Suchergebnisse

Agriculture is the sector with the greatest water consumption, since food production is frequently based on crop irrigation. Proper irrigation management requires reliable information on plant water status, but all the plant-based methods to determine it suffer from several inconveniences, mainly caused by the necessity of destructive sampling or of alteration of the plant organ due to contact installation. The aim of this work is to test if terahertz (THz) time domain reflectance measurements made on the grapevine trunk allows contactless monitoring of plant status. The experiments were performed on a potted 14-years-old plant, using a general purpose THz emitter receiver head. Trunk THz time-domain reflection signal proved to be very sensitive to changes in plant water availability, as its pattern follows the trend of soil water content and trunk growth variations. Therefore, it could be used to contactless monitor plant water status. Apart from that, THz reflection signal was observed to respond to light conditions which, according to a specifically designed girdling experiment, was caused by changes in the phloem. This latter results opens a promising field of research for contactless monitoring of phloem activity. ; This research was supported by the Industry Department of the Government of Navarre (VITICS, Ref: IIM14244.RI1, project co-financed with EU funds from the ERDF) and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BACAVID, Ref: AGL2011-30408-C04-03 and DIDAcTIc, Ref: TEC2013–47753-C3-1-R).

25 páginas.- 8 figuras.- 2 tablas.- 66 referencias.- Additional supporting information can be found online in the Supporting Information section at the end of this article. ; eaf water potential (psi(leaf)), typically measured using the pressure chamber, is the most important metric of plant water status, providing high theoretical value and information content for multiple applications in quantifying critical physiological processes including drought responses. Pressure chamber measurements of psi(leaf) (psi(leafPC)) are most typical, yet, the practical complexity of the technique and of the underlying theory has led to ambiguous understanding of the conditions to optimize measurements. Consequently, specific techniques and precautions diversified across the global research community, raising questions of reliability and repeatability. Here, we surveyed specific methods of psi(leafPC) from multiple laboratories, and synthesized experiments testing common assumptions and practices in psi(leafPC) for diverse species: (i) the need for equilibration of previously transpiring leaves; (ii) leaf storage before measurement; (iii) the equilibration of psi(leaf) for leaves on bagged branches of a range of dehydration; (iv) the equilibration of psi(leaf) across the lamina for bagged leaves, and the accuracy of measuring leaves with artificially 'elongated petioles'; (v) the need in psi(leaf) measurements for bagging leaves and high humidity within the chamber; (vi) the need to avoid liquid water on leaf surfaces; (vii) the use of 'pulse' pressurization versus gradual pressurization; and (viii) variation among experimenters in psi(leafPC) determination. Based on our findings we provide a best practice protocol to maximise accuracy, and provide recommendations for ongoing species-specific tests of important assumptions in future studies. ; European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 751918-AgroPHYS; Marie Curie Fellowship (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF-624473); ...

Water plants of all sizes, from the 60-meter long Pacific Ocean giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) to the micro ur-plant blue-green algae, deserve attention from critical plant studies. This is the first book in environmental humanities to approach algae, swimming across the sciences, humanities, and arts, to embody the mixed nature and collaborative identity of algae. Ranging from Medieval Islamic texts describing algae and their use, Japanese and Nordic cultural practices based in seaweed and algae, and confronting the instrumentalization of seaweed to mitigate cow methane release and the hype of algal photobioreactors, amongst many other standpoints, this volume comprehensively addresses the ancestors of terrestrial plants through appreciating their unique aquatic medium.

Chapter 1. Freshwater microbiology: recent updates and prospects -- Chapter 2. The Chemical Composition of the Water in the Rivers, Lakes, and Wetlands of Uttarakhand -- Chapter 3. Microbial diversity of cold-water reservoirs and their prospective applications -- Chapter 4. Overview of microbial associations and their role under aquatic ecosystems -- Chapter 5. Plant-microbe interaction in Freshwater ecosystem for improving water quality -- Chapter 6. Microbial interactions with aquatic plants -- Chapter 7. Status of Microplastic pollution in the freshwater ecosystems -- Chapter 8. Heavy metal pollution in water: Cause and remediation strategies -- Chapter 9. Recent advances in biological wastewater treatment -- Chapter 10. Recent developments in wastewater treatments -- Chapter 11. Wastewater treatment: perspective and advancements -- Chapter 12. Overview of methods and processes used in waste water treatment -- Chapter 13. Role of microorganisms in polluted water treatment -- Chapter 14. Bioremediation of Polluted water -- Chapter 15. Pollution in freshwater: Impact and Prevention -- Chapter 16. Fresh water pollution: overview, prevention and control -- Chapter 17. Iron Degrading Bacteria in the Aquatic Environment: Current Trends and Future Directions -- Chapter 18. Bioactive compounds from aquatic ecosystem -- Chapter 19. Freshwater BGA: A potential candidate for sustainable agriculture and environment for the welfare of future planet earth -- Chapter 20. Factors affecting Fish migration.

There is a growing need to provide support and applicable tools to farmers and the agroindustry in order to move from their traditional water status monitoring and high-water-demand cropping and irrigation practices to modern, more precise, reduced-demand systems and technologies. In precision viticulture, very few approaches with ground robots have served as moving platforms for carrying non-invasive sensors to deliver field maps that help growers in decision making. The goal of this work is to demonstrate the capability of the VineScout (developed in the context of a H2020 EU project), a ground robot designed to assess and map vineyard water status using thermal infrared radiometry in commercial vineyards. The trials were carried out in Douro Superior (Portugal) under different irrigation treatments during seasons 2019 and 2020. Grapevines of Vitis vinifera L. Touriga Nacional were monitored at different timings of the day using leaf water potential (Ψ ) as reference indicators of plant water status. Grapevines' canopy temperature (T ) values, recorded with an infrared radiometer, as well as data acquired with an environmental sensor (T, RH, and AP) and NDVI measurements collected with a multispectral sensor were automatically saved in the computer of the autonomous robot to assess and map the spatial variability of a commercial vineyard water status. Calibration and prediction models were performed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression. The best prediction models for grapevine water status yielded a determination coefficient of cross-validation (r cv) of 0.57 in the morning time and a r cv of 0.42 in the midday. The root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSE) was 0.191 MPa and 0.139 MPa at morning and midday, respectively. Spatial–temporal variation maps were developed at two different times of the day to illustrate the capability to monitor the grapevine water status in order to reduce the consumption of water, implementing appropriate irrigation strategies and increase the efficiency in the real time vineyard management. The promising outcomes gathered with the VineScout using different sensors based on thermography, multispectral imaging and environmental data disclose the need for further studies considering new variables related with the plant water status, and more grapevine cultivars, seasons and locations to improve the accuracy, robustness and reliability of the predictive models, in the context of precision and sustainable viticulture. ; This research was funded by the European Union under grant agreement number 737669 (Vinescout project).

Principles of Soil and Plant Water Relations, 2e describes the principles of water relations within soils, followed by the uptake of water and its subsequent movement throughout and from the plant body. This is presented as a progressive series of physical and biological interrelations, even though each topic is treated in detail on its own. The book also describes equipment used to measure water in the soil-plant-atmosphere system. At the end of each chapter is a biography of a scientist whose principles are discussed in the chapter. In addition to new information on the concept of celestial time, this new edition also includes new chapters on methods to determine sap flow in plants dual-probe heat-pulse technique to monitor water in the root zone. Provides the necessary understanding to address advancing problems in water availability for meeting ecological requirements at local, regional and global scales Covers plant anatomy: an essential component to understanding soil and plant water relations.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) play an important role within the urbanwater cycle in protecting receiving waters from untreated discharges. However, WWTPs processes also affect the environment. Life cycle assessment has traditionally been used to assess the impact of direct discharges from WWTPs and indirect emissions related to energy or chemical production. The water footprint (WF) can provide complementary information to evaluate the impact of a WWTP regarding the use of freshwater. This paper presents the adoption of the Water Footprint Assessment methodology to assess the consumption of water resources in WWTPs by considering both blue and grey WFs. The usefulness of the proposed methodology in assessing the environmental impact and the benefits from WWTP discharge to a river is illustrated with an actual WWTP, which treats 4,000 m3$d 1, using three scenarios: no treatment, secondary treatment and phosphorus removal. A reduction of the water footprint by 51.5% and 72.4% was achieved using secondary treatment and chemical phosphorus removal, respectively, to fulfill the legal limits. These results indicate that when treating wastewater, there is a large decrease in the grey water footprint compared with the no-treatment scenario; however, there is a small blue water footprint ; The authors would like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PCIN-2013-074) and the European Union (Marie Curie Career Integration Grant PCIG9-GA-2011-293535 and SANITAS ITN Project agreement 289193). Serni Morera was awarded an FI scholarship from the Catalan Government (2015FI_B2 00071). Lluís Corominas received the Career Integration Grant (PCIG9-GA-2011-293535) from the EU and the Ramon y Cajal Grant (RYC-2013-14595) from Spanish Government. LEQUIA has been recognized as a consolidated research group by the Catalan Government with code2014-SGR-1168. The authors also acknowledge the support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through the Consolidated Research Group ...

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Architect of the Capitol (AOC), through the Capitol Power Plant, operates five walkable utility tunnels containing steam and chilled water pipes associated with serving the heating and cooling requirements of the U.S. Capitol and over 20 surrounding facilities. In our work last fall, we addressed conditions in the tunnels and AOC's plans for addressing them. The Office of Compliance (OOC), which is responsible for advancing safety, health, and workplace rights in the legislative branch, and the tunnel workers had raised concerns about health and safety issues in the tunnels. As a result of these concerns, in January 2006, OOC issued citations for and asked AOC to address a potential asbestos hazard and heat stress conditions in the tunnels. In addition, in February 2006, OOC filed a complaint against AOC concerning hazards in the tunnels, including falling concrete, an inadequate communication system for these confined spaces, and inadequate escape exits (egresses). According to OOC officials, these conditions had been brought to AOC's attention by OOC inspectors as early as 1999, but AOC had not made sufficient progress in addressing them, and conditions in the tunnels had deteriorated further. In June 2007, AOC reached a settlement agreement with OOC to resolve both the citations and the complaint. The settlement agreement calls for the problems in the tunnels to be resolved within 5 years of the settlement date. This testimony focuses on the projects and other steps AOC is taking to address the tunnel problems and the current schedule and estimated costs for the tunnel projects."