Hani Mansour's scientific contributions

ATURAL resources are considered the main sources of our life, which include water, energy and food. On the other hand, exponential global human population has place increased stress on such resources and therefore all nations ae enforced to double the productivity of fresh water, clean energy, and healthy food by more than 50-70% to meet their actual needs. These increases are not so easy to be achieved, particularly under climate change. Several approaches are proposed to mitigate the climate change under the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus especially via applying nanomaterials (NMs). This review article describes the evaluation and implementation of applying NMs under climate change in search of suitable proposals to remedy these problems by analyzing the available literature of WEF nexus. The evidences that support the relationship between NMs with WEF nexus and climate change seem weak and/or inconclusive. What is not yet understood is the relative importance of the various factors that might support the global efforts to mitigate climate change and it environmental issues. Many of the available literatures on WEF nexus deal with the question of what are the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on WEF resources, but what remains still unclear is whether applied NMs is a suitable solution or not? The single most striking observation to emerge from the data comparison was several previous studies confirmed the importance of NMs for the environmental problems under certain doses. So far, more studies are needed to explore the relationship between WEF nexus and climate change after applying NMs. In view of all that has been mentioned so far, one may suppose that applied NMs are crucial for conserving WEF resources, but the nanotoxicity is a serious threat should be considered in the further studies.

soil degradation

Soil salinity is a serious problem facing many countries globally, especially those with semi-arid and arid climates. Soil salinity can have negative influences on soil microbial activity as well as many chemical and physical soil processes, all of which are crucial for soil health, fertility, and productivity. Soil salinity can negatively affect physiological, biochemical, and genetic attributes of cultivated plants as well. Plants have a wide variety of responses to salinity stress and are classified as sensitive (e.g., carrot and strawberry), moderately sensitive (grapevine), moderately tolerant (wheat) and tolerant (barley and date palm) to soil salinity depending on the salt content required to cause crop production problems. Salinity mitigation represents a critical global agricultural issue. This review highlights the properties and classification of salt-affected soils, plant damage from osmotic stress due to soil salinity, possible approaches for soil salinity mitigation (i.e., applied nutrients, microbial inoculations, organic amendments, physio-chemical approaches, biological approaches, and nano-management), and research gaps that are important for the future of food security. The strong relationship between soil salinity and different soil subdisciplines (mainly, soil biogeochemistry, soil microbiology, soil fertility and plant nutrition) are also discussed.

NGOING climate change is leading to more extreme weather, which affects agriculture in various ways. In semi-arid regions of the world, and even some humid areas, drought stress is becoming more frequent. Prolonged drought periods lead to severe damages to cultivated plants, which impacts water and food resources. This review investigates how drought stress impacts plants and how management practices can be utilized to reduce the negative effects. Special attention is given to nano-farming where application of nanomaterials may ameliorate drought stress by increasing enzymatic antioxidants and decreasing generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Despite the promising results of nano-farming we conclude that further research is required, particularly to investigate potential negative effects, for example on nano-toxicity where particles can enter groundwater or into the food chain. Finally, drought stress is a complexed problem that affects all living organisms. A quick fix is not possible, but humankind needs to collaborate and work for a better future for all.