Impact assessment of anthropogenic activities on the ecological systems in the Xiongan New Area in the North China Plain

Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of anthropogenic activities on the ecological systems in the Xiongan New Area (XNA), China. Artificial sweeteners (ASs) were used as anthropogenic tracers to investigate how anthropogenic activities affect water, soil, and plant layers. For this purpose, the concentrations of 4 typical ASs, acesulfame (ACE), sucralose (SUC), saccharin (SAC), and cyclamate (CYC) were measured in water, soil, and plant layers. Moreover, a tracer test was conducted in the critical zone observatory (CZO) in the southern part of the study area to investigate the migration path and time of anthropogenic activities on the ecological systems. Acesulfame, SUC, SAC, and CYC were widely detected in all of the sample types, and their average values were 0.22, 0.53, 0.06, and 0.08 µg/L in the water layer; 0.04, 0.18, 0.06, and 0.06 µg/kg in the soil layer; and 1.79, 0.11, 4.42, and 0.95 µg/kg in the plant layer, respectively. The tracer test showed that 1.1% to 1.8% of the impacts of the anthropogenic activities migrated from the surface to the shallow aquifer within 13 d, 6% to 19% migrated to the maize layer within 28 d, and 79% to 93% were adsorbed and biodegraded in the soil layer. Therefore, the scope and strength of the influence of the anthropogenic activities on the environmental media exhibit a decreasing sequence of maize > water > soil. This study not only quantitatively characterizes the impact of anthropogenic activities on the ecological environment but also presents the first comprehensive overview of the environmental fate of ASs in the critical zone of the XNA, China. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:866–876. © 2021 SETAC

A Beacon of Space and Time: Detailed Depiction of Human Space in the Xiong’an New Area Guided by Material Cultural Heritages

“…Since the announcement of the plan, the government has been engaging in basic work like resource survey, afforestation, and river improvement in a prudent, systematic, and comprehensive manner, aiming to build a future city with high quality and standard [10]. Scholars also investigated and evaluated the evolution trend and sustainable development potential of Xiong'an, from the aspects of expansion and evolution of regional cities [11], simulation of urban function transfer [12], landscape Pattern Evolution [13], and evaluation of the ecosystem [14], which provided theoretical support for the future construction of Xiong'an. So far, the construction of transport infrastructure has been kicked off, including expressways and high-speed rails.…”

Cardiotoxic and neurobehavioral effects of sucralose and acesulfame in Daphnia magna: toward understanding ecological impacts of artificial sweeteners

“…In the environment, these ASs are quickly dispersed due to their high solubility and taken up by biota (Ma et al, 2021;Saucedo-Vence et al, 2017;Stoddard and Huggett, 2014;Tollefsen et al, 2012;Zygler et al, 2012;Lillicrap et al, 2011). Concerns have been raised that exposure to ASs of nontarget organisms may result in adverse effects we presently know little about (Tollefsen et al, 2012).…”