Themed collection Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts: Recent Review Articles

We engage in research motivated by climate change and the impacts of pollution on air, water, and human health. The scientific community need to improve communication and knowledge exchange across disciplines to address pressing research questions holistically.

Characterizing the degradation behavior of chemicals in the environment is a key component of chemical hazard and risk assessment.

Many existing definitions of PFAS are overly broad, there is a strong case for a more precise definition of regulated PFAS.

A more ubiquitous use of process-based models will enhance the information gained from biogeochemical experimentation through both, a more rigorous interpretation of acquired data and the optimal design of future experiments.

This perspective article reports the possible relationships between climate change and the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic and vice versa.

This review summarizes the role of graphene-based nanomaterials, which show antimicrobial behavior and have antiviral efficacy, in reducing the spread of COVID-19.

Extracellular vesicles are a ubiquitous but often overlooked biological component of all natural environments. Convergent interdisciplinary research highlights an effective approach to understand their properties and functions.

Limited information on the speciation of vanadium in the environment and anthropogenic emissions, coupled with toxicology heavily focused on V₂O₅ needs to be addressed to balance environmentally beneficial uses against potential harmful effects.

New approaches to better characterize chemical contamination from hydraulic fracturing of shale and other permeable rock formations for improved risk-based management are presented.

This review reports state-of-the-art methods for automated microalgae classification aimed at monitoring water ecosystem conditions by means of digital microscopy, its current state and indications of future directions the field is expected to take.

Fluorescence spectroscopy is very useful for the characterisation of organic matter in natural water samples. The importance of protein-like fluorescence might be enhanced by several events induced by warming in natural waters such as lake water.

PFAS are detected in particulate matter around the world.

Approaches to regulatory assessment and management of polymers are reviewed and opportunities for improvements are highlighted based on a critical appraisal of current science on their environmental fate and effects.

Potential genotoxicity of microplastics (MPs) includes accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA damage, cell death, inflammation or genetic regulation which in turn can have consequences for health, such as the induction of carcinogenesis.

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) from different agricultural inputs enter the farmland soils and tend to get transferred to humans through meat from grazing animals and plant produce, causing serious health concern.

This critical review presents the best remedy to protect human health by efficient materials-based air filters that can be used to air-purify and kill the dangerous SARS-CoV-2 virus and remove the other air pollutants.

Distribution of PPCPs in the African, Asian, European, and North and South American continents is presented and discussed.

Anthropogenic activities have steadily increased the release of emerging contaminants (ECs) in aquatic bodies, and these ECs may have adverse effects on humans even at their trace (μg L⁻¹) levels.

1. Investigation of the VOCs emissions and source structure is summarized. 2. Characteristics of VOCs observations including surface and satellite are introduced. 3. Suggestions on improvement for future VOCs observation are provided.

Time series of contaminants in the Arctic are an important instrument to detect emerging issues and to monitor the effectiveness of chemicals regulation. Climate change can affect the link between primary emissions and concentrations in Arctic wildlife.

Climate change is affecting Antarctica and the Southern Ocean and effects have been already reported for the abiotic compartments of the ecosystems, e.g. ice loss and iceberg calving.

Global warming profoundly affects not only mountainous and polar environments, but also the global and regional cycling of pollutants.

Direct and indirect effects of climate change influence contaminant sources, transport, re-distribution and circulation in the physical environment of the Arctic. Linkages of such observations to Arctic ecosystem exposure and effects are needed.

Global climate change-driven shifts in physical and ecological processes may alter POPs concentrations in Arctic food webs.

Future climate change in the Arctic will lead to loss of ice, snow and permafrost, increasing human activity and development, and changes in wind and ocean circulation patterns, that could alter the pathways, distribution and fate of contaminants.

This review covers 40 laboratory- and plot-scale wildfire and rainfall simulation experiments which focus on wildfire hydrologic and water quality effects, guiding future researchers in the optimal design of their own simulation experiments.

Microplastics are extremely complex, and as the food chain comes full circle, it is dreaded that these could have a deleterious influence on humans.

Our critical review compares ARG profiles in the atmosphere across different locations and discusses characterization methods, atmospheric transport, and future research questions.

Reactive nitrogen species (RNS) pose a potential risk to drinking water quality because they react with organic compounds to form toxic byproducts.

This paper summarizes the atmospheric release of Hg, distribution of air Hg concentration, human exposure to MeHg and health impacts caused by Hg pollution in China.

Massive use of disposable masks and mismanagement could raise emerging environmental and bio-safety concerns.

Synthetic fibre release is an important source of microplastics to agricultural soils, through the application of sewage sludge. Microplastics are potential vectors for the transport of sorbed metal(loid)s from wastewater to soils and organisms.

EC-containing airborne particles have diverse oxidative potentials dependent on their physical and chemical properties, which can be also changed by atmospheric aging processes.

Globally, waterborne gastroenteritis attributable to rotaviruses is on the increase due to the rapid increase in population growth, poor socioeconomic conditions, and drastic changes in climatic conditions.

This review summarizes in detail the current knowledge in the chemical compositions, formation mechanisms, and physicochemical properties of secondary organic aerosols formed from monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Hundreds of review studies have been published focusing on microplastics (MPs) and their environmental impacts.

Carbamazepine (CBZ) is one of the most common pharmaceuticals found in the aquatic environment.

The nirS-type and nirK-type denitrifiers have attracted great attention.

Our critical review provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art understanding of PFAS thermal behavior and destruction mechanisms under different thermal destruction technologies and further research needs.

Pathways of human exposure to MPs and associated risks.

With polystyrene nanoparticles being widely used in various applications, there is a great need for deeper knowledge on the safety, fate and biological effects of these particles on both individual living organisms and the whole ecosystems.

Nanoplastics (NPs) have drawn increasing attention in recent years due to their potential threats to aquatic ecosystems.

The review presents a way of comparing environmental geochemistry between thioantimony and thioarsenic, summarizing the latest knowledge about their formation, structure and transformation.

We review how chemical properties govern human exposure to environmental chemicals through different routes from different sources.

A synoptic review of aquatic plastics research from Australia, the United Kingdom and China is presented, highlighting (a) key research and management challenges, and (b) a need to converge on standardised methods and bioindicator species to make global comparisons more reliable.

Examination of literatures surrounding purported natural trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) reveals that all TFA observations can be reasonably altributed to anthropogenic sources.

At present, volatile petroleum hydrocarbon pollution in soil is still widespread and serious in China.

This review integrates current understanding on uptake, accumulation and distribution of PFAS in the brain, along with potential neurotoxic outcomes.

Chlorpyrifos pesticides residues in various sources and the comparision of the various detection and degradation methods of chlorpyrifos.

CO₂ sequestration in shales is controlled by the intrinsic properties of shale and external factors shown in grey and green boxes, respectively. The adsorption capacity (orange box) is influenced by both intrinsic properties and external factors.

The consumption and production of antibiotics in China rank highest in the world.

The essential-use concept is a tool that can guide the phase-out of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and potentially other harmful substances of concern.

This paper presents a comprehensive literature review on the research status of PM_2.5 in subways over the past two decades.

The contextualization of macroplastics in a budget framework can help to improve our understanding of the physical processes determining macroplastic behaviour and impacts in rivers. Hence, better management practices can be adopted.

A comprehensive review was performed on the environmental fate, environmental occurrence, toxicity, physical–chemical properties, abiotic and biotic removal and degradation of phthalate esters (PAEs) to compute the overall phthalate exposure and their impact on human beings.

Considering the explosive growth of the list of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), the scientific community is combatting increasing challenges to protect humans and wildlife from the potentially negative consequences of POPs.

Increased production and use of plastics has resulted in growth in the amount of plastic debris accumulating in the environment, potentially fragmenting into smaller pieces.

The fate of plastic in the ocean is influenced by physical, chemical and biological stressors. These cause fragemntation and the formation of micro and nanoplastics but also degradation of plastics.

Modern agricultural practices have triggered the process of agricultural pollution.

Drinking water consumption results in exposure to complex mixtures of organic chemicals, including natural and anthropogenic chemicals and compounds formed during drinking water treatment such as disinfection by-products.