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There is a growing body of evidence that many of the thousands of prescription and over-the-counter medications ultimately make their way into water bodies and drinking-water supplies. Typical wastewater treatment plants may not be effective at…

Microplastics are raining down on national parks and other protected areas in the western United States at the rate of about 132 pieces of microplastic per square meter every day, according to a report in the journal Science (June 2020).…

A natural process in which harmful or beneficial effects are caused by secondary metabolites that spread from a donor organism to a recipient and are produced by plants, algae, bacteria, and fungi. Allelopathy is a key ecological process and has…

An ongoing current event in which a large number of living species are threatened with extinction or are going extinct because of environmentally destructive human activities. The Earth is presently in the midst of a mass extinction event. In the…

Wildfires, also termed bushfires or forest fires, are currently devastating large swaths of land in Australia. Detrimental ecologic consequences of these uncontrolled combustions of forest fuels and vegetation are numerous. One of the most serious…

A microbial (often bacterial) community that is enveloped by an adhesive substance (the glycocalyx) at the interface of a liquid and a surface. Biofilms (see illustration) are defined as highly structured communities of microorganisms that are…

The study of the cycling of chemicals between organisms and the surface environment of the Earth. The chemicals either can be taken up by organisms and used for growth and synthesis of living matter or can be processed to obtain energy. The chemical…

The use of parasitoids, predators, and pathogens to reduce injurious pest insect populations and consequently the damage that they cause. Biological insect control (or insect biocontrol) is the regulation of insect populations by biological means.…

Management of the human use of natural resources to provide the maximum benefit to current generations while maintaining capacity to meet the needs of future generations. Conservation includes both the protection and rational use of natural…

The response of corals to environmental stress in which they eject the single-cell algae that live within the transparent coral tissue, making the white coral skeleton visible. Corals (Fig. 1) are animals that live in a partnership (symbiosis) with…

Pathological conditions affecting the health of coral and causing its physiological dysfunction. Broadly defined, coral disease (Fig. 1) is any impairment to coral health resulting in physiological disturbance and breakdown. It usually involves…