The theme for this week’s sustainability research is FOOD
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Research in Details:
Research #1
Application of water-energy-food nexus approach for designating optimal agricultural management pattern at a watershed scale
Highlights
Water-Energy-Food Nexus Index (WEFNI) was developed at watershed scale in Iran.
WEFNI was applied as an important approach to improve optimal cropping pattern.
The development of horticultural crops was recommended for the Shazand watershed.
Authors: Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghi, Ehsan Sharifi Moghadam, Majid Delavar, Mahdi Zarghami
Date of publication: 30, April, 2020
Summary
The increasing demands of the population and the need for development obliged the optimal use and adaptive management of the watershed resources. Accordingly, it is necessary to adopt comprehensive measures to reach sustainable development goals. This objective can be achieved by the application of interdisciplinary and professional approaches through establishing dynamic and optimal balance in supply and demand resources. However, such important optimization approaches have been rarely practiced at the watershed scale. The present study has been therefore formulated to apply a linear water-energy-food nexus optimization for the Shazand watershed, Markazi Province, Iran. This approach was applied for planning 14 crops planted in orchard, irrigated farms, and rain-fed farms, between 2006 and 2014, and targeting water-energy-food nexus index (WEFNI) maximization. The connections among the water, energy, and food were then evaluated through determining the amount of consumption, mass productivity, and economic productivity of water and energy. The results of WEFNIs revealed that almond has the highest WEFNI with values of 0.92, 0.76, 0.76, 0.83, 0.86, 0.86, 0.87, 0.87, and 0.88. Whilst, potato with WEFNI of 0.05, 0.05, 0.05, 0.06, 0.09, 0.10 and 0.11, sugar cane with WEFNI of 0.10 and cucumber with WEFNI of 0.13 had the lowest scores and the corresponding lowest performance among the study crops. The outcomes of optimization study explained that the current situation of land use in the Shazand Watershed is unsuitable to minimize water and energy consumption and maximize benefit. The results can be used as an effective tool for designating proper soil and water resource management strategies in the region.
Keywords: Adaptive management, Land use optimization, Livelihood security, System dynamic, WEF nexus
Research #2
Avoiding food becoming waste in households – The role of packaging in consumers’ practices across different food categories
Highlights
Up to half of the household food waste could be attributed to packaging functions.
Packaging size and display of information are the most important packaging functions.
A service lens places the focus on the use process and the context of the consumers.
To reduce food waste packaging designers should start with exploring the practices.
A multi-step method gives understanding about the link between packaging and waste.
Authors: Helén Williams, Annika Lindström, Jakob Trischler, Fredrik Wikström, Zane Rowe
Date of publication: 22 April, 2020
Summary
Food wastage in households remains a sustainability challenge that poses both environmental and social problems. Among the many factors contributing to this problem, the packaging, including its design and functions, can either leverage or reduce food waste. Yet packaging is often considered an environmental villain, which can lead to missed opportunities for reducing food waste. Against this background, this study explored and quantified the packaging–food waste relationship in households. To explore this relationship, a multi-step method was applied to grasp the role of packaging in consumers' everyday practices and routines. The method incorporated a questionnaire, food waste diary and in-depth interview to measure food waste across different food categories and explore the underlying reasons for food wastage. According to an analysis of 37 households, packaging played a significant role especially in bread, dairy, meat and staple food wastage. For countering this problem, the most important factors related to packaging are its size and display of detailed information about product safety and storage. This study's theoretical contribution lies in offering a service lens and an ‘outside-in’ approach for exploring the consumer's value creation process and providing a context for better understanding why food wastage occurs in households. For policymakers and packaging designers, this study provides new insights into the relationship between consumer food practices and packaging, thus informing future food waste reduction initiatives.
Keywords: Packaging, Food waste, Packaging function, Service, Household, Behavior
Research #3
Trophic magnification of legacy persistent organic pollutants in an urban terrestrial food web
Highlights
Over 100 samples of Cooper's hawks, songbirds, invertebrates, berries, and soil collected from terrestrial food-web
Samples analysed for 38 PCB congeners, 20 OCPs, 20 PBDE congeners, and 7 BFRs
TMFs of several legacy POPs in terrestrial food web similar or higher than those in some aquatic food chains
Authors: Kate M. Fremlin, John E. Elliott, David J. Green, Kenneth G. Drouillard, Tom Harner, Anita Eng, Frank A. P. C. Gobas
Date of publication: 20 April, 2020
Summary
Legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), persist for generations in the environment and often negatively impact endocrine functions in exposed wildlife. Protocols to assess the bioaccumulation potential of these chemicals within terrestrial systems are far less developed than for aquatic systems. Consequently, regulatory agencies in Canada, the United States, and the European Union rely primarily on aquatic information for the bioaccumulation assessment of chemicals. However, studies have shown that some chemicals that are not bioaccumulative in aquatic food webs can biomagnify in terrestrial food webs. Thus, to better understand the bioaccumulative behaviour of chemicals in terrestrial systems, we examined trophic magnification of hydrophobic POPs in an urban terrestrial food web that included an avian apex predator, the Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii). Over 100 samples were collected from various trophic levels of the food web including hawk eggs, songbirds, invertebrates, and berries and analysed for concentrations of 38 PCB congeners, 20 OCPs, 20 PBDE congeners, and 7 other brominated flame retardants listed on the Government of Canada's Chemicals Management Plan. We determined trophic magnification factors (TMFs) for contaminants that had a 50% or greater detection frequency in all biota samples and compared these terrestrial TMFs to those observed in aquatic systems. TMFs in this terrestrial food web ranged between 1.2 (0.21 SE) and 15 (4.0 SE), indicating that the majority of these POPs are biomagnifying. TMFs of the legacy POPs investigated in this terrestrial food web increased in a statistically significant relationship with both the logarithm of the octanol-air (log KOA) and octanal-water partition (log KOW) coefficients of the POPs. POPs with a log KOA >6 or a log KOW >5 exhibited biomagnification potential in this terrestrial food web.
Keywords: Avian apex predator, Terrestrial food web, Legacy POPs, Emergent POPs, Hydrophobic, Trophic magnification
Research #4
Associations of five food- and water-borne diseases with ecological zone, land use and aquifer type in a changing climate
Highlights
Rates of five food and waterborne diseases varied across ecological zone.
The primarily foodborne diseases were correlated with annual temperature.
Temperature association is consistent with climate change literature.
Future projections showed an expansion of interior regions with higher rates of disease.
Agriculture and aquifer geology were found to be important factors.
Authors: Jordan Brubacher, Diana M. Allen, Stephen J. Déry, Margot W. Parkes, Bimal Chhtri, Sunny Mak, Stephen Sobie, Tim K. Takaro
Date of publication: 20 April, 2020
Summary
Background
Food- and water-borne pathogens exhibit spatial heterogeneity, but attribution to specific environmental processes is lacking while anthropogenic climate change alters these processes. The goal of this study was to investigate ecology, land-use and health associations of these pathogens and to make future disease projections.
Methods
The rates of five acute gastrointestinal illnesses (AGIs) (campylobacteriosis, Verotoxin- producing Escherichia coli, salmonellosis, giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis) from 2000 to 2013 in British Columbia, Canada, were calculated across three environmental variables: ecological zone, land use, and aquifer type. A correlation analysis investigated relationships between 19 climatic factors and AGI. Mean annual temperature at the ecological zone scale was used in a univariate regression model to calculate annual relative AGI risk per 1 °C increase. Future cases attributable to climate change were estimated into the 2080s.
Findings
Each of the bacterial AGI rates was correlated with several annual temperature-related factors while the protozoan AGIs were not. In the regression model, combined relative risk for the three bacterial AGIs was 1.1 [95% CI: 1.02–1.21] for every 1 °C in mean annual temperature. Campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis and giardiasis rates were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the urban land use class than in the rural one. In rural areas, bacteria and protozoan AGIs had significantly higher rates in the unconsolidated aquifers. Verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli rates were significantly higher in watersheds with more agricultural land, while rates of campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis and giardiasis were significantly lower in agricultural watersheds. Ecological zones with higher bacterial AGI rates were generally projected to expand in range by the 2080s.
Interpretation
These findings suggest that risk of AGI can vary across ecosystem, land use and aquifer type, and that warming temperatures may be associated with an increased risk of food-borne AGI. In addition, spatial patterns of these diseases are projected to shift under climate change.
Keywords: Gastrointestinal illness, Health, Canada, Climate change, Projections, Spatial
Research #5
Performance assessment and metagenomic analysis of full-scale innovative two-stage anaerobic digestion biogas plant for food wastes treatment
Highlights
This work compared performance of ITS and single-stage biogas plants.
The innovative two-stage process enhanced biogas yield and stability.
Dominate Methanothrix undergo aceticlastic methanogenic pathway in ITS digester.
Methanobacteriales can grow in syntrophy with Bacteroidetes.
Oil extraction rate was increased to 3–4% by continuous wet-heat steam technology.
Author: Kun Li, Kaijun Wang, Jingyao Wang, Quan Yuan, Jiane Zuo
Date of publication: 17th April, 2020
Summary
Food waste (FW) is an impending issue, and its resource recovery and energy recycling have become a hotspot in the academic community. This paper presents an innovative integrated two-stage anaerobic digestion process that can enhance anaerobic digestion of food waste. The new technology is an attractive solution to resolve difficulties related to productivity and system optimization in traditional single and double-stage FW digestion processes. The study revealed that the oil extraction rate increased from 2% to 3%–4% after process improvement, and the specific biogas production of the integrated two-stage biogas plant (50.2 m3/t) was 10.54% higher than single-stage biogas plant. Metagenome data analysis indicated that aceticlastic methanogenesis was the main route for methane production in the integrated two-stage biogas plant. Considering the short payback time (1.5 years), high net present value (11.49 million) and internal rate of return (36.97%), this biogas project was economically viable. In this context, this innovative process got through the recycling bottleneck of food waste and promoted the industrialization of anaerobic treatment of food waste.
Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, Food waste, Abundant metagenome-assembled, Network analysis, Energy consumption