Continuing population and consumption growth will mean that the global demand for food will increase for at least another 40 years. Growing competition for land, water, and energy, in addition to the overexploitation of fisheries, will affect our ability to produce food, as will the urgent requirement to reduce the impact of the food system on the environment. The effects of climate change are a further threat. But the world can produce more food and can ensure that it is used more efficiently and equitably. A multifaceted and linked global strategy is needed to ensure sustainable and equitable food security, different components of which are explored here.

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Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is an independent organization devoted to the development of standards.

American Society for Testing and Materials

United States Agency for International Development

▶ Addresses a wide range of timely environment, economic and energy topics ▶ A forum to review, analyze and stimulate the development, testing and implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies at regional, national and global scales ▶ Contributes to real-time policy analysis and development as national and international policies and agreements are discussed and promulgated ▶ 94% of authors who answered a survey reported that they would definitely publish or probably publish in the journal again

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change

Biodegradation aspects of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): A review

Microalgae digestate effluent as a growth medium for Tetraselmis sp. in the production of biofuels

Implications of co-contamination with aged heavy metals and total petroleum hydrocarbons on natural attenuation and ecotoxicity in Australian soils

Waste engine oil pollution is an endemic problem in African countries as waste oil is often discharged into the environment without adequate treatment because waste oil recycling facilities are not readily available. In this study, laboratory-based microcosms (natural attenuation, biostimulation, bioaugmentation and combined treatment of biostimulation–bioaugmentation) were set up with soils (from old hydrocarbon biopiles) spiked with waste engine oil and monitored for 3 months. Total petroleum hydrocarbon analysis showed that biostimulation and biostimulation–bioaugmentation accelerated hydrocarbon degradation with over 84% reduction (<10,000 mg kg−1) by week 8. It took another 2 weeks for other microcosms to get below this classification of low-level contaminated waste and landfill disposal level. The highest degradation rate of 92% was obtained in biostimulated–bioaugmented microcosms (week 10). However, by week 12, there were no significant differences in hydrocarbon levels in naturally attenuated and treated microcosms. 16S rRNA and ITS-based denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profiling showed diverse bacterial and fungal communities with some dominant members belonging to hydrocarbon-degrading Proteobacteria, Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes. This research has therefore shown that hydrocarbon-polluted soils possess substantial microbial hydrocarbon-degrading capacity which was successfully harnessed for degrading engine oil. In developing countries without recycling facilities but readily available hydrocarbon-contaminated soils, using such soils for ex situ monitored natural attenuation could be an effective, low-cost and environment-friendly option for treating waste engine oil.

/pdf/harnessing-the-hydrocarbon-degrading-potential-of-14cbxugn81.pdf

Harnessing the hydrocarbon degrading potential of contaminated soils for the bioremediation of waste engine oil

The filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger is widely used in the biotechnology industry for the production of chemicals and enzymes. Engineering of this valuable organism to improve its productivity is currently hampered by the lack of efficient genetic tools. Here, a Cre-loxP-based system for gene editing in A. niger was developed and its application in construction of A. niger cell factories to produce various organic acids was explored. Two established inducible systems, the xylanase A gene promoter Pxln and Tet-on system, were examined for driving cre expression and thus selection marker hyh deletion. Under inducing conditions, the efficiency of loxP site-specific recombination in the strain with cre driven by Pxln is about 2%, while cre driven by Tet-on system is about 34% which was used as the platform strain for further genetic engineering. As a proof of application of this system, strains containing different copies of oxaloacetate acetylhydrolase–encoding gene (oahA) were constructed, and the resultant strain S428 showed as high as 3.1-fold increase in oxalic acid production. Furthermore, an efficient malate-producing strain was generated through four-step genetic manipulation (oahA deletion, pyc, mdh3 and C4-dicarboxylate transporter gene c4t318 insertion). The resultant strain S575 achieved a titer 120.38 g/L malic acid with the flask culture, and a titer 201.24 g/L malic acid in fed-batch fermentation. These results demonstrated that this modified Cre-loxP system is a powerful tool for genetic engineering in A. niger, which has the potential to be genetically modified as a viable aciduric platform strain to produce high levels of various organic acids.

Development of a Cre-loxP-based genetic system in Aspergillus niger ATCC1015 and its application to construction of efficient organic acid-producing cell factories

INTRODUCTION TO ECOLOGY. What is ecology?. Ten rules in ecology. ADAPTATION TO THE ENVIRONMENT. Adaptation. Coping with environmental variation. The niche. CLIMATE. Solar radiation and climate. Microclimate. WATER. The properties of water. Plants and water. Animals and water. TEMPERATURE. Temperature and metabolism. Responses to temperature. Temperature and species distribution. RADIATION. Solar radiation and plants. NUTRIENTS. Sources and cycles. Plants and consumers. Soil formation, properties and classification. POPULATION ECOLOGY. Populations and population structure. Natality, morality and population growth. Density and density dependence. Population dynamics - fluctuations, cycles and chaos. COMPETITION. The nature of competition. Intraspecific competition. Resource partitioning. PREDATION. The nature of predation. Predator behavior and prey response. PARASITISM. The nature of parasitism. The dynamics of parasitism. MUTUALISM. Mutualism. LIFE HISTORY PATTERNS. Life history. BEHAVIOURAL ECOLOGY. Social group, cooperation and altruism. Sex in ecology. POPULATION GENETICS. Genetic variation. Speciation. ECOSYSTEM PROCESSES. Components and processes. Primary and secondary production. Food chains. COMMUNITIES.The community, structure and stability. Island communities and colonization. Community patterns, competition and predation. COMMUNITY DYNAMICS. Succession. Community responses to disturbance. BIOMES. Ecosystem patterns. Grasslands. Tundra. Forests. Deserts, semi-deserts and shrubland. Saltwater biomes. Freshwater biomes. HARVESTING. Harvesting theory. Fishing and whaling. PEST CONTROL. The pest problem and control strategies. Pesticides and problems. Biological control and integrated pest management. CONSERVATION. Rare species, habit loss and extinction. Conservation strategies. Biological resources and gene banks. POLLUTION AND GLOBAL WARMING. Air, water and soil pollutants. Greenhouse gases and global warming. Ozone. THE ECOLOGY OF AGRICULTURE. Soil erosion and agriculture. Nutrient, water and energy use.

Andrew S. Ball

Papers

Microalgae digestate effluent as a growth medium for Tetraselmis sp. in the production of biofuels

Implications of co-contamination with aged heavy metals and total petroleum hydrocarbons on natural attenuation and ecotoxicity in Australian soils

Harnessing the hydrocarbon degrading potential of contaminated soils for the bioremediation of waste engine oil

Development of a Cre-loxP-based genetic system in Aspergillus niger ATCC1015 and its application to construction of efficient organic acid-producing cell factories

Instant Notes in Ecology