scholarly journals Hydrological and planting design of an experimental raingarden at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kelly ◽  
Kirsty Wilson ◽  
Aravindan Kalaichelvam ◽  
David Knott
Keyword(s):  
Royal Botanic Garden ◽  
Flood Mitigation ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Intense Rainfall ◽  
Botanic Garden ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Nectar Sources ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
Seed Eating ◽  
And Performance

A new experimental raingarden has been created at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) to help cope with the impacts of more frequent and intense rainfall events. Raingardens offer a sustainable, nature-based solution to flood mitigation by mimicking natural rainwater retention and infiltration characteristics within a constructed bioretention system. By incorporating specially selected plants that can withstand both very wet and very dry conditions, raingardens also provide enhanced biodiversity capacity. This paper reports on the hydrological design of the raingarden, which is aimed at reducing the occurrence of waterlogging and localised flooding within RBGE, before discussing the selection and cultivation of the planting. It is hoped that the mix of plants chosen will encourage a great diversity of wildlife, providing nectar sources for insects and bees in summer, and homes for invertebrates and food for seed-eating birds in winter. With the raingarden having been in place for over a year at the time of writing, reflections on its maintenance and upkeep during that time and performance assessment for significant storm events will also be discussed.

Isaac Bayley Balfour, Sphagnum moss, and the Great War (1914–1918)

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. Ayres
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
The United States ◽  
Royal Botanic Garden ◽  
Wound Dressings ◽  
Sphagnum Moss ◽  
Botanic Garden ◽  
Working Model ◽  
Sphagnum Bog ◽  
The Great War

Isaac Bayley Balfour was a systematist specializing in Sino-Himalayan plants. He enjoyed a long and exceptionally distinguished academic career yet he was knighted, in 1920, “for services in connection with the war”. Together with an Edinburgh surgeon, Charles Cathcart, he had discovered in 1914 something well known to German doctors; dried Sphagnum (bog moss) makes highly absorptive, antiseptic wound dressings. Balfour directed the expertise and resources of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (of which he was Keeper), towards the identification of the most useful Sphagnum species in Britain and the production of leaflets telling collectors where to find the moss in Scotland. By 1918 over one million such dressings were used by British hospitals each month. Cathcart's Edinburgh organisation, which received moss before making it into dressings, proved a working model soon adopted in Ireland, and later in both Canada and the United States.

Data Capture Project at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

2009 ◽  
pp. 77-82
Author(s):  
Natacha Frachon ◽  
Martin Gardner ◽  
David Rae
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Royal Botanic Garden ◽  
Data Capture ◽  
Plant Biodiversity ◽  
Botanic Gardens ◽  
Botanic Garden ◽  
The World ◽  
Plant Collections ◽  
Field Notes

Botanic gardens, with their large holdings of living plants collected from around the world, are important guardians of plant biodiversity, but acquiring and curating these genetic resources is enormously expensive. For these reasons it is crucial that botanic gardens document and curate their collections in order to gain the greatest benefit from the plants in their care. Great priority is given to making detailed field notes and the process of documentation is often continued during the plants formative years when being propagated. However, for the large majority of plants this process often stops once the material is planted in its final garden location. The Data Capture Project at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is an attempt to document specific aspects of the plant collections so that the information captured can be of use to the research community even after the plants have died.

scholarly journals How nutrient rich are decaying cocoa pod husks? The kinetics of nutrient leaching

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.-G. J. M. Hougni ◽  
A. G. T. Schut ◽  
L. S. Woittiez ◽  
B. Vanlauwe ◽  
K. E. Giller
Keyword(s):  
Nutrient Release ◽  
Nutrient Content ◽  
Nutrient Leaching ◽  
Intense Rainfall ◽  
Decomposition Rates ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Frequency ◽  
Water Saturated ◽  
Kinetics Of ◽  
Cocoa Pod Husks

Abstract Aim Recycling of cocoa pod husks has potential to contribute to mineral nutrition of cocoa. Yet little is known of the nutrient content and nutrient release patterns from the husks. The potassium (K) rich husks are usually left in heaps in cocoa plantations in Africa. We aimed to understand and quantify release patterns of K and other nutrients from husks under varying rainfall regimes and assessed the effects of partial decomposition and inundation on nutrient leaching rates. Methods We incubated chunks of cocoa pod husks to assess decomposition rates and we measured nutrient leaching rates from two sets of husk chunks: one set was placed in tubes that were submitted to simulated scheduled rainfall events while the second set was continuously inundated in beakers. Results Decomposition of husks followed a second-order exponential curve (k: 0.09 day−1; ageing constant: 0.43). Nutrient losses recorded within 25 days were larger and more variable for K (33%) than for other macronutrients released in this order: Mg > Ca ≈ P > N (less than 15%). Potassium leaching was mainly driven by rainfall frequency (P < 0.05) and reinforced by intense rainfall, especially at lower frequency. Under water-saturated conditions, 11% of K was leached out within 48 h from fresh husks compared with 92% from partially decayed husks. Conclusion Some initial decomposition of cocoa pod husks is required to expose K to intense leaching. As decomposition progresses, abundant K losses are to be expected under frequent and/or intense rainfall events.

6.—John Graham Dalyell and some Predecessors in Scottish Marine Biology

1972 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-97
Author(s):  
C. M. Yonge
Keyword(s):  
Marine Biology ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Royal Botanic Garden ◽  
Botanic Garden ◽  
Significant Figure ◽  
Charles Ii ◽  
Natural Historian

The beginnings of marine biology in Scotland, to a greater extent than in England, are intimately connected with interests in antiquarian remains. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which saw the birth of modern science, there is greater interest in the earlier activities of man than there is in nature. However, the first significant figure in Scotland, that of Sir Robert Sibbald, somewhat transcends this definition. Born in Edinburgh, he was trained in medicine at Leyden and in Paris and began practice in his native city in 1662, just after the restoration of Charles II, who was later to nominate him as King's Physician, Geographer-Royal and Natural Historian, revealing Sibbald as a veritable Admirable Crichton of his time. He was concerned with the foundation in this city of the Royal Botanic Garden, which has recently celebrated its tricentenary, and also with the establishment of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh, an activity which led to his knighthood.

scholarly journals Mobilisation or dilution? Nitrate response of karst springs to high rainfall events

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 4423-4435 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Huebsch ◽  
O. Fenton ◽  
B. Horan ◽  
D. Hennessy ◽  
K. G. Richards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Nitrate Contamination ◽  
Karst Aquifers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Discharge Data ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Nitrate Concentrations ◽  
Nitrate Response ◽  
Karst Systems

Abstract. Nitrate (NO3−) contamination of groundwater associated with agronomic activity is of major concern in many countries. Where agriculture, thin free draining soils and karst aquifers coincide, groundwater is highly vulnerable to nitrate contamination. As residence times and denitrification potential in such systems are typically low, nitrate can discharge to surface waters unabated. However, such systems also react quickest to agricultural management changes that aim to improve water quality. In response to storm events, nitrate concentrations can alter significantly, i.e. rapidly decreasing or increasing concentrations. The current study examines the response of a specific karst spring situated on a grassland farm in South Ireland to rainfall events utilising high-resolution nitrate and discharge data together with on-farm borehole groundwater fluctuation data. Specifically, the objectives of the study are to formulate a scientific hypothesis of possible scenarios relating to nitrate responses during storm events, and to verify this hypothesis using additional case studies from the literature. This elucidates the controlling key factors that lead to mobilisation and/or dilution of nitrate concentrations during storm events. These were land use, hydrological condition and karstification, which in combination can lead to differential responses of mobilised and/or diluted nitrate concentrations. Furthermore, the results indicate that nitrate response in karst is strongly dependent on nutrient source, whether mobilisation and/or dilution occur and on the pathway taken. This will have consequences for the delivery of nitrate to a surface water receptor. The current study improves our understanding of nitrate responses in karst systems and therefore can guide environmental modellers, policy makers and drinking water managers with respect to the regulations of the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD). In future, more research should focus on the high-resolution monitoring of karst aquifers to capture the high variability of hydrochemical processes, which occur at time intervals of hours to days.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document