New directions of biology and biotechnology in urban environmental sciences

Abstract

Living organisms and biological methods are widely used in recycling urban waste and improving the quality of the urban environment. Urban biology is a branch of biology that studies organisms living in cities. We propose using the new term "urban biotechnology". Urban biotechnology is the use of biotechnological methods to protect the urban environment and in urban energy. Urban biotechnology in the future may be included in the curriculum of the Master's degree programs "Biotechnology", "Ecology " (profile "Applied Ecology"), "Chemistry" (profile " ?hemistry of the urban environment "), and Chemical Engineering (profile "Chemical and Biochemical Engineering "). We consider it important to train specialists in the fields of urban biology and urban biotechnology. We hope that urban biotechnology and urban biology will become independent disciplines in the future.

Urban chemistry as a new discipline exploring chemical and chemico-biological aspects of urban environment

“…In addition, environmental monitoring of urban soil and water pollution is equally important. For example, deicing reagents and heavy metals were shown to pose a serious threat to urban soils and plants [7,8,9] and the main features of urban soil pollution are characterized by the accumulation of copper, zinc, lead and mercury [10]. Such contamination of urban soils with heavy metals, due to the rapid and development of urban services, has become a major environmental and human health challenge [11].…”

Biotechnological aspects of obtaining salt-tolerant plants

“…The use of biotechnological methods to improve salt tolerance is a promising development. These methods are used to increase resistance to salinization and other stresses (Gladkov et al, 2021;. The salt tolerance of some crop plants and cell lines has been increased.…”

“…An efficient regeneration protocol was applied to regenerate shoots on salt stress-tolerant calli lines of aubergine (Solanum melongena) (Hannachi et al, 2021). Biotechnological methods can be used in urban greening (Gladkov, Gladkova, 2021).Cell selection has been used to obtain salt-tolerant Agrostis stolonifera plants. (Gladkov et al,2014;.…”