This work describes a special case of pollution potential assessment applied to an abandoned sulfide tailings impoundment located in the Riotinto mining district (Huelva), near the Tinto River. Three overlapping levels of discharged tailings were recognized in the impoundment, from deeper to upper pale yellow to white, red, and brownish-yellow. Mineralogical, physical, and chemical characteristics of tailings, water leachates, water, and sulfate efflorescent salts were analyzed. The total toxic element content and the leachate concentration were respectively used to calculate two indices that support potential toxicity assessment the Index of Contamination (IC) and the Hazard Average Ratio (HAQ). According to the IC values, all tailings samples showed a high potential for contaminating soils and sediments, especially the intermediate tailings with up to As (8.6 g kg-1), Pb (14.8 g kg-1), and Cu (1 g kg-1). Deeper tailings leachate was extremely saline and acidic, with a very high concentration of sulfates and toxic elements, exceeding the values 2600, 980, 30, and 17 mg L-1 for SO4, Fe, Al, and Cu, respectively. For this reason, these deeper tailings were linked to the saline and acid seepage, and also to the sulfate acid efflorescences formed at the dike toe. In conclusion, the studied abandoned tailings impoundment is related with a high likelihood of polluting the environment, represented by very high IC and HAQ values. However, when the Tinto River is considered the receiving water body, the severity of the potential contamination must be judged as very low.Wetlands are one of the most productive ecosystems on the Earth. They are generally considered a transitional state between terrestrial-aquatic habitats and provide numerous vital ecosystem services to mankind. Wetlands are under a tremendous pressure due to growing human interference, urbanization, conventional agriculture, industrial expansions, and overexploitation of ecological services. The Keoladeo National Park (KNP) is a manmade wetland, world heritage site and a designated Ramsar site in India, widely known for its avian biodiversity. Due to insufficient amount of water supply and widespread invasion of Prosopis juliflora, notable spatio-temporal changes are observed in the land cover affecting habitat quality of the park. The present study is designed to highlight the importance of very high-resolution satellite data for characterization of the wetland ecosystem. It assesses the spatio-temporal dynamics of land use/land cover (LULC) and habitat quality, a model built in the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) tool, is utilized to analyze the effect of land cover changes and increase in P. juliflora on habitat quality in the park. The study concludes that drastic changes in LULC and rampant spread of P. juliflora have deteriorated the quality of habitat for bird species. Furthermore, it highlights importance of geospatial tools in mapping, monitoring, and managing wetland ecosystems.Bioaerosols are emitted during the biological treatment of water, soil, and air pollutants. The elimination of these pollutants has become a priority due to their detrimental effects on human health. Advanced oxidation technologies have been used to control bioaerosol emissions specially to improve indoor air quality. This investigation was focused on evaluating the biofiltration of ethyl acetate vapors in terms of removal efficiency and bioaerosol emission. Also, a continuous photocatalytic process to inactivate bioaerosols emitted from the biofilter was assessed as a post-treatment. buy Protosappanin B The photocatalysis was developed with ZnO and TiO2 immobilized onto Poraver glass beads. Flow cytometry (FC) coupled with fluorochromes was used to characterize and quantify bioaerosol emissions in terms of live, dead, and injured cells. Ethyl acetate removal efficiencies were maintained in a steady state with values of 100% under 60-g m-3 h-1 inlet load (IL). Biomass concentration in the biofilter reached values up to 228 mgbiomass gperlite-1 at day 56 of operation, but the spontaneous occurrence of predatory mites diminished biomass concentration by 33%. Bioaerosols emitted during the steady-state operation of the biofilter were composed mainly by bacteria (~ 94%) and in a less extent of fungal spores (0.29-6%). The most efficient photocatalytic system comprised TiO2/Poraver with 78% inactivation of bioaerosols during the first 2 h of the process, whereas the ZnO/Poraver system showed null activity (~ 0%) of inactivation. FC results show that the main mechanism of inactivation of TiO2/Poraver was cell death.In this study, cadmium (Cd) solution spraying and Cd-contaminated soil pot experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of Cd from atmospheric deposition and soil on the growth, cumulative distribution, chemical morphology, physiological, and biochemical responses of Amaranthus tricolor L. The results indicated that Cd in plants mainly came from soil (92-98%) and was stored in the roots in large quantities while the portion from atmospheric deposition could also effectively increase Cd content in stems and leaves (2-3%). Cd was mainly stored in plant cell walls and would transfer to the soluble part under high-concentration soil stress Cd from atmospheric deposition alone promoted the growth of plants, but high Cd concentrations from soil had the negative influence. The contents of H2O2 and MDA in plants increased under soil and atmospheric Cd stress, indicating that the plant cells were damaged by oxidative stress. The content of antioxidant enzymes such as POD, CAT, SOD, and antioxidants like AsA and GSH increased under low-concentration Cd stress but decreased under elevated stress, suggesting that high Cd-contaminated soil poses severe toxicity on the antioxidant system of the plants. Hence, the accumulation and physiological response of plants under multi-source Cd contamination were mainly affected by high soil Cd concentrations. Though the effect of atmospheric deposition is relatively less, it cannot be ignored.Indoor airborne fungi have been associated with adverse human health effects. Therefore, it is important to understand the causes of underlying variation in airborne fungi in indoor environments. This study consequently aimed to investigate the association between indoor fungi with temporal variation, environmental parameters, and potential confounders over 10 months in four library rooms using Andersen samplers. Indoor fungal concentrations peaked in October and were lowest in March in both stack rooms, whereas the highest concentrations in both reading rooms were observed in September with lowest concentrations in July. Nonparametric analyses revealed higher fungal concentrations in the rooms that were significantly associated with relative humidity ≥ 60%, PM2.5 ≥ 35 μg/m3, number of people ≥ 16, open windows, working air conditioners, and room area less then  400 m2. Multiple linear regression modeling for the library building considering only continuous variables revealed that relative humidity, PM2.5, and the number of people were significant predictors of fungal concentrations.