Crude extracts from cashew apple pomace (CAP) dried at different temperatures were used in High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography to quantify total alkaloids content (TAC), total flavanoids content (TFC), total saponin content (TSC) and total phenolics content (TPC). Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was used to determine the antioxidant capacity (AOC) of CAP. Fourier-Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy-Attenuated Total Reflectance (FTIR-ATR) was used to identify the functional groups present in the pomace. TAC, TFC, TSC and TPC were used as inputs to model AOC using Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), and Support Vector Regression (SVR) and a coupled model was developed using the residuals of GPR and SVR. It was found that increasing drying temperature decreased TAC, TFC, TPC and AOC but TSC increased. Both GPR and SVR predicted AOC with high accuracy. Drying CAP at lower temperature preserved more bioactive compounds hence high AOC; FTIR-ATR showed that CAP has good hydration capacity and contains majorly inorganic phosphates, aliphatic hydrocarbons and primary alcohols. Model coupling enhanced AOC prediction.

Regardless of the challenges facing renewable energy development in today’s world, hydropower is still the most broadly patronized source of renewable energy, with a global installed capacity of 1330 GW in 2020. Hydropower contributes the largest share of the total installed renewable energy globally, accounting for more than 54% of renewable energy generation capacity worldwide. In this 21^st century, the quest for a global shift to a carbon-emission-free future has been epitomized by China through its way of overcoming some crucial challenges to becoming the number one hydropower producer in the world. China is currently the top exporter of its hydropower technology and expertise to a reasonably significant number of countries across the globe. Due to failed energy policy implementation, Nigeria, on the other hand, has been languishing in air pollution from fossil fuel energy generation due to poor and erratic electrical energy supply from the grid, despite its enormous hydropower potential. However, a resurgence of Nigeria’s National renewable energy and Energy Efficiency Policy in 2015 resulted in a consortium signed between China and Nigeria, placing China at the helm of reviving Nigeria’s hydropower industry, yielding some positive outcomes so far. A partnership between technologically advanced and undeveloped countries, particularly Africa, is required to overcome significant avoidable hydropower constraints towards attaining their full hydropower output potential. In this way, the imperative to guaranteeing a globally cleaner and more sustainable energy future is more reassuring.

The introduction of embankment seawalls to limit the expansion of the exotic C₄ perennial grass Spartina alteniflora Loisel in eastern China’s coastal wetlands has more than doubled in the past decades. Previous research focused on the impact of sea embankment reclamation on the soil organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks in salt marshes, whereas no study attempted to assess the impact of sea embankment reclamation on greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes in such marshes. Here we examined the impact of sea embankment reclamation on GHG stocks and fluxes of an invasive Spartina alterniflora and native Phragmites australis dominated salt marsh in the Dongtai wetlands of China’s Jiangsu province. Sea embankment reclamation significantly decreased soil total organic C by 54.0% and total organic N by 73.2%, decreasing plant biomass, soil moisture, and soil salinity in both plants’ marsh. It increased CO₂ emissions by 38.2% and 13.5%, and reduced CH₄ emissions by 34.5% and 37.1%, respectively, in the Spartina alterniflora and Phragmites australis marshes. The coastal embankment wall also significantly increased N₂O emission by 48.9% in the Phragmites australis salt marsh and reduced emissions by 17.2% in the Spartina alterniflora marsh. The fluxes of methane CH₄ and carbon dioxide CO₂ were similar in both restored and unrestored sections, whereas the fluxes of nitrous oxide N₂O were substantially different owing to increased nitrate as a result of N-loading. Our findings show that sea embankment reclamation significantly alters coastal marsh potential to sequester C and N, particularly in native Phragmites australis salt marshes. As a result, sea embankment reclamation essentially weakens native and invasive saltmarshes’ C and N sinks, potentially depleting C and N sinks in coastal China’s wetlands. Stakeholders and policymakers can utilize this scientific evidence to strike a balance between seawall reclamation and invasive plant expansion in coastal wetlands.

Coastal reclamation by seawall embankments and the spread of invasive C₄ perennial grass Spartina alterniflora have recently become more prevalent in eastern China’s coastal wetlands. While trace metals (TMs), carbon, and nitrogen dynamics concerning reclamation have extensively been explored across China’s coastal wetlands, to date, the impact of reclamation by coastal embankment and exotic plant invasion on TMs’ pollution dynamics in coastal marshes remains largely unexplored. We compared TMs Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn cumulation in coastal embankment-reclaimed versus unreclaimed S. alterniflora and Phragmites australis saltmarshes in eastern China coastal wetlands. In both S. alterniflora and P. australis marshes, coastal embankment reclamation spurred an increase in Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn concentrations by 31.66%, 53.85%, 32.14%, 33.96% and by 59.18%, 87.50%, 55.55%, 36.84%, respectively, in both marsh types. Reclamation also reduced plant biomass, soil moisture, and soil salinity in both plants’ marshes. Our findings suggest that the impact of coastal embankment reclamation and replacement of native saltmarshes by invasive S. alterniflora had a synergistic effect on TM accumulation in the P. australis marshes, as corroborated by bioaccumulation and translocation factors. Reclamation by coastal embankments and invasive alien plants could significantly impair the physico-chemical properties of native plant saltmarsh and essentially weaken the accumulation of Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn potential of the coastal saltmarshes. Our findings provide policymakers with an enhanced knowledge of the relationship between reclamation, plant invasiveness, and TM pollution dynamics in coastal wetlands, providing a baseline for attaining future goals and strategies related to the tradeoffs of various wetland reclamation types.