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Water is crucial for enduring horticultural productivity, but high water-use requirements and declining water supplies with the changing climate challenge economic viability, environmental sustainability, and social justice. While the scholarly literature pertaining to water management in horticulture abounds, knowledge of practices and technologies that optimize water use is scarce. Here, we review the scientific literature relating to water requirements for horticulture crops, impacts on water resources, and opportunities for improving water- and transpiration-use efficiency. We find that water requirements of horticultural crops vary widely, depending on crop type, development stage, and agroecological region, but investigations hitherto have primarily been superficial. Expansion of the horticulture sector has depleted and polluted water resources via overextraction and agrochemical contamination, but the extent and significance of such issues are not well quantified. We contend that innovative management practices and irrigation technologies can improve tactical water management and mitigate environmental impacts. Nature-based solutions in horticulture—mulching, organic amendments, hydrogels, and the like—alleviate irrigation needs, but information relating to their effectiveness across production systems and agroecological regions is limited. Novel and recycled water sources (e.g., treated wastewater, desalination) would seem promising avenues for reducing dependence on natural water resources, but such sources have detrimental environmental and human health trade-offs if not well managed. Irrigation practices including partial root-zone drying and regulated deficit irrigation evoke remarkable improvements in water use efficiency, but require significant experience for efficient implementation. More advanced applications, including IoT and AI (e.g., sensors, big data, data analytics, digital twins), have demonstrable potential in supporting smart irrigation (focused on scheduling) and precision irrigation (improving spatial distribution). While adoption of technologies and practices that improve sustainability is increasing, their application within the horticultural industry as a whole remains in its infancy. Further research, development, and extension is called for to enable successful adaptation to climate change, sustainably intensify food security, and align with other Sustainable Development Goals.

Abstract Flooding is one of the most serious and frequent natural hazards affecting human life, property, and the environment. This study develops and tests a deep learning approach for large‐scale spatial flood modeling, using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and optimized versions combined with the Gray Wolf Optimizer (GWO) or the Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA). With Sweden as an application case for nation‐wide flood susceptibility mapping, this modeling approach considers ten geo‐environmental input factors (slope, elevation, aspect, plan curvature, length of slope, topographic wetness index, distance from river, distance from wetland, rainfall, and land use). The GWO and ICA optimization improves model prediction by 12% and 8%, respectively, compared with the standalone CNN model performance. The results show 40% of the land area, 45% of the railroad, and 43% of the road network of Sweden to have high or very high flood susceptibility. They also show the aspect to have the highest input factor impact on flood susceptibility prediction while, for example, rainfall ranks only seven of the total 10 considered geo‐environmental input factors. In general, accurate nation‐wide flood susceptibility prediction is essential for guiding flood management and mitigation efforts. This study's approach to such prediction has emerged as well‐performing and cost‐effective for the case of Sweden, calling for further application and testing in other world regions.

Climate change has increasing impacts of hydro-meteorological extremes on water resources. Projections indicate a similar trend and challenge in the effectiveness of conventional engineering solutions in climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies. Nature-based solutions (NbSs) have been promoted as viable approaches and measures that complement engineering solutions. While the effects of NbSs have been increasingly demonstrated, their broader implementation can be favoured by NbSs knowledge integration in higher education curricula. Knowledge on how the research practice is translated into the educational landscape is missing. This paper adopts the concept of knowledge translation and analyses the integration of NbSs in the study programs of higher education institutions in three European countries (Croatia, Czechia, and Slovenia). Specifically, it explores the extent, thematic areas, and curricular settings of NbSs related to water resources management in implemented curricula at public universities. The results show that NbSs are integrated in a limited number of courses within the relevant study programs (in the fields of, e.g., natural sciences, geography, and engineering and technology) and represent rather an extension of compulsory curricula. Bibliometric analysis revealed that most courses involving the NbSs approach still represent a personalized knowledge, i.e., developed by professors during their research activities. The barriers impairing a broader integration of NbSs in the studied programs are then discussed. Our results therefore indicate that NbSs do not represent a mainstream knowledge that would proliferate into higher education curricula through accreditations procedures, but that the knowledge that is mostly integrated through direct incremental implementation of NbSs in the individual compulsory lessons or facultative courses. We assert that without broader and systematic NbSs knowledge translation to study programs, the effectiveness of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies cannot be fully achieved.

Recent research established a link between environmental alterations due to agriculture intensification, social damage and the loss of economic growth. Thus, the integration of environmental and social dimensions is key for economic development. In recent years, several frameworks have been proposed to assess the overall sustainability of farms. Nevertheless, the myriad of existing frameworks and the variety of indicators result in difficulties in selecting the most appropriate framework for study site application. This manuscript aims to: (i) understand the criteria to select appropriate frameworks and summarize the range of those being used to assess sustainability; (ii) identify the available frameworks to assess agricultural sustainability; and (iii) analyze the strengths, weaknesses and applicability of each framework. Six frameworks, namely SAFA, RISE, MASC, LADA, SMART and public goods (PG), were identified. Results show that SMART is the framework that considers, in a balanced way, the environmental, sociocultural and economic dimensions of sustainability, whereas others focused on the environmental (RISE), environmental and economic (PG) and sociocultural (SAFA) dimension. However, depending on the scale assessment, sector of application and the sustainability completeness intended, all frameworks are suitable for the assessment. We present a decision tree to help future users understand the best option for their objective.

The physiological conditions of an organism may influence its ability to cope with environmental stressors, such as contaminants. Biotransformation and the endocrine system interact with each other to promote animal’s fitness. However, little is known regarding the interaction between hormones and response to pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In this in vitro study, we aimed to increase the knowledge regarding the effects of steroid hormones on ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity inhibited by contaminants. The effects on in vivo induced EROD activity of Anguilla anguilla were assessed by conducting single and combined exposures to fluoranthene (FL) and to physiological levels of two major steroid hormones (cortisol and 17ß-estradiol). Hepatic microsome exposure to the lowest concentrations of FL (0.1 and 0.3 µM), as well as to cortisol and 17ß-estradiol (E2), led to significant EROD activity induction. However, the highest tested concentrations of FL (0.9 and 2.7 µM) significantly inhibited this enzymatic activity. When microsomes were simultaneously exposed to 0.9 µM FL and one of the hormones, both cortisol and E2 were able to decrease the inhibitory effects, with the former completely reverting EROD activity inhibition. These findings support the idea that cortisol and E2 can help prevent the inhibitory effects of PAHs over biotransformation enzymes, highlighting the physiological relevance of these hormones.

Drought is a natural hazard occurring with increasing frequency due to climate change. Drought events reduce soil water content and also soil organic carbon (SOC) content, with negative impacts on crop development and food security. This study investigates the impact of drought on SOC dynamics in agricultural systems and the influence of water availability and farm management practices in these impacts. The manuscript is a systematic review, based on Scopus database for scoping the literature on the topic. A total of 283 records were retrieved, but only 16 papers were relevant for the review. The main findings are: (1) water plays a key role in regulating SOC mineralization due to its impact on dynamics of soil microbial communities, necessitating further research on water management to mitigate carbon losses during drought; (2) different agricultural systems can have differing impacts on SOC under drought conditions depending on crop type (e.g. pastures are more resilient than arable systems) and farm management practices; and (3) SOC loss generally occurs after a drought event, regardless of farm management regime, but the contribution of drought to this loss requires further research. Best management practices, such as cover cropping and soil amendment, can minimize SOC losses, but further research is required to optimize these practices in counteracting the effect of drought. A better understanding of the effects of drought on SOC dynamics, and of short-term and long-term ways to mitigate these effects, is important to ensure soil health and crop productivity.