Evgenios Agathokleous

Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology · School of Applied Meteorology

Crop residues are usually returned into the soil after autumn harvest and maintained throughout the winter and early spring in temperate regions. This agricultural practice may exert important effects on soil microbial communities, consequently changing their compositional and functional stability to freeze–thaw disturbances later in the autumn and...

The present paper indicates that the origin of the LNT concept for ionizing radiation was based on insufficient understanding of evolution, which precluded the possibility of repair of gene mutation. The denial of such repair processes had important implications, leading to a belief in a linear dose response and thus in Hermann J Muller's proclamat...

The 15N natural abundance is an effective indicator of nitrogen dynamics in plants. The impact of different irrigation regimes as a function of varied soil clay contents on stable nitrogen isotope abundance (δ15N) in rice remains unknown. Therefore, the response of δ15N and nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUE) of rice to different combinations of...

In response to the increasing need to better understand air pollution and climate change impacts, the international conference Air Pollution threats to Plant Ecosystems was held in Paphos, Cyprus, during 11-15 October 2021. The conference was an advanced version of the previous international conference on Ozone and Plant Ecosystems, which was held...

Rice cultivars, fertilizer types, and irrigation modes can affect soil bacterial communities and thus influence nitrogen utilization by soil microorganisms and plants. However, the combined effects of these three factors on soil bacterial communities and nitrogen productivity in rice plants remain unknown. Here, we examined the response of rhizosph...

A widespread increase in intense phytoplankton blooms has been noted in lakes worldwide since the 1980s, with the summertime peak intensity amplifying in most lakes. Such blooms cause annual economic losses of multibillion USD and present a major challenge, affecting 11 out of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Here, we evaluate r...

Hormetic dose responses (i.e., a biphasic dose/concentration response characterized by a low dose stimulation and a high dose inhibition) are shown herein to be commonly reported in the dermal wound healing process, with the particular focus on cell viability, proliferation, and migration of human keratinocytes in in vitro studies. Hormetic respons...

In this Guest Editorial, Calabrese and Agathokleous discuss the linear no threshold (LNT) dose-response model within the context of evolution. Is LNT anti-evolution dose response model?

In recognition of the importance of low-dose stimulation for environmental science and health, an issue of the Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health (COESH) was dedicated to address low-dose stimulation (https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/current-opinion-in-environmental-science-and-health/special-issue/10HVW65XK81). This journal iss...

An examination revealed the dominance of the published literature of environmental science by p values. Meanwhile, the use of effect size has been neglected in publications reporting primary data, yet the size of effect is often more informative than p values inference in assessing the effects of pollution on living organisms, comparing susceptibil...

In this piece, authors discuss how a careful selection of urban plants can facilitate the reduction of ozone pollution.

This SI brought together scientists working in different research areas of environmental science and ecology in a call to honor Tony Stebbing, the father of environmental hormesis, the man who established the foundational basis of the field in a period of time when hormesis was even ridiculed. This collection of nearly 40 papers provides support to...

Although it is an integral part of global change, most of the research addressing the effects of climate change on forests have overlooked the role of environmental pollution. Similarly , most studies investigating effects of air pollutants on forests have generally neglected impacts of climate change. We review the current knowledge on combined ai...

Outbreaks are characterized by a sudden increase in population density of a given species, and are recognized as an important phenomenon in both natural and artificial systems. Climate and anthropogenic stressors are the main abiotic drivers of outbreaks directly affecting arthropod populations, or influencing them indirectly through their heterosp...

Improving drought tolerance of container seedlings of Japanese larch is of high importance to afforestation. We hypothesized that adequate nitrogen (N) and limited water supply would increase the tolerance of container seedlings to water-deficit stress, circumventing photoinhibition, by means of (i) enhanced photosynthetic capacity with higher leaf...

Ozone (O3), soil water deficit, and climate warming affect crop yields, but previous studies examined the individual effects of these stressors on only specific crops at some regions. The combined effects of these stressors on crop yields can reveal more environmentally realistic impacts, but relevant studies are scarce. Here, we used statistical m...

Worldwide regulatory agencies should (re)examine the consideration of: (i) sub-threshold responses, (ii) non-linear dose-response models able to detect sub-threshold responses of both a beneficial and detrimental nature, and (iii) abandoning the use of default dose-response models for their risk assessment. Mounting evidence for significant sub-thr...

To explore the effects of elevated ozone (O3) on microbial communities inhabiting phyllo- and endo-spheres of Japonica rice leaves, cultivars Nangeng 5055 (NG5055) and Wuyujing 27 (WYJ27) were grown in either charcoal-filtered air (CF) or elevated O3 (ambient O3 + 40 ppb, E-O3) in field open-top chambers (OTCs) during a growing season. E-O3 increas...

Transgenerationally acquired information equip offspring with tools essential for enhancing their physiological functioning, reproduction, survival, and tolerance to a plethora of environmental stressors. To provide a perspective for better understanding the effects of contaminants, organismal stress biology, and their implications to environmental...

Accurate determination on global solar radiation (Rs) is essential in many disciplines and sectors. This study comprehensively reviewed 78 existing models and developed 4 new models (N1-1∼N1-4) for estimating daily Rs using only temperature data. The best model was then applied to forecast daily Rs using temperature data in weather forecast. All mo...

Information of actual vapour pressure (ea) is frequently required in many disciplines. However, psychrometric data required to calculate ea are often not readily available. Hence, it is of great importance to develop models to estimate ea when psychrometric data are unavailable. Here, five machine learning models were developed for estimating ea, v...

An analysis of China’s domestic publications revealed that China’s hormesis-related research was enormously underestimated. China’s documented hormesis-related research spans at least four decades, covers a broad spectrum of research areas, and is more abundant than previously thought. These findings should be considered in historical assessments o...

Current Opinion in Toxicology: This COTOX issue on Hormesis and Dose Response collated eighteen papers addressing hormesis and its broader implications in human health, ecotoxicology, and risk assessment from different angles. The collection offers a source of knowledge for all those who are interested to have a broader picture of hormesis and its...

Ozone (O3) pollution affects plant growth and isoprene (ISO) emission. However, the response mechanism of isoprene emission rate (ISOrate) to elevated O3 (EO3) remains poorly understood. ISOrate was investigated in two genotypes (diploid and triploid) of Chinese white poplar (Populus tomentosa Carr.) exposed to EO3 in an open top chamber (OTC) syst...

Together natural growth, afforestation and forest disturbance, such as felling, contribute to the dynamic nature of forests. Thus to enhance forest management, water resource management and carbon sequestration, the net effect of forest changes on water yield must be better understood. Here, we conduct a global meta-analysis of 496 watersheds over...

CURRENT OPINION IN TOXICOLOGY: This paper summarizes recent findings on the occurrence of hormesis in a wide range of adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, and induced pluripotent stem cells and their derived cells. These areas of biomedical and toxicological research are quite new, with the strong majority of hormesis publications for most of th...

This article argues that evolution and the concept of hormesis are biologically inseparable. It proposes that evolutionary processes led to the selection of inducible adaptive hormetic strategies that are necessary for wellbeing and survival. Hormesis has been demonstrated in essentially all organisms in which it has been studied from bacteria to h...

Accumulating evidence suggests that the biphasic phenomenon of hormesis may provide the means for ensuring agricultural sustainability in changing climate scenarios. The adaptive responses induced in plants exposed to hormetic, low doses of various stressors can result in enhanced tolerance upon their subsequent exposure to adverse environmental st...

The effects of biochar on karstic lime soil physicochemical properties, soil microbial community diversity, and plant physiology are poorly understood. To clarify these effects of biochar application, we applied biochar on the soil surface of Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum schinifolium) stands. One year later, leaf gas exchange and chemicals as well a...

Communication plays an important role in advancing scientific fields and disciplines, defining what knowledge is made accessible to the public, and guiding policymaking and regulation of public authorities for the benefit of the environment and society. Hence, what is finally published is of great importance for scientific advancement, social devel...

The European Federation of Food, Agriculture, and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT) called for the immediate ban on glyphosate in the 2022 renewal process, promoting the use of natural herbicides and recommending against the use of other harmful or hazardous chemicals. The new chemical testing and selection research agendas should consider the hormetic...

Increasing amounts of silver iodide (AgI) in the environment are expected because of the recent massive expansion of weather modification programs. Concurrently, pharmaceuticals, microplastics, hydrocarbons, and pesticides in terrestrial ecosystems continue contaminating forests and agroforests. Our review supports that AgI induces hormesis, a biph...

Ground-level ozone (O3) concentrations have considerably elevated since the pre-industrial period and are projected to remain at elevated levels for many decades to come, thus presenting a growing threat to forest ecosystems. In this chapter, a brief historical overview of the research field of O3 effects on vegetation is presented, centered around...

Evidence of contaminant-induced hormesis is rapidly accumulating, while the underlying mechanisms of hormesis are becoming increasingly understood. Recent developments in this research area, and especially the emergence of the nuclear factor-erythroid factor 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) as the master mechanism, suggest that contaminants can induce car...

Karst lime soil, commonly found in rocky desert ecosystems of Southwest China, exhibits high pH, poor water retention, and intense erosion. To prevent further soil erosion and soil losses from these ecosystems, stabilization measures based on improved green infrastructure are needed. The present study aimed at elucidating the performance of sweet t...

Hormesis drives biological modifications from cells to higher levels of biological organization and emerges as a general basic principle of biology, integrating evolution, ecology, medicine, physiology, toxicology, and public health.

While numerous studies reported hormesis in plants exposed to heavy metals, metals were commonly added in the growth substrate (e.g. soil or solution). The potential of heavy metals in the atmosphere to induce hormesis in plants, however, remains unknown. In this study, we exposed the widely-used accumulator plant Tillandsia usneoides to 10 atmosph...

For a successful natural regeneration of Japanese white birch ( Betula platyphylla var. japonica ), competitive vegetation should be managed. Here, we clarified how soil water condition modifies the competitiveness of Japanese white birch against perennial weeds, Eupatorium species, based on an ecophysiological approach combining a glasshouse exper...

Current Opinion in Toxicology: Documented biphasic dose-responses date some 150 years back; however, massive evaluations of the occurrence of pollutant-induced hormesis, its quantitative characteristics, and the underlying mechanisms have been performed only in the recent years. One of the reasons why hormesis is not included in the ecological ris...

Urban greenness is essential for people's daily lives, while its contribution to air quality control is unclear. In this study, Streetview big data of urban greenness and air quality data (Air Quality Index, PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, O3, CO) from 206 monitoring stations from 27 provincial capital cities in China were analyzed. The national averages fo...

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the most important legume for human consumption worldwide and an important source of vegetable protein, minerals, antioxidants, and bioactive compounds. The N2-fixation capacity of this crop reduces its demand for synthetic N fertilizer application to increase yield and quality. Fertilization, yield, and quali...

This article tells the story of hormesis from its conceptual and experimental origins, its dismissal by the scientific and medical communities in the first half of the 20th century, and its rediscovery over the past several decades to be a fundamental evolutionary adaptive strategy. The upregulation of hormetic adaptive mechanisms has the capacity...

Are you a student at a higher institution or an early-career researcher who is striving to understand and master the peer review process so to increase the odds of getting a paper published in the Journal of Forestry Research or another reputable, peer-reviewed, scientific journal? In this paper, a young, senior editor provides a handbook of the pe...

Massive additional quantities of disinfectants have been applied during the COVID-19 pandemic as infection preventive and control measures. While the application of disinfectants plays a key role in preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the effects of disinfectants applied during the ongoing pandemic on non-target organisms remain unknown....

East Asia is a hotspot of surface ozone (O3) pollution, which hinders crop growth and reduces yields. Here, we assess the relative yield loss in rice, wheat and maize due to O3 by combining O3 elevation experiments across Asia and air monitoring at about 3,000 locations in China, Japan and Korea. China shows the highest relative yield loss at 33%,...

Water Emerg Contam & Nanoplastics: Contaminants of emerging concern are widespread in the world’s waters, raising concerns regarding their effects on living organisms. To evaluate the effects of and predict risks associated with such chemicals, dose-response studies are needed, while the nature of the dose-response relationship is critical for the...

Background The paper presents an overview of air quality in the 27 member countries of the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (previous EU-28), from 2000 to 2017. We reviewed the progress made towards meeting the air quality standards established by the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives (European Council Directive 2008/50/EC) and the World...

The environmental contamination of antibiotics caused by their over or inappropriate use is a major issue for environmental and human health since it can adversely impact the ecosystems and promote the antimicrobial resistance. Indeed, considering that in the environmental matrices these drugs are present at low levels, the possibility that bacteri...

Forest is the largest biomass carbon (C) pool in China, taking up a substantial amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Although it is well understood that planted forests (PFs) act as a large C sink, the contribution of human management to C storage enhancement remains obscure. Moreover, existing projections of forest C dynamics suffer from spatiall...

Are you a student at a higher institution or a graduate who has published his/her first paper in the Journal of Forestry Research or another legitimate scientific journal? If yes, this paper is written specifically for you since you may soon start receiving invitations to act as a referee. If you are an early career reviewer, you may still find thi...

The number of studies reporting hormetic responses is rapidly increasing, and quantitative evaluations are needed to improve the understanding of hormetic dose responses. However, there is no standardized methodology to estimate the no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) of hormetic dose-response relationships developed using data mined from the...

Tropospheric ozone is among the global change factors that pose a threat to plants and microorganisms. Symbiotic microorganisms can assist plants to cope with stress, but their role in the tolerance of plants to ozone is poorly understood. Here, we subjected endophyte-symbiotic and non-symbiotic plants of Lolium multiflorum, an annual species widel...

Hormesis is a biological phenomenon characterized by opposite effects between low and high doses of stresses that can result in stimulatory and adaptive benefits to individuals within a population. While evidence of hormesis is well established, two recent studies (Nogueira et al., Belz and Sinkkonen) suggest that hormesis can also offer transgener...

Tropospheric ozone (O3) is the main phytotoxic air pollutant threatening food security, while ethylenediurea (EDU) can effectively mitigate O3-induced crop yield loss. EDU's mode of action, however, remains unclear, and the underlying physiological mechanisms of mitigating O3-induced crop yield loss are poorly understood. We cultivated hybrid rice...

Ground-level ozone (O3) is a widespread air pollutant causing extensive injuries in plants. However, its effects on perennial energy crops remain poorly understood due to technical difficulties in cultivating fast-growing shrubs for biomass production under O3 treatment on the field. Here we present the results of a two-year evaluation in the frame...

It is still unclear whether the responses of isoprene (ISO) emission to elevated O3 vary with biological organization level (i.e. leaf and whole-plant). To study such responses and the possible reasons explaining their variation, we investigated the effect of O3 (CF: charcoal-filtered ambient air; E-O3: non-filtered ambient air enriched with O3) on...

Although hormesis induced by heavy metals is a well-known phenomenon, the involved biological mechanisms are not fully understood. Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient for wheat, an important crop contributing to food security as a main staple food; however, excessive Zn is detrimental to the growth of wheat. The aim of this study was to evaluat...

Microplastics have become predominant contaminants, attracting much political and scientific attention. Despite the massively-increasing research on microplastics effects on organisms, the debate of whether environmental concentrations pose hazard and risk continues. This study critically reviews published literatures of microplastics effects on or...

Microplastics pollution is predicted to increase in the coming decades, raising concerns about its effects on living organisms. Although the effects of microplastics on individual organisms have been extensively studied, the effects on communities, biological diversity, and ecosystems remain underexplored. This paper reviews the published literatur...

In a world with persisting ozone pollution, it is essential to find ways to protect vegetation. The most widely studied chemical as a protectant of plants against ozone toxicity is ethylenediurea (EDU), a synthetic antiozonant used in the rubber industry for many decades. As a plant protectant, EDU has been used successfully in research programs ov...

Tropospheric ozone (O3) is the third most important greenhouse gas that is transported from the stratosphere or formed locally by photochemical reactions among precursors such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN). The lifetime of tropospheric O3 is long enou...

Tropospheric ozone (O3) is a phytotoxic air pollutant, and its effects on forest ecosystems are a major concern. According to O3 exposure studies, current levels of O3 would negatively affect growth, carbon allocation, phenology, and physiological functions of forest tree species, although there is a significant variation of O3 susceptibility among...

Mosses and lichens have been shown to play an important role in enhancing global chemical weathering of the surface rock. However, there are no studies concerning the effects of mosses and lichens on the microbial communities inhabiting rock surfaces. In this study, culture-dependent and culture-independent analyses were employed to compare the div...

With a rule published on 6 January 2021, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers for the first time sub-threshold responses, abandoning the use of default dose-response models. This may affect worldwide scientific research, in terms of research design and methodology, and regulatory actions in China and other countries.

The present paper provides the first systematic assessment of the capacity of ferulic acid to induce hormetic dose responses in biological systems. Ferulic acid induced hormetic effects in a broad range of animal models, affecting numerous biological endpoints, with particular focus on neuroprotective effects. Emerging evidence in multiple biomedic...

Melatonin is produced by plants, algae, and animals. Worldwide studies show diverse positive effects of exogenous melatonin on plants, edible plant products, and algae, but the potential of melatonin to enhance food and feed systems through these positive effects remains largely unexplored. Through a meta-analysis of about 25,000 observations, we s...

Behavior of insects, such as pollination and grazing, is usually determined by biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs). However, particularly in O3-polluted urban forests, the BVOCs-based plant-insect communication can be disrupted by the reaction of O3 with leaf-emitted BVOCs, such as between Japanese white birch (Betula platyphylla var. japon...

We investigated hormetic responses of soil microbial communities to exogenous Cd by assessing microbial count, bacterial and fungal abundance, and diversity. We found that the bacterial count (BC) decreased (3-40%) by 0.2-40 mg Cd∙kg⁻¹. Addition of 0.6-2.0 mg∙kg⁻¹ significantly increased fungal count (FC) by 7-42%, while addition of 4.0-40 mg∙kg⁻¹...

The present paper provides the first integrated assessment of the capacity of luteolin to induce hormetic dose responses. It was shown that luteolin induced hormetic responses in multiple biological systems, including enhancing neuroprotection in various experimental model disease systems, enhancing wounding healing, especially in experimental mode...

The present paper demonstrates that metformin (MF) induced a broad spectrum of hormetic biphasic dose response in a wide range of experimental studies, affecting multiple organ systems, cell types, and endpoints enhancing resilience to chemical stresses in preconditioning and co-current exposure protocols. Detailed mechanistic evaluations indicate...

This chapter discusses the threshold, linear-non-threshold (LNT), and hormesis dose-response models. It summarizes some major historical events that led to the (seemingly incorrect) worldwide adoption of the LNT model. Then, it focuses on hormesis and provides the current status of the general understandings of the occurrence, frequency, and quanti...

Formaldehyde (FA) is a naturally-occurring compound, produced endogenously in diverse living organisms. It also occurs widely in the environment due to anthropogenic (e.g. used as a chemical intermediate) and natural sources (e.g. a component of the volatile organic compounds blends emitted by plants). While FA is considered a potential carcinogen,...

Plant growth is not solely determined by the net photosynthetic rate (A), but also influenced by the amount of leaves as a photosynthetic apparatus. To evaluate growth responses to CO2 and O3, we investigated the effects of elevated CO2 (550–560 µmol mol−1) and O3 (52 nmol mol−1; 1.7 × ambient O3) on photosynthesis and biomass allocation in seedlin...

Bacterial communities and soil physicochemical properties shape soil enzymes activities. However, how environmental factors and bacterial communities affect the relationship between increasing doses of soil pollutants and soil alkaline phosphatase (ALP), an index of soil microbiota activity, remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated...