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The greenery in academic institution reduces CO2 and creates stress free environment to the students' learning. Guru Ghasidas Central University, Bilaspur, India, spread in 262 ha with ample green space, is an education hub for over 9000 students. The land use pattern, greenery, and tree CO2stock were assessed by laying out 54 sample plots (0.1 ha) across the university. Students’ likelihood of greenery and its effects on students' behavior and academic performance were evaluated during 2019-20.. The university has 2/3 green space, 10.64% area under water bodies, and a total built-up area restricted to 15.22%. A total of 61 tree species were identified with a population of 124662 trees on the campus with the highest abundance of Peltophorumferrugineum (17.31%), Eucalyptus globulus (13.69%) among planted tree species. In naturally occurring tree species, Acacia niloticaoccupied highest (88.35%) followed by Buteamonosperma (10.04%). The trees of the university campus stocked 10942.6 tons of CO2. Analysis showed that students rated higher preference to campus greenery with 2.71 points in 0-4 points Likert scale, and improved student’s academic performance.

Rapid rise in pharmaceutical industries during past decades in order to cure challenging human diseases has released considerable amounts of antibiotics in natural ecosystem including soil and aquatic ecosystem. The presence of antibiotics beyond the acceptable limits in agro-ecosystems entering through different sources like wastewater irrigation and manure application has witnessed multiple negative consequences on environmental homoeostasis. Moreover, the injudicious application of antibiotics for treatment of human diseases, improvement in crop yield and enhancement in productivity of livestock based meat production have triggered the resistance development in exposed microorganisms dwelling in agricultural soils, putting severe environmental threat to humans and other components of the food chain. The resistance to exposed antibiotics conferred through antibiotic resistance genes is well documented and agro-ecosystem contamination with antibiotic resistance genes as a rising risk is registered globally. So far, numbers of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes have been identified as emerging contaminants in soil ecosystem, suggesting the deployment of suitable strategies falling in the categories of physical, chemical and biological strategies to decontaminate the agricultural soils affected with antibiotics and associated resistance genes.

The improvement in cultivated ecosystems for enhancement in agricultural productivity is an essential step to support the rapidly rising human population. Pest infestation and changes in climatic conditions with possible negative consequences have further fueled the orientation of agricultural practices toward maximum crop productivity in a sustainable manner at the cost of available natural resources. The crop yield can be increased by enhancing the growth of crop plants and minimizing the losses caused by devastating plant diseases. The conventional practices of employing synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for improving crop yields pose great risks to environmental integrity and human health. In contrast, the deployment of growth stimulating organisms such as plant growth–promoting rhizobacteria and their products together with the living organisms and derived metabolic products such as microbial volatiles suppressing the growth of plant pathogens have promising potential in crop protection, thereby yield enhancement of cultivated ecosystem. Currently, the potential of numbers of bacteria, fungi, cyanobacteria, and mycorrhiza has been harnessed in agroecological management. However, the application under natural environmental conditions has certain challenges and requires extensive field investigation. Moreover, the application of living organisms and their products-based strategies for application in agroecosystem needs approval from regulatory bodies, restricting easy acceptance among farmers. This chapter deals with different biostimulants and biocontrol agents, mechanism of action, application in sustainable management of cultivated ecosystem, and challenges associated with exploitation under natural field condition.

Rapid development of different metal-based industries and mining activities producing huge amount of metal-laden wastes has considerably deteriorated the quality of water and soil around the globe. The application of metal-based fertilizers has further aggravated the environmental contamination multifolds. Most of the metals released into water and soil ultimately find their ways into different plants and animals causing hazardous effects. The variety of microbes dwelling in metal-contaminated water and soil has evolved different oxidative mechanisms to escape the toxicity of metals. Some of the metal-oxidizing microbes derive energy during oxidation and produce metal oxides possessing the characteristic potential to adsorb toxic metal ions. The microbes can oxidize different metals such as iron, manganese, arsenic, and antimony present in their vicinity by cellular biochemical processes and thus offer an environment-friendly option for bioremediation of metal-contaminated water and soil. Very often, the oxidized forms of metals produced by microorganisms are more efficient adsorbent as compared to chemically synthesized metal oxides. Such metal-oxidizing microorganisms developed on filter could be employed for treatment of variety of metal-laden water and wastewater. The present chapter has tried to deal with different metal-oxidizing microbes and their possibility in bioremediation.

The enormous release of untreated sewage wastewater (330 km3) and sludge containing contaminants like antibiotics, antibiotic resistance genes, heavy metals, metalloids, personal care products, infectious microorganisms including coliforms and hormones into agroecosystem has been documented to pose severe risks to food chain and crop productivity. The sludge amount produced in European Union would rise to approximately 12 million tonnes by 2020. Surprisingly, nearly 30–60% of antibiotics get concentrated in treatment facilities, serving as source of environmental contaminants and 30–90% of antibiotics used in livestock may release in nature without any modification. The heavy metal content in sewage sludge with respect to dry weight may reach upto 0.5–2%. The recently rising interest of farmers in organic farming has accelerated the employment of sewage wastewater and sludge as an innovative source of irrigation water and fertilizers, respectively so as to augment crop production, minimize the agrochemical exploitation and overcome the associated threats to agricultural productivity. Although, multifaceted beneficial effects of sewage water and sludge deployment in agriculture are reported worldwide, the introduction of traditional as well as emerging contaminants like antibiotics, personal care products, and hormones in food chain via utilization of sewage wastewater and sludge cannot be denied. Therefore, the proper treatment is imperative to nullify the unforeseen consequences of sewage wastewater and sludge utilization in agroecosystem.

Different types of abiotic stresses are the major environmental factors limiting crop productivity considerably. Abiotic stresses like drought, salinity, heavy metals/metalloids contamination, and extreme temperature variations are well recognized to alter the physiological and biochemical processes of a number of economically important crops, retarding growth and development of the affected crops. The management of crop productivity losses rendered through negative influences of abiotic stressors is therefore necessary to fulfill the food demand of the continuously rising human population and to ensure sufficient food availability. To date, different approaches based on the introduction of synthetic chemicals in agroecosystem have been deployed to alleviate the negative consequences of abiotic stress factors. However, such chemical approaches are expensive, not environmentally friendly, and may induce toxicity to different environmental components including agroecosystems. The application of biological agents and products thereof, referred to as “biostimulants,” on the other hand possesses promising potential in minimizing the harmful impacts of abiotic stress factors employing different mechanisms like the production of siderophores, induced synthesis of phytohormones like indole-3-acetic acid, auxin, and gibberellin, changes in soil characteristics, nutrient solubilization, enhancement in host uptake of beneficial nutrients, and modulation in root architecture leading to enhancement in plant growth. The present chapter encompasses the effects of different abiotic stresses on crop productivity, mechanisms underlying changes in crop processes at physiological and biochemical level, and sustainable management of negative influences of abiotic stresses on agricultural crops based on exploitation of biostimulants.

Coal is one of the most commonly utilized fossil fuel for energy production across the globe leading to higher amount of emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the atmosphere. Combustion of coal containing higher contents of sulfur is a major factor responsible for acid rain and associated environmental degradation. The currently used physicochemical approaches for removal of sulfur from coal are expensive, toxic in nature, and inappropriate for different types of coal. The application of microbial resources for removal of sulfur from coal is an ecofriendly technique and could be successfully employed at industrial scale after laboratory scale process optimization. The process of sulfur removal by microbes is carried out by enzymes and is considerably influenced by different factors, including pH, temperature, nutrient composition, shaking or standing condition, coal types, and most importantly type of microorganisms used. Different bacteria and fungi isolated from coal contaminated site as well as noncontaminated site exhibiting sulfur removal potential can be used as next generation tool for the development of clean coal technology. Furthermore, through the application of modern genetic manipulation techniques, enhanced expression of genes responsible for desulfurization can be performed in order to accelerate the process of sulfur removal from coal. The present chapter is prepared with an aim to discuss the diverse microbial population participating in desulfurization, their efficiency, mechanism of sulfur elimination, role of important environmental factors along with possible applications, and challenges in industrial scale sulfur removal.

Plant diseases have been recognized as one of the major challenges to food security worldwide. Every year, very large amounts of food produce are lost qualitatively and quantitatively due to plant diseases mainly caused by fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and parasitic plants, calling for the development of suitable control measures. The in-depth information on plant pathogen interaction and disease progression is one of the primary criterion for management. The early detection of plant diseases, in this regard is considered as one of the important strategy for effective minimization of plant diseases in order to enhance food security. The occurrence and spread of most of the plant disease are influenced greatly by different environmental factors like temperature, moisture content, soil characteristics, pathogen virulence, inoculum density, and host. Postharvest disease management by physical methods has not been proved successful under storage condition. The employment of chemical approaches is much expensive, not ecologically sound, induces resistance in plant pathogens, generates environmental hazards, and most strikingly results into accumulation of applied chemicals in crop produce. The practices of different biological methods including biocontrol methods, plant breeding, and genome editing for plant disease control, hence improved productivity, are environment friendly, economical, attractive, and bears possibility with application under field condition. However, the changing climatic conditions are thwarting the goals of food availability, thus posing severe threat to global food security. The present chapter is an effort to provide information relevant to plant diseases caused by different pathogens, impact on crop productivity, factors influencing the pathogen’s growth and disease development, and finally application of currently available chemical and biological approaches against the plant disease in order to achieve the goal of food security.

Nanotechnology may potentially benefit our agro-ecosystems in multiple ways, primarily via reduction in agricultural inputs without yield penalty and enhanced absorption of nutrients by the plants. In this regard, nano-fertilizers (such as engineered metal oxide or carbon-based nano-materials, nano-coated fertilizers, and nano-sized nutrients), and nano-pesticides (inorganic nano-materials or nano-formulations of active ingredients), might bring targeted as well as controlled release of agrochemicals in order to tap the fullest biological efficacy in already stressed agro-ecosystems, without over-dosages and leach-outs. Therefore, such nano-tools may multiply the agricultural yield, providing protection against various pests and diseases, without polluting our soil and water ecosystems at the same time. Though nanotechnology may provide potential solutions on such critical and persistent issues in agricultural management and activities; however, new environmental and human health hazards from their applications itself may pose unforeseen challenges to the humankind. For example, the biosafety, adversity, unknown fate, and acquired biological reactivity/toxicity of these nano-materials once dispersed in environment after application are still an unknown and threatening area, which needs to be investigated carefully and scientifically, before its open field use in our agro-ecosystems. Among other potential benefits, nano-tools may also be utilized for the rapid disease diagnostic in field crops and monitoring of the packaged food quality and contaminations. Similarly, the quality and health of soils and plants can be regularly monitored in real-time manner with the help of sensors based on highly sensitive nano-materials. However, a responsible regulatory consensus on nanotechnology application in agriculture needs to be developed, based upon profound scientific foundations. This chapter explores the area of nanotechnology in revolutionizing agriculture in a smart way via its known interactions with plants and soil microorganisms so far in the literature.

Agricultural intensification by the increased inputs of agrochemicals has resulted in several negative environmental consequences. Currently the precise use of agrochemicals is being recommended to improve crop yield and environmental health. Application of various precision agricultural practices is being promoted to attain the agricultural sustainability. Nanotechnology as a modern tool has been considered as a potential tool for the precise application of agrochemicals and efficient utilization by the crop plants in the agroecosystems. In this context, the application of spent nanocatalysts in the agroecosystems has been increased considerably for the management of these spent catalysts. Numbers of studies have shown significant impact of spent nanocatalysts on plant germination and growth behaviors. In this chapter a brief insight has been given on the development and application of novel nanomaterials (NMs) in agriculture and environment along with their fate and behavior. Further, recent developments in plant science regarding nanobiotechnology that focuses on agricultural practices, plant growth, and yield are also emphasized. Moreover an effort has been made to collate the studies dealing with the utilization of spent nanocatalysts and nanomaterials used in various value-added products in the agricultural systems.

‘Limits to growth’ and recognition of the interdependencies between economic and ecological systems have given rise to the field of ecological economics as a new field of study. Ecological economics has played a leading role in developing the ecosystem services approach that has been viewed in different ecological–economics perspectives. An urban ecosystem can be understood as a superorganism that has various metabolic processes, whose survival is uncertain, and its functions result in the creation of various externalities. There has been an unprecedented pace of urbanization and associated with it are land cover changes, increasing imported emergy and carbon source effect of cities that have raised questions on sustainability and carrying capacity of the urban ecosystem. This chapter attempts to explain valuation of ecosystem services and provides various ways of measurement of such values, viz. ecological, sociocultural and monetary. The recent methodologies adopted by ecological economists are also discussed. This chapter also explains various methods that can be adopted to take care of colossal rise of carbon emissions through various processes such as carbon budgeting and carbon credits, taxing externalities, planning smart cities, transport management, etc., along with their feasibilities in various contexts.

Under the global scenario of burgeoning population it is imperative to ensure food security by increasing crop production. There is increasing concern, however, that agricultural intensification leads to large-scale ecosystem degradation and loss of productivity by hampering the soil health in the long term. Further, application of excessive fertilizers and pesticides to improve crop production has negative environmental implications, including soil degradation, enhanced greenhouse gas emissions, accumulation of pesticides, and decline in the availability and quality of water. It is important to develop a sound understanding of the fate of a pesticide, particularly in soils where the microbial communities interact with plants to accomplish functions supporting a number of ecosystem services. Synthetic fertilizer application begins the destruction of soil biodiversity by suppressing the role of nitrogen-fixing bacteria and enhancing the role of everything that feeds on nitrogen. These feeders then amplify the decomposition of organic matter and humus. As organic matter decreases, the physical structure of soil changes. These changes lead to modulations in various associated soil physiological processes. However, there are several contradicting reports on abovementioned negative impacts of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Therefore the present chapter intends to understand the interaction of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers with soil microbiome and soil processes.

Water is one of the most important natural resources supporting the diverse array of life present on earth. Rapid diminution of fresh potable water reserves, contamination of existing ones, and generation of large amount of wastewater due to anthropogenic activities have compelled the scientists to develop methods to treat the contaminated water. Across the globe, millions of people are inaccessible to fresh drinking water. Multiple health issues are linked with the purification of drinking water supplied through different ways including bottled water, tap water, and borewells. The drinking water is most often contaminated with pathogenic microbes including bacteria, viruses, and protozoa beyond the recommended limits causing serious human health hazards. The pathogenic microbes commonly detected in water supplies include those related to dysentery, typhoid fever, vomiting, and cholera. Therefore, removal of human pathogens from drinking water is essential for health security. Numbers of physical and chemical techniques have been developed to make available the pathogen free drinking water. Techniques employing membranes for trapping hazardous biological contaminant are currently gaining momentum worldwide. This chapter deals with the sources of pathogens in drinking water, important waterborne diseases, and different aspects of nanofiltration techniques over other commercially used methods for removal of pathogens.

External input-based intensive agriculture practices have resulted in increasing food supply at the cost of considerable deterioration in soil quality and health. In addition, the release of various greenhouse gas emissions has also increased in recent years. For restoring soil health and productivity, and climate change mitigation, various organic amendments have been recommended for application in the soil. Depending upon the climatic variability, the soil responds differently to different amendments. Tropical agroecosystems are one of the extensively cultivated areas, and therefore, several studies dealing with agroecosystem responses have been performed under the present climate change scenario. In this chapter, we have explored the responses of the soil ameliorated with various organic amendments such as organic manure/compost, microbial fertilizers, vermicompost and biochar; and the impact of various amendments on soil physicochemical and biological properties. Moreover, soil respiration and microbial biomass under soils receiving these amendments have also been explored as the key indicators of soil viability. Overall, the chapter would provide a thorough understanding of the soil responses under different organic amendments in the present climate change scenario.

The changing climatic and weather conditions have affected the global food supply, especially cereal crops. Worldwide agricultural production is considerably affected by climate change and pressure induced by the ever-increasing human population and their food demand. The production in agriculture is also affected by the insufficient availability of quality seeds and affordable cost for farmers. Interestingly, genetically engineered stress-tolerant genotypes could play an important role in improving ever-increasing food demand under changing climatic conditions. Generally, plant genetic resources are used for the development of genetically engineered stress-tolerant diverse varieties. New and improved varieties of crops with a wider range of adaptation under changing climatic conditions may be a good move toward combating food scarcity for the increasing population and climate change. Seed industry and seed priming (treatment) have played a vital role in increasing agricultural productivity. The adverse effects of climate change on seed productivity and agriculture industry can be minimized by improved genotype, breeding, genetic diversity, seed priming (treatment), seed certification, seed marketing, etc. There is an urgent need to enhance seed productivity and search for suitable geographic regions for enhancing quality seed production. For the certification of seed, international procedures must be adopted for all the geographical areas of the world. This will also help in ease in the availability of quality seeds to farmers and public participation in plant breeding for the seed industry. Seed biopriming is one of the vital technologies in the management of biotic as well as abiotic stresses and guarantees uniform stand establishment under a stressed environment. Therefore research programs encompassing the identification of quality plant genetic resources, genetic manipulations of novel biocontrol agents (fungal and bacterial strains), and other beneficial applications need to be devised.

Extensive application of herbicides, pesticides, weedicides along with nitrogen- and phosphate-based fertilizers has deteriorated the physicochemical and biological attributes of agricultural ecosystem, in addition to the resistance emergence in insect pests. Currently, many of the employed agrochemicals are of persistent nature and pose serious hazards to human and environment due to their biomagnifying nature at different trophic levels. The technological advances for the management of agrochemical contaminated soil system may involve different physical and chemical treatment methods. These methods are very much expensive, nonecofriendly, and may sometime lead to generation of even very toxic compounds of more persistent nature than pollutants intended for treatment. Contrary to this, bioremediation based on fungi may offer an easy, sustainable, and ecofriendly technology for restoration of contaminated soil system. In the present chapter, we have tried to discuss different anthropogenically introduced contaminants into soil, their impacts on natural soil characteristics, effect on native microbial community, beneficial soil annelids, arthropods, as well as different fungal genera involved in degradation, strategies based on fungal metabolism for degradation of different chemical contaminants, and limitations associated with application of fungi in agroecosystem to make the soil free from hazardous agrochemicals.

Phytoremediation is the technology based on plants for extraction, sequestration, and/or degradation of environmental contaminants. The process of phytoremediation is a green and nondestructive suitable alternative to widely practiced physicochemical approaches. Plant-based contaminant removal could be directly inside the plant or outside the plant body (explanta). The process of phytoremediation involves different biochemical and physiological mechanisms facilitated by absorption, accumulation, sequestration, transport, and degradation. Furthermore, plants are equipped with the property of metabolizing hazardous organic contaminants into nontoxic or comparatively less toxic forms. Numbers of organic contaminants including polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and halogenated hydrocarbons have been targeted for effective remediation by utilization of diverse plant groups. Currently, many experimental investigations have been conducted to develop genetically modified plants and endophytic bacterial strains harboring genes of interest displaying efficient contaminant degradation ability. Although the phytoremediation strategy for cleaning the organic contaminant seems promising with reference to the process cost, assessment, maintenance of soil biological activity, and carbon capture efficiency, the field-scale application has limited success because of changing environmental conditions, slow growth rate, and adaptability under given natural environment. Some of the limitations associated with phytoremediation could be managed through genetic engineering approaches; however, regulatory issues regarding their release under field conditions and very low public acceptance make the process unsuccessful at field scale. Essentially, extensive laboratory investigations are still needed to deploy the phytoremediation strategies for effective contaminant removal. The successful utilization of recombinant DNA technology together with the existing information on plant physiology, rhizosphere microbiology, and root exudates chemistry could be instrumental in gaining deep insights into the process of environmental contaminant removal.

To understand the current research output on arsenic (As) removal and research related to the As contamination, a bibliometric analysis based on Scopus database was carried out. The analysis includes the research covering the leading countries and year wise literature outputs. Bibliometric analysis revealed increasing trend in research published on As removal (more than 1200 articles) using physico-chemical methods during 1995 onwards and United States of America (USA) as leading contributor. Among different research institutions, Chinese Academy of Sciences has contributed maximally to research articles reaching up to 950 and maximum 635 research articles were published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology with respect to As removal using physico-chemical methods. With respect to As removal using biological methods, around 400 research articles were recorded during 1995 onwards and maximum article contribution (1052) was registered for China followed by USA (964). Based on Scopus data 2021, maximum 222 articles on As removal using biological methods were recorded for the journal ‘Chemosphere’. The present review emphasizes on currently available physico-chemical as well as emerging treatment processes for the removal of As, generally occurring as arsenite and arsenate , from drinking water. It has been suggested by various studies that a combination of low-cost physico-chemical treatment methodologies like ion exchange, reverse osmosis , precipitation, filtration and adsorption along with biological methods can be a safe alternative for As removal from drinking water. Overall, the study suggests that there is a strong need for further research on efficient processes involving lab to land approaches for As removal from groundwater in order to reduce the toxicity and contamination of As in drinking water.