The total environment is characterized where these five spheres overlap. Studies that focus on at least two or three of these will be given primary consideration. Papers reporting results from only one sphere will not be considered. Field studies are given priority over laboratory studies. The total environment is studied when data are collected and described from these five spheres. By definition total environment studies must be multidisciplinary.
Examples of data from the five spheres are given below:
Subject areas may include, but are not limited to:
• Agriculture, forestry, land use and management
• Air pollution quality and human health
• Contaminant (bio)monitoring and assessment
• Ecosystem services and life cycle assessments
• Ecotoxicology and risk assessment
• Emerging fields including global change and contaminants
• Environmental management and policy
• Environmental remediation
• Environmental sources, processes and global cycling
• Groundwater hydrogeochemistry and modeling
• Human health risk assessment and management
• Nanomaterials in the environment
• Noise in the environment
• Persistent organic pollutants
• Plant science and toxicology
• Remote sensing
• Stress ecology in marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems
• Trace metals and organics in biogeochemical cycles
• Waste and water treatment
The editors discourage submission of papers which describe results from routine surveys or monitoring programs, studies which are local in scope, laboratory experiments, hydroponic or pot studies measuring biochemical/physiological endpoints, food science studies, screening of new plant species for phytoremediation, testing known chemicals in another setting, and experimental studies lacking a testable hypothesis.
The abstract, highlights and conclusions of papers in this journal must contain clear and concise statements as to why the study was done and how readers will benefit from the results. Articles submitted for publication in should establish connections among research findings with implications for environmental quality, ecological health, and/or human health.