Pharmaceutical compounds and their toxicity to marine organisms: Emerging contaminants and innovative strategies to reduce pharmaceutical pollution - A review and meta-analysis.

• A Python model for semi-islanded green ammonia production was developed. • The LCOA ranges from 669.30 to 867.94 €/tNH 3 . • Power generation represents the largest share of total system costs. • The LCOA decreases by up to 15.15 % over the next two decades. • Dynamic operation achieves up to a 6 % reduction compared with continuous operation. The study presents a technical and economic assessment of green ammonia production in several counties in Ireland. The system is based on renewable energy sources, namely photovoltaic and offshore wind. Three locations were chosen based on their renewable potential and the availability of export ports to EU (European Union) markets. A high-temporal-resolution model for green ammonia production has been developed for the first time in Ireland. The WSA (Wind Solar Ammonia) model was developed specifically for this research. It uses MILP (Mixed Integer Linear Programming) and optimisation techniques to simulate scenarios at the lowest possible cost. The Python-based model incorporates all relevant energy subsystems and use functions from specialised libraries. The WSA model includes large-scale hydrogen production with proton exchange membrane electrolysers, air separation to produce nitrogen, Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis, desalination unit. Storages buffers were implemented for green hydrogen, green ammonia, purified sea water, and nitrogen. Both continuous and dynamic operation were simulated, continuous operation reflects industrial reliability, stable equipment performance, and maximised lifetime, while dynamic operation captures renewable intermittency, curtailment reduction, and system flexibility. Cork is identified as the least-cost location, with the dynamic operation system achieving the lowest LCOA (Levelised Cost Of Ammonia) at 791.07 €/t in 2030 and 731.45 €/t in 2040, outperforming the continuous operation system, which records 834.27 €/t in 2030 and 741.62 €/t in 2040. The system achieve a carbon saving up to 94.63 % compared to the ammonia fossil fuel-based comparator.

The place and role of economic language and economic appraisal in environmental decision-making: Lessons from the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in France

Beneficial use of dredged sediment for removal of harmful algal bloom fueling nutrients.

The Chinese bahaba (Bahaba taipingensis) is a critically endangered species found in the coastal waters of the South China Sea and East China Sea, which has garnered significant attention due to its ecological, economic, and medicinal value. In this study, we present a high-quality genome assembly of the Chinese bahaba. By employing a combination of PacBio HiFi, ONT ultra-long and Hi-C sequencing data, we assembled 686.86 Mb genome sequences, consisting of 83 contigs with a contig N50 of 30.02 Mb. Then, the initial assembly was further anchored onto 24 chromosomes, of which only 2 contain 3 gaps and 8 have telomeres at both ends. Percentages of 96.5% of complete BUSCOs were achieved, and a total of 22,100 protein-coding genes were annotated. We performed transcriptome analysis across nine tissues (heart, intestine, kidney, liver, muscle, skin, spleen, stomach, swim bladder). The result revealed higher expression levels of col1a1 and col1a2 in swim bladder, which may contribute to massive collagen deposition in this tissue. This high-quality assembly provides a valuable resource for studying the genetic basis of key biological traits (e.g., swim bladder collagen synthesis, otolith development) and will assist future investigations into the conservation genomics of B. taipingensis.

Multi-temporal evolution of surface chlorophyll-a in waters around South China Sea reefs: Differences and key environmental factors.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) in coastal waters are an increasing ecological and socio-economic concern in Northwestern Patagonia (NWP). One widely accepted mechanism proposes that reduced freshwater input weakens water-column stratification and increases residence time, allowing nutrient-rich oceanic waters to intrude and favor HAB development. Here, we demonstrate that riverine controls exerted on HABs extend beyond low-flow conditions to include shifts in the timing and magnitude of high-flow pulses. Using long-term hydro-meteorological records, satellite-based data, and a citizen science water quality time series from the Puelo River, we assess how peak freshwater inputs modulated the conditions leading up to a diatom HAB (Thalassiosira cf. pseudonana) in the Reloncaví Fjord (41.5°S) in November 2023. Based on inference from spring 2022 and 2024 monitoring, such discharge peaks provide short-lived windows of enhanced nutrient availability, characterized by elevated reactive silica (> 100 µmol L⁻¹), dissolved iron (> 0.3 µmol L⁻¹) and nitrogen-rich nutrient ratios (N:P > 16). An anomalous high-turbidity pulse, usually dampened by downstream lake regulation, suggests threshold effect of meltwater inputs, which likely gave this taxon a competitive advantage. Antecedent conditions also include a sustained winter runoff effect on stratification and exchange flow, followed by an unusually dry early spring, weakening stratification during the period of increased solar radiation, both preconditioning the system for the HAB.

This study presents the evaluation of the environmental performance of a geopolymer based breakwater using a novel dual-waste valorisation approach that combines electronic waste (e-waste) derived sodium silicate from cathode ray tube glass (CRT) as a geopolymer activator, and construction and demolition waste (C&DW) aggregates. It will systematically investigate the leaching of major (Ca, Si, Al, Mg, Na) and trace/heavy metals (Cr, As, Zn, Fe, Pb, Ni, Cd, Cu) under simulated marine exposure. Geopolymer blocks incorporating e-waste derived sodium silicate and C&DW aggregates were compared with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete and commercial silicate-based geopolymers. Standard dynamic surface leaching tests were performed in deionized water (DIW) and seawater (SW) for 64days, with extrapolated predictions for a 50-year service life. Cumulative release of major ions during 64-day immersion ranged from 3.5 to 700gm-2, while trace/heavy metals remained within 30-150mgm-2. Extrapolation over 50years indicated that all trace/heavy metals, including Pb, Cd, Ni, Cu, Mn, As, Cr, Zn, and Fe, would remain below 1gm-2, while abundant elements such as Al, Mg, Si, Na, and Ca would remain below 1kgm-2 in seawater. Higher Na (in GEO-RSiA-NA) and Ca (in NC-NA and GEO-RSiA-RA) releases were observed in DIW compared to SW, confirming its more aggressive leaching environment. Overall, trace/heavy metal concentrations remained well below Dutch regulatory thresholds, confirming the environmental safety of geopolymer breakwaters. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of recycled silicate-aggregate geopolymers as a sustainable breakwater material with reduced carbon footprint and controlled environmental impact. Further field validation under real hydrodynamic forces is recommended.

Global ecosystems are under constant threat from nonindigenous species, with the potential to cause both economic and ecological harm on a global scale. The green crab (C. maenas) has invaded global coastlines, increasing resource competition and predating upon native organisms. Recent evidence also suggests the green crabs within the Canadian Pacific estuaries possess an acute tolerance to extremely dilute and freshwater (FW) environments compared to historical literature. If Pacific green crabs are indeed tolerant to limited FW exposure, this could increase their ecological range to forage or avoid competitive interactions and predation. Here we evaluate the response of Pacific C. maenas to acute FW exposure, and the implications of increasing temperatures on haemolymph composition in a dilute environment. With an average survival time of 25.4 ± 1.22h in FW following acclimation to 6.6 ppt seawater (SW), Pacific green crabs exhibited an acute tolerance to exposure in extremely dilute environments. Pacific green crab's haemolymph osmolality, branchial cyclic AMP (cAMP), oxygen consumption, haemolymph protein, and hemocyanin are largely unaffected within at least the first 6h of FW exposure. Branchial cAMP in particular was shown to be over 2-fold higher in green crabs acclimated to 18°C when compared to those acclimated at 12°C, suggesting that endocrine differences might be correlated to temperature rather than salinity. We propose that the invasive green crabs residing within the Canadian Pacific estuaries of Vancouver Island exhibit a limited but increased tolerance to extremely dilute environments compared to those historically measured in Atlantic populations.

A mesoscale study on diatoms from the Santos Basin (23°S to 28°S), southern Brazil, was carried out during early spring 2019, based on 60 oceanographic stations stretching from coastal to open-ocean waters. Multivariate analysis based on counting diatom valves on permanent slides was performed in relation to the main environmental parameters (temperature, salinity, nutrients, and depth). Four diatom associations were discriminated, affected by the water masses and environmental drivers operating in the Santos Basin. The inner- to mid-shelf association was influenced by nutrient discharge from rivers and estuaries, as well as the Subtropical Shelf Front; Actinocyclus octonarius, Chaetoceros didymus, Fragilariopsis doliolus, and Pseudo-nitzschia pungens were the highest relative valve contributors. Another association composed of uncommon diatoms occurred as isolated peaks along the continental slope and was affected by meanders and eddies of the Brazil Current, as well as deep waters brought up by local coastal upwelling. Delphineis surirella, Navicula pennata, Pleurosigma diversestriatum, Pseudo-nitzschia cf. delicatissima, Pseudo-nitzschia calliantha, and Skeletonema tropicum were its main components. A typical subtropical/tropical association from oligotrophic warm waters was delimited in outer-shelf and oceanic waters such as Azpeitia spp., Asteromphalus spp., and Roperia tesselata. The fourth association comprised diatoms widely distributed across the Santos Basin, overlapping with the tropical association in certain areas. In this association, Nitzschia bicapitata, Thalassionema nitzschioides, Chaetoceros spp. and Bacteriastrum hyalinum were the most important taxa. Multivariate analysis identified for the first time diatom associations related to water masses and their properties in the Santos Basin on a regional scale. These patterns of mesoscale distribution provide a more detailed understanding of diatom biogeography than previously documented in broader-scale investigations.

Seasonal patterns and degradation of glyphosate and AMPA in the Baltic Sea.

Vibrio vulnificus, a coastal marine bacterium and opportunistic pathogen, poses increasing health risks due to rising sea water temperatures. While it harbors diverse virulence factors, its disease mechanisms remain poorly understood. To address this, we sequenced 82 environmental isolates from the Baltic Sea and combined them with 325 published genomes (clinical and environmental) for comparative analysis. Phylogenetic reconstruction revealed four major lineages, with Baltic strains restricted to L2 and L4. Clinical and environmental strains were found across all lineages, suggesting phylogeny reflects environmental adaptation more than pathogenicity. Using our newly developed PhyloBOTL pipeline, we identified 128 orthologs enriched in clinical isolates, grouped into 36 co-localization clusters. These include both known and novel virulence candidates, such as chaperone-usher pili, type VI secretion effectors, and spermidine synthases. Some clusters showed convergent loss across clades, implying niche-specific evolution. We also designed PCR primers targeting these genes to aid in the surveillance of pathogenic V. vulnificus strains.IMPORTANCEVibrio vulnificus is a naturally occurring marine bacterium that can cause life-threatening infections, with incidence increasing as coastal waters warm due to climate change. Determining which environmental strains pose the greatest risk remains a major challenge for public health surveillance. By analyzing hundreds of genomes from globally distributed strains, including extensive sampling from the rapidly warming Baltic Sea, this study shows that pathogenic potential is not restricted to specific evolutionary lineages but is instead associated with distinct sets of genes enriched in clinical strains. To support pathogen detection, we developed PCR primers targeting a subset of these clinically associated genes. Together, these findings provide new insight into the molecular basis of V. vulnificus infections and offer practical tools for improved detection, monitoring, and risk assessment of harmful strains in coastal waters and seafood under ongoing climate change.

A lack of marine specific data results in challenges to assessing site-specific ecological risks and developing marine water quality criteria for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Here, the toxicity and bioaccumulation of perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorodecanesulfonic acid (PFDS), 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate (6:2 FTS), and 8:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate (8:2 FTS) were evaluated in marine species using two standard U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) toxicity species: 1) mysid shrimp (Americamysis bahia); and 2) topsmelt fish (Atherinops affinis). Concentrations of PFAS in live organisms were measured at the end of the toxicity tests (7 day; concentrations typically >1 mg/L) and at 28 day (A. affinis only; concentrations approximately 0.1 mg/L). Americamysis bahia was more sensitive to PFAS than A. affinis. Half-maximal effective concentration (EC50)values derived for 6 PFAS and 3 PFAS for A. bahia and A. affinis, respectively, were greater than 1 mg/L. Half-maximal effective concentration values for A. bahia were negatively correlated with perfluoroalkyl carbon chain length. Toxicological metrics (No effect concentrations [NOEC], Lowest observed effect concentrations [LOEC], 10% effective concentrations [EC10], 20% effective concentrations [EC20])) were generated using measured concentrations in water and tissue. In exposures with significant lethality, narcotic mode of action is suggested based on the range of tissue concentration NOECs for PFAS were in the 0.01 to 100 mg/L range: orders of magnitude higher than environmentally relevant concentrations. As such, adverse effects on these species and endpoints are not likely in marine environment. Bioconcentration factors (BCFs) for the 10 PFAS ranged over 5 orders of magnitude and were positively correlated with perfluoroalkyl chain length.

Coaxially extruded Ag/chitosan-ZnO macrotubes for efficient dyes removal in real water samples.

Estuaries are the interfaces between marine and limnic waters, with their own specific hydrological and biochemical processes due to, e.g., salinity gradients, tides, and terrestrial inflows. In particular, they are sites of intensive carbon cycling. Their often high economic importance causes substantial anthropogenic pressure on the ecosystem. All of these result in extremely complex factors interacting and influencing microbial populations. Our study provides a first comprehensive overview of the viral communities in Europe's largest estuary. We made an attempt to disentangle the numerous environmental parameters, and we highlight salinity as the most important factor, providing evidence of its multidimensional influence on the estuarine virome. Our findings deepen our understanding of viral communities and their interactions with microbes and bring us a step closer to their role in aquatic food webs, particularly in carbon turnover in estuaries.

Modeling the kinetics of norovirus GII bioaccumulation in mussels.

The long-lived fission product technetium-99 (99Tc, t1/2 = (2.111 ± 0.012) × 105 years) was successfully detected in small-volume (10 L, and 1 g, respectively) environmental samples such as Pacific Ocean and river water, Antarctic snow, and peat. Its presence in the environment is almost exclusively of anthropogenic origin and the determined levels are attributed to nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s and 60s as no local contamination source is known to be present at these sampling sites. A unique capability for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) measurements of environmental 99Tc at unprecedented sensitivity was established, first using the Gas-filled Analysing Magnet System (GAMS, Germany) and after its shutdown, at the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF, Australia). New chemical extraction and measurement techniques, including improved non-isotopic normalisation, enabled detection limits as low as 0.6 femtograms (fg) per sample for Antarctic snow, and enhancement of precision from 30% (GAMS) to 16% (HIAF). The rather high concentrations of about 280 fg (99Tc) per g (dry mass) measured in peat indicate Tc accumulation in this archive, which opens the possibility of studying its migration behaviour even under reducing conditions. Furthermore, it allowed deduction of an improved estimate of the global 99Tc inventory to (120–190) TBq. The first direct detection of 99Tc at 8 fg L−1 in river water highlights the need for further studies in urban areas to evaluate potential contributions from nuclear medicine. The achieved sensitivity allows monitoring of on-going releases, improving the risk assessment of releases from nuclear waste repositories and tracer applications in environmental sciences.

Production of excess undesirable brine, is one of the severe problems in highly heterogeneous and fractured oil reservoirs which are under water based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods. Recently, preformed particle gels (PPGs) are proposed and used as a diverting agent to control the conductivity of the fractures. Although numerous studies in the literature report improved structural strength and rheological properties of PPGs in the presence of silica nanoparticles (SNP), the possible effect of SNP concentration on such results have not been investigated in details. In addition the effect of rheological parameters such as structural strength and elastic/viscous modulus on the flow dynamics of the secondary water injection (after replacement of the PPG in the fractures) are less studied and rarely visualized. Furthermore, the possible effect of the presence of water soluble fractions (WSF) of the crude oil in the brine (due to long term interactions between formation water and crude oil) on swelling of particles and strength of the PPG samples are overlooked in most cases. With this aim, in the first step of the present research, four PPG samples with different concentrations of SNP were synthesized and assessed through different bulk and rheological tests. Bulk tests showed that presence of the SNP increases the swelling capacity of the samples, since the gel particles containing 0.4 wt% SNP had the better swelling factor (e.g., 25 in 100 times diluted sea water, 100xdSW) compared to the sample without nano particles (15 in 100xdSW). However further increase in the amount of nano particles to 0.8% and 1.0% decreases the swelling capacity of the PPG particles (24 and 19 in 100xdSW, respectively). It was shown that the type and concentration of ions in the brine, as well as the oil/brine interactions affect the swelling behavior. Absence of water soluble fractions of crude oil in the brine and increasing the salt concentration reduce the swelling capacity of the gel particles. Moreover, presence of WSF can hinder the effect of high salinity in the swelling kinetics of the PPG particles. While WSF in the brine enhances the swelling capacity of PPG particles, Hele-Shaw dynamic plugging tests revealed that the PPG samples swelled using these brines, have reduced resistance against secondary water injection compared to the samples swelled in counterpart brines without WSF. Rheology tests of the PPGs confirmed the significant effect of SNP concentration on the storage and loss moduli. Dynamic tests in the model fracture show that although generally the SNP improved the dynamic strength and plugging performance of the PPG against secondary water injection, only the PPG sample with 0.8 wt% nano silica showed the desirable plugging performance (although its swelling capacity is slightly less than 0.4% SNP gel). This PPG sample creates an extra low permeability porous media in the fracture which due to the proper viscoelastic properties allows very low mobility of water through the fingers created between some particles, with no significant or visible gel washout from the fracture. However in the case of other PPG samples, the injected secondary water pushed out some amount of the gel particles and created a wide high conductive flow path inside the treated fracture. Based on the combination of swelling capacity, rheological strength, and dynamic plugging performance, among the synthesized gels, the one with the 0.8 wt% SNP is the recommended optimal concentration for effective water shut-off of the designed fracture.

Toxic Trace Elements in Fish and Seafood from North African Coasts: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Contamination Levels and Health Risk Assessment.

Zinc is an essential trace element, but elevated concentrations from anthropogenic sources, such as stormwater runoff, wastewater effluent, and industrial discharges, can adversely affect marine organisms. Marine water quality guideline values aid management and risk assessment, but Australia and New Zealand values have been outdated. This study aimed to derive updated guideline values using chronic toxicity data relevant to marine species in the Australasian region. Chronic toxicity data were compiled from international and local toxicity databases and regional studies, totaling 350 values for 82 species. Guideline derivation prioritized studies with analytically verified zinc concentrations, low effect concentrations (e.g., EC10 values) and taxa native to or established in Australia and New Zealand, ensuring relevance to Australasian marine ecosystems. There were insufficient high-quality data, so the dataset was supplemented using estimates based on EC50 values, resulting in 16 species from seven taxonomic groups and a guideline value of 8.0 µg/L. Inclusion of nominal data instead resulted in a similar number of species and a slightly lower guideline value. Data gaps remain for key taxonomic groups, including fish, corals, and sponges, highlighting a need for quality toxicity tests using such species to provide more robust water guideline values. Despite ongoing gaps, the updated guideline value provides an improved basis for protection of regional marine ecosystems.