Microbe Mediated Remediation of Environmental Contaminants presents recent scientific progress in applying microbes for environmental management. The book explores the current existing practical applications and provides information to help readers develop new practices and applications. Edited by recognized leaders in the field, this penetrating assessment of our progress to date in deploying microorganisms to the advantage of environmental management and biotechnology will be widely welcomed by those working in soil contamination management, agriculture, environment management, soil microbiology, and waste management. The polluting effects on the world around us of soil erosion, the unwanted migration of sediments, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and the improper treatment of human and animal wastes have resulted in serious environmental and social problems around the world, problems which require us to look for solutions elsewhere than established physical and chemical technologies. Often the answer lies in hybrid applications in which microbial methods are combined with physical and chemical ones. When we remember that these highly effective microorganisms, cultured for a variety of applications, are but a tiny fraction of those to be found in the world around us, we realize the vastness of the untapped and beneficial potential of microorganisms.

Environmental Noise Pollution, Second Edition, addresses the key debates surrounding environmental noise pollution, its modelling and mitigation using examples from across the globe. Environmental noise pollution is now an established concern in environmental and public policy and is considered one of the most important environmental stressors affecting public health throughout the world. Thoroughly revised, this new edition includes updated global case studies as well as new chapters on 'soundscapes and noise mapping' and 'environmental noise and technology'. This book examines environmental noise pollution, its health implications, noise modelling, the role of strategic noise mapping for problem assessment, major sources of environmental noise pollution, noise mitigation approaches, and related procedural and policy implications. Drawing on the authors' considerable research expertise in the area, the book is a fully updated resource on this major environmental stressor that crosses disciplinary, policy and national boundaries.

Stochastic Modeling: A Thorough Guide to Evaluate, Pre-Process, Model and Compare Time Series with MATLAB Software allows for new avenues in time series analysis and predictive modeling which summarize more than ten years of experience in the application of stochastic models in environmental problems. The book introduces a variety of different topics in time series in the modeling and prediction of complex environmental systems. Most importantly, all codes are user-friendly and readers will be able to use them for their cases. Users who may not be familiar with MATLAB software can also refer to the appendix. This book also guides the reader step-by-step to learn developed codes for time series modeling, provides required toolboxes, explains concepts, and applies different tools for different types of environmental time series problems.

‘Imagine a football team which measures its success only on the basis of the goals it scores and doesn’t count the goals it concedes. That football team could be losing right through without recognising it…’

For as long as they have existed, our economic models have served us an incomplete picture.

The models and metrics tells us that our economies are healthy because they are growing. However, this doesn't account for the fact that our growth is driven by a resource that we take for free and treat as infinite: nature. For centuries we have been using it as if it were both, but we know now, more than ever, that our demand on the natural world is unsustainable. It's no longer sufficient to only see part of the picture; it's time that our economic models show us the whole thing.

In On Natural Capital, renowned Cambridge economist Sir Partha Dasgupta lays out a seminal and groundbreaking new approach to economics. Challenging everything that has come before, he asks, what if we were to put a value on nature just as we value everything else?

An urgent call to transform the focus and structures of global economics, On Natural Capital is a bold and groundbreaking book that could, truly, change everything.

CO2 Acidification in Aquatic Ecosystems: An Integrative Approach to Risk Assessment focuses on the characterization of different aspects of ecosystem science to describe the situation of CO2 acidification in aquatic ecosystems. This extensive coverage looks at the effects of CO2 acidification throughout all oceans and coastal areas. In addition, the book describes integrative approaches based on global case studies to determine the effects associated with this kind of acidification. It allows the reader to understand the different sources of CO2 in the aquatic ecosystems and the different approaches and lines of evidence available to characterize the impact of this acidification. This book provides researchers, professors and post graduate students in oceanography and aquatic ecology with a new and complete tool set to address and understand the potential impacts of CO2 acidification in aquatic ecosystems.

Ecosystems of Resilience Practices: Contributions for Sustainability and Climate Change Adaptation focuses on resilience in action by exploring and providing approaches, perspectives, toolboxes, and theoretical discourses for the improvement and enhancement of territorial and community resilience practices towards sustainability and climate change mitigation/adaptation. The book develops a set of tools and design criteria to support the dissemination of resilience practices. This new toolset will support the expansion and reinforcement of resilience practices and the building of solutions related to climate change. The book is divided into three sections: Section one investigates the contribution this kind of resilience approach could have on sustainable development goals as related to climate change. It also includes other environmental challenges such as ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change. Chapters dedicated to exploring the issues for a renovated governance of territorial transformation processes are included. Section two focuses on the eco-systems of resilience practices characterization, including discourses on international networking of transitions initiatives. Section three presents operative guidelines, instruments, and proposals for the resilience practices "stabilization," "blooming," and "up scaling," aiming at a more effective and consistent contribution of resilience practices in reaching sustainability, adaptation goals, and scenarios at local and global scales.

Freshwater Mycology: Perspectives of Fungal Dynamics in Freshwater Ecosystems presents chapters from expert contributors around the world. Through the contributed chapters, the contributors explore the perspectives of fungal dynamics in freshwater ecosystems, especially their diversity, distribution, functioning and role, biotransformation and bioprospecting potential, methodical advancements and metagenomic insights. Written with aquatic ecologists in mind, this book provides information on oceanic, estuarine and freshwater ecosystems not currently well understood and identifies new questions and answers about the roles of mycology in aquatic ecosystems. This topic is becoming an increasingly important area to understand due to the increasing global transports of microbes due to climate change and human actions. This is leading to a rapid loss of healthy freshwater ecosystems, the grave problem of antibiotic resistance, and the rarity of qualified mycology taxonomists and molecular systematicians.

Ecology and Biodiversity of Benthos provides insights into the characteristic features of marine and estuarine benthos that play an important role in coastal ecosystem functioning, a primary level in the food chain. The book provides the latest information on multidisciplinary reflections by various researchers studying the benthic community. Through the chapters, ecosystem services are explored as a way to share approaches and scientific methods to achieve knowledge-based sustainable planning and management of benthic ecosystems. This is a helpful guide for anyone working on marine and estuarine environments, and for those who need an introduction to benthic ecology. The book has a wide range of scientific coverage since it caters primarily to the requirement of marine ecologists, marine benthologists, EIA experts, aquatic researchers, scientists, teachers and research scholars. In addition to this, it also serves as a reference for postgraduate/undergraduate students studying aquatic ecosystems.

Global Knowledge on the Commercial Sea Cucumber Holothuria Scabra, Volume 91 in the Advances in Marine Biology serial, highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters written by an international board of authors.

Pluralism in Ecosystem Governance, Volume 66 in the Advances in Ecological Research series, highlights new advances in the field, with this release including chapters on An exploration of the effects of political pluralism on decision making for sustainability: Implications for membership on public sector boards, Transdisciplinary agroecological research on biodiversity and ecosystem services for sustainable and climate resilient farming systems in Malawi, Pluralistic approaches in research advance farming and freshwater sustainability efforts in the Great Lakes Basin, Pluralism to manage the complexity of ecosystem services co-production, Of green spaces and gray areas: An Ethnography of Ecosystem Governance in Peri-Urban Bangaluru, India, and more. Additional chapters include Charting Evidence-based Biodiversity Pathways for Sustainable Development in Canada, Community-scientist collaboration in the creation, management and research for two new National Wildlife Areas in Arctic Canada, Rigid social-ecological governance: how discourse inertia has limited pluralism in Donana, and a variety of other topics.

Environmental Sustainability and Industries identifies and discusses critical areas related to environmentally conscious industrial development of products and services that may support more sustainable and equitable societies. This book addresses pollution prevention by referring to the use of processes, practices, and materials that reduce or eliminate the generation of pollutants at the source of production, more efficient use of raw materials, energy, water or other resources, or by conserving natural resources by maintaining clean production. It explains industrial energy efficiency as the most cost-effective use of energy in manufacturing processes, reducing its wastage as well as the total consumption of primary energy resources. Life cycle assessment is used as an analytical method to quantify environmental impacts, focusing on environmental considerations concerning process design and optimization, and including various sustainable manufacturing parameters in the context of industrial processes and proposes a classification of identified parameters to evaluate and optimize the manufacturing performances. The book also dives into industrial ecology, investigating how, where, and why environmental improvements can be made to develop a sustainable industry, meeting the needs of current generations without sacrificing the needs of the future ones. This book analyzes a company's environmental, social, and economic performance and their interrelationships, emphasizing the importance of identifying and understanding causal relationships between alternative approaches to action and their impact on financial and nonfinancial performance. It concludes with a view on the future of sustainable industrial systems stressing change as a joint effort of scientists, governments, people in business, and academicians.

Biochar in Agriculture for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals introduces the state-of-the-art of biochar for agricultural applications to actualize sustainable development goals and highlight current challenges and the way forward. The book focuses on scientific knowledge and biochar technologies for agricultural soil improvement and plant growth. Sections provide state-of-the-art knowledge on biochar production and characterization, focus on biochar for agricultural application and soil improvement, discuss the roles of biochar for environmental improvement in farmland to relieve water and waste management as well as climate change, highlight biochar used for boosting bioeconomy and clean energy, and discuss future prospects. This book will be important to agricultural engineers and researchers as well as those seeking to improve overall soil and environmental conditions through the use of biochar.

Urban Climate Change and Heat Islands: Characterization, Impacts, and Mitigation serves as a go to reference for a foundational understanding of urban-climate drivers and impacts. Through the book's comprehensive chapters, the authors help readers identify problems associated with urban climate change, along with potential solutions. Global case studies are included and presented in a way in which they become globally relevant to any urban or intra-urban environment. The authors call on their extensive experience to present and explore methodologies and approaches to quantifying urban-heat mitigation measures in a clear manner, focusing on heat islands, urban overheating and effects on air quality.

Environmental pollution as a consequence of diverse human activities has become a global concern. Urbanization, mining, industrial revolution, burning of fossil fuels/firewood and poor agricultural practices, in addition to improper dumping of waste products, are largely responsible for the undesirable change in the environment composition. Environmental pollution is mainly classified as air pollution, water pollution, land pollution, noise pollution, thermal pollution, light pollution, and plastic pollution. Nowadays, it has been realized that with the increasing environmental pollution, impurities may accumulate in plants, which are required for basic human uses such as for food, clothing, medicine, and so on. Environmental pollution has tremendous impacts on phenological events, structural patterns, physiological phenomena, biochemical status, and the cellular and molecular features of plants. Exposure to environmental pollution induces acute or chronic injury depending on the pollutant concentration, exposure duration, season and plant species. Moreover, the global rise of greenhouse gases such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane, chlorofluorocarbons and ozone in the atmosphere is among the major threats to the biodiversity. They have also shown visible impacts on life cycles and distribution of various plant species. Anthropogenic activities, including the fossil-fuel combustion in particular, are responsible for steady increases in the atmospheric greenhouse gases concentrations. This phenomenon accelerates the global heating. Studies have suggested that the changes in carbon dioxide concentrations, rainfall and temperature have greatly influenced the plant physiological and metabolic activities including the formation of biologically active ingredients. Taken together, plants interact with pollutants, and cause adverse ecological and economic outcomes. Therefore, plant response to pollutants requires more investigation in terms of damage detection, adaptation, tolerance, and the physiological and molecular responses. The complex interplay among other emerging pollutants, namely, radioisotopes, cell-phone radiation, nanoparticles, nanocomposites, heavy metals etc. and their impact on plant adaptation strategies, and possibility to recover, mitigation, phytoremediation, etc., also needs to be explored. Further, it is necessary to elucidate better the process of the pollutant's uptake by plant and accumulation in the food chain, and the plant resistance capability against the various kinds of environmental pollutants. In this context, the identification of tolerance mechanisms in plants against pollutants can help in developing eco-friendly technologies, which requires molecular approaches to increase plant tolerance to pollutants, such as plant transformation and genetic modifications. Pollutant-induced overproduction of reactive oxygen species that cause DNA damage and apoptosis-related alterations, has also been examined. They also trigger changes at the levels of transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome, which has been discussed in this book.

Covid-19: Biomedical Perspectives, Volume 50 in the Methods in Microbiology series highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters written by an international board of authors. Individual chapters in this new release include Sensitive methods for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, Treatment of COVID-19 using Chinese herbal medicine, Understanding how SARS-CoV-2 is evolving and its impact on COVID-19 animal models and vaccine evaluation, Methods in machine learning to identify COVID-19 literature, COVID-19 seasonal behavior and the mutational landscape of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, CRISPR use in Diagnosis and Therapy for COVID-19, and much more.

Advances in Agronomy, Volume 174, the latest release in this leading reference on agronomy, contains a variety of updates and highlights new advances in the field. Each chapter is written by an international board of authors.

In good times, growth and profits are welcome, but in bad times we need resilience, and resilience cannot be spirited up overnight. The economic fallout from the 2008-9 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic has been considerable. Each required unprecedented measures to prevent the economy from crashing. We can learn from crisis to move beyond the superficial success of growth-based economics to adopt a more robust way to frame economics. The adoption of resilient economics should allow an economic system to evolve that is stable by default. The next crisis could be any number of issues, some very closely aligned with the economy and others related to health and environment, or something else entirely. A truly resilient economy should be able to weather any crisis and bounce back when it abates. We need to recalibrate economics to regain its place as a solid and respected discipline at the heart of policymaking. Resilient economics can do this. It provides a framework that moves away from focusing on expansion and growth, to focusing on security, stability, and sustainability. All societies are different; every economy should be different.

Thermophysical Properties of Individual Hydrocarbons of Petroleum and Natural Gases: Properties, Methods, and Low-Carbon Technologies is a go-to data source for engineers who need derive property data on everyday components. Providing more precise data improves existing oil and gas processing systems and creates opportunities for more sustainable operations and equipment, such as hydrogen and carbon capture. Covering modern equations of state, this source discusses detailed descriptions of experimental apparatus, methods of measurement, corrections and error estimates as well as results of previous experiments. Generalized predictive methods for calculating viscosity and thermal conductivity are also covered. Rounding out with property databases and lower-carbon technology advances, the book gives today's engineers a detailed study of methods for more sustainable experimental research of thermophysical properties.

Catchment Hydrological Modelling: The Science and Art covers various methods (and equations) for modeling all components of a CHM. Readers are presented with multiple methods and approaches to modeling the same component, allowing them to distinguish the differences between methods. The books also provides a clear understanding of what makes some commonly used hydrological models similar or different and what their strengths and weaknesses may be. This comprehensive guide contains questions and answers in each chapter, along with concepts and detailed equations that are fundamental to understanding CHM. This book is useful to students and professionals in the fields of catchment and hydrology, as well as environmental and civil engineers.

Emerging Contaminants in the Environment: Challenges and Sustainable Practices covers all aspects of emerging contaminants in the environment, from basic understanding to different types of emerging contaminants and how these threaten organisms, their environmental fate studies, detection methods, and sustainable practices of dealing with contaminants. Emerging contaminant remediation is a pressing need due to the ever-increasing pollution in the environment, and it has gained a lot of scientific and public attention due to its high effectiveness and sustainability. The discussions in the book on the bioremediation of these contaminants are covered from the perspective of proven technologies and practices through case studies and real-world data. One of the main benefits of this book is that it summarizes future challenges and sustainable solutions. It can, therefore, become an effective guide to the elimination (through sustainable practices) of emerging contaminants. At the back of these explorations on sustainable bioremediation of emerging contaminants lies the set of 17 goals articulated by the United Nations in its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all its member states. This book provides academics, researchers, students, and practitioners interested in the detection and elimination of emerging contaminants from the environment, with the latest advances by leading experts in emerging contaminants the field of environmental sciences.