Climate change is one of the most pressing global issues of the twenty-first century. This phenomenon has an increasingly severe impact on water resources and crop production. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of climate change on water resources, crop production, and agricultural sustainability in an arid environment in Iran. To this end, the study constructs a new integrated climate-hydrological-economic model to assess the impact of future climate change on water resources and crop production. Furthermore, the agricultural sustainability is evaluated using the multicriteria decision making (MCDM) technique in the context of climate change. The findings regarding the prediction of climate variables show that the minimum and maximum temperatures are expected to increase by about 5.88% and 6.05%, respectively, while precipitation would decrease by approximately 30.68%. The results of the research reveal that water availability will decrease by about 13.79–15.45% under different climate scenarios. Additionally, the findings show that in the majority of cases crop production will reduce in response to climate scenarios so that rainfed wheat will experience the greatest decline (approximately 59.95%). The results of the MCDM model show that climate change can have adverse effects on economic and environmental aspects and, consequently, on the sustainability of the agricultural system of the study area. Our findings can inform policymakers on effective strategies for mitigating the consequences of climate change on water resources and agricultural production in dry regions.

Given the alarming level of climate change, policymakers across the globe are seeking strategies to mitigate environmental pollution to achieve sustainable development. In this context, renewable energy and technological advancements have emerged as an effective way to lower pollution and attain sustainable development. This study evaluates the effect of financial inclusion, technological innovation, and renewable energy on the load capacity factor (LCF) in European countries from 2004 to 2018. LCF is considered the most comprehensive indicator of ecological sustainability, combining both the biocapacity factor and ecological footprint. Hence, the present work fills the literature gap by exploring, for the first time, the effect of financial inclusion on the LCF. Applying the advanced Method of Moment Quantile Regression (MMQR), the study demonstrates that technological innovation and economic growth have adverse effects on LCF while renewable energy and financial inclusion promote LCF. The study indicates that technological innovation and economic growth undermine ecological excellence in European nations while green energy and financial inclusion enhance it. Moreover, the findings of the causality analysis reveal a causal association between financial inclusion, renewable energy, and LCF. Our study recommends prioritizing financial inclusion alongside investments in renewable energy to enhance ecological sustainability.

The essential oil of Pelargonium graveolens (PGEO) is identified in the literature as a rich source of bioactive compounds with a high level of biological activity. This study aimed to examine the chemical profile of PGEO as well as its antioxidant, antibacterial, antibiofilm, and insecticidal properties. Its chemical composition was analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), achieving comprehensive identification of 99.2% of volatile compounds. The predominant identified compounds were β-citronellol (29.7%) and geraniol (14.6%). PGEO’s antioxidant potential was determined by means of DPPH radical and ABTS radical cation neutralization. The results indicate a higher capacity of PGEO to neutralize the ABTS radical cation, with an IC₅₀ value of 0.26 ± 0.02 mg/mL. Two techniques were used to assess antimicrobial activity: minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and disk diffusion. Antimicrobial evaluation using the disk diffusion method revealed that Salmonella enterica (14.33 ± 0.58 mm), which forms biofilms, and Priestia megaterium (14.67 ± 0.58 mm) were most susceptible to exposure to PGEO. The MIC assay demonstrated the highest performance of this EO against biofilm-forming S. enterica (MIC 50 0.57 ± 0.006; MIC 90 0.169 ± 0.08 mg/mL). In contrast to contact application, the assessment of the in situ vapor phase antibacterial activity of PGEO revealed significantly more potent effects. An analysis of antibiofilm activity using MALDI-TOF MS demonstrated PGEO’s capacity to disrupt the biofilm homeostasis of S. enterica growing on plastic and stainless steel. Additionally, insecticidal evaluations indicated that treatment with PGEO at doses of 100% and 50% resulted in the complete mortality of all Harmonia axyridis individuals.

The aim of this work was to ascertain the influence of applying various doses of organic fertilizers on the occurrence of the Carabidae and Staphylinidae families. The research was carried out in five treatments: 1) control treatment, 2) 25 t ha^-1 of farmyard manure, 3) 50 t ha^-1 of bio-sludge, 4) 50 t ha^-1 of farmyard manure, and 5) 100 t ha^{- 1} of bio-sludge. Coleoptera was represented by 87,324 individuals, Carabidae with a dominance of 80.53 to 86.28%, and Staphylinidae from 5.36 to 8.32%. Carabidae recorded the highest number for the 5^th treatment, for 16,534 individuals, with the lowest number being for the 4th treatment, for 12,322 individuals. Staphylinidae recorded the highest number for the 4^th treatment, with a frequency of 1,273 individuals, and the lowest number was for the 2^nd treatment, with 934 individuals. When considering the crops grown that produce convenient individual conditions, crops producing shading, Helianthus annuus and Zea mays were preferred. The statistical evaluation did not confirm the effect of treatments, temperature, precipitation, and year of the occurrence of Carabidae. The effect of the treatment was not confirmed statistically in Staphylinidae, and the impact of the year, temperature, and precipitation were significant.

In environmental and agronomic settings, even minor imbalances can trigger a range of unpredicted responses. Despite the widespread use of metal-based nanoparticles (NPs) and new bio-nanofertilizers, their impact on crop production is absent in the literature. Therefore, our research is focused on the agronomic effect of spray application of gold nanoparticles anchored to SiO₂ mesoporous silica (AuSi-NPs), zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs), and iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄-NPs) on sunflowers under real-world environments. Our findings revealed that the biosynthetically prepared AuSi-NPs and ZnO-NPs were highly effective in enhancing sunflower seasonal physiology, e.g., the value of the NDVI index increased from 0.012 to 0.025 after AuSi-NPs application. The distribution of leaf trichomes improved and the grain yield increased from 2.47 t ha⁻¹ to 3.29 t ha⁻¹ after ZnO-NPs application. AuSi-NPs treatment resulted in a higher content of essential linoleic acid (54.37%) when compared to the NPs-free control (51.57%), which had a higher determined oleic acid. No NPs or residual translocated metals were detected in the fully ripe sunflower seeds, except for slightly higher silica content after the AuSi-NPs treatment. Additionally, AuSi-NPs and NPs-free control showed wide insect biodiversity while ZnO-NPs treatment had the lowest value of phosphorus as anti-nutrient. Contradictory but insignificant effect on physiology, yield, and insect biodiversity was observed in Fe₃O₄-NPs treatment. Therefore, further studies are needed to fully understand the long-term environmental and agricultural sustainability of NPs applications.

Research was conducted on breeding and metamorphosis of a species of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis). The experimental group consisted of 10 individuals each of albino and natural forms. Specimens were divided into pairs and numbered for better tracking. In experimental ponds, conditions simulating the mating season were created, which led to 100% reproduction of all the pairs. The aim of the work was to determine the effects of temperature on the gender of resulting metamorphic specimens, and how the length of metamorphosis affects their gender. Specimens were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of specimens bred at 19°C, and the second group of specimens were bred at 24°C. Mating covered the period from 5 May to 25 June 2016. Observations were completed on 31 October 2016. Five hundred and fourteen individual metamorphic specimens were bred during the experiment. The research shows that the length of metamorphosis has an effect on gender, in favour of females. The effect of temperature on gender was not confirmed. The experimental results can be used as a basis for similar research, since this topic has not been discussed previously.