Aquaculture has been considered as an option to cope with the world food demand. However, criticisms have arisen around aquaculture, most of them related to the destruction of ecosystems such as mangrove forest to construct aquaculture farms, as well as the environmental impacts of the effluents on the receiving ecosystems. The inherent benefits of aquaculture such as massive food production an...

This contribution is based on the assumption that solutions to most environmental problems will require the application of knowledge based on an understanding of how ecosystems and landscapes function and how they are linked in time and space. I also assume that almost all plans to solve environmental problems will be made with the knowledge that they are based on a limited and imperfect scient...

River-floodplain systems are among the most diverse and productive ecosystems, but the effects of biophysical complexity at multiple scales on microbial biodiversity have not been studied. Here, we investigated how the hierarchical organization of river systems (i.e., region, floodplain, zone, habitats, and microhabitats) influences epilithic biofilm community assemblage patterns by characteriz...

Global warming leads to increased intensity and frequency of weather extremes. Such increased environmental variability might in turn result in increased variation in the demographic rates of interacting species with potentially important consequences for the dynamics of food webs. Using a theoretical approach, we here explore the response of food webs to a highly variable environment. We inves...

During the next 50 years, which is likely to be the final period of rapid agricultural expansion, demand for food by a wealthier and 50% larger global population will be a major driver of global environmental change. Should past dependences of the global environmental impacts of agriculture on human population and consumption continue, 10(9) hectares of natural ecosystems would be converted to ...

Since the industrial revolution, our world has experienced rapid and unplanned industrialization and urbanization. As a result, we have had to cope with serious environmental challenges. In this context, explanation of how smart urban ecosystems can emerge, gains a crucial importance. Capacity building and community involvement have always been the key issues in achieving sustainable developmen...

Scientific investigations have progressively refined our understanding of the influence of the environment on human health, and the many adverse impacts that human activities exert on the environment, from the local to the planetary level. Nonetheless, throughout the modern public health era, health has been pursued as though our lives and lifestyles are disconnected from ecosystems and their c...