Current Opinion in Environmental Science and Health最新文献

This study examines the critical role of groundwater in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly focusing on SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG13 (Climate Action). The review elucidates the interconnected challenges faced by groundwater systems, including contamination, climate change, and over-extraction, and underscores innovative solutions, i.e., energy-efficient technologies, aquifer recharge, and sustainable management practices. The study analyses case studies from countries like the United Kingdom, USA, India, Germany, China, Australia, and the Netherlands, with a focus on successful integration of groundwater management into SDG fulfillment strategies. It recommends enhanced groundwater data and modeling, improved governance, participatory management, and the adoption of nature-based solutions to ensure groundwater sustainability. This study contributes to the discourse on water security, emphasising the pivotal role of groundwater in fulfilling global sustainability agendas and fostering resilient communities against climate variability.

While direct effects of biopesticides, such as those of plant and microbial origin, on various organisms have been extensively documented, the interactions between biopesticides and plants have been largely neglected. Plant-based (bio) pesticides can include metabolites that signal stress or imminent herbivore attack, activating plant signaling pathways and gene expression involved in antiherbivore defenses. Similarly, entomopathogenic microbes can adopt an endophytic lifestyle, colonizing or being recognized by crop plants and inducing a primed state that makes plants more resistant to subsequent arthropod pest infestations. Besides effects within the biopesticide-treated plants, we predict that biopesticides can influence multitrophic interactions in the agroecosystem due to their interactions between treated and neighboring nontreated plants, as well as indirect effects from volatile organic compounds released by biopesticides on the plant surface, which arthropod pests and their natural enemies use as cues for finding hosts or food resources. Here we review and interpret empirical studies examining plant-mediated effects and indirect effects of biopesticides on arthropod pests and their entomophagous biological control agents in the context of pest management. Unlike synthetic pesticides, most studies indicate conducive effects of biopesticides for pest management, considering the interactions among plants, pests, and natural enemies. However, further efforts to understand plant-mediated and indirect effects of biopes ticides on interactions with natural enemies and plant–plant communication are needed to optimize their use in sustainable pest management strategies.

Social wasps can be exceptionally invasive in both natural and urban environments, posing significant challenges to biodiversity conservation efforts and human health. On the other hand, they provide a wide variety of ecosystem services unnoticed by most, such as predation of pest species and pollination, and should be included among beneficial insects. As a result, despite the growing interest in the long-term impacts of biological control agents like biopesticides on ecologically important insects, social wasps are either not evaluated as taxa suffering from ecotoxic effects or, in some cases, are the target species themselves. Aside from this dichotomy, experimental evidence of the effects of biopesticides on these insects is scarce. Keeping in mind these two opposite aspects of social wasps, this review analyzed the existing knowledge of the effects of biopesticides on social wasps, highlighting the current knowledge gaps.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a major threat to global public health. Despite substantial efforts and progress, several key questions remain unanswered, especially regarding its spread in environmental settings. Health authorities globally face significant challenges in managing this threat, including the lack of consensus on universal microbial indicators and the need for standardized methods across several stages: from sample collection, storage, and processing to analysis and harmonization of results. Moreover, addressing the complex and multi-sectoral nature of AMR requires a multifaceted response that includes enhanced surveillance, environmental monitoring, standardized methods, and innovative technologies. These efforts are essential to promote the effective implementation of regulations and policies aimed at tackling the risks posed by AMR. This article aims therefore to address the knowledge gap by discussing existing frameworks for detecting AMR in the environment, reviewing current and relevant techniques, and highlighting areas where further research is needed.

As synthetic pesticides contribute to the global decline of pollinators, biopesticides have gained attention as more sustainable pest management alternatives in agriculture. Despite their perceived safety, there is increasing evidence that bioinsecticides can harm honey bees, which are crucial pollinators of many commercial crops and key ecotoxicological models. This short review aims to summarize key studies on exposure pathways and sublethal effects of bioinsecticides on honey bees, highlighting outdated risk assessment paradigms and critical evaluation issues. We discuss the need for novel approaches, such as molecular techniques and AI technologies, to better understand and mitigate the effects of bioinsecticides on honey bees. We also highlight the importance of long-term field studies and ethical considerations in ecotoxicology to protect honey bees and promote sustainable agricultural practices.

The onset of bioinsecticide use largely precedes that of conventional insecticides, although not as controversial. Regardless, both are management tools aimed at insect pest species that share varied misconceptions and misperceptions. Foremost is the fact that although used against a pest species, bioinsecticides reach not only the targeted insect pest species, but also its associated community, including non-targeted pest species. Such exposure can cause diverse consequences potentially leading to secondary pest outbreaks. Even when exposure of non-targeted pest species does not take place, these organisms may still be indirectly affected by the bioinsecticidal effect on the target species or other associated community members, including parasites, predators, and particularly heterospecific competitors. These potential effects are often overlooked in studies with bioinsecticides – a neglect hardly justifiable.

In line with the European Green Deal's objective of reducing reliance on pesticides and their associated risks, the use of bioinsecticides has grown considerably. They exhibit a variety of modes of action against all classes of insects and are available in a range of formulations. In recent years, significant advancements have been made in the development of more stable and efficacious bioinsecticides, including nanobioinsecticides. These formulations must be safe for the environment and human health. Effective marketing strategies are also essential to reach a broader target market, whether for agricultural use or as a natural mosquito control alternative. However, further improvements in the formulation are still necessary to minimize the use of toxic surfactants and to better comply with European regulations, thereby expanding their applicability.

Mosquitoes are among the most dangerous animals, spreading pathogens that cause millions human deaths annually. Massive mosquito control relies on chemical methods due to their high lethality. The continuous use of synthetic insecticides has led to various problems, including mosquito resistance. There is renewed interest in bioinsecticides and natural product-based agents particularly plant derivatives. These products are crucial for integrated mosquito management, offering a promising solution to mitigate the environmental impact of synthetic analogs. Recent investments focus on enhancing their effectiveness and persistence while maintaining non-toxic characteristics for non-target organisms and the environment. This work explores the current understanding of the effects of commonly tested mosquiticidal products derived from living organisms, examines their potential non-target impacts, and discusses future directions for developing sustainable control.

The applications of essential oils (EOs) as insect repellents mainly focus on the protection against mosquito bites and food ravages by stored product pests. EOs are praised for their reduced environmental impact and assortment, but such assets often become liabilities. In this review, are underlined the most critical aspects related to the use of EOs as insect repellents, including their instability, composition variability, hormetic effect, olfactory impact, health risks, and economic challenges. Furthermore, we explored some possible solutions implemented in the last ten years to overcome the different limitations and provided an overview of the future challenges we must face to ensure the desirable diffusion of such products of vegetal origin in effective insect pests’ control.

In the current need of optimizing agricultural production, endophytic fungi are increasingly seen as part of the solution. Trichoderma, subject of this review, colonizes the most external layers of the root, improving plant growth. This colonization also induces plant defenses, helping the plant to minimize pest damage. However, if the fungi enter vascular tissues, necrosis and nutrient competition occurs. Easily dispersed in the environment, the fungi may affect other targets, such as insects, if the spores manage to penetrate the insect cuticle. Mostly seen as a race for resources, space, and with a possible interplay of toxins, Trichoderma may act as a powerful bioinsecticide. Unforeseen effects on other organisms of the ecosystem and trophic chain that might get exposed are also reviewed.