Abstract
If in the 19th century scientific knowledge moved from a generalist perspective to a growing specialization, in recent decades, problems that transcend disciplinary and political boundaries have required solutions based on interdisciplinary research and global actions, which led to the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Viewing from the latter perspective, the study of ecosystem services has converged on a fast-growing, transdisciplinary area of knowledge, at the same time that the advances in the nuclear field have enabled applications in industry, health, agriculture and the environment. Considering the development of these two areas of knowledge, the objective of this study is to evaluate the correlation between Ecosystem Services (ES) and Nuclear Science and Technology (NST), by means of category building and content analysis applied to articles compiled from Web of Science. From 1980 to June 2020, 27,301 records (articles and reviews) were listed for the term “Ecosystem Service*”. When refining the result with the application of descriptors related to the nuclear field, correspondences were found for “Uranium”=14; “Nuclear Power”=6; “Nuclear Energy”=3; “Nuclear Technology*”=1; “Nuclear Fuel*”=1; “Nuclear Material*”=1; “Radiation”=7; “Isotope*”=188, totalizing 221 correspondences. On the other hand, 9,949 records were obtained for the same time interval, when using the descriptors for the nuclear field, plus the terms “Nature” or “Ecosystem*” or “Environment”. Despite attesting that NST truly converges on ES, this correlation needs to be made more explicit in ES studies, in order to expand the perspectives for the conservation, preservation and recovery of the ecosystem services and their contribution to human well-being.
Highlights
Ecosystems are defined as dynamic complexes composed of plant, animal, micro-organism and inorganic communities that interact as functional units [1, 2], whereas ecosystem services (ES) are understood to be the ecological characteristics, functions or processes that contribute directly or indirectly to human well-being (HWB), i.e. they are the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems [2 – 4]
In 2017, a survey of the Scopus database resulted in more than 17,000 records published with the term “ecosystem services” in the title, abstract or keywords, with more than 2,800 records in 2016 alone [4]
The fast-growing Ecosystem Services (ES) field is a well-established area of knowledge, with assessments being developed on global and regional scales by various initiatives, institutions and researchers, especially IPBES
Summary
Ecosystems are defined as dynamic complexes composed of plant, animal, micro-organism and inorganic (water, soil and air) communities that interact as functional units [1, 2], whereas ecosystem services (ES) are understood to be the ecological characteristics, functions or processes that contribute directly or indirectly to human well-being (HWB), i.e. they are the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems [2 – 4].The study of ES emerged in the 1980s and is consolidated as a well-defined transdisciplinary area [4 – 6], with journals that deal with the subject. Established in 2012, ECOSYSTEM SERVICES stands out as an international, interdisciplinary journal that deals with the science, policy and practice of ES. From 2012 to June 2020, ECOSYSTEM SERVICES published 1.057 articles [7]. Both the concept of ES and its applications have been widely popularized since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment – MA took place from 2001 to 2005. It is considered the largest scientific task force ever undertaken to evaluate the consequences of ecosystem changes for human well-being HWB and the scientific basis for action [2, 6, 8 – 10]. MA concluded that more than 60% of ES are being degraded or transformed, putting HWB at risk [8]
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