Increasing temperature and CO₂ concentration are among the most important factors affecting marine ecosystems under climate change. We investigated the morphological, biochemical, and physiological trait responses of seedlings of the tropical seagrass Enhalus acoroides under experimental conditions. Trait responses were greater under temperature effects than increasing CO₂ concentration. Seedlings under rising temperatures showed enhanced leaf growth, lower leaf nutrient content, and stimulated down-regulating mechanisms in terms of photo-physiology. Increasing CO₂ concentrations did not show any significant effects independently. There was a significant interaction for some of the trait responses considered, such as leaf number and carbon content in the roots, and trends of higher starch concentrations in the leaves and lower rETR_max under combined enriched CO₂ and high temperature, even though none of these interactions were synergistic. Understanding the single and interactive trait responses of seagrass seedlings to increasing temperature and CO₂ concentration is of importance to determine the relative responses of early life stages of seagrasses, which may differ from adult plants, in order to form a more holistic view of seagrass ecosystem health under climate change.

This study examines the embodied carbon of paving blocks by substituting Portland Composite Cement (PCC) with landfill waste incineration ash at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% replacement levels. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and mechanical testing, the embodied carbon value was calculated per ISO 14040 standards. Results show that a 50% replacement achieves a 33% reduction in embodied carbon (120 kgCO₂e/m³ vs. 180 kgCO₂e/m³ for conventional paving blocks) while maintaining compressive strength within SNI criteria. These findings highlight the potential for eco-cement paving blocks to support sustainable construction and inform policies promoting low-carbon building materials.

Plastic pollution has universally known accumulated in all environment compartments and accelerating threat to the sustainability of earth. Field survey to examine the occurrence of microplastics in ancient sea water evaporation technology of ponds at Pallengu-Jeneponto, was conducted. From this sea salt producing ponds, samples of water, sediment and freshly harvested salts were collected. Sixteen samples each of water and sediments and 12 salts were collected. From 16 water and sediment samples there are 31 microplastics item discovered in 11 water samples (68.75% of total contamination) and 41 microplastics item observed in 10 sediment samples (62.5% total contamination), respectively. Interestingly, sampling points at sedimentation/heating pools were found to be the locations with highest occurrence of microplastics in both water and sediment. There are 7 salt samples positively contaminated with 29 microplastics or 58.3% of total contamination, which predominated by line and fragment forms. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy analysis has revealed polymers of polyvinyl acetate (41.7%), polyethylene (33.3%) and polystyrene (25%). There was no significant difference found on microplasticss occurrence from 3 kinds of samples collected, although there was a decreasing trend of total microplastics found from water, sediment and salt. Microplasticss abundance were ranged 7-55 items/L water, 14.6-50 items/kg sediments and 6.7-53.3 items/kg salt. With microplastics abundance reached over 53 microplastics items/kg salt, it is believed that continuous consumption by people will end up with possible accumulation of potentially absorbed of various toxic chemical pollutants which present in sea water as salt raw materials. The need for robust and practical strategy in water quality management for reduction of microplasticss contamination in consumed salts is a must.

The increasing mining activities have led to the problem of acid mine drainage (AMD) pollution. A method that combines biochar treatment as an adsorbent with wetland sediment treatment as a source of sulfate-reducing bacteria is used to address AMD effectively. This research aimed to determine the ability of biochar in combination with wetland sediment treatment to reduce sulfate and heavy metal content in acid mine drainage wastewater. This research was conducted on a laboratory scale in an AMD wastewater treatment reactor with the following treatments of biochar mixed with wetland sediment. Observations included sulfate content, pH, and heavy metal content. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis was also performed on the biochar. SEM observations revealed the presence of small, dense, and irregularly shaped pores on the surface of the biochar. The results on day 30 showed that biochar mixed with wetland sediment was able to reduce sulfate concentration by 74.19% and reduced Pb by 73.79%, compared with treatment sediment only to 64.81% sulfate concentration and reduced Pb by 53.85%, treatment biochar only had reduced sulfate of 46.90% and reduced Pb by 58.67% and control 1.79% sulfate concentration and reduced Pb by 1.87%.

The presence of various industrial activities is not far from negative impacts such as heavy metal waste. This study examines the ability of R. apiculata and Sonneratia sp. mangroves to translocate and accumulate heavy metals mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb) in the Malili River Estuary, East Luwu...