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Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are a class of emerging and ubiquitous contaminants that are attracting increasing attention, and their large-scale use as flame retardants and plasticizers has led to their pervasive presence in the environment, although their broader impacts remain unknown. In this study, 11 OPEs were measured in the atmosphere of Southeast Asia and Southwest China during 2016. The ∑ 11 OPEs were higher in this region (78.0-1670 pg/m 3 , mean 458 pg/m 3 ) than in many remote areas, lower than in developed regions, and comparable to levels in many developing country cities. Generally, the ∑ 11 OPEs were higher in urban (105-1670 pg/m 3 , mean 538 pg/m 3 ) than in suburban (78.0-1350 pg/m 3 , mean 388 pg/m 3 ). Seasonal variations of OPEs in the air were more pronounced in Cambodia and Laos, especially for Triphenyl Phosphate (TPHP). Seasonal variations of ∑ 11 OPEs in most regions correspond to changes in temperature and rainfall. Biomass burning may be also a factor in facilitating OPE emissions from biomass materials or soil into the atmosphere of Southeast Asia. The random forest analysis showed that among these, rainfall had the greatest effect on the seasonal variation of atmospheric OPE concentrations, followed by biomass burning and temperature. The inter-regional variation of ∑ 11 OPEs in Southeast Asia was related to population and economic development in each region. Airflow trajectories indicated that the OPEs in this region were mainly from local sources. The health risk assessment revealed that the inhalation exposure risks of OPEs to the residents in the study areas were very low during the sampling period, but may be increasing., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Recently, a substantial increase in gallbladder cancer (GBC) cases has been reported in Bihar, India. The region's groundwater can naturally contain harmful concentrations of arsenic, which appears to be epidemiologically linked to the unusually high incidence. However, the root causes remain largely unexplored. Recent findings of uranium in the state's groundwater may also have associations. This study investigates the geo-spatial epidemiology of GBC in Bihar, India-with a focus on the correlation between environmental carcinogens, particularly arsenic and uranium in groundwater, and the incidence of GBC. Utilizing data from 8460 GBC patients' registration records over an 11-year period at a single health center, the research employs Semi-parametric Geographically Weighted Poisson Regression (S-GWPR) to account for non-stationarity associations and explores significant factors contributing to GBC prevalence at a subdistrict level. The S-GWPR model outperformed the standard Poisson regression model. The estimates suggest that arsenic and uranium concentrations in groundwater did not present significant associations; however, this could be due to the lower resolution of this data at the district level, necessitating higher resolution data for accurate estimates. Other socio-environmental factors included demonstrated significant regional heterogeneity in their association with GBC prevalence. Notably, each 1 % increase in the coverage of well- and canal-irrigated areas is associated with a maximum of 3.0 % and 5.2 % rise in the GBC incidence rate, respectively, likely attributable to carcinogen exposure from irrigation water. Moreover, distance to the health center and domestic electricity connections appear to influence the number of reported GBC cases. The latter suggests that access to electricity might have facilitated the use of groundwater pumps-increasing exposure to carcinogens. The results underscore the necessity for targeted health policies and interventions based on fine-resolution spatial analysis, as well as ongoing environmental monitoring and research to better understand the multifaceted risk factors contributing to GBC., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Maiko Sakamoto reports financial support was provided by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Hydroponics technology offers an environmentally sustainable alternative to conventional farming for urban food needs. It attracts technologists, non-farmers, retailers, restaurants, and consumers. However, the environmental impact of hydroponics-based urban farming models is yet to be quantified. This study assesses the environmental impact of hydroponics-based urban farming models and makes suggestions to improve their adoption. The methodology involves the use of the Product-Service Systems perspective to categorise the hydroponics-based urban farming models and the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to quantify their environmental impact from a cradle-to-gate perspective. The analysis focuses on the lettuce crop in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The results from the study suggest that that greenhouse farming (BM1) is more environmentally sustainable than indoor farming (BM2), Cabinet selling and remote monitoring (BM3), and conventional farming. It outperforms other models in terms of GHG emissions, Human Toxicity, and fossil fuels per unit of product, with BM3 having high environmental impacts., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Mangrove shoreline retreat or advance is a natural process in a mangrove delta. However, due to various natural and anthropogenic stressors, mangrove shoreline retreat is the second largest cause of mangrove loss globally. It is important to understand the scale at which mangrove shoreline changes are causing biophysical changes along the mangrove shorelines and, in turn, understand if certain biophysical characteristics can explain the changes along the shoreline. This will help identify the response of mangroves to shoreline changes. Videography and spatial mapping were used to study temporarily and permanently changing mangrove shorelines in the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world (~10,000 km 2 ), located in India and Bangladesh. Data was collected along a ~ 239 km shoreline at 54 sites. 36.4 % of all the studied shorelines were experiencing major retreat, 63.8 % and 27.2 % of all (major and minor) retreating areas had 1-25 % and > 25 % dead trees. The biophysical characteristics statistically (P < 0.0001) associated with retreating mangrove shorelines were - cliff-type shoreline profiles, number of dead trees, and absence of stream and grass, with shoreline profiles as the strongest predictor of shoreline retreat. Moreover, 68.7 % and 73 % of historically retreating shorelines had a cliff-type shoreline profile and Excoecaria agallocha as the dominating species, respectively. Moreover, due to the strong correlation between historical changes and current shoreline types, it was concluded that characteristics along the shoreline are partly a product of historical shoreline transitions. Thus, the present status of the shoreline can not only predict the history of the shoreline but can also give insights into the future biophysical changes in the mangrove forests., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Radhika Bhargava reports financial support was provided by National Geographic Society. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The study focused on marine bacteria, specifically Bacillus cereus, sourced from heavily polluted coastal areas in Tamil Nadu, aiming to assess their efficacy in degrading low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polystyrene over a 42-day period. When LDPE and polystyrene films were incubated with Bacillus cereus, they exhibited maximum weight losses of 4.13 ± 0.81 % and 14.13 ± 2.41 %, respectively. Notably, polystyrene exhibited a higher reduction rate (0.0036 day -1 ) and a shorter half-life (195.29 days). SEM images of the treated LDPE and polystyrene unveiled surface erosion with cracks. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis revealed elevated carbon content and the presence of oxygen in the treated LDPE and polystyrene films. The ATR-FTIR spectra exhibited distinctive peaks corresponding to functional groups, with observable peak shifts in the treated films. Notable increases were detected in carbonyl, internal double bond, and vinyl indices across all treated groups. Additionally, both treated LDPE and polystyrene showed reduced crystallinity. This research sheds light on Bacillus cereus (OR268710) biodegradation capabilities, emphasizing its potential for eco-friendly waste management in coastal regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study aimed to examine the effects of spatial and temporal variability in edaphic, and climatic attributeson soil net nitrogen mineralization rate, and to understand the pattern of fine root decomposition of dominant and co-dominant tree species, and its influence on the nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. Study was carried out at four different sites in sub-tropical forest ecosystems of Shorea robusta, in foothills of Central Himalayan region, India. Co-dominant tree species at four sites were Mallotus philippensis (site A), Glochidion velutinum (site B), Holarrhena pubescens (site C), and Tectona grandis (site D). Buried bag technique was used for nitrogen mineralization, while fine root decomposition was determined using fine root mesh bags. Seasonal variation, soil depth, soil characteristics, and site variability, all significantly (p < 0.05) affected nitrogen mineralization rates. Fine root decomposition was significantly affected by nutrient concentration of fine roots. Total mineral nitrogen was maximum at site D (16.24 ± 0.96 μg g -1 soil), while minimum at site C (10.10 ± 0.84 μg g -1 soil). Maximum nitrogen mineralization (13.18 ± 0.18 μg g -1  month -1 ) was recorded during summer season at site D, while the minimum nitrogen mineralization (3.20 ± 0.46 μg g -1  month -1 ) was recorded during rainy season at site C. Inorganic-N and net nitrogen mineralization was relatively higher in 0-20 cm soil layer than 20-40 cm and 40-60 cm soil layer. The fine roots showed 70.61-74.82 % weight loss on completion of 365 days of decomposition process. Maximum fine root decomposition was observed in the G. velutinum, and minimum in T. grandis. A significant positive correlation (p < 0.05) was observed between root nitrogen and carbon content, and decomposition rates per month. This study concluded that the spatial and temporal variability in soil nitrogen mineralization rates and fine root decomposition optimises nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems, which can contribute to the development of sustainable forest management practices., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The characteristics of cropland development and the dynamics of food production in China and India, the world's largest agricultural and most populous countries, are of great importance to global food security. However, there is a notable lack of a thorough comparison between China and India in this regard. Here, we systematically compare the differences between China and India using cropping intensity and crop production data, including cropland area, harvested area, total staple crop (i.e., cereal crops, tuber crops and pulse crops) production and yield capacity. The results are mainly as follows: (1) Both China and India experienced an increasing trend in cropland area and harvested area from 2001 to 2021, especially notable in India. In China, the cropland area and harvested area increased by 11.76 % and 14.36 %, respectively, while in India, they witnessed a more substantial increase of 31.10 % and 49.32 %, respectively. (2) The cropping intensity underwent significant transformations, primarily shifting between non-cropland, single-cropping, and double-cropping. Northwestern China exhibited a clear trend of non-cropland converting to single-cropping, whereas northeastern China showed a distinct pattern of single-cropping changing to non-cropland. The interconversion between single-cropping and double-cropping was also frequently observed in the main food-producing regions. In India, the cropland expansion and the adoption of double-cropping are highly pronounced, extending widely across most of the country. (3) From 2001 to 2021, the total staple crop production in China and India increased by 34.12 % and 55.81 %, respectively. Despite the rapid growth in India's total staple crop production, it still amounts to only about half of China's. The major crops production also showed different trends, China's cereal crops production increased significantly, while tuber and pulse crops production declined, and India's production of cereal, tuber, and pulse crops has all increased (4) China's yield capacity has increased by 17.28 %, while India's has only grown by 4.35 %. Despite the rapid increase in India's total staple crop production, the yield gap with China has widened. The boost in China's total staple crop production mainly resulted from improved yield capacity, whereas India relied more on the cropland area expansion, especially the increase in harvested area. Our comprehensive comparison of China and India in cropland development and staple crop production contributes to a deep understanding of the differences in agricultural production between the two countries, and provides lessons for global food security and sustainable agricultural development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Coastal wetland ecosystems make an important contribution to the global carbon pool, yet their extent is declining due to aquaculture-related land use changes. We conducted an extensive investigation into the carbon stock and area coverage of macrophytes in a tropical coastal Ramsar wetland, Kolleru in Andhra Pradesh, India. A total of 72 quadrats of size 1 × 1 m 2 were laid in the wetland, 19 species of macrophytes were collected and analyzed for carbon content using a CNHS analyzer. To assess changes in the wetland macrophytes, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was estimated using Landsat time series data from 1975 to 2023. The importance value index (IVI) of macrophytes scored highest for the Ipomoea aquatica (41.4) and the lowest for Ottelia alismoides (1.9). Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) significantly (r = 0.1905, p = 0.0361) revealed a clear separation of macrophytes in ordination space. ANOVA indicated highly significant (p < 0.0001) variations in the carbon content of aboveground and belowground components of macrophytes. Among the different macrophytes, the highest carbon content was found in Phragmites karka (0.6 g. g -1 ) and the lowest was recorded in Utricularia stellaris (0.2 g. g -1 ). On an average, emergents in the Kolleru wetland sequester 1525 ± 181 g C m -2  yr -1 , rooted floating species sequester 858 ± 101 g C m -2  yr -1 , submerged macrophytes sequester 480 ± 60 g C m -2  yr -1 , and free-floating macrophytes sequester 221 ± 90 g C m -2  yr -1 . Land cover mapping revealed a decrease in spread of aquatic vegetation from 225.2 km 2 in 1975 to 100.6 km 2 in 2023. Although macrophytes are vital carbon sinks, the wetland conversion into fishponds has resulted in a loss of 55.3 % of carbon storage. Therefore, immediate restoration of macrophyte cover is vital for the proper functioning of carbon sequestration and mitigation of climate change impacts., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The author declares that there is no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management is a pressing global concern, with increasing interest in Waste-to-Energy Technologies (WTE-T) to divert waste from landfills. However, WTE-T adoption is hindered by financial uncertainties. The economic benefits of MSW treatment and energy generation must be balanced against environmental impact. Integrating cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) can enhance MSW management strategies and facilitate WTE-T adoption. This review paper explores waste classification, generation, and disposal methods, emphasizing public awareness to reduce waste. It discusses AI's role in waste management, including route optimization, waste composition forecasting, and process parameter optimization for energy generation. Various energy production techniques from MSW, such as high-solids anaerobic digestion, torrefaction, plasma pyrolysis, incineration, gasification, biodegradation, and hydrothermal carbonization, are examined for their advantages and challenges. The paper emphasizes risk assessment in MSW management, covering chemical, mechanical, biological, and health-related risks, aiming to identify and mitigate potential adverse effects. Electronic waste (E-waste) impact on human health and the environment is thoroughly discussed, highlighting the release of hazardous substances and their contribution to air, soil, and water pollution. The paper advocates for circular economy (CE) principles and waste-to-energy solutions to achieve sustainable waste management. It also addresses complexities and constraints faced by developing nations and proposes strategies to overcome them. In conclusion, this comprehensive review underscores the importance of risk assessment, the potential of AI and waste-to-energy solutions, and the need for sustainable waste management to safeguard public health and the environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Plastic pollution is pervasive, as it has infiltrated every corner of the planet and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a depletion in the production, consumption, and disposal of plastics. To find out the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, a comparative assessment of microplastics (MPs) observed before and after the pandemic was evaluated in surface water and sediment from the major rivers of Goa, i.e. Mandovi and Zuari. To comprehend the relative difference in the abundance, characteristics, and source of MPs, samples were examined in both the dry and wet seasons. We found a sharp decrease in the concentration of MPs immediately after the isolated pandemic. During the dry and wet seasons, two to seven times less concentration of MPs was recorded for water and sediments after the pandemic period compared to the prior pandemic. MPs size, >300 μm were relatively abundant after the pandemic period in contrast to the prior pandemic (<300 μm sized MPs were more). Polyamide (PA), polyvinyl alcohol (PVAL), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were the dominant polymers after the pandemic whereas earlier the dominant polymers were polyacetylene, polyacrylamide (PAM), and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP). The risk assessment of MPs in sediments (Polymer load index) was higher prior to the pandemic. The water quality parameters also indicated an improvement in the water quality during the pandemic. The present study clearly exhibited that due to the reduction of overall anthropogenic activities during the COVID-19 pandemic period, a sharp decline of plastic waste and MP abundance in the coastal water body in Goa, west coast of India was found. This study unveils the controlling factors (such as total solid waste generation, plastic waste, tourism activities, and the effect of monsoon) which influence the abundance and distribution of macro- and microplastics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Frequent natural disasters like floods pose a major threat to India, with significant implications for public health. Low birth weight (LBW) is a critical global health concern, contributing to neonatal mortality. However, the association between floods and LBW remains underexplored. This study aims to address this gap by investigating the association between flood hazards and LBW in India using a geospatial approach. By analyzing data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) and flood zonation maps, the study aims to uncover the spatial dynamics of this association, offering insights into the implications of floods on birth weight across diverse geographical regions., Methods: The study used the fifth round of NFHS data, 2019-21, which involved 202,194 children selected through a multi-stage stratified sampling technique. The Vulnerability Atlas of India 2019 maps were also utilized to classify areas as flood or non-flood zones. Birth weight data from the NFHS-5 were categorized into three groups: very low, low, and normal birth weight (VLBW, LBW and NBW). Control variables including flood exposure, socio-demographic attributes, and geographic region were considered. Bivariate analysis and multinomial logistic regression were employed for statistical analysis. The spatial analysis involved Moran's I statistics and Geographically Weighted Regression to explore spatial dynamics of the association between floods and birth weight in India., Results: Floods predominantly affect India's lower Himalayan belts and western coastal regions. Flood-affected areas show higher proportions of VLBW and LBW infants. Groundwater usage and unimproved sanitation are associated with higher risk of VLBW and LBW. Sex, wealth, maternal education, residence type, and geographic region significantly influence birth weights. Multinomial logistic regression reveals 8 % and 27 % higher risks for LBW and VLBW in flood-affected regions. LISA cluster maps identify high-risk areas for both LBW and floods. Geographically Weighted Regression highlights 52 % of the variability in LBW occurrences can be attributed to the influence of flood hazards. Families hailing from the poorest wealth background and exposed to flood hazards bear a 5 % heightened likelihood of delivering LBW infants, in stark contrast to their counterparts from the same economic background yet unaffected by floods., Conclusions: The significant association between floods and LBW underscores the importance of robust disaster preparedness and public health strategies. By unraveling the spatial intricacies of flood-induced LBW disparities, this research provides valuable insights for promoting healthier birth outcomes and reducing child mortality rates, particularly in flood-prone regions. These findings emphasize the importance of holistic policies that address both environmental challenges and socioeconomic inequalities to safeguard maternal and infant health across the nation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

For more than a decade, Chennai city in southern India has been evidenced with informal electronic waste (e-waste) recycling and open burning practices as the potential sources for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs can bioaccumulate in livestock particularly cows grazing on the contaminated soil. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to additional challenges associated with waste management practices. Hence this study aims to elucidate twenty-five PCB congeners in bovine milk from the previously reported PCB source regions in Chennai and the suburbs before and after about three years of the pandemic outbreak along electronic waste recycling (EWR), open burning dumps (OBD), and residential (RES) transects. The geomean concentration of Ʃ 25 PCBs in ng/g lipid weight (lw) followed a decreasing trend of EWR (13 ng/g lw) > OBD (8 ng/g lw) > RES (4 ng/g lw). Over 80 % of PCBs stemmed from EWR and OBD transects before and after the pandemic. However, a significant surge in the level of PCB-52 was observed in the OBD transect after the pandemic outbreak. Most toxic PCB congeners, PCB-126 and -169 were significant contributors to TEQs in EWR and OBD transects and can be reasoned with the burning of waste materials and mixed plastics in these transects. The highest average daily dose (ADD) exposure risk was for children from EWR and was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than other transects. Mean ADD-induced TEQ (6.6 pg TEQ/kg-bw/day) from the cows grazing around Kodungaiyur dumpsite slightly exceeded the EU guideline of 5.5 pg TEQ/kg-bw/day after the outbreak of the pandemic due to PCB-126. However, none of the samples exceeded the US FDA (1.5μg/g milk fat) recommendation limits for PCBs in milk fat. Prolonged exposure to such persistent organic pollutants interlinked with the burning of mixed waste in the open dumps can be a public health concern., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Backgrounds: Household polluting cooking fuels, as an important changeable behavior, are related to various detrimental health effects among the elderly. There is limited research on the association between polluting cooking fuel use and intrinsic capacity (IC) as an indicator of healthy aging. This study aimed to evaluate the above-mentioned association in India and China, where polluting cooking fuel use is common., Methods: We enrolled 33,803 participants aged ≥60 years from two nationally representative studies: the Longitudinal Aging Study in India and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Polluting cooking fuel use was defined as a self-report of using wood, coal, kerosene, crop residue, or dung. IC was measured by five aspects, including locomotion, cognition, vitality, sensory, and psychological capacity. The random-effects mixed linear regression and logistic regression with population weighting were performed. Multivariable-adjusted model and propensity score were used to adjust for potential confounders., Results: A total of 47.54 % and 59.32 % of elderly adults reported primary cooking using polluting fuels in India and China, respectively. Using polluting cooking fuels was consistently associated with IC decline; particularly, cognitive capacity was the most susceptible domain. In India, participants using polluting fuels had a 1.062 (95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.047-1.078) times risk for IC deficits, whereas more prominent results were observed in China (odds ratio [OR]: 2.040, 95 % CI: 1.642-2.533). Such harmful effects might be alleviated by transferring from polluting to clean fuels. Additionally, the duration of polluting fuel use was also positively associated with IC deficits., Conclusion: This study provided substantial public implications on healthy aging for the elderly population at a global scale, strengthening the importance of health education and policy efforts to accelerate the transition from polluting to clean fuels., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ground-level ozone (O 3 ) concentration is rising in Asia, which accommodates the world's top-two wheat producers (China and India). Because wheat is among the species of high O 3 sensitivity, yield loss due to rising O 3 in Asia is a major threat to global wheat supply. We estimated the relationships between O 3 dose on AOT40 (accumulated daytime O 3 concentrations above 40 ppb for 90 days) and relative wheat yield for four wheat producing regions: China, India, Europe and North America using results of O 3 elevation experiments conducted therein. When compared on the same AOT40, the estimated yield loss was greatest in China followed by India, Europe, and North America in this order. In China, Europe and North America, the yield loss was primarily due to the reduction of single grain weight, whereas in India reduction of the number of grains contributed more to the yield loss than single grain weight. The greater response of the number of grains to O 3 in India can be explained by the earlier start of O 3 elevation, but the seasonal change in O 3 concentrations cannot explain the lower yield loss in North America than China and India. Referring to the past reports of lower yield sensitivity to O 3 in older cultivars, we compared the year of release of cultivars between the regions. In North America, they used cultivars released in 1980s or earlier, whereas in China they used cultivars released in 2000s. In Europe and India, most cultivars were released between those in North America and China. The difference in cultivars could therefore be a cause the differential yield response among the regions. We argue that the O 3 -induced yield loss should be quantified using the dose-response relationships for each region accounting for the effects of seasonal change in O 3 concentrations, cultivars and climate on the yield response., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been implemented globally. However, there remains confusion about the number and frequency of samples to be collected, as well as which types of treatment systems can provide reliable specific details about the virus prevalence in specific areas or communities, enabling prompt management and intervention measures. More research is necessary to fully comprehend the possibility of deploying sentinel locations in sewer networks in larger geographic areas. The present study introduces the first report on wastewater-based surveillance in Gandhinagar City using digital PCR (d-PCR) as a SARS-Cov-2 quantification tool, which describes the viral load from five pumping stations in Gandhinagar from October 2021 to March 2022. Raw wastewater samples (n = 119) were received and analyzed weekly to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA, 109 of which were positive for N1 or N2 genes. The monthly variation analysis in viral genome copies depicted the highest concentrations in January 2022 and February 2022 (p < 0.05; Wilcoxon signed rank test) coincided with the Omicron wave, which contributed mainly from Vavol and Jaspur pumping stations. Cross-correlation analysis indicated that WBE from five stations in Gandhinagar, i.e., capital city sewer networks, provided two-week lead times to the citywide and statewide active cases (time-series cross-correlation function [CCF]; 0.666 and 0.648, respectively), mainly from individual contributions of the urbanized Kudasan and Vavol stations (CCF; 0.729 and 0.647, respectively). These findings suggest that sewer pumping stations in urbanized neighborhoods can be used as sentinel sites for statewide clinical surveillance and that WBE surveillance using digital PCR can be an efficient monitoring and management tool., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Crown Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Exposure to a total of 51 targeted and non-targeted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their oxygenated and alkylated derivatives associated with size-segregated aerosol was investigated in rural kitchens using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), mixed biomass (MB) and firewood (FW) fuels in northeastern India. The averaged PM 10 -associated parent-, alkylated-, and oxygenated-PAHs concentrations increased notably from LPG (257, 54, and 116 ng m -3 ) to MB (838, 119, and 272 ng m -3 ) to FW-using kitchens (2762, 225, and 554 ng m -3 ), respectively. PAHs were preferentially associated with the PM 1 fraction with contributions increasing from 80 % in LPG to 86 % in MB and 90 % in FW-using kitchens, which in turn was dominated by <0.25 μm particles (54-75 % of the total). A clear profile of enrichment of low-molecular weight PAHs in cleaner fuels (LPG) and a contrasting enrichment of high-molecular weight PAHs in biomass-based fuels was noted. The averaged internal dose of Benzo[a]pyrene equivalent was the lowest in the case of LPG (19 ng m -3 ), followed by MB (161 ng m -3 ) and the highest in FW users (782 ng m -3 ). Estimation of incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) from PAH exposure revealed extremely high cancer risk in biomass users (factors of 8-40) compared to LPG. The potential years of life lost (PYLL) and PYLL rate averaged across kitchen categories was higher for lung cancer (PYLL: 10.55 ± 1.04 years; PYLL rate: 204 ± 426) compared to upper respiratory tract cancer (PYLL: 10.02 ± 0.05 years; PYLL rate: 4 ± 7), and the PYLL rates for biomass users were higher by factors of 9-56 as compared to LPG users. These findings stress the need for accelerated governmental intervention to ensure a quick transition from traditional biomass-based fuels to cleaner alternatives for the rural population of northeastern India., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In dealing with water pollution and freshwater scarcity, on-site treatment and reuse of domestic wastewater has shown to be a promising solution. To increase on-site wastewater treatment and reuse, some cities, among them Bengaluru in India, have mandated the installation and use of the necessary technology in certain building types. However, even with a mandate, a successful and sustainable implementation of the technology, including reliable operation, monitoring, and maintenance, depends on the acceptance (i.e. positive valuation) of the technology and its use by the (prospective) users. Literature on technology acceptance indicates perceived costs, risks, and benefits of the respective technology as key predictors of acceptance. Therefore, the present online study assessed this relationship for on-site systems in Bengaluru. The relation was analysed separately for mandated users of on-site systems (N = 103) and current non-users (i.e. potential prospective users, should the mandate be expanded; N = 232), as the perceptions might differ between the two groups, due to the personal experience with the technology among users. The results show that for mandated users and non-users, acceptance of on-site systems is explained by perceived benefits only, namely a positive image of users, environmental benefits, and, only for non-users, also financial benefits for the city. The findings suggest that interventions aimed at promoting on-site systems should include emphasis on the benefits of on-site systems. Whenever possible, interventions should be tailored to the target group's individual cost, risk, and benefit perception., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Emerging contaminants (ECs) in the environment are a cause of concern due to their potential toxic effects. The study investigates the fate of 20 ECs covering a wide range of physical-chemical properties in ten full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The plants were based on conventional technologies such as waste stabilization pond, upflow sludge blanket reactor, activated sludge process, and biological nutrient removal-based technologies such as anoxic-aerobic process, anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic process, biodenipho process, sequencing batch reactor, and densadeg-biofor process. Covering all the wastewater and sludge treatment lines, the mass balance approach was followed to investigate the fate of ECs at each treatment stage. The amount of ECs entering and leaving the WWTPs ranged from 0.82 to 11.94 kg/day and 0.027 to 0.70 kg/day, respectively. Antibiotics showed limited removal and were detected in the 0.006 to 0.18 kg/day range. The ECs were mainly detected in the aqueous phase in all the treatment steps. However, the contribution from the particulate and sludge phase cannot be neglected. The sorption of ECs on sludge depended on the sludge's characteristics. It was found to be the highest in the primary sludge. The measured sorption coefficient indicated that both hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions of ECs with the sludge are insufficient in explaining the sorption behaviour of a contaminant. The mass balance studies show biodegradation as the major removal pathway in all the WWTPs. The study provides the environmental mass load of ECs from Indian WWTPs. It will help understand the removal mechanisms of ECs in different types of wastewater treatment techniques., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Considering the significance of PM 1 aerosol in assessing health impacts of air pollution, an extensive analysis of PM 1 samples collected at an urban site in Delhi is presented in this study. Overall, PM 1 contributed to about 50 % of PM 2.5 mass which is alarming especially in Delhi where particle mass loadings are usually higher than prescribed limits. Major portion of PM 1 consisted of organic matter (OM) that formed nearly 47 % of PM 1 mass. Elemental carbon (EC) contributed to about 13 % of PM 1 mass, whereas SO 4 2- (16 %), NH 4 + (10 %), NO 3 - (4 %) and Cl - (3 %) were the major inorganic ions present. Sampling was performed in two distinctive campaign periods (in terms of meteorological conditions and heating (fire) activities), during the year 2019, each spanning two-week time, i.e. (i) September 3 rd -16 th (clean days), and (ii) November 22 nd -December 5 th (polluted days). Additionally, PM 2.5 and black carbon (BC) were measured simultaneously for subsequent analysis. The 24-h averaged mean concentrations of PM 2.5 and BC during clean days (polluted days) were 70.6 ± 26.9 and 3.9 ± 1.0 μg m -3 (196 ± 104 and 7.6 ± 4.1 μg m -3 ), respectively, which were systematically lower (higher) than that of the annual mean (taken from studies conducted at same site in 2019) of 142 and 5.7 μg m -3 , respectively. Changes in characteristic ratios (i.e., organic carbon (OC)/elemental carbon (EC) and K + /EC) of chemical species detected in PM 1 show an increase in biomass emissions during polluted days. Increase in biomass emission can be attributed to increase in heating practices (burning of biofuels such as wood logs, straw, and cow-dung cake) in- and around- Delhi because of fall in temperature during second campaign. Furthermore, a significant increase in NO 3 - fraction of PM 1 is observed during second campaign which shows fog processing of NO X due to conducive meteorological conditions in winters. Also, comparatively stronger correlation of NO 3 - with K + during second campaign (r = 0.98 as compared to r = 0.5 during first campaign) suggests the increased heating practices to be a contributing factor for increased fraction of NO 3 - in PM 1 . We observed that during polluted days, meteorological parameters such as dispersion rate also played a major role in intensifying the impact of increased local emissions due to heating activities. Apart from this, change in the direction of regional emission transport to study site and the topology of Delhi are the possible reasons for the elevated pollution level, especially PM 1 during winter in Delhi. This study also suggests that black carbon measurement techniques used in current study (optical absorbance with heated inlet and evolved carbon techniques) can be used as reference techniques to determine the site-specific calibration constant of optical photometers for urban aerosol., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In India, information on the occurrence and distribution of legacy and emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is deficient. In the present study, nationwide 79 road dust samples were collected from 12 states and 1 union territory for the analysis of 34 PFAS. Overall, total concentrations of 21 quantified PFAS (∑ 21 PFAS) ranged 23-861 pg/g (median: 116 pg/g), with perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) being predominant (median: 19.9 pg/g). Short to long chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs; C 4  - C 18 ) were detected, where the concentrations of PFAS decreased with the increase in PFAS carbon chain length. ∑ 21 PFAS was highest in road dust from urban area (n = 27; median: 230 pg/g), followed by suburban (n = 21; median: 126 pg/g) and rural areas (n = 31; median: 76 pg/g), suggesting environmental impacts of industriallization and urbanization on PFAS distribution. PFAS composition in rural road dust was significantly different from those in suburban and urban samples (p < 0.01). Regarding 4 geographical regions of India, PFAS in road dust showed spatial difference where higher concentrations were found in South India compared to other regions. ∑ 21 PFAS were positively associated with city-wise population of India (r s  = 0.40, p < 0.01). Strong to moderate positive correlation was observed between ∑ 21 PFAS, fluorotelomer sulfonic acids, and PFCAs (r s  = 0.23, 0.30, and 0.28, respectively; p < 0.05) and the total state-wise vehicles in India, suggesting that vehicles exhaust or non-exhaust (e.g., vehicle tire debris and polishing material) might contribute to the PFAS occurrence in Indian road dust. Toddlers (2-5 years) had the highest estimated daily intake of ∑PFAS via road dust ingestion under average-case and worst-case scenarios (0.55 and 1.16 pg/kg bw/day, respectively). This is the first time to evaluate PFAS in Indian road dust nationwide, aiding to provide first-hand data for human exposure to PFAS in India., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Fluoroquinolones (FQs) are the class of Antibiotics (ABs) that have been extensively used worldwide for the treatment of diseases caused by bacterial infections. In India, most of these untreated ABs and their unused metabolites present in treated and untreated wastewater end up in agricultural land and water bodies. This can accelerate the problem of antimicrobial resistance in the community. Hence, we aim to develop a cost-effective sensor to detect and monitor the presence of such drugs in water bodies. We have prepared a chemically reduced graphene oxide (rGO) integrated luminescent cerium metal-organic framework (MOF) that specifically targets and recognizes ciprofloxacin (CPFX), norfloxacin (NFX), and ofloxacin (OFX) achieving excellent sensing activity. A remarkable quenching of the fluorescence of MOF composite was observed upon interaction with CPFX, NFX, and OFX with 57.9, 46.3, and 51.6 ppb as limits of detection, respectively, through a Forster resonance energy transfer from the Ce-MOF to the analytes. The applicability of the sensor was also examined with real-time samples collected from the rivers of Chennai city and the MOF probe exhibited an appreciable recovery of results. This is the first study on Ce-MOF-based rGO composite providing a solid rationale for fluorescence detection of FQs with exceptional quenching efficiency and very high sensitivity for monitoring FQs in water bodies even in diluted conditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Emerging contaminants and their pervasive presence in freshwater ecosystems have been widely documented, but less is known about their prevalence and the harm they cause in marine ecosystems, particularly in developing countries. This study provides data on the prevalence and risk posed by microplastics, plasticisers, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), and heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) along the Maharashtra coast of India. The sediment and coastal water samples were collected from 17 sampling stations, processed, and subjected to FTIR-ATR, ICP-MS, SEM-EDX, LC-MS/MS, and GC-MS for further analysis. Higher MPs abundance, combined with the pollution load index, indicates that the northern zone is a high-impact zone with pollution concerns. Plasticisers in extracted MPs and HMs adsorption on MPs surface from surrounding waters reveal their roles as a source and vector for contaminants, respectively. The mean concentration of metoprolol (53.7-306 ng L -1 ), tramadol (16.6-198 ng L -1 ), venlafaxine (24.6-234 ng L -1 ), and triclosan (211-433 ng L -1 ) in Maharashtra's coastal waters were several folds higher than in other water systems, raising major health concerns. The hazard quotient (HQ) scores revealed that >70 % of study sites pose a high to medium (1 > HQ > 0.1) ecological risk to fish, crustaceans and algae, indicating serious concern. Fish and crustaceans (35.3 % each) show a higher level of risk than algae (29.5 %). Metoprolol and venlafaxine could represent greater ecological risks than tramadol. Similarly, HQ suggests that bisphenol A has larger ecological risks than bisphenol S along the Maharashtra coast. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first in-depth investigation into emerging pollutants in Indian coastal regions. This information is crucial for better policy formulation and coastal management in India in general, and Maharashtra in particular., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study evaluates the non-cancer risks (NCR) and cancer risks (CR) in outdoor working personnel in Dhanbad city, exposed to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter (PM) present in the ambient air. Dhanbad is known for its coal mines and is one of the most polluted cities in India and the world. Sampling was conducted in different functional zones; namely, traffic intersections, industrial, and institutional areas, to estimate the concentration of different PM-bound heavy metals and VOCs in the ambient air using Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and gas chromatography (GC) respectively. Our results show that the concentration levels (of VOCs and PM) and health risks were maximum at the traffic intersection area, followed by the industrial and institutional areas. The major contribution to CR came from chloroform, naphthalene, and PM-bound chromium, while the contribution to NCR mainly came from naphthalene, trichloroethylene, xylenes, and PM-bound chromium, nickel, and cadmium. It was observed that CR and NCR from VOCs are quite comparable (average CR voc 8.92E-05 and NCR voc 6.82) to that from the PM-bound heavy metals (average CR PM 9.93E-05 and NCR PM 3.52). According to the sensitivity analysis performed using Monte-Carlo Simulation, it was also found that the output risk is most significantly influenced by the pollutant concentration followed by exposure duration and exposure time. The study reveals that Dhanbad city is not only a critically polluted area but also a highly hazardous and cancer-prone area due to the pollution arising from incessant coal mining activities and heavy vehicular movement. Given the paucity of data on exposure to VOCs in ambient air and their risk assessment pertaining to coal mining cities of India, our study provides useful information and insight for the regulatory and enforcing authorities to devise appropriate strategies for air pollution and health risk management in such cities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper, (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Microplastics (MPs) are one of the challenging and established contaminants that have adverse implications on human health. The focus of this study was to quantify and analyze the contribution of unscientific municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal sites to the MPs in the Jhelum River and the risk associated with it. Quantitative analysis of our study showed a mean MP concentration of 1474 ± 1026 particles/m 3 for the entire stretch of the river. All the sites confirmed the presence of MPs with the concentration ranging from 600 particles/m 3 to 2500 particles/m 3 . The size distribution of MPs suggested that 34 % of the microplastics ranged between 300 μm to 75 μm while 66 % of the particles varied between 300 μm to 5 mm. The concentrations of MPs downstream of unscientific disposal sites were found to increase threefold to that of upstream. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) confirmed the presence of polyethylene (PE) in the majority followed by polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polypropylene (PP). The flakes were dominant throughout the river followed by filaments, fragments, and spherules. Count based Pollution level indexing (PLI) estimated 3-14 times MP contamination in the river with respect to contamination in glacial runoffs. The risk assessment study of the MPs indicated an increase of around 10.2 % in ingestion rates of MPs due to the unscientific disposal of MSW on the banks of the freshwater body. The values of polymer hazard index (PHI) and potential ecological risk index (PERI) were in the extreme case of pollution (PHI>1000 and PERI>1200). This study manifests the adversities of unscientific municipal solid waste disposal for timely waste management., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Thermal elemental carbon (EC), optical black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), mineral dust (MD), and 7-wavelength optical attenuation of 24-hour ambient PM 2.5 samples were measured/estimated at a regionally representative site (Bhopal, central India) during a business-as-usual year (2019) and the COVID-19 lockdowns year (2020). This dataset was used to estimate the influence of emissions source reductions on the optical properties of light-absorbing aerosols. During the lockdown period, the concentration of EC, OC, BC 880 nm , and PM 2.5 increased by 70 % ± 25 %, 74 % ± 20 %, 91 % ± 6 %, and 34 % ± 24 %, respectively, while MD concentration decreased by 32 % ± 30 %, compared to the same time period in 2019. Also, during the lockdown period, the estimated absorption coefficient (b abs ) and mass absorption cross-section (MAC) values of Brown Carbon (BrC) at 405 nm were higher (42 % ± 20 % and 16 % ± 7 %, respectively), while these quantities for MD, i.e., b abs-MD and MAC MD values were lower (19 % ± 9 % and 16 % ± 10 %), compared to the corresponding period during 2019. Also, b abs-BC-808 (115 % ± 6 %) and MAC BC-808 (69 % ± 45 %) values increased during the lockdown period compared with the corresponding period during 2019. It is hypothesized that although anthropogenic emissions (chiefly industrial and vehicular) reduced drastically during the lockdown period compared to the business-as-usual period, an increase in the values of optical properties (b abs and MAC) and concentrations of BC and BrC, were likely due to the increased local and regional biomass burning emissions during this period. This hypothesis is supported by the CBPF (Conditional Bivariate Probability Function) and PSCF (Potential Source Contribution Function) analyses for BC and BrC., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Fish frequently shift their distribution ranges as a result of changes in preferred environmental factors. Knowledge on distribution of fish in relation to their environmental optima is crucial for improving the understanding of fishing grounds and planning sustainable exploitation. This study investigated the monthly variability in environmental factors impacting the catch rate and the spatio-temporal distribution patterns of fish along northwest coast of India (NWCI) from 2017 to 2019. The time series images of sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface height anomaly (SSHa), chlorophyll-a concentration (CHL), and euphotic depth (Zeu) indicate close coupling between bio-physical variables in the region. Generalized Additive Model (GAM) applied to the catch rate of mid-water trawlers found that CHL and Zeu were the most influential variables for ribbonfish distribution, while CHL and SST influence squid distribution and SST and SSHa influence cuttlefish distribution. The total deviation explained 37.70 %, 10.70 %, and 22.28 % in the final model for simulating the spatio-temporal distribution of ribbonfish, squid, and cuttlefish, respectively. Environmental factors were significant in the final GAM model (p < 0.05). Spatio-temporal distribution patterns of fishery resources from mid-water trawlers showed that they were related to biophysical changes in the northwest coast of India. The high catch rate was observed in the northern latitudes during the post-monsoon (October), the major fishing season in the region. However, it shrank and shifted to southern latitudes during the winter (January). This study could be adapted to nearby countries in the Arabian Sea region for an effective and useful tool to monitor and manage the fishery resources. Furthermore, it could aid in decision-making for policymakers and resource managers to formulate strategies for holistic marine fishery management and sustainable resource exploitation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Fluoride (F - ) enrichment in groundwater of the lower Gangetic plain in West Bengal, India is a major concern. Fluoride contamination and its toxicity were reported earlier in this region; however, limited evidence was available on the precise site of contamination, hydro-geochemical attributions of F - mobilization and probabilistic health risk caused by fluoridated groundwater. The present study addresses the research gap by exploring the spatial distribution and physico-chemical parameters of fluoridated groundwater along with the depth-wise sedimental distribution of F - . Approximately, 10 % of the groundwater samples (n = 824) exhibited high F -  ≥ 1.5 mg/l from 5, out of 19 gram-panchayats and Baruipur municipality area and the maximum F - was observed in Dhapdhapi-II gram-panchayat with 43.7 % of samples showed ≥1.5 mg/l (n = 167). The distribution patterns of cations and anions in fluoridated groundwater were Na +  > Ca 2+  > Mg 2+  > Fe > K + and Cl -  > HCO 3 -  > SO 4 2-  > CO 3 2-  > NO 3 -  > F - . Different statistical models like Piper and Gibbs diagram, Chloro Alkaline plot, Saturation index were applied to better understand the hydro-geochemical characteristics for F - leaching in groundwater. Fluoridated groundwater is of Na-Cl type which implies strong saline character. The intermediate zone between evaporation and rock dominance area controls F - mobilization along with ion-exchange process occurring between groundwater and host silicate mineral. Furthermore, saturation index proves geogenic activities related to groundwater F - mobilization. All cations present in sediment samples are closely interlinked with F - in the depth range of 0-18.3 m. Mineralogical analyses revealed that muscovite is the most responsible mineral for F - mobilization. The probabilistic health risk assessment disclosed severe health hazard in the order of infants > adults > children > teenagers through F - tainted groundwater. At P95 percentile dose, all the studied age groups showed THQ >1 from Dhapdhapi-II gram-panchayat. Supply of F - safe drinking water is required through reliable water supply strategies in the studied area., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Biotic homogenization by invasive alien species is one of the dominant drivers of global environmental change. However, little is known about the patterns of biotic homogenization in global biodiversity hotspots. Here, we fill this knowledge gap by studying the patterns of biotic homogenization and associated geographic and climatic correlates in Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). For this, we use a novel biodiversity database comprising 10,685 native and 771 alien plant species across 12 provinces of the IHR. The database was assembled by screening 295 and 141 studies published from 1934 to 2022 for natives and aliens, respectively. Our results revealed that each native species on average was distributed among 2.8 provinces, whereas the alien species in 3.6 provinces, thereby indicating wider distribution range of alien species in the IHR. The Jaccard's similarity index between the provinces was higher for alien species (mean = 0.29) as compared to natives (mean = 0.16). Addition of alien species pool has homogenized most of the provincial pairwise floras (89.4 %) across the IHR, with greater dissimilarity in their native floras. Our results revealed that the alien species have strong homogenization effect on the provincial floras, regardless of their differences in geographic and climatic distances. The biogeographic patterns of alien and native species richness in the IHR were better explained by a different set of climatic variables, the former by precipitation of driest month and the latter by annual mean temperature. Our study contributes to better understanding of the patterns of biotic homogenization in the IHR and its geographic and climatic correlates. Looking ahead, in an era of Anthropocene, we discuss the wide implications of our findings in guiding biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration in global hotspot regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The wide spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has significantly influenced human activities around the world, providing a unique opportunity to investigate the response of air pollution to anthropogenic emission reduction. Compared with numerous studies on conventional air pollutants, atmospheric ammonia (NH 3 ) that has matched sources from both anthropogenic and natural emissions has been rarely investigated. Here we assess impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on ambient NH 3 variation across India, one of the most severe NH 3 pollution region in the world. The role of meteorology in shaping emission contribution to NH 3 pollution and respective contribution of each emission source to ambient NH 3 before and after the COVID-19 outbreak were investigated using the XGBoost algorithm coupled with WRF-Chem model. Results showed that ambient NH 3 concentrations in the seven major cities (Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata and Mumbai) decreased by 2.1-53.8 % whereas in Ahmedabad increased by 20.3 % during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Obvious decrease in NH 3 in Indo-Gangetic Plain (-17.1 %) was mainly driven by favorable meteorology, whereas the slight decline in NH 3 in South India was mainly driven by epidemic-related emission control (-8.56 %). Source appointment results showed that the contribution of industrial emission (Ind) to ambient NH 3 in most megacities showed a decreasing trend (between 11 % and 26 %) during the lockdown period. However, the reduction effect was mostly compensated by increasing contributions (15-25 %) of residential emission (Res) or agricultural soil emission (Ags). Particularly, in Ahmedabad and Lucknow ambient NH 3 increased by 20.3 % and 12 % during the lockdown period, the reduction effect of Ind on ambient NH 3 (-23 % and -11 %, respectively) was absolutely compensated by enhanced contribution of Res (24 %) and Ags (12 %), respectively. Our results highlight the importance of eliminating residential and agricultural NH 3 emissions especially in North India., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The contact author has declared that she has no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) contamination in the agricultural soil can generate a detrimental effect on the ecosystem and poses a threat to human health. The present work evaluates the PTEs concentration, source identification, probabilistic assessment of health hazards, and dietary risk analysis due to PTEs pollution in the region of the chromite-asbestos mine, India. To evaluate the health risks associated with PTEs in soil, soil tailings and rice grains were collected and studied. The results revealed that the PTEs concentration (mainly Cr and Ni) of total, DTPA-bioavailable, and rice grain was significantly above the permissible limit in site 1 (tailings) and site 2 (contaminated) as compared with site 3 (uncontaminated). The Free ion activity model (FIAM) was applied to detect the solubility of PTEs in polluted soil and their probable transfer from soil to rice grain. The hazard quotient values were significantly higher than the safe (FIAM-HQ < 0.5) for Cr (1.50E+00), Ni (1.32E+00), and, Pb (5.55E+00) except for Cd (1.43E-03), Cu (5.82E-02). Severity adjustment margin of exposure (SAMOE) results denote that the PTEs contaminated raw rice grain has high health risk [Cr SAMOE : 0.001; Ni SAMOE : 0.002; Cd SAMOE : 0.007; Pb SAMOE : 0.008] for humans except for Cu. The Positive matrix factorization (PMF) along with correlation used to apportion the source. Self-organizing map (SOM) and PMF analysis identified the source of pollution mainly from mines in this region. Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) revealed that TCR (total carcinogenic risk) cannot be insignificant and children were the maximum sufferers relative to adults via ingestion-pathway. In the spatial distribution map, the region nearer to mine is highly prone to ecological risk with respect to PTEs pollution. Based on appropriate and reasonable evaluation methods, this work will help environmental scientists and policymakers' control PTEs pollution in agricultural soils near the vicinity of mines., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Disturbance is a key factor in controlling vegetation diversity, nutrient influx rate, and biochemical cycling in terrestrial forest ecosystems. Limited studies are available on changes in tree diversity, soil nutrients and enzyme activities in response to different intensities of land disturbances in the Himalayan forests. Present study investigated the impact of varying intensities of disturbances on tree diversity and their relationship with soil physical and bio-chemical properties in sal forests, Western Himalayas. Sites were categorized into four different classes of disturbances, namely, No disturbance (ND), Low disturbance (LD), Moderate disturbance (MD), and High disturbance (HD). Composite samples were collected at two depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm) in each plot to investigate soil physical and biochemical properties. Multivariate analyses were conducted to find relationship between tree vegetation and soil physical and biochemical properties. Soil organic carbon (C org ), total nitrogen (N ttl ), available phosphorous (P avl ), microbial biomass carbon (C mic ), nitrogen (N mic ), phosphorous (P mic ), and enzymes (dehydrogenase (DHA), Urease, acid and alkaline phosphatase) followed the order: MD > ND > LD > HD. Across disturbances, soil physical and biochemical characteristics significantly (p < 0.05) decreased with increasing soil depths. Across the sites, positive correlation was observed among soil microbial biomass, enzymes, C org , clay, and moisture. Redundancy analysis (RDA) results revealed that species distribution is essential regulator in the variation of prominent soil variables, viz., nutrients (N ttl and P avl ), C mic , and DHA across disturbance categories and soil depths. Moreover, variance partitioning analysis (VPA) showed that changes in vegetation composition across disturbance levels explain 13.12 % of the variation in soil biochemical subset higher than soil physicochemical subset. The result illustrated that moderate disturbance increases species composition, soil nutrient properties and microbial activity. These findings would help understand microbial activity and its relationship with disturbances, suggesting site-specific measurements for soil nutrient availability and above-below ground interactions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Mass-size distribution of respirable aerosol and 13 associated trace elements (TEs) were investigated in rural kitchens using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), firewood and mixed biomass fuels across three northeastern Indian states. The averaged PM 10 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm) and ΣTE concentrations were 403 and 30 μg m -3 for LPG, 2429 and 55 μg m -3 for firewood, and 1024 and 44 μg m -3 for mixed biomass-using kitchens. Mass-size distributions were tri-modal with peaks in the ultrafine (0.05-0.08 μm), accumulation (0.20-1.05 μm), and coarse (3.20-4.57 μm) modes. Respiratory deposition, estimated using the multiple path particle dosimetry model, ranged from 21 % to 58 % of the total concentration across fuel types and population age categories. Head, followed by pulmonary and tracheobronchial, was the most vulnerable deposition region, and children were the most susceptible age group. Inhalation risk assessment of TEs revealed significant non-carcinogenic as well as carcinogenic risk, especially for biomass fuel users. The potential years of life lost (PYLL) was the highest for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD: 15.9 ± 3.8 years) followed by lung cancer (10.3 ± 0.3 years) and pneumonia (10.1 ± 0.1 years), while the PYLL rate was also highest for COPD, with Cr(VI) being the major contributor. Overall, these findings reveal the significant health burden faced by the northeastern Indian population from indoor cooking using solid biomass fuels., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aquatic ecosystems are regarded as a hub of antibiotic and metal resistance genes. River Ganges is a unique riverine system in India with socio-cultural and economic significance. However, it remains underexplored for its microbiome and associated resistomes along its anthropogenically impacted course. The present study utilized a nanopore sequencing approach to depict the microbial community structure in the sediments of the river Ganges harboring antibiotic and metal resistance genes (A/MRGs) in lower stretches known for anthropogenic impact. Comprehensive microbiome analyses revealed resistance genes against 23 different types of metals and 28 classes of antibiotics. The most dominant ARG category was multidrug resistance, while the most prevalent MRGs conferred resistance against copper and zinc. Seasonal differences dismally affected the microbiota of the Ganges. However, resistance genes for fosmidomycin and tetracycline varied with season ANOVA, p < 0.05. Interestingly, 333 and 334 ARG subtypes were observed at all the locations in pre-monsoon and post-monsoon, respectively. The taxa associated with the dominant ARGs and MRGs were Pseudomonas and Burkholderia, which are important nosocomial pathogens. A substantial phage diversity for pathogenic and putrefying bacteria at all locations attracts attention for its use to tackle the dissemination of antibiotic and metal-resistant bacteria. This study suggests the accumulation of antibiotics and metals as the driving force for the emergence of resistance genes and the affiliated bacteria trafficking them. The present metagenomic assessment highlights the need for comprehensive, long-term biological and physicochemical monitoring and mitigation strategies toward the contaminants associated with ARGs and MRGs in this nationally important river., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

As a widespread natural hazard, droughts impact several aspects of human society adversely. Thus, the present study aims to answer the following research questions; (i) What are the expected variabilities in different drought conditions over India in the future? (ii) How the population exposure to drought varies under different climate change and population scenarios? (iii) How is the total exposure attributed to the individual exposure (climate, population, and interaction) in future climate change scenarios? In this sense, the study is performed under four Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5) using thirteen Global Climate Models from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index as a drought indicator. The future period is divided into two parts i.e., 2023-2061 (T1) and 2062-2100 (T2), and compared with the historical period during 1967-2005. The results show that the severe (56 % to 72 % of the area) and extreme (99 % of the area) droughts are likely to increase under all the scenarios for 3-month scale conditions, respectively. The drought intensity is projected to increase under 3-and 12-month scale drought conditions. The population exposure to the extreme drought severity is anticipated to increase for both the drought conditions and the highest exposure is noticed under the SSP3-7.0 scenario. The significant contribution from climate or interaction effects is observed in the case of 3- and 9-month scale extreme drought conditions. The present study necessitates a call for effective measures to alleviate the risk, especially in the high-risk areas of India., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Air pollution is the fourth leading global risk factor, whereas in India air pollution is reported as the highest risk factor with millions of premature deaths every year. Despite implementation of several air pollution control plans, PM 2.5 levels over India have not noticeably reduced. PM 2.5 -associated health burdens in India have increased significantly in past decades. A fine resolution (0·01° × 0·01°) analysis of PM 2.5 -attribulable premature deaths (rather than the coarse-level analysis) may elucidate the reason for this increase and inform and effective start-of-the-art state-level and national emission control strategies. This study quantified the spatiotemporal dynamics of PM 2.5- attributable premature deaths from 2001 to 2020 and applied a decomposition analysis to dissect the contribution of various associated parameters, such as PM 2.5 concentration, population distribution and disease-specific baseline death rate. Results show significant spatiotemporal variations of PM 2.5 and associated health burden in India. During the study period, population weighted PM 2.5 value increased from 46.0 to 59.5 μg/m 3 and associated non-communicable death increased around 87.6 %, from 1050 [95 % (CI): 880-1210] thousand to 1970 (95 % CI: 1658-2259) thousand. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh had the highest PM 2.5 -attributable deaths. In these states, non-accidental deaths increased from 232.1, 112.7, 81.4, 79.1, 66.3 and 58.5 thousand in 2001 to 424.1, 226.7, 156.2, 154.5, 123.3 and 119.7 thousand in 2020. In per capita population (/10 5 population), the highest PM 2.5 -attributable deaths were observed in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Punjab. Throughout the study period, demographic changes outweighed the health burden and were responsible for ~62.8 % increase of PM 2.5 -related non-accidental deaths across India, whereas the change in PM 2.5 concentration influenced only 18.7 %. The change in baseline mortality rate impacts differently for the estimation of disease-specific mortality changes. Our findings suggest more dynamic and comprehensive policies at state-specific level, especially for North India is very indispensable for the overall decrease of PM 2.5 -related deaths in India., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In Asian developing countries, undeveloped and ineffective sewer systems are causing surface water pollution by a lot of contaminants, especially pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). Therefore, the risks for freshwater fauna need to be assessed. The present study aimed at: i) elucidating the contamination status; ii) evaluating the bioaccumulation; and iii) assessing the potential risks of PPCP residues in surface water and freshwater fish from three Asian countries. We measured 43 PPCPs in the plasma of several fish species as well as ambient water samples collected from India (Chennai and Bengaluru), Indonesia (Jakarta and Tangerang), and Vietnam (Hanoi and Hoa Binh). In addition, the validity of the existing fish blood-water partitioning model based solely on the lipophilicity of chemicals is assessed for ionizable and readily metabolizable PPCPs. When comparing bioaccumulation factors calculated from the PPCP concentrations measured in the fish and water (BAF measured ) with bioconcentration factors predicted from their pH-dependent octanol-water partition coefficient (BCF predicted ), close values (within an order of magnitude) were observed for 58-91 % of the detected compounds. Nevertheless, up to 110 times higher plasma BAF measured than the BCF predicted were found for the antihistamine chlorpheniramine in tilapia but not in other fish species. The plasma BAF measured values of the compound were significantly different in the three fish species (tilapia > carp > catfish), possibly due to species-specific differences in toxicokinetics (e.g., plasma protein binding and hepatic metabolism). Results of potential risk evaluation based on the PPCP concentrations measured in the fish plasma suggested that chlorpheniramine, triclosan, haloperidol, triclocarban, diclofenac, and diphenhydramine can pose potential adverse effects on wild fish. Results of potential risk evaluation based on the PPCP concentrations measured in the surface water indicated high ecological risks of carbamazepine, sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin, and triclosan on Asian freshwater ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Near real-time monitoring of major air pollutants, i.e., particulate matter (PM 10 , PM 2.5 , PM 1 ), trace gases (O 3 , CO, NO, NO 2 , NO x , NH 3 , CO 2 , SO 2 ) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs: benzene, ethylbenzene, m-, p-xylene, o-xylene and toluene) along with climatological parameters was done in eight-cities field campaigns during the rabi (wheat) crop residue burning period in the northwest of Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) region. The phase-wise monitoring was done at eight locations representing rural, semi-urban and urban backgrounds. During the whole campaign, the semi-urban site (Sirsa) observed the highest average concentration of PM 10 (226 ± 111 μg m -3 ) and PM 2.5 (91 ± 67 μg m -3 ). The urban site (Chandigarh) reported the minimum concentrations of all the three size fractions of particulate matter with PM 10 as 89 ± 54 μg m -3 , PM 2.5 as 42 ± 22 μg m -3 and PM 1 as 20 ± 13 μg m -3 where the monitoring was done in the early phase of the campaign. The highest VOC concentration was recorded at the semi-urban (Sirsa) site, whereas the lowest was at a rural location (Fatehgarh Sahib). NH 3 concentration was observed highest in rural sites (31.7 ± 29.8 ppbv), which can be due to the application of fertilizers in agricultural activities. Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) based fire and thermal anomalies, along with HYSPLIT back trajectory analysis, show that major air masses over monitoring sites (22 %-70 %) were from the rabi crop residue burning regions. The characteristic ratios and Principal component analysis (PCA) results show that diverse sources, i.e., emissions from crop residue burning, solid biomass fuels, vehicles and industries, majorly degrade the regional air quality. This multi-city study observed that semi-urban regions have the most compromised air quality during the rabi crop residue burning and need attention to address the air quality issues in the IGP region., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Estuaries are transition zones between freshwater and seawater. There are only few studies on microplastic (MPs) pollution in estuaries. In this study, investigating the spatiotemporal variations of MPs in water, sediment and biota samples of 19 estuaries in Tamil Nadu, India, we assessed the chemical and human exposure risks of MPs. MPs extracted by digestion and density separation and characterized them using microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive analysis of X-rays. MP abundancesin summer and monsoon range from 31.7 ± 3.8 to 154.7 ± 4.2 items/L in water and 51.7 ± 3.6 to 171.4 ± 9.1 items/kg in sediment. Highest MPs abundance is found in water and sediment of the urbanized Adayar estuary. MP levels are higher in monsoon than in summer (P < 0.05) due to the discharge of wastewater via storm water outlets. More small-size MPs are found in summer (<0.5-1 mm) while monsoon has a greater diversity of MP polymers (MPDII: 0.81). MP abundance in fish varies from 0.01 ± 0.003 to 0.15 ± 0.03 items/g, and in shellfish from 0.75 ± 0.12 to 9.7 ± 0.28 items/g. In fish, more MPs are found in intestine than in gill or muscle. Shell fishes contain more MPs than fishes. In all the matrices, fibers of different sizes, and polymers of polyethylene and polypropylene are commonly found. An average local person is likely to ingest 781 items of MPs via fish and 2809 items via shellfish annually. Polymer hazard index shows hazard levels of IV to V indicating the serious MP pollution trend, which poses a risk to the biota. In conclusion, MPs observed in this study show that estuaries are a major pathway for land-derived plastics to reach the ocean. The results will help implement remedial/clean-up measures for the estuary for better ecosystem conservation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This work primarily emphases on evaluating the prevalence of organic micropollutants (OMPs) in the perennial Yamuna River (YR) that flow through the national capital of India, Delhi. Sixteen sampling campaigns (non-monsoon, n = 9; monsoon n = 7) were organized to understand the seasonal variations with special emphasis on monsoon. We have found fifty-five OMPs in the monsoon; while forty-seven were detected in non-monsoon. Fifty-seven screened and quantified OMPs in the most polluted stretch of River Yamuna included the pharmaceutically active compounds, pesticides, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, phthalates, personal care products, fatty acids, food additives, hormones, and trace organics present in hospital wastes. During monsoon months, compounds for which concentrations exceeded 50 μg/L were: adenine (64.6 μg/L), diethyl phthalate (62.9 μg/L), and octamethyltrisiloxane (56.9 μg/L); and the same for non-monsoon months was only for 1-dodecanethiol (52.3 μg/L). The average concentration of OMPs in non-monsoon months indicate PhACs>PCPs>Pesticides>Fatty acids>Hospital waste>Hormones>Pesticides>EDCs. In monsoon months due to surface runoff and high volume of untreated wastewater discharges few more OMPs concentrations were detected which mainly includes PhACs (clofibric acid, diclofenac sodium, gemfibrozil, ketoprofen), pesticides (aldrin, metribuzin, atrazine, simazine). Due to dilution effect in the monsoon months, average concentrations of 3-acetamido-5-bromobenzoic acid (PhACs) was reduced from 45.22 μg/L to 14.07 μg/L, whereas some EDCs such as 2,4- Di-tert-amylphenol, 3,5- di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol, Triphenylphosphine oxide, Benzophenone were found in much higher concentrations in the monsoon months. Octamethyltrisiloxane (PCPs) was detected 50 times higher in concentration in the monsoon months. Interestingly, the concentration of about 50 % of the OMPs was more in the monsoon samples than in non-monsoon samples which is contrary to the general understanding that monsoon-induced dilution lowers the concentrations of OMPs. In RY water higher magnitude of diclofenac sodium, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, and clofibric acid was found than Europe and North America rivers. Hormones such as estriol and estrone in RY water are found 70 to 100 times higher than the maximum reported concentrations in the US streams. Finally, various OMPs responded differently to the monsoon season as evident from multivariate analyses., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Sewage wastewater pollutes water and poses a public health issue but it could also prove useful in certain research domains. Sewage is a complex niche relevant for research concerning 'one-health', human health, pollution and antibiotic resistance. Indian gut microbiome is also understudied due to sampling constraints and sewage could be used to explore it. Ostensibly, Indian sewage needs to be studied and here, we performed a cross-sectional pan-India sewage sampling to generate the first comprehensive Indian sewage microbiome. Indian sewage showed predominance of Burkholderiaceae, Rhodocyclaceae, Veillonellaceae, Prevotellaceae, etc. and has high representation of gut microbes. The identified gut microbes have overrepresentation of Veillonellaceae, Rikenellaceae, Streptococcaceae, and Bacillaceae. Imputed metagenomics of sewage microbiome indicated dominance of transport, motility, peptidases, amino acid metabolism, and antibiotic resistance genes. Microbiome-disease associations drawn using simple decision tree and random forest analysis identified specific microbes as potential predictors of diabetes and obesity in a city. Altogether, we generated the first Indian sewage microbiome and our non-invasive, high-throughput workflow could be emulated for future research, wastewater-based epidemiology and designing policies concerning public health., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Odisha's coastline supports various development activities that are critical to the state and national economy, such as oil and gas, ports and harbors, power plants, fishing, tourism, and mining that continues to not only detriment the coastal ecology but also affect the overall shoreline morphodynamics. The morphological changes are complicated processes involving both natural and human-induced drivers, but it is critical to understand how recent development activities further impact beach morphodynamics and shoreline dynamicity. The study analyzes the overall shoreline morphodynamics in response to the recent development of port and other related infrastructure for annual and decadal scale using two-dimensional (2-D) shoreline changes along with detailed 3-D beach profile volumetric changes for different studied zones along the Gopalpur coast. The results reveal that nearly all studied zones of the Gopalpur shoreline, Zone-4 (EPR = -05.64 m a -1 and LRR = -04.25 m a -1 ), Zone-3 (EPR = -04.51 m a -1 and LRR = -07.01 m a -1 ) and Zone-1 (EPR = -2.85 m a -1 and LRR = -01.46 m a -1 ), experienced erosion between 2010 and 2020 except Zone-2 (EPR = 24.31 m a -1 and LRR = 25.96 m a -1 ), which showed overall sign of deposition. The interannual shoreline analysis depicted that Zone-1 (tourist beach area) remained almost stable, Zone-2 (south of the breakwater of Gopalpur Port) showed accretion trends, Zone-4 (north side of the port) dominantly showed an erosion pattern, whereas Zone-3 (port area) showed a high level of uncertainty in the context of erosional or deposition trends. Calculated volumetric loss along the surveyed 3-D beach profiles supports these 2-D changes for all the studied zones. The results showed substantial changes in coastal morphodynamics in different studied zones of the Gopalpur region and severe erosion along its northern segment of the constructed coastal infrastructure. These findings can potentially promote effective coastal zone management and prevent further deterioration along the Gopalpur coast in future., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Linkages of urban and industrial cooling with sustainable development goals and climate change perspectives are well acknowledged, mainly for developing economies in tropical climates. Angul-Talcher region is one of the oldest industrial clusters of India, and the region experiences higher atmospheric heat island intensities with magnitudes of 7 to 9 °C attributed to the Industrial Heat Island (IHI) effect. In the present study, various measures for mitigating heat island effect in the region and assessed their impact using an Improved Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with the Single-Layer Urban Canopy Model. The improved framework includes the release of industrial emissions at stack height and sector-wise diurnal profiles of anthropogenic heat (AH) released from vehicles, residential, and industry/power. The mitigation measures comprised strategies like alteration in building materials and conversion of landuse-landcover (LULC) of selected grid cells in the model domain to more vegetation or water bodies. It was noted that the cool roofs and walls together reduced IHIs by 0.5 °C, while green roofs and cool pavements achieved a reduction of 0.3 °C and 0.1 °C, respectively. The introduction of water bodies showed maximum reduction in IHIs by 3 to 5 °C during daytime and 1 to 2 °C over mining and industrial stations. During night-time, conversion to mixed forests was more effective (ΔT ≈ 1 °C) than conversion to water bodies. A combination of cool roofs with the introduction of water bodies in the mining areas and mixed forest patches in industry stations was found to be the most effective mitigation strategy for mitigating the industrial heat island effect over the Angul-Talcher region. These mitigation scenarios can/should serve as a theoretical reference for implementing actual mitigation measures, which would require consideration of economic, social, and policy aspects apart from scientific ones for practical application., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Anthropogenic litter is a ubiquitous stressor in the global ocean, and poses ominous threats to oceanic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. At the terrestrial-ocean interface, tropical mangrove forests are subject to substantial exposure to mismanaged litter from inland and marine sources. While the effects of litter in different marine ecosystems are well-documented, research on the ecological consequences of litter pollution on mangroves remain nascent stage. Here, we investigated anthropogenic litter concentration, composition, probable sources, and impact on coastal mangroves along the Central West coast of India. The mean concentration of trapped litter was measured 8.5 ± 1.9 items/m 2 (ranged 1.4 ̶ 26.9 items/m 2 ), and 10.6 ± 0.5 items/tree (ranged 0 ̶ 85 items/tree) on the mangrove floor and mangrove canopy, respectively. Plastic dominated 83.02 % of all litter deposited on the mangrove forest floor and 93.4 % of all entangled litter on mangrove canopy. Most litter comprised single-use plastic products across all surveyed locations. Mangrove floor cleanliness was assessed using several indices, such as Clean Coast Index, General Index, Hazardous Items Index, and Pollution Load Index, reiterating an inferior cleanliness status. The pollution load index indicates "Hazard level I" plastic pollution risk across the mangroves. Litter concentration differed markedly across all sites. However, a significantly higher concentration of stranded litter was detected in the densely populated urban agglomeration and rural areas with inadequate solid waste management. Probable sources of litter indicate land-based (local) and sea-originated (fishing). Supportive information on the transport and accumulation of marine litter is examined based on the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Climate Forecast System (CFS) model version 2 reanalysis of surface wind and current pattern across the Arabian Sea followed by MIKE simulated tide-induced coastal current. Mangrove pneumatophores and branches were found to be damaged by entangled plastics. Hence, determining litter quantum and their probable input source is pivotal in mitigating anthropogenic litter impact on mangrove ecosystems and fostering mangrove conservation. Overall, results envisage that stringent enforcement, implementation of an integrated solid waste management framework, and general behavioral change of the public are crucial to mitigate litter/plastic pollution., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Water quality and scarcity are among the most severe problems humans have been facing in the last decades. India, as a fast-developing country, is not an exception. The surface water quality has deteriorated due to anthropogenic activities. Another factor which impacts the water quality is the heavy rainfall during monsoon season. To maintain the quality and the sustainability of water resources, there is the need to study how human activities impact water quality. We hypothesized that the water quality can be impacted by the spatial land use types and by the seasonality. In the present study, seasonal and spatial water quality regarding physical, chemical, and biological parameters from a lake cascading system was assessed monthly from July to December 2019. Land use/cover data was produced by Impact Observatory, Microsoft, and Esri based on the 10-m Sentinel-2 images. Redundancy analysis was applied to investigate the relationship between land use/cover data and water quality in the riparian of 500 and 1000 m to the lakes. Our results showed clear temporal and spatial variation of water quality in 2019, with better water quality in rainy season (Oct.-Dec.) and downstream lakes while relatively worse water quality was recorded in dry season (Jul.-Sep.) and upstream lakes. The water quality variation was explained 27.8 % and 42.7 % by the land use types within 500 m and 1000 m buffer widths, respectively. The outlet of the catchment showed exceptional results due to the impact of a dumpsite. Our findings indicate that the water quality is highly impacted by human-induced land use/cover. The land use/cover types, such as crops, woodland and urban area, show negative impacts and relate to the high level of nutrient concentrations. In opposite, grass land shows positive effects and leads to better water quality. Our study confirms that the lake water quality is distinguished in both spatial and seasonal aspects. Monsoon season improves the water quality., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Eleven potentially toxic metal(loid)s (Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn), proven source markers of mineral based coal-fired industrial emissions and vehicular exhausts, were analysed using the four steps sequential extraction method to evaluate metal(loid)s concentration, in total and fractions of bioavailable and non-bioavailable for fine (PM 2.5 ) and coarse (PM 10-2.5 ) particulate modes. A total of 26-day-wise samples with three replications (total number of samples = 78) were collected in January-December 2019 for each PM 10 and PM 2.5 at an urban-residential site in India. In both the coarse and fine particulate modes, Pb and Cr have respectively shown the highest and lowest total concentrations of the measured metal(loid)s, indicating the presence of coal-fired power plants and heavy vehicular activities near to study area. In addition, Mn has shown highest bioavailable fraction for both coarse and fine particulate modes. More than 50 % of metal(loid)s concentration, in total to a bioavailable fraction (BAF) were observed in case of As, Cd, Cr, Co, Mn, Ni, and Pb of PM 2.5 . Mn and Zn have shown similar behaviour in the case of coarse particulate mode. Source apportionment of metal(loid)s bioavailable fractions using positive matrix factorization (PMF 5.0) has found three significant sources: crustal and natural dust (30.04 and 39 %), road traffic (49.57 and 20 %), and industrial emission (20.39 and 41 %) for coarse and fine particulate mode, respectively. Cancer risk through the inhalation pathway was high in total concentration but lower in BAF concentration in both age groups (children and adults)., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The diversification or decoupling of production chains from China to alternative Asian countries such as India or Indonesia would impact the spatial distribution of anthropogenic emissions, with corresponding economic impacts due to mortality associated with particulate matter exposure. We evaluated these changes using the Community Earth System Model, the Integrated Exposure-Response (IER) model and Willingness To Pay (WTP) method. Significant effects on PM 2.5 related mortality and economic cost for these deaths were seen in many East, Southeast and South Asian countries, particularly those immediately downwind of these three countries. Transferring all of export-related manufacturing to Indonesia resulted in significant mortality decreases in China and South Korea by 78k (5 per 100k) and 1k (2 per 100k) respectively, while Indonesia's mortality significantly increased (73.7k; 29 per 100k), as well as India, Pakistan and Nepal. When production was transferred to India, mortality rates in East Asia show similar changes to the Indonesian scenario, while mortalities in India increased dramatically (87.9k; 6 per 100k), and mortalities in many neighbors of India were also severely increased. Nevertheless, the economic costs for PM 2.5 related mortality were much smaller than national GDP changes in China (0.9 % of GDP vs. 18.3 % of GDP), India (2.7 % of GDP vs. 84.3 % of GDP) or Indonesia (9.4 % of GDP vs. 337 % of GDP) due to shifting all of export-related production lines from China to India or Indonesia. Morally, part of the benefits of economic activity should be used to compensate the neighboring communities where mortality increases occur., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Within the framework of COALESCE project (Carbonaceous aerosol emissions, source apportionment, and climate impacts) initiative, spatio-temporal distribution of aerosol optical properties from three general circulation models are evaluated against aerosol data from satellite observations (MODIS and CALIPSO) and ground-based measurements (AERONET) for the period 2005-2014. The GCMs, NICAM-SPRINTARS (N-S), ECHAM6.3-HAM2.3 (E-H), CAM5.3 (CAM), input with identical emissions from the SMoG-India-v1 emission inventory over India nested in the CEDS global inventory, including all emission sectors except sea salt and soil dust. The annual mean total aerosol optical depth (AOD) averaged over the Indian land region is 0.38, 0.27, and 0.17 from the N-S, CAM, and E-H models respectively, while the annual mean value from the MODIS observational dataset is 0.43. Single scattering albedo predicted by E-H is lower compared to CAM and N-S while model predictions of Angstrom exponent are closer to MERRA2 dataset. However, the average total aerosol column burden over Indian landmass simulated by the models is very close and comparable to the reanalysis results. Statistical analysis of AOD between model and AERONET measurements at nine sites shows that the root mean square error varies from 0.1 to 0.4 and the index of agreement (average value) is ∼0.4. The aerosol emission and transport models, methodology for calculation of aerosol optical properties and their mixing states contributes to the diversity in the results from various models. The present study provides an analysis of limitations and uncertainties contributing to the differences between the simulations and observations, and the inter-model diversity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Space-time variability of soil moisture (SM) and ground water plays a fundamental role in shaping hydrology of terrestrial ecosystem, best represented as the Critical Zone (CZ), which extends from top of vegetation canopy to the bottom of groundwater table. In several parts of the world, a network of instrumented sites, known as Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs), have been set up to understand the hydrodynamics of soil-water system in particular reference to natural and anthropogenic forcings. Here, we employed the empirical orthogonal function (EOF), random combination, and temporal stability approach to understand the in-situ space-time dynamics of SM and depth to groundwater table (DTGT) over an agriculture-dominated CZO in the Ganga basin. Our results showed that both the components exhibit a constant temporal coefficient of variation, suggesting a consistent seasonal changing pattern. Around 91 % of the observed DTGT spatial variation are explained by first two spatial EOFs while the first five EOFs explain only 67 % of the total SM variability. On an annual basis, the spatial patterns of SM and DTGT are driven by topography and soil texture (% clay) while monsoon rainfall and post-monsoon crop cycle appear to be the leading factors for temporal variability of both components. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that randomly selected four sampling locations and three monitoring wells within the CZO could capture the mean spatial variability of SM (RMSE = 3 % vol/vol) and DTGT (RMSE = 0.7 mgbl) respectively. In addition, temporal stability analysis indicates that four representative sites and a single monitoring well can provide robust catchment mean with an absolute error of ±2 % vol/vol and 0.36 mgbl respectively. Overall, this study provides an insight to the hydrodynamics and controls of SM and groundwater in an agricultural landscape with significant implications for upscaling and efficient water resource management in such regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The presence of antibiotics in the aqueous environment can alter the water microbiome, inducing antimicrobial resistance genes. Hence, the occurrence of 18 antibiotics belonging to sulfonamides, fluoroquinolones, tetracyclines, phenicols, and macrolides classes were investigated in surface water, groundwater, and sewage treatment plants in Chennai city and the suburbs. Fluoroquinolones had the maximum detection frequency in both influent and effluent samples of urban and suburban STPs, with ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin showing the highest influent concentrations. Erythromycin was the predominant antibiotic in surface water samples with an average concentration of 194.4 ng/L. All the detected antibiotic concentrations were higher in the Buckingham Canal compared to those in Adyar and Cooum rivers, possibly due to direct sewer outfalls in the canal. In groundwater samples, ciprofloxacin showed the highest levels with an average of 20.48 ng/L and the concentrations were comparable to those of surface water. The average sulfamethazine concentration in groundwater (5.2 ng/L) was found to be slightly higher than that of the surface water and much higher than the STP influent concentrations. High levels of ciprofloxacin and sulfamethazine in groundwater may be because of their high solubility and wide use. Moreover, erythromycin was completely removed after treatment in urban STPs; FQs showed relatively lesser removal efficiency (2.4-54%) in urban STPs and (8-44%) in suburban STP. Tetracyclines and phenicols were not detected in any of the samples. Ciprofloxacin and azithromycin in surface water pose a high risk in terms of estimated antibiotic resistance. This study revealed that the measured surface water concentration of antibiotics were 500 times higher for some compounds than the predicted calculated concentrations from STP effluents. Therefore, we suspect the direct sewage outlets or open drains might play an important role in contaminating surface water bodies in Chennai city., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The problem of drought in India is a major issue in terms of various adverse impacts on livelihood of society. Drought Early Warning System (DEWS), a real-time drought-monitoring tool, has reported that over a fifth of India's geographical area (21.06 %) is suffering drought-like situations. This is 62 % larger than the drought-affected area during the same period last year, which was 7.86 %. Drought affects 21.06 %, with conditions ranging from unusually dry to extremely dry. While 1.63 % and 1.73 % of the area are experiencing 'extreme' or 'exceptional' dry conditions, 2.17 % is experiencing 'severe' dry conditions. Under 'moderate' dry circumstances, up to 8.15 % is possible. In this perspective groundwater vulnerability assessment in the overall country is needed for implementing the sustainable and long-term strategies for escaping from this type of hazardous situation. The main objective of this study is to estimate the drought vulnerability in changing climate which eventually influences the food security of India. The groundwater overdraft is one of the crucial elements in agricultural drought vulnerability. Various related parameters have been selected for estimating the drought vulnerability and its impact to food security in India. Here, MaxEnt (maximum entropy) and ANN (analytical neural network) has been considered in this perspective. The AUC values for the training datasets in the ANN and MaxEnt model are 0.891 and 0.921, respectively. The AUC values in ANN and MaxEnt model for the validation datasets are 0.876 and 0.904, respectively. Here MaxEnt model is most optimal than ANN considering predictive accuracy. From this study analysis it is established that western, south and middle portion of country is very much prone to drought vulnerability. So, special emphases in terms of the regional planning have to be taken into consideration for sustainable planning., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)