Purification Effects of Artificial Vegetated Floating Bed on Polluted Water

2012 ◽  
Vol 599 ◽  
pp. 441-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Qiang Li ◽  
Ying He Jiang ◽  
Zhao Hua Li

Four species of ornamental plants, namely Thalia dealbata Fraser ex Roscae, Hydrocotyle vulgaris L., Iris pseudacorus L. and Canna indica L. were planted on the ecological floating bed, respectively, so as to study their effects of removing pollutants from polluted water. The experiment lasted for 42 days. The results indicate that the four plant species are adaptable to grow in polluted water and their fresh weights, heights and roots increased significantly at the end of the experiment. The growth rates are in the sequence of Canna > Thalia dealbata > Iris > Hydrocotyle vulgaris. The four test plant species have different effects on DO concentration in water, and the influence degrees are in the sequence of Hydrocotyle vulgaris > Thalia dealbata > Canna > Iris. All of the four plant species have a strong ability to remove NH4+-N, TN, TP and CODcr,, which is higher than that of the control treatments (P<0.05). The efficiencies of removing NH4+-N TN, TP and CODcr, by Hydrocotyle vulgaris , Thalia dealbata , Canna and Iris are 96.83%, 90.32%, 82.75% and 78.73%; 78.98%, 76.15%, 70.87% and 62.43%; 62.28%, 56.57%, 60.00% and 54.84%; 93.99%, 92.96%, 92.45% and 92.39%, respectively. Seeing that they have significant removal efficiencies on pollutants, the four plant species are recommended as ornamental plants applicable to ecological restoration engineering of polluted water in urban areas.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4657
Author(s):  
Julia Konic ◽  
Franz Essl ◽  
Bernd Lenzner

Cemeteries not only serve as burial sites but also as a habitat for many animal and plant species, as the specific management of cemeteries creates conditions that hardly exist anywhere else. So-called stinzen plants are those plant species that show a connection to old garden cultures and need precisely these conditions. Many stinzen plants are early-flowering geophytes. We examined which factors influence the distribution and abundance (=cover values) of early-flowering geophytes at the largest cemetery in Austria, the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, and tried to identify such stinzen populations. In spring 2020, we performed two vegetation surveys in 143 plots and recorded the occurrence and abundance (in %) of early-flowering geophytes. Then, we collected four variables for each plot: (1) cemetery type (architectural cemetery, park cemetery, and memorial), (2) care intensity, (3) type of use (path between graves, abandoned graves, free space between road and grave, and open meadow area with adjacent graves), and (4) distance to the next path. We recorded a total of nine different early-flowering geophyte species. All nine species were found on plots with very low care intensity. Only two species were found on paths between graves. Six species are listed as threatened on Vienna’s Red Data List. Two species, Eranthis hyemalis and Galanthus nivalis, are ornamental plants. Plots in the park cemetery have significantly lower average cover values of early-flowering geophytes than plots in the other two cemetery types. This can be explained by high maintenance measures and increased visitor pressure due to its location. Additionally, the data revealed that high care intensity seems to harm early-flowering geophytes. This study showed that cemeteries are refugia for protected species in urban areas and should, therefore, be considered in urban nature conservations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-16
Author(s):  
Novriyanti Novriyanti ◽  
Dian Iswandaru ◽  
Inggar Damayanti

Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic that forces restrictions on movement between people is thought to impact the utilization of yards in urban areas positively. However, there is not much information about yard management practices, including plant species managed by urban communities. In the framework of biodiversity conservation, this research aims to explore the variety of plant species planted in the yards, the area of ​​managed yards, and the planting motivation of the urban community, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted from May to August 2020 using an online questionnaire (Google Form), and direct interviews with target respondents consisted of communities spread across two major cities in Lampung Province, i.e. Metro City and Bandar Lampung City. The research findings showed that only 8% of respondents planted various useful plant species during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the rest of them planted long before the pandemic occurred. The plant groups that the respondents commonly owned were ornamental plants (70%), while 30% of the existing species were medicinal plants and spices. The motivations included enjoying the yield (herbs and medicine), filling the spare time, enjoy gardening and love plants, making the house beautiful and cool, and even planting it for sale. Of the five planting goals or motivations of the urban community, the motivation to enjoy the yield was the highest, followed by the desire to have a beautiful yard and enjoy gardening. This condition is believed to continue to exist even though modernization is expanding.  Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, ethnobotany, ornamental plants, residential landscape, useful plants


HortScience ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 564D-564c
Author(s):  
Gary L. Wade ◽  
Jeff Jackson ◽  
Kendra Henderson

Economic and aesthetic losses from deer browsing of ornamental plants in nurseries and landscapes has increased significantly during recent years. This, according to wildlife specialists, is primarily due to hunting restrictions in urban areas. There are numerous so-called “deer repellents” on the market, but most are foliar applied and can be washed off or diluted with rain or irrigation. This study evaluated the effect of a systemically absorbed deer repellent tablet, Repellex (trademarked product), on deer browsing of containerized ornamental plants. A foliar applied counterpart, Repellex liquid, was also evaluated. The 1.5-gm tablets are a 14–2–2 fertilizer containing denatonium benzoate, lactose, ammonium phosphate, hydrous magnesium, and potassium sulfide. Two to eight tablets, depending on the size of the container, are placed adjacent to the root ball of the plant and 2 inches below the media surface at time of transplant. Gumpo azalea, Indian hawthorne, daylily, and Manhattan Euonymus were used for the study. Plants treated with tablets were held 6 to 8 weeks, according to manufacturer recommendations, under nursery conditions, then transported to deer-holding pens at the Whitehall Forest Research Station at the Univ. of Georgia. The pens, 1/2- to 1 acre in size, contained seven to 12 deer, depending on the study. Growth measurements initially and at weekly intervals were used to assess the degree of deer browsing. Results varied by plant species. Generally, the tablets were ineffective in preventing deer browsing when compared to the control. The foliar applied liquid was effective in reducing deer for up to 6 weeks when compared to the control. Plants treated with a tablet at time of propagation and two additional tablets when transplanted were browsed to the container within 2 days of deer exposure.


2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 2029-2035 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hallberg ◽  
G. Renman ◽  
L. Byman ◽  
G. Svenstam ◽  
M. Norling

The use of road tunnels in urban areas creates water pollution problems, since the tunnels must be frequently cleaned for traffic safety reasons. The washing generates extensive volumes of highly polluted water, for example, more than fivefold higher concentrations of suspended solids compared to highway runoff. The pollutants in the wash water have an affinity for particulate material, so sedimentation should be a viable treatment option. In this study, 12 in situ sedimentation trials were carried out on tunnel wash water, with and without addition of chemical flocculent. Initial suspended solids concentration ranged from 804 to 9,690 mg/L. With sedimentation times of less than 24 hours and use of a chemical flocculent, it was possible to reach low concentrations of suspended solids (&lt;15 mg/L), PAH (&lt;0.1 μg/L), As (&lt;1.0 μg/L), Cd (&lt;0.05 μg/L), Hg (&lt;0.02 μg/L), Fe (&lt;200 μg/L), Ni (&lt;8 μg/L), Pb (&lt;0.5 μg/L), Zn (&lt;60 μg/L) and Cr (&lt;8 μg/L). Acute Microtox® toxicity, mainly attributed to detergents used for the tunnel wash, decreased significantly at low suspended solids concentrations after sedimentation using a flocculent. The tunnel wash water did not inhibit nitrification. The treated water should be suitable for discharge into recipient waters or a wastewater treatment plant.


2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul H. Gobster

What does ecological restoration mean in an urban context? More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, and in response to the dynamic patterns of urbanization, a growing number of ecologists, land managers, and volunteers are focusing their efforts in and around cities to restore remnants of natural diversity (Ingram 2008). Ecological restoration is still a quite youthful field, yet many scientists and practitioners hold a relatively fixed set of criteria for what defines a successful restoration project, irrespective of where sites are located. Among the criteria commonly stated, sites should be composed of indigenous species, have a structure and diversity characteristic of currently undisturbed or historically documented “reference” sites, and be maintained through ecological processes such as fire that ensure long-term sustainability with minimal human assistance (Ruiz-Jaén and Aide 2005; SER International 2004). Application of these criteria has led to many ecologically successful restorations, but some ecologists in the field have begun to question whether the same standards can be realistically applied to sites such as those within urban areas that have been radically altered by past human activity (e.g., Martínez and López-Barerra 2008) or are being influenced by novel conditions that result in unpredictable trajectories (Choi 2007). Perhaps more significantly, it is becoming increasingly recognized that the broader viability of restoration projects, especially those in urban areas, hinges on how socially successful they are in gaining public acceptance for restoration activities and practices, building constituencies to assist with implementation and maintenance, and addressing a broader set of sustainability goals that reach beyond the protection of native biodiversity (e.g., Choi et al. 2008; Hobbs 2007; Rosenzweig 2003).


2012 ◽  
Vol 157-158 ◽  
pp. 945-949 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Hui Chen ◽  
Yong Zhang ◽  
Min Sheng Huang ◽  
Yi Fan Zhang ◽  
Feng Zhao ◽  
...  

By constructing a multistage floating-bed system by combination of macrophytes, aquatic animals and aquamats ecobase for ecolgical restoration in a eutrophic urban river, the improvement of water quality and the dynamic variation of phytoplankton was investigated. The results showed that the average removal rates were 9.85%, 15.86%, 24.47% and 12.75%, respectively. phytoplankton quantity was decreased by 22.82×104ind./L and Shannon-Weiner Index was increased by 0.11 averagely, after the restoration work in the demonstration area comparing to control area. The negative correlation between Shannon-Weiner Index of phytoplankton and TN(-0.77, P<0.01) showed that multistage system might effect phytoplankton indirectly through removing nutrients from river, which indicated that the employment of ecological restoration technology of multistage floating-bed system was effective in raising the ecological recovery efficiency of polluted water bodies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 00053
Author(s):  
Mariya Kazantseva ◽  
Sergei Artyomenko

There are 11 plant species of the Orchidaceae family in the city area of Tyumen; eight of them are protected in the Tyumen region, one species is included in the Red Book of Russia. Representatives of the family are found in the urban forest complex, roadside forest belts, on lawns and in public gardens of the central part of the city. Most species are represented locally by single specimens or small groups; three species – Epipactis helleborine, Platanthera bifolia and Neottianthe cucullata can form large complete coenopopulations. The main anthropogenous factors negatively affecting the condition of orchids in the city are: reconstruction of roads and plantations, regular mowing of grass in the habitats of plants. The protection of species requires coordinated efforts of municipal services for the improvement of urban areas and environmental organizations.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Ho ◽  
Ruben Jerves-Cobo ◽  
Matti Barthel ◽  
Johan Six ◽  
Samuel Bode ◽  
...  

Abstract. Rivers act as a natural source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that can be released from the metabolisms of aquatic organisms. Anthropogenic activities can largely alter the chemical composition and microbial communities of rivers, consequently affecting their GHG emissions. To investigate these impacts, we assessed the emissions of CO2, CH4, and N2O from Cuenca urban river system (Ecuador). High variation of the emissions was found among river tributaries that mainly depended on water quality and neighboring landscapes. By using Prati and Oregon Indexes, a clear pattern was observed between water quality and GHG emissions in which the more polluted the sites were, the higher were their emissions. When river water quality deteriorated from acceptable to very heavily polluted, their global warming potential (GWP) increased by ten times. Compared to the average estimated emissions from global streams, rivers with polluted water released almost double the estimated GWP while the proportion increased to ten times for very heavily polluted rivers. Conversely, the GWP of good-water-quality rivers was half of the estimated GWP. Furthermore, surrounding land-use types, i.e. urban, roads, and agriculture, significantly affected the river emissions. The GWP of the sites close to urban areas was four time higher than the GWP of the nature sites while this proportion for the sites close to roads or agricultural areas was triple and double, respectively. Lastly, by applying random forests, we identified dissolved oxygen, ammonium, and flow characteristics as the main important factors to the emissions. Conversely, low impact of organic matter and nitrate concentration suggested a higher role of nitrification than denitrification in producing N2O. These results highlighted the impacts of land-use types on the river emissions via water contamination by sewage discharges and surface runoff. Hence, to estimate of the emissions from global streams, both their quantity and water quality should be included.


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