Sustainability Of Ecological Systems Research Articles

Exploring paperless working: A step towards low carbon footprint

Mass production of paper is one of the significant factors that are contributing to increase in carbon outrush in the global ecological system. The paper trade releases large volumes of air, water, and soil pollutants, which pony up to green house gasses. The rotted paper releases methane gas, which is many times more hazardous than carbon dioxide. Paperless business is a vital environmental business practice that is better for the upliftment of the current degrading environment. Global corporations are promoting paperless workplaces to move a step forward towards a sustainable ecological system and achieve the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. The research study after observation opined that although various challenges are being portrayed by employing digitalization of workplaces still working paperless is quite fruitful for the global ecological system. The digital innovations are the only alternatives available in the current times for the paper based job places. In this research study fairly was also studied the critical aspect of paperless workplace. On analyzing the dark data of the global corporeal world it was depicted that digitalization is also enhancing the carbon footprint. It is thus concluded in this research study that sensible and secure use of digital technology could only make paperless working successful.

Management of root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne incognita in Okra using wheat flour as bionematocides

The current study aims to determine how well root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne sp.) are reduced when wheat flour is used as bio-nematicides to increase agricultural productivity. Root-knot nematodes inflict a significant amount of annual loss by parasitizing plant species, many of which are vegetable crops. They harm plants to the extent that they contribute between 10% to 40% of India's annual agricultural losses. A multi-cropping system and the advent of high-yielding crop types have increased the demand for efficient crop protection. Different strategies, including biological, physical, and cultural usage of resistant varieties, and pesticides, have been developed to control the phytophagous nematodes to deal with the situation. Organic raw materials used on the okra plants and the root-knot nematode are evaluated together with prospective bionematocides that aim to manage nematodes over the long run for a sustainable ecological system and profitable crop values. Using a greater dose of the liquid bioagent formulation significantly reduces the nematode population and increases the plant growth parameter. Plant materials provide effective nematicides that are easily biodegradable. The present study intends to further establish the effectiveness of bio-nematicides, such as wheat flour, in treating root-knot disease.

Calculation of the carbon footprint of industrial hybrid solar - wind turbines

Ensuring stable access for both the world’s population and various industries with clean energy from renewable sources is one of the most important problems that society will have to solve in the 21st century. The resource base of the energy sector, on which all the economic activities of mankind are based, is exhaustible in the foreseeable future. In this regard, the issues of energy conservation, development and implementation of alternative energy systems from renewable energy sources are becoming one of the most urgent. The article discusses the impact of the food industry on the sustainability of ecological systems, provides a detailed review of methods for calculating the carbon footprint of goods and services, provides data on comparing the accuracy between methods, calculates the carbon footprint of a hybrid solar-wind turbine of a given power.

Improving the Early Properties of Treated Soft Kaolin Clay with Palm Oil Fuel Ash and Gypsum

Soft soil problems and increased production of fuel waste have emerged due to world population growth. These two problems are prompting engineers to introduce new methods of using waste fuel to stabilize the soil. Previous research has shown clear sustained improvements in soil properties using palm oil fuel ash (POFA) when mixed with a calcium-based binder such as NaCl, lime or cement. The use of such a stabilizing agent can reduce the economic problems associated with reducing the cost of waste disposal and create a sustainable ecological system. It is an alternative method of replacing part of the soil to ensure a balance between economic growth and ecological privilege, leading to the achievement of green technology goals. However, this research is aimed at improving the properties of processed soft kaolin clay with a combination of POFA and gypsum. The physical and mechanical properties of all samples were tested. The results showed a decrease in the specific gravity with the addition of POFA and an increase with gypsum alone, as well as a decrease with a mixture of POFA and gypsum and a decrease in the soil plasticity index due to a better increase in the plasticity limit compared to the liquid limit. This is considered a sign of improved geotechnical properties and reduced linear shrinkage. It was also shown that the treated clay showed an increase in the optimal water content and a drop in the maximum dry density. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that the initial properties of the processed soft kaolin clay with the addition of POFA can be significantly improved.

International Cooperation in Environmental Management

The paper examines international documents (conventions and other treaties, declarations, resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and other acts), which show transitional moments when and how organizational and legal measures to improve the state of the environment began to appear in the field of international cooperation on the environment. Based on their analysis, the author concludes that in the course of the formation and development of international cooperation in the field of the environment, measures to improve its condition and rational use of natural resources are increasingly recognized as one of the main ways to maintain the ecological balance. The concept of international cooperation in the field of rational environmental management has been formulated. It is proposed to understand it as a system of organizational and legal measures taken by the world community and its members to improve the state of the environment, which, among other things, includes the rational use of natural resources, improvement, restoration of the environment and other measures to enhance the sustainability of ecological systems as a whole.

Integrating socioecological indexes in multiobjective intelligent optimization of green-grey coupled infrastructures

Ecological conservation is an important objective in urban runoff management today. Maintaining a sustainable ecological system is as equally important a task as to ensure the safety of drainage systems and runoff management cost control. Thus, the socioecological influences of runoff control infrastructure are innovatively included in a uniform evaluation framework with the control functions and capital investments in this study. These indexes are quantified through hydrological model simulation, life cycle cost analysis, and life cycle assessment. Traditional grey infrastructure and rapidly developing green infrastructure for runoff control are optimized simultaneously. For the trade-off between multiobjectives and configurations of multi-infrastructures, nondominated sorting genetic algorithm-II is utilized to achieve automatic optimization of runoff control infrastructure scale, thereby avoiding the dilemma where manually arranged schemes cannot perform optimally. This multiobjective intelligent optimization is applied to a sponge city pilot region in Wuhan, China, and trade-offs are made in the Pareto optimal solution set. A breakthrough is claimed in quantifying the respective contribution of green and grey infrastructures to the optimal scenario in terms of runoff control function, cost input, and socioecological influence. For socioecological influence, the paybacks can meet the investment in the aspect of toxicity health hazard, pathogenic matter, global warming, terrestrial acidification, and water eutrophication (average socioecological paybacks are 2.0, 2.1, 2.9, 1.9, and 2.1 times to the investments respectively). Results prove the necessity of considering multiobjective optimization and green-grey couple infrastructures in a uniform framework.

Multispecies ethnography: reciprocal interaction between residents and the environment in Segara Anakan, Indonesia

ABSTRACT This article argues that the anthropocentric perspective applied in the literature on humans and the environment has produced invalid, biased conclusions, which have caused errors in the measures taken to mitigate natural disasters. Taking the case of the residents of Kampung Laut, this study synergizes the concept of culture and nature. The residents live in an area facing landscape changes due to massive sedimentation. Their first problem is related to land tenure. The other relates to agricultural activities which require reciprocal interactions between humans and the environment in the ecological system. Kampung Laut residents, who once lived harmoniously with marine biota, must now adapt and cultivate new varieties of rice, mangroves and albizia. The result of this research reveals that the balance between humans and nature requires a cause and several forms of interaction such as threats, conflicts, compromises and harmony, which may occur simultaneously and not gradually. This article asserts that anthropology as science can contribute to humanitarian issues through a holistic and integrative multispecies understanding that enables humans and nature to develop a balanced and sustainable ecological system.

Men and cockfight through the lens of multispecies ethnography: from the symbolism of masculinity to multispecies collaboration

ABSTRACT This paper calls for another perspective on cockfight and the symbolism of masculinity. Previous research on cockfighting has its own perspective and interesting findings, one such work on the matter was that of Geertz who focused on the symbolism of cockfighting within the context of Balinese culture. I argue that, as anthropological studies develop a number of anthropological approaches that produce a more holistic ethnography also evolve. One of them is multispecies ethnography. This approach places culture and nature on one equal level of analysis. This research involves Kampung Laut People in Segara Anakan, Indonesia. The data is collected through observation and in-depth interviews through the ‘art of noticing’ method. The findings of this research show a different perspective in understanding the practice of cockfighting through interspecies collaboration. In terms of scientific contributions, this paper introduces a multispecies ethnographic approach as another approach to understanding the socio-cultural phenomenon of cockfighting and human interactions with non-human species. This perspective complements Geertz’s symbolic cultural perspective. In terms of its contribution to humanitarian issues, the holistic multispecies perspective employed within this research advocates for a balanced interrelation between humans and other species in creating a sustainable ecological system.

Sustainable development and environmental problem

Different forms of inequality, resulting from anthropogenic environmental changes, constitute a large part of the environmental problems. Environmental benefits and harms are not distributed equally across and within national boundaries. Such benefits and harms are unevenly distributed within and between generations. The environmental harms are caused by our current practices and will afflict our future generations, while benefits are enjoyed by the present generations alone. The concepts of “sustainability” and “sustainable development” have been developed to address such problems of inter-generational equality. The concept of sustainability began its career in the context of sustainable agriculture and sustainable ecological system. Any account of sustainability must answer questions about what should be sustained, for whom it is to be sustained and why. In the mainstream economic literature, the answer to the first questions is a certain level of human welfare which is understood as preference satisfaction. This definition leads to the further questions as to what is required for such maintenance of this level of human welfare over time. The main aim of this article is to discuss these entire problems and provide some possible solutions to overcome this challenge positively.

Factors influencing heavy metal availability and risk assessment of soils at typical metal mines in Eastern China

China exemplifies the serious and widespread soil heavy metal pollution generated by mining activities. A total of 420 soil samples from 58 metal mines was collected across Eastern China. Total and available heavy metal concentrations, soil physico-chemical properties and geological indices were determined and collected. Risk assessments were applied, and a successive multivariate statistical analysis was carried out to provide insights into the heavy metal contamination characteristics and environmental drivers of heavy metal availability. The results suggested that although the degrees of pollution varied between different mine types, in general they had similar contamination characteristics in different regions. The major pollutants for total concentrations were found to be Cd and As in south and northeast China. The availability of Zn and Cd is relatively higher in south China. Soil physico-chemical properties had major effect on metal availability where soil pH was the most important factor. On a continental scale, soil pH and EC were influenced by the local climate patterns which could further impact on heavy metal availability. Enlightened by this study, future remediation strategies should be focused on steadily increasing soil pH, and building adaptable and sustainable ecological system to maintain low metal availabilities in mine site soils.

ECOLOGICAL POLICY OF EU COUNTRIES REGARDING THE REGULATION OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN THE FIELD OF MAINTAINING ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY

Introduction. The article is devoted to the analysis of the environmental policy of the EU countries on the regulation of public relations in the field of environmental safety. The article clarifies the legislative definition of environmental safety in Ukraine. It was found that the indicator that comprehensively reflects various aspects of the environment, the sustainability of ecological systems, as well as the effectiveness of state policy in the field of ecology is the index of environmental efficiency. The index of ecological efficiency in the context of the countries of the European Union is analyzed. The author calculates the dynamics of changes in the environmental performance index for EU countries. The division of EU countries by regions has been carried out. Summary of the main research results. The environmental legislation of the EU countries, in particular, Denmark, Slovakia, France and Malta, which have the highest indicators of the environmental efficiency index for 2018 in their region, is analyzed. The place of Ukraine in the specified rating is defined. It is determined that the environmental efficiency index for 2020 is calculated according to the new methodology, so it can no longer be used in retrospect.It is found that maintaining environmental safety is a complex concept that encompasses a wide range of measures, procedures and practices to maintain environmental safety and human security at the proper level of their existence, in order to protect them from anthropogenic impacts and natural changes. Conclusions. It is concluded that for the most part the structure and content of environmental legislation of the EU is similar to the Ukrainian, both in terms of specialization of laws and government agencies that ensure compliance with regulations. However, the low efficiency of our public services is still linked to the Soviet legacy (as in Slovakia). The need for a more detailed analysis and outline of prospects for the implementation of the Danish experience in Ukraine on the regulation of land relations, rules for the use of fertilizers, implementation of programs for the use of nitrates, opportunities for benefits for farmers. It is determined that the main leitmotif of EU environmental policies is the greening of the economy and large-scale use of renewable energy sources. Emphasis is placed on the urgent need for a comprehensive policy of environmental education of Ukrainian citizens, starting from school age.

ESTIMATION OF RECREATIONAL LOAD OF ORYOL CITY URBAN PARK «KUL'TURY I OTDYKHA»

The article considers the impact of recreational load on the natural-anthropogenic region — Central park «Kul'tury I Otdykha» in the city of Oryol. To ensure the sustainable development of natural areas, the ability of components of the environment to heal itself in the conditions of anthropogenic impact is of particu-lar importance. Most of the anthropogenic load in a large city is the recreational load, which significantly affects the natural frame of urban areas. Recreational load causes a significant degradation of the natural complex of the city, and its value is determined by the planning structure of urban development, which deter-mines the distribution of population density and transport accessibility of recreation facilities. Calculated data revealed the recreational load from the planning structure of the residential area located within walking distance from the coastal recreational zone. Ensuring the safety of urban parks, it is necessary to work with complete and reliable information that can only be obtained through regular monitoring studies. The spatial organization of coastal recreational zones should meet the objectives of maintaining and improving the eco-logical balance of recreational areas, as well as the formation of a comfortable architectural and planning structure of recreational zones and the selection of the most significant recreational formations based on the ecological and recreational capabilities of natural areas and the needs of the population. In this regard, it is necessary to develop functional zoning of natural-anthropogenic regions to regulate the level of recreational impact, and ensure the sustainability of ecological systems of the city. To monitor the level of anthropogenic impacts, the definition is used — the ecological capacity, which is determined by the limiting values of an-thropogenic loads determined on the basis of field observations.

Continuous controlled long-term operation and modeling of a closed loop connecting an air-lift photobioreactor and an animal compartment for the development of a life support system

The MELiSSA (MicroEcological Life Support System Alternative) project is developing a closed regenerative life support system for long-term space missions by considering the integration of six biological compartments tested in a dedicated pilot plant. The technological effort of building such a closed and sustainable ecological system can also have relevant applications for intensive circular resources reutilization at terrestrial level. In this work, the continuous operation and gas phase connection of two elements of the loop (83 L air-lift Limnospira indica photobioreactor (PBR) and a rat isolator (mock crew)) is performed and modelled. The model includes PBR hydrodynamic characterization, gas-liquid mass transfer and cyanobacteria growth, crew consumption and a control system adjusting light intensity according to oxygen demand. The model is validated in a series of tests where crew compartment oxygen setpoints are sequentially changed to test the global dynamics. The obtained results show a good model performance, as indicated in the low relative error (≤ 0.06) and the high Pearson correlation coefficient and Willmott-d-index obtained for the main variable of the system (0.98–1.00), oxygen concentration, in all cases.

Population models with quasi-constant-yield harvest rates.

One-dimensional logistic population models with quasi-constant-yield harvest rates are studied under the assumptions that a population inhabits a patch of dimensionless width and no members of the population can survive outside of the patch. The essential problem is to determine the size of the patch and the ranges of the harvesting rate functions under which the population survives or becomes extinct. This is the first paper which discusses such models with the Dirichlet boundary conditions and can tell the exact quantity of harvest rates of the species without having the population die out. The methodology is to establish new results on the existence of positive solutions of semi-positone Hammerstein integral equations using the fixed point index theory for compact maps defined on cones, and apply the new results to tackle the essential problem. It is expected that the established analytical results have broad applications in management of sustainable ecological systems.

Impact of Anthropogenic Factor on Urboecological Space Development

The article discusses the issues of the impact of the anthropogenic factor on urboecological space development. The issues are considered taking into account retrospective theoretical data to show the process of Anthropoecology development as a new branch of sociological science. At present the noosphere acquires features of anthropoecosystems having a number of parameters from the endogenous and exogenous point of view. Anthropoecology has special socio-cultural significance as considers the interaction of all actors of international space. There introduced the new branch Ecopsycology as the outer world is the reflection of the inner human world. There is a definition of the sustainability of ecological system. In the practical part of the article there is an example of academic mobility as the basis of the human potential with possible transfer into the human capital supporting by survey data. In conclusion there are recommendations on management and adaptation of the anthropogenic factor (a kind of biogenesis) in modern urboecological space.

Effects of climate change on biodiversity

Until the 1980s, climate change and biodiversity were studied as two independent disciplines for more than a century. In 1992, the Ecological Society of America’s annual report named climate change, biodiversity, and the sustainable ecological system as the three major global environmental issues of the twenty-first century [1]. During the last two decades, increasing global evidence has shown that the anthropogenic climate change of the last half-century has been a dominant factor causing significant changes in biodiversity in various regions and habitat types. Responses of biodiversity in quantity, composition, ecosystem services, and the adaption to climate change have also become hot topics in ecology. Driven by academic and practical challenges, the two distinct fields of climate change and biodiversity have expanded rapidly over the past two decades, as shown by (1) accelerating growth of national, regional, and international networks of biodiversity and climate change; (2) rapid growth of the literature on these issues; and (3) recent establishment and development of the Intergovernmental Science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), following the format of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Research of Ecological Restoration in Xiawan Stream

Abstract. Xiawan stream belongs to Xiangjiang River as an important tributary in Zhuzhou city, it is located in Qingshuitang heavy industry zone. The industrial pollution in the zone destroy the ecological environment there, and directly affects the Xiangjiang River water quality, therefore, it also brings some negative impact to the drinking water for people who living in Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan city group. It needs an urgent regeneration planning to recover the good quality water ecological environment. There will be tow methods to deal with this problem, the first, repairing the canal and both banks to support the ecological recovering; second, using green infrastructure around the river to heal the recently damages and to build an sustainable ecological system.

Effects of ectomycorrhizal fungus Boletus edulis and mycorrhiza helper Bacillus cereus on the growth and nutrient uptake by Pinus thunbergii

The present greenhouse study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of co-inoculating the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungus Boletus edulis with the mycorrhiza helper bacterium Bacillus cereus HB12 or HB59 on the growth and nutrient uptake of Pinus thunbergii. The inoculation with mycorrhiza helper bacterium significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased the ectomycorrhizal colonization. Treatments with dual inoculum (the mycorrhiza helper bacterium plus mycorrhiza) significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased the P. thunbergii growth. Bacteria–mycorrhizae interactions resulted in a great utilization of phosphate and potassium. The single inoculation resulted in a higher root activity than the control while the co-inoculation led to the highest root activity. The 6-CFDA staining assay showed that B. cereus enhanced fungal activity in ectomycorrhizal symbiosis. The results conclusively suggest that B. cereus isolated from the rhizosphere of P. thunbergii can potentially be used as individual inoculant or co-inoculated with ECM fungi to increase the production in sustainable ecological systems. These results support the potential use of B. cereus (HB12 or HB59) and B. edulis as mixed inoculants stimulating growth of P. thunbergii.

Relationship between <i>Reaumuria soongorica</i> Community Structure and Soil Quality of the Semiarid Loess Plateau, NW of China

Reaumuria soongorica is the main dominant and constructive species of the desert shrub vegetation in the northwestern of China. The informations about changes in soil quality and vegetation structure togethor are available, which can provide valuable insights into the development of sustainable ecological systems that optimize production and maintain high environmental quality, but the variety of the plant community structure associate with dynamics of soil nutrient and microbial biomass are little known. In this study, five coverage levels of R. soongorica community were determined, while soil nutrients and microbial biomass were investigated. The results showed that the trends of plant species diversity (species richness) are ‘humped-back model’, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), soil microbial biomass C (MBC) and N (MBN) slightly increased with plant cover but not with plant species richness. MBC and MBN were positively correlated with SOC and TN (P<0.05), and plant cover showed positively correlated with soil nutrients and soil microbial biomass. It was concluded that vegetation restoration improved soil nutrient status and indirectly affected soil microbial biomass. However, the unilateral increase of vegetation cover will have less effect to soil quality.

Ecology and the transition to sustainability

Ecological knowledge is essential for a successful transition to sustainability – a transition to a world in which hunger and poverty are reduced, while the Earth's life support system, thebiosphere, is conserved. The Ecological Society of America (ESA) has been working working to promote a change to sustainability for over a decade. In 1991, the Society launched its Sustainable Biosphere Initiative (SBI), which has had many successes. The initiative stimulated new ecological research and advanced ecological knowledge in the service of society. In addition, it has fostered communication of that knowledge to our nation's leaders, to help them make informed decisions about the complex challenges of protecting and improving the environment while maintaining economic prosperity. Despite more than a decade of effort, our work on the move to sustainability is in its early stages. This task is complicated by the fact that we are seeking sustainability in a changing world that is putting ever more pressure on the biosphere. Since the initiation of the SBI, the human population has grown beyond 6 billion. Across the globe, people are abandoning rural areas for cities; these human-designed environments, when poorly conceived, degrade the ecosystems that supply essential services such as cleansing of air and water and stabilizing landscapes against erosion by wind and water. Essential ecosystem services are also being compromised by the introduction of alien species of plants and animals into ecosystems, either purposefully or inadvertently. Regional air and water pollution have become the unwanted companions of economic growth in much of the developing world, and this pollution is taking a toll on human health as well as reducing yields of the food and fiber that are so desperately needed by a growing world population. Greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning and deforestation continue to accumulate in the atmosphere and are causing climate change. Overfishing, especially of the high tropic levels, is impoverishing the world's oceans. The list goes on. As the threats to the world's transition to sustainability continue to mount, ESA has taken a fresh look at this critical issue and the future of ecological science in general. In 2002, the Society's Governing Board charged a committee to prepare an action plan that would accelerate our progress in addressing the major environmental issues of the new century. Over a 2-year period, what has come to be known as the “Visions Committee” consulted our membership as well as many organizations and individuals outside ESA. They articulated their core position as follows: “Ecological knowledge can and must play a central role in helping achieve a world in which human populations exist with sustainable ecological systems.” The action plan focuses on three areas: building an informed public, advancing innovative, anticipatory research, and stimulating cultural changes that foster a forward-looking and international ecology. The Visions Committee has proposed 26 specific actions, designed to cover these focus areas. Some require modest investments of time and money, while others require major commitments of resources. An example of the latter is the call for a major information campaign to bring issues of ecological sustainability before the general public. The Governing Board of the Society is working to prioritize the list of actions and to move forward rapidly. On behalf of the Society's membership, we thank the Visions Committee for a job well done. This issue of Frontiers begins with an overview paper by the Visions Committee that summarizes its recommended actions. The remaining papers address some of the main ecological issues that must be dealt with if society is to make progress towards a more sustainable future. Jerry M Melillo (President) Nancy B Grimm (President-elect) William H Schlesinger (Past President)