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Post-industrial era has witnessed significant advancements at unprecedented rates in the field of medicine and cosmetics, which has led to affluent use of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). However, this has exacerbated the influx of various pollutants in the environment affecting living organisms through multiple routes. Thousands of PPCPs of various classes—prescription and non-prescription drugs—are discharged directly into the environment. In this review, we have surveyed literature investigating plant-based remediation practices to remove PPCPs from the environment. Our specific aim is to highlight the importance of plant-bacteria interplay for sustainable remediation of PPCPs. The green technologies not only are successfully curbing organic pollutants but also have displayed certain limitations. For example, the presence of biologically active compounds within plant rhizosphere may affect plant growth and hence compromise the phytoremediation potential of constructed wetlands. To overcome these hindrances, combined use of plants and beneficial bacteria has been employed. The microbes (both rhizo- and endophytes) in this type of system not only degrade PPCPs directly but also accelerate plant growth by producing growth-promoting enzymes and hence remediation potential of constructed wetlands.

Ecosystems worldwide are rapidly losing taxonomic, phylogenetic, genetic, and functional diversity as a result of human appropriation of natural resources, modification of habitats and climate, and the spread of pathogenic, exotic, and domestic plants and animals. Twenty years of intense theoretical and empirical research have shown that such biotic impoverishment can markedly alter the biogeochemical and dynamic properties of ecosystems, but frontiers remain in linking this research to the complexity of wild nature, and in applying it to pressing environmental issues such as food, water, energy, and biosecurity. The question before us is whether these advances can take us beyond merely invoking the precautionary principle of conserving biodiversity to a predictive science that informs practical and specific solutions to mitigate and adapt to its loss.

How closely does variability in ecologically important traits reflect evolutionary divergence? The use of phylogenetic diversity (PD) to predict biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning, and more generally the use of phylogenetic information in community ecology, depends in part on the answer to this question. However, comparisons of the predictive power of phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity (FD) have not been conducted across a range of experiments. To address how phylogenetic diversity and functional trait variation control biodiversity effects on biomass production, we summarized the results of 29 grassland plant experiments where both the phylogeny of plant species used in the experiments is well described and where extensive trait data are available. Functional trait variation was only partially related to phylogenetic distances between species, and the resulting FD values therefore correlate only partially with PD. Despite these differences, FD and PD predicted biodiversity effects across all experiments with similar strength, including in subsets that excluded plots with legumes and that focused on fertilization experiments. Two- and three-trait combinations of the five traits used here (leaf nitrogen percentage, height, specific root length, leaf mass per unit area, and nitrogen fixation) resulted in the FD values with the greatest predictive power. Both PD and FD can be valuable predictors of the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning, which suggests that a focus on both community trait diversity and evolutionary history can improve understanding of the consequences of biodiversity loss.

Accurate assessment of vegetation dynamics provides important information for ecosystem management. Anthropogenic activities and climate variations are the major factors that primarily influence vegetation ecosystems. This study investigates the spatiotemporal impacts of climate factors and human activities on vegetation productivity changes in China from 1985 to 2015. Actual net primary productivity (ANPP) is used to reflect vegetation dynamics quantitatively. Climate-induced potential net primary productivity (PNPP) is used as an indicator of climate change, whereas the difference between PNPP and ANPP is considered as an indicator of human activities (HNPP). Overall, 91% of the total vegetation cover area shows declining trends for net primary productivity (NPP), while only 9% shows increasing trends before 2000 (base period). However, after 2000 (restoration period), 78.7% of the total vegetation cover area shows increasing trends, whereas 21.3% of the area shows decreasing trends. Moreover, during the base period, the quantitative contribution of climate change to NPP restoration is 0.21 grams carbon per meter square per year (gC m−2 yr−1) and to degradation is 2.41 gC m−2 yr−1, while during the restoration period, climate change contributes 0.56 and 0.29 gC m−2 yr−1 to NPP restoration and degradation, respectively. Human activities contribute 0.36 and 0.72 gC m−2 yr−1 during the base period, and 0.63 and 0.31 gC m−2 yr−1 during the restoration period to NPP restoration and degradation, respectively. The combined effects of climate and human activities restore 0.65 and 1.11 gC m−2 yr−1, and degrade 2.01 and 0.67 gC m−2 yr−1 during the base and restoration periods, respectively. Climate factors affect vegetation cover more than human activities, while precipitation is found to be more sensitive to NPP change than temperature. Unlike the base period, NPP per unit area increases with an increase in the human footprint pressure during the restoration period. Grassland has more variability than other vegetation classes, and the grassland changes are mainly observed in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia regions. The results may help policy-makers by providing necessary guidelines for the management of forest, grassland, and agricultural activities.

Background With rapid industrial development, heavy metal contamination has become a major public health and ecological concern worldwide. Although knowledge about metal pollution in European water resources is increasing, monitoring data and assessments in developing countries are rare. In order to protect human health and aquatic ecosystems, it is necessary to investigate heavy metal content and its consequences to human health and ecology. Accordingly, we collected 200 water samples from different water resources including groundwater, canals, river and drains, and investigated metal contamination and its implications for human and ecological health. This is the first comprehensive study in the region that considered all the water resources for metal contamination and associated human health and ecological risks together. Results Here we show that the water resources of Lahore (Pakistan) are highly contaminated with metals, posing human and ecological health risks. Approximately 26% of the groundwater samples are unsuitable for drinking and carry the risk of cancer. Regarding dermal health risks, groundwater, canal, river, and drain water respectively showed 40%, 74%, 80%, and 90% of samples exceeding the threshold limit of the health risk index (HRI > 1). Regarding ecological risks, almost all the water samples exceeded the chronic and acute threshold limits for algae, fish, and crustaceans. Only 42% of groundwater samples were below the acute threshold limits. In the case of pollution index, 72%, 56%, and 100% of samples collected from canals, river Ravi, and drains were highly contaminated. Conclusions In conclusion, this comprehensive study shows high metal pollution in water resources and elucidates that human health and aquatic ecosystems are at high risk. Therefore, urgent and comprehensive measures are imperative to mitigate the escalating risks to human health and ecosystems.

Land use land cover (LULC) of city regions is strongly affected by urbanization and affects the thermal environment of urban centers by influencing the surface temperature of core city areas and their surroundings. These issues are addressed in the current study, which focuses on two provincial capitals in Pakistan, i.e., Lahore and Peshawar. Using Landsat data, LULC is determined with the aim to (a) examine the spatio-temporal changes in LULC over a period of 20 years from 1998 to 2018 using a CA-Markov model, (b) predict the future scenarios of LULC changes for the years 2023 and 2028, and (c) study the evolution of different LULC categories and investigate its impacts on land surface temperature (LST). The results for Peshawar city indicate the significant expansion in vegetation and built-up area replacing barren land. The vegetation cover and urban area of Peshawar have increased by 25.6%, and 16.3% respectively. In contrast, Lahore city urban land has expanded by 11.2% while vegetation cover decreased by (22.6%). These transitions between LULC classes also affect the LST in the study areas. Transformation of vegetation cover and water surface into built-up areas or barren land results in the increase in the LST. In contrast, the transformation of urban areas and barren land into vegetation cover or water results in the decrease in LST. The different LULC evolutions in Lahore and Peshawar clearly indicate their effects on the thermal environment, with an increasing LST trend in Lahore and a decrease in Peshawar. This study provides a baseline reference to urban planners and policymakers for informed decisions.

Both the number of cases of dengue fever and the areas of outbreaks within Nepal have increased significantly in recent years. Further expansion and range shift is expected in the future due to global climate change and other associated factors. However, due to limited spatially-explicit research in Nepal, there is poor understanding about the present spatial distribution patterns of dengue risk areas and the potential range shift due to future climate change. In this context, it is crucial to assess and map dengue fever risk areas in Nepal. Here, we used reported dengue cases and a set of bioclimatic variables on the MaxEnt ecological niche modeling approach to model the climatic niche and map present and future (2050s and 2070s) climatically suitable areas under different representative concentration pathways (RCP2.6, RCP6.0 and RCP8.5). Simulation-based estimates suggest that climatically suitable areas for dengue fever are presently distributed throughout the lowland Tarai from east to west and in river valleys at lower elevations. Under the different climate change scenarios, these areas will be slightly shifted towards higher elevation with varied magnitude and spatial patterns. Population exposed to climatically suitable areas of dengue fever in Nepal is anticipated to further increase in both 2050s and 2070s on all the assumed emission scenarios. These findings could be instrumental to plan and execute the strategic interventions for controlling dengue fever in Nepal.

BackgroundVarious nano-enabled agrochemicals are being extensively used for soil remediation and to boost crop production by increasing the nutrient efficiency of fertilizers. However, understanding of their potential risks on the manure–soil–plant continuum is limited. These nano-agrochemicals can be potentially toxic to soil microbes and their associated functions, such as nitrogen (N) mineralization and decomposition of organic materials. Moreover, the accumulation of nanoparticles (NPs) in edible crops may reduce food quality, and can cause serious threats to human health. Accordingly, here we investigated how zinc (ZONPs) and iron oxide (IONPs) nanoparticles affect the soil microbial communities, their efficiency of decomposition and N mineralization, radish yield, and plant N recovery after soil application of poultry manure (PM). Furthermore, we studied the associated health risks (DIM, HRI) via dietary intake of radish.ResultsSoil application of ZONPs and IONPs significantly (P < 0.05) increased microbial biomass Zn/Fe indicating their microbial utilization. This decreased the colony-forming units (CFU) of bacteria and fungi. For example, the application of PM with ZONPs and IONPs decreased the CFU of bacteria by 32% and 19%, respectively. In case of fungi, the CFU reductions were slightly different (ZONPs: 28% and IONPs: 23%). Consequently, the N mineralization significantly decreased by 62% and 29% due to ZONPs and IONPs, respectively. Which ultimately resulted in the reduction of radish dry matter yield by 22% and 12%. The respective reductions of the apparent N recovery (ANR) were 65% and 39%. Health risk assessment indicated that DIM and HRI values from both the NPs lie under safe limits.ConclusionsWe conclude that both metal oxide nanoparticles (i.e., ZONPs and IONPs) can significantly affect the soil microbial community, their associated functions, and crop yield with the former being relatively more toxic. However, no evidence was found regarding the health risks to humans via dietary radish intake. These toxicological effects imply restricting the widespread production and use of NPs, and developing strategies for their safe disposal to avoid their contact with soil beneficial microorganisms.

Tree plantations and forest restoration are leading strategies for enhancing terrestrial carbon (C) sequestration and mitigating climate change. While it is well established that species-rich natural forests offer superior C sequestering benefits relative to short-rotation commercial monoculture plantations, differences in rates of C capture and storage between longer-lived plantations (commercial or non-commercial) and natural forests remain unclear. Using a natural experiment in the Western Ghats of India, where late-20th century conservation laws prohibited timber extraction from monodominant plantations and natural forests within nature reserves, we assessed forests and plantations for aboveground C storage and the magnitude and temporal stability of rates of photosynthetic C capture (gross primary production). Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that species-rich forests show greater temporal stability of C capture, and are more resistant to drought, than monodominant plantations. Carbon stocks in monodominant teak (Tectona grandis) and Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.) plantations were 30%-50% lower than in natural evergreen forests, but differed little from moist-deciduous forests. Plantations had 4%-9% higher average C capture rates (estimated using the Enhanced Vegetation Index-EVI) than natural forests during wet seasons, but up to 29% lower C capture during dry seasons across the 2000-18 period. In both seasons, the rate of C capture by plantations was less stable across years, and decreased more during drought years (i.e. lower resistance to drought), compared to forests. Thus, even as certain monodominant plantations could match natural forests for C capture and storage potential, plantations are unlikely to match the stability-and hence reliability-of C capture exhibited by forests, particularly in the face of increasing droughts and other climatic perturbations. Promoting natural forest regeneration and/or multi-species native tree plantations instead of plantation monocultures could therefore benefit climate change mitigation efforts, while offering valuable co-benefits for biodiversity conservation and other ecosystem services.

Land degradation reflected by vegetation is a commonly used practice to monitor desertification. To retrieve important information for ecosystem management accurate assessment of desertification is necessary. The major factors that drive vegetation dynamics in arid and semi-arid regions are climate and anthropogenic activities. Progression of desertification is expected to exacerbate under future climate change scenarios, through precipitation variability, increased drought frequency and persistence of dry conditions. This study examined spatiotemporal vegetation dynamics in arid regions of Sindh, Pakistan, using annual and growing season Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from 2000 to 2017, and explored the climatic and anthropogenic effects on vegetation. Results showed an overall upward trend (annual 86.71% and growing season 82.7%) and partial downward trend (annual 13.28% and growing season 17.3%) in the study area. NDVI showed the highest significant increase in cropland region during annual, whereas during growing season the highest significant increase was observed in savannas. Overall high consistency in future vegetation trends in arid regions of Sindh province is observed. Stable and steady development region (annual 48.45% and growing 42.80%) dominates the future vegetation trends. Based on the Hurst exponent and vegetation dynamics of the past, improvement in vegetation cover is predicted for a large area (annual 44.49% and growing 30.77%), and a small area is predicted to have decline in vegetation activity (annual 0.09% and growing 3.04%). Results revealed that vegetation growth in the study area is a combined result of climatic and anthropogenic factors; however, in the future multi-controls are expected to have a slightly larger impact on annual positive development than climate whereas positive development in growing season is more likely to continue in future under the control of climate variability.