Invasive species are a major threat to global biodiversity and an important cause of biotic homogenization of ecosystems. Exotic plants have been identified as a particular concern because of the widely held belief that they competitively exclude native plant species. We examined the correlation between native and invasive species richness in 58 Ontario inland wetlands. The relationship between...

Although the occurrence of intracellular glasses in seeds and pollen has been established, physical properties such as rotational correlation times and viscosity have not been studied extensively. Using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, we examined changes in the molecular mobility of the hydrophilic nitroxide spin probe 3-carboxy-proxyl during melting of intracellular glasses in ax...

Constructed wetlands are promising engineering technique that reproduce the conditions of the natural wetlands [1]. They have high water treatment capacity because of the intensive “work” of the plants and the microorganisms. Depending on the conditions various types of plants are growing: common reed (Phragmites australis), rush (Typha latifolia), iris, etc. (Fig. 1). These plants are stable t...

Plants are a major factor influencing methane emissions from wetlands, along with environmental parameters such as water table, temperature, pH, nutrients and soil carbon substrate. We conducted a field experiment to study how different plant species influence methane emissions from a wetland in Switzerland. The top 0.5 m of soil at this site had been removed five years earlier, leaving a subst...

We have found that the most probable cause of the leakage seen when dry cells or organisms such as seeds, pollen, or yeast cells are plunged into water is a gel to liquid crystalline phase transition in membrane phospholipids accompanying rehydration. By using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy we have recorded infrared spectra of CH(2) stretching vibrations in dry and partially hydrated i...

Subsurface horizontal flow experimental wetlands (reed beds), were designed and built based on a combination of two design methodologies, that of the WRc and Severn Trent Water plc (1996) and that of the USA, EPA (1988). Four different growing media were used with a combination of top soil, gravel, river sand, and mature sewage sludge compost, to determine the best substrate for total suspended...