Micro-nano plastics (MNPs; size <5 mm), ubiquitous and emerging pollutants, accumulated in the natural environment through various sources, and are likely to interact with nutrients, thereby influencing their biogeochemical cycle. Increasing scientific evidences reveal that MNPs can affect nitrogen (N) cycle processes by affecting biotopes and organisms in the environmental matrix and MNPs biofilms, thus plays a crucial role in nitrous oxide (N2O) and ammonia (NH3) emission. Yet, the mechanism and key processes behind this have not been systematically reviewed in natural environments. In this review, we systematically summarize the effects of MNPs on N transformation in terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric ecosystems. The effects of MNPs properties on N content, composition, and function of the microbial community, enzyme activity, gene abundance and plant N uptake in different environmental conditions has been briefly discussed. The review highlights the significant potential of MNPs to alter the properties of the environmental matrix, microbes and plant or animal physiology, resulting in changes in N uptake and metabolic efficiency in plants, thereby inhibiting organic nitrogen (ON) formation and reducing N bioavailability, or altering NH3 emissions from animal sources. The faster the decomposition of plastics, the more intense the perturbation of MNPs to organisms in the natural ecosystem. Findings of this provide a more comprehensive analysis and research directions to the environmentalists, policy makers, water resources planners & managers, biologists, and biotechnologists to do integrate approaches to reach the practical engineering solutions which will further diminish the long-term ecological and climatic risks.

Research, understanding, and prediction of complex systems is an important starting point for human beings to tackle major problems and emergencies such as global warming and COVID-19. Research on innovation ecosystem is an important part of research on complex systems. With the rapid development of sophisticated industries, the rise of innovative countries, and the newly developed innovation theory, innovation ecosystem has become a new explanation and new paradigm for adapting to today\'s global innovation cooperation network and the scientific development of complex systems, which is also in line with China\'s concept of building an innovative country and promoting comprehensive innovation and international cooperation with scientific and technological innovation as the core. The Innovative Research Group at Peking University is the most representative scientific and technological innovation team in the frontier field of basic research in China. The characteristics of its organization mechanism and dynamic evolution connotation are consistent with the characteristics and evolution of innovation ecosystem. An excellent innovative research group is regarded as a small innovation ecosystem. We selected the \"Environmental Biogeochemistry\" Innovation Research Group at Peking University as a typical case in order to understand and analyze the evolution of cooperation among scientific and technological innovation teams, improve the healthy development as well as internal and external governance of this special small innovation ecosystem, promote the expansion of an innovation team cooperation network and the improvement of cooperation quality, promote the linkage supports of funding and management departments, and improve their scientific and technological governance abilities. Through scientometrics, visual analysis of knowledge maps, and an exploratory case study, we study the evolution process and development law of team cooperation. It is found that the main node authors of the cooperation network maintain strong cooperation frequency and centrality, and gradually strengthen with the expansion of the cooperation network and the evolution of time. Driven by the internal cooperative governance of the team and the external governance of the funding and management departments, this group has gradually formed a healthy, orderly, open, and cooperative special innovation ecosystem, which is conducive to the stability and sustainable development of the national innovation ecosystem and the global innovation ecosystem.

The article presents the results of assessing the element mobility (chemical elements and compounds) from the copper smelting slag recycling waste into brown forest soils (Haplic Cambisols) of the southern taiga district in Middle Urals, Russia. The copper smelting slag recycling waste was obtained by crushing the cast slag of the Sredneuralskiy Smelter (\"technical sand\") followed by flotation extraction of copper concentrate. The investigations were carried out in two forest types, distinguished according to the principles of the genetic forest typology, cowberry shrub pine forest and berry pine forest with linden, and the corresponding clear-cuttings. We conducted the experiment in the autumn before the snow cover was established in two variants: (i) we evenly scattered 1 kg of waste on meter sample plots; (ii) we weighed the \"technical sand\" by 100 g, packed it in non-woven material and buried it in the soil to a depth of 7-10 cm. Two years later, we dug up the bags with waste and weighed them. The analyses were performed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry using Elan-9000 ICP mass spectrometer. As a result of the research, it was found that waste loses 11% mass over 2 years of being in forest soils. The content of Zn, As, Cd, and Se changes most strongly. The difference in the degree of element migration from the \"technical sand\" to the brown forest soils of the two forest types and clear-cuttings was revealed. The study of the effect of technogenic waste on the dominant and diagnostic species of grassy vegetation in the selected forest ecosystems of the Middle Urals was carried out. There was no negative effect on the qualitative composition of the grassy layer of two forest types and their clear-cuttings after 1 year after a single surface application of mineral waste at a concentration of 1 kg/m2.

The current socio-economic, environmental and public health challenges that countries are facing clearly need common-defined strategies to inform and support our transition to a sustainable economy. Here, the technology-critical elements (which includes Ga, Ge, In, Te, Nb, Ta, Tl, the Platinum Group Elements and most of the rare-earth elements) are of great relevance in the development of emerging key technologies-including renewable energy, energy efficiency, electronics or the aerospace industry. In this context, the increasing use of technology-critical elements (TCEs) and associated environmental impacts (from mining to end-of-life waste products) is not restricted to a national level but covers most likely a global scale. Accordingly, the European COST Action TD1407: Network on Technology-Critical Elements (NOTICE)-from environmental processes to human health threats, has an overall objective for creating a network of scientists and practitioners interested in TCEs, from the evaluation of their environmental processes to understanding potential human health threats, with the aim of defining the current state of knowledge and gaps, proposing priority research lines/activities and acting as a platform for new collaborations and joint research projects. The Action is focused on three major scientific areas: (i) analytical chemistry, (ii) environmental biogeochemistry and (iii) human exposure and (eco)-toxicology.