Background. Underground miners can experience occupational health diseases due to exposure to particulate matter hazards. Objectives. The aim of the present study was to examine occupational exposu...

Urban green spaces are linked to good human health and well-being, sustainable cities and communities, climate action, life on land and under water, as well as offering a platform for quality nature-based education. Their efficient management will no doubt be necessary if strides are to be made in efforts to protect biodiversity and enhance ecosystem service delivery in urban areas. This will, in part, require building the capacity of community members as citizen scientists to take up conservation roles. This study explored the levels of biodiversity and the proxy-based ecosystem service potential of urban green spaces in Sunyani, Ghana, using citizen science approaches. The green spaces accessed were the University of Energy and Natural Resources Wildlife Sanctuary and Arboretum, the Sunyani Parks and Gardens, the Sunyani Residency Park, and the Sunyani Senior High School Woodlot. The different levels of biodiversity (trees, arthropods) and ecosystem services were observed for the five green spaces assessed, with a significant relationship observed between arthropod communities and vegetation variables. Our results showed that citizen scientists perceived urban green spaces to supply more significant provisioning and regulating services than any other ecosystem services, even though they were highly dissatisfied with how green spaces are managed. The children’s perception of the composition of nature was slightly narrow, as they largely centered on plants and animals only. Even so, their awareness of the value of nature was high, as were the threats of human activities to nature. Citizen science approaches could complement biodiversity studies in data-deficient regions; however, collected data may require additional verification and validation from experts for conclusive and better inferences.

The Niger Delta in Nigeria is a complex and heavily contaminated area with over 150,000 interconnected contaminated sites. This intricate issue is compounded by the region’s strong hydrological processes and high-energy environment, necessitating a science-based approach for effective contamination assessment and management. This study introduces the concept of sub-catchment contamination assessment and management, providing an overarching perspective rather than addressing each site individually. A description of the sub-catchment delineation process using the digital elevation model data from an impacted area within the Delta is provided. Additionally, the contamination status from the delineated sub-catchment is reported. Sediment, surface water and groundwater samples from the sub-catchment were analyzed for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), respectively. Surface sediment TPH concentrations ranged from 129 to 20,600 mg/kg, with subsurface (2-m depth) concentrations from 15.5 to 729 mg/kg. PAHs in surface and subsurface sediment reached 9.55 mg/kg and 0.46 mg/kg, respectively. Surface water exhibited TPH concentrations from 10 to 620 mg/L, while PAHs ranged from below detection limits to 1 mg/L. Groundwater TPH concentrations spanned 3 to 473 mg/L, with total PAHs varying from below detection limits to 0.28 mg/L. These elevated TPH and PAH levels indicate extensive petroleum contamination in the investigated sediment and water environment. Along with severe impacts on large areas of mangroves and wetlands, comparison of TPH and PAH concentrations with sediment and water quality criteria found 54 to 100% of stations demonstrated exceedances, suggesting adverse biological effects on aquatic and sediment biota are likely occurring.

This study answered the question of whether mine spoils occurring in a common geological location had similarities in their contaminant load and associated health risks. Using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, the total contents of Cd, Pb, As, Hg, Zn, Fe, and Al were determined for 110 digested soil samples obtained from underground rock ore (URS), oxide ore (OXS), and alluvial ore (AVS) mine spoils. Independent sample Kruskal–Wallis test and pairwise comparisons of sources were used to ascertain the variation in elemental load between the mine spoil investigated. The results showed that mine spoil contaminations and their ecological and health risk significantly varied (p < 0.01) from each other and fell in the order OXS > URS > AVS > forest soils because of their geochemistry. Determined enrichment and geo-accumulation indices revealed that OXS and URS sites were severely–extremely polluted with Cd, Hg, and As, while AVS mine spoils were only moderately contaminated by Cd and As contents. Children had the highest tendency for developing noncarcinogenic health defects largely due to toxic contents of As, Cd, and Hg in soil materials near them than adult men and women would after obtaining a hazard index of 73.5 and 67.7 (unitless) at both OXS and URS sites. Mine spoils especially where hard rocks and oxide ores were processed are not fit for agricultural use or human habitation. The restriction of human access and sustainable remediation approaches are required to avert health defects. Even so, area-specific potentially toxic elements must be targeted during soil cleaning due to the significant variations in contaminant load between mined sites.

This study is an investigation of the effect of soil bioaugmentation (inoculation) on a field scale with the commercially available product RhizoVital^®42, containing Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB4, on element bioavailability, plant biomass production, as well as accumulation of rare earth elements (REEs), germanium, and selected trace elements. Zea mays and Helianthus annuus were selected as test plants. Post-harvest, results showed inoculation increased biomass production of Z. mays and H. annuus by 24% and 26%, albeit insignificant at p ≤ 0.05. Bioaugmentation enhanced Z. mays shoot content of P, Cd, and Ge by percentages between 73% and 80% (significant only for Ge) and decreased shoot content of REET, Pb, and Cu by 28%, 35%, and 59%, respectively. For H. annuus grown on bioaugmented soil, shoot content of Ca, Cu, Ge, REET, and Pb increased by over 40%, with a negligible decrease observed for Cd. Summarily, results suggest that bioaugmentation with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42 could enhance biomass production, increase soil element bioavailability enhance, and increase or reduce plant accumulation of target elements. Additionally, differences in P use efficiency could influence bioaugmentation effects on P accumulation.

Phytoremediation approaches have increasingly been applied in environmental remediation projects. In this study, the potentials of Manihot esculenta (M. esculenta), Vigna unguiculata (V. unguiculata) and J. curcas curcas (J. curcas) in remediating multi-contaminated mine spoils was evaluated. The target potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are Cd, As, Zn, Pb, and Hg. The test plants were grown and monitored under growth stress conditions for 270 days. Using inductively Coupled Plasma- Mass Spectrometry and EPA method 200.8, the total elemental contents in the shoot and root parts of the plants were determined. Significant differences (p< 0.01) were observed in the uptake performance of the test plants. For example, M. esculenta and J. curcas, bioaccumulated 50- 80 % of the various baseline PTE contents in their root parts at 270 days after planting. In contrast, < 27 % of PTEs were found in the root parts of V. unguiculata, except Zn at 70 %. Growth stressors and soil PTEs were factors that reduced biomass production in respective plants by 25 %. Cummulatively, the performance order M. esculenta> J. curcas> V. unguiculata was observed for multi-contaminant removal in soils. Techniques for enhancing the easy cultivation of the test plants are recommended to enhance their applicabilities in phytoremediation projects.