scholarly journals Decoupled Aquaponics Systems

2019 ◽  
pp. 201-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Goddek ◽  
Alyssa Joyce ◽  
Sven Wuertz ◽  
Oliver Körner ◽  
Ingo Bläser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Significant Loss ◽  
Coupled Systems ◽  
Process Water ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Environmental Requirements ◽  
Hydroponic Systems ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Efficiency And Productivity ◽  
Production Problems ◽  
Aerobic And Anaerobic

AbstractTraditional aquaponics systems were arranged in a single process loop that directs nutrient-rich water from fish to the plants and back. Given the differing specific nutrient and environmental requirements of plants and fish, such systems presented a compromise to the ideal conditions for rearing of both, thus reducing the efficiency and productivity of such coupled systems. More recently, designs that allow for decoupling of units provide for a more finely tuned regulation of the process water in each of the respective units while also allowing for better recycling of nutrients from sludge. Suspended solids from the fish (e.g. faeces and uneaten feed) need to be removed from the process water before water can be directed to plants in order to prevent clogging of hydroponic systems, a step that represents a significant loss of total nutrients, most importantly phosphorus. The reuse of sludge and mobilization of nutrients contained within that sludge present a number of engineering challenges that, if addressed creatively, can dramatically increase the efficiency and sustainability of aquaponics systems. One solution is to separate, or when there are pathogens or production problems, to isolate components of the system, thus maximizing overall control and efficiency of each component, while reducing compromises between the conditions and species-specific requirements of each subsystem. Another potential innovation that is made possible by the decoupling of units involves introducing additional loops wherein bioreactors can be used to treat sludge. An additional distillation loop can ensure increased nutrient concentrations to the hydroponics unit while, at the same time, reducing adverse effects on fish health from high nutrient levels in the RAS unit. Several studies have documented the aerobic and anaerobic digestion performance of bioreactors for treating sludge, but the benefits of the digestate on plant growth are not well-researched. Both remineralization and distillation components consequently have a high unexplored potential to improve decoupled aquaponics systems.

DETERMINING THE SCALE OF RESTORATION FOR A FISH KILL IN THE ALAFIA RIVER, FLORIDA1

2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 (2) ◽  
pp. 1511-1516
Author(s):  
Lisa DiPinto ◽  
Tony Penn ◽  
John Iliff ◽  
Charles Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Somatic Growth ◽  
Process Water ◽  
Total Biomass ◽  
Hazardous Substance ◽  
Fish Kill ◽  
Productivity Data ◽  
Future Production ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Fish Habitats

ABSTRACT In December 1997, a phosphogypsum stack wall failed at a phosphoric acid/ fertilizer production facility in Mulberry, Florida, releasing 50–56 million gallons of acidic process water into the Alafia River, a major tributary of Tampa Bay. The process water lowered the pH along 35 miles of the river to levels ranging from approximately 2.3 in the freshwater portion to 3–4 in the lower 10-mile estuarine portion. This release resulted in a significant fish kill and injuries to other natural resources and services. This paper describes the fish kill assessment and the determination of restoration type and scale to offset the fish injuries. The assessment team quantified the fish kill as total biomass lost, defined as the sum of direct mortality plus the foregone future production, as loss of somatic growth of those individuals that were killed. The team identified creation and/or enhancement of fish habitats as the preferred alternatives to provide fish production of the species that were injured, which is an established approach to compensate for acute, species-specific losses. Case-specific analytic techniques were used to estimate secondary productivities from the preferred habitats. Based on the productivity data, the assessment team calculated the scale of the habitat projects that, over the course of their lifetimes, would provide the same amount of biomass that was lost. While the injuries were the result of a hazardous substance release, as opposed to an oil spill, the methods used for injury determination and restoration scaling are directly applicable to an oil spill scenario.

Species-specific environmental requirements to break seed dormancy: implications for selection of regeneration niches in three Lonicera (Caprifoliaceae) species

Botany ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 225-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Santiago ◽  
José M. Herranz ◽  
Elena Copete ◽  
Pablo Ferrandis
Keyword(s):  
Seed Germination ◽  
Seed Dormancy ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Close Correspondence ◽  
Morphophysiological Dormancy ◽  
Germination Phenology ◽  
Environmental Requirements ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Regeneration Niches ◽  
Selection Of

Environmental requirements for seed germination can operate as an important filter in determining the regeneration niche and ultimately the habitat preference of many plant species. We hypothesize that morphological and morphophysiological seed dormancy may play a major role in habitat selection, because underdeveloped embryos responsible for those dormancy types usually require strict species-specific environmental conditions to grow and to overcome dormancy, imposing marked constraints to recruitment and thus to species distribution. We analyzed the influence of temperature and light on embryo growth and seed germination, as well as germination phenology in three Lonicera (Caprifoliaceae) species. Lonicera xylosteum L. seeds had morphological dormancy. Those of Lonicera etrusca Santi had unusual within-species dormancy variability, with a fraction being able to show both morphological and morphophysiological dormancy. Seeds of Lonicera arborea had deep complex morphophysiological dormancy. The close correspondence between the environmental conditions that each Lonicera species requires to break seed dormancy and their altitudinal range suggests that morphological and morphophysiological dormancies act as important filters in determining the regeneration niches of species, probably because such dormancy mechanisms impose markedly specific environmental requirements during the earlier stages of recruitment.

scholarly journals Genetic Diversity of Campomanesia adamantium and Its Correlation with Land Use and Land Cover

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 160
Author(s):  
Bruno do Amaral Crispim ◽  
Juliana dos Santos Fernandes ◽  
Miklos Maximiliano Bajay ◽  
Maria Imaculada Zucchi ◽  
Carlos Eduardo de Araújo Batista ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Significant Loss ◽  
Inbreeding Coefficient ◽  
Expected Heterozygosity ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Land Cover Data ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Pearson Correlations

(1) Background: Campomanesia adamantium is an endemic species of the Cerrado and this biome has been under threat by its constant degradation. The genetic diversity of C. adamantium was characterized using species-specific microsatellites in two different time periods and correlations of these parameters of genetic diversity with the land use and land cover data. (2) Methods: We used 10 microsatellite loci to analyze C. adamantium from five populations, collected in 2011 and 2017. Maps of land use and land cover of the collection sites in both years were generated and subsequently correlated with genetic diversity. (3) Results: No significant loss of genetic diversity was observed in the analyzed period and a positive inbreeding coefficient was observed in all populations. AMOVA and STRUCTURE showed that there is no population structure between years and populations. Significant Pearson correlations were observed in 2017 between parameters of genetic diversity and land use and land cover, with a positive correlation between expected heterozygosity and secondary vegetation, and a negative correlation between inbreeding coefficient and exposed soil. (4) Conclusions: There was no decline in genetic diversity from 2011 to 2017. The high rates of the inbreeding coefficient could lead, for the species, in the long run, to an inbreeding depression as the Cerrado fragmentation might cause a population bottleneck.

scholarly journals Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Inoculation Affects Root Development of Acer and Magnolia Species

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Eric Wiseman ◽  
Christina E. Wells
Keyword(s):  
Root Development ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Fine Root ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Root Production ◽  
Test Species ◽  
Root Longevity ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Amf Inoculation

Abstract The effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation on fine root development of four woody landscape plants were studied during the first year after transplant. Test species included two members of obligately mycorrhizal Magnoliaceae (Magnolia virginiana and Magnolia stellata) and two members of facultatively mycorrhizal Aceraceae (Acer × freemanii and Acer buergerianum). Field-grown, balled and burlapped plants were treated with a commercial inoculant containing Glomus spp. and Gigaspora spp. mycorrhizal fungi and transplanted to a piedmont field site. Root architecture and demographics were evaluated in situ using minirhizotrons. One year after transplant, AMF colonization levels had increased in three of the four species regardless of whether they had been intentionally inoculated. AMF-treated M. virginiana and A. buergerianum had significantly lower standing root crops (total root length visible on minirhizotrons) than control plants, and a similar trend was observed in Acer × freemanii. Inoculated M. virginiana roots exhibited reduced branching and shorter life spans, but were less likely to develop brown pigmentation. Species-specific effects of inoculation on root longevity and browning were also observed in the maples. AMF inoculation had no effect on above ground growth or foliar nutrient concentrations. Investment of photosynthate in the growth and maintenance of AMF may represent a more efficient nutrient acquisition strategy than root proliferation, leading to lower fine root production in heavily mycorrhizal plants.

scholarly journals The influence of habitat conditions on the plankton in the Białe oxbow lake (Nadbużański Landscape Park)

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Pasztaleniec ◽  
Maciej Karpowicz ◽  
Małgorzata Strzałek
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Differentiation ◽  
Oxbow Lake ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Ceratophyllum Demersum ◽  
Habitat Conditions ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Plankton Diversity ◽  
Plankton Communities

AbstractThe spatial differentiation of the physico-chemical parameters (KdPAR, pH, DOC, nutrient concentrations) and plankton communities (phytoplankton, Crustacea) was considered in the system: the water column without macrophytes, pleustophytes - lemnids (duckweeds) and hornwort Ceratophyllum demersum. It was demonstrated that at the study sites different habitat conditions occurred, which were related to the macrophyte assemblages. The highest values of the phytoplankton biomass and the greatest algal biodiversity were found in the site without vegetation, in both species-specific and functional terms. Zooplankton, dominated by Copepoda, reached the greatest density and species diversity at the Ceratophyllum site. Despite the substantial differentiation of habitats, the plankton diversity was quite low.

A New AID for Interpolating and Assessing Collision Strengths and Rate Coefficients

1988 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 107-110
Author(s):  
A. Burgess ◽  
H.E. Mason ◽  
J.A. Tully
Keyword(s):  
Significant Loss ◽  
Impact Excitation ◽  
Rate Coefficients ◽  
Electron Impact Excitation ◽  
Graphical Display ◽  
Practical Procedure ◽  
Positive Ions ◽  
Allowed Transition ◽  
Computational Errors ◽  
Existing Data

AbstractA new way of critically assessing and compacting data for electron impact excitation of positive ions is proposed. This method allows one (i) to detect possible printing and computational errors in the published tables, (ii) to interpolate and extrapolate the existing data as a function of energy or temperature, and (iii) to simplify considerably the storage and transfer of data without significant loss of information. Theoretical or experimental collision strengths Ω(E) are scaled and then plotted as functions of the colliding electron energy, the entire range of which is conveniently mapped onto the interval (0,1). For a given transition the scaled Ω can be accurately represented - usually to within a fraction of a percent - by a 5 point least squares spline. Further details are given in (2). Similar techniques enable thermally averaged collision strengths upsilon (T) to be obtained at arbitrary temperatures in the interval 0 < T < ∞. Application of the method is possible by means of an interactive program with graphical display (2). To illustrate this practical procedure we use the program to treat Ω for the optically allowed transition 2s → 2p in ArXVI.

Electron Microscopy in the Study of Natural Phytoplankton Assemblages

1985 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 620-623
Author(s):  
Linda Sicko-Goad
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Aquatic Environment ◽  
Size Range ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Phytoplankton Assemblages ◽  
Phytoplankton Productivity ◽  
Ecosystem Effects ◽  
Time Of Year ◽  
Species Specific

Although the use of electron microscopy and its varied methodologies is not usually associated with ecological studies, the types of species specific information that can be generated by these techniques are often quite useful in predicting long-term ecosystem effects. The utility of these techniques is especially apparent when one considers both the size range of particles found in the aquatic environment and the complexity of the phytoplankton assemblages.The size range and character of organisms found in the aquatic environment are dependent upon a variety of physical parameters that include sampling depth, location, and time of year. In the winter months, all the Laurentian Great Lakes are uniformly mixed and homothermous in the range of 1.1 to 1.7°C. During this time phytoplankton productivity is quite low.

Effects of sterilization modes on the mechanical strengths of plaster of paris implants

1989 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 890-891
Author(s):  
K. Cowden ◽  
B. Giammara ◽  
T. Devine ◽  
J. Hanker
Keyword(s):  
Gamma Radiation ◽  
Calcium Sulfate ◽  
Significant Loss ◽  
Potassium Sulfate ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Radiation Sterilization ◽  
Plaster Of Paris ◽  
Hardness Tester ◽  
Dry Heat ◽  
Calcium Sulfate Hemihydrate

Plaster of Paris (calcium sulfate hemihydrate, CaSO4. ½ H2O) has been used as a biomedical implant material since 1892. One of the primary limiting factors of these implants is their mechanical properties. These materials have low compressive and tensile strengths when compared to normal bone. These are important limiting factors where large biomechanical forces exist. Previous work has suggested that sterilization techniques could affect the implant’s strength. A study of plaster of Paris implant mechanical and physical properties to find optimum sterilization techniques therefore, could lead to a significant increase in their application and promise for future use as hard tissue prosthetic materials.USG Medical Grade Calcium Sulfate Hemihydrate Types A, A-1 and B, were sterilized by dry heat and by gamma radiation. Types A and B were additionally sterilized with and without the setting agent potassium sulfate (K2SO4). The plaster mixtures were then moistened with a minimum amount of water and formed into disks (.339 in. diameter x .053 in. deep) in polyethylene molds with a microspatula. After drying, the disks were fractured with a Stokes Hardness Tester. The compressive strengths of the disks were obtained directly from the hardness tester. Values for the maximum tensile strengths σo were then calculated: where (P = applied compression, D = disk diameter, and t = disk thickness). Plaster disks (types A and B) that contained no setting agent showed a significant loss in strength with either dry heat or gamma radiation sterilization. Those that contained potassium sulfate (K2SO4) did not show a significant loss in strength with either sterilization technique. In all comparisons (with and without K2SO4 and with either dry heat or gamma radiation sterilization) the type B plaster had higher compressive and tensile strengths than that of the type A plaster. The type A-1 plaster however, which is specially modified for accelerated setting, was comparable to that of type B with K2SO4 in both compressive and tensile strength (Table 1).

64: Rapid, Species-Specific Detection of Uropathogens from Clinical Urine Specimens Using an Electrochemical Microsensor Array

2005 ◽  
Vol 173 (4S) ◽  
pp. 18-18
Author(s):  
Joseph C. Liao ◽  
Mitra Mastali ◽  
David A. Haake ◽  
Bernard M. Churchill
Keyword(s):  
Specific Detection ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Urine Specimens

Bidirectional Associations Between Self-Perceptions of Aging and Processing Speed Across 3 Years

GeroPsych ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna L. Seidler ◽  
Julia K. Wolff
Keyword(s):  
Processing Speed ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Significant Loss ◽  
Path Model ◽  
Outcome Variable ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
Chi Squared ◽  
Perceptions Of Aging ◽  
Bidirectional Associations

Abstract. Background: Previous studies point to a potential relationship between self-perceptions of aging (SPA) and cognitive performance. However, most of these studies are limited by their experimental design. Previous longitudinal studies looked solely at memory as an outcome variable without examining the directionality of effects. The present study examines the direction of effects between two domains of SPA (personal growth and physical losses) and processing speed (PS). Methods: The sample consists of 8,198 participants of the German Ageing Survey (DEAS), aged between 40 and 93 years. A cross-lagged path model was estimated to examine directions of relationships across 3 years via chi-squared difference tests for each domain of SPA. Results: In the unconstrained models, the effect of SPA domain personal growth in 2008 on PS in 2011 and vice versa were marginally significant. For SPA domain physical losses, the effect of SPA on PS was significant, whereas the other direction of the effect did not reach significance. However, the cross-lagged paths of both domains of SPA on PS and vice versa could be set equal without a significant loss of model fit. The resulting associations indicate a significant bidirectional relationship between both domains of SPA and PS. Discussion and conclusion: This study provides initial evidence that SPA can influence trajectories of cognitive decline and vice versa. The results emphasize the detrimental and beneficial effects that stereotypes can have on individuals and add further evidence to the theory of stereotype embodiment.

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