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Chapter

Cover Environmental Chemistry

Water pollution and water treatment chemistry  

This chapter focuses on the meaning of water pollution and water treatment for the protection of water resources. In a first step, it defines what is meant by pollution in this context. It considers definitions based on purity, on naturalness, and a utilitarian definition and highlights their limitations. The chapter then reviews the desired chemical characteristics of various types of water and corresponding water quality guidelines before outlining wastewater treatment processes with emphasis on secondary and tertiary technologies. The chapter covers the chemistry of water treatment processes as wastewater which is discharged from urban centres is one of the principal contributors to water pollution.

Chapter

Cover Applied Ecology

Remediation Ecology  

This chapter focuses on remediation ecology. First, it gives an overview of pollution in relation to the development of modern society. Pollution is defined as anything harmful that is introduced into the environment by humans. The chapter lists the types and sources of pollution before turning to an exploration of the scale of pollution. It then explains the general principles of bioremediation. The chapter notes that the practice is growing fast as a result of supported advances in biotechnology and the production of genetically modified organisms. It looks at bioremediation processes using plants, which are called phytoremediation. Finally, the chapter presents an interview with applied ecologist Matthew Simpson.

Chapter

Cover Marine Ecology: Processes, Systems, and Impacts

Pollution, Disturbance, and Environmental Monitoring  

This chapter considers the role of human activities in causing ecological disturbance. The significance of human activities is gauged against the scale and frequency of natural sources of disturbance. Human activities modify the marine environment, both through the removal of biomass and habitats and via the addition of contaminants and physical structures. To understand the ecological importance of human activities in the marine environment, one must be able to detect changes in measured ecological characteristics using appropriate observational or experimental techniques. An understanding of the scale at which ecological processes operate should underpin the ultimate selection of metrics chosen for study (e.g. diversity, abundance, biomass). Hence, the chapter discusses the relevance of a selection of measures and the importance of developing appropriate experimental designs.

Chapter

Cover Food and Sustainability

Soils  

What are the impacts of agriculture on soils?

Paul F. Hudson, Peter Houben, and Thijs Bosker

This chapter focuses on the impacts of agriculture on soil, which is a vital natural resource for food production and provides a range of ecosystem services. About 95% of the world's food production comes from the soil while the remaining 5% comes from glass greenhouses and fisheries. The chapter describes the basic components of soil and the soil ecosystem services: provisioning, supporting, regulating, and cultural services. The discussion emphasizes that about a third of global soil resources already have been degraded by human activities, mostly due to modern agricultural practices. The chapter also tackles the key causes of soil degradation: water and wind erosion, pollution, and salinization. Furthermore, the chapter reviews how to examine a soil horizon and explores hydroponic agriculture – the growing of crops outside the soil.

Chapter

Cover Marine Biology

The Tidelands  

Rocky Shores, Soft-Substratum Shores, Marshes, Mangroves, Estuaries, and Oyster Reefs

This chapter tackles the habitats formed in tidelands, which primarily involve rocky shores, soft-substratum shores, marshes, mangroves, estuaries, and oyster reefs. Most ecological processes operate within a strong physiological gradient, from a marine to a terrestrial environment in each tidal cycle. Meanwhile, high nutrient inputs and the removal of predators have created ecological instability. Since oysters occur in reefs, which are structures that increase local biodiversity, their feeding and biodisposition may strongly affect the overlying water column and nitrogen cycling in some estuaries. The chapter shows how pollution, disease, and overexploitation of oysters have resulted in widespread degradation of oyster reefs throughout the world.

Book

Cover Food and Sustainability

Paul Behrens, Thijs Bosker, and David Ehrhardt

Food and Sustainability is composed of three parts. It starts off with an introduction to the topic. Part I, food and the environment, looks at biodiversity, pollution, water, soils, climate change, and energy. The next part looks at food and society. Chapters in this part cover nutrition, food security, food aid, and consumption. The final part, food and governance, is about food systems, governance, and collective action, with the text concluding by summarizing and looking to the future.

Chapter

Cover Ecology

Conservation Biology  

This chapter highlights conservation biology, which is the scientific study of the amount of biodiversity (including genetic diversity, species richness, and landscape diversity), how human activities are impacting it, and how best to maintain it and prevent its loss. It explains why biodiversity is declining and looks at the strategies conservation biologists use to address conservation problems. Primary threats to diversity include habitat loss, invasive species, overexploitation, pollution, disease, and climate change. Conservation biologists use many tools and work at multiple scales to manage declining populations. These include genetic analyses, population viability analysis (PVA), and ex situ conservation. Prioritizing species helps maximize the biodiversity that can be protected with limited resources.