Feature Article

Neonicotinoid insecticides are widespread in surface waters across the agriculturally intensive Midwestern United States. We report for the first time the presence of three neonicotinoids in finished drinking water and demonstrate their general persistence during conventional water treatment. Periodic tap water grab samples were collected at the University of Iowa over 7 weeks in 2016 (May–July) after maize/soy planting. Clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam were ubiquitously detected in finished water samples at concentrations ranging from 0.24 to 57.3 ng/L.

Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) populations have undergone significant declines at core nonbreeding sites in northeastern South America. Breeding populations have also declined in the eastern North American Arctic, but appear to be stable or increasing in the central and western Arctic.

Urban waters remain widely impaired by excess nutrients, despite substantial management efforts. We present a comparison of urban watershed nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) budgets. Household actions of lawn fertilization and pet ownership were responsible for the majority of watershed N and P inputs, respectively. N and P exhibited contrasting dynamics within watersheds. Watersheds exported most or all P inputs via stormwater runoff, likely contributing to surface water degradation.

Rapid integration of global agricultural markets and subsequent cropland displacement in recent decades increased large-scale tropical deforestation in South America and Southeast Asia. Growing land scarcity and more stringent land use regulations in these regions could incentivize the offshoring of export-oriented commodity crops to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We assess the effects of domestic- and export-oriented agricultural expansion on deforestation in SSA in recent decades.

The evolution of Earth’s climate on geological timescales is largely driven by variations in the magnitude of total solar irradiance (TSI) and changes in the greenhouse gas content of the atmosphere. Here we show that the slow ∼50 Wm−2 increase in TSI over the last ∼420 million years (an increase of ∼9 Wm−2 of radiative forcing) was almost completely negated by a long-term decline in atmospheric CO2. This was likely due to the silicate weathering-negative feedback and the expansion of land plants that together ensured Earth’s long-term habitability.

This study found significant global decreases in all-cause child and adolescent mortality from 1990 to 2015, but with increasing global inequality. In countries with a low Socio-demographic Index (SDI), mortality is the primary driver of health loss in children and adolescents, largely owing to infectious, nutritional, maternal, and neonatal causes, while nonfatal health loss prevails in locations with a higher SDI.

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Vulnerability to groundwater pollution from Senegal basin was studied by two different but complementary methods: the DRASTIC method (which evaluates the intrinsic vulnerability) and the fuzzy method (which assesses the specific vulnerability taking into account continuity of the parameters). The validation of this application has been tested by comparing the membership in groundwater and distribution of different classes of vulnerabilities established as well as the nitrate distribution in the study area.

Flooding is assessed as the most important natural hazard in Europe, causing thousands of deaths, affecting millions of people and accounting for large economic losses in the past decade. Little is known about the damage processes associated with extreme rainfall in cities, due to a lack of accurate, comparable and consistent damage data. The objective of this study is to investigate the impacts of extreme rainfall on residential buildings and how affected households coped with these impacts in terms of precautionary and emergency actions.

The disposal of bottom ash in the thermal power plant is a challenging task. The objective of the present study was to investigate the leaching characteristics of the bottom ash disposed in ash pond of thermal power plants. The studies were conducted with bottom ashes from ash disposal system. A series of leaching test have been performed with different liquid to solid ratio (L/S). The (L/S) varies from 20:1 to 60:1. It is observed that the elements of Mn, Mg, Cr, Zn, Ni, and Cu are most abundant elements while Pb, Mo, Fe and Co are the least abundant elements.

The prevalence of diabetes has been shown to be socially patterned but the direction of the association in low-income countries and among migrant populations in Europe has varied in the literature. This study examined the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and diabetes in Ghanaians in Europe and in Ghana.

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