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology, and Hua Xu, PhD, FACMI , Robert T. McCluskey Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science. Mark Musen, professor of biomedical informatics at Stanford University, is also a co-investigator.

The grant will award $600,000 annually for the next five years.

Featured in this article

• Kei-Hoi Cheung, PhD Professor of Biomedical Informatics & Data Science; Professor, Biostatistics
• Nicole Deziel, PhD, MHS Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health Sciences); Co-Director, Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology (CPPEE)
• Vasilis Vasiliou, PhD Department Chair and Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health Sciences) and of Ophthalmology and Visual Science and of Environment; Director, Yale Superfund Research Center; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Cancer Center; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Co-Director, Environmental Health Sciences Track, Executive MPH
• Hua Xu, PhD Robert T. McCluskey Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science; Vice Chair for Research and Development, Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science; Assistant Dean for Biomedical Informatics, Yale School of Medicine

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Environmental Changes Are Fueling Human, Animal and Plant Diseases, Study Finds

Biodiversity loss, global warming, pollution and the spread of invasive species are making infectious diseases more dangerous to organisms around the world.

By Emily Anthes

Several large-scale, human-driven changes to the planet — including climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of invasive species — are making infectious diseases more dangerous to people, animals and plants, according to a new study.

Scientists have documented these effects before in more targeted studies that have focused on specific diseases and ecosystems. For instance, they have found that a warming climate may be helping malaria expand in Africa and that a decline in wildlife diversity may be boosting Lyme disease cases in North America.

But the new research, a meta-analysis of nearly 1,000 previous studies, suggests that these patterns are relatively consistent around the globe and across the tree of life.

“It’s a big step forward in the science,” said Colin Carlson, a biologist at Georgetown University, who was not an author of the new analysis. “This paper is one of the strongest pieces of evidence that I think has been published that shows how important it is health systems start getting ready to exist in a world with climate change, with biodiversity loss.”

In what is likely to come as a more surprising finding, the researchers also found that urbanization decreased the risk of infectious disease.

The new analysis, which was published in Nature on Wednesday, focused on five “global change drivers” that are altering ecosystems across the planet: biodiversity change, climate change, chemical pollution, the introduction of nonnative species and habitat loss or change.

The researchers compiled data from scientific papers that examined how at least one of these factors affected various infectious-disease outcomes, such as severity or prevalence. The final data set included nearly 3,000 observations on disease risks for humans, animals and plants on every continent except for Antarctica.

The researchers found that, across the board, four of the five trends they studied — biodiversity change, the introduction of new species, climate change and chemical pollution — tended to increase disease risk.

“It means that we’re likely picking up general biological patterns,” said Jason Rohr, an infectious disease ecologist at the University of Notre Dame and senior author of the study. “It suggests that there are similar sorts of mechanisms and processes that are likely occurring in plants, animals and humans.”

The loss of biodiversity played an especially large role in driving up disease risk, the researchers found. Many scientists have posited that biodiversity can protect against disease through a phenomenon known as the dilution effect.

The theory holds that parasites and pathogens, which rely on having abundant hosts in order to survive, will evolve to favor species that are common, rather than those that are rare, Dr. Rohr said. And as biodiversity declines, rare species tend to disappear first. “That means that the species that remain are the competent ones, the ones that are really good at transmitting disease,” he said.

Lyme disease is one oft-cited example. White-footed mice, which are the primary reservoir for the disease, have become more dominant on the landscape, as other rarer mammals have disappeared, Dr. Rohr said. That shift may partly explain why Lyme disease rates have risen in the United States. (The extent to which the dilution effect contributes to Lyme disease risk has been the subject of debate, and other factors, including climate change, are likely to be at play as well.)

Other environmental changes could amplify disease risks in a wide variety of ways. For instance, introduced species can bring new pathogens with them, and chemical pollution can stress organisms’ immune systems. Climate change can alter animal movements and habitats, bringing new species into contact and allowing them to swap pathogens .

Notably, the fifth global environmental change that the researchers studied — habitat loss or change — appeared to reduce disease risk. At first glance, the findings might appear to be at odds with previous studies, which have shown that deforestation can increase the risk of diseases ranging from malaria to Ebola. But the overall trend toward reduced risk was driven by one specific type of habitat change: increasing urbanization.

The reason may be that urban areas often have better sanitation and public health infrastructure than rural ones — or simply because there are fewer plants and animals to serve as disease hosts in urban areas. The lack of plant and animal life is “not a good thing,” Dr. Carlson said. “And it also doesn’t mean that the animals that are in the cities are healthier.”

And the new study does not negate the idea that forest loss can fuel disease; instead, deforestation increases risk in some circumstances and reduces it in others, Dr. Rohr said.

Indeed, although this kind of meta-analysis is valuable for revealing broad patterns, it can obscure some of the nuances and exceptions that are important for managing specific diseases and ecosystems, Dr. Carlson noted.

Moreover, most of the studies included in the analysis examined just a single global change drive. But, in the real world, organisms are contending with many of these stressors simultaneously. “The next step is to better understand the connections among them,” Dr. Rohr said.

Emily Anthes is a science reporter, writing primarily about animal health and science. She also covered the coronavirus pandemic. More about Emily Anthes

Explore the Animal Kingdom

A selection of quirky, intriguing and surprising discoveries about animal life..

Scientists say they have found an “alphabet” in the songs of sperm whales , raising the possibility that the animals are communicating in a complex language.

Indigenous rangers in Australia’s Western Desert got a rare close-up with the northern marsupial mole , which is tiny, light-colored and blind, and almost never comes to the surface.

For the first time, scientists observed a primate in the wild treating a wound  with a plant that has medicinal properties.

A new study resets the timing for the emergence of bioluminescence back to millions  of years earlier than previously thought.

Scientists are making computer models to better understand how cicadas  emerge collectively after more than a decade underground .

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Collection  12 March 2021

2020 Top 50 Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences Articles

We are pleased to share with you the 50 most downloaded Nature Communications articles* across Earth, environmental, and planetary sciences published in 2020. Featuring authors from around the world, these papers highlight valuable research from an international community. 

Browse all Top 50 subject area collections here .

* Data obtained from SN Insights (based on Digital Science's Dimensions) and has been normalised to account for articles published later in the year.

Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity

Mapping and quantifying degree of forest modification is critical to conserve and manage forests. Here the authors propose a new quantitative metric for landscape integrity and apply it to a global forest map, showing that less than half of the world’s forest cover has high integrity, most of which is outside nationally designed protected areas.

• H. S. Grantham
• J. E. M. Watson

Hysteresis of tropical forests in the 21st century

Tropical rainforests partly create their own climatic conditions by promoting precipitation, therefore rainforest losses may trigger dramatic shifts. Here the authors combine remote sensing, hydrological modelling, and atmospheric moisture tracking simulations to assess forest-rainfall feedbacks in three major tropical rainforest regions on Earth and simulate potential changes under a severe climate change scenario.

• Ingo Fetzer
• Obbe A. Tuinenburg

Understanding and managing new risks on the Nile with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

Several dams and reservoirs exist along the Nile, most notably the HAD (Egypt) and GERD (Ethiopia) dams. Due to the lack of strategies, the authors here explore potential risks and solutions how to use both dams simultaneously.

• Kevin G. Wheeler
• Marc Jeuland
• Dale Whittington

Renewable energy production will exacerbate mining threats to biodiversity

Renewable energy production is necessary to mitigate climate change, however, generating the required technologies and infrastructure will demand huge production increases of many metals. Here, the authors map mining areas and assess spatial coincidence with biodiversity conservation sites, and show that new mining threats to biodiversity may surpass those averted by climate change mitigation.

• Laura J. Sonter
• Marie C. Dade
• Rick K. Valenta

A steeply-inclined trajectory for the Chicxulub impact

The authors here present a 3D model that simulates the formation of the Chicxulub impact crater. Based on asymmetries in the subsurface structure of the Chicxulub crater, the authors diagnose impact angle and direction and suggest a steeply inclined (60° to horizontal) impact from the northeast.

• G. S. Collins
• Third-Party Scientists

Centennial response of Greenland’s three largest outlet glaciers

The Greenland Ice Sheet is the largest land ice contributor to sea level rise and understanding the long-term glacier response to external forcing is key to improved projections. Here the authors show Greenland’s three largest outlet glaciers will likely exceed current worst-case scenario

• Shfaqat A. Khan
• Anders A. Bjørk
• Toni Schenk

The economic costs of planting, preserving, and managing the world’s forests to mitigate climate change

Forests are critical for stabilizing our climate, but costs of mitigation remain uncertain. Here the authors show the global forest sector could reduce emissions by 6.0 GtCO 2  yr −1 in 2055, or roughly 10% of the mitigation needed to limit warming to 1.5 °C by mid-century, at a cost of 393 billion USD yr −1 , or $281/tCO 2 .

• K. G. Austin
• J. S. Baker

Greater Greenland Ice Sheet contribution to global sea level rise in CMIP6

The potential contribution of Greenland Ice Sheet to sea level rise in the future is known to be substantial. Here, the authors undertake new modelling showing that the Greenland Ice Sheet sea level rise contribution is 7.9 cm more using the CMIP6 SSP585 scenario compared to CMIP5 using multiple RCP8.5 simulations.

• Stefan Hofer
• Charlotte Lang
• Xavier Fettweis

Likely weakening of the Florida Current during the past century revealed by sea-level observations

Understanding trends in ocean circulation and dynamics is hampered by a lack of long-term records. Here the author uses probabilistic reanalysis of available data to show that transport by the Florida Current has declined over the past 110 years, indicating a slowdown of Atlantic Ocean circulation.

• Christopher G. Piecuch

Space station biomining experiment demonstrates rare earth element extraction in microgravity and Mars gravity

Rare earth elements are used in electronics, but increase in demand could lead to low supply. Here the authors conduct experiments on the International Space Station and show microbes can extract rare elements from rocks at low gravity, a finding that could extend mining potential to other planets.

• Charles S. Cockell
• Rosa Santomartino
• René Demets

Towards a global-scale soil climate mitigation strategy

Reducing soil degradation and improving soil management could make an important contribute to climate change mitigation. Here the authors discuss opportunities and challenges towards implementing a global climate mitigation strategy focused on carbon sequestration in agricultural soils, and propose a framework for guiding region- and soil-specific management options.

A spatial emergent constraint on the sensitivity of soil carbon turnover to global warming

The fate of the carbon locked away in soil is uncertain, and there are vast differences between models. Here the authors apply observational, spatio-temporal constraints on carbon turnover projections and find that uncertainty in estimations of carbon dynamics are reduced by 50%.

• Rebecca M. Varney
• Sarah E. Chadburn
• Peter M. Cox

High concentrations of plastic hidden beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean

The risks posed by plastic contamination of the ocean cannot be assessed as their amount and location remain largely unknown. Here the authors show that large quantities of microplastics exist below the ocean surface over the entire Atlantic in quantities greater than previously estimated.

• Katsiaryna Pabortsava
• Richard S. Lampitt

Iron mineral dissolution releases iron and associated organic carbon during permafrost thaw

Iron minerals trap carbon in permafrost, preventing microbial degradation and release to the atmosphere as CO 2 , but the stability of this carbon as permafrost thaws is unclear. Here the authors use nanoscale analyses to show that thaw conditions stimulate Fe-reducing bacteria that trigger carbon release.

• Monique S. Patzner
• Carsten W. Mueller
• Casey Bryce

Global hotspots for the occurrence of compound events

Compound climate events such as floods and droughts together can cause severe socio-economic impacts. Here, the authors analyse global hazard pairs from 1980–2014 and find global hotspots for the occurrence of compound events.

• Nina N. Ridder
• Andy J. Pitman
• Jakob Zscheischler

Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species

Not all plants are equally able to support native insects. Here, the authors use data on interactions among >12,000 Lepidoptera species and >2000 plant genera across the United States, showing that few plant genera host the majority of Lepidoptera species; this information is used to suggest priorities for plant restoration.

• Desiree L. Narango
• Douglas W. Tallamy
• Kimberley J. Shropshire

Remote sensing reveals Antarctic green snow algae as important terrestrial carbon sink

Snow algae bloom along the coast of Antarctica and are likely to be biogeochemically important. Here, the authors produced the first map of such blooms, show that they are driven by warmer temperatures and proximity to birds and mammals, and are likely to increase given projected climate changes.

• Andrew Gray
• Monika Krolikowski
• Matthew P. Davey

Farming fish in the sea will not nourish the world

Marine aquaculture is widely proposed as compatible with ocean sustainability, biodiversity conservation, and human nutrition goals. In this Perspective, Belton and colleagues dispute the empirical validity of such claims and contend that the potential of marine aquaculture has been much exaggerated.

• David C. Little
• Shakuntala H. Thilsted

Migrant birds and mammals live faster than residents

Migration is costly. In the first global analysis of migratory vertebrates, authors report that migratory birds and mammals have faster paces of life than their non-migratory relatives, and that among swimming and walking species, migrants tend to be larger, while among flying species, migrants are smaller.

• Andrea Soriano-Redondo
• Jorge S. Gutiérrez
• Stuart Bearhop

Global warming due to loss of large ice masses and Arctic summer sea ice

The disintegration of cryosphere elements such as the Arctic summer sea ice, mountain glaciers, Greenland and West Antarctica is associated with temperature and radiative feedbacks. In this work, the authors quantify these feedbacks and find an additional global warming of 0.43°C.

• Nico Wunderling
• Matteo Willeit
• Ricarda Winkelmann

Asteroid shower on the Earth-Moon system immediately before the Cryogenian period revealed by KAGUYA

Ancient impact events on Earth are not well characterized due to continuous re-surfacing of Earth. Here, the authors study impact craters on the Moon with ages up to 800 million years ago and present a cross correlation to Earth, linking up to mass extinction events throughout Earth’s history.

• Kentaro Terada
• Tomokatsu Morota

The cascading origin of the 2018 Kīlauea eruption and implications for future forecasting

• M. R. Patrick
• B. F. Houghton

The erosion of biodiversity and biomass in the Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot

Quantifying forest degradation and biodiversity losses is necessary to inform conservation and restoration policies. Here the authors analyze a large dataset for the Atlantic Forest in South America to quantify losses in forest biomass and tree species richness, functional traits, and conservation value.

• Renato A. F. de Lima
• Alexandre A. Oliveira
• Paulo I. Prado

Thousands of reptile species threatened by under-regulated global trade

There are gaps in international efforts to monitor the wildlife trade, with many species potentially being undetected by the established monitoring groups. Here the authors use an automated web search to document the sale of reptiles online, revealing over 36% of all known reptile species are in trade, including many missing from official databases.

• Benjamin M. Marshall
• Colin Strine
• Alice C. Hughes

Organo–organic and organo–mineral interfaces in soil at the nanometer scale

Historically it has been maintained that soil organic carbon (SOC) is stabilized through interactions with mineral interfaces. Here the authors use cryo-electron microscopy and spectroscopy to show that SOC interactions can also occur between organic forms in patchy, disordered structure.

• Angela R. Possinger
• Michael J. Zachman
• Johannes Lehmann

Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions

Plastic pollution is a critical concern across diverse ecosystems, yet most research has focused on terrestrial and aquatic transport, neglecting other mechanisms. Here the authors show that atmospheric transport is a major pathway for road plastic pollution over remote regions.

• N. Evangeliou

Determining the current size and state of subvolcanic magma reservoirs

This study makes use of the total spread of zircon ages and trace elements to study the thermal evolution of magmatic systems. Applied to Nevado de Toluca, the authors determine the size of its subvolcanic magma reservoir and assess its potential of re-activation.

• Gregor Weber
• Luca Caricchi
• Axel K. Schmitt

Revised estimates of ocean-atmosphere CO 2 flux are consistent with ocean carbon inventory

Ocean uptake of carbon dioxide impacts the climate, but flux estimates from surface measurements have not been corrected for temperature differences between surface and water sampling depth. Making that correction, the authors find previous estimates for ocean uptake have been substantially underestimated.

• Andrew J. Watson
• Ute Schuster
• Lonneke Goddijn-Murphy

Large deep-sea zooplankton biomass mirrors primary production in the global ocean

Zooplankton biomass in the dark ocean is thought to be low and weakly coupled to epipelagic primary production, but recent evidence suggests otherwise. Here the authors analyse data from the Malaspina Circumnavigation Expedition and published data to estimate bathypelagic zooplankton biomass and assess its relationship to primary production, currently not well accounted for in oceanic C budget.

• S. Hernández-León
• R. Koppelmann
• C. M. Duarte

Just ten percent of the global terrestrial protected area network is structurally connected via intact land

The effectiveness of protected areas depends not only on whether they are intact, but also on whether they are mutually connected. Here the authors examine the structural connectivity of terrestrial protected areas globally, finding that less than 10% of the protected network can be considered connected.

• Michelle Ward
• Santiago Saura
• James E. M. Watson

Precise radiometric age establishes Yarrabubba, Western Australia, as Earth’s oldest recognised meteorite impact structure

The ~70 km-diameter Yarrabubba impact structure in Western Australia has previously been regarded as among Earth’s oldest meteorite craters, but has hitherto lacked absolute age constraints. Here, the authors determine a precise impact age of 2229 ± 5 Ma, which extends the terrestrial cratering record back in time by > 200 million years and establishes Yarrabubba as the oldest recognised meteorite impact structure on Earth.

• Timmons M. Erickson
• Christopher L. Kirkland
• Thomas M. Davison

Global phosphorus shortage will be aggravated by soil erosion

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient critical for agriculture, but because it is non-renewable its future availability is threatened. Here the authors show that across the globe most nations have net losses of phosphorus, with soil erosion as the major route of loss in Europe, Africa and South America.

• Christine Alewell
• Bruno Ringeval
• Pasquale Borrelli

Impacts of irrigated agriculture on food–energy–water–CO 2 nexus across metacoupled systems

Local human activities can lead to cross-border environmental impacts through the food–energy–water–CO 2 nexus. Here, the authors report wide variations in environmental impacts of irrigated agriculture across counties within the North China Plain under different environmental and socioeconomic scenarios.

• Xiuzhi Chen

The genomic timeline of cichlid fish diversification across continents

Cichlids are a model for adaptive radiation, but the timing of their diversification is debated. Here the authors assemble 14 cichlid genomes, introduce a Bayesian approach to account for fossil-assignment uncertainty, and present a dated phylogenomic hypothesis of cichlid and teleost evolution.

• Michael Matschiner
• Astrid Böhne
• Walter Salzburger

Pervasive subduction zone devolatilization recycles CO 2 into the forearc

The fate of subducted CO 2 remains debated, with estimates mainly from numerical predictions varying from wholesale decarbonation of the shallow subducting slab to massive deep subduction of CO 2 . Here, the authors present field-based data and show that ~40% to ~65% of the CO 2 in subducting crust is released via metamorphic decarbonation reactions at forearc depths.

• E. M. Stewart
• Jay J. Ague

Extinction of eastern Sahul megafauna coincides with sustained environmental deterioration

The causes of the Upper Pleistocene megafauna extinction in Australia and New Guinea are debated, but fossil data are lacking for much of this region. Here, Hocknull and colleagues report a new, diverse megafauna assemblage from north-eastern Australia that persisted until ~40,000 years ago.

• Scott A. Hocknull
• Richard Lewis
• Rochelle A. Lawrence

Strong hydroclimatic controls on vulnerability to subsurface nitrate contamination across Europe

Excess fertilizer use causes subsurface contamination. Here, the authors conduct an assessment of water quality vulnerability across Europe, finding that 75% of agricultural regions are susceptible to nitrate contamination for least one-third of the year, two times more than using standard estimation procedure.

• S. Attinger

Earthquake transformer—an attentive deep-learning model for simultaneous earthquake detection and phase picking

The authors here present a deep learning model that simultaneously detects earthquake signals and measures seismic-phase arrival times. The model performs particularly well for cases with high background noise and the challenging task of picking the S wave arrival.

• S. Mostafa Mousavi
• William L. Ellsworth
• Gregory C. Beroza

Glacial heterogeneity in Southern Ocean carbon storage abated by fast South Indian deglacial carbon release

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Delayed emergence of a global temperature response after emission mitigation

Strong mitigation of anthropogenic emissions is necessary, but it is not clear how fast these efforts would lead to temperature changes. Here, the authors find that there is a substantial delay between reductions of emissions and a detectable change in surface temperature for a number of climate forcers.

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The human impact on North American erosion, sediment transfer, and storage in a geologic context

Human activities have accelerated soil erosion and landscape change in many areas. Here the authors show how rates of erosion, sediment transfer and alluvial sedimentation have increased by an order of magnitude across North America since European colonization, far exceeding the rates expected of natural processes.

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Breaking Earth’s shell into a global plate network

How Earth’s lithosphere first divided into tectonic plates remains uncertain. Here, the authors use 3D spherical shell models to demonstrate that anticipated warming of the early lithosphere should lead to thermal expansion and the initiation of a global network of rifts, dividing the lithosphere into tectonic plates.

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The influence of soil age on ecosystem structure and function across biomes

Soil age is thought to be an important driver of ecosystem development. Here, the authors perform a global survey of soil chronosequences and meta-analysis to show that, contrary to expectations, soil age is a relatively minor ecosystem driver at the biome scale once other drivers such as parent material, climate, and vegetation type are accounted for.

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Over 90 endangered fish and invertebrates are caught in industrial fisheries

Due to legislative shortfalls, species of global conservation concern can still be captured in commercial fisheries. Here the authors show that 91 threatened species are reported in catch/landing databases, 13 of which are traded internationally despite their conservation concern.

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Cropland expansion in the United States produces marginal yields at high costs to wildlife

Conversion of natural ecosystems to cropland is a threat to most native wildlife. Here the authors quantify the impact of recent cropland expansion on the habitat of representative pollinator, bird, plant species across the conterminous United States, showing diminished crop yield returns at the cost of important habitat losses.

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Using publicly available satellite imagery and deep learning to understand economic well-being in Africa

It is generally difficult to scale derived estimates and understand the accuracy across locations for passively-collected data sources, such as mobile phones and satellite imagery. Here the authors show that their trained deep learning models are able to explain 70% of the variation in ground-measured village wealth in held-out countries, outperforming previous benchmarks from high-resolution imagery with errors comparable to that of existing ground data.

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Dryness stresses vegetation and can lead to declines in productivity, increased emission of carbon, and plant mortality, but the drivers of this stress remain unclear. Here the authors show that soil moisture plays a dominant role relative to atmospheric water demand over most global land vegetated areas.

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Climate change will affect global water availability through compounding changes in seasonal precipitation and evaporation

Adequate water availability is key to human and ecosystem sustainability. Here, the authors show that seasonally variable regimes become more variable, and the combined influence of seasonality and magnitude of climate variables will affect future water availability.

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Pollution exacerbates China’s water scarcity and its regional inequality

The impact on inadequate water quality on water scarcity is unclear. Here the authors quantify China’s present-day water scarcity and show that inadequate water quality exacerbates China’s water scarcity, which is unevenly distributed across the country.

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Mapping global urban land for the 21st century with data-driven simulations and Shared Socioeconomic Pathways

Here the authors develop a set of global, long-term, spatial projections of urban land expansion for understanding the planet’s potential urban futures. The global total amount of urban land increases by a factor of 1.8-5.9 over the 21st century, and the developed world experiences as much new urban development as the developing world.

• Brian C. O’Neill

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• Published: April 1993

Environmental science and pollution research

International A New Journal — A New Concept

• Otto Hutzinger 1 , 2 , 3 , 4  

Umweltwissenschaften und Schadstoff-Forschung volume  5 ,  page 61 ( 1993 ) Cite this article

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Hutzinger, O. Environmental science and pollution research. UWSF - Z. Umweltchem. Ökotox. 5 , 61 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02981237

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Trends in environment and industrial biotechnology

• Published: 14 May 2024

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• Manish Singh Rajput 1 ,
• Luciana Vandenberghe 2 &
• Ashok Pandey 3  

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This special issue of Environmental Science and Pollution Research (ESPR) includes manuscripts of the selected presentations at the National Conference on Environmental and Industrial Biotechnology-2022 (NCEIB-2022) entitled Trends in Environment and Industrial Biotechnology, held during November 9–10, 2022, at Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Technology for Divyangjan, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.

The conference was held in association with the Biotech Research Society, India (BRSI) and Center for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (CEES), India, featuring the latest developments in the frontier areas of Environmental Biotechnology, Industrial Biotechnology, Biofuels, Bioenergy and Waste Water Management. The conference was sponsored by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT CTEP), India, and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), India, and was attended by more than 250 delegates across India. The eminent speakers included Prof. Sunil Kumar Khare, IIT Delhi; Dr. R. Vinu, IIT Madras; Dr. V. S. Mohalkar, IIT Guwahati; Dr. Madhavan K Nampoothiri, CSIR-NIIST, Trivendrum; Prof. P Mullai, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu; Prof. Datta Madamwar, CHARUSAT, Anand; Prof. Ram Sharan Singh, IIT BHU; Dr. Vinod Kumar, CSIR-IIIM, Jammu; Dr. Ramgopal Rao S., Biocon Limited, Bangalore; and Dr. Ramakrishnan Parthasarthi, CSIT-IITR, Lucknow, to name a few.

The scientific program included 41 invited talks and 81 contributory short oral or poster presentations. Five Research Excellence award, Three Best Paper Award Flash Talk, and Four Best Paper Award Poster were conferred by the BRSI and CEES to the winners under contributory presentations in the closing ceremony of NCEIB 2022.

The topics covered in this special issue include the following: Harnessing the Potential of microbial Keratinases for Enzymatic Bioconversion of Keratin Waste, Recent advances in Sustainable nature-based functional materials for biomedical sensor technologies, Reducing the Bioburden on Organic Sanitary Napkins and Attempt to Solve the Sterility Issue, Bio-adsorbent Hydroxyapatite for Drinking Water Defluoridation: Column Performance Modeling Studies, Isolation and characterization of novel lytic bacteriophages that infect multi drug resistant clinical strains of Escherichia coli , Enhanced remediation of polyaromatic hydrocarbon using agro-industrial waste for biofuel production and environmental pollution mitigation, Current trends in bioremediation and bio-integrated treatment of petroleum hydrocarbons, Optimization of bio-oil extraction from chlorella biomass via a green approach to obtain algal-based Di-ethyl phthalate, Utilization of agricultural residues for energy and resource recovery towards a sustainable environment, Biodegradation of terephthalic acid using Rhodococcus erythropolis MTCC 3951 : Insights into the degradation process, applications in wastewater treatment and polyhydroxyalkanoate production, Biovalorization of mango byproduct through enzymatic extraction of dietary fiber, Performance, combustion and emission characteristics of bio-oil produced by in-situ catalytic pyrolysis of polypropylene using spent FCC, Marine diatom algae cultivation in simulated dairy wastewater and biomass valorization, Toxicological Impacts of Microplastics on Human Health: A Bibliometric Analysis, Co-culturing Chlorella vulgaris and Cystobasidium oligophagum JRC1 in the microbial fuel cell cathode for lipid biosynthesis and Enhanced ethanol production using hydrophobic resin detoxified Pine forest litter hydrolysate and integrated fermentation process development supplementing molasses.

It is hoped that this special issue, TEIB of ESPR, will make a good reference material and be of great use for the scientific community involved in contributing for the betterment of society by working and developing new sustainable, efficient and eco-friendly technologies in the areas of industrial, environmental and allied streams of biotechnology.

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Department of Biotechnology, Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Technology for Divyangjan, Kanpur, India

Manish Singh Rajput

Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology Department, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil

Luciana Vandenberghe

Centre for Innovation and Translational Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India

Ashok Pandey

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Rajput, M.S., Vandenberghe, L. & Pandey, A. Trends in environment and industrial biotechnology. Environ Sci Pollut Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-33599-x

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