States, trends, and future of aquaponics research

Abstract

As an environmentally-friendly aquaculture and planting system, aquaponics has attracted attention in various fields, such as fisheries, agriculture, and ecology. The existing review qualitatively described the development and challenges of aquaponics but lacked data support. This study selected 513 related documents (2000-2019) in the Web of Science database (WOS) to mine and quantitatively analyze its text data. The keyword co-occurrence network shows that the current aquaponics research mainly focuses on the system components, wastewater treatment, nutrient management, and system production. Research areas reflect obvious regional characteristics. China, the United States and Europe are dedicated to the application of new technologies, the optimization of system production, and the exploration of multiple roles. At present, the aquaponics development is facing many pressures from management and market. Future research requires more in-depth research in the system construction, nutrient management, and microbial community structure to provide a theoretical basis. Moreover, the identity construction within the conceptual framework of green infrastructure is a research direction worth exploring to solve low social recognition for aquaponics.