Nanotechnology is expected to alleviate the food crisis caused by population growth to a certain extent, and the slow-release, high-efficiency and low-dose properties of nano-scale agrochemicals (e.g. nano-fertilizers and nano-pesticides) reduce negative environmental impacts caused by traditional agricultural chemicals. This review article focuses on the intrinsic mechanisms of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to control crop diseases through direct and indirect pathways. The article focuses on ENMs to resist oxidative stress caused by pathogen invasion in plants by regulating plant nutrition, inducing antioxidant enzyme activity and improving plant photosynthesis. In addition, it is also demonstrated that ENMs induced plant systematic acquired resistance (SAR) to enhance their disease resistance. In conclusion, an in-depth exploration of the disease resistance mechanism of ENMs can effectively improve plant disease management, achieve an increase in crop yield and quality, and greatly reduce the negative impact of traditional agrochemicals on the agro-ecological environment.

Agricultural heritage sites have unique natural and cultural capital endowments. Cultural capital is the cultural resource that these areas have obtained the title of agricultural heritage sites and is also a cultural symbol that is different from other communities. It constitutes a part of the livelihood capital of local farmers, ensuring the compatibility, reciprocity and harmonious coexistence of human and nature. Based on the field survey data of farmers in Aohan Banner,this article added cultural capital to the framework of sustainable livelihood analysis to explore the impact of cultural capital on their pro-environmental behavior in agricultural heritage areas. It draws the following conclusions: (1) In the capital structure of farmers, cultural and human capital scores are relatively high, while financial and material capital scores are relatively low. (2) Cultural capital, human capital, and natural capital of the farmers all positively and significantly affect their pro-environmental level. (3) Under the condition of low dependence on land, and when farmers' income from farming and animal husbandry take a little proportion of all income, the increase of farmers' cultural capital will restrain their pro-environmental behavior. When the natural capital level of farmers is low, the increase of their physical, financial and social capital will negatively affect their pro-environmental behavior. When the degree of dependence on land is high, farmers' cultural capital has a significant positive impact on their pro-environmental behavior. On this basis, it is proposed to pay attention to the power of traditional agricultural culture, enhance farmers' income from agriculture and animal husbandry, actively promote the moderate scale management of agricultural land, to achieve the sustainable promotion role of farmers' cultural capital in pro-environmental behavior.

Agriculture serves as the foundation of China's nation-building while also being an important source of carbon emissions. Promoting the development of low carbon agriculture can contribute to the achievements of China's overall carbon mitigation goals. This study focuses on four main agricultural carbon sources: agricultural inputs, farmland utilization, livestock and poultry farming, and straw burning. The agricultural carbon emissions in Jiangxi Province from 2000 to 2020 was then calibrated with IPCC Carbon Emission Model, the influencing factors was decomposed by the LMDI model to, and the carbon emissions from 2021 to 2050 was predicted by employing the XGBoost model. The research findings of this study are as follows: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the total agricultural carbon emissions in Jiangxi Province fluctuated with a downward trend initially, followed by an increase, and then another decline. Overall, there was an upward trend in total emissions, but the intensity of agricultural carbon emissions decreased annually. Amongst all the four sources, farmland soil utilization contributed the most, followed by livestock and poultry farming, agricultural inputs, and straw burning. From 2000 to 2020, significant regional disparities were observed in emissions and emission intensity across all the prefecture-level 11 cities in Jiangxi Province, and these disparities continued to widen. Yichun City ranked the top in both total amount of emissions and the average carbon emission intensity. (2) The increase in regional economic development and urbanization rate were the main factors leading to the rise in agricultural carbon emissions, while the effects of agricultural production efficiency, agricultural industry structure, regional industrial structure, and labor force on carbon reduction were relatively limited. (3) The 2030 prediction results indicate that agricultural carbon emissions in Jiangxi Province and all its 11 prefecture-level cities have already reached their peaks. Xinyu City reached its peak the earliest in 2005, while Jingdezhen City and Ganzhou City reached their peaks the latest in 2016. According to the prediction, after 2020, the carbon emissions of Jiangxi Province will experience a period of rising followed by oscillating decline. Yichun City and Xinyu City will experience relatively large fluctuations, while Nanchang City, Fuzhou City, and Jiujiang City show an upward trend in carbon emissions. Other cities will experience a minor fluctuation and a subsequent decline in emissions after a certain period.

Zhejiang Province's achievement of carbon peak and carbon neutrality is an internal requirement for implementing the new development concept, building a new development pattern, and promoting high-quality development, as proposed by the central government. Based on statistical data on energy consumption in Zhejiang Province from 2000 to 2019, a combination of the LEAP model and the STIRPAT model was used as a research tool to identify the main factors influencing carbon emissions in Zhejiang Province and to predict the carbon emission trends, peak time, and emission reduction paths for six different scenarios from 2015 to 2060. The results show that upgrading the energy structure, improving energy efficiency, and deepening the digital economy in high-carbon industries are the key driving forces for Zhejiang Province's current low-carbon transformation and development. To achieve the "Dual-Carbon" target, all end-use energy sectors need to achieve low-carbon transformation, with priority given to the electricity, industry, and transportation sectors, followed by commerce, residential life, housing, agriculture, and other sectors. With the comprehensive effect of various energy-saving and emission reduction measures, the carbon peak time for the Partial Electricity Substitution (PES) scenario and the Comprehensive Electricity Substitution (CES) scenario in Zhejiang Province is 2024 and 2025, respectively, with peak emissions of 388 million and 370 million tons, achieving carbon neutrality as scheduled. Considering the problem of carbon leakage in carbon accounting, Zhejiang Province should start from the PES scenario, strive to reach the carbon peak in 2025, gradually increase the proportion of renewable energy in its purchased electricity, and at the same time, play the role of the digital economy in low-carbon governance. From 2030 to 2035, it should accelerate the transition to the CES scenario, and achieve carbon neutrality as scheduled, or even earlier, by using carbon capture, carbon storage, and other decarbonization technologies in various end-use energy sectors.

To explore the effects of gradually and abruptly elevated CO₂ concentration and different nitrogen application levels on CH₄ emissions in paddy field, a field rice (cv. Nanjing 9108) experiment was conducted based on the automatic CO₂ concentration control platform, and CH₄ flux was measured by static chamber-gas chromatography method. The experiment was designed as: the control (CK, ambient atmospheric CO₂ concentration), a gradually elevated atmospheric CO₂ (C₁, an increase of 40 μmol·mol^-1 per year within 2016-2018), and an abruptly elevated atmospheric CO₂ (C₂, an increase of 200 μmol·mol^-1 directly). Meanwhile, a nitrogen fertilizer reduction treatment (N₂, 15 g·m^-2) was set up in addition to the conventional nitrogen application amount (N₁, 25 g·m^-2). The results show that the seasonal variation of CH₄ fluxes was not significantly changed under different CO₂ concentrations and nitrogen treatments, and CH₄ fluxes showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing. During the whole growth period of rice, C₁ and C₂ treatments had no significant effects on CH₄ emission per unit yield. Under C₂ condition, compared with N₁ treatment, N₂ treatment significantly reduced rice yield by 45.2% (P=0.037), and significantly increased CH₄ emission per unit yield by 63.3% (P=0.008). Overall, under the elevated CO₂ concentration, nitrogen fertilizer reduction treatment (15 g·m^-2) reduced rice yield and simultaneously increased CH₄ emission per unit yield.

Cyclic volatile methylsiloxane (cVMSs) has attracted extensive attention due to its potential ecological risks after entering the environment. In this study, the samples were collected to analyze concentrations of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4), decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) and dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane (D6) in the surface water, sediment and surrounding soil of Nanjing section of Chuhe River, and their ecological risks were evaluated. The results show that the detection rates of D4, D5 and D6 in surface water were 38.1%, 95.2% and 100%, respectively, and the range of total concentration of cVMSs was 13.66-77.90 ng·L^-1, with an average of 47.82 ng·L^-1. The detection rates of D4, D5 and D6 in the sediments were 66.7%, 86.7% and 100%, respectively, and the range of total concentration of cVMSs was 0.56-49.74 μg·kg^-1, with an average of 13.95 μg·kg^-1. The detection rates of D4, D5 and D6 in the soils were 66.7%, 20% and 100%, respectively, and the range of total concentration of cVMSs was 1.90-7.05 μg·kg^-1, with an average of 3.57 μg·kg^-1. The highest detected concentration of D6 was in surface water and soil, while in sediment it was D5. Compared with the results from other regions at home and abroad, concentrations of cVMSs in Nanjing Section of Chuhe River were in the middle-low level. The ecological risk assessment results show a medium/high risk of cVMSs in Nanjing section of Chuhe River.

Muntiacus reevesi (muntjac), belonging to the Cetartiodactyla, Cervidae family, exhibits substantial population and wide distribution in China. There have been relatively few studies on its spatial distribution and variability of activity rhythms. To understand the activity rhythm of muntjac and its influencing factors, muntjac activity in Taohongling Sika Deer National Nature Reserve, Jiuling Mountain National Nature Reserve and Qiyun Mountain National Nature Reserve in Jiangxi Province was monitored using infrared camera technology from March 2018 to February 2019. Each reserve had 60 infrared cameras, and the effective camera days were 9 692, 9 659, and 14 582 d, respectively. In the aforementioned three reserves, the number of independent effective photographs of muntjac were 603, 665, and 1 032 pieces, respectively. The single-season occupancy model was applied to assess the effects of environmental variables, such as elevation, slope, vegetation cover, and distance to water source, on the activity and distribution range of muntjac. The results reveal that muntjacs in Taohong ling and Jiuling Mountain reserves preferred areas with lower elevation, gentle slope, lower vegetation index, and closer distance to water sources, whereas muntjacs in Qiyun Mountain reserve preferred areas with higher elevation, steeper slope, higher vegetation index, and closer distance to water sources. The muntjac was an evident crepuscular species, with peak activity times of 06:00-08:00 and 17:00-19:00. The daily activity rhythms of the muntjac did not have significantly seasonal difference in Taohongling and Jiuling Mountain Reserves; however, there were significant seasonal fluctuations in Qiyun Mountain. There was no significant difference in annual activity rhythms among the reserves. The results of this study can help to further understand the activity rhythm pattern of the muntjac and its seasonal variation, as well as its ecological habits in its natural state, and provide scientific and data support for the conservation and management of this species.

The examination of the impact of physical habitat characteristics on fish community structure remains limited. To elucidate this influence, 14 and 18 sampling sites were respectively designated during the dry and wet seasons in the Hulun Lake Basin in 2021 to gather fish data. Utilizing remote sensing technology, corresponding physical habitat characteristics, including fractal dimension (FD), water surface area (Area), and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were derived. Cluster analysis and redundancy analysis (RDA) were employed to scrutinize the response of fish community structure and distribution to physical habitat factors in the Hulun Lake Basin. The results reveal that both physical habitat characteristics and fish communities could be classified into four groups, each exhibiting distinct spatial distribution characteristics. The average similarity of the two clustering groups in dry season and wet season was 41.29% and 63.06%, respectively. Habitat factors FD, Area, and DEM influenced fish community diversity in the Hulun Lake Basin, with Area and DEM exhibiting a greater impact than FD. Furthermore, different fish communities responded differently to habitat factors: dominant species Hemiculter bleekeri and Cultrichthys erythropterus showed a significant positive correlation with DEM, resident omnivores Rhodeus sericeus, Carassius auratus gibelio, and Phoxinus lagowskii were significantly positively correlated with Area, while carnivorous species Silurus asotus and Esox reicherti were significantly positively correlated with FD. This study offers valuable insights for the ecological restoration of fish in the Hulun Lake Basin, serving as a guide for the protection and restoration of fish in cold and arid inland lakes in the north.

Ammonia is one of the most common and highly toxic nitrogenous pollutants in water, which not only directly poisons aquatic organisms, but also seriously threatens the interspecific relationships of aquatic organisms without causing direct harm. Induced defense is a typical adaptive response of prey to the predation risk, and it is an important relationship between predation and defense. However, whether ammonia interfere with the responses of prey to their predators is still unclear. In this study, the effects of ammonia with different concentrations on the induced anti-predation (Rhodeus ocellatus as the predator) life-history defense responses of Daphnia pulex, a representative species of zooplankton, were examined and the changes in susceptibility of D. pulex under induced defense to ammonia stress were investigated. Results show that ammonia had an inhibitory effect on the life-history traits of D. pulex. For example, at an ammonia concentration of 0.6 mg·L^-1, there was a delay of 4.2 hours in the first brood time, a 5.72% and 3.74% reduction in maturation body size and spine length, respectively, and a 39.7% decrease in offspring numbers. As to the induced life-history defense of D. pulex, with the increase of ammonia concentrations, the performance of D. pulex in response to predation risk, i.e., body size reduction (-11.13%) and somatic growth rate slowdown (-24.18%), were significantly inhibited. The inhibitory effect accumulated with prolonged ammonia exposure. In addition, the predator-induced defense makes D. pulex more susceptible to ammonia, i.e., predation risk weakens D. pulex's tolerance to ammonia. This study not only further reveals the extensive negative effects of ammonia from the perspective of interspecific relationships, but also provides new insights into the ability changes of organisms in response to environmental stress under predation risk.

To better understand the effects and internal mechanism of the combined contamination of cadmium (Cd) and polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) on the growth, physiological characteristics, and canopy temperature of the Chinese cabbage pakchoi (Brassica chinensis), hydroponic experiments were conducted with Cd and two particle sizes of PS-MPs (100 and 1 000 nm). Changes in the growth, photosynthetic pigments, antioxidant enzyme activities, nutritional quality, anatomical structure, canopy temperature, and Cd absorption and transport characteristics were measured and analyzed. Results show that stress from either Cd or PS-MPs greatly inhibited the cabbage's growth and development and the process of photosynthetic physiological. This stress greatly reduced phenotypic indicators and photosynthetic pigments. Moreover, Cd and PS-MPs stress enhanced the oxidative stress response and decreased the vitamin, soluble sugar and protein contents in cabbage leaves. These changes also decreased the thickness of leafy, spongy and palisade parenchym tissues and significantly increased the temperature in the plant canopy. A low PS-MPs concentration (1 mg·L^-1) effectively alleviated the toxicity of Cd to the cabbage caused by combined stress of Cd and PS-MPs. A high PS-MPs concentration (20 mg·L^-1) combined with Cd resulted in a compound stress effect, which adversely affected the growth and development of the cabbage. These results can provide basis for ecological risk assessment of Cd and microplastics pollution in agricultural soil.

To investigate the pollution characteristics and health risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in coke plant soils, this study focused on a coke plant and set up 260 sampling points. A total of 780 soil samples were collected at different depths according to the contamination status of each point. By analyzing the contents of 18 PAHs in the samples, the overall pollution level of PAHs in the soil of the plant area under different determination criteria, and the contamination status and characteristics of different functional areas were discussed. The health risks associated with the 18 PAHs in the plant area were assessed in accordance with the "Technical guidelines for risk assessment of soil contamination of land for construction" (HJ 25.3-2019). Results show that: (1) The pollution level of this coking plant is relatively high, and the pollution in the plant area shows strong heterogeneity in space. The main PAHs in the plant area are 2-3 rings, accounting for 58.82%, while 4-6 rings accounting for 41.18%. The TEQ_Bap distribution characteristics of the six main risk PAHs within the plant are consistent with the content distribution of the total 18 PAHs (∑₁₈PAHs). (2) Among different functional areas, the sewage treatment area has the most severe pollution, followed by the chemical production area, the coke oven area, the boiler power plant area, the coal storage area, and the office area. The ratios of low- and high-ring PAHs in the various functional areas indicate differences in the sources of pollutants in each region. (3) The main health risk in the plant area arises from the carcinogenic risk of the compounds. After quantifying benzo［j］fluoranthene and benzo［k］fluoranthene separately,the total carcinogenic risk of the 18 PAHs increased by 0.93%-204.46%, and the total carcinogenic risk exceeding points of the 18 PAHs in the plant area increased by 5.

Humic substances (HSs) were separated from the chicken manure compost supplemented with Herb Residue (HR), Wheat Straw (WS) and Rice Husk (RH) as additives, respectively. The HSs were subjected to comprehensive characterization on chemical composition and structures. UV-vis spectra analysis show that all compost-derived humic acid (HA) exhibited stronger aromaticity than folvic acid (FA), with HR-HA and RH- HA displaying more pronounced aromaticity than WS-FA. Regional volume integration of fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectra indicate that HA contained a higher proportion of humic-like substances (Ⅲ+Ⅴ, 86%-91%) than FA (56%-64%), while FA comprised a higher percentage of protein-like substances (Ⅰ+Ⅱ, 28%-37%) than HA (5%-9%). These findings suggest that HA exhibits a higher humification degree and larger molecular weight. In addition, RH-FA and WS-FA were enriched in humic-like acids and fulvic-like acids, respectively, while HR-FA exhibited abundance in tyrosine-like organic compounds. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis reveal that FA contained more amide and carboxylic acid structures than HA. In comparison, HR-FA, WS-FA and RH-FA exhibited a higher content of aromatic carboxylic acid, amide and polysaccharide structures, respectively. Elemental analysis results indicate that HA exhibited a higher C/N ratio and lower O/C ratio than FA, suggesting a higher presence of unsaturated groups in the former and a higher proportion of O-containing groups in the latter. In addition, HSs in WS compost owned a higher aliphatic degree. High performance size exclusion chromatography analysis demonstrates that HA present a broader distribution of high-molecular weight component (>2×10⁴ Da) than FA. Consequently, HA exhibited 2.7-3.1 and 1.5-1.6 times higher Mw and Mn than FA, respectively. The molecular weight distributions of compost HSs varied with different additives. Notably, the Mn of compost HSs followed the order of HR > RH > WS, indicating that HSs in compost with herb residue addition owned the largest molecular weight and humification. In total, the consistent differences in composition and structure were found between HA and FA across different types of organic manure. Moreover, various additives had a significant impact on the composition and structure of same type of manure HSs (i.e., HA or FA).

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) within compost readily complexes with heavy metals, influencing their migration and transformation in the natural environment. In this study, three-dimensional fluorescence-parallel factor (EEM-PARAFAC) and two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2DCOS) protocol were used to comprehensively analyze the binding properties of Cu²⁺ onto DOM derived from mushroom residue compost (MRC) and rice straw compost (RSC). The EEM-PARAFAC results show that the two compost-derived DOM primarily comprised humic-like acid (C1), fulvic-like acid (C2) and protein-like substances (C3). These components accounted for 43%, 32% and 25% of the total fluorescence for MRC-DOM, and 39%, 29% and 32% for RSC-DOM, respectively. During the interaction between the compost-derived DOM and Cu²⁺, the fluorescence intensity of the three PARAFAC-derived components consistently decreased. The result indicate that both the MRC-DOM and RSC-DOM had significant complexing affinities with Cu²⁺. Moreover, the lg K of fluorescent components in MRC- and RSC-DOM was between 4.54 to 4.76, and followed the order of C3> C1> C2. The results suggest that the protein-like components exhibited a stronger binding ability to Cu²⁺ than humic-like acid and fulvic-like acid substances in both types of compost DOM. 2DCOS further confirm that protein-like fluorescent components had the highest binding affinity to Cu²⁺, while fulvic-like components exhibited a preferential reaction with Cu²⁺. In total, protein-like and humic-like substances within MRC- and RSC-DOM emerged as pivotal components for complexing with Cu²⁺. Furthermore, both types of compost-derived DOM exhibited similar binding behaviors, including the active binding sites, capacity and preferential sequence. These findings provide an important theoretical basis for comprehending the impact of compost application on the migration and transformation behavior of soil-bound Cu²⁺.