We have developed an analytical method for the determination of lincomycin, tylosin A and tylosin B residues in royal jelly using liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry analysis. For extraction and purification, we employed 1% trifluoroacetic acid and 0.1 m Na EDTA solutions along with an Oasis HLB cartridge. The target antibiotics were well separated in a Kinetex EVO C reversed-phase analytical column using a combination of 0.1% formate acid in ultrapure water (A) and acetonitrile (B) as the mobile phase. Good linearity was achieved over the tested concentration range (5-50 μg/kg) in matrix-matched standard calibration. The coefficients of determination (R ) were 0.9933, 0.9933 and 0.996, for tylosin A, tylosin B and lincomycin, respectively. Fortified royal jelly spiked with three different concentrations of the tested antibiotics (5, 10 and 20 μg/kg) yielded recoveries in the range 80.94-109.26% with relative standard deviations ≤4%. The proposed method was applied to monitor 11 brand of royal jelly collected from domestic markets and an imported brand from New Zealand; all the samples tested negative for lincomycin, tylosin A and tylosin B residues. In conclusion, 1% trifluoroacetic acid and 0.1 m Na EDTA aqueous solvents combined with solid-phase extraction could effectively complete the sample preparation process for royal jelly before analysis. The developed approach can be applied for a routine analysis of lincomycin, tylosin A and tylosin B residues in royal jelly.

We have developed an analytical method for the determination of lincomycin, tylosin A and tylosin B residues in royal jelly using liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry analysis. For extraction and purification, we employed 1% trifluoroacetic acid and 0.1 m Na2 EDTA solutions along with an Oasis HLB cartridge. The target antibiotics were well separated in a Kinetex EVO C18 reversed-phase analytical column using a combination of 0.1% formate acid in ultrapure water (A) and acetonitrile (B) as the mobile phase. Good linearity was achieved over the tested concentration range (5-50 μg/kg) in matrix-matched standard calibration. The coefficients of determination (R2 ) were 0.9933, 0.9933 and 0.996, for tylosin A, tylosin B and lincomycin, respectively. Fortified royal jelly spiked with three different concentrations of the tested antibiotics (5, 10 and 20 μg/kg) yielded recoveries in the range 80.94-109.26% with relative standard deviations ≤4%. The proposed method was applied to monitor 11 brand of royal jelly collected from domestic markets and an imported brand from New Zealand; all the samples tested negative for lincomycin, tylosin A and tylosin B residues. In conclusion, 1% trifluoroacetic acid and 0.1 m Na2 EDTA aqueous solvents combined with solid-phase extraction could effectively complete the sample preparation process for royal jelly before analysis. The developed approach can be applied for a routine analysis of lincomycin, tylosin A and tylosin B residues in royal jelly.

Over the past few decades, honey products have been polluted by different contaminants, such as pesticides, which are widely applied in agriculture. In this work, a modified EN - quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) extraction method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of pesticide residues, including cymiazole, fipronil, coumaphos, fluvalinate, amitraz, and its metabolite 2,4-dimethylaniline (2,4-DMA), in four types of honey (acacia, wild, chestnut, and manuka) and royal jelly. Samples were buffered with 0.2M dibasic sodium phosphate (pH 9), and subsequently, acetonitrile was employed as the extraction solvent. A combination of primary secondary amine (PSA) and C18 sorbents was used for purification prior to liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI/MS-MS) analysis. The estimated linearity measured at six concentration levels presented good correlation coefficients (R)≥0.99. The recovery, calculated from three different spiking levels, was 62.06-108.79% in honey and 67.58-106.34% in royal jelly, with an RSD<12% for all the tested compounds. The matrix effect was also evaluated, and most of the analytes presented signal enhancement. The limits of quantification (LOQ) ranged between 0.001 and 0.005mg/kg in various samples. These are considerably lower than the maximum residue limits (MRL) set by various regulatory authorities. A total of 43 market (domestic and imported) samples were assayed for method application. Among the tested samples, three samples were tested positive (i.e. detected and quantified) only for cymiazole residues. The residues in the rest of the samples were detected but not quantified. We concluded that the protocol developed in this work is simple and versatile for the routine quantification of cymiazole, 2,4-DMA, fipronil, coumaphos, amitraz, and fluvalinate in various types of honey and royal jelly.

Over the past few decades, honey products have been polluted by different contaminants, such as pesticides, which are widely applied in agriculture. In this work, a modified EN - quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) extraction method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of pesticide residues, including cymiazole, fipronil, coumaphos, fluvalinate, amitraz, and its metabolite 2,4-dimethylaniline (2,4-DMA), in four types of honey (acacia, wild, chestnut, and manuka) and royal jelly. Samples were buffered with 0.2M dibasic sodium phosphate (pH 9), and subsequently, acetonitrile was employed as the extraction solvent. A combination of primary secondary amine (PSA) and C18 sorbents was used for purification prior to liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI/MS-MS) analysis. The estimated linearity measured at six concentration levels presented good correlation coefficients (R)≥0.99. The recovery, calculated from three different spiking levels, was 62.06-108.79% in honey and 67.58-106.34% in royal jelly, with an RSD<12% for all the tested compounds. The matrix effect was also evaluated, and most of the analytes presented signal enhancement. The limits of quantification (LOQ) ranged between 0.001 and 0.005mg/kg in various samples. These are considerably lower than the maximum residue limits (MRL) set by various regulatory authorities. A total of 43 market (domestic and imported) samples were assayed for method application. Among the tested samples, three samples were tested positive (i.e. detected and quantified) only for cymiazole residues. The residues in the rest of the samples were detected but not quantified. We concluded that the protocol developed in this work is simple and versatile for the routine quantification of cymiazole, 2,4-DMA, fipronil, coumaphos, amitraz, and fluvalinate in various types of honey and royal jelly.

This review describes the latest progress of dryland ecosystem dynamic change in the Mediterranean region. Recent findings indicate that extent of dryland in the Mediterranean region has been expanding in the past decades and will continue to expand in the coming decades due to the stronger warming effect than other regions. The warming trend with intensified human activities has generated a series of negative impacts on productivity, biodiversity, and stability of the dryland ecosystem in Mediterranean region. Increased population, overgrazing and, grazing abandonment intensified the land degradation and desertification. The coverage, richness, and abundance of biological soil crust have been reduced due to the decline of soil water availability and increased animals. Future studies are required to further our understanding of the process and mechanism of the dryland dynamics, including the identification of essential variables, discriminating human and climate-induced changes, and modeling future trajectories of dryland changes.

Mediterranean drylands are rich in biodiversity and play an important role in global ecosystem sustainable management. This study summarizes the characteristics, dynamic change, and change drivers of Mediterranean drylands. The drylands showed strong spatial heterogeneity, hyperarid and arid regions were dominant in North Africa and West Asia, and semiarid and dry subhumid regions were widely distributed in European countries. Mediterranean dryland is experiencing a warming trend that would become stronger under representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5, which would increase the risk of land degradation and desertification. Arid North Africa and West Asia faced rapid population growth that put considerable pressure on food supply and water consumption. The conflicts among land, water, food, and the ecosystem intensified under the warming trend. The significant expansion of cropland and urbanization was widely observed in arid areas, such as Egypt, while the rotation of land reclamation, degradation, abandonment, and reclamation was observed in arid areas and caused large-scale cross-border migration. The Mediterranean region had low food self-sufficiency due to a booming population, and the crop structure of cash crops was dominant. The expansion of cropland also significantly increased the water consumption in the arid area of the Mediterranean region, and water consumption increased by 684.54 × 106 m3 from 2000 to 2020 in Egypt. More robust models and fine spatial resolution data should be developed for the sustainable development of Mediterranean drylands.