Annegaaike Leopold, Michelle Bloor, Ksenia Groh, Leo Posthuma, Hans Sanderson, Hanna Schreiber, Christoph Schür, Paul Thomas
{"title":"Research gaps and recommendations to improve the Safe and Sustainable by Design framework.","authors":"Annegaaike Leopold, Michelle Bloor, Ksenia Groh, Leo Posthuma, Hans Sanderson, Hanna Schreiber, Christoph Schür, Paul Thomas","doi":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf059","DOIUrl":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf059","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":13557,"journal":{"name":"Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management","volume":" ","pages":"735-738"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144110612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Girija Prasad, Smita Mohanty, Paromita Chakraborty, Girija K Bharat
{"title":"Microplastics in the rivers of Gujarat (India) to the Arabian Sea: assessment of the sources, distribution, and associated environmental risk.","authors":"Girija Prasad, Smita Mohanty, Paromita Chakraborty, Girija K Bharat","doi":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf011","DOIUrl":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Microplastics (MPs) have become a notable concern and are released into the environment through the disposal or fragmentation of large plastics. Rivers have been the major pathways for MPs present in the oceans, which significantly affects the marine environment. In this study, water samples were collected from the upper stream and downstream of the Damanganga and Tapi rivers across different sites in the state of Gujarat, India, for exploration of MP contamination. Additionally, samples were collected from Dumas Beach to detect the presence of MPs. Microplastics were extracted from the samples through sieving, density separation, and wet peroxide oxidation techniques, and were subsequently analyzed using μ-FTIR (micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), optical microscopy, pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GCMS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The concentration of MPs was also quantified from each stretch of the Damanganga and Tapi rivers as well as Dumas Beach. Findings revealed that the Damanganga showed a higher concentration (3.53 particles/L) of MPs compared with the others. Further, optical microscopy and μ-FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of MPs such as polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene (PE), and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Pyrolysis products of PP, PS, and polyamide (PA) were detected from Py-GCMS studies. Additionally, SEM images revealed that MPs were subjected to weathering, oxidation, and atmospheric deposition over the years. The study additionally confirmed the flux of MPs in both rivers and the beach due to anthropogenic and industrial effects. Risk assessment of MPs was performed using the pollutant loading index (PLI), which indicated that the overall MP pollution in the studied sites was marginal. Nevertheless, the PLI scores revealed that Damanganga was the most prone to MP pollution among the three study sites.</p>","PeriodicalId":13557,"journal":{"name":"Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management","volume":" ","pages":"843-857"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143038279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Are pesticides the dominant stressors in German lowland streams?","authors":"Dwayne R J Moore, Hendrik Rathjens","doi":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf038","DOIUrl":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf038","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) conducted a monitoring study of small lowland streams (in German, Kleingewässermonitoring, KGM) in Germany during the 2018 and 2019 growing seasons that included collecting water samples for pesticides and urban contaminants. This study was commissioned and funded by the German Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt). A publication by Liess and co-authors in 2021 concluded that 83% of agricultural streams included in the monitoring study were in an unacceptable ecological condition. This conclusion was based on a comparison of benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) communities between reference and agricultural sites. The authors observed a decline in vulnerable BMI species, which they attributed to agricultural nonpoint source pollution by pesticides. We conducted an extensive re-analysis of the raw data and found that many of the study results were not reproducible because of a lack of detailed reporting of data processing methods. Other data processing steps and decisions by the authors lacked supporting rationales. Further, we found that the indicators of pesticide pressure for some stream sections were derived from samples taken after BMI communities had been sampled and are therefore not indicative of a causal relationship between pesticide pressure and community status. We recommend that the original dataset be filtered to include only stream sections with complete and temporally consistent data for both pesticide and macroinvertebrate sampling. This approach would enhance the transparency of the analysis and enable the scientific community to better assess the evidence supporting the authors' conclusions regarding the dominant stressors affecting BMI community structure in German lowland streams. Although the KGM dataset provides valuable insights into the status of small streams in agricultural landscapes, a more rigorous data selection and statistical analysis process is needed to derive robust and scientifically defensible findings for environmental management.</p>","PeriodicalId":13557,"journal":{"name":"Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management","volume":" ","pages":"739-744"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143673779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"PWC tool to estimate pesticide soil concentrations for risk assessment of nontarget soil organisms.","authors":"Fábio Casallanovo, Flávio Tincani, Gustavo Souza Santos, Matheus Severino, Ana Paola Cione, Daniela Mejías Simone, Dirk F Young, Rômulo Penna Scorza Júnior, Wenlin Chen","doi":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf031","DOIUrl":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf031","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In Brazil, as of 2024, regulatory authorities are discussing establishing new guidelines for environmental risk assessment (ERA) of plant protection products (PPPs) for nontarget soil organisms. A critical aspect of this process is exposure estimates of nontarget soil organisms to PPPs. The present work investigates the potential application of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Pesticide in Water Calculator (PWC) modeling platform to estimate the predicted environmental concentration in the soil (PECSOIL) as an option for exposure assessments. The objective of this exercise is to investigate the practicability and adaptability of PWC within the framework of a tiered risk assessment approach in Brazil. The PWC PECSOIL values were compared with two soil residue kinetics models: the United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive (HES) PECSOIL Calculator and ESCAPE. As a validation step, PWC PECSOIL estimates were compared with measured soil residue data from two Brazilian locations. The impact of location-specific local data-soil physical-chemical properties, meteorological data, application methods, and crop parameters-on PECSOIL is also discussed, especially parameters that are inherent to PWC but absent in other soil kinetics calculators. Based on this work, we found the PWC model useful for soil exposure determination, especially when it becomes necessary to refine the exposure estimates using locally relevant conditions to bring more realism to the evaluation process.</p>","PeriodicalId":13557,"journal":{"name":"Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management","volume":" ","pages":"943-951"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143556808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Forecasting the future distribution of Zataria multiflora in Iran affected by climate change: a MaxEnt approach.","authors":"Naser Hosseini, Hossein Mostafavi, Mansour Ghorbanpour","doi":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf043","DOIUrl":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf043","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Climate change, driven by both natural and human influences, presents serious threats to biodiversity and the distribution of species over the coming decades. To examine the effects of climate change on species distribution and habitat suitability, researchers have widely used species distribution models (SDMs). This study specifically investigated Zataria multiflora, a valuable medicinal plant found in Iranian rangelands. The aim was to identify the critical factors influencing the distribution of Z. multiflora and assess how climate change may affect its range. We utilized the maximum entropy model (MaxEnt), incorporating eight environmental variables: maximum temperature of the warmest month, minimum temperature of the coldest month, annual temperature range, precipitation of the driest quarter, precipitation of the coldest quarter, depth to bedrock, slope, and solar radiation. The results indicated that solar radiation, slope, precipitation during the warmest quarter (bio17), and maximum temperature of the warmest month (bio5) were the most significant factors affecting the species' distribution. Projections suggest a potential decrease in the species' range by 43.98%, 51.60%, 54.20%, and 68.10% under representative concentration pathways 4.5-2050, 8.5-2050, 4.5-2070, and 8.5-2070, respectively. These insights can assist decision-makers in developing effective conservation strategies to protect and sustainably manage Z. multiflora in light of global climate change. Given the expected habitat loss, in situ conservation efforts should be prioritized for the protection of Z. multiflora.</p>","PeriodicalId":13557,"journal":{"name":"Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management","volume":" ","pages":"771-783"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144093509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Questioning the credibility and effectiveness of market-based conservation methods.","authors":"Jithu K Jose","doi":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/inteam/vjaf055","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":13557,"journal":{"name":"Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management","volume":"21 4","pages":"965-967"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144564758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ecotoxicological assessments of over-the-counter NSAID (diclofenac, ibuprofen, aspirin) and antipyretic (acetaminophen) pharmaceuticals: A review of their toxicity effects on aquatic crustaceans.","authors":"Delezia S Singh, Stephan Pflugmacher","doi":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/inteam/vjaf082","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Commonly used, over-the-counter (OTC) NSAIDs and antipyretic pharmaceuticals represent emerging contaminants of concern, with high global consumption attributing to their frequent detection across diverse water systems. Concerns surround their harmful impacts on aquatic biota, especially since waterbodies represent the predominant receiving matrices for drug-imbued effluents and waste disposal. To support the growing evidence of toxicity effects from emerging contaminants like OTC drugs on non-target organisms, ecotoxicological assessments have been conducted using bioassay experiments and biological models, like crustaceans. To shed light on the scope of toxicity data on common OTC drugs available for this sensitive group, while identifying research gaps and poorly-studied areas that need future ecotoxicological attention, the goal focused on reviewing existing literature on toxicity studies that involved crustaceans and commonly used NSAID and antipyretic OTC medications represented by: ibuprofen, diclofenac, aspirin/acetylsalicylic acid and paracetamol/acetaminophen. Published studies were accrued from literature databases using a systematic search strategy and a 4-stage protocol. 814 records resulted, with 68 meeting relevance following their eligibility screening against defined criteria. Extracted data was organized according to general bibliographical identifiers, experimental design aspects and key findings. Assimilated information revealed that most studies focused on acute toxicity testing for the chosen pharmaceuticals, using largely microcrustaceans as test models (Branchiopoda, Copepoda, Isopoda, Amphipoda, Ostracoda and Mysida), especially conventionally-known groups (daphnids). Ibuprofen was the most investigated across all taxa (32.9%) but effect concentrations for caridean shrimps (Neocaridina denticulata and Atyaephyra desmarestii) and the amphipod, Hyalella azteca, reflected notable sensitivity toward diclofenac. Fewer studies assessed mixture, metabolites' and long-term/sublethal effects in relation to the focus drugs. Future research efforts can supplement these information deficiencies with the aid of efficient, non-traditional (ecotoxicological) methodologies within ethical frameworks, in order to support environmental policy and risk management for NSAID and antipyretic pharmaceuticals.</p>","PeriodicalId":13557,"journal":{"name":"Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144527786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
G S K Zackariah, Louis A Tremblay, Zhaojun Li, Barry Palmer, Xiayan Liu, Shuxian An, Rognsheng Zhu, Jiancai Wang, Maneh Komlanvi Jacob, Yohannes Kebede, Okbagaber Andom, Abbas Dilawar
{"title":"Antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes in agri-foods: A global review of the consumption risks to human health.","authors":"G S K Zackariah, Louis A Tremblay, Zhaojun Li, Barry Palmer, Xiayan Liu, Shuxian An, Rognsheng Zhu, Jiancai Wang, Maneh Komlanvi Jacob, Yohannes Kebede, Okbagaber Andom, Abbas Dilawar","doi":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/inteam/vjaf084","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Antibiotics have reduced disease burdens in humans and animals, but the development of resistant microbes in agricultural products poses a risk. The long-term impacts of antibiotics in agri-foods remain poorly understood, making it difficult to assess their risks to human and animal health. Current research suggests that most antibiotic contamination in the agri-food chain poses negligible risks, based on assessments of measured environmental concentrations (MECs), predicted environmental concentration (PEC)/Predicted No-Effect Concentration (PNEC) ratios (MEC/PNEC<0.1), toxic units (TU = MECs/EC50 <0.01), and summed risk quotients (STUs<0.3), but hotspots and unknowns need attention. To verify existing findings, we reviewed literature from Web of Science, Scopus, and ScienceDirect (n = 281,865), excluded duplicates (n = 272,085) and irrelevant studies (n = 9,516) based on predefined criteria (relevance, Impact Factor, citations), retaining 264 articles for analysis through a One Health approach. Although AMR critically disrupts gut microbiota and increases global health/economic burdens, long-term studies frequently overlook key foodborne pathogens: Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. This review provides new perspectives on the integration of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) within a One Health Concept by: 1) summarizing current knowledge on the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and genes (ARGs) in agri-food systems and their health and environmental human impacts, and 2) identifying critical research gaps, particularly in understanding post-ingestion effects. A major finding of this review is that while there is documented transmission of antibiotic residues, ARBs, and ARGs to humans via the food-chain, their actual impacts on gut-acquired infections remain largely unknown. Given the accelerating pace of AMR, delaying targeted research within the One Health framework is no longer an option. Immediate, coordinated action across agriculture, policy, and science is critical to close these knowledge gaps, disrupt resistance pathways, and safeguard the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems before AMR escalates beyond control.</p>","PeriodicalId":13557,"journal":{"name":"Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144527785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Locally relevant ambient water quality criteria to protect human health.","authors":"Brad Barnhart, Camille Flinders, Jayme Coyle","doi":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf083","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/inteam/vjaf083","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) uses a deterministic, risk-based framework to derive national recommendations for ambient water quality criteria protective of human health (AWQC) through the ingestion of water and aquatic organisms. States are required to either adopt these recommendations or propose scientifically defensible alternatives. The deterministic approach has faced criticism for relying on multiple high-percentile input parameters, leading to criteria disconnected from actual risk. Consequently, while some states adopt US EPA's criteria recommendations in their entirety, others utilize different input parameters or alternative approaches to derive criteria that better represent local exposure conditions. Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) represents a scientifically robust alternative that offers transparency and flexibility by using full data distributions rather than point estimates to define exposures. This enables a clear linkage between the acceptable risk targets and affected population subgroups. Although US EPA has provided guidance supporting the use of PRA in other regulatory programs, direct guidance on implementing a PRA approach for deriving state-specific AWQC is lacking. This work explores US EPA's risk-based framework and applies both deterministic and probabilistic approaches to quantify patterns in AWQC under different criteria derivation scenarios that alter assumptions of exposure and risk. We implement an open-source R Shiny tool designed to reduce technical barriers and facilitate practical adoption by state agencies, including those without specialized modeling expertise. Outcomes highlight how exposure assumptions, risk thresholds, and derivation approaches impact AWQC; offer a practical guidance for environmental agencies to derive locally relevant and scientifically defensible criteria; and may serve as a basis for a future US EPA technical support document on the use of PRA for AWQC derivation.</p>","PeriodicalId":13557,"journal":{"name":"Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144505588","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fernanda Dal Bosco, Julio Cesar Refosco, Everton Vogel
{"title":"Biophysical and Economic Assessment of Carbon Dynamics in the Itajaí-Açu Valley Basin in Southern Brazil.","authors":"Fernanda Dal Bosco, Julio Cesar Refosco, Everton Vogel","doi":"10.1093/inteam/vjaf081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/inteam/vjaf081","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The aim of this study is to conduct a biophysical and economic assessment of carbon stocks associated with changes in land use and cover (LULC) in the Itajaí-Açu Valley Basin (IVB). The IVB is immersed in the Atlantic rainforest, considered one of the most diverse, as well as one of the most threatened forests on the planet. The Valley is also home to important urban and industrial centres located along the riverbanks. Since its colonisation in the second half of the 19th century, the region has constantly suffered from natural disasters, such as floods and landslides. With the expected escalation in extreme weather events in the near future due to climate change, these natural disasters may increase in intensity and frequency. Maps of LULC and the InVEST program were used to quantify and value the carbon stock and sequestration for three periods. The results show that between 2000 and 2020, there was an increase in forestry (354.64%), mosaic (57.43%) and pasture (43.08%) areas in the IVB, while a decrease was observed for Natural Forest (-4.38%), non-forest natural formation (-69.56%) and agriculture (-68.69%). The carbon stock values were 259,328,452 Mg C in 2000, 265,079,768 Mg C in 2010 and 262,577,960 Mg C in 2020. The carbon sequestration in the period 2000-2010 represented an economic benefit of US$138 million. Conversely, between 2010 and 2020, there was net carbon emissions equivalent to US$60 million. Over the entire period analysed, there was a gain of US$78 million in ecosystem services related to carbon stocks. Targeted policies, such as Payment for Ecosystem Services programs, market-based incentives for carbon credits, and public investments in forest conservation and restoration, can bring economic, social, and ecological benefits, ensuring the continued provision of ecosystem services in the region.</p>","PeriodicalId":13557,"journal":{"name":"Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144511871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}