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Topic Review
Black Fungi and Hydrocarbons
Environmental pollution with alkylbenzene hydrocarbons such as toluene is a recurring phenomenon. Their toxicity and harmful effect on people and the environment drive the search for sustainable removal techniques such as bioremediation, which is based on the microbial metabolism of xenobiotic compounds.
  • 1.2K
  • 11 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Sunflower Crop Rotation's Biophysical Impact on Agricultural Fields
Crop rotation is an important determining factor of crop productivity. Sustainable agriculture requires correct rules of crop rotation. Failure to comply with these rules can lead to deterioration of soil biochemical characteristics and land degradation.
  • 1.2K
  • 02 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Multiscapes on an Urbanising Planet
The two most significant signatures of the Anthropocene—agriculture and urbanisation— have yet to be studied synoptically. The term periurban is used to describe territory where the urbanising trend of the planet extends into multiscapes. A periurban praxis is required that spatially reconciles urbanisation and agriculture, simultaneously permitting urban growth and the enhance- ment of critical ecosystem services provided by agricultural hinterlands.
  • 1.2K
  • 18 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Land Use and Global Environmental Change
Global environmental changes are multifactorial and affected by multiple forms of land use. Land use is closely linked to the global dynamics of the urbanization process, especially in recent decades in which the world has gone through intense migratory processes moving from rural to the urban setting. The dynamics that involve the urbanization process have multiple aspects and presuppose multiple ways of using the land and their linking to the economic aspect.
  • 1.2K
  • 05 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Wild Rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) Baby-Leaf
Wild rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia (L.) DC) is a cruciferous perennial herb, spontaneous in the Mediterranean Basin. Here, a study on evaluating the hyperspectral response of plants to bio-based disease resistance inducers is presented.
  • 1.2K
  • 30 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Ultrasound-Enhanced Organic Wastewater Treatment Equipments
Ultrasound waves have been widely used in the field of organic wastewater treatment due to their mechanical, thermal, and chemical effects derived from their cavitation effect. Many researchers have combined ultrasound waves with other organic wastewater treatment methods because they have the potential to offset the disadvantages of other method.
  • 1.2K
  • 17 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Landfills, Waste and Climate Change
Landfills have been considered the most convenient approach for dealing with waste from time immemorial, even though some have led to disasters of catastrophic proportions. Moreover, recent findings by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggest that the decomposing fraction of landfill waste that generates greenhouse gases (GHGs) may not be adequately accounted for and could become a critical issue in our effort to restrict atmospheric temperature increases to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. (According to the IPCC, the maximum atmospheric temperature rise is a factor of cumulative net CO2 emissions as well as net non-CO2 radiative forcing.
  • 1.2K
  • 05 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Biomedical and Environmental Applications of Nonthermal Plasma
Atmospheric plasmas have led to the formation of nonthermal plasma (NTP). A number of novel plasma diagnostic approaches have been implemented and reported in order to better understand the physics of NTP. The use of NTP is a novel approach to producing reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Plasma technology has many applications, including electrical device microfabrication, biomedicine, dentistry, agriculture, ozone generation, chemical synthesis, surface treatment, coating, and disease therapy.
  • 1.2K
  • 04 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Data Quality Supporting Marine Mineral Oil Spill Assessments
Spilled mineral oils in the marine environment pose a number of challenges to sampling and analysis. Mineral oils are complex assemblages of hydrocarbons and additives, the composition of which can vary considerably depending on the source oil and product specifications. Further, the marine microbial and chemical environment can be harsh and variable over short times and distances, producing a rigorous source of hydrocarbon degradation of a mineral oil assemblage. Researchers must ensure that any measurements used to determine the nature and extent of the oil release, the fate and transport of the mineral oil constituents, and any resultant toxicological effects are derived using representative data that adhere to the study’s data quality objectives (DQOs).
  • 1.2K
  • 11 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Extremely Acidic Eukaryotic (Micro) Organisms
Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) results from sulfide oxidation, which incorporates hydrogen ions, sulfate, and metals/metalloids into the aquatic environment, allowing fixation, bioaccumulation and biomagnification of pollutants in the aquatic food chain. Acidic leachates from waste rock dams from pyritic and (to a lesser extent) coal mining are the main foci of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) production. 
  • 1.2K
  • 14 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Green Infrastructure
Green infrastructure provides various ecosystem services through interlinked networks of engineered and natural green space.
  • 1.2K
  • 29 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Genetic Markers for Metabarcoding of Freshwater Microalgae
The metabarcoding approach is widely used for studying the diversity and distribution of freshwater microalgae and for routine biomonitoring. Due to microalgae being a phylogenetically diverse group, the choice of a genetic marker directly affects the metabarcoding results. Specific markers are good for identifying only concrete groups, while universal markers may miss classes or lack the variability necessary for differentiating taxa at the species and sometimes genus levels. An analysis of publications on the subject showed that metabarcoding studies of eukaryotic freshwater microalgae used 12 markers (different nuclear regions 18S and ITS and plastid regions rbcL, 23S and 16S). Studies that compared outcomes from different markers show that the resulting lists of taxa do not match. The plastid marker rbcL is widely used for diatom metabarcoding, as it differentiates taxa at the species and intraspecies levels, and there is a specific set of primers designed for identifying Eustigmatophyceae. The V9 18S region is more variable than V4 18S and provides more diversity at higher taxonomic levels (supergroup and phylum). The ITS1 and ITS2 regions are used rarely and may be underestimated. These barcodes amplify well with the standard primers and are variable enough to identify sequences at the species level. Plastid markers (23S and 16S rDNA) focused on the plastid-containing eukaryotic algae and Cyanobacteria, conserved regions, identify taxa to the genus level and higher. Using specialized curated databases for data interpretation significantly improves the quality of the results.
  • 1.2K
  • 31 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Streamflow Duration
Streamflow Duration: The length of time a stream has surface flow or conversely, has no surface flow. It is one of several dimensions that characterize flow regimes of streams[1]. Streamflow duration is used to differentiate reaches into discrete classes (e.g., perennial, intermittent, and ephemeral) for water resource management.  
  • 1.2K
  • 21 Sep 2020
Topic Review
Land Cover Change Detection
Land cover patterns in sub-Saharan Africa are rapidly changing. This study aims to quantify the land cover change and to identify its major determinants by using the Drivers, Pressures, State, Impact, Responses (DPSIR) framework in the Ethiopian Gozamin District over a period of 32 years (1986 to 2018). Satellite images of Landsat 5 (1986), Landsat 7 (2003), and Sentinel-2 (2018) and a supervised image classification methodology were used to assess the dynamics of land cover change. Land cover maps of the three dates, focus group discussions (FGDs), interviews, and farmers’ lived experiences through a household survey were applied to identify the factors for changes based on the DPSIR framework. Results of the investigations revealed that during the last three decades the study area has undergone an extensive land cover change, primarily a shift from cropland and grassland into forests and built-up areas. Thus, quantitative land cover change detection between 1986 and 2018 revealed that cropland, grassland, and bare areas declined by 10.53%, 5.7%, and 2.49%. Forest, built-up, shrub/scattered vegetation, and water bodies expanded by 13.47%, 4.02%, 0.98%, and 0.25%. Household surveys and focus group discussions (FGDs) identified the population growth, the rural land tenure system, the overuse of land, the climate change, and the scarcity of grazing land as drivers of these land cover changes. Major impacts were rural to urban migration, population size change, scarcity of land, and decline in land productivity. The outputs from this study could be used to assure sustainability in resource utilization, proper land use planning, and proper decision-making by the concerned government authorities.
  • 1.2K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Recovery of phosphorus from wastewater
Mined phosphate rock is the largest source of phosphorus (P) for use in agriculture and agro-industry, but it also is a finite resource irregularly distributed around the world. Alternatively, waste water is a renewable source of P, available at the local scale. In waste water treatment, biological nitrogen (N) removal is applied according to a wide range of variants targeting the abatement of the ammonium content. Ammonium oxidation to nitrate can also be considered to mitigate ammonia emission, while enabling N recovery. Different alternatives exist for coupling biological N treatment and phosphate precipitation when treating waste water in view of producing P-rich materials easily usable as fertilisers. Phosphate precipitation can be applied before (upstream configuration), together with (concomitant configuration), and after (downstream configuration) N treatment; i.e., chemically induced as a conditioning pre-treatment, biologically induced inside the reactor, and chemically induced as a refining post-treatment. Characteristics of the recovered products differ significantly depending on the case studied. Currently (year 2020), precipitated phosphate salts are not typified in the European fertiliser regulation, and this fact limits marketability. Nonetheless, this topic is in progress according to potential requirements to be complied by these materials. Integrated approaches for waste water treatment including P recovery must consider significant needs for subsequent agronomic valorisation of the recovered phosphate salts following the paradigms of the circular economy, sustainability, and environmental protection.
  • 1.2K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Removal of Dyestuffs from Effluents onto Biochar
Processing significant amounts of dye effluent discharges into receiving waters can supply major benefits to countries that are affected by the water crisis and anticipated future stress in many areas in the world. When compared to most conventional adsorbents, biochars can provide an economically attractive solution. In comparison to many other textile effluent treatment processes, adsorption technology provides an economical, easily managed, and highly effective treatment option.
  • 1.2K
  • 20 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Combustion and Stubble Burning Effluent Emissions
Combustion is an essential process for humanity, but it has created turbulence in society due to the pollutant emissions from the partial completion of its process and its byproducts. According to the system of air quality and weather forecasting and research (SAFAR), stubble burning’s contribution to air pollution (as PM) was 25% in 2021, 32% in 2020, and 19% in 2019, while the fire count between September and November was 71,304 in 2021, and 83,002 in 2020, respectively. This has been known to directly affect Delhi’s air quality index (AQI). Combustion effluents are generated in response to the behavior of the burning process and product toxicity, which further resides in the fire plot (orientation and fuel’s shape), material composition, oxygen concentration, and temperature.
  • 1.2K
  • 17 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Tropical Cyclone
Tropical cyclones (TCs) plague coastal communities around the world, threatening millions of lives and causing many billions of dollars in damage to infrastructure. The primary hazards responsible for many of the fatalities and damage in coastal communities include storm surge and wind damage, while further inland hazards include torrential rainfall and severe weather that often accompany landfalling TCs. The danger from these hazards is only increasing due to greater coastal development worldwide, increasing sea surface temperature, and sea level rise.
  • 1.2K
  • 17 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Vermicompost Application in the Remediation of Soils
Vermicompost improves soil quality, increases nutrient availability, boosts crop productivity, and enhances pest and disease tolerance. It acts as an organic fertilizer, enriching the soil with essential nutrients, humic acids, growth-regulating hormones, and enzymes, improving plant nutrition, photosynthesis, and overall crop quality. Furthermore, vermicompost shows promise in mitigating soil degradation and sequestering organic carbon while demonstrating the potential for pest management, including effectiveness against pests like fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda).
  • 1.2K
  • 20 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Culturable and Molecular Diversity of Marine Fungi
Fungi are considered terrestrial and oceans are a “fungal desert”. However, with the considerable progress made over past decades, fungi have emerged as morphologically, phylogenetically, and functionally diverse components of the marine water column. Although their communities are influenced by a plethora of environmental factors, the most influential include salinity, temperature, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen, suggesting that fungi respond to local environmental gradients. 
  • 1.2K
  • 18 May 2022
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