The European University on Responsible Consumption and Production—EURECA-PRO is an alliance that unites nine universities from eight European countries. Together they form a multidisciplinary network with strong expertise in both production and consumption-related fields. The alliance is closely linked to Sustainable Development Goal 12, which focuses on sustainable consumption and production patterns — a core part of EURECA-P...

Zusammenfassung Die Montanuniversität Leoben als hochspezialisierte Universität in systemrelevanten Bereichen verortet ihre ingenieurwissenschaftliche Identität konsequent entlang des Wertschöpfungskreislaufs Rohstoffe – Prozesse – Materialien („Circular Engineering“). Ausgehend von dieser „DNA“ sind neue Themenfelder wie Nachhaltigkeit und Kreislaufprozesse, Sicherheit und Resilienz, cyber-physische Systeme oder Raumfahrt ein...

This study explores the application of strontium (Sr) isotope ratios ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) as geochemical tracers to understand hydrological connectivity and anthropogenic influences in a geologically diverse Alpine river catchment encompassing regions of Austria and Slovenia. Focusing on the Mur River and its tributaries, water samples were collected across 45 sites during three hydrological regimes to capture seasonal and spatial...

The utilisation of carbon materials as soil amendments has seen a notable increase, with the aim of enhancing plant growth and facilitating carbon sequestration. Carbon from methane plasmalysis (CMP) may soon become widely available as a result of this hydrogen production process with low specific energy input. This study presents the initial evaluation of CMP’s properties and its effects on soil quality and plant growth. CMP...

The rollout of electric vehicles and photovoltaic panels is essential to mitigate climate change. However, they depend on technology‐critical elements (TCEs), which can be harmful to human health and whose use is rapidly expanding, while recycling is lacking. While mining has received substantial attention, in‐use dissipation in urban areas has so far not been assessed, for example, corrosion and abrasion of vehicle components...

Urban horticulture poses a sustainable form of food production, fosters community engagement and mitigates the impacts of climate change on cities. Yet, it can also be tied to health challenges related to soil contamination. This work builds on a previous study conducted on eleven urban gardens in the city of Vienna, Austria. Following the findings of elevated Pb levels in some soil and plant samples within that project, the p...

Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a “Green List of Species” (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species’ progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement aga...

Growing evidence shows that epigenetic mechanisms contribute to complex traits, with implications across many fields of biology. In plant ecology, recent studies have attempted to merge ecological experiments with epigenetic analyses to elucidate the contribution of epigenetics to plant phenotypes, stress responses, adaptation to habitat, and range distributions. While there has been some progress in revealing the role of epig...