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Topic Review
Supporting Insect Pollinators in Cities
Pollinators are responsible for the reproduction of many plant and crop species and provide important diversity for food webs and cultural value. Despite the critical ecosystem services provided by pollinators, rapid pollinator declines are occurring in response to anthropogenic activities that cause the loss of suitable habitat. There is an opportunity for urban green space to support pollination ecosystem services locally and across the landscape.
  • 306
  • 19 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Soil Microbes in Chernobyl and Fukushima
Compositional changes in soil microbes associated with decreases in abundance and species diversity were reported, especially in heavily contaminated areas of both Chernobyl and Fukushima, which may accompany explosions of radioresistant species. In Chernobyl, the population size of soil microbes remained low for at least 20 years after the accident, and the abundance of plant-associated microbes, which are related to the growth and defense systems of plants, possibly decreased. These reported changes in microbes likely affect soil conditions and alter plant physiology. These microbe-mediated effects may then indirectly affect insect herbivores through food-mass-mediated, pollen-mediated, and metabolite-mediated interactions. Metabolite-mediated interactions may be a major pathway for ecological impacts at low pollution levels and could explain the decreases in insect herbivores in Fukushima.
  • 302
  • 20 Feb 2024
Topic Review
QR/IoT-Assisted Trash Collection System
Effective waste management is of paramount importance as it contributes significantly to environmental preservation, mitigates health hazards, and aids in the preservation of precious resources. Conversely, mishandling waste not only presents severe environmental risks but can also disrupt the balance of ecosystems and pose threats to biodiversity. The emission of carbon dioxide, methane, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) can constitute a significant factor in the progression of global warming and climate change, consequently giving rise to atmospheric pollution. This pollution, in turn, has the potential to exacerbate respiratory ailments, elevate the likelihood of cardiovascular disorders, and negatively impact overall public health. Hence, efficient management of trash is extremely crucial in any society. It requires integrating technology and innovative solutions, which can help eradicate this global issue. The internet of things (IoT) is a revolutionary communication paradigm with significant contributions to remote monitoring and control. IoT-based trash management aids remote garbage level monitoring but entails drawbacks like high installation and maintenance costs, increased electronic waste production (53 million metric tons in 2013), and substantial energy consumption for always-vigilant IoT devices. 
  • 299
  • 19 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Factors Affecting Akinete Germination and the Ranges of Tolerances
Eutrophic freshwater ecosystems are vulnerable to toxin-producing cyanobacteria growth or harmful algal blooms. Cyanobacteria belonging to the Nostocales order form akinetes that are similar to the seeds of vascular plants, which are resting cells surrounded by a thick membrane. They overwinter in sediment and germinate when conditions become favorable, eventually developing into vegetative cells and causing blooms. 
  • 293
  • 12 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Analytical Probabilistic Models in Urban Runoff Control Systems
Urban stormwater is known to cause a myriad of problems, ranging from flooding to water quality degradations. analytical probabilistic model (APMs) are closed-form mathematical expressions representing a long-term system’s output performance derived from the probability distribution of the system’s input variables. Once derived, the APMs are easy to handle, allow for sensitive analysis, and can be co-opted into optimization frameworks. The implementation of APM in the planning and design of runoff control systems will not only help address the runoff quantity and quality problems of urban stormwater, but will also go a long way in optimizing the benefits derived from the systems. 
  • 291
  • 27 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Contributions of Nano-Nitrogen Fertilizers to Sustainable Development Goals
Nano-nitrogen fertilizers (NNFs) have emerged as a promising technology in the field of agriculture, offering potential solutions to improve nutrient uptake efficiency, enhance crop productivity, and reduce environmental impacts. NNFs showed superior characteristics and performance on crops and, therefore, became a potential alternative to conventional nitrogen (N) fertilizers. These fertilizers enhance plant uptake while simultaneously reducing environmental losses. For example, a hydroxy appetite-based urea NNF extended the N release for 112 days, which could cover the N demand of many perennial crops, thus reducing losses. 
  • 291
  • 19 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Ecosystem Services in Forest Remnants
Analyzing the landscape configuration factors where they are located can ensure a more accurate spatial assessment of the supply of ecosystem services. It can also show if the benefits promoted by ecosystems depend not only on the supply of these services but also on the demand, the cultural values, and the interest of the society where they are located.
  • 289
  • 02 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Methods for Monitoring and Studying Forest Vulnerability
Forests around the world are facing climate change. Increased drought stress and severe heat waves have negatively impacted on forest health, making them more vulnerable and prone to dieback and mortality phenomena. Although the term vulnerability is used to indicate an increased susceptibility of forests to climate change with a worsening of their vigour status that can compromise their ability to respond to further climate extreme events, there are still uncertainties on how to evaluate it. Indeed, evaluation of forest vulnerability is complex both because of some critical issues in the estimation methods used and because of the multiple factors influencing the response of forests to ongoing climate change. A way to assess the vulnerability to environmental stresses is by combining remote sensing and dendroecological data.
  • 288
  • 06 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Vehicle Pollutant Emissions
The combustion of common petroleum fuels like petrol and diesel in IC engines releases the following major species: nitrogen, water, CO2, O2, NOx, CO, unburned hydrocarbons (VOCs), and PM in the exhaust. Secondary species like SO2, N2O, aldehydes, and ammonia can also be produced. CO2 is a GHG and is thus harmful to the global environment but in the amounts leaving automotive exhaust, it is not harmful to human health directly. Water and nitrogen are benign species. The remaining species (CO, NOx, VOCs, PM, and SO2) are pollutants and have harmful health implications. In addition to these exhaust emissions, non-exhaust emissions (as PM) are also produced by vehicles, most notably from brake, tyre, and road wear, and re-suspension of previously deposited roadside dust. 
  • 288
  • 19 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Constructed Wetlands to Treat Effluents for Water Reuse
Urban and industrial wastewater discharges remain a major source of pollution worldwide. Urban runoff, stormwater overflows, and untreated sewage discharges are increasingly important sources of pollution. Population growth and the change in annual rainfall patterns associated with climate change make it increasingly difficult to meet the growing demand for recreational, industrial, agricultural, and domestic purposes. Thus, the regeneration of used water with the aim of giving it a second use is increasingly imperative. Solutions based on nature, such as constructed wetlands (CWs), offer high possibilities for the sustainable use of water, facilitating its treatment and reuse in situ, as well as contributions to adaptation to climate change through the use and promotion of vegetation, both in urban and rural areas. The circular economy criteria and objectives require opting for technologies and configurations that allow the recovery of nutrients and other resources contained in wastewater while allowing the reuse or recycling of the water itself for different uses. CWs offer very interesting benefits regarding both sustainability and circularity.
  • 288
  • 27 Feb 2024
Topic Review
State-of-the-Art Recycling Processes for Lithium-Ion Batteries
In the quest for sustainable energy solutions and environmental protection, the management of end-of-life (EoL) batteries has emerged as a critical issue. Batteries, especially lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), power a wide range of devices and are central to modern life. As society’s reliance on batteries grows, there is an urgent need for sustainable battery recycling methods that can efficiently recover valuable materials, minimize environmental impact, and support the circular economy.
  • 286
  • 29 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Mine Closure and Ecological Reclamation
Faced with the ongoing energy transition and the escalating fragility of our natural ecosystems, ecological reclamation emerges as an imperative necessity. 
  • 281
  • 19 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Brush Management Using Fire in Grassland National Parks
The grasslands of North America are threatened by woody encroachment. Restoring historical fire regimes has been used to manage brush encroachment. However, fire management may be insufficient due to the nonlinear and hysteretic responses of vegetation recovery following encroachment and the social–political constraints affecting fire management. 
  • 279
  • 20 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Global Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas Markets
Market volatility is a key driver of energy security concerns. It can potentially disrupt the supply of energy resources, leading to price spikes and market imbalances. The COVID-19 pandemic has also contributed to market volatility in the energy sector, as the global economic slowdown has reduced demand for oil and gas, leading to a drop in prices. The global gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets have experienced significant growth over the past few years, driven by the increasing demand from Asia and the adoption of gas in heavy-duty transport.
  • 273
  • 20 Jul 2023
Topic Review
State of Knowledge Concerning Wastewater Treatment System Landscapes
Around the world, human populations and their supporting infrastructures are concentrated in coastal areas. With rising sea levels, these settlements and urban infrastructures are at risk of service interruptions, lasting damage and frequent climate-related hazards. Wastewater systems are especially vulnerable due to their proximity to coastlines. Despite the seriousness of sea-level-rise-induced challenges, a clear understanding of the risks and potential adaptations of coastal wastewater treatment systems and their associated landscapes in Australia has been overlooked. 
  • 270
  • 16 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Vine and Wine Sustainability in a Cooperative Ecosystem
The world is changing, and climate change has become a serious issue. Organizations, governments, companies, and consumers are becoming more conscious of this impact and are combining their forces to minimize it. Cooperatives have a business model that differs from those in the private or public sector. They operate according to their own principles of cooperation, which makes it difficult to obtain results that are in harmony with the objectives of the organization and the cooperative members.
  • 267
  • 03 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Contamination of Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances in Environment and Food
More than 7000 synthetic compounds known as per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are applied to food packaging and other materials to provide fat, fire, and/or water resistance properties. These compounds have exceptional environmental stability and persistence due to the strong C-F chemical bond, earning them the moniker “forever chemicals”. Emission of PFAS from industrial waste leads to water, air, and soil contamination. 
  • 263
  • 19 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Climate Change and Indigenous Persons
Indigenous actors have a myriad experiences because of the wildly different areas they inhabit across the globe and they bring a wide variety of experiences that Western science is beginning to include in its research of climate change and its solutions.
  • 263
  • 19 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Practices for Agricultural Climate Neutrality
Regarding the achievement of worldwide agricultural climate neutrality, the focus is on a worldwide net-zero emission of cradle-to-farmgate greenhouse gases (GHGs), while, when appropriate, including the biogeophysical impacts of practices on the longwave radiation balance. 
  • 254
  • 05 May 2023
Topic Review
Renewable Energy Transition
The renewable energy transition of oil- and gas-producing countries has specific peculiarities due to the ambivalent position of these countries in the global energy market, both as producers and consumers of energy resources. This task becomes even more challenging when the share of oil and gas in the country’s GDP is very high. These circumstances pose serious challenges for long-term energy policy development and require compromising decisions to better align the existing and newly created energy policies of the country. The scale, scope, and pace of changes in the transition process must be well balanced, considering the increasing pressure of economic and environmental factors.
  • 251
  • 10 Jan 2024
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