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In this Perspective we take an in-depth look at what coordinated stakeholder engagement could entail for phosphorus sustainability. The element phosphorus is critical to life on Earth and to the continued functioning of society as we know it. Yet, how society uses phosphorus is currently unsustainable, both as a resource in support of global food production where inequitable distribution creates food security challenges, but also from an environmental aspect, where mismanagement has led to negative impacts on the quality of agricultural soils, human health, and freshwater and marine ecosystems. A number of initiatives and cross-sector consortia have come together to address sustainable phosphorus management at either global or regional scales. However, these efforts could benefit from a more coordinated approach to stakeholder engagement to identify the diversity of needs and perspectives involved in this complex challenge. Herein we examine some examples of different approaches to developing such coordinated stakeholder engagement in other areas of environmental sustainability. We consider how to apply the lessons learned from those efforts toward stakeholder coordination in the realm of phosphorus sustainability. Particularly, we discuss the value of a coordinating body to manage the communications and knowledge sharing necessary to develop trust and cooperation among diverse stakeholder groups and to transition society to more sustainable phosphorus use.

 

Meeting ambitious climate targets will require deploying the full suite of mitigation options, including those that indirectly reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. Healthy diets have sustainability co-benefits by directly reducing livestock emissions as well as indirectly reducing land use emissions. Increased crop productivity could indirectly avoid emissions by reducing cropland area. However, there is disagreement on the sustainability of proposed healthy U.S. diets and a lack of clarity on how long-term sustainability benefits may change in response to shifts in the livestock sector. Here, we explore the GHG emissions impacts of seven scenarios that vary U.S. crop yields and healthier diets in the U.S. and overseas. We also examine how impacts vary across assumptions of future ruminant livestock productivity and ruminant stocking density in the U.S. We employ two complementary land use models—the US FABLE Calculator, an agricultural and forestry sector accounting model with high agricultural commodity representation, and GLOBIOM, a spatially explicit partial equilibrium optimization model for global land use systems. Results suggest that healthier U.S. diets that follow the Dietary Guidelines for Americans reduce agricultural and land use greenhouse gas emissions by 25–57% (approx 120–310 MtCO_2e/y) and pastureland area by 28–38%. The potential emissions and land sparing benefits of U.S. agricultural productivity growth are modest within the U.S. due to the increasing comparative advantage of U.S. crops. Our findings suggest that healthy U.S. diets can significantly contribute toward meeting U.S. long-term climate goals for the land use sectors.

 

Molecularly imprinted plasmonic nanosensors are robust devices capable of selective target interaction, and in some cases reaction catalysis. Recent advances in control of nanoscale structure have opened the door for development of a wide range of chemosensors for environmental monitoring. The soaring rate of environmental pollution through human activities and its negative impact on the ecosystem demands an urgent interest in developing rapid and efficient techniques that can easily be deployed for in-field assessment and environmental monitoring purposes. Organophosphate pesticides (OPPs) play a significant role for agricultural use; however, they also present environmental threats to human health due to their chemical toxicity. Plasmonic sensors are thus vital analytical detection tools that have been explored for many environmental applications and OPP detection due to their excellent properties such as high sensitivity, selectivity, and rapid recognition capability. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have also significantly been recognized as a highly efficient, low-cost, and sensitive synthetic sensing technique that has been adopted for environmental monitoring of a wide array of environmental contaminants, specifically for very small molecule detection. In this review, the general concept of MIPs and their synthesis, a summary of OPPs and environmental pollution, plasmonic sensing with MIPs, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) MIP sensors, and nanomaterial-based sensors for environmental monitoring applications and OPP detection have been elucidated according to the recent literature. In addition, a conclusion and future perspectives section at the end summarizes the scope of molecularly imprinted plasmonic sensors for environmental applications. 

Emerging materials integrated into high performance flexible electronics to detect environmental contaminants have received extensive attention worldwide. The accurate detection of widespread organophosphorus (OP) compounds in the environment is crucial due to their high toxicity even at low concentrations, which leads to acute health concerns. Therefore, developing rapid, highly sensitive, reliable, and facile analytical sensing techniques is necessary to monitor environmental, ecological, and food safety risks. Although enzyme-based sensors have better sensitivity, their practical usage is hindered due to their low specificity and stability. Therefore, among various detection methods of OP compounds, this review article focuses on the progress made in the development of enzyme-free electrochemical sensors as an effective nostrum. Further, the novel materials used in these sensors and their properties, synthesis methodologies, sensing strategies, analytical methods, detection limits, and stability are discussed. Finally, this article summarizes potential avenues for future prospective electrochemical sensors and the current challenges of enhancing the performance, stability, and shelf life. 

To trace the phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) content in flooded rice (Oryza sativa L), 14 rice cultivars commonly grown in the Southern United States were evaluated for their P and K concentration in tissue and grain. Field experiments were conducted at two locations in Everglades Agriculture Area (EAA), where flooded rice was cultivated on organic Histosols. Soil pH and Mehlich-3 phosphorus (M3P) were significantly different between locations. At Site I, soil pH, M3P, and Mehlich-3 potassium (M3K) varied in the range of 6.8–7.1, 21.4–36.4 mg kg−1, and 53.9–151.0 mg kg−1, respectively. At Site II, soil pH, M3P and M3K varied in the range of 6.9–7.3, 11.2–20.5 mg kg−1, and 64.8–104.1 mg kg−1, respectively. Stem potassium was the only measured parameter that was significantly different among rice cultivars at both sites. At Site I and Site II, stem K ranged from 14.2–26.6 mg kg−1 and 10.4–19.4 mg kg−1, respectively. No significant difference in yield among cultivars was observed at Site I, whereas Site II had a significant difference in yield among cultivars. At Site I and Site II, yields ranged from 3745–7587 kg ha−1 and 2627–6406 kg ha−1, respectively. None of the cultivars ranked consistently in the same top and bottom position for each measured parameter. Total phosphorus (TP) concentration was highest in grain, whereas total potassium (TK) concentration was highest in the stem. Results suggest incorporation of rice stem into the soil could potentially add fertilizer back to the soil which helps in fertility management. 

Abstract     Organophosphorus pesticides are widely used in industrial agriculture and have been associated with water pollution and negative impacts on local ecosystems and communities. There is a need for testing technologies to detect the presence of pesticide residues in water sources, especially in developing countries where access to standard laboratory methods is cost prohibitive. Herein, we outline the development of a facile electrochemical sensor for amperometric determination of organophosphorus pesticides in environmental water samples. A three-electrode system was fabricated via UV laser-inscribing on a polyimide film. The working electrode was functionalized with copper nanoparticles with affinity toward organophosphate compounds. The sensor showed a limit of detection (LOD) of 3.42 ± 1.69 µM for glyphosate, 7.28 ± 1.20 µM for glufosinate, and 17.78 ± 7.68 µM for aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA). Sensitivity was highest for glyphosate (145.52 ± 36.73 nA⋅µM −1 ⋅cm −2 ) followed by glufosinate (56.98 ± 10.87 nA⋅µM −1 ⋅cm −2 ), and AMPA (30.92 ± 8.51 nA⋅µM −1 ⋅cm −2 ). The response of the sensor is not significantly affected by the presence of several ions and organic molecules commonly present in natural water samples. The developed sensor shows promising potential for facilitating environmental monitoring of organophosphorus pesticide residues, which is a current need in several parts of the world. Graphical Abstract