Effect of lockdown amid COVID-19 pandemic on air quality of the megacity Delhi, India.

The COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts on cities and major lessons for urban planning, design, and management

COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts on the air quality during the partial lockdown in São Paulo state, Brazil.

Links between air pollution and COVID-19 in England.

COVID-19 lockdown effects on air quality by NO2 in the cities of Barcelona and Madrid (Spain)

/pdf/atmospheric-iron-particles-in-pm2-5-from-a-subway-station-17qo52v2.pdf

Atmospheric iron particles in PM2.5 from a subway station, Beijing, China

Spatial differentiation of neighborhood climates and their response to surrounding land cover composition: A case study in Beijing, China.

Spatial heterogeneity of first flowering date in Beijing’s main urban area and its response to urban thermal environment

In the face of the combined effects of economic development and climate change, ecosystems are experiencing unprecedented pressures. It is imperative to diagnose changes in the quantity and quality of ecosystems, as well as identify the integrated natural and social driving mechanisms that underlie these changes, in order to facilitate ecosystem restoration and maintenance. In this study, we analyzed the changes in forest, grassland, farmland, and water ecosystems in Hubei Province, China from 2000 to 2020. We examined the changes in ecosystem quantity by assessing their area, and for evaluating ecosystem quality, we utilized an ecosystem quality index (EQI). To further understand the integrated natural–social driving mechanisms behind the degradation of different types of ecosystems, we selected four natural factors and fifteen socio-economic factors, based on the influences of climate change and human activities. We employed stepwise regression models for analysis. Our study reveals significant degradation of farmland and grassland ecosystems in Hubei Province from 2000 to 2020, reducing by 5.16% and 82.46%, respectively. The water ecosystems have slightly decreased by 1.08%, while and the forest ecosystems has increased by 2.64%. The analysis further highlights that the total area of ecosystem quality degradation in Hubei Province reached 5.34%. Additionally, our findings indicate that human activities have a greater impact on the quantitative degradation of ecosystems, while climate change has a greater impact on the quality degradation of ecosystems. Specifically, the forestry output value has a significant negative impact on the area of farmland and grassland ecosystems, while rural per capita net income and fishery output value have a significant negative impact on water area. Annual precipitation and annual average temperature have a significant positive effect on the quality of ecosystems in the good-quality level, while ecosystems in the low-quality level are mainly influenced by annual evaporation. Our results provide valuable insights for policymakers seeking to restore and manage ecosystems effectively in order to promote regional sustainable development.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/7/1280/pdf?version=1687664817

Disentangling the Complexity of Regional Ecosystem Degradation: Uncovering the Interconnected Natural-Social Drivers of Quantity and Quality Loss

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are toxic and hazardous volatile environmental pollutants that have been studied as possible major causative agents of lung cancer in Xuanwei. In this paper, indoor and outdoor PM2.5 samples were collected from two homes at different time periods in Hutou, the lung cancer epidemic area in Xuanwei. The results showed that PAH pollution levels from coal combustion in Xuanwei lung cancer epidemic area were significant. The mass concentrations of total PAHs, major carcinogenic compounds, and benzo[a]pyrene-based equivalent concentration (BaPeq) were significantly higher in the coal-using home than in the electricity-using home. For the coal-using home, the PAHs were mainly derived from coal combustion. For the electricity-using home, the PAHs might have been a combination of traffic and coal combustion sources. The human health risk due to inhalation exposure to the PAHs was represented by the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) of the inhalation exposure. The results showed that the indoor cancer risk for the coal-using home in Xuanwei is higher than that of the electricity-using home and much higher than that of Chinese megacities such as Beijing and Tianjin. Long-term exposure to indoor coal-burning environments containing high levels of PAHs may be one of the main reasons for the high incidence of lung cancer in Xuanwei.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/13/10/1732/pdf?version=1666336980

Concentration, Source, and Health Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: A Pilot Study in the Xuanwei Lung Cancer Epidemic Area, Yunnan Province, China

Mengyuan Zhang

Papers

Atmospheric iron particles in PM2.5 from a subway station, Beijing, China

Spatial differentiation of neighborhood climates and their response to surrounding land cover composition: A case study in Beijing, China.

Spatial heterogeneity of first flowering date in Beijing’s main urban area and its response to urban thermal environment

Disentangling the Complexity of Regional Ecosystem Degradation: Uncovering the Interconnected Natural-Social Drivers of Quantity and Quality Loss

Concentration, Source, and Health Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: A Pilot Study in the Xuanwei Lung Cancer Epidemic Area, Yunnan Province, China