Advances in Environmental Research. Volume 77

Advances in Environmental Research. Volume 77 opens with a focus on the impact and direct effects of toxicant exposure, viruses, and parasitism on individual honey-bee survival, foraging behavior, and colony survival. The authors discuss how habitat fragmentation and biological invasions, considered the primary cause for biodiversity loss and the biggest threats to the conservation of ecosystems and their environmental services, interact in the presence of a natural disturbance. Experimental and evidence-based knowledge of application of burning in European grasslands is examined, as grasslands are vital elements of the historical landscape and are of crucial importance in biodiversity conservation. Continuing, this compilation demonstrates a promising methodology for gaining a better understanding of specific interrelations of organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in biomatrices. In addition, the authors aim to demonstrate the usefulness of the methodology of total health approach to study the vulnerability and effects of persistent organic pollutants in the lower basin of the Coatzacoalcos River. The domestication and basic genetics of field pea are discussed, along with current initiatives in organic production and breeding and progress related to biofortification. In closing, a brief review of the determination of programmed cell death signals during plant development or biotic-abiotic stress conditions is provided, and the reader will be informed with comparative considerations to use these methods for reliable detection.