Impact of Human Induced Changes in the Ecosystem: Challenges and Advances

Dear Colleagues,

Human activities are continuing to be expansive, intrusive and multifarious, with huge impacts on the ecosystem. Various human activities can exert diverse and, in some cases, extreme influence on ecosystems, which may be difficult to reverse. Species are impacted differently based on wide range of factors such as their characteristics, resilience and environment as well as the range, scale and nature of human activity. Sustained and elevated activities have been reported to have the most devastating impacts on the ecosystem, including, in some cases, extinction of entire species. Human activities are as diverse as their impacts. For example, it ranges from the felling of a tree and bush fires in Brazilian Amazon forest to urban run-off from a vehicle garage to a nearby river; from the distortion of the natural habitat by new developments to air pollution from vehicular traffic that then also pollutes the soil and waters as it mixes with rainfall; from atmospheric and soil pollution by industrial waste to the case of sustained oil pollution (as in the Niger Delta) and massive oil spill (as in the Gulf of Mexico). Driven by factors such as growing world population, migration due to conflict or search for better economic conditions, sophistication as a result of increased wealth, increased need for industrialization, humans, more than any other entity of earth, are exerting significant and massive impact on the ecosystem. Although the impact of human activities on the ecosystem may be direct or indirect, their consequences are having negative effects on the ecosystem, such as exacerbating climate change; contaminating air, soils and natural water systems; deforestation; ocean acidification; permafrost melting; habitat loss; eutrophication; erosion; earthquakes; tsunamis; flooding and elevated temperature of natural waters. These impacts of human activities affect the well-being of biological fauna and flora and, not surprisingly, humans. Numerous studies have reported various effects of human activities on animal behaviours, including distortions in inter- and intraspecies interactions, community structure and ecosystem functions.

Due to the increasing complexities and interrelations of human activities and their impacts on the ecosystem, there is a need to investigate the nature and impact of these activities on ecosystems. Additionally, there is a need for evaluation of existing control measures and appraisal of detection, monitoring and remediation technologies to ascertain whether they are fit for purpose. Furthermore, innovations in detection and monitoring techniques as well as development of new methodologies (and, in some cases, modifications of existing ones) are required to be able to study the impacts of these human activities in the face of a growing number of environmental and climatic changes. Furthermore, there is a need to understand the scale and impact of human activities in various regions of the world as they undergo varied economic and social changes. Perhaps lessons can be learned from one region by another (example, lessons may be learned from the developed by emerging and developing countries) to avoid catastrophic damage to the ecosystem. Additionally, the cases of emerging contaminants pose a new challenge to understanding their impacts singularly and in association with other contaminants on the ecosystem.

Hence, technical papers on investigations of fate and pathways of contaminants are welcome. We encourage authors to submit papers covering a wide range of topics from different parts of the world on the impact of human induced changes in the ecosystem, including challenges and advances in the nature, scale, detection, monitoring, hydrology, restoration, remediation, and controlling of these activities and their impacts. Additionally, we will welcome review and technical papers on evaluation of methodologies and techniques as well as sustainable efforts to combat impacts of human activities.

Dr. Ernest Nnadi
Prof. Kelly Tonello
Dr. Fredrick Mbanaso
Guest Editors

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