Food security in developing countries depends in part on the sustainable use of natural resources. Food security is usually examined through three dimensions, namely the availability, access, and utilization of food. Ecosystems directly and indirectly support each of these dimensions through the provision of critical ecosystem services that facilitate agricultural production, create income-gene...

1. General Background for Agro-Ecology 1.1. The Field of Ecology 1.2. Specifics of Agro-Ecology 2. Environmental Resources of Food Supply 3. Environmental Constrains on Food Production 4. Loss of Biological Diversity and its Potential Impact on Food Production 4.1. General causes of Biodiversity losses 4.2 Impact on Food Production 5. Water for Agriculture and Food Production 6. Energy use in F...

protein based films used for food packaging despite having numerous benefits like biodegradability and renewability suffer from essential drawbacks of weak mechanical and water vapour barrier properties. in recent years efforts for improving functional properties of such films from various resources, through modifying formulation, molecular crosslinking and promote proteins based composite film...

Cities have always been dependent on a variety of resources not only for their survival, but also to enable them to serve as places of innovation and civilisation. As those who in the past laid siege to cities knew all too well, one of the most important of these resources is food. Over the course of the last century cities have been supplied with their food from an increasingly wide range, ind...

The decision for an ant forager to launch recruitment is governed by an internal response threshold. Here, we demonstrate that this threshold (the desired volume) triggering trail-laying increases under starvation. As a consequence, highly starved foragers lay a recruitment trail and bring back to the nest higher quantities of food from large unlimited resources. In contrast, when the volume of...

The common genet (Genetta genetta) and the stone marten (Martes foina) are two species that overlap extensively in their distribution ranges in southwest Europe. Available diet data from these species allow us to predict some interference competition for food resources in sympatric populations. We checked the food interference hypothesis in a sympatric population. The diet of both predators was...

The abundance and the distribution of trophic resources available for consumers influence the productivity and the diversity of natural communities. Nevertheless, assessment of the actual abundance of food items available for individual trophic groups has been constrained by differences in methods and metrics used by various authors. Here we develop an index of food abundance, the framework of ...

1. Water and the Environment 1.1. The Hydrological Cycle 1.2. Surface Water and Groundwater 1.3. Aquatic Ecosystems 1.4. Water Quality and Health 1.5. Climate Variability and Water Resources 1.6. Climate Change and Water Resources 1.7. Other Threats Linked to Water Resources 2. Water and Food: Agriculture 2.1. Water Requirements 2.2. Farming with Agrochemicals 2.3. Water and Animal Production S...

1. Japan is an island with approximately 70% of land covered by mountain forests and where arable space is limited. Fishing communities are located in all coastal areas nationwide. Food resources from the ocean have historically played a significant role in the Japanese diet. Even today, around 40% of protein consumed by Japanese people comes from sea food. 2 Ensuring the long-term sustainabili...