Topic Review
The Metabolism of Islands
Islands are hotspots of biocultural diversity, and home to 600 million people that depend on one-sixth of the earth’s total area, including the surrounding oceans, for their subsistence. Today, they are on the frontlines of climate change and facean existential crisis. Islands are, however, potential “hubs of innovation” and are uniquely positioned to be leaders in sustainability and climate action. In this entry, we introduce key concepts of socio-metabolic research (SMR) and its relevance to island sustainability. SMR suggests that islands can build system resilience by reconfiguring resource-use patterns, and achieve a high quality of life at the lowest environmental costs.
  • 602
  • 01 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Weeds Enhance Pollinator Diversity in Mango
Weeds increase the diversity of pollinating insects on mango flowers, and mangos with weeds growing below produced more fruit than those without weeds. Weeds can provide ground cover and flowers that can support insect pollinators, natural enemies, and increase biodiversity at the field and landscape level. 
  • 602
  • 19 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Rehabilitation of Salt-Affected Land
Soil salinity is a major threat to the sustainability of agricultural production systems and has defeated civilisations whenever the cost of remediation exceeded the benefits. Among the reasons for this is the complexity of the plant-water-soil nexus and that the causes of salinity are often separated from the damage in time and space. a more concerted effort, perhaps initiated by a philanthropist, is needed to show merchants and agencies how a range of payments for ecosystem services can be turned into true markets in an aggregate way so the ‘knowledge of what can be done can be transformed into benefit’.
  • 602
  • 20 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Carbon in Agricultural Soil
Carbon in agricultural soils is chemically classified as either soil organic carbon (SOC) or soil inorganic carbon (SIC). Globally, the naturally occurring SOC and SIC pools are estimated to be 1500 Gt C and 950 Gt C, respectively. The SOC includes humus, decomposed plant and animal residues, charcoal and microorganisms. The SIC pool includes primary and secondary carbonates, such as calcite (CaCO3) and dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2), and can be classified into lithogenic and pedogenic carbonates. Lithogenic carbonates are the primary carbonates that refer to the detrital particle derived from the carbonate bedrock (especially limestone) that are formed in marine environments. Pedogenic carbonates refer to the secondary carbonates formed in the soil and is further classified as calcitic pedogenic carbonates (formed by calcite remobilization) and silicatic pedogenic carbonates (formed by silicate weathering). Calcitic pedogenic carbonates are derived from pre-existing carbonates; hence, it does not result in net carbon sequestration. On the other hand, carbonation of alkaline earth elements derived from silicate minerals results in net positive sequestration through the formation of silicatic pedogenic carbonates.
  • 601
  • 07 Dec 2021
Topic Review
The Ecosystem Services of Temperate Wetlands
Wetlands constitute important habitats that provide several ecosystem services (ES). Wetlands have been termed the kidneys of the world for their water purification services and contain 20–25% of total soil organic carbon. Wetlands are among the ecosystems with the most valuable ES, with regulating services being the most important for inland wetlands. 
  • 601
  • 18 May 2022
Topic Review
Snow Water Equivalent Products
Available snow water equivalent (SWE) products are classified into three main groups, including satellite, reanalysis, and data assimilation datasets.
  • 601
  • 27 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Bloodlands
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin is a book by Yale historian Timothy D. Snyder that was first published by Basic Books on October 28, 2010. In the book, Snyder examines the political, cultural and ideological context tied to a specific region of Central and Eastern Europe, where Joseph Stalin 's Soviet Union and Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany committed mass killings of an estimated 14 million noncombatants between 1933 and 1945, the majority outside the death camps of the Holocaust. Snyder's thesis is that the "bloodlands", a region that is now Poland , Belarus , Ukraine , the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), northeastern Romania, and the westernmost fringes of Russia , is the area that the regimes of Stalin and Hitler, despite their conflicting goals, interacted to increase suffering and bloodshed many times worse than any seen in western history. Snyder notes similarities between the two totalitarian regimes and also the enabling interactions that reinforced the destruction and the suffering that were brought to bear on noncombatants. Making use of many new primary and secondary sources from Central and Eastern Europe, Snyder brings scholarship to many forgotten, misunderstood, or incorrectly-remembered parts of the history, and he particularly notes that most of the victims were killed outside the concentration camps of the respective regimes. The book earned many positive reviews and has been called "revisionist history of the best kind". It was awarded numerous prizes, including the 2013 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought.
  • 601
  • 28 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Application of Atomic Force Microscopy in Membrane Fouling
Membrane separation technology has emerged as the preferred method for producing clean water during wastewater treatment and desalination. This preference is attributed to the high separation accuracy, energy efficiency, lack of secondary pollution, and ease of operation of the technology. Membrane fouling is a key obstacle in membrane applications, including ultrafiltration (UF), microfiltration (MF), nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO). Membrane fouling is a particularly serious problem in the pre-treatment processes of industrial wastewater, leading to poor water quality and increased operating costs. A thorough understanding of fouling formation and properties is required in wastewater treatment using membranes and contributes to slowing down membrane fouling and implementing appropriate control measures. In response, extensive foundational investigations of membrane fouling have been conducted, with researchers seeking to clarify primary foulants, membrane–foulant interactions, and potential fouling mitigation techniques.
  • 600
  • 02 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Urban Soils and Road Dust
Urban soils might be defined as soils within the administrative boundaries of municipalities or settlings, respective a territory of settlement and natural production, including rests of soils in young cities.
  • 599
  • 16 May 2021
Topic Review
Fresh Food Dual-Channel Supply Chain
The fresh dual-channel supply chain can be divided into a retailer dual-channel model, producer dual-channel model, and mixed dual-channel model. In the retailer dual-channel model, the producer sells products wholesale to the retailers. In addition to the traditional offline sales channels, retailers plan to open new online sales channels. For example, Hema Fresh, 7 Fresh, and Super Species adopt the retailer dual-channel supply chain model. In the producer dual-channel model, producers also intend to establish an extra online channel for sales alongside the original retailer’s offline sales channels. The mode of direct supply from the production base or community group belongs to the producer dual-channel model, which is adopted by enterprises such as Dolly Farm and Pagoda. A mixed dual-channel model means that the producer sells fresh food wholesale to the retailer at first. Then, the retailer sells it through online and offline channels, and the producer also plans to sell it online. For example, RT-Mart carries out both offline and online channels, while COFCO, one of its suppliers, has built its online sales channel named Womai.com.
  • 599
  • 28 Jun 2021
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