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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Entries
Topic Review
Black Coral Distribution in Italian
The aim of this entry is to present a review of the knowledge on the occurrence of black corals in the Italian seas, providing the first comprehensive distribution map of these species. The distribution of black corals may be considered the first step towards defining a more complete overview regarding the present knowledge on these vulnerable species. This study also highlights the need for the conservation programs protecting black corals in the Italian seas.
  • 1.2K
  • 28 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Foraminiferal EcoQS Assessment, Transitional Waters
Transitional waters straddle the interface between marine and terrestrial biomes and, among others, include fjords, bays, lagoons, and estuaries. These coastal systems are essential for transport and manufacturing industries and suffer extensive anthropogenic exploitation of their ecosystem services for aquaculture and recreational activities. These activities can have negative effects on the local biota, necessitating investigation and regulation. As a result of this, EcoQS (ecological quality status) assessment has garnered great attention as an essential aspect of governmental bodies’ legislative decision-making process. Assessing EcoQS in transitional water ecosystems is problematic because these systems experience high natural variability and organic enrichment and often lack information about their pre-human impact, baseline, or “pristine” reference conditions, knowledge of which is essential to many commonly used assessment methods. Here, foraminifera can be used as environmental sentinels, providing ecological data such as diversity and sensitivity, which can be used as the basis for EcoQS assessment indices. Fossil shells of foraminifera can also provide a temporal aspect to ecosystem assessment, making it possible to obtain reference conditions from the study site itself. These foraminifera-based indices have been shown to correlate not only with various environmental stressors but also with the most common macrofaunal-based indices currently employed by bodies such as the Water Framework Directive (WFD).
  • 1.6K
  • 28 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Renewable Energy Policies in Iran
The National Renewable Energy Policy can be introduced as an important step in increasing the investment and extraction of renewable energy in the total energy mix. Furthermore, to increase the use of local renewable energy sources, increasing the share of renewable energy in the composition of electricity generation can be achieved through facilitating the growth of the renewable industry, ensuring the reasonable cost of renewable energy production and creating public awareness of the importance of sustainable energy and clean technology.
  • 2.4K
  • 26 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Ionizing Radiation
The development of protective agents against harmful radiations has been a subject of investigation for decades. However, effective (ideal) radioprotectors and radiomitigators remain an unsolved problem. Because ionizing radiation-induced cellular damage is primarily attributed to free radicals, radical scavengers are promising as potential radioprotectors. Early development of such agents focused on thiol synthetic compounds, e.g., amifostine (2-(3-aminopropylamino) ethylsulfanylphosphonic acid), approved as a radioprotector by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, USA) but for limited clinical indications and not for nonclinical uses. To date, no new chemical entity has been approved by the FDA as a radiation countermeasure for acute radiation syndrome (ARS). All FDA-approved radiation countermeasures (filgrastim, a recombinant DNA form of the naturally occurring granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, G-CSF; pegfilgrastim, a PEGylated form of the recombinant human G-CSF; sargramostim, a recombinant granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor, GM-CSF) are classified as radiomitigators. No radioprotector that can be administered prior to exposure has been approved for ARS. This differentiates radioprotectors (reduce direct damage caused by radiation) and radiomitigators (minimize toxicity even after radiation has been delivered). Molecules under development with the aim of reaching clinical practice and other nonclinical applications are discussed. Assays to evaluate the biological effects of ionizing radiations are also analyzed. Ionizing radiation is the energy released by atoms in the form of electromagnetic waves (e.g., X or gamma rays) or particle radiation (alpha, beta, electrons, protons, neutrons, mesons, prions, and heavy ions) with sufficient energy to ionize atoms or molecules.
  • 3.9K
  • 23 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Agriculture and Pollinator Biodiversity
Pollinator biodiversity is greatly affected by industrialized agriculture practices. Agroecological alternatives for food production must be implemented. 
  • 1.8K
  • 22 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Tunnel Technology
Tunnel Technology is an infrastructure-based technology that facilitates crop production for an extended period. The technology protects the crop from climate change effects, prolongs production, and makes efficient use of resources.
  • 1.0K
  • 19 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Lattice Boltzmann Method
Biofilm growth and evolution are very complex interactions among physicochemical and biological processes. Mathematical models are critical to modern biotechnology—both in research and in the engineering practice. Thus, many models of biofilms have been developed to include various biofilm reactor modules. However, considerable challenges exist in modelling microbial processes where mesoscopic dynamics of nutrient transport must be coupled with microscopic bacteria growth and their elementary biochemical reactions at reactive or enzymatic interfaces, in addition to the microbiological and/or ecological aspects of the “micro” organisms involved in biofilms. Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) treats flows in terms of fictive parcels of particles which reside on a mesh and conduct translation according to collision steps entailing overall fluid-like behavior. The goal of this review is to discuss and identify the opportunities of applying different LBM-based models to specific areas of biofilm research as well as unique challenges that LBM-based models must overcome.
  • 1.4K
  • 19 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Urban Heat Island
Economic and social development of urban and rural areas continues in parallel with the increase of the human population, especially in developing countries, which leads to sustained expansion of impervious surface areas, particularly paved surfaces. The conversion of pervious surfaces to impervious surfaces significantly modifies local energy balance in urban areas and contributes to urban heat island (UHI) formation, mainly in densely developed cities. Climate change, urban population growth, and urban land expansion will probably increase temperatures in urban areas and make the UHI effect more prominent. Therefore, using appropriate measures to ameliorate urban microclimate becomes increasingly important.
  • 3.2K
  • 16 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Bioethanol production by enzymatic hydrolysis
Lignocellulosic sources are the world’s largest renewable sources for bioethanol production and can be divided into three main types: (1) marine algae, (2) agricultural residues and municipal solid wastes, (3) and forest woody feedstocks.
  • 1.1K
  • 19 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Antimicrobial Resistance Assessment in Aquacultures
Aquaculture is a new food production sector that has been increasing dramatically over the last two decades due to the high demand for a healthy protein source. The aquaculture production figures indicate a substantial increase in the relative contribution of aquaculture to total fish consumption from 5% in 1962 to 49% in 2002. The use of antimicrobials in aquaculture, even at subinhibitory concentrations, has been promoting antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from the aquatic environment. New omics tools and approaches pave the way for the assessment of antimicrobial resistance in these environments.
  • 1.5K
  • 19 Jul 2021
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