\r\n\tFood insecurity results in fear of hunger and starvation that ultimately affects one’s ability to work for sustainability and economic growth of the country. In addition to this, food insecurity results in various chronic diseases due to reduce immunity that ultimately, a burned on the county economy. Therefore, this book will intend to discuss in detail about the food insecurity challenges and their effect on the quality of life. This book will also aim to provide an overview about the new trends and future prospective that help to resolve the food security issues.
",isbn:"978-1-80356-942-0",printIsbn:"978-1-80356-941-3",pdfIsbn:"978-1-80356-943-7",doi:null,price:0,priceEur:0,priceUsd:0,slug:null,numberOfPages:0,isOpenForSubmission:!0,isSalesforceBook:!1,isNomenclature:!1,hash:"090302a30e461cee643ec49675c811ec",bookSignature:"Dr. Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad, Dr. Muhammad Imran and Dr. Muhammad Kamran Khan",publishedDate:null,coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/11475.jpg",keywords:"Nutrition, Poverty, Hunger, Food Waste Utilization, Innovative Technologies, Food Processing, Genetically Modified Food, Policy Making, Trade Reforms, Climate Change, Agriculture Productivity, Disease Resistant Crops",numberOfDownloads:null,numberOfWosCitations:0,numberOfCrossrefCitations:null,numberOfDimensionsCitations:null,numberOfTotalCitations:null,isAvailableForWebshopOrdering:!0,dateEndFirstStepPublish:"April 7th 2022",dateEndSecondStepPublish:"May 5th 2022",dateEndThirdStepPublish:"July 4th 2022",dateEndFourthStepPublish:"September 22nd 2022",dateEndFifthStepPublish:"November 21st 2022",dateConfirmationOfParticipation:null,remainingDaysToSecondStep:"2 months",secondStepPassed:!0,areRegistrationsClosed:!1,currentStepOfPublishingProcess:4,editedByType:null,kuFlag:!1,biosketch:"An emerging scientist in the field of food science and technology with special expertise in development of rapid and nondestructive technologies, chemometrics and data mining.",coeditorOneBiosketch:"Muhammad Imran has expertise in extrusion technology, microencapsulation, lipids chemistry, sensory evaluation and food process engineering.",coeditorTwoBiosketch:"A renowned scientist with expertise in Novel food processing technologies.",coeditorThreeBiosketch:null,coeditorFourBiosketch:null,coeditorFiveBiosketch:null,editors:[{id:"292145",title:"Dr.",name:"Muhammad",middleName:null,surname:"Haseeb Ahmad",slug:"muhammad-haseeb-ahmad",fullName:"Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/292145/images/system/292145.png",biography:"Dr. Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan. He also served as an assistant professor for one year at the National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. He received his doctoral degree from Hohenheim University, Stuttgart, Germany, in 2016. During his stay there, he also worked as a research associate for research projects relevant to various food disciplines. Dr. Ahmad is the author of about thirty five research publications and twelve book chapters. He has also presented his research work at various national and international conferences (25). 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He won the Indigenous and IRSIP (Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA) Fellowships for completion of doctorate research funded by HEC, Islamabad, Pakistan. Dr. Muhammad Imran has expertise in extrusion technology, microencapsulation, lipids chemistry, sensory evaluation, and food process engineering. Until today, Dr. Muhammad Imran has authored 80 publications (International & National) in various Impact Journals of Scientific repute and written 15 Book Chapters as principal author and co-author. 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\n
1. Introduction
\n
Properly concluded contractual relationship allows the creation of a strong partnership through which the authorities can pursue their policy objectives. Such a partnership should prevent from neglecting fulfilment of the tasks or abusing position of one from parties. The key factor for providing public transport services is an adequate regulatory framework and contracting conditions that should be set to support the competitive behaviour of bidders—service providers.
\n
The regulatory framework consists of three levels [1]:\n
Strategic (setting basic objectives to be achieved: transport policy, public budgets, intermodality, etc.).
Tactical (emphasis mainly on design of services and fares, requirements for staff, vehicles, additional services).
Operational (ensuring the service provision in the market according to objectives: sale activities, information for the public, deployment of vehicles, maintenance).
\n
In the process of preparing and contracting, the attention must be paid to aspects such as [2]:\n
setting the rights and obligations of the parties,
addressing the issue of infrastructure ownership and ownership of service provider (transport means and depots),
risk allocation between the parties,
responsibility for planning and design of services to be provided (freedom which be given to the operator in designing and making changes in services),
scope of contract,
structure of payment (it should represent a balance between profit and reward for realised performance),
method of monitoring and controlling a fulfilment of public service obligations.
\n
It should be noted that a proper adjustment of these aspects by authorities helps to operators improve efficiency of service provision and reduce costs.
\n
\n
1.1. Addressing the issue of ownership
\n
The provision of public transport services requires on the one hand the availability of particular assets (such as infrastructures and vehicles), and on the other hand the management of those assets in combination with personnel.
\n
There are several possibilities of ownership [3]:\n
public ownership,
mixed ownership majority private partner of more than 50% or minority private partner of less than 50%,
private ownership.
\n
Infrastructure ownership and ownership of service provider can be separated according to following ways (and the ownership can be organised differently for each part):\n
vertical separation (where operator does not own infrastructure).
\n
In the case of vertical separation, it is necessary to address an issue of infrastructure management. The infrastructure can be managed by [3]:
\n
operator or
authority organises infrastructure management separately from operator who provides passenger transport services.
\n
In case that the transport operator manages infrastructure, a combination of ownership and usage may result in: [1, 4]:
\n
Delegated management where the operator acts independently from the authority and uses the assets provided by the authority. These assets may be provided based on various arrangements, for example “for free” or based on a contract regarding publicly owned infrastructure or through a leasing company.
Public management where the assets are owned by the authority and transport services are provided by a public operator. Such provision of transport services may be ensured based on an in-house contract.
In the third case which represents operators who provide assets. they are also responsible for service operation by using these assets. The contract based on which services are provided may take various forms and scope ranged from simple bus service contracts (where operators provide bus services by using their own buses) to more complex contracts (e.g. DBOT contracts—Design, Build, Operate and Transfer). Other type of contracts may represent infrastructure-concession contracts where operators may decide to some extent about the design of the assets and service realisation or PPPs contracts (Public–Private Partnership).
\n
\n
\n
1.2. Public service procurement process
\n
The process of public service procurement is complex and consists of several procedural steps, which must be done from authorities’ position (see Figure 1) [3]. The basis of each process should be sufficient preparation. Good preparation can bring quality in services provided and effective use of public funds. Therefore, this part of the procurement process cannot be underestimated from the position of a public authority. In the first step, it is necessary to set the basic strategic objectives based on identified requirements of the public. Further, the services to be provided are characterised and designed. The services should be defined with respect to the criteria by which it will be possible to evaluate to what extent (range) a candidate (public service operator) is able to fulfil the provision of transport services. Last but not least, it is important to develop framework conditions of public service contract. Further step is related to award procedure, which can represent the direct award of contract or a competitive tendering. In the last step, a public authority implements the control procedures during contractual period whether a service operator meets its obligations.
\n
Figure 1.
Procedure of public authority while contracting [3].
\n
\n
\n
\n
2. Identification of the objective
\n
\n
2.1. Identifying the needs of the public
\n
The first essential step in the procurement is to determine the demand for public services—public passenger transport. Public service requirements can be found out by using different methods. One of the methods is an interview with passengers or potential passengers. The person responsible for obtaining information firstly selects a group of citizens who will be asked to answer simple questions. Ranking of requirements for public services in terms of quality and quantity is compiled at the end based on the answers [5].
\n
Another method of identifying requirements of passengers is a form of questionnaire. The first step in creating a questionnaire is to determine the existing problem in public services. Information about the problem can be obtained based on written complaints or verbal manifestations of citizens. Further, it is necessary to determine the objectives and indicators of questionnaire and to select a group of people to be queried. The advantage of questionnaires is fast obtaining the information in a short time and at relatively low costs. The questionnaires are sent directly to citizens or may be in the form of anonymous questionnaires.
\n
By gathering information on requirements for public services, the strategic objectives can be determined.
\n
\n
\n
2.2. Identifying the strategic objectives
\n
The transport policy addresses public passenger transport and its objective is to ensure the sustainable development of mobility, coordination of public passenger transport with individual transport and improvement of road safety. Regarding the provision of public passenger transport, it is also necessary to take into account other policies such as social, environmental policy.
\n
Typical strategic objectives within public transport are [3, 6]:\n
Transport policy:\n
enhance total transport situation,
reliability of services,
ensure mobility,
increase market share of public transport within the intermodal market: influence the modal split, for example also by parking policy,
traffic safety,
link individual with public transport.
Social policy—support for specific target groups:\n
people with low incomes,
people with limited mobility,
employees of the operator,
pupils, students and apprentices,
young and elderly,
accessibility for all layers/generations of the population.
Environmental policy:\n
efficient energy use,
quality of life in urban areas,
reduce emission of pollutants, for example reduction in global warming gas emissions,
noise reduction,
protection of vulnerable rural areas.
Structural and economic policy (regional development)—enhancing services within specific areas:\n
infrastructure policy—establishing capacities, regulations for use and financing the public transport infrastructure,
regional structure,
support for small- and medium-sized enterprises,
site-related factors,
location trends,
land-use policy.
Budgetary aspects.
\n
Subsequently, the strategic objectives should be confronted with the local conditions.
\n
\n
\n
2.3. Analysis of local constraints
\n
To be able to properly transform strategic objectives into tactical means (service concepts), the relevant local circumstances (constraints) have to be identified and taken into account. Numerous aspects, tasks and competencies can have an impact on public transport.
\n
Firstly, it is appropriate to analyse the local organisation of a concerned territory and to gain a good overview of the current distribution of tasks, competencies and responsibilities between the operators and the public authorities. Some further aspects to analyse are legal and economic aspects and the existing market structure as well as the existing transport system and geographical aspects [3].
\n
Significant local circumstances (constraints) include [4, 6]:\n
Existing local organisation of public transport:\n
localisation of information and skills,
localisation of decision-making powers for policy-making (strategic level) service design (tactical level) and operational decisions (operational level),
identification of roles and duties of public authorities and service operators.
Legal restrictions:\n
existing contractual regulations,
existing awarding and contracting procedures,
right of initiative,
overcompensation,
national/local legal framework,
EU legal framework.
Economic restrictions:\n
financial/budgetary aspects,
ability to bear risk by the authority,
economic situation of the operator market (including ability to bear risk).
Market structure of service operators:\n
capabilities,
number and size,
efficiency,
ownership.
Existing transport system:\n
vehicles,
network design,
infrastructure, for example existing railways, existing depots,
existing databases, for example passenger data, modal split figures,
level of quality of public transport services.
Spatial/geographical restrictions.
\n
\n
\n
\n
3. Determination of characteristics and requirements for services
\n
The further step prior to the conclusion of public service contract is a characterisation of services and definition of requirements for services. It is also necessary to divide the tasks, competencies and responsibilities between the operators and the public authorities in order to ensure efficient provision of public service.
\n
\n
3.1. Service design
\n
In order to reach the decision on an adequate level of competence of service operator when designing services, it is recommended to answer the following preliminary questions first [5]:\n
Which interests are in conflict with each other?
Which interests need to be harmonised (and how)?
To what extent can a natural overlap between the commercial and other interests of the operator, the interests of the public as well as the interests of the authorities be expected?
\n
It is necessary to note that the allocation of responsibilities determines the appropriate risk allocation between the operator and the authority. Whoever takes the opportunities and risk is the party most appropriate to influence the corresponding features.
\n
Decision-making on service design (i.e. tactical decisions) can be organised in different ways. It should be distinguished between two basic periods:\n
The period during which the contractual relation between operator and authority is established.
The period during which the contract is realised.
\n
For each of these two periods, fundamental organisational decisions have to be taken as to the allocation of initiative power and decision power to the authority and to the operator [3].
\n
Within the first period of establishment of the relation, service design can be determined [2]:\n
by the operator through the bid that he delivers to the authority; in the context of awarding, this is also known as “functional” awarding,
in a negotiated way between the operator and the authority during the contracting process; this intermediate way to organise things is also known as “negotiated” or
by the authority prior to contracting; in the context of awarding, thesis also known as “constructive” awarding.
\n
During the second period of contract realisation, service redesign can also be organised in different ways [1]:\n
It can be determined by the authority, or
It can be determined by the operator:\n
the operator may only have the possibility to suggest amendments to the network, whereas the authority remains in charge of deciding upon the implementation of those changes after conducting a check on the desirability and/or financial consequences of the change or
the operator may have the freedom to modify services autonomously as he wishes (indeed, within specific norms of network accessibility specified by the authority within the contract).
\n
\n
\n
3.2. Determination of technical specifications (conditions)
\n
Technical specifications and conditions are understood to be the determination of characteristics and requirements, which must be fulfilled in the bids submitted by tenderers in order to obtain a contract. Technical conditions are part of the tender documentation. Technical conditions may be determined either by the form of references to the documents, standards, regulations and acts or by the form of requirements for parameters of expected utility, for example setting requirements for performance, capacity.
\n
Individual characteristics and requirements for services must be set so that none of the tenderers and candidates is discriminated and the principles of transparency, economy and efficiency must be applied.
\n
\n
\n
3.3. Identifying the objectives of contract
\n
The objectives should not be specified too general. It is favourable if the concretisation of subject of the contract in the form of objectives is a part of tender documentation. This contributes to the improvement of evaluation process, award procedure as well as control process. Correct determination of objectives is an assumption for easier definition of evaluation criteria. Requirements for the characteristics of objectives are presented in Table 1.
\n\n
\n
Characteristic of objectives
\n
Description
\n
Example
\n
\n\n\n
\n
Verifiability
\n
An objective can be verified
\n
Technical parameters
\n
\n
\n
Quantifiability
\n
An objective can be measured
\n
Number of kilometres travelled, hours of operation
\n
\n
\n
Objectivity
\n
An objective relates directly to the purpose of contract
\n
Quality of the carriage of passengers
\n
\n
\n
Consistency
\n
Mutual continuity of objectives
\n
Reduction the transport impact on the environment by promoting public transport
\n
\n\n
Table 1.
Requirements for the characteristics of objectives.
\n
\n
\n
\n
4. Choice of evaluation criteria
\n
A public authority must determine evaluation criteria, which reflect the expectations that are to be achieved through public transport services. The evaluation criteria can be distinguished in terms of type and kind. Individual types and kinds of evaluation criteria with stated examples are presented in Table 2.
\n\n\n
\n
4.1. Transformation of qualitative criteria into quantitative criteria
\n
In order to determine to what extent the feature of quality is fulfilled, it is necessary to find a way to measure particular feature of quality. Transformation of qualitative criteria into quantitative criteria is performed due to the measurability of quantitative criteria. The intensity of quality can be measured, for example, by using ten-point scale. Interval of scoring is compiled from the unsatisfactory quality up to the perfectly satisfactory quality [7].
\n
\n\n
\n
Types of evaluation criteria
\n
Kinds of evaluation criteria
\n
Examples
\n
\n\n\n
\n
Quantitative
\n
Cost
\n
The lowest offer price repairs and maintenance operating costs return on investment
Basically, the forms of individual contracts differ in an allocation of risks between contractual parties and the resulting structure of payments.
\n
\n
5.1. Risk analysis in public passenger transport
\n
There is a methodology, not only in the SR, but also in other countries, on the basis of which the reasonable profit is determined as percentage of economically justified costs. But in this case, the operators are not motivated to save up the costs and it is also contrary to the policy of the European Union. The reasonable profit for services, which are provided in public interest, should be based on the risk assumed by operator. Therefore, an analysis of the risks existing in providing public transport services is needed.
\n\n\n
The risks existing in providing public transport services can be categorised [2]:\n
Systematic risks—such risks include political risks (government decisions, changes in government policy…), international risks (changes in foreign exchange rates…), economic risks (price development, population purchasing power…), interest rate changes, inflation risk and risk of unforeseen events.
Unsystematic risks are the risks associated with the revenue of company and its ability to cover liabilities. These risks may be influenced by an investment project quality, deployment environment, qualified management, etc.
\n
Existing risk can be also further divided into two groups—cost and revenue risks (see Figure 2).
\n
Figure 2.
Classification of the risks in public passenger transport.
\n
\n
5.1.1. Cost risks
\n
The cost risks are associated with a cost calculation when contracting in public economic interest. In public service contract, it is necessary to agree on a price for realised performance, which consists of the costs and profits of public service operator. In the case that the operator assumes the cost risk, it is necessary to agree on a scope of realised performance for the contract period and economically justified costs per unit of the realised performance between operator and authority. The cost risks can be divided into two groups [5]:\n
Operational cost risks which are related to the difference of the anticipated costs calculated and the actually observed costs after performance realisation. The reasonable profit must depend on an allocation of this risk. When the operator does not assume the risk and after realisation of performance he proves eligibility of costs to authority for the purpose of compensation, the operator takes no cost risk for the performance realisation. In the case that the agreed unit costs in public service contract are final, the operator assumes the cost risk and this should be reflected in appropriate level of reasonable profit. The operational cost risks can be further divided as follows:\n
External operational cost risks—the risk that cannot be influenced by the operator at all (e.g. cost increasing due to flooding streets in the event of natural disasters). This group can also include the risk which can be influenced by operator indirectly or only in small extent (e.g. changes in energy prices during the contract period, change in employees’ costs, etc.).
Internal operational cost risks—the risk that can be influenced by the operator, for example the costs of maintaining of vehicle fleet (the operator can decide on the maintenance process in order to avoid failure of vehicle and higher costs).
Investment cost risks are related to the difference of the anticipated life of the fixed assets of the operator. While providing public passenger transport, it is primarily the means of transport and infrastructure (e.g. bus and tram stops, tram tracks). The reasonable profit must depend on which party assumes the risk of the difference of actual net book value of fixed assets at the end of a contract period compared with anticipated net book value.
\n
\n
\n
5.1.2. Revenue risks
\n
The revenue risks are associated with the difference between expected revenues from operation of public passenger transport and actually achieved revenues at the end of contract period. These risks may be taken either by authority or operator and in this regard there must be appropriately set a profit level of the operator. When the authority assumes the revenue risk, a contractual relationship between the authority and the operator, which sets a compensation for realised performance, is based on the following formula [6]:\n
C=(UC+RP).P−RE1
\nwhere C—compensation of the authority for the operator,\n
UC—costs per unit of realised performance,
RP—reasonable profit for the operator expressed per performance unit,
P—the realised performance,
R—revenue achieved when realising performance.
\n
When there are agreed final costs per unit in public service contract, which cannot be changed during a contract period, the cost risks are fully borne by the operator. The revenue risks are borne by the authority. This means that if operator’s revenue is decreasing, the compensation from authority’s party is increasing.
\n
When the operator assumes the revenue risk, in the contract there is determined in addition to realised performance also absolute amount of compensation, which cannot be changed during a contract period. The compensation is based on anticipated costs and revenue, while changes in costs and revenue pose a risk of the operator. A part of the compensation is a reasonable profit of the operator resulting from cost and revenue risk of realised performance.
\n
The cost risks are not usually related with interventions of public authorities (with an exception of changes in tax burden of the operator), and currently, they are usually transmitted to operators. In the case of revenue risks, it is possible to define influence of public authorities on revenue risks; the risks can be divided into two groups:\n
revenue risk associated with a decrease in demand—it is a risk related to the changes in number of passengers carried when providing public passenger transport. In the case that the authority bears the revenue risk, it is necessary to appropriately involve the operator in compliance with required quality because the amount of the compensation in this case does not depend on the number of passengers carried (In the SR, this risk is very significant because the demand for public passenger transport expressed in passenger kilometres (pskm) is decreasing annually in road and railway transport). When it comes to the revenue risk associated with a decrease in demand, it is necessary to distinguish territories in which the transport services are operated. The development of number of passengers carried depends to some extent on the interventions of public authorities, which can indirectly influence the number of passengers carried through a fulfilling their strategic objectives which can be economic, environmental, social and governmental.
revenue risk associated with a change in passenger structure—it is the risk of revenue change because of a change in passenger structure. For example, when the selected groups of passengers (students, pensioners) travel with special fares, an increase in number of those passengers while keeping the total number of passengers causes a decrease in total revenue for providing transport services. The good solution is setting an appropriate pricing policy of transport services. However, it is important to monitor the impact of price changes on the demand, which varies considerably for particular groups of passengers. In the Slovak Republic, the discounted fares known as saver tickets (half price of a full fare ticket) are for young people aged 6 to 15 and students to 26, and fares known as “other fares”
Decree of Office of Rail Regulation No 654/2005 lays down the scope of price regulation for railway transport and price quotations of self-governing regions which determine the maximum prices for national regular bus transport when the distance from origin to final bus stop exceeds 100 km
are for: senior citizens over 70 (€ 0.20 per every 50 km, severely disabled people (half fare travel), parents travelling to visit their physically or mentally disabled, chronically ill children nourished in special facilities in Slovakia (half fare travel). The public passenger transport fare is regulated by public authorities that decide which specific groups of passengers will be entitled to reduced fares; and therefore, the revenue risk associated with the change in passenger structure can be classified as the risks associated with interventions by public authorities.
\n
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\n
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5.2. Risk allocation between the contracting parties
\n
The authority has to decide upon how to allocate risks between contracting parties appropriately. Risk can have a negative effect on the outcome of contracting, especially when using competitive awarding [3]:\n
The higher the risk, the lower the number of bidders (high entry barriers).
A very high level of risk, resulting out of a high level of uncertainty, may result in a higher danger of insolvency for operators in case of a full realisation of the risk.
The higher the risk, the higher the risk premium the operator is calculating (increasing the subsidy to be paid by the authority).
\n
Therefore, from a very schematic point of view, risk can be classified as follows [1]:\n
High risk—High uncertainty and/or critical for operator in case of realisation (operators will calculate a high risk premium).
Low risk—Predictable for operators and/or not critical for operators in case of realisation (operators will calculate a low risk premium).
Unbearable risk—Unpredictable and critical for operator in case of realisation (risk not bearable for operators—market entry barrier).
\n
A contract form and payment structure is dependent on a way of the risk allocation. The contract forms are as follows:\n
Management contract—operator bears no risk; cost and revenue risk is borne by authority that pays the economically justified costs to operator. Those costs are accounted in the end of period. This means that the risk from difference between anticipated and actual costs is borne by authority, which bears also the risk from difference between anticipated and actual revenue. In this case, the level of reasonable profit of operator should relate only to numb capital during providing transport services because he bears no risk. The reasonable profit, in this case, must include, in addition to the numb capital, also a reward for assuming the cost risk.
Gross cost contract—operator bears cost risk; the risk from difference between anticipated and actual costs in the end of period and the authority bears the risk from difference between anticipated and actual revenue.
Net cost contract—operator bears cost and revenue risk. In this case, the operator bears the risk from difference between anticipated and actual costs/revenue, which are identified in the end of contract period. The authority pays only compensation, which is agreed before realised performance to operator. This means that the authority bears no risk.
\n
The essential advantages and disadvantages of gross and net cost contracts are presented in Table 3.
\n\n
\n
\n
Advantages
\n
Disadvantages
\n
\n\n\n
\n
Gross cost contract
\n
Reliable calculation for operator.
Low barriers for market entry.
High legal certainty.
Enforcement of public interests (e.g. tariffs).
competition neutrality.
\n
No entrepreneurial interest.
High level of regulation.
No budget reliability for public authorities.
High monitoring efforts.
\n
\n
\n
Net cost contract
\n
Preservation of entrepreneurial interest.
Lower monitoring charges— customer as “adjustment factor”.
Constant amount of compensation payments.
Minimal requirements have to be defined.
\n
Low legal certainty (in case of tendering because of missing database).
Higher risk for operators—risk premium and higher compensation payments.
No incentives to consider social, environmental and political goals.
\n
\n\n
Table 3.
Advantages and disadvantages of gross and net cost contracts.
\n
\n
\n
5.3. Determination of risk and reasonable profit when financing public passenger transport
\n
Determination of reasonable profit as a percentage of costs is economically incorrect in a regulated sector. The reasonable profit must relate to the risk that is borne by operator in regard to realised performance. This means that the level of reasonable profit must be higher in case of the operator bearing cost and revenue risks in comparison with the operator bearing only cost risks while keeping the same range of performance.
\n
Based on the previous analysis of risk allocation, the level of reasonable profit can be defined as follows [1]:\n
Operator bears no cost or revenue risks—the risks associated with providing transport services are borne only by authority; and therefore, the level of reasonable profit should relate only to the capital used by operator when providing transport services. A reward for provided capital of operator should depend on profitability level of capital invested in terms of deposits with guaranteed returns. The reasonable profit in management contracts is calculated according to following formula:\n
RP=CO.pE2
\nwhere: RP—reasonable profit,\n
CO—capital invested by operator for providing transport services,
p—capital profitability.
Operator bears cost risks—the level of reasonable profit must consist of two parts: the reward for provided capital of operator (the same as mentioned above) and the reward corresponding to the cost risks. The reasonable profit when contracting for public interest and where operator bears cost risk is possible to determine according to following formula [6]:\n
RP=CO.p+(∑i=1n(Ci.RCi)).PE3
\nwhere: Ci—i’s value of cost item of operator in unit expression,\n
RCi—risk of assumed value of i’s cost item in percentage expression from cost item value,
n—number of operator’s cost items,
i—i’s cost item of operator,
P—realised performance.
It is necessary to define the way of risk determination of estimated values of individual cost items in relation to reasonable profit. The risk can be calculated by using the relationship for determination of safety surcharge to net premiums.
Operator bears cost and revenue risks—the level of reasonable profit must consist of three parts: the reward for provided capital of operator (mentioned above), the reward corresponding to the cost risks (mentioned above) and the reward corresponding to revenue risks. The reasonable profit when contracting for public interest and where operator bears cost and revenue risks is possible to determine according to following formula [6]:\n
RP=CO.p+(∑i=1n(Ci.RCi)).P+(∑j=1m(Rj.RRj)).PE4
where j—j’s group of passengers with the same fare level,\n
m—number of passenger groups which are different by fare level,
Rj—assumed revenue of j’s passenger group in unit expression,
RTi—revenue risk of j’s passenger group expressed in percentages.
\n
Determining revenue risk is done by an analogous method such as in case of determining cost risk. Revenue risk is possible to determine at standard deviation level of income change per individual groups of passengers in observed period.
\n
\n
\n
5.4. Scope of contract
\n
In terms of the scope of the contract, a public authority can decide on:\n
route contracts—used for a specific bus line or can include a group of shorter bus lines located close to each other,
network contracts—these contracts cover whole city territory and network of city public transport or they are related to more transport modes such as metro, bus and tram,
sub-network contracts—related only to a certain part of city (e.g. suburb of city) and only one mode of transport.
\n
The contract size has an influence on efficiency. The contract size has an influence on efficiency. Related to matters of risk, this aspect mainly affects the market entry possibilities and might result in an overly elevated complexity level for the respective service operators.
low market or no market entry barriers exist for small- and medium-sized operators,
integration of public transport services needs to be realised through other organisations (authority or related body),
in case of dependency on the performance of other operators, net cost contracts are not recommended,
provide fewer optimising opportunities.
\n
Sub-network contracts
\n
Sub-network contracts provide a compromise between network contracts and route contracts if required.
\n
\n
\n
5.5. Duration of contractual period
\n
When designing the length of contract period, the public authority should take into account the level of revenue risk borne by the operator in order to allow him to develop market activities for increasing the number of passengers.
\n
\n
5.5.1. Flexibility during the contract period
\n
Changes in external factors, political aims or passenger needs can lead to a need for amendments to service design during contract period. Therefore, certain flexibility should be incorporated in contracts.
\n
Contracts should contain appropriate variations and termination clauses [3]:\n
Enable service redesign by the operator autonomously when using net cost contracts (with functionally designed minimal standards) while preventing negative financial impact to authority.
Enable the authority and the operator to terminate (or at least renegotiate) the contract in case of major unforeseen changes with major commercial influence.
Check whether there will be major changes during the contract time (e.g. a new bus lane within the centre during the contract period) and insert suitable agreement procedures on how to deal with these circumstances.
Enable service redesign by the operator after approval of the authority under all awarding models, based upon fixed price list and limitations (e.g. limited increase in vehicle-km) to reduce risk for the operator and the authority.
Insert arbitration clauses to avoid unproductive conflicts.
Enable service redesign by the authority in case of constructive design, based upon fixed price list and limitations (e.g. limited increase in vehicle-km) to reduce the risk for the operator (and the authority).
\n
It is necessary to note that the longer the contract period, the more increases the need for flexibility of the contract. In case of high uncertainty about future developments (e.g. major changes within the coming years without any sufficient expectations on the influence on the contractual outcome), a short contract period is recommended (maybe including extension options) [1].
\n
In terms of decision-making on contract period, it can be recommended as follows [5]:\n
Decision based on trade-off between flexibility (short-term contract) and increasing incentive to make capital investments (long-term contract).
Use of short-term contracts in case of high uncertainty about future development (e.g. net cost contract with high uncertainty about development of the ridership).
Avoiding too short contract periods as this causes increasing uncertainty (which may result in lower interest of operators on that contract).
Use of long-term contracts in case of high specific investment needs with long amortisation periods, including review dates on the performance.
Avoiding too long contract periods in case of competitive awarding to secure competition within the market.
Use of longer-term contract when substantial market action is required from the operator (take account of longer lead times to develop measures and to reap the profit of their implementation).
Use of short-term contracts in case of the need for increased flexibility.
Avoiding too long contract periods to be able to recalibrate contract clauses according to market development.
\n
\n
\n
\n
5.6. Payment structure
\n
Payments which are paid to operators in return for service provision may represent variable, fixed payments or their combination. However, it is important to determine a clear and verifiable payment structure in order to avoid misunderstandings and disputes between contracting parties during the contract period. It should be also noted that financing of infrastructure should be separated from operation financing due to transparency reasons [3].
\n
Payments may flow not only from an authority to an operator but also in opposite direction from an operator to an authority. The situation is dependent on the market conditions. For example, the award of a very profitable service contract to the service operator through a competitive tendering may bring the situation of payments flowing from the operator to the authority. However, as many public transport services cannot be provided on a commercial basis, the payments which are paid to service operators from authorities are more usual in practice. The situation also depends on the structure of the additional incentives, which may be included in individual public service contracts.
\n
The amount of the payment to be paid depends on various factors. These factors relate to the type and scope of a particular public service contract, which is awarded to a particular operator [1].
\n
To reduce the risk level, it is recommended to include a lump sum payment. Inclusion of variable payments, which represent incentive-based payments into a public service contract, may motivate the operator to achieve the objective set by the authority.
\n
As previously mentioned, the structure of payments must be determined in a clear manner. It is recommended to reduce complexity as much as possible in favour of a simple payment structure. This may also reduce the level of risks and avoid the high entry barriers to the market.
\n
\n
\n
\n
6. Procedure from the position of service providers in procurement of the transport service
\n
In general, the candidates (tenderers) are understood to be the entities who offer a solution of bids (public service contract). Transport services may be provided after the conclusion of public service contract between the successful tenderer and competent authority (public authority). The main objective of a tenderer is to gain a competitive advantage over the other tenderer and thus succeed in a competitive tendering.
\n
\n
6.1. Procedure of service providers in competitive tendering
\n
Procedure of service providers in competitive tendering should consist of the following steps:\n
analysis of own position in competitive market,
analysis of the needs and requirements of the public,
analysis of technical conditions, the subject and criteria of the public contract,
compilation of the bid and its submission.
\n
\n
6.1.1. Analysis of own position in competitive market
\n
Success rate of a tenderer is dependent on the quality and quantity of services offered. The tenderer as an economical subject acts as a competitor in relation to other tenderers and towards the contracting authority as a potential provider of services. The tenderers, who wish to be involved in competitive tendering for public services for the first time, should perform an analysis of the competitive environment in a given sector of services. This analysis includes an analysis of strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats. Thanks to the analysis, the tenderers may find out their position in the market or look for ways to improve or retain that position.
\n
In the case that tenderer already participated in competitive tendering in previous periods, he may have plenty of information for predicting the capabilities and behaviour of the competitors. The tenderer should already be familiar with the evaluation criteria as well as their weights of importance. He should be able to create his own evaluation system, the results of which are depicted on the matrix of strengths and weaknesses. On this basis, it is then possible to evaluate own chances of tenderer or take action to improve existing conditions.
\n
\n
\n
6.1.2. Analysis of the needs and requirements of the public
\n
In the case that tenderer is able to identify the exact needs of the public, he has an advantage over the competition. The first step is to identify deficiencies in area of public passenger service, for example number of joints, accessibility of stops, points of transfer, continuity. According to these findings, a tenderer is able to create the concepts and plans for increasing the number of passengers in the future, which may increase the likelihood of success in a competitive tendering.
\n
\n
\n
6.1.3. Analysis of technical conditions, the subject and criteria of the public contract
\n
In terms of technical conditions of contract, a potential provider of transport services must examine in detail the technical conditions, characteristics and requirements for transport services.
\n
Technical conditions may be distinguished as follows [2]:\n
technical conditions in relation to expected fulfilment of public contract,
technical conditions promulgated by contracting authority.
\n
Precise definition of the subject of public contract is a certain orientational point to obtain the public contract by a tenderer. Subject of fulfilling the public contract is defined in the tender documents. In the case that tender documents do not contain the subject of public contract, a contracting authority is obligated to send to a tenderer the subject of public contract in written or electronic form within the period stipulated by the Act.
\n
\n
\n
6.1.4. Compilation of the bid and its submission
\n
Content of the bid should be drafted so that a tenderer is able to demonstrate:\n
financial position,
technical competency,
professional competency.
\n
The tenderer is obliged to draw up a bid based on the instructions for compiling bids that are contained in tender documents. He is obligated to comply with all the requirements specified in those instructions in order to succeed in competitive tendering.
\n
It would be appropriate from tenderer’s position to nominate the person responsible for compilation and submission of bids.
\n
\n
\n
\n
6.2. Approach of operators to various contract forms
\n
From the position of public authorities that plan funds for providing public transport services, the net cost contracts appear to be the most advantageous. Under this contract form, all the risks, cost and revenue, are borne by the operator. The authority pays to operator a financial amount that is fixed determined at the beginning of a contract period and stated in the contract. In this case, the public transport services in a given area are provided only by selected operator through a license. Such an operator has the option to set the level of fares because he also assumes revenue risks.
\n
The gross cost contract is advantageous for operators because they do not bear the risk of revenue decreases, which is usually associated with the factors that cannot be influenced by operators.
\n
Based on mathematical modelling of a price regulation and determination of business reasonable profit in network industries, Fendekova and Fendek [8], they mathematically model an approach of the enterprise in regulated sector and they define two approaches that can be applied in providing public transport services:\n
Approach of enterprise applying return on investment—the approach encourages an enterprise to use a high volume of capital in order to achieve the maximum permitted reasonable profit. The enterprise has no incentive to use more efficient combination of inputs, for example supporting employment in comparison with an end in itself investment in facilities.
Approach of enterprise applying increasing the volume of outputs—in this case, if the authority does not have the possibility or manpower for verifying effectiveness of providing public transport service, the operator will seek to realise also inefficient performance.
\n
\n
6.2.1. Approach of operators to gross cost contracts
\n
The operator assumes all cost risks under gross cost contracts in providing public transport services, whereas the authority bears revenue risks related to a decrease in the number of passengers. Documents for optimisation of public transport services are available for the operator and in case that the authority does not have sufficient access to the data about the number of passengers on particular bus routes, he is not able to optimise public transport services. It is necessary to continuously optimise providing public transport services when the number of passengers decreases. In terms of business interest, the operator who bears no revenue risk is willing to operate also the buses without any demand because the authority bears the risk that bus will not be used by passengers. For example, if there was abolition of a production plant into which the operator provides transport services for employees and the authority did not change a transport license, the operator would continue in providing transport services because a decrease in revenue (in this case to the zero level) would be compensate by the public authority assuming revenue risk.
\n
This approach assumes that a fare level is also determined in the public service contract. The deficiencies of such contracts may be addressed by contractual clause based on which the authorities have an access to the electronic data on the number of passengers in real time and thus they can obtain materials to optimise the transport services.
\n
\n
\n
6.2.2. Approach of operators to net cost contracts
\n
Under these contracts, the operators assume not only cost risk but also revenue risk related to providing transport services. The authority grants a license for providing public transport services to the operator that is then entitled to provide public transport services in a given served area with an exclusion of other operators (during the license period). Following from the analysis processed by van de Velde [3], the net cost contracts are rarely awarded as route contracts because the operator determines a fare level and he becomes a monopoly for providing public transport services in a given served area during the licence period. The following mathematical model defines a procedure of such operator in relation to providing transport services.
\n
Assume that the operator is a company that aims to make a profit. Based on a license and a public service contract—net cost contract, the operator provides a range of transport services bounded by demand of q. Start from a general assumption which is acceptable in any type of market structure, the consumption of a product offered in the market is described by a price-demand function that expresses willingness of consumer to buy q units of services provided at given price—p.\n
p=p(q)E5
\n
Technological conditions of the operator are expressed through the real cost function:\n
n=n(q)E6
\n
The equation presents the amount of minimum costs of n which are spent by producer in the production of q units of goods, while it is assumed that a price -demand function p(q) is continuous and twice differentiable real function. It is also envisaged that the price-demand function of consumer is constructed in order to clearly motivate the consumer to buy q units of services at market price—p—because the consumer feels the maximum rate of usefulness from consumer strategy realisation in this combination of price and demand. Analogously, the cost function describes a process of providing services by operator so that quantifies the minimum of total production cost—n for an optimal combination of production factors required to produce q units of provided services.
\n
While optimal consumer behaviour is described by price—demand function p(q), the optimal operator behaviour is described by a profit function π(q), which is formulated as the difference between revenue and costs of company corresponding to a certain production volume of q:\nwhere a continuous and twice differentiable real function of company revenue r(q) is defined as the product of price and supply volume, that is:\n
π(q)=r(q)−n(q)E7
r(q)=p.q=p(q).qE8
\n
A company operating in every type of market structure (a competitive company as well as a monopoly) seeks in a decision-making process such a combination of price and supply of its product that guarantees a maximum level of the profit. This means that the operator also provides transport services in such a way that ensures the maximum profit. Analytically, this approach can be expressed as follows:\n
π(q)=r(q)−n(q)=p(q).q−n(q)E9
\n
For optimising profit function, it is necessary that the function would reach its maximum at certain point of supply—q, that is that the first derivative of the profit function at this point is zero:\n
dπ(q)/dq=d(r(q)−n(q))/dq=rm(q)−nm(q)=0E10
\n
In the Eq. (10), rm(q) is a marginal revenue function of the operator and nm(q) is a marginal cost function. Based on Eq. (10), it can be seen that a company generally achieves a maximum profit for a volume of q when the marginal revenue equal to marginal costs, that is a solution to the equation:\n
rm(q)=nm(q)E11
\n
Then, it is possible to calculate such a price—pp that maximises profit of the operator at the optimal level of supply qp:\n
pp=p(qp)E12
\n
In the case of the operator who operates in non-regulated sector (e.g. long-distance transport), where the competition exists, the approach described in previous relationships (equations) cannot be applied. The operator accepts the price—pK at the level of his marginal costs—and he offers the production volume—qK at that price. This means that the following relationship applies:\n
pK=nm(qK)E13
\n
On the other hand, a monopoly due to its dominant position in the market can influence the price of its product so that to achieve higher profit in comparison with competing companies. The monopoly determines an optimal price—pM based on the optimisation solution Eq. (9) and based on relationships Eqs. (11), (12), that is:\n
pM=p(qM)E14
\n
Based on above mentioned, the operator operating in a monopoly position can provide fewer services at a higher price compared to competitors. The approach is shown in Figure 1 based on which the following applies:\n
pM>pK∧qM<qKE15
\n
It can be concluded based on Figure 3 that the operator operating in a competitive market would provide services in a volume of qK at the price—pK. If the average unit costs per unit of provided services are defined as:\n
Figure 3.
Monopoly and competitive company.
nj(q)=n(q)/q,q>0,E16
\n
Then the price of provided services will not cover even the average costs of the operator because:\n
nj(q)>pKE17
\n
If the operator provides public transport services in such a case, the loss of operator will be at the level of (according to the Eq. (9)):\n
πK=rK−nK=pK.qK−njK.qK=(pK−njK).qK,njK>pKE18
\n
If the operator acted as a monopoly in the same market, he would provide public transport services at the level of qM at price—pM and he would achieve, under these conditions, a profit—πM at the level (Figure 3):\nbecause the following applies for the monopoly:\n
πM=rM−nM=pM.qM−njM.qM=(pM−njM).qME19
pM>njME20
\n
While providing public transport services, the operator in a monopoly position achieves higher profit in comparison with the operator who operates in the market of perfect competition. If the public authority decides on a net cost contract, according to which the providing transport services is in the competence of the operator, there will be the risk of lower quality or the risk of lower performance than in comparison with the case of gross cost contract.
\n
The public authorities tend to issue a license for one operator to provide public transport services for whole served area and consequently to conclude a net cost contract. Under this contract, the decision on an organisation of public transport service including pricing is in the competence of the operator. However, it is important to note that this procedure can lead to reducing quality of providing services.
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\n\n',keywords:"procedure, contract, public, transport, risk",chapterPDFUrl:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/51974.pdf",chapterXML:"https://mts.intechopen.com/source/xml/51974.xml",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/51974",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/51974",totalDownloads:1540,totalViews:360,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:0,totalAltmetricsMentions:0,impactScore:0,impactScorePercentile:50,impactScoreQuartile:2,hasAltmetrics:0,dateSubmitted:"April 11th 2016",dateReviewed:"July 6th 2016",datePrePublished:null,datePublished:"January 18th 2017",dateFinished:"August 9th 2016",readingETA:"0",abstract:"This chapter describes a procurement process for providing transport serviceability by public passenger transport. The objective of the chapter is to present individual steps for procurement of public transport services. These steps consist of identification of objectives, definition of requirements for transport serviceability, risk allocation between contractual parties, drafting a public service contract and a process of selecting a service operator. Special attention is paid to the risks and their influence on contracting parties. The chapter also characterises procedure for the direct award of a public service contract, that is without competitive tendering. The author tries to define the impact of the direct award of contracts on the scope of services provided.",reviewType:"peer-reviewed",bibtexUrl:"/chapter/bibtex/51974",risUrl:"/chapter/ris/51974",book:{id:"5423",slug:"urban-transport-systems"},signatures:"Miloš Poliak",authors:[{id:"188633",title:"Prof.",name:"Milos",middleName:null,surname:"Poliak",fullName:"Milos Poliak",slug:"milos-poliak",email:"milos.poliak@fpedas.uniza.sk",position:null,profilePictureURL:"//cdnintech.com/web/frontend/www/assets/author.svg",institution:{name:"University of Transport and Communications",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"Vietnam"}}}],sections:[{id:"sec_1",title:"1. Introduction",level:"1"},{id:"sec_1_2",title:"1.1. Addressing the issue of ownership",level:"2"},{id:"sec_2_2",title:"1.2. Public service procurement process",level:"2"},{id:"sec_4",title:"2. Identification of the objective",level:"1"},{id:"sec_4_2",title:"2.1. Identifying the needs of the public",level:"2"},{id:"sec_5_2",title:"2.2. Identifying the strategic objectives",level:"2"},{id:"sec_6_2",title:"2.3. Analysis of local constraints",level:"2"},{id:"sec_8",title:"3. Determination of characteristics and requirements for services",level:"1"},{id:"sec_8_2",title:"3.1. Service design",level:"2"},{id:"sec_9_2",title:"3.2. Determination of technical specifications (conditions)",level:"2"},{id:"sec_10_2",title:"3.3. Identifying the objectives of contract",level:"2"},{id:"sec_12",title:"4. Choice of evaluation criteria",level:"1"},{id:"sec_12_2",title:"4.1. Transformation of qualitative criteria into quantitative criteria",level:"2"},{id:"sec_14",title:"5. Preparation of contract",level:"1"},{id:"sec_14_2",title:"5.1. Risk analysis in public passenger transport",level:"2"},{id:"sec_14_3",title:"5.1.1. Cost risks",level:"3"},{id:"sec_15_3",title:"5.1.2. Revenue risks",level:"3"},{id:"sec_17_2",title:"5.2. Risk allocation between the contracting parties",level:"2"},{id:"sec_18_2",title:"5.3. Determination of risk and reasonable profit when financing public passenger transport",level:"2"},{id:"sec_19_2",title:"5.4. Scope of contract",level:"2"},{id:"sec_20_2",title:"5.5. Duration of contractual period",level:"2"},{id:"sec_20_3",title:"5.5.1. Flexibility during the contract period",level:"3"},{id:"sec_22_2",title:"5.6. Payment structure",level:"2"},{id:"sec_24",title:"6. Procedure from the position of service providers in procurement of the transport service",level:"1"},{id:"sec_24_2",title:"6.1. Procedure of service providers in competitive tendering",level:"2"},{id:"sec_24_3",title:"6.1.1. Analysis of own position in competitive market",level:"3"},{id:"sec_25_3",title:"6.1.2. Analysis of the needs and requirements of the public",level:"3"},{id:"sec_26_3",title:"6.1.3. Analysis of technical conditions, the subject and criteria of the public contract",level:"3"},{id:"sec_27_3",title:"6.1.4. Compilation of the bid and its submission",level:"3"},{id:"sec_29_2",title:"6.2. Approach of operators to various contract forms",level:"2"},{id:"sec_29_3",title:"6.2.1. Approach of operators to gross cost contracts",level:"3"},{id:"sec_30_3",title:"6.2.2. Approach of operators to net cost contracts",level:"3"}],chapterReferences:[{id:"B1",body:'Poliak, M. Vzťah primeraného zisku a rizika v hromadnej osobnej doprave na Slovensku. Journal of Economics. 2013;61(2):206-220.'},{id:"B2",body:'Stanley, J., van de Velde, D. Risk and reward in public transport contracting. Research in Transport Economics. 2008;22(1):20-25.'},{id:"B3",body:'van de Velde, D. et al. Competitive tendering in the Netherlands: central planning vs. functional specifications. Transport Research Part A. 2008;42(9):1152-1162.'},{id:"B4",body:'Lalive, R., Schmutzler, A. Exploring the effects of competition for railway market. International Journal of Industrial Organization. 2008;28(2):443-458.'},{id:"B5",body:'Poliak, M., Krizanova, A. Semanova, S., Stefanikova, L. The influence of contract form choice of the transport services ensuring on performance contracting entity requirement. Transport Problems: International Scientific Journal. 2014;9(4):153-161.'},{id:"B6",body:'Hensher, D.A. - Wallis, I.P. Competitive tendering as a contracting mechanism for subsidizing transport. Journal of Transport Economics and Policy. 2005;39(3):295-321.'},{id:"B7",body:'Nedeliakova, E. - Panak, M. New trends in process-oriented quality management. Procedia Economics and Finance. 2015;34(1):172-179.'},{id:"B8",body:'Fendeková, E., Fendek, M. Modely cenovej regulácie sieťových odvetví. Journal of Economics. 2010;58(10):1039-1054.'}],footnotes:[{id:"fn1",explanation:"Decree of Office of Rail Regulation No 654/2005 lays down the scope of price regulation for railway transport and price quotations of self-governing regions which determine the maximum prices for national regular bus transport when the distance from origin to final bus stop exceeds 100 km"}],contributors:[{corresp:"yes",contributorFullName:"Miloš Poliak",address:"milos.poliak@fpedas.uniza.sk",affiliation:'
University of Žilina, Žilina, Slovakia
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1. Introduction
Trophic relationships between organisms are the mechanisms responsible for most of energy and nutrient transfers; they allow the functioning of the ecosystem. These relationships, known as food webs, caught the attention of naturalists before the concepts of evolution and ecology were about to be determined.
Initially, the diet of a species and its skills to obtain it were recognized as the leading factors for the prevalence of the fittest. Additionally, it is one of the main forces leading to evolution of that species in the long term [1]. Furthermore, competition for food became one of the favorite hypotheses to explain species exclusion; it states that when two species seemed to feed on the same resources, the best suited ultimately leads its competitor to extinction in the long term [2]. This idea has been around for many years and has not been completely discarded or proved [1].
Examining phototrophs, also known as primary producers, is the dominant starting point to analyze food webs. They use the incoming sun’s energy and inorganic nutrients to generate their biomass. This is the most important mechanism, as it initiates the cycling of nutrients and energy flux in aquatic food webs. There is primary productivity involving chemolithotrophs dominating in places devoid of sun’s light [3]. These places were mostly known to be, until recent times, around underwater volcanoes more than 1000 meters deep [3, 4].
Primary production is at the base of all consumers concurring in the environment. However, macroscopic food webs tend to be very short, with few levels of consumers because these organisms dissipate matter and energy efficiently [5]. All metazoans invest their energy looking for food, ingesting it, digesting, repairing themselves, mating, and reproducing. These activities make multicellular organisms to get around 10% of biomass fixation efficiency. Thus, 1,000 kgs of the primary producer will be needed to produce 100 kgs of herbivorous animals, only 10 kgs of small carnivores, 1 kgs of medium-sized carnivores, and only 0.1 kgs of top carnivores, following a pattern known as pyramid of productivity [5]. Adding a predatory species at any level would destabilize the food web, as this will consume higher amounts of biomass [6]. Energy dissipation is even larger, meaning that the entropy produced during the functioning of the food web is very high. However, only 1% of the incoming sunlight is used for primary production, stressing the importance of the environmental factors limiting biomass productivity to sustain food webs.
Primary productivity varies along seasons. When it reaches its peak, productivity is controlled by the top predator’s consumption (top-down), and when it reaches its lowest level, productivity is controlled by phototrophs (bottom-up). There are places that are permanently bottom-up controlled such as the deep ocean communities depending on the “organic matter rain” from dead organisms living in the photic zone in places near the equator are almost always top-down controlled, where productivity may be at its peak for most of the year. All other places experience top-down/bottom-up controls alternatively, depending on the productivity seasons.
Unicellular algae lead primary productivity in marine environments, sustaining the great diversity of organisms, especially in places receiving nutrient inputs from lands. Heterotrophic unicellular organisms forage on algae and both phototrophs (phytoplankton) and heterotrophs (zooplankton) conform to the plankton. However, unicellular organisms span in sizes less than 1 μm to hundreds of micrometers, and the species’ diversity of plankton, including microbial eukaryotes and bacteria, ranges in the order of thousands. Species of microorganisms are much more numerous than the metazoans. With such a great diversity of microorganisms, it become apparent that the microbial food webs may function differently from the macroscopic food webs.
It was believed that food webs would get destabilized if the number of species increases at any level above the primary producers. However, microbial food web seemed to get more stability with the increasing number of species, contradicting what was observed in macroscopic food webs [7]. Thus, the higher number of species of bacterial and microbial eukaryotes in aquatic food webs seemed to contradict that assumption; this phenomenon was named as “The paradox of microbial loop.” It was paradoxical that productivity and efficiency of nutrients and energy transformation is increased by adding more species, promoting the stabilization of the food web [8].
It’s been a long road since the recognition of the “paradox of the microbial loop” in the aquatic food webs. Nowadays, it is referred only as the “microbial loop,” after being integrated into the food web conceptualization in both terrestrial and aquatic environments [7].
The complexity of microbial food webs needs to be approached from the analysis of different functioning capacities and nutritional needs of the participating species. It has been normal to assign very general feeding habits to protists and metazoans, like bacterivores for example. This nomenclature implicates that a single species of protist can feed on any one or indistinctly on all the thousands of bacteria species. However, observation of feeding habits has revealed that protists and metazoans prefer feeding on specific kind of bacteria while avoiding other species. Pigmented bacteria [9], for example, has fewer predators than non-pigmented ones. On the other hand, there are several species of protists, mostly amoebae, small flagellates and Colpoda steinii that feed on pigmented ones [10].
One explanation for pigmented bacteria to have fewer predators relied on the toxicity or poisonous effect of those pigments for many protists, pointing out the importance of the biochemical warfare that bacteria must synthetize to defend themselves. However, chemicals used for evading enemies attract other ones looking for those same compounds, putting bacteria in a situation where there is no way out for bacterial preys. Indeed, there is no way out of being preyed upon, as every living being has predators, or at least other species which may feed on them or use them as a resource.
Is there a single factor determining the feeding preferences? The short answer is “No.” Remember that “bacterivorous” or “algivorous” are labels used to recognize the kind of food that protists and metazoans may prefer to feed on, and it involves many species. From the beginning, this was a non-exclusive way to label the category of food that may be used to group the highest quantity of species to simplify and conceptualize the food webs. Furthermore, during the first half of the XX century [11], there were many very interesting studies trying to determine the “diets” of several species of protists [11, 12], with the aim of designing a chemically defined culture media, as is the case of several recipes for culturing Tetrahymena pyriformis, Glaucoma sp, or Paramecium sp., culminating with 3 books edited by Lewandowsky and Hutner (1979), approaching the field of protists’ biochemistry (at that time it was biochemistry of protozoa).
Designing a culture media for protists or bacteria was a major task, as numerous factors about their nutritional needs were unknown (and remain unknown). These attempts to cultivate bacteria and protists lead to one important conclusion: different species cannot synthesize one or several molecules needed for their metabolism and have to take those molecules, as such, from their ingested food [12] or from other microorganisms that live within the biofilm (such as the case of NAD+ **, which the bacteria has to consume from other species of bacteria for both of them to grow). Microbial biologists named this phenomenon as “auxotroph” [13]. In this way, the molecule(s) a bacterial species is auxotroph for must be added to the culture media, to keep a culture of such species [14]. The kind of molecules, their diversity, and their macro- and micronutrient composition form a universe comparable to the one containing the species’ diversity on the planet.
2. Phagotrophic protists
Ecological relevant functions have been recognized in prokaryotes and microbial eukaryotes. Bacteria have been cataloged as nitrogen fixing, denitrifiers, metanogens, methanotrophs, phosphorous mobilizers, metal mobilizers, phototrophs, and chemolithotrophs as the main recognized functions in the ecosystem. On the protists’ side, several trophic groups have been recognized as phototrophs and phagotrophs. The first group is strictly divided between the phototrophs and mixotrophic ones, while the second one may be divided in bacterivorous (including cyanobacteria), frugivorous (feeding on hypha and or yeasts cells), algivorous, protist consumers (raptorial protists), and metazoan predators. Parasitic bacteria, pathogenic bacteria, and microbial eukaryotes have been largely studied from the medical point of view. However, recently, they have been studied from the ecological perspective (their impact on the predator–prey relationships, the “health” of species populations protected for conservation, and their effect on the nutrients distribution along food webs [13].
Phagotrophic protists may ingest very different kinds of particles and present the capacity to eject the ones they cannot digest, or even reject particles previously ingested [15]. Even if the water current would transport a good mixture of different bacterial species, phagotrophs may choose which particles ingest and eject the debris from their digestion together with the non-digestible microorganisms. This means that protists may show preference for the kind of food they most likely can digest (recognizing their preys by their quorum sensing signals), and, like bigger organisms, they may need a variety of food sources to get the nutrients they need [15].
A close examination of the different trophic groups allows to re-mark the unicellular phototrophs as the most productive in terms of biomass production since there is no synthesis of support or conductive structures, and, because of that, they are the base of the aquatic food webs.
The phagotrophic protists have been recognized for being the main consumers along microbial trophic networks in aquatic systems conforming a major proportion of the microbial biomass in these systems [16, 17]. These predators are also responsible for much of the recycling flow of nitrogen and phosphorus in the aquatic systems [18].
Particularly the ciliates are key elements of aquatic food webs they have several functions, they can be primary producers, predators, they serve as food for metazoans including free-living stages of metazoan parasites; there are many aquatic habitats without macro-organisms, but none without bacteria and at least few protist species [19].
2.1 Mixotrophic ciliates
One of the most interesting groups of protists are the mixotrophic ones. Some of them may correspond to the old morphological groups of ciliates, flagellates, and ameboebas. Mixotrophy is defined as the ability to combine phagotrophy and phototrophy in a single cell [20]. This group can be divided into constitutive mixotrophs, meaning they have the innate ability to photosynthesize, and the facultative or non-constitutive mixotrophs. These organisms may sequester the plastids after consuming their phototrophic preys or by harboring photosynthetic endosymbionts [20, 21]. Around 23% of planktonic ciliates species (marine and freshwater combined) perform acquired phototrophy, and this ability is present in at least 8 main ciliated taxa: Heterotrichea, Hypotrichia, Oligotrichida, Stichotrichida, Litostomatea, Prostomatea, Peniculia, and Peritrichia. Phototrophy is usually acquired from algae endosymbionts in 7 of these 8 ciliated taxa. Contrastingly, Oligotrichida usually obtains this ability by plastid sequestering [22].
The structures of the mixotrophic ciliates community varies through seasons, depending on the changing water trophic condition. Mixotrophic ciliates dominate in spring and summer, reaching from 58–100% of the ciliates in oligotrophic waters [23, 24, 25], but represent only 5% of the total community of ciliates in winter, probably due to the lower water temperatures and nutrients. These conditions restrict the growth of algae, negatively affecting the population of mixotrophic ciliates if their preferred species of algae is missing [24].
The mixotrophic ciliates are mainly from the genera Mesodinium rubrum (Myrionecta rubra), Strombidium spp., Laboea, Lohmaniella, and Tontonia. All of them represented by small species (30–50 μm) [23, 25, 26]. Even Mesodinium rubrum and other functionally photoautotrophic ciliates can sometimes contribute significantly to primary production in lakes and oceans [27]. Other species of mixotrophic ciliates are larger; for example, the genus Stentor is a “large” cell ~200 μm and is contributed between 49% and 68.8% of the total biomass of zooplankton in the oligotrophic lake at the Northern Patagonia of Chile [28]. Stentor niger represented 90% of the total ciliates biomass in Lake McCloud [29] and was the dominant protist of acidic oligotrophic lakes [30]. Some species of the genus Stentor also contributed with more than 50% of the plankton’s photosynthesis of oligotrophic Australian lakes [31]. Dominance of this trophic group may be influenced by the limiting conditions for phototrophs, to achieve the same productivity that mixotrophs may obtain by feeding both ways. Grazing allows mixotrophs greater flexibility for balancing the supply and demand of scarce nutrients [32], a clear advantage in times of scarcity [19]. Due to their flexible nutrition, mixotrophic protists dominate in mature or more stable systems (e.g., during mild summer, in established eutrophic systems, and in oligotrophic systems). Furthermore, climate change can be expected to favor mixotrophs in the more stable water columns [32].
Ward and Follows [33] performed a global simulation of the ocean-surface food web, revealing that mixotrophy enhances the transfer of biomass to larger organisms at higher trophic levels, which in turn increases the efficiency of oceanic carbon storage through the production of larger and faster sinking conglomerates of organic molecules. It follows that mixotrophic protists play a key role in modulating the primary production that underlies the food web in aquatic systems [21, 22, 32]. However, their importance has not been fully appreciated because traditional field and laboratory studies focus on strict classifications as phototrophs or phagotrophs [32] because incorporating this flexibility to acquire food is difficult to modelize. Mixotrophy is known to be common in all aquatic systems but its contribution to net community production is difficult to quantify, and the integration of their impact on the global biogeochemical cycles remains to be incorporated.
2.2 Bacterivores
Ciliates and flagellates are the most dominant bacterivores among the phagotrophic protists in most aquatic systems [16, 34], consuming between 25–100% of the daily production of marine phytoplankton together with large quantities of bacterial biomass [18]. Bacterivores and algivorous protists are the core consumers of microbial biomass in aquatic food webs [16, 17] regulating these groups in two apparently contradictory ways: by feeding on the abundant food source, they keep in check their further expansion, that in turn gives other less preyed species the opportunity to become more numerous, and at the same time, the release of cellular wastes (from protists) enhance the reproduction of the species being predated. The combined effect of these two processes enhances the nutrient cycling and fuels biomass productivity. By performing this activity, ciliates and flagellates increases their own biomass, attracting metazoan predators and functioning as linkage of lower and upper trophic levels in aquatic food webs [16, 35, 36].
The size of the ciliate determines the sizes of preys they can feed on. Thus, bacterivorous ciliates ingest a different particle size range; the preferred size spectrum for each species is a function to cytostome size and morphology. For example, small ciliates usually bacteria eat <3 μm [18, 37, 38]. Ciliates that feed on the smallest particles (<1 μm) require relatively high densities of these bacteria as a minimum to keep their population growth [30]. Several groups of ciliates actively feed on specific bacteria species for a period ranging between 44% and 100% of the time, because bacterial densities will have variations as responses to predation intensity along time [36].
Bacterivorous ciliates are present in all aquatic environments, from oligotrophic to eutrophic, in both freshwater and oceans. The diversity of bacterivorous ciliates and their contribution to the flow of energy in trophic networks depend on the dynamics of the systems in which they are living. Therefore, food resources are probably the main regulators of ciliated communities (diversity, abundance, and biomass) [30]. For example, bacterivorous ciliates contribute very little for the direct transfer of bacterial production to the trophic networks of metazoans in oligotrophic environments. Ciliates consume less than 11% of bacterial productivity in these waters [39, 40, 41]. Perhaps the heterotrophic bacteria that are very small in these lagoons (0.035 to 0.4 μm) are grazed by bacterivorous ciliates at a very low rate [41], or the number of bacteria is not enough to support larger ciliate communities feeding on smaller bacteria (<1 μm), as they require high densities of bacteria to maintain their populations [30]. Then, productivity of oligotrophic systems function most of the time as bottom-up (availability of substrate and nutrients) controlled [42]. This functioning will remain until seasonal pulses of nutrients (or human subsidies) arrive, busting primary productivity and changing the system into top-down control, and it will keep functioning the same way until the pulse of nutrients (or subsidy) is completely metabolized, returning the system to the bottom-up dynamic.
Contrastingly, densities of heterotrophic bacteria in eutrophic environments are sufficiently higher to also keep a higher diversity of active bacterivores [43], fueling ciliates biomass productivity and allowing the intervention of metazoan predation. Top-down control (predation) seems to be in function all the time for regulating the abundance of heterotrophic bacteria in eutrophic systems [42]. Normally, communities of bacterivorous ciliates of small sizes (~ 30 μm) are found as dominant in eutrophic environments [30, 38]. The most abundant ciliates in these environments are small oligotrichs (Halteria), scuticociliates (Cyclidium), and Peritrichs (Vorticella) [30, 38, 44, 45]. Halteria grandinella, for example, is one of the most important bacterivores due to its high consumption rate of bacteria [38], the genus Halteria is very important in meso-eutrophic lakes because they prey on a large spectrum of sizes, from bacterial cell measuring just around 0.4 μm to up to 5 μm; they have a high potential growth rate, because of its efficient nutrient absorption, and show defensive strategies reducing their vulnerability to predation by metazooplankton in comparison to other common pelagic ciliates [45].
Sessile ciliates such as Vorticella and Epistylis are typical members of protists’ community in aquatic environments [34, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49]. They heavily graze on bacteria having even higher ingestion rates than free-swimming bacterivorous protist and can account for 66% of total bacterivores. Even in small numbers, epibiotic ciliates can have a great grazing impact on bacteria [34]. For example, Vorticellides aquadulcis had the highest grazing rates of all the ciliates from a meso-oligotrophic lake community [38]. Some common bacterivorous ciliates are found in Table 1.
Trophic groups free-living ciliates in aquatic environments.
2.3 Feeding on phototrophs
There is a difficulty in assessing a proper name for the kind of food protists feed on when they become predators of phototrophs, as this group consists of both eukaryotic and procaryotic members, and neither of these primary producers may be considered as “plants” or “herbs”. Feeding on them cannot be considered as herbivory. On the procaryotic part, cyanobacteria are a phylum comprising many species that, besides being phototrophs, can also produce toxic molecules, compromising the fresh water supplies for human consumption when growing unchecked in oligotrophic waters [50, 51]. From the eukaryotic part, there is an extra complication when trying to separate the permanent phototrophs from the mixotrophs.
Moving the sizes up, ciliates are one of the most important groups feeding on phytoplankton in marine and freshwater environments [18, 41, 52]. They may consume up to 74% of the daily phytoplankton production [53], becoming the key controllers of phytoplankton biomass [54]. On the other hand, ciliates mobilize the highest proportion of organic carbon and nutrients in oligotrophic waters dominated by cyanobacteria, playing the fundamental role of linking the productivity of microbial food web with the metazoans [41, 53]. It has also been noticed that the flux of carbon up to metazoans is not interrupted when the density of bacterivores ciliates falls, but it is compensated by predation on ciliates feeding on phototrophs [41]. Some of the ciliates that feed on phototrophs are in Table 1.
Ciliates feeding on phototrophs represent between 30–65% of the total biomass of all functional groups of ciliates thriving in eutrophic lakes [55]. However, this dominance is not permanent. Ciliates feeding on phototrophs become very numerous on the blooming season [56], and even dominate the entire ciliate community for short periods between seasons [57].
Tintinnids tend to feed on small-cell-sized phytoplankton (2–20 μm) [58]. They are voracious phytoplankton feeders that may consume over half the quantity of these kind of phototrophs in marine waters [54] and over 69% of these primary producers in lakes [59]. Species like Helicostomella subulata, Ptychocylis spp., and Parafavella spp. make a significative contribution to biomass of ciliates feeding on phototrophs in marine environments [60].
Selective feeding has been observed in several species of ciliates. However, feeding on a wider spectrum of sizes and kind of phototrophs (non-selective feeding) allows them to take advantage of the productivity in hypereutrophic environments rich in small particulates [49]. The genus Tintinnidium groups species that dwell very well in these kinds of waters and may be used as model organisms to study the ciliates’ adaptation to excess of organic matter [61].
2.4 Predators of predators or raptorial feeders
There are several species of ciliates and flagellates that feed on bacterivorous protists and on protists feeding on phototrophs. These are predators of predators. These predator species may feed temporarily on bacteria but cannot survive by just this consumption; they are attracted to them as they offer clues to discover their preferred preys: ciliates, flagellates, or amoebae feeding on bacteria.
Most of predator ciliates feed on preys around 10 times smaller than them [62, 63], although raptorial feeders may consume bigger preys, comparable to their own size or even bigger [64]. This capacity is due to their very flexible cytostome as is the case in protostomatids genera Tiarina, Balanion, and Holophrya, and in the litostomatid genus Didinium [62]. Ciliates select their food based on prey’s size, motility, and biochemical composition of cells’ surface [62]. Raptorial ciliates exert strong pressure on populations of small phototrophic and heterotrophic flagellates [65], imprinting some velocity to nutrient cycling in environments where productivity allows them to develop large populations.
Predatory ciliates are present in small numbers along seasons in oligotrophic waters, showing surges in population numbers, in synchrony with the increase of primary productivity during the spring, reaching up to 55% of the total ciliates’ abundances in temperate waters [64, 66]. However, they only reach between 24.6% to 28.7% in freezing oligotrophic waters of the Arctic and Antarctic [67].
On the other hand, predatory ciliates become important top-down controllers of microbial food web productivity in eutrophic and hypertrophic waters [68]. Eutrophic waters have the conditions to sustain high productivity rates of phototrophs and heterotrophic bacteria, sustaining, in turn, large populations of their grazers, promoting the increase of predatory ciliate population [69]. Biomass of raptor ciliates may reach almost an order of magnitude higher in eutrophic compared to the one obtained in meso and oligotrophic lakes, suggesting that they are effectively controlling the primary productivity [70]. This assumption is supported by the covariance of predatory ciliates and their preferred food. For example, the increasing population of predatory ciliates bigger than 100 μm is related to a simultaneous shrinkage of abundance of smaller ciliates (<20–40 μm), mostly phototrophs and bacterivorous [71]. Big and voracious ciliate raptors like Monodinium sp. and Lagynophrya sp. have stronger impact than rotifers on populations of small ciliates [68]. However, quantity of prey is not the only important factor, and species diversity is needed to sustain more raptorial species of ciliates. For example, only Monodinium remained abundant when diversity of preys falls below a limit [72].
Several species of oligotrichs feed on bacterivorous flagellates, showing an efficiency of 45% biomass transformation, also fueling the bacterial productivity by releasing essential nutrients for heterotrophic bacteria to keep their population growth [65]. Some predatory ciliates are shown in Table 1.
2.5 Omnivorous
Omnivorous protists are an important group to look for when assessing the stability of a food web because their very presence means productivity is enough to non-specialists, to feed on a variety of resources. Omnivores strengthen the resilience of planktonic communities by regulating the trophic dynamics [73]. Omnivorous ciliates may have a preferred prey but can easily move to other kinds of prey, which may be more abundant or easier to catch [74]. This variety of resources for true omnivorous ranges from bacteria, algae, other ciliates of different sizes to fungi [73]. This versatility gives them an advantage to withstand a resource limitation by having alternative prey [70]. Additionally, omnivorous ciliates increase the stability of planktonic communities by feeding on species that may pass undetected from their specialized predators, by having densities small enough to get an advantage of the elimination of their competitors and increase their numbers. In this situation, omnivores would prevent them to reach high densities too fast, giving time for their specialized predators to increase to population levels that may effectively control the newly abundant prey.
Omnivorous ciliates are present in any kind of environment allowing the stability of protist communities. They are elements of marine and freshwater ecosystems, both oligotrophic [66, 75] and eutrophic [69, 76], as well as in polar waters [67].
As with the other trophic groups, omnivores show seasonal bursts of abundances in the communities they are part of, especially in oligotrophic waters where they are scarce most of the time, except for occasional bursts [77, 78]. Omnivorous ciliates are commonly found in lakes throughout the year, normally with low species richness, representing between 2–12% of the ciliates species [67, 79]. Their low contribution to the number of individuals makes them reach a peak of 35% during productivity bursts [66, 79]. However, this proportion may steadily increase in the proportion the environment is turning into the eutrophic condition, increasing the species richness, although the densities of omnivorous ciliates may momentarily diminish with the eutrophication [69] as result of the species increase (more species and lower number of individuals by species). Once the eutrophication reaches a steady state, the biomass of the omnivorous ciliates will reach high values and even dominate among ciliates [76].
The numbers of small omnivorous ciliates usually dominate in meso oligotrophic environments, feeding on dominant bacteria (<2 μm) and algae (2–20 μm) [49]. Food concentration is a very important factor, strongly affecting an easily detectable feeding behavior of omnivorous ciliates [73]. Several of the most common omnivorous ciliates are shown in Table 1.
3. Boundaries among trophic webs. Is that possible?
Functionality alone has its own complexity in food webs because, for example, mixotrophs would be functioning as phototrophs or as heterotrophs along different hours during the same day (How long do they function as phototrophs? How long do they the function as heterotrophs?). An extra dimension in this world comes from the different sizes of preys corresponding to the predators’ sizes and the number of cells each individual predator must get to produce another individual [80]. This is one of the reasons why plankton has been divided in microplankton, nanoplankton, and picoplankton. Each category corresponds to the range sizes of microorganisms. The smaller ones like picoplankton and nanoplankton, performing primary productivity (chemolithotrophs or phototrophic [3], can sustain their corresponding predator’s size and be up to ten times bigger, namely nanoflagellates and microflagellates. These are the two groups of protists related to their size and morphology rather than their taxonomic affiliation [81], since very few information is known about them apart from 18S SSU rDNA sequences; they have been recognized performing predatory activity on phototrophs of the smaller sizes.
One alternative to conceptually reduce the complexity of microbial food webs is analyzing them as nested compartments. This means that the transfers of matter and energy takes place inside each compartment corresponding with one size class of producers and its predators because these organisms function in the same time frame. Then, several of these compartments may get integrated in a bigger one by predation of the next size class. Time frame for this bigger class is also bigger than the previous one, as the sizes of the organisms are also bigger and so on. Every compartment of bigger sizes function as concentrator of biomass and disperser of energy. However, the wastes generated in each compartment releases the nutrients once fixed in the biomass fueling the nutrient cycle in compartments of all sizes. Up to here, it looks like the aquatic food web is functioning as a continuum along and through the water column and surface. However, there is a chance of recognizing boundaries to help a better understanding the food webs dynamic.
When hearing the word “boundary”, immediately, the existence of physical barriers delimiting something in space comes to mind. Because of that, it is hard to imagine an aquatic food web being physically limited because our experience has shown us the big animals feeding on all planktonic organisms at once, which could be in thousands or even millions. However, it just represents a small appetizer for a whale.
A careful examination reveals that very small organisms live faster than ones at the immediate upper-sized scale and intuition tells us that time may be experienced in different ways, depending on the size of organisms involved. The size ranges occupied by ciliates in the microbial food web spans from less than 10 μm to more than 4500 μm [82]. Comparatively, their pool of size ranges would be like the pool of sizes from small fishes to whales. Why are these sizes important? Because it can be argued that the velocity of nutrient exchange is faster in the smaller organisms and the nutrients may be “sequestered” for long periods by the bigger and long-lasting animals. In this way, a complication of time arises when trying to diagram the nutrient cycle in the microbial food web. Time becomes another varying feature rather than a constant in food web dynamics. In this way, time may draw the boundaries between compartments and, at the same time, could be avoiding contradicting the nested compartment proposal in the physical limitless aquatic system.
4. The soil system
It is easier to recognize physical boundaries in terrestrial ecosystems as the environment changes at slower velocities than the very dynamic aquatic environment. Soil is a heterogenic environment, the opposite to the aquatic ones. It is an environment that cannot be seen through and be dived in. Soil matrix is composed of a very complex mixture of mineral particles, organic matter and living organisms. This mixture is organized in aggregates that may facilitate or resist water and air passing through it but, most importantly, these aggregates proportionate spaces where all living beings can move through soil.
At a microscale, soil aggregates divide the open spaces in two types, the fast water passing by (the space between aggregates) and the slow motion of water in the space inside the aggregate, and consequently of slow-moving air too, as air and water move through the same spaces). These are the soil’s physical boundaries, and this is the environment where roots move and look for hotspots of nutrients, as well as places where microbial symbionts may be found (normally inside soil aggregates). Water reaching soil aggregates dissolved salts and polar molecules that may contain nutrients that will be taken by roots, mycorrhiza, or bacteria. This is a complementary start of plants primary productivity, because plants have to take water from soil together with other nutrients to produce a wide range of molecules, from non-protein forming amino acids to scents and pheromones, as result of what is known as the “secondary metabolism.” Plant primary productivity comprises both photosynthesis-respiration (primary metabolism) and secondary metabolism, irrespective of being vascular or nonvascular.
Soil productivity is dependent on the nutrient exchange velocity rather than the gross amount of bioavailable nutrients. Nutrients used and released very fast means energy is being captured, transformed, and degraded very fast, implying the activities of all participating organisms are taking place so fast that production of biomass at all levels is gaining momentum and its control may come only from consumption (top-down) no matter that nutrients exist in limited quantity. This feature also explains why the smaller organisms can sustain productivity of the biggest ones. In other words, aerial part of plants are very important for primary productivity because it is the place were light, inorganic carbon, and water are used to produce organic molecules that are at the base of primary productivity (Sun’s energy fixation in organic molecules).
Without diminishing photosynthesis’ importance, most of terrestrial plants gather a “productivity teamwork” inside and around their roots, involving mycorrhizal fungi and mutualistic bacteria, a functional place known as the rhizosphere. Almost 80% of the known terrestrial plants need the association with a mycorrhiza, to appropriately complete their life cycle, but all plants need mutualistic bacteria to grow. Microbial partners are indeed an important part of primary productivity, as they actively participate in the acquisition, modification, and metabolization of many organic molecules containing the elements we call “Nutrients.” For example, it has largely been demonstrated that mycorrhiza translocate phosphorus to plants. At present, very few people challenge this. However, what form of phosphorus is translocated from mycorrhiza to plant? Surely, it is not the phosphorous as molecule, but organic molecule where P is forming part of the structure. Plants can take up P from inorganic molecules in general or from phosphoric acid. Why do they need mycorrhiza to supply P? It is still an open question, but the degree of specificity of the plant-mycorrhiza association allows to conjecture that plant and mycorrhiza share metabolites containing nutrients (not just P) for metabolic complementation, and the same could be true for mutualistic bacteria. This would explain why one species of mycorrhizal fungi is mutualistic to several plant species but functions as pathogenic or parasite to other ones.
Contrary to what happens in waters, soil fungi and bacteria are scattered through soil and physically constrained to available surfaces. If they keep growing unchecked, bacteria may become effective nutrient competitors to plants, as nutrients forming bacterial biomass are non-available to plants. Mycorrhiza may move farther away from the root than bacteria and can establish a mutualistic relationship with other roots (whether they are from the same plant or from a different species, it does not matter) to avoid becoming competitors. Absence of bacterivores is a needed condition for bacteria to become a plant competitor in the rhizosphere [83, 84]. Bacterivores ciliates, flagellates, and amoebae release nutrients trapped in bacterial biomass, stimulating both plant and bacterial growth. In the first case, nutrient release allows roots to take them in and bacteria microcolonies may grow again in the root surfaces, already cleaned out, and obtain nutrients from predators’ wastes [84].
Soil’s physical constrains allow growth of bacteria and fungi in differentiated places. Sometimes bacteria also grow on the surface of hypha, helping fungi to mimic bacteria and somehow escape from fungal predators. It has been possible to observe protists feeding predominantly on fungi and avoiding bacteria as much as possible (Dermamoeba granifera, Cochliopodium sp.). There are also protist species feeding on soil algae (Colpoda sp., Polychaos sp., Thecamoeba sp.) Consequently, it is possible to recognize the existence of several functional groups of soil protists: few species of phototrophs feeders, large quantity of bacterivores, fungal feeders, raptorial feeders (Balamuthia mandrillaris), and omnivores (Acanthamoeba castellanii, A. polyphaga, A astronyxis).
This differentiation of soil’s physical spaces makes it easier to visualize the small productivity compartments around roots, absorbing hairs inside small soil aggregates, bigger compartments covering aggregates on the tip of the root and getting in contact through fungal hypha.
Motility of bigger protists are limited to litter and upper soil layer by the available spaces, restricting their abundance in the underneath layers. Testate amoeba, ciliates, and flagellates, around 100 μm, dominate in these 2 layers and actively participate nutrient recycling from litter, while smaller size ciliates like Colpoda cucullus, small flagellates and small naked amoebae distribute better in the underlying soil strata in and around soil aggregates.
Primary productivity in soil is restricted to the upper layers where cyanobacteria and eukaryote algae may survive and even form thin layers known as microbial soil crusts. Both phototrophic bacteria and algae may form stable mutualistic symbiosis with other organisms, like fungi, to develop thicker structures composing soil crusts showing lichens and mosses. Beneath and into soil crusts, ciliates, flagellates, and amoebae are among the most important microbial predators, active mainly during the time of water availability [85, 86]. However, the main photosynthetic carbon input is released by roots into soil layers [87]. Roots secrete amino acids and other complex organic molecules to attract symbiotic bacteria and mycorrhiza conforming the trio of soil productivity sustaining microbial food webs deep into soil [88, 89]. Consequently, protists’ species diversity may be higher around roots and the dominance of ciliates may be restricted to the sizes of soil pores [86, 90, 91, 92]. Soil protists were recognized as purely bacterivorous because fungi feeding protists may transitorily feed also on bacteria. However more detailed studies have recognized species of soil protists feeding only on bacteria or fungi [93, 94, 95]. Among the main bacterivorous ciliates are Colpodida (Breslaua vorax, Colpoda aspera, Colpoda inflata, Colpoda maupasi, Colpoda steinii, Cyrtolophosis elongata, Cyrtolophosis mucicola, Platyophrya vorax, Pseudocyrtolophosis terricola, Pseudoplatyophrya nana [85, 96].
Fungi and bacteria normally use different kind of organic molecules, bacteria normally metabolize low molecular weight organic molecules while fungi normally metabolize complex organic polymers of high molecular wight [97]. This metabolic difference allows to conceptualize two pathways for nutrient cycling: the bacterial and the fungal paths. However, this concept is being challenged because of the abundance of protists feeding on both kind of microorganisms [98, 99]. All the early recognized fungi feeding ciliates and amoebae in soil ranges from 50 microns to above 150 μm [100]. However, there are also smaller ciliates and flagellates feeding on both spores and hypha [100]. The main groups of specialized fungal feeder ciliates are grouped in the family Grossglockneriidae [93]. This family of ciliates may account for mora than 2% of the protists sequences in the forest litter and grassland while may drop below 0.3% in peatland soil, probably due to the reduction of soil pore sizes [100]. Although, counting techniques based in MPN calculated around 200 cells/gram soil DW in previous studies [101]. Protists have a very limited capacity to disperse throughout the soil system by themselves. However, oligochaeta disperse them as cysts farther than a few centimeters, in the range of several meters both horizontally as well as vertically into the soil system.
Soil functioning is much more variable than the aquatic systems, as it is regularly subjected to dryness and several flooding events per year. For microbial ecologists, soil is a natural stressed environment, having enormous variations of water availability through seasons, especially in arid and semiarid environments. However, there is a comparable situation, although at lesser degree, in the tropical dry forests, temperate, and tundra regions. Even at the equator, the rainy forests may show an excess of soil in water, stressing microbial food webs.
5. Perturbations and food webs
Microbial communities have been evolved by modifications and adaptations in responses to natural stresses that finally allow them to get along with environmental change. The problem we are facing now resides in the velocity of environmental changes imprinted by human activities. The most important, but hardly the only one, resides in the use of fossil fuels because of the acceleration of climate change. The CO2 released as byproduct of combustion is just one of the causes of climate modification in the short term (in historical and geological times). Internal combustion engines also produce other greenhouse gases such as NxO or NO2, having a bigger capacity of keep heat, and this is a big problem generated only for the atmosphere. Hydrocarbons pose a permanent threat of contamination to aquatic and soil systems near the extraction zones, the transporting infrastructure to refineries, infrastructure for later transportation as fuel to expending places, and by illegal activities damaging oil ducts.
Soil microbiota react in different ways along the gradient of contamination when hydrocarbons reach soils. The plume of contamination normally eradicates the phototrophs and exert a strong selective pressure on bacteria and fungi, by killing or inhibiting the growth of sensitive species while enhancing the growth of resistant ones. These effects can be modified by the toxicity of the different compounds rupturing and/or changing the connections of the trophic networks [102, 103].
The effect of hydrocarbon contamination and others contaminants (pesticides, heavy metals) on communities will depend on the intensity, duration, and frequency of the perturbation. Then, lower species richness and abundance, shortening of the trophic webs, and the simplification of the trophic web are among the first observable damages contamination cause on microbial and protist communities [104]. Protists must at least tolerate the presence of the contaminant to achieve this function. Protists do not feed on hydrocarbons, but their grazing activity on the microorganisms that can keep the metabolization of the contaminant as high as another limiting factor allows them to.
Greater richness and abundance of ciliates species are associated with less perturbed areas; the greater the perturbation, the lesser species richness and abundance [105], regardless of the nature of the perturbing factor. For example, a significant reduction of ciliate diversity has been found in systems polluted by high hydrocarbon concentrations [106]. Medium concentrations only reduce the quantity of individuals from dominant species [106], while low concentrations produce an increase in the numbers of heterotrophic protists [107]. Saline accumulation forces the ciliates’ diversity to decrease as salinity values increase [108, 109]. In the same way, acidic pollution produces lower species richness and abundance as the environment becomes more acidic [110, 111], and the same pattern is observed with heavy metals’ contamination [104, 110].
Addition of organic matter in excess suddenly changes the base of production of the microbial food web, from phototrophs’ productivity to heterotrophic bacteria and yeasts’ productivity. The time of reaction is also different along the different microbial groups surviving the contamination event. Bacteria may start their biological activities several hours after the pollution event, whereas yeast and protists will delay from days to weeks, depending on the size of the organism.
Changes of primary producers from phototrophs to heterotrophs scale to functional groups, accommodating species richness and abundance of bacterivores protists, followed by omnivores. This is due to hydrocarbons stimulation of bacterial growth and the consequently increase of bacterivores species [112, 113]. Some species of genera Colpoda and Vorticella dominate aquifers receiving constant hydrocarbon discharges [114]. The bacterivorous ciliates, Parauronema virginianum, strongly dominate sites highly polluted with hydrocarbons and are replaced by Pseudocohnilembusand Euplotes later [115]. Additionally, organic contamination and heavy metals increase the abundance of bacterivorous ciliates in water and sediments [116].
An increase in diversity and complexity of food webs are direct effects of these perturbations. Oil spill in deep waters increase the richness of the microbial community species and the complexity of their corresponding relationships, and the oil stimulated microbial activity supports greater variety of ciliates functioning along several trophic levels [117].
Other events of enriching oligotrophic systems with organic matter produce similar changes in the community structure of ciliates. Tirjaková and Vďačný [118] analyzed the changes in the communities of ciliates before and after a windstorm hit a stream, and they found a significant increase of ciliates’ species’ richness and abundance after the storm. Several weeks later, the community of ciliates presented the typical values of oligotrophic sites. The increase in resources availability is the factor indirectly responsible of these changes of ciliate community, but later, communities tend to return to states similar to the initial ones after resources exhaustion, which my take place around six months [118]. However, Shabarova et al. [119] report that the microbial community recovers from perturbation to a pre-flood state within two weeks after the event.
Regarding the connections’ shrinkage of the trophic networks, a gradual narrowing of the planktonic size spectrum has been reported in hypersaline lakes, correlated to salinity increases during the summer, resulting in a simplification of the community represented by the ciliated Fabrea salina, diatoms, and Dunaliella spp. [120]. Simplifications of food webs have also been described as consequence of heavy metal contamination, herbicide use, and lake acidification [104, 121, 122]. Loss of connections have consequences on carbon transfer in food webs. The decrease of bacterivores species allows an excessive increase in bacterial biomass, which may produce up to 300-fold reduction in the transfer of carbon from the bacteria to higher levels of the trophic networks [104].
Communities’ characteristic of hypersaline lakes are dominated by Fabrea salina, which has a broad tolerance to salinity and contributes to high proportion of the biomass of ciliates in hypersaline lakes [108, 109, 120, 123]. In addition, its abundance is strongly related to the microalgae, Dunaliella sp. [123], and can act as a competitor to shrimp, Artemia salina, in saline environments [108].
Regarding the perturbances in the soil ciliated communities, similar effects have been described as in aquatic ecosystems. Exposure of ciliate communities to heavy metals induces a reduction in the biomass of ciliates and this effect lasts for 20 weeks [124]. Insecticides also generate a decrease in ciliates species immediately after contamination, they also generate a change in the dominance of ciliates, the bacterivores (Colpoda spp. and Paracolpoda steinii) and macrophage (Grossglockneria) considerably increased their abundance after 90 days, while that other genera of ciliates decreased [125]. In soils contaminated with hydrocarbons, a decrease in diversity and a lower functional diversity have also been observed, the ciliated communities in soils with hydrocarbons are dominated by the Colpodea class [96, 126, 127]. It has also been observed that along with the decrease in the diversity of ciliates there is a decrease in the trophic groups after an intense pulse of contamination by hydrocarbons. However, the community recovers its diversity and trophic groups after a month of contamination [127].
6. Conclusions
Protists in general, and ciliates in particular, play a key role in nutrient cycling and food web functioning in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In the world experiencing climate change and other kind of anthropogenic menaces, protists may be useful partners to tell us how aquatic and terrestrial systems are dealing with these issues while mesmerizing the observer with their great diversity of beautiful forms.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
\n',keywords:"ciliates, trophic groups, food webs, perturbations",chapterPDFUrl:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/76242.pdf",chapterXML:"https://mts.intechopen.com/source/xml/76242.xml",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/76242",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/76242",totalDownloads:101,totalViews:0,totalCrossrefCites:0,dateSubmitted:"March 2nd 2021",dateReviewed:"March 15th 2021",datePrePublished:"June 29th 2021",datePublished:"May 18th 2022",dateFinished:"April 12th 2021",readingETA:"0",abstract:"Ciliates are important elements of the trophic networks of aquatic and terrestrial environments, they can be primary producers (myxotrophs), consumers of bacteria, algae, flagellates, even other ciliates and can serve as food for metazoans, for all the above they are the link between different levels of food webs. The structure of the ciliates varies according to the seasons of the year and depending on the trophic conditions of the aquatic systems. Ciliated communities have modifications and adaptations in response to environmental perturbations. The objective of this chapter is to describe the importance of different trophic groups of ciliates in different ecosystems, including anthropogenic perturbations and their impact on trophic webs.",reviewType:"peer-reviewed",bibtexUrl:"/chapter/bibtex/76242",risUrl:"/chapter/ris/76242",signatures:"Laura Mondragón-Camarillo and Salvador Rodríguez Zaragoza",book:{id:"10251",type:"book",title:"Plankton Communities",subtitle:null,fullTitle:"Plankton Communities",slug:"plankton-communities",publishedDate:"May 18th 2022",bookSignature:"Leonel Pereira and Ana Marta Gonçalves",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10251.jpg",licenceType:"CC BY 3.0",editedByType:"Edited by",isbn:"978-1-83968-609-2",printIsbn:"978-1-83968-608-5",pdfIsbn:"978-1-83968-610-8",isAvailableForWebshopOrdering:!0,editors:[{id:"279788",title:"Dr.",name:"Leonel",middleName:null,surname:"Pereira",slug:"leonel-pereira",fullName:"Leonel Pereira"}],productType:{id:"1",title:"Edited Volume",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},authors:[{id:"340699",title:"Ph.D. Student",name:"Laura",middleName:null,surname:"Mondragón-Camarillo",fullName:"Laura Mondragón-Camarillo",slug:"laura-mondragon-camarillo",email:"zombo_7@yahoo.com.mx",position:null,profilePictureURL:"//cdnintech.com/web/frontend/www/assets/author.svg",institution:null},{id:"341482",title:"Dr.",name:"Salvador",middleName:null,surname:"Rodríguez Zaragoza",fullName:"Salvador Rodríguez Zaragoza",slug:"salvador-rodriguez-zaragoza",email:"srodrige@unam.mx",position:null,profilePictureURL:"//cdnintech.com/web/frontend/www/assets/author.svg",institution:null}],sections:[{id:"sec_1",title:"1. Introduction",level:"1"},{id:"sec_2",title:"2. Phagotrophic protists",level:"1"},{id:"sec_2_2",title:"2.1 Mixotrophic ciliates",level:"2"},{id:"sec_3_2",title:"2.2 Bacterivores",level:"2"},{id:"sec_4_2",title:"2.3 Feeding on phototrophs",level:"2"},{id:"sec_5_2",title:"2.4 Predators of predators or raptorial feeders",level:"2"},{id:"sec_6_2",title:"2.5 Omnivorous",level:"2"},{id:"sec_8",title:"3. Boundaries among trophic webs. Is that possible?",level:"1"},{id:"sec_9",title:"4. The soil system",level:"1"},{id:"sec_10",title:"5. Perturbations and food webs",level:"1"},{id:"sec_11",title:"6. Conclusions",level:"1"},{id:"sec_15",title:"Conflict of interest",level:"1"}],chapterReferences:[{id:"B1",body:'Johnson CA, Bronstein JL. Coexistence and competitive exclusion in mutualism. Ecology. 2019;100(6):e02708. doi:10.1002/ecy.2708'},{id:"B2",body:'Kneitel JM. Gause′s Competitive Exclusion Principle. In: Encyclopedia of Ecology. 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Application of the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis ( DGGE ) technique as an ef fi cient diagnostic tool for ciliate communities in soil. Sci Total Environ. 2010;408(5):1221-1225. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.09.056'},{id:"B127",body:'Mondragón-Camarillo L, Zaragoza SR, Mendoza-López MR, Cabirol N, Macek M. Recovery of Soil Protozoan Community Structure Promoted by M. sativa After a Strong Pulse of Hydrocarbon Contamination. Water Air Soil Pollut. 2020;231(6):1-15. doi:10.1007/s11270-020-04618-7'}],footnotes:[],contributors:[{corresp:"yes",contributorFullName:"Laura Mondragón-Camarillo",address:"zombo_7@yahoo.com.mx",affiliation:'
Laboratorio de Ecología Microbiana, UBIPRO, FES-Iztacala UNAM, México, México
Laboratorio de Ecología Microbiana, UBIPRO, FES-Iztacala UNAM, México, México
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Being from various sources such as wastewater, landfill leachates, and solid residues, xenobiotics include phenols, plastics, hydrocarbons, paints, dyes, pesticides and insecticides, paper and pulp mills, and pharmaceuticals. Among biological processes for degradation of xenobiotics, fungal ones, being eco-friendly and cost cheap, have been investigated extensively because most of basidiomycetes are more tolerant to high concentrations of pollutants. Fungal bioremediation is a promising technology using their metabolic potential to remove or reduce xenobiotics. Basidiomycetes are the unique microorganisms that show high capacities of degrading a wide range of toxic xenobiotics. They act via the extracellular ligninolytic enzymes, including laccase, manganese peroxidase, and lignin peroxidase. Their capacities to remove xenobiotic substances and produce polymeric products make them a useful tool for bioremediation purposes. During fungal remediation, they utilize hazardous compounds, even the insoluble ones, as the nutrient source and convert them to simple fragmented forms. The aim of this chapter is to elucidate the ability of basidiomycetes to degrade xenobiotics. This is an overview to present the importance of extracellular enzymes for efficient bioremediation of a large variety of xenobiotics.",book:{id:"5242",slug:"management-of-hazardous-wastes",title:"Management of Hazardous Wastes",fullTitle:"Management of Hazardous Wastes"},signatures:"Mariem Ellouze and Sami Sayadi",authors:[{id:"182201",title:"Dr.",name:"Mariem",middleName:null,surname:"Ellouze",slug:"mariem-ellouze",fullName:"Mariem Ellouze"},{id:"182451",title:"Dr.",name:"Sami",middleName:null,surname:"Sayadi",slug:"sami-sayadi",fullName:"Sami Sayadi"}]},{id:"17588",doi:"10.5772/22381",title:"Delignification Process of Agro-Industrial Wastes an Alternative to Obtain Fermentable Carbohydrates for Producing Fuel",slug:"delignification-process-of-agro-industrial-wastes-an-alternative-to-obtain-fermentable-carbohydrates",totalDownloads:7246,totalCrossrefCites:13,totalDimensionsCites:34,abstract:null,book:{id:"325",slug:"alternative-fuel",title:"Alternative Fuel",fullTitle:"Alternative Fuel"},signatures:"Oscar Sánchez, Roció Sierra and Carlos J. 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Awareness for increased agricultural production is on the increase, arising from the need to feed the ever-increasing human population. Interestingly, almost all agricultural activities generate wastes, which are generated in large quantities in many countries. However, these wastes may constitute a serious threat to human health through environmental pollution and handling them may result in huge economic loss. Unfortunately, in many developing countries where large quantities of these wastes are generated, they are not properly managed because little is known about their potential risks and benefits if properly managed. There are studies that address some of the challenges of agricultural solid wastes as well as suggestions on how they can be properly managed. In this chapter, we intend to explore the major sources of agricultural solid wastes, their potential risks, and how they can be properly managed.",book:{id:"9873",slug:"strategies-of-sustainable-solid-waste-management",title:"Strategies of Sustainable Solid Waste Management",fullTitle:"Strategies of Sustainable Solid Waste Management"},signatures:"Isaac Oluseun Adejumo and Olufemi Adebukola Adebiyi",authors:[{id:"276527",title:"Dr.",name:"Isaac Oluseun",middleName:null,surname:"Adejumo",slug:"isaac-oluseun-adejumo",fullName:"Isaac Oluseun Adejumo"},{id:"328699",title:"Dr.",name:"O.A.",middleName:null,surname:"Adebiyi",slug:"o.a.-adebiyi",fullName:"O.A. Adebiyi"}]},{id:"64270",title:"Decentralization and Solid Waste Management in Urbanizing Ghana: Moving beyond the Status Quo",slug:"decentralization-and-solid-waste-management-in-urbanizing-ghana-moving-beyond-the-status-quo",totalDownloads:2097,totalCrossrefCites:4,totalDimensionsCites:10,abstract:"Waste management is competing with more pressing economic and social issues such as social protection programs, education, and health. The government of Ghana has therefore decentralized the waste management system in the country. With this development, local government authorities and private sector actors are now playing key roles in waste management in the country. This study sought to examine decentralized solid waste management in the Berekum and Dormaa Municipalities in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. Specifically, it analyzed the involvement of the private sector in solid waste management, and the quality of waste management services in the two selected municipalities. Through a survey of 312 households, the study analyzed the performance improvement, regulatory policy, and sustainable service delivery of solid waste management in the municipalities. The study found that there were no mechanisms for full cost recovery to include majority of the residents, who patronize communal collection service. The study therefore recommends the adherence to normative standards and agreed rules, adoption, and use of appropriate cost recovery strategies for low-income groups as well as the restructuring of institutional arrangements to ensure user involvement and enforcement of legislation to improve municipal solid waste management in Ghana.",book:{id:"8580",slug:"municipal-solid-waste-management",title:"Municipal Solid Waste Management",fullTitle:"Municipal Solid Waste Management"},signatures:"Richard Kyere, Michael Addaney and Jonas Ayaribilla Akudugu",authors:[{id:"273978",title:"Ph.D. Student",name:"Michael",middleName:null,surname:"Addaney",slug:"michael-addaney",fullName:"Michael Addaney"},{id:"273981",title:"Mr.",name:"Richard",middleName:null,surname:"Kyere",slug:"richard-kyere",fullName:"Richard Kyere"},{id:"273982",title:"Dr.",name:"Jonas Ayaribilla",middleName:null,surname:"Akudugu",slug:"jonas-ayaribilla-akudugu",fullName:"Jonas Ayaribilla Akudugu"}]},{id:"65314",title:"Municipal Solid Waste Disposal in Mangrove Forest: Environmental Implication and Management Strategies in the Niger Delta, Nigeria",slug:"municipal-solid-waste-disposal-in-mangrove-forest-environmental-implication-and-management-strategie",totalDownloads:1062,totalCrossrefCites:2,totalDimensionsCites:4,abstract:"Niger Delta is an oil rich region situated in the southern part of Nigeria. It is made up of nine states which hosts oil industries. There are a handful of businesses (super market, manufacturing companies, etc.) that service the over 40 million people living in the cities. This situation had led to the increase in solid waste in the city. Because of the problem of over population, and poor waste management strategies (e.g., lack of recycling habit and lack of equipment) the mangrove forest had become a dumping ground for waste. This action has impacted the health of aquatic and terrestrial organisms, and has created a public health disaster for citizens because of increase in heavy metal concentration up the food chain. This chapter therefore, identifies poverty, lack of planning, poor behavior and poor technology as key factors affecting effective waste management in the Niger Delta. It suggests that good waste management system can be worked out if there is coordination between research institution and government in the implementation of recommendation by research institutes. Attitudinal change is also necessary on the part of citizens and government to enable a healthy interaction for the purpose of managing waste effectively.",book:{id:"8580",slug:"municipal-solid-waste-management",title:"Municipal Solid Waste Management",fullTitle:"Municipal Solid Waste Management"},signatures:"Aroloye O. Numbere",authors:[{id:"215285",title:"Dr.",name:"Aroloye O.",middleName:null,surname:"Numbere",slug:"aroloye-o.-numbere",fullName:"Aroloye O. Numbere"}]},{id:"51114",title:"Overview of Hazardous Waste Management Status in Malaysia",slug:"overview-of-hazardous-waste-management-status-in-malaysia",totalDownloads:6244,totalCrossrefCites:4,totalDimensionsCites:14,abstract:"This chapter reviews the status of hazardous waste management in Malaysia. It highlights the sources of the hazardous waste, government policies on waste generation and management, the involvement of the stakeholders, and the various management procedures adopted in Malaysia. Currently, the manufacturing sector is the major contributor in hazardous waste generated in Malaysia. Other sectors that contribute include household, agriculture, medical, and other industrial sectors. Malaysian government’s resolve on human health protection and safeguarding the environment prompted various acts, regulations, and orders such as the popular Environmental Quality Act (EQA) 1974. The regulations made pursuant to the Environmental Quality Act have continuously improved to address the issues on the definition and classifications of hazardous waste and the management process in Malaysia. The management of hazardous waste in Malaysia is effectively growing as a result of continuous review of the regulations and enforcement of the acts. The stakeholders in the industries have also been active in keeping to the EQA regulations to keep the environment safe as much as possible.",book:{id:"5242",slug:"management-of-hazardous-wastes",title:"Management of Hazardous Wastes",fullTitle:"Management of Hazardous Wastes"},signatures:"Ogboo Chikere Aja, Hussain H. Al-Kayiem, Mesfin Gizaw Zewge and\nMeheron Selowara Joo",authors:[{id:"181768",title:"Dr.",name:"Ogboo Chikere",middleName:null,surname:"Aja",slug:"ogboo-chikere-aja",fullName:"Ogboo Chikere Aja"},{id:"181769",title:"Dr.",name:"Mesfin Gizaw",middleName:null,surname:"Zewge",slug:"mesfin-gizaw-zewge",fullName:"Mesfin Gizaw Zewge"},{id:"182433",title:"Mr.",name:"Meheron",middleName:null,surname:"Selowara Joo",slug:"meheron-selowara-joo",fullName:"Meheron Selowara Joo"},{id:"184186",title:"Prof.",name:"Hussain H.",middleName:null,surname:"Al-Kayiem",slug:"hussain-h.-al-kayiem",fullName:"Hussain H. Al-Kayiem"}]},{id:"40529",title:"Solid Waste Management in Malaysia – A Move Towards Sustainability",slug:"solid-waste-management-in-malaysia-a-move-towards-sustainability",totalDownloads:10112,totalCrossrefCites:11,totalDimensionsCites:25,abstract:null,book:{id:"2781",slug:"waste-management-an-integrated-vision",title:"Waste Management",fullTitle:"Waste Management - An Integrated Vision"},signatures:"Jayashree Sreenivasan, Marthandan Govindan, Malarvizhi Chinnasami and Indrakaran Kadiresu",authors:[{id:"154427",title:"Dr.",name:"Sreenivasan",middleName:null,surname:"Jayashree",slug:"sreenivasan-jayashree",fullName:"Sreenivasan Jayashree"}]}],onlineFirstChaptersFilter:{topicId:"146",limit:6,offset:0},onlineFirstChaptersCollection:[],onlineFirstChaptersTotal:0},preDownload:{success:null,errors:{}},subscriptionForm:{success:null,errors:{}},aboutIntechopen:{},privacyPolicy:{},peerReviewing:{},howOpenAccessPublishingWithIntechopenWorks:{},sponsorshipBooks:{sponsorshipBooks:[],offset:8,limit:8,total:0},allSeries:{pteSeriesList:[{id:"14",title:"Artificial Intelligence",numberOfPublishedBooks:9,numberOfPublishedChapters:89,numberOfOpenTopics:6,numberOfUpcomingTopics:0,issn:"2633-1403",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.79920",isOpenForSubmission:!0},{id:"7",title:"Biomedical Engineering",numberOfPublishedBooks:12,numberOfPublishedChapters:104,numberOfOpenTopics:3,numberOfUpcomingTopics:0,issn:"2631-5343",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.71985",isOpenForSubmission:!0}],lsSeriesList:[{id:"11",title:"Biochemistry",numberOfPublishedBooks:32,numberOfPublishedChapters:318,numberOfOpenTopics:4,numberOfUpcomingTopics:0,issn:"2632-0983",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.72877",isOpenForSubmission:!0},{id:"25",title:"Environmental Sciences",numberOfPublishedBooks:1,numberOfPublishedChapters:12,numberOfOpenTopics:4,numberOfUpcomingTopics:0,issn:"2754-6713",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.100362",isOpenForSubmission:!0},{id:"10",title:"Physiology",numberOfPublishedBooks:11,numberOfPublishedChapters:141,numberOfOpenTopics:4,numberOfUpcomingTopics:0,issn:"2631-8261",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.72796",isOpenForSubmission:!0}],hsSeriesList:[{id:"3",title:"Dentistry",numberOfPublishedBooks:8,numberOfPublishedChapters:133,numberOfOpenTopics:2,numberOfUpcomingTopics:0,issn:"2631-6218",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.71199",isOpenForSubmission:!0},{id:"6",title:"Infectious Diseases",numberOfPublishedBooks:13,numberOfPublishedChapters:113,numberOfOpenTopics:3,numberOfUpcomingTopics:1,issn:"2631-6188",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.71852",isOpenForSubmission:!0},{id:"13",title:"Veterinary Medicine and Science",numberOfPublishedBooks:11,numberOfPublishedChapters:107,numberOfOpenTopics:3,numberOfUpcomingTopics:0,issn:"2632-0517",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.73681",isOpenForSubmission:!0}],sshSeriesList:[{id:"22",title:"Business, Management and Economics",numberOfPublishedBooks:1,numberOfPublishedChapters:19,numberOfOpenTopics:3,numberOfUpcomingTopics:0,issn:"2753-894X",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.100359",isOpenForSubmission:!0},{id:"23",title:"Education and Human Development",numberOfPublishedBooks:0,numberOfPublishedChapters:5,numberOfOpenTopics:1,numberOfUpcomingTopics:1,issn:null,doi:"10.5772/intechopen.100360",isOpenForSubmission:!0},{id:"24",title:"Sustainable Development",numberOfPublishedBooks:0,numberOfPublishedChapters:15,numberOfOpenTopics:5,numberOfUpcomingTopics:0,issn:null,doi:"10.5772/intechopen.100361",isOpenForSubmission:!0}],testimonialsList:[{id:"6",text:"It is great to work with the IntechOpen to produce a worthwhile collection of research that also becomes a great educational resource and guide for future research endeavors.",author:{id:"259298",name:"Edward",surname:"Narayan",institutionString:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/259298/images/system/259298.jpeg",slug:"edward-narayan",institution:{id:"3",name:"University of Queensland",country:{id:null,name:"Australia"}}}},{id:"13",text:"The collaboration with and support of the technical staff of IntechOpen is fantastic. 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Prior to his appointment at Stellenbosch University, he has been at the University of Pretoria, Department of Computer Science (1998-2018), where he was appointed as South Africa Research Chair in Artifical Intelligence (2007-2018), the head of the Department of Computer Science (2008-2017), and Director of the Institute for Big Data and Data Science (2017-2018). 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He is a full professor of signal processing and pattern recognition and is head of the Signals and Communications Department at ULPGC, teaching from 2001 on subjects on signal processing and learning theory. His research lines are biometrics, biomedical signals and images, data mining, classification system, signal and image processing, machine learning, and environmental intelligence. He has researched in 52 international and Spanish research projects, some of them as head researcher. He is co-author of 4 books, co-editor of 27 proceedings books, guest editor for 8 JCR-ISI international journals, and up to 24 book chapters. He has over 450 papers published in international journals and conferences (81 of them indexed on JCR – ISI - Web of Science). He has published seven patents in the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. He has been a supervisor on 8 Ph.D. theses (11 more are under supervision), and 130 master theses. He is the founder of The IEEE IWOBI conference series and the president of its Steering Committee, as well as the founder of both the InnoEducaTIC and APPIS conference series. He is an evaluator of project proposals for the European Union (H2020), Medical Research Council (MRC, UK), Spanish Government (ANECA, Spain), Research National Agency (ANR, France), DAAD (Germany), Argentinian Government, and the Colombian Institutions. He has been a reviewer in different indexed international journals (<70) and conferences (<250) since 2001. He has been a member of the IASTED Technical Committee on Image Processing from 2007 and a member of the IASTED Technical Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems from 2011. \n\nHe has held the general chair position for the following: ACM-APPIS (2020, 2021), IEEE-IWOBI (2019, 2020 and 2020), A PPIS (2018, 2019), IEEE-IWOBI (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018), InnoEducaTIC (2014, 2017), IEEE-INES (2013), NoLISP (2011), JRBP (2012), and IEEE-ICCST (2005)\n\nHe is an associate editor of the Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience Journal (Hindawi – Q2 JCR-ISI). He was vice dean from 2004 to 2010 in the Higher Technical School of Telecommunication Engineers at ULPGC and the vice dean of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies from March 2013 to November 2017. 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He has (co)authored more than 150 publications in indexed journals, international conferences and book chapters, 1 book (in Greek), 3 edited books, and 5 journal special issues. His publications have more than 2100 citations with h-index 27 (GoogleScholar). His research interests include computer/machine vision, machine learning, pattern recognition, computational intelligence. \nDr. Papakostas served as a reviewer in numerous journals, as a program\ncommittee member in international conferences and he is a member of the IAENG, MIR Labs, EUCogIII, INSTICC and the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE).",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"International Hellenic University",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"Greece"}}},editorTwo:null,editorThree:null},{id:"25",title:"Evolutionary Computation",coverUrl:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/series_topics/covers/25.jpg",isOpenForSubmission:!0,editor:{id:"136112",title:"Dr.",name:"Sebastian",middleName:null,surname:"Ventura Soto",slug:"sebastian-ventura-soto",fullName:"Sebastian Ventura Soto",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/136112/images/system/136112.png",biography:"Sebastian Ventura is a Spanish researcher, a full professor with the Department of Computer Science and Numerical Analysis, University of Córdoba. 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In the last five years, he has published more than 60 papers in international journals indexed in the JCR (around 70% of them belonging to first quartile journals) and he has edited some Springer books “Supervised Descriptive Pattern Mining” (2018), “Multiple Instance Learning - Foundations and Algorithms” (2016), and “Pattern Mining with Evolutionary Algorithms” (2016). He has also been involved in more than 20 research projects supported by the Spanish and Andalusian governments and the European Union. He currently belongs to the editorial board of PeerJ Computer Science, Information Fusion and Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence journals, being also associate editor of Applied Computational Intelligence and Soft Computing and IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics. Finally, he is editor-in-chief of Progress in Artificial Intelligence. 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He is also a faculty member in the Molecular Oncology Program. He obtained his MSc and Ph.D. at Oregon State University and Texas Tech University, respectively. He pursued his postdoctoral studies at Rutgers University Medical School and the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIDDK), USA. His research focuses on biochemistry, biophysics, genetics, molecular biology, and molecular medicine with specialization in the fields of drug design, protein structure-function, protein folding, prions, microRNA, pseudogenes, molecular cancer, epigenetics, metabolites, proteomics, genomics, protein expression, and characterization by spectroscopic and calorimetric methods.",institutionString:"University of Health Sciences",institution:null},{id:"180528",title:"Dr.",name:"Hiroyuki",middleName:null,surname:"Kagechika",slug:"hiroyuki-kagechika",fullName:"Hiroyuki Kagechika",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/180528/images/system/180528.jpg",biography:"Hiroyuki Kagechika received his bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Tokyo, Japan, where he served as an associate professor until 2004. He is currently a professor at the Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering (IBB), Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU). From 2010 to 2012, he was the dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Science. Since 2012, he has served as the vice dean of the Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences. He has been the director of the IBB since 2020. Dr. Kagechika’s major research interests are the medicinal chemistry of retinoids, vitamins D/K, and nuclear receptors. He has developed various compounds including a drug for acute promyelocytic leukemia.",institutionString:"Tokyo Medical and Dental University",institution:{name:"Tokyo Medical and Dental University",country:{name:"Japan"}}},{id:"94311",title:"Prof.",name:"Martins",middleName:"Ochubiojo",surname:"Ochubiojo Emeje",slug:"martins-ochubiojo-emeje",fullName:"Martins Ochubiojo Emeje",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/94311/images/system/94311.jpeg",biography:"Martins Emeje obtained a BPharm with distinction from Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, and an MPharm and Ph.D. from the University of Nigeria (UNN), where he received the best Ph.D. award and was enlisted as UNN’s “Face of Research.” He established the first nanomedicine center in Nigeria and was the pioneer head of the intellectual property and technology transfer as well as the technology innovation and support center. 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In 2001, he went to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in USA, where he was a post-doctoral researcher and focused on mass spectrometry and cancer proteomics. Then, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Neurology, UTHSC in 2005. He moved to the Cleveland Clinic in USA as a Project Scientist/Staff in 2006 where he focused on the studies of eye disease proteomics and biomarkers. He returned to UTHSC as an Assistant Professor of Neurology in the end of 2007, engaging in proteomics and biomarker studies of lung diseases and brain tumors, and initiating the studies of predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine (PPPM) in cancer. In 2010, he was promoted to Associate Professor of Neurology, UTHSC. Currently, he is a Professor at Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in China, Fellow of Royal Society of Medicine (FRSM), the European EPMA National Representative in China, Regular Member of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), European Cooperation of Science and Technology (e-COST) grant evaluator, Associate Editors of BMC Genomics, BMC Medical Genomics, EPMA Journal, and Frontiers in Endocrinology, Executive Editor-in-Chief of Med One. He has\npublished 116 peer-reviewed research articles, 16 book chapters, 2 books, and 2 US patents. 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Demonstrated record of scientific achievements through consistent publication record (H index = 13, with 874 citations) in high impact journals such as Nature Communications, Oncotarget, Annals of Oncology, PNAS, and AJRCCM, etc. Strong research professional with a post-doctorate from ACTREC where I gained experimental oncology experience in clinical settings and a doctorate from IGIB where I gained expertise in asthma pathophysiology. A well-trained biotechnologist with diverse experience on the bench across different research themes ranging from asthma to cancer and other infectious diseases. An individual with a strong commitment and innovative mindset. Have the ability to work on diverse projects such as regenerative and molecular medicine with an overall mindset of improving healthcare.",institutionString:"DY Patil Deemed to Be University",institution:null},{id:"349288",title:"Prof.",name:"Soumya",middleName:null,surname:"Basu",slug:"soumya-basu",fullName:"Soumya Basu",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/intech-files/0033Y000035QxIDQA0/Profile_Picture_2022-04-15T07:47:01.jpg",biography:"Soumya Basu, Ph.D., is currently working as an Associate Professor at Dr. D. Y. Patil Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Institute, Dr. D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune, Maharashtra, India. With 16+ years of trans-disciplinary research experience in Drug Design, development, and pre-clinical validation; 20+ research article publications in journals of repute, 9+ years of teaching experience, trained with cross-disciplinary education, Dr. Basu is a life-long learner and always thrives for new challenges.\r\nHer research area is the design and synthesis of small molecule partial agonists of PPAR-γ in lung cancer. She is also using artificial intelligence and deep learning methods to understand the exosomal miRNA’s role in cancer metastasis. Dr. Basu is the recipient of many awards including the Early Career Research Award from the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. She is a reviewer of many journals like Molecular Biology Reports, Frontiers in Oncology, RSC Advances, PLOS ONE, Journal of Biomolecular Structure & Dynamics, Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling, etc. She has edited and authored/co-authored 21 journal papers, 3 book chapters, and 15 abstracts. She is a Board of Studies member at her university. She is a life member of 'The Cytometry Society”-in India and 'All India Cell Biology Society”- in India.",institutionString:"Dr. D.Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune",institution:{name:"Dr. D.Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune",country:{name:"India"}}},{id:"354817",title:"Dr.",name:"Anubhab",middleName:null,surname:"Mukherjee",slug:"anubhab-mukherjee",fullName:"Anubhab Mukherjee",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://intech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/0033Y0000365PbRQAU/ProfilePicture%202022-04-15%2005%3A11%3A18.480",biography:"A former member of Laboratory of Nanomedicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, USA, Dr. Anubhab Mukherjee is an ardent votary of science who strives to make an impact in the lives of those afflicted with cancer and other chronic/acute ailments. He completed his Ph.D. from CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India, having been skilled with RNAi, liposomal drug delivery, preclinical cell and animal studies. He pursued post-doctoral research at College of Pharmacy, Health Science Center, Texas A & M University and was involved in another postdoctoral research at Department of Translational Neurosciences and Neurotherapeutics, John Wayne Cancer Institute, Santa Monica, California. In 2015, he worked in Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology as a visiting scientist. He has substantial experience in nanotechnology-based formulation development and successfully served various Indian organizations to develop pharmaceuticals and nutraceutical products. He is an inventor in many US patents and an author in many peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and books published in various media of international repute. Dr. Mukherjee is currently serving as Principal Scientist, R&D at Esperer Onco Nutrition (EON) Pvt. Ltd. and heads the Hyderabad R&D center of the organization.",institutionString:"Esperer Onco Nutrition Pvt Ltd.",institution:null},{id:"319365",title:"Assistant Prof.",name:"Manash K.",middleName:null,surname:"Paul",slug:"manash-k.-paul",fullName:"Manash K. Paul",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/319365/images/system/319365.png",biography:"Manash K. Paul is a Principal Investigator and Scientist at the University of California Los Angeles. He has contributed significantly to the fields of stem cell biology, regenerative medicine, and lung cancer. His research focuses on various signaling processes involved in maintaining stem cell homeostasis during the injury-repair process, deciphering lung stem cell niche, pulmonary disease modeling, immuno-oncology, and drug discovery. He is currently investigating the role of extracellular vesicles in premalignant lung cell migration and detecting the metastatic phenotype of lung cancer via machine-learning-based analyses of exosomal signatures. Dr. Paul has published in more than fifty peer-reviewed international journals and is highly cited. He is the recipient of many awards, including the UCLA Vice Chancellor’s award, a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and an editorial board member for several international journals.",institutionString:"University of California Los Angeles",institution:{name:"University of California Los Angeles",country:{name:"United States of America"}}},{id:"311457",title:"Dr.",name:"Júlia",middleName:null,surname:"Scherer Santos",slug:"julia-scherer-santos",fullName:"Júlia Scherer Santos",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/311457/images/system/311457.jpg",biography:"Dr. Júlia Scherer Santos works in the areas of cosmetology, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical technology, beauty, and aesthetics. Dr. Santos also has experience as a professor of graduate courses. Graduated in Pharmacy, specialization in Cosmetology and Cosmeceuticals applied to aesthetics, specialization in Aesthetic and Cosmetic Health, and a doctorate in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology. Teaching experience in Pharmacy and Aesthetics and Cosmetics courses. She works mainly on the following subjects: nanotechnology, cosmetology, pharmaceutical technology, aesthetics.",institutionString:"Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora",institution:{name:"Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora",country:{name:"Brazil"}}},{id:"219081",title:"Dr.",name:"Abdulsamed",middleName:null,surname:"Kükürt",slug:"abdulsamed-kukurt",fullName:"Abdulsamed Kükürt",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/219081/images/system/219081.png",biography:"Dr. Kükürt graduated from Uludağ University in Turkey. He started his academic career as a Research Assistant in the Department of Biochemistry at Kafkas University. In 2019, he completed his Ph.D. program in the Department of Biochemistry at the Institute of Health Sciences. He is currently working at the Department of Biochemistry, Kafkas University. He has 27 published research articles in academic journals, 11 book chapters, and 37 papers. He took part in 10 academic projects. He served as a reviewer for many articles. He still serves as a member of the review board in many academic journals. He is currently working on the protective activity of phenolic compounds in disorders associated with oxidative stress and inflammation.",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"Kafkas University",country:{name:"Turkey"}}},{id:"178366",title:"Dr.",name:"Volkan",middleName:null,surname:"Gelen",slug:"volkan-gelen",fullName:"Volkan Gelen",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/178366/images/system/178366.jpg",biography:"Volkan Gelen is a Physiology specialist who received his veterinary degree from Kafkas University in 2011. Between 2011-2015, he worked as an assistant at Atatürk University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Physiology. In 2016, he joined Kafkas University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Physiology as an assistant professor. Dr. Gelen has been engaged in various academic activities at Kafkas University since 2016. There he completed 5 projects and has 3 ongoing projects. He has 60 articles published in scientific journals and 20 poster presentations in scientific congresses. His research interests include physiology, endocrine system, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular system diseases, and isolated organ bath system studies.",institutionString:"Kafkas University",institution:{name:"Kafkas University",country:{name:"Turkey"}}},{id:"418963",title:"Dr.",name:"Augustine Ododo",middleName:"Augustine",surname:"Osagie",slug:"augustine-ododo-osagie",fullName:"Augustine Ododo Osagie",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/418963/images/16900_n.jpg",biography:"Born into the family of Osagie, a prince of the Benin Kingdom. I am currently an academic in the Department of Medical Biochemistry, University of Benin. Part of the duties are to teach undergraduate students and conduct academic research.",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"University of Benin",country:{name:"Nigeria"}}},{id:"192992",title:"Prof.",name:"Shagufta",middleName:null,surname:"Perveen",slug:"shagufta-perveen",fullName:"Shagufta Perveen",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/192992/images/system/192992.png",biography:"Prof. Shagufta Perveen is a Distinguish Professor in the Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Perveen has acted as the principal investigator of major research projects funded by the research unit of King Saud University. She has more than ninety original research papers in peer-reviewed journals of international repute to her credit. She is a fellow member of the Royal Society of Chemistry UK and the American Chemical Society of the United States.",institutionString:"King Saud University",institution:{name:"King Saud University",country:{name:"Saudi Arabia"}}},{id:"49848",title:"Dr.",name:"Wen-Long",middleName:null,surname:"Hu",slug:"wen-long-hu",fullName:"Wen-Long Hu",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/49848/images/system/49848.jpg",biography:"Wen-Long Hu is Chief of the Division of Acupuncture, Department of Chinese Medicine at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, as well as an adjunct associate professor at Fooyin University and Kaohsiung Medical University. Wen-Long is President of Taiwan Traditional Chinese Medicine Medical Association. He has 28 years of experience in clinical practice in laser acupuncture therapy and 34 years in acupuncture. He is an invited speaker for lectures and workshops in laser acupuncture at many symposiums held by medical associations. He owns the patent for herbal preparation and producing, and for the supercritical fluid-treated needle. Dr. Hu has published three books, 12 book chapters, and more than 30 papers in reputed journals, besides serving as an editorial board member of repute.",institutionString:"Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital",institution:{name:"Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital",country:{name:"Taiwan"}}},{id:"298472",title:"Prof.",name:"Andrey V.",middleName:null,surname:"Grechko",slug:"andrey-v.-grechko",fullName:"Andrey V. Grechko",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/298472/images/system/298472.png",biography:"Andrey Vyacheslavovich Grechko, Ph.D., Professor, is a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He graduated from the Semashko Moscow Medical Institute (Semashko National Research Institute of Public Health) with a degree in Medicine (1998), the Clinical Department of Dermatovenerology (2000), and received a second higher education in Psychology (2009). Professor A.V. Grechko held the position of Сhief Physician of the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow. He worked as a professor at the faculty and was engaged in scientific research at the Medical University. Starting in 2013, he has been the initiator of the creation of the Federal Scientific and Clinical Center for Intensive Care and Rehabilitology, Moscow, Russian Federation, where he also serves as Director since 2015. He has many years of experience in research and teaching in various fields of medicine, is an author/co-author of more than 200 scientific publications, 13 patents, 15 medical books/chapters, including Chapter in Book «Metabolomics», IntechOpen, 2020 «Metabolomic Discovery of Microbiota Dysfunction as the Cause of Pathology».",institutionString:"Federal Research and Clinical Center of Intensive Care Medicine and Rehabilitology",institution:null},{id:"199461",title:"Prof.",name:"Natalia V.",middleName:null,surname:"Beloborodova",slug:"natalia-v.-beloborodova",fullName:"Natalia V. Beloborodova",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/199461/images/system/199461.jpg",biography:'Natalia Vladimirovna Beloborodova was educated at the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, with a degree in pediatrics in 1980, a Ph.D. in 1987, and a specialization in Clinical Microbiology from First Moscow State Medical University in 2004. She has been a Professor since 1996. Currently, she is the Head of the Laboratory of Metabolism, a division of the Federal Research and Clinical Center of Intensive Care Medicine and Rehabilitology, Moscow, Russian Federation. N.V. Beloborodova has many years of clinical experience in the field of intensive care and surgery. She studies infectious complications and sepsis. She initiated a series of interdisciplinary clinical and experimental studies based on the concept of integrating human metabolism and its microbiota. Her scientific achievements are widely known: she is the recipient of the Marie E. Coates Award \\"Best lecturer-scientist\\" Gustafsson Fund, Karolinska Institutes, Stockholm, Sweden, and the International Sepsis Forum Award, Pasteur Institute, Paris, France (2014), etc. Professor N.V. Beloborodova wrote 210 papers, five books, 10 chapters and has edited four books.',institutionString:"Federal Research and Clinical Center of Intensive Care Medicine and Rehabilitology",institution:null},{id:"354260",title:"Ph.D.",name:"Tércio Elyan",middleName:"Azevedo",surname:"Azevedo Martins",slug:"tercio-elyan-azevedo-martins",fullName:"Tércio Elyan Azevedo Martins",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/354260/images/16241_n.jpg",biography:"Graduated in Pharmacy from the Federal University of Ceará with the modality in Industrial Pharmacy, Specialist in Production and Control of Medicines from the University of São Paulo (USP), Master in Pharmaceuticals and Medicines from the University of São Paulo (USP) and Doctor of Science in the program of Pharmaceuticals and Medicines by the University of São Paulo. Professor at Universidade Paulista (UNIP) in the areas of chemistry, cosmetology and trichology. Assistant Coordinator of the Higher Course in Aesthetic and Cosmetic Technology at Universidade Paulista Campus Chácara Santo Antônio. Experience in the Pharmacy area, with emphasis on Pharmacotechnics, Pharmaceutical Technology, Research and Development of Cosmetics, acting mainly on topics such as cosmetology, antioxidant activity, aesthetics, photoprotection, cyclodextrin and thermal analysis.",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"University of Sao Paulo",country:{name:"Brazil"}}},{id:"334285",title:"Ph.D. Student",name:"Sameer",middleName:"Kumar",surname:"Jagirdar",slug:"sameer-jagirdar",fullName:"Sameer Jagirdar",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/334285/images/14691_n.jpg",biography:"I\\'m a graduate student at the center for biosystems science and engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. I am interested in studying host-pathogen interactions at the biomaterial interface.",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"Indian Institute of Science Bangalore",country:{name:"India"}}},{id:"329248",title:"Dr.",name:"Md. Faheem",middleName:null,surname:"Haider",slug:"md.-faheem-haider",fullName:"Md. Faheem Haider",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/329248/images/system/329248.jpg",biography:"Dr. Md. Faheem Haider completed his BPharm in 2012 at Integral University, Lucknow, India. In 2014, he completed his MPharm with specialization in Pharmaceutics at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, India. He received his Ph.D. degree from Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi, India, in 2018. He was selected for the GPAT six times and his best All India Rank was 34. Currently, he is an assistant professor at Integral University. Previously he was an assistant professor at IIMT University, Meerut, India. He has experience teaching DPharm, Pharm.D, BPharm, and MPharm students. He has more than five publications in reputed journals to his credit. Dr. Faheem’s research area is the development and characterization of nanoformulation for the delivery of drugs to various organs.",institutionString:"Integral University",institution:{name:"Integral University",country:{name:"India"}}},{id:"329795",title:"Dr.",name:"Mohd Aftab",middleName:"Aftab",surname:"Siddiqui",slug:"mohd-aftab-siddiqui",fullName:"Mohd Aftab Siddiqui",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/329795/images/system/329795.png",biography:"Dr. Mohd Aftab Siddiqui is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy, Integral University, Lucknow, India, where he obtained a Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 2020. He also obtained a BPharm and MPharm from the same university in 2013 and 2015, respectively. His area of research is the pharmacological screening of herbal drugs/natural products in liver cancer and cardiac diseases. He is a member of many professional bodies and has guided many MPharm and PharmD research projects. Dr. Siddiqui has many national and international publications and one German patent to his credit.",institutionString:"Integral University",institution:null},{id:"255360",title:"Dr.",name:"Usama",middleName:null,surname:"Ahmad",slug:"usama-ahmad",fullName:"Usama Ahmad",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/255360/images/system/255360.png",biography:"Dr. Usama Ahmad holds a specialization in Pharmaceutics from Amity University, Lucknow, India. He received his Ph.D. from Integral University, Lucknow, India, with his work titled ‘Development and evaluation of silymarin nanoformulation for hepatic carcinoma’. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutics, at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Integral University. He has been teaching PharmD, BPharm, and MPharm students and conducting research in the novel drug delivery domain. From 2013 to 2014 he worked on a research project funded by SERB-DST, Government of India. He has a rich publication record with more than twenty-four original journal articles, two edited books, four book chapters, and several scientific articles to his credit. He is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and the British Society for Nanomedicine. Dr. Ahmad’s research focus is on the development of nanoformulations to facilitate the delivery of drugs.",institutionString:"Integral University",institution:{name:"Integral University",country:{name:"India"}}},{id:"333824",title:"Dr.",name:"Ahmad Farouk",middleName:null,surname:"Musa",slug:"ahmad-farouk-musa",fullName:"Ahmad Farouk Musa",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/333824/images/22684_n.jpg",biography:"Dato’ Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa\nMD, MMED (Surgery) (Mal), Fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery (Monash Health, Aust), Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (Aust), Academy of Medicine (Mal)\n\n\n\nDato’ Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa obtained his Doctor of Medicine from USM in 1992. He then obtained his Master of Medicine in Surgery from the same university in the year 2000 before subspecialising in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Institut Jantung Negara (IJN), Kuala Lumpur from 2002 until 2005. He then completed his Fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Monash Health, Melbourne, Australia in 2008. He has served in the Malaysian army as a Medical Officer with the rank of Captain upon completing his Internship before joining USM as a trainee lecturer. He is now serving as an academic and researcher at Monash University Malaysia. He is a life-member of the Malaysian Association of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery (MATCVS) and a committee member of the MATCVS Database. He is also a life-member of the College of Surgeons, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia; a life-member of Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), and a life-member of Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia (IMAM). Recently he was appointed as an Interim Chairperson of Examination & Assessment Subcommittee of the UiTM-IJN Cardiothoracic Surgery Postgraduate Program. As an academic, he has published numerous research papers and book chapters. He has also been appointed to review many scientific manuscripts by established journals such as the British Medical Journal (BMJ). He has presented his research works at numerous local and international conferences such as the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery (EACTS) and the European Society of Cardiovascular Surgery (ESCVS), to name a few. He has also won many awards for his research presentations at meetings and conferences like the prestigious International Invention, Innovation & Technology Exhibition (ITEX); Design, Research and Innovation Exhibition, the National Conference on Medical Sciences and the Annual Scientific Meetings of the Malaysian Association for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He was awarded the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN) by the Governor of Penang in July, 2015.",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"Monash University Malaysia",country:{name:"Malaysia"}}},{id:"30568",title:"Prof.",name:"Madhu",middleName:null,surname:"Khullar",slug:"madhu-khullar",fullName:"Madhu Khullar",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/30568/images/system/30568.jpg",biography:"Dr. Madhu Khullar is a Professor of Experimental Medicine and Biotechnology at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. She completed her Post Doctorate in hypertension research at the Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, USA in 1985. She is an editor and reviewer of several international journals, and a fellow and member of several cardiovascular research societies. Dr. Khullar has a keen research interest in genetics of hypertension, and is currently studying pharmacogenetics of hypertension.",institutionString:"Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research",institution:{name:"Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research",country:{name:"India"}}},{id:"223233",title:"Prof.",name:"Xianquan",middleName:null,surname:"Zhan",slug:"xianquan-zhan",fullName:"Xianquan Zhan",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/223233/images/system/223233.png",biography:"Xianquan Zhan received his MD and Ph.D. in Preventive Medicine at West China University of Medical Sciences. He received his post-doctoral training in oncology and cancer proteomics at the Central South University, China, and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), USA. He worked at UTHSC and the Cleveland Clinic in 2001–2012 and achieved the rank of associate professor at UTHSC. Currently, he is a full professor at Central South University and Shandong First Medical University, and an advisor to MS/PhD students and postdoctoral fellows. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and European Association for Predictive Preventive Personalized Medicine (EPMA), a national representative of EPMA, and a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS). He is also the editor in chief of International Journal of Chronic Diseases & Therapy, an associate editor of EPMA Journal, Frontiers in Endocrinology, and BMC Medical Genomics, and a guest editor of Mass Spectrometry Reviews, Frontiers in Endocrinology, EPMA Journal, and Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity. He has published more than 148 articles, 28 book chapters, 6 books, and 2 US patents in the field of clinical proteomics and biomarkers.",institutionString:"Shandong First Medical University",institution:{name:"Affiliated Hospital of Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences",country:{name:"China"}}}]}},subseries:{item:{id:"6",type:"subseries",title:"Viral Infectious Diseases",keywords:"Novel Viruses, Virus Transmission, Virus Evolution, Molecular Virology, Control and Prevention, Virus-host Interaction",scope:"The Viral Infectious Diseases Book Series aims to provide a comprehensive overview of recent research trends and discoveries in various viral infectious diseases emerging around the globe. The emergence of any viral disease is hard to anticipate, which often contributes to death. A viral disease can be defined as an infectious disease that has recently appeared within a population or exists in nature with the rapid expansion of incident or geographic range. This series will focus on various crucial factors related to emerging viral infectious diseases, including epidemiology, pathogenesis, host immune response, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment, and clinical recommendations for managing viral infectious diseases, highlighting the recent issues with future directions for effective therapeutic strategies.",coverUrl:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/series_topics/covers/6.jpg",hasOnlineFirst:!0,hasPublishedBooks:!0,annualVolume:11402,editor:{id:"158026",title:"Prof.",name:"Shailendra K.",middleName:null,surname:"Saxena",slug:"shailendra-k.-saxena",fullName:"Shailendra K. Saxena",profilePictureURL:"https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/intech-files/0030O00002bRET3QAO/Profile_Picture_2022-05-10T10:10:26.jpeg",biography:"Professor Dr. Shailendra K. Saxena is a vice dean and professor at King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India. His research interests involve understanding the molecular mechanisms of host defense during human viral infections and developing new predictive, preventive, and therapeutic strategies for them using Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), HIV, and emerging viruses as a model via stem cell and cell culture technologies. His research work has been published in various high-impact factor journals (Science, PNAS, Nature Medicine) with a high number of citations. He has received many awards and honors in India and abroad including various Young Scientist Awards, BBSRC India Partnering Award, and Dr. JC Bose National Award of Department of Biotechnology, Min. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. 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Thus proteomics, an area of research that detects all protein forms expressed in an organism, including splice isoforms and post-translational modifications, is more suitable than genomics for a comprehensive understanding of the biochemical processes that govern life. The most common proteomics applications are currently in the clinical field for the identification, in a variety of biological matrices, of biomarkers for diagnosis and therapeutic intervention of disorders. From the comparison of proteomic profiles of control and disease or different physiological states, which may emerge, changes in protein expression can provide new insights into the roles played by some proteins in human pathologies. Understanding how proteins function and interact with each other is another goal of proteomics that makes this approach even more intriguing. Specialized technology and expertise are required to assess the proteome of any biological sample. Currently, proteomics relies mainly on mass spectrometry (MS) combined with electrophoretic (1 or 2-DE-MS) and/or chromatographic techniques (LC-MS/MS). MS is an excellent tool that has gained popularity in proteomics because of its ability to gather a complex body of information such as cataloging protein expression, identifying protein modification sites, and defining protein interactions. 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