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Topic Review
Water–Energy–Food Nexus in Distant Past
The concept of water–energy–food (WEF) nexus is gaining favor as a means to highlight the functions of the three individual nexus elements as interrelated components of a single complex system. In practice, the nexus approach projects forward from the present, seeking to maximize future WEF synergies and avoid undesirable tradeoffs. This article seeks to gain insights into how the ancients dealt with WEF relationships, whether currently relevant principles were practiced millennia ago, and how past WEF dynamics compare to today. 
  • 480
  • 08 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Ecosystem Service Supply–Demand Risks
Ecosystem services refer to the natural resources and commodities comprising natural ecosystems, which can be directly used or consumed by humans, and maintain the environmental conditions for human survival and development. These services are the resource and environmental basis for human survival and development. For a long time, people’s lack of understanding of the importance of ecosystem services has caused many problems to excessive use of natural resources and affected regional and even global ecological security. Regional ecological and environmental problems are mainly derived from changes in urbanization and land cover changes to the structure and pattern of regional ecosystems. Human activities directly affect changes in ecosystem services and are an important driving force for changes in ecosystem services. Regional ecological and environmental problems are essentially the spatial difference or imbalance between the supply and demand of regional ecosystem services. With the rapid growth of population and intensification of human activities, human demand for ecosystem services is increasing, such as food and water. Meanwhile, the sustainable supply of ecosystem services is under threat. For example, river drying can cause water shortage, the deficiency of an air purification service in an urban area directly affects the health of citizens and soil erosion also can cause a series of ecological problems, which may intensify ecosystem service supply–demand risks. In this paper, ecosystem service supply–demand risks were defined as the possibility that the supply level of ecosystem services was insufficient to meet the local human needs, or the supply level decreased within a set time range. In human production and life, when the consumption of ecosystem service exceeds the threshold of ecosystem service supply, and the ecosystem services supply cannot meet the human demand, the ecosystem service is exposed to risks. Therefore, measuring the relationship between the supply and demand of ecosystem services and identifying the supply–demand risk is particularly important for the effective allocation of natural resources and the management of ecosystem services. Identification of ecosystem service supply–demand risk also has important practical significance for alleviating the contradiction between man and land and improving regional sustainable development.
  • 480
  • 20 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Dynamics of Methane
Mangrove forests sequester a significant amount of organic matter in their sediment and are recognized as an important carbon storage source (i.e., blue carbon, including in seagrass ecosystems and other coastal wetlands). The methane-producing archaea in anaerobic sediments releases methane, a greenhouse gas species. The contribution to total greenhouse gas emissions from mangrove ecosystems remains controversial. However, the intensity CH4 emissions from anaerobic mangrove sediment is known to be sensitive to environmental changes, and the sediment is exposed to oxygen by methanotrophic (CH4-oxidizing) bacteria as well as to anthropogenic impacts and climate change in mangrove forests. This review discusses the major factors decreasing the effect of mangroves on CH4 emissions from sediment, the significance of ecosystem protection regarding forest biomass and the hydrosphere/soil environment, and how to evaluate emission status geospatially. An innovative “digital-twin” system overcoming the difficulty of field observation is required for suggesting sustainable mitigation in mangrove ecosystems, such as a locally/regionally/globally heterogenous environment with various random factors.
  • 480
  • 06 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Reduced Fertilization and Biochar Supplementation on Soil Fertility
Generally, the partial substitution of chemical fertilizer with palm silk biochar (PSB) at a low application rate may not substantially reduce plant-available NO3−-N and Olsen-P. It can also contribute to the sustainable availability of N and P in vegetable farmland soil via a variety of transformation processes, such as mineralization, immobilization, and loss.
  • 480
  • 15 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Coppermine Expedition of 1819–22
The Coppermine Expedition of 1819–1822 had as its goal the exploration of the northern coast of Canada , which was accessed by way of the Coppermine River. The British expedition was organised by the Royal Navy as part of its attempt to discover and map the Northwest Passage. It was the first of three Arctic expeditions to be led by John Franklin, and also included George Back and Dr. John Richardson, both of whom would become notable Arctic explorers in their own right. The expedition was plagued by poor planning, bad luck and unreliable allies. The expected assistance from the local fur trading companies and native peoples was less forthcoming than expected, and the dysfunctional supply line, coupled with unusually harsh weather and the resulting absence of game, meant that the explorers were never far from starvation. Eventually the Arctic coast was reached, but barely 500 mi (800 km) had been explored before the exhaustion of the party's supplies and the onset of winter forced it to turn back. The expedition made a desperate retreat across uncharted territory in a state of starvation, often with nothing more than lichen to eat. Eleven of the twenty-strong party died amid accusations of murder and cannibalism before the survivors were rescued by people of the Yellowknives First Nation, who had previously given them up for dead. In the aftermath of the expedition, Franklin was much criticised by local fur traders for his haphazard planning and failure to adapt to the circumstances he faced, but in Britain he was received as a hero, and fêted for the courage he had shown in extreme adversity. The expedition captured the public imagination, and in reference to a desperate measure he took while starving, he became known as "the man who ate his boots".
  • 480
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Climate Change in the Caribbean
Anthropogenic climate change is caused by the rapid increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere principally from burning fossil fuels, converting forestland to pasture and monoculture cropland, with the greatest contributions happening in the period since the Industrial Revolution. Climate change could pose disadvantageous risks to the islands in the Caribbean. The environmental changes expected to affect the Caribbean are a rise in sea level, stronger hurricanes, longer dry seasons and shorter wet seasons. As a result, climate change is expected to lead to changes in the economy, environment and population of the Caribbean.
  • 480
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Machine Learning Methods for Rainfall–Runoff Modelling
Runoff plays an essential part in the hydrological cycle, as it regulates the quantity of water which flows into streams and returns surplus water into the oceans. Runoff modelling may assist in understanding, controlling, and monitoring the quality and amount of water resources. In machine learning (ML) models, the association between hydrological cycle variables and runoff is examined directly without regard for the actual processes involved. However, such ML (black-box) approaches are good enough at modelling runoff. The most widely used ML approaches in hydrologic research are K-nearest neighbor (K-NN), decision tree (DT), fuzzy rule-based systems (FRBS), ANN, deep neural networks (DNN), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and support vector machine (SVM), etc. Numerous researchers have utilized these ML models for rainfall–runoff analysis.
  • 479
  • 03 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Endophytes in Agricultural Crops
Endophytes—both bacteria and fungi—have emerged as highly potent natural resources, which have been utilised to improve stress tolerances of plants post-inoculation and decreased susceptibility to diseases and predators.
  • 478
  • 19 May 2023
Topic Review
Phosphate Laundries Wastewater
Phosphate laundries wastewater, a phosphate rich effluent, showed an alkaline pH, highly turbid and rich in suspended matter and total solids. 
  • 477
  • 14 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Bioactive Metabolites in Liquid State Cultures
Humans have appreciated mushrooms for their edible and medicinal value since the Neolithic age. Increased interest in the pharmaceutical potential of mushrooms has led to numerous publications that explore more than 100 reported medicinal functions. These are functions such as antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antiviral, anti-diabetic, anti-thrombotic, anti-allergic, antidepressive, antihyperlipidemic, digestive, hypotensive, cytotoxic, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, nephroprotective, osteoprotective, and immunomodulating activities, among others. This therapeutic action is due to a wide array of bioactive metabolites isolated from the fruiting body, mycelium, and culture broth of macrofungi. Both complex high-molecular-weight compounds such as polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids and low-molecular-weight compounds such as terpenoids, polyketides, and alkaloids have been isolated and are under study. In addition to their pharmaceutical potential, mushrooms are recognized as a rich source of nutraceuticals. Nutraceuticals are substances that have positive effects, proven by clinical testing, on normal physiological functions that maintain health in humans, thus preventing and treating diseases and enhancing longevity. There is a globally growing market for nutraceuticals sold as nutrients and supplements or in the form of enhanced “functional foods”. Natural bioactive compounds found in macrofungi are ideal for this market and are already being used for their properties.
  • 477
  • 18 Nov 2022
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