Summary

Environmental science emerged from the fields of natural history and medicine during the Enlightenment. Today, it provides an integrated, quantitative, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental systems. Environmental studies are incorporating more of the social sciences in order to understand human relationships, perceptions and policies towards the environment. This entry collection features information about design and technology for improving environmental quality in every aspect.

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Topic Review
Climate Security
Climate security refers to the protection of countries and societies from conflicts and riots caused by climate change. As climate change becomes more apparent, climate security has been vigorously debated in the international community.
  • 505
  • 22 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Antibiotic Use in Livestock Farming
Antibiotics are natural or synthetic molecules capable of inhibiting the growth of bacteria (bacteriostatic) or killing some bacteria (bactericidal). Antibiotics are frequent in the livestock industry to prevent and treat diseases caused by bacteria, allowing for healthy growth and reduced animal mortality and morbidity. The use of these antibiotics occurs principally in pigs, cattle, poultry, and the aquaculture industry.
  • 672
  • 22 Jul 2022
Topic Review Video
Humipedon
The soil covers our entire planet and corresponds to the most superficial part of the earth's crust. Exposed to the attack of atmospheric agents and living organisms, the soil is organized in layers recognizable to the naked eye, more organic towards the atmosphere or water (if submerged), more mineral towards the rocky part of the bottom. To facilitate its study, specialists divided the soil into three sections: richer in organisms part -> 1. Humipedon; bottom still in contact with the unaltered rock section -> 3. Lithopedon; in-between, central, mineral part -> 2. Copedon. The present encyclopedia entry describes the variability of the humipedons of planet Earth. They have been subdivided in ecological groups and classified into different humus systems. The aim is to display them and diffuse their knowledge.
  • 929
  • 30 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Forest Health Monitoring
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are platforms that have been increasingly used over the last decade to collect data for forest insect pest and disease (FIPD) monitoring. These machines provide flexibility, cost efficiency, and a high temporal and spatial resolution of remotely sensed data. 
  • 544
  • 28 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Enhancement of Anaerobic Digestion with Nanomaterials
The number of research reporting the addition of nanomaterials to enhance the process of anaerobic digestion has exponentially increased. The benefits of this addition can be observed from different aspects: an increase in biogas production, enrichment of methane in biogas, elimination of foaming problems, a more stable and robust operation, absence of inhibition problems, etc. Several hypotheses have been formulated, with the effect on the redox potential caused by nanoparticles probably being the most accepted, although supplementation with trace materials coming from nanomaterials and the changes in microbial populations have been also highlighted. The types of nanomaterials tested for the improvement of anaerobic digestion is very diverse, although metallic and, especially, iron-based nanoparticles, are the most frequently used.
  • 463
  • 22 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Elite Rhizobia Strains in Africa
Grain legumes play a significant role in smallholder farming systems in Africa because of their contribution to nutrition and income security and their role in fixing nitrogen. Biological Nitrogen Fixation (BNF) serves a critical role in improving soil fertility for legumes. Dinitrogen can be reduced to ammonium (NH3) through the Haber–Bosch process or via biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) utilizing some soil bacteria or archaea (diazotrophs). Rhizobia belong to Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria, a group of Gram-negative bacteria that forms nodules on roots (sometimes stems) of leguminous plants to fix nitrogen in a symbiotic relationship with their host plants. The rhizobia–legume symbiosis is the most studied plant–microbial mutualism because of the importance of nitrogen fixation for almost all agricultural systems.
  • 642
  • 21 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Urban Green Sustainable Development
The role of government support in sustainable urban development has always been a research topic of scholars, but research focusing on the relationship between government innovation support and urban green sustainable development is still relatively rare. China’s innovative city pilot policy (ICPP) to represent the innovation support provided by the government and address the interaction mechanism and the spatial spillover effect of China’s innovative city pilot policy (ICPP), green technology innovation (GTI), and green sustainable development performance (GSDP) with the support of the mediating effect model and the spatial econometric model.
  • 778
  • 20 Jul 2022
Topic Review Video
Morpho-Functional Classification of the Planet’s Humipedons
A morpho-functional classification of the humipedons could be defined as this: 1) Classification: ordering things = summarizing the complexity of reality = putting nature in boxes, to "possess" nature, to "enumerate", divide, understand nature, get to know our home (oikos) = putting a name on things (just like names for people); 2) Type of classification: Morpho-functional; not objects  but "machines" has to be classified, "running systems", "natural clocks" full of interconnected cogwheels and that may indicate the time, systems that inform us about how they live; morpho stays for visible forms that characterize each "machine" and which communicate with us: if there are those visible forms, then we are facing that type of "system"; 3) Some soil scientists classify (morpho-functionally) only humipedons (not all the soil profiles), only the organic (H and O) and organo-mineral (A) horizons of the soil profile. Because they think these horizons are highly connected to the present day evolution of the ecosystems. The other parts of the soil are very important too, but they don't work at the speed that interests present day evolution, from one to 100 years.
  • 631
  • 27 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Biotechnological Approaches Applied for Marine Hydrocarbon Spills Remediation
Biological and physico-chemical remediation technologies can be efficient in terms of spill cleanup and microorganisms—mainly bacteria—are the main ones responsible for petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) degradation such as crude oil. Biodegradation is considered as one of the most sustainable and efficient techniques for the removal of PHCs. 
  • 693
  • 18 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Classification of Lindane Based on the Isomeric Form
Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) is an artificial organic pollutant also called hexachlorane. It has eight isomeric forms, but of these eight isomeric forms, four α, -β, -γ, and δ-HCHs are the most prevalent. From this compound, γ-HCH (also known as lindane) is the most constant and commonly used compound, and it is the supreme isomer. Lindane is a broad-spectrum chlorinated insecticide that has a mixture of several chemical forms of HCH and is written as γ-Hexachlorocyclohexane or γ-HCH. Organic pollutants are normally pesticides, insecticides, or fertilizer, but HCH is an insecticide that is used on fruits, plants, and animals. Lindane is one of the earliest generations of chlorinated organic insecticides, appearing shortly after the end of World War II. All of the pollutants have the same physical and chemical properties. Therefore, it has also had PBT (Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic) properties.
  • 837
  • 18 Jul 2022
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