Environmental Challenges最新文献

{"title":"Environmental deregulation by design: Institutional capacities and the perils of Brazil’s new environmental licensing law","authors":"José Amorim Reis-Filho ,&nbsp;Yram Lecht Fiterman ,&nbsp;Tommaso Giarrizzo ,&nbsp;Eurico Mesquita Noleto-Filho","doi":"10.1016/j.envc.2025.101383","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envc.2025.101383","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Decentralizing environmental governance is often cast a route to greater administrative efficiency and local empowerment. Yet its ability to uphold socio-environmental safeguards remains under-scrutinized, particularly when authority is devolved to subnational entities with limited institutional capacity. Brazil faces its most severe regulatory rollback: The environmental legislation reform would dramatically expand municipal autonomy in environmental licensing—including for complex, high-impact projects—while weakening oversight mechanisms, community consultation, and technical safeguards. To evaluate the risks of this institutional shift, we assessed the environmental governance and institutional capacity of 1270 municipalities across all twenty-six Brazilian states. Using a multidimensional framework, we analyzed indicators such as the presence of municipal environmental secretariats, existence of local environmental legislation and councils, and availability of qualified technical staff. Our findings reveal widespread and persistent institutional fragility: most municipalities lack even the minimum structures required to conduct precautionary and effective environmental licensing. These deficits are especially acute in regions with lower Human Development Index (HDI) and in ecologically critical biomes such as the Amazon—home to the planet’s highest biodiversity—and the Caatinga, a uniquely Brazilian semiarid biome of high socioecological vulnerability. We also identify strong associations between territorial, socioeconomic, and environmental profiles of municipalities and their institutional readiness. We argue about the need to strengthen municipal capacity, standardize licensing procedures, and provide intergovernmental technical support before transferring complex projects to local authorities. Without these safeguards, decentralization could undermine Brazil’s environmental protection and its commitments under global frameworks. This study offers a national-scale diagnostic of subnational environmental governance and provides a scalable framework for assessing institutional capacity in countries facing similar deregulatory pressures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34794,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Challenges","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 101383"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145749823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluation of satellite precipitation products across climatic and topographic gradients in a basin in Northern South America","authors":"Jhonny I. Pérez-Montiel,&nbsp;Adriana M. Choles Epiayu,&nbsp;Cristian Diaz Moscote","doi":"10.1016/j.envc.2026.101426","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envc.2026.101426","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Reliably estimating precipitation remains a challenge, especially in tropical regions characterized by high climate variability, complex topography, and sparse rainfall station coverage. In these contexts, gridded precipitation satellite products (GPPs) are an important alternative for hydrological analysis, climate assessment, and risk management, which aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 11 (resilient cities and communities), and SDG 13 (climate action). This study evaluates the performance of five GPPs: CHIRPSv2, CHIRPSv3, ERA5-Land, MSWEPv2.8, and PERSIANN<img>CDR, in the Ranchería river basin in northern Colombia. The evaluation covered the period 1991–2020 and used continuous and categorical metrics on daily, 3-day, monthly, and annual time scales. Fourteen rainfall stations from the national monitoring network were used as a reference. The study area is a complex hydroclimatic environment ranging from semi-arid lowlands to mountainous terrain influenced by the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (the world’s highest coastal mountain range). This configuration allows analysis of the sensitivity of satellite algorithms to topographic gradients and varying precipitation intensities. The results indicate that CHIRPSv3 has the best overall performance and the highest inter-scale consistency, followed by CHIRPSv2 and PERSIANN<img>CDR. In general, all products improve with temporal aggregation; however, their performance degrades with increasing elevation, especially in ERA5-Land and MSWEPv2.8. The detection of daily extreme events remains limited, with moderate improvements when considering 3-day accumulations. As a general recommendation, satellite products should be selected based on local conditions, such as topography, time scale, and management objectives, to support reliable decision-making.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34794,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Challenges","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 101426"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147395633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Climate-induced potential driver of water conflicts over natural resource and the role of land use and land cover change in the Lake Chad catchment","authors":"Samuel Che Nde,&nbsp;Lobina Gertrude Palamuleni,&nbsp;Sammy Kipyego Bett,&nbsp;Gabriel Sanjo Aruwajoye,&nbsp;Arabi Mouhaman","doi":"10.1016/j.envc.2026.101422","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envc.2026.101422","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With changing climatic conditions and land use patterns, communal conflicts over access to and control over natural resources are likely to intensify in the Lake Chad basin (LCB). Against the backdrop of the popular discourse of climate wars, environmental scrutiny research has not sufficiently addressed the role of land use and land cover change (LULCC) as potential drivers of such conflicts. Historical climatic data for a period of 30 years were obtained from CHIRPS due to its high spatial and temporal resolution and Landsat and Sentinel-2 images from 1993, 2003, 2013, and 2023 were used for LULCC detection. A supervised classification with the maximum likelihood classifier was applied to generate LULCC maps for the selected periods. Results indicate that environmental stressors were only partly predictive of conflict events due to changes in land use patterns. Results of the geospatial data reveals losses in water bodies and natural forage over the three decades as major factors that could trigger tensions between pastoralists and small-scale farmers. An interdecadal comparison of rainfall shows a statistically significant difference (<em>p</em> = 0.031) between the first and second decades, corresponding to declining trends in vegetation cover, water bodies, and cultivated land in the LCB attributable to rainfall anomalies. These results provide valuable insights to better understand potential drivers behind armed conflict, the contribution of land use dynamics, and their interconnectedness between human-induced land transformation and climatic anomalies over shared resources which interact reciprocally to intensify resource competition among individuals and groups.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34794,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Challenges","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 101422"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146188483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Antimicrobial resistance in shrimp aquaculture: Pathways, ecosystem risks, and policy responses","authors":"Lovely Akter ,&nbsp;Neaz A. Hasan ,&nbsp;Moshiur Rahman ,&nbsp;Nasrullah Forajy ,&nbsp;Mohammad Mahfujul Haque","doi":"10.1016/j.envc.2025.101401","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envc.2025.101401","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Shrimp aquaculture, particularly in South and Southeast Asia, substantially contributes to economic growth and food security. However, the sectors’ heavily reliance on antibiotics together with weak biosecurity – driving the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This review synthesizes evidence from 2000 to 2025 on antibiotic use, resistance pathways, and the associated environmental (particularly mangrove habitats) and public-health risks. Through the integration of antibiotic management, diagnostic development, and the control of non-antibiotic diseases on the broad One Health platform, this review emphasizes the interdependence of shrimp aquaculture, ecosystem health, and public health. The historical shift from traditional, mangrove-linked practices to intensive, export-oriented systems accelerated the loss of mangroves and increased ecological vulnerability. High disease pressure in intensive farms drove routine, sometimes inappropriate antibiotic use (mostly oxytetracycline, florfenicol, and sufonamides), and the emergence of resistance. Weak regulation and limited diagnostics, along with widespread use of non-approved drugs, enabled persistent selection pressures across production environments, further shaping AMR development. Diverse AMR genes (such tetA, sul1, and blaCTX-M) occur in farm-associated bacteria, raising concerns about movement through aquatic ecosystems and human exposure. Effluents from shrimp farms carry antibiotic residues and resistant microbes into nearby mangroves, where resistance genes persist, spread, and disrupt ecological functions. These pressures diminish shrimp health and productivity, alter microbial nitrogen cycling, suppress diazotrophic taxa, and reduce nitrogenase and functional gene activity compromising mangrove ecosystem services like nutrient cycling, biodiversity, and coastal protection. Public-health risks arise when food chain entry or occupational exposure occurs via either residues or resistant bacteria; these necessitate strong farm-level controls, surveillance, and hygiene practices. AMR mitigation needs tighter antibiotic governance, expanded diagnostic capacity, and wider adoption of non-antibiotic disease-management strategies within a coordinated One Health framework. Future progress depends upon closing knowledge gaps, improving monitoring, and aligning regulations and farm practice for long-term environmental and public-health protection.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34794,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Challenges","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 101401"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Operational losses and environmental flow recovery in a multi-irrigation districts river Basin, evidence from Iran’s arid central plateau","authors":"Farhad Behzadi,&nbsp;Seied Mehdy Hashemy Shahdany","doi":"10.1016/j.envc.2025.101402","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envc.2025.101402","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study introduces a systematic technical–environmental appraisal framework that links off-farm operation to environmental flow recovery (EFR) potential in watersheds containing multiple irrigation districts (IDs)The analysis focuses on the surface-water distribution infrastructure within the IDs and, specifically, on off-farm agricultural water management. It considers interconnected open-canal networks, a manual operating system, and the associated standard operating procedures (SOPs). The framework is demonstrated in Iran’s arid central plateau, where six IDs operate in a basin with a long record of environmental water-rights violations linked to agricultural withdrawals. To quantify operational losses, integrated hydraulic–operational models were developed by coupling an integrator–delay hydraulic simulation model with IDs’ SOP logic. The models were calibrated and verified for all six IDs. The technical assessment indicates that daily water losses caused by operational failures and inefficiencies vary markedly across operating conditions. Under normal to severe shortage scenarios, these losses account for 6.5–17.3% and 21.5–31.1% of the supplied surface water, respectively. To estimate the EFR recovery potential, the study applied an flow-duration-curve (FDC)-shifting approach together with the Global Environmental Flow Calculator (GEFC). Under the best-case scenario, 61 MCM yr⁻¹ can be recovered from operational losses and returned to the river, which corresponds to 45.16% of the flow deficit required to satisfy class F. Even under the most severe shortage scenario, 13 MCM yr⁻¹ (9.63% of the class F deficit) remains recoverable. Overall, the proposed framework is transferable to similar multi-ID watersheds and provides technical evidence to support licensing decisions for off-farm system automation, enabling basin authorities, licensing agencies, and irrigation-district managers to audit operational losses, define diversion-reduction targets at diversion dams, and operationalize compliance monitoring for environmental-flow releases.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34794,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Challenges","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 101402"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146078078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A remediation approach for the petroleum industry using optimized biodegradable single-use SDS-surfactant in the treatment of soil contaminated with domestic-purpose-kerosene","authors":"Vincent Oshevwiyo Akpoveta ,&nbsp;Ese Queen Umudi ,&nbsp;Bright Ogbolu ,&nbsp;Mabel Ajevwaye Afure ,&nbsp;John Arigbede ,&nbsp;John Opeyemi Thomas","doi":"10.1016/j.envc.2025.101388","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envc.2025.101388","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Surfactants are known to aid in removing organic contaminants from soil. However, selecting a suitable surfactant for mitigating hydrocarbon pollution is an important environmental consideration during remediation. Previous studies report surfactant mixtures with a remediation focus on petroleum products, other than kerosene. This study focuses on applying an optimized biodegradable single-use sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) surfactant in treating domestic-purpose-kerosene (DPK)-contaminated soil. Soil quality indicators (pH, conductivity, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, organic carbon, organic matter, soil texture, and heavy metals), total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) levels (as kerosene), and optimization protocols were determined using standard methods. Simulating soil with 10 % DPK increased TPH by 22,800.8 % (from 8.64 ppm to 1978.63 ppm) and affected soil quality indicators, except for heavy metals and soil texture. The optimization protocol yielded conditions (optimal SDS concentration of 2 % for soil treatment at pH 4.5, under ambient temperature) that can guide practical field-scale soil remediation strategies. TPH was significantly reduced, with a remediation rate of 84.65 % after 8 h of treatment. Most of the affected soil properties improved after treatment. The kinetics of the treatment process followed Pseudo-First order, with a rate constant of 0.215 h-1 and a calculated half-life of 3 h, 13 min, and 12 s. The associated advantages of this technique, especially in terms of efficiency and versatility, make it ideal for real field challenges. The observed remediation effectiveness from using SDS alone provides a viable option as a single-use surfactant for kerosene decontamination from soil, without the need for combination with other surfactants or remediation techniques, thereby reducing dependence on more expensive and complex multi-step techniques.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34794,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Challenges","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 101388"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145798444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dye removal from wastewater using ferrihydrite-modified sugarcane bagasse and biochar: Adsorption performance and modeling analysis","authors":"Nipa Das ,&nbsp;Saikat Barua ,&nbsp;Md. Abul Kashem ,&nbsp;Mohammad Moniruzzaman ,&nbsp;Muhammad Shahriar Bashar ,&nbsp;Md. Shoffikul Islam","doi":"10.1016/j.envc.2025.101390","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envc.2025.101390","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cationic and anionic dyes in wastewater pose significant environmental risks due to their toxicity, persistence, and mobility. To address this issue, sugarcane bagasse (SB) and its biochar (SBB) were treated with ferrihydrite (Fh) to produce cost-effective and durable adsorbents for the simultaneous removal of methylene blue (MB, cationic) and methyl orange (MO, anionic). In single-dye systems, the ferrihydrite-biochar composite (2Fh-SBB) achieved peak Langmuir adsorption capacities of 141.75 mg g⁻¹ for MB and 138.25 mg g⁻¹ for MO, outperforming SB, SBB, Fh, and 2Fh-SB. The Freundlich model further suggested heterogeneous adsorption behavior compatible with the composite's mixed carbon-ferrihydrite surface. The kinetic data were well characterized by the pseudo-second-order model (R² = 0.97–0.99), suggesting the participation of surface interactions; yet, kinetics alone cannot differentiate between physisorption and chemisorption. Temperature-dependent thermodynamic analyses (ΔG°, ΔH°, ΔS°) are necessary for conclusive mechanistic validation. Statistical diagnostics validated the reliability of the isotherm and kinetic parameters. MB adsorption favored alkaline conditions, while MO adsorption was higher at acidic pH, reflecting electrostatic influences relative to surface charge and pHPZC. In binary systems, MB adsorption was enhanced by MO, indicating partial synergistic effects associated with charge heterogeneity and improved Fh dispersion. Characterization tests (BET, zeta potential, FTIR, SEM-EDS) suggested that MB interacted with both carbon and Fh domains via electrostatic and π-π interactions, while MO adsorption involves Fe-O surface interactions. The substantial and largely stable adsorption fractions highlight the effectiveness of ferrihydrite modification in pollutant stabilization. Overall, 2Fh-SBB demonstrates strong potential as a low-cost, robust adsorbent for multi-dye wastewater treatment while promoting the valorization of agricultural waste.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34794,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Challenges","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 101390"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145749833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Advancing irrigated area mapping using machine learning and deep learning approaches: The case of Awash Valley, Ethiopia","authors":"Berhan Gessesse ,&nbsp;Gebeyehu Abebe ,&nbsp;Gezahagn Woldu ,&nbsp;Zerihun Chere","doi":"10.1016/j.envc.2026.101408","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envc.2026.101408","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Accurate and timely data on irrigated cropland in the arid lowlands of Ethiopia are required to strengthen national food security resilience. However, conventional mapping methods remain inconsistent to provide accurate information about irrigated farming practices. This study addresses these gaps by evaluating multisource Earth Observation (EO) data using advanced machine learning (such as SVM, RF) and state-of-the-art deep learning (ResUNet). Using Sentinel-2 Level 2(S2A) imagery, we designed three classification scenarios: i) six spectral bands; ii) spectral bands plus three vegetation indices, including the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Land Surface Water Index (LSWI); and iii) an expanded feature set incorporating spectral texture metrics such as variance, contrast and dissimilarity. These models provide a robust framework for quantifying irrigated areas in the Awash basin, overcoming conventional data limitations. Model outputs were rigorously validated using ground reference data. This study evaluates the transformative potential of the ResUNet deep learning architecture for precise irrigation and land-use mapping in Ethiopia’s heterogeneous Awash basin landscape. By integrating multispectral bands, vegetation indices and spectral features, ResUNet achieved a superior Overall Accuracy of 84.13% and Kappa of 0.83, significantly outperforming SVM (67.54%) and Random Forest (82.33%). The model’s residual learning framework proved essential for capturing complex spatial-spectral hierarchies in semi-arid zones, achieving a peak F1-score of 0.89 for irrigated area detection. Beyond technical performance, this automated approach provides essential monitoring capabilities to support water resource management, drought early-warning systems, and food security estimation for smallholder farmers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34794,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Challenges","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 101408"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038092","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing machine learning-based gully erosion susceptibility modeling using a prediction-oriented spatial cross-validation framework","authors":"Eyasu Mekonnen ,&nbsp;Asfaw Kebede ,&nbsp;Samuel Feyissa ,&nbsp;Solomon Asfaw ,&nbsp;Lemma Zemedu","doi":"10.1016/j.envc.2026.101418","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envc.2026.101418","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Prediction where gullies are likely to form is essential for sustainable land management in fragile ecosystem. Machine learning (ML) has advanced gully erosion susceptibility modeling by capturing complex, non-linear geospatial relationships. However, most ML applications often rely on random cross-validation, a non-spatial approach that inflates model performance metrics and limits predictive generalization. This study aims to optimize ML-based gully erosion susceptibility modeling in Upper Awash River Basin using a spatially explicit k-fold Nearest Neighbor Distance Matching (kNNDM) cross-validation framework. Five ML algorithms: Random Forest, Gradient Boosting Machine, Naïve Bayes (NB), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) were trained using 584 georeferenced gully and non-gully points derived from field surveys and high-resolution imagery. Both spatial and random partitioning tested with training (80%) and validation (20%) sets. Feature selection identified land use/land cover as the most influential gully-conditioning factor. Models trained with spatial cross-validation produced more realistic and unbiased performance estimates compared to inflated metrics from random partitioning. Among all algorithms, SVM achieved the best balance of predictive accuracy and generalizability (Accuracy = 0.788, ROC-AUC = 0.831, F1 = 0.783), followed by ANN (Accuracy = 0.735, ROC-AUC = 0.844 and F1 score = 0.747), while NB performed low due to its simplistic assumptions of feature independence in such complex geomorphological processes. The resulting susceptibility map delineates gully-prone zones ranging from low to very high risk, within Areas of Applicability. Cultivated and bare landscapes exhibited the highest susceptibility, highlighting the need for targeted, spatially informed intervention. The suitability of kNNDM framework demonstrates a reliable spatial validation approach for gully erosion modeling in data-scarce regions, enhancing predictive reliability and supporting evidence-based land management and conservation planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34794,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Challenges","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 101418"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146188497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Microplastic fragments in sand alleviate the negative effects of heavy metals on plants","authors":"Elizaveta Shcherbinina ,&nbsp;Marie E Muehe ,&nbsp;Sören Drabesch ,&nbsp;Katja Tielbörger ,&nbsp;Sara Tomiolo","doi":"10.1016/j.envc.2026.101421","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envc.2026.101421","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigated the effects of microplastic (MP) and cadmium (Cd) on the performance of plant species with distinct Cd tolerance levels. We hypothesized that MP may affect Cd bioavailability via direct interactions or indirectly modifying pH, water content and bioavailability of other elements in the substrate.</div><div><em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em> (non-hyperaccumulator) and <em>Arabidopsis halleri</em> (metal-hyperaccumulator) were exposed to different concentrations of Cd and MP. Plant biomass, Cd bioavailability in the substrate, Cd and other elements’ uptake by plants were assessed, and substrate’s properties monitored.</div><div>Biomass of <em>A. halleri</em> weakly responded to MP and Cd. <em>A. thaliana</em> biomass decreased when exposed to either Cd or MP and increased when exposed to both stressors. In both species, high MP concentrations in the substrate promoted higher Cd bioavailability, but reduced Cd uptake by plants. Cd bioavailability was not explained by substrate’s pH or water content. However, variation in other elements uptake in the two species was strongly correlated with Cd and weakly with MP concentrations.</div><div>The findings of this study suggest a direct interaction between MP and Cd mediating shifts in Cd bioavailability and Cd uptake in plants as well as indirect effects mediated by element uptake. This work provides insights on the complex interplay between MP and Cd.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34794,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Challenges","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 101421"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146188484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}