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
Participatory Plant Breeding
Biodiversity in general, and agrobiodiversity in particular are crucial for adaptation to climate change, for resilience and for human health as related to dietary diversity. Plant breeding is a cyclic process during which breeders generate diversity, most commonly by making crosses; select, within the diversity generated during a varying number of years, which depends on the crop, the methodology and the type of variety to be produced; and eventually obtain as a final product a new variety, which in several countries must be distinct, uniform and stable for its seed to be legally commercialized. Participatory plant breeding (PPB) has been promoted for its advantages to increase selection efficiency, variety adoption and farmers’ empowerment, and for being more socially equitable and gender responsive than conventional plant breeding.
  • 1.2K
  • 18 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Fertilization and Soil Microbial Community
Crop production is currently expanding globally due to an increased demand for food, animal feed and biofuels; the latter has been stimulated by the increase in oil prices making bioenergy crops more competitive and profitable compared to fossil fuels. Chemical fertilizers (also termed mineral, inorganic or synthetic fertilizers) contain a high concentration of a primary nutrient (nitrogen, N; potassium, K; phosphorous, P) as inorganic salts. Secondary elements (calcium, magnesium and sulfur) can also be added to soil by chemical fertilizers. Micronutrients (boron, manganese, iron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, cobalt and chlorine) are in general absent in NPK chemical fertilizers and can be supplied by specific synthetic and expensive plant nutrients with soil or foliar applications. Soil microbes have different responses to fertilization based on differences in the total carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contents in the soil, along with soil moisture and the presence of plant species.
  • 821
  • 11 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Juniperus turbinata Guss.
Juniperus turbinata Guss. is a native species of Morocco; however, an exhaustive taxonomic description based on phenotypical characterization of north-eastern Moroccan population species is lacking, which might lead to taxonomic confusion.
  • 594
  • 16 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Field Measurement Studies on Indoor Air Quality
The Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is one of the key factors that influence the quality of the indoor environment, as well as the human health.
  • 919
  • 16 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Generosity and Environmental Protection
Sustainability is a crucial priority and a critical part of the modern world. Promoting pro-social values to the younger generation is an issue addressed throughout this paper. The present study aims to answer the question of whether generosity, as a positive attitude towards others, and sustainability, as a positive attitude towards the environment, are related. 
  • 443
  • 16 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Seaweed Cultivation and Its Applications in Colombia
Colombia has a diverse range of marine ecosystems in the coastal and insular areas of the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Seaweed research has focused mainly on the identification and taxonomic distribution of 628 species identified so far, mainly in the Caribbean Sea. Among the most widely cultivated genera of seaweeds in open-sea pilot systems in Colombia are Hydropuntia, Gracilaria, Hypnea, Kappaphycus, and Eucheuma. These genera have shown low yields as a consequence of high tissue fragility, epiphytism, sedimentation, and nitrogen deficiency. In addition, the evaluation of the biological activity of selected seaweed compounds has advanced considerably, focusing on their composition and their use for direct consumption by humans and animals. Despite the diversity of seaweeds, as well as certain technical and scientific advances, Colombia is still lagging behind other countries in seaweed exploitation, both in Latin America and worldwide.
  • 1.2K
  • 16 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Professionally applied fluorides
Professionally applied topical fluorides are used by a dental professional in the dental office to protect the oral health of children and adults, particularly for patients at greater risk. They could be in the form of a gel, varnish, foam, or mouthrinse.  Preventive fraction (PF) is a method used to measure the effectiveness of these products in preventing caries. PF is a percentual ratio computed as the difference between increment or prevalence in the control sample and study sample divided by the increment or prevalence in the control sample.
  • 484
  • 21 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Soil Remediation Strategy
Although soil is a valuable and non-renewable ecological system, it has always been subject to widespread degradation due to anthropic activities. The most severe risks are point source and diffuse soil pollution. The remediation of contaminated soils and sites is, therefore, a significant step in the protection of the environment and living organisms, and must be included in the broader multidisciplinary scenario of strategic green transition.
  • 918
  • 15 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Snow Leopard Landscapes
High Asia, the high-altitude habitat of the snow leopard (Panthera uncia), covers the mountainous regions of Asia’s twelve countries, including Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The transboundary landscape occupied by snow leopards covers an area of about 3.0247 million square kilometers. China possesses about 60% of the global snow leopard landscape, and China shares its border with 10 (the only exception being Uzbekistan) out of the total 12 snow leopard range countries. The snow leopard is an umbrella species from the high-altitude transboundary Asian regions. It is a threatened carnivore of an elusive and secretive nature. Globally, the population of snow leopards is estimated to be 4500–7500 animals in the wild.
  • 603
  • 14 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Geopolymer Cement-Based Composite as Self-Cleaning Coating
Geopolymer is the combination of the pozzolanic compound, which is also known as aluminosilicate source materials with an alkaline activator solution. The concept of green blending materials has led to the development of a new binding material for green materials, which is geopolymer with an addition of photocatalyst. Moreover, concepts of self-cleaning have received great attention in construction building materials. Self-cleaning with the presence of photocatalyst has been applied in building materials to overcome the problem of building surfaces becoming dirty after exposure for a long time in highly polluted areas.
  • 632
  • 15 Feb 2022
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