Spartina alterniflora, a perennial grass with C(4)-photosynthesis, shows great invading potential in the coastal ecosystems in the east of China. We compared trace gas emissions from S. alterniflora with those from a native C(3) plant, Phragmites australis, by establishing brackish marsh mesocosms to experimentally assess the effects of plant species (S. alterniflora vs. P. australis), flooding...

Living stromatolites growing in a hot spring in Yellowstone National Park are composed of silica-encrusted cyanobacterial mats. Two cyanobacterial mat types grow on the stromatolite surfaces and are preserved as two distinct lithofacies. One mat is present when the stromatolites are submerged or at the water-atmosphere interface and the other when stromatolites protrude from the hot spring. The...

The amphibious leafless sedge Eleocharis vivipara develops C 4 -like traits as well as Kranz anatomy under terrestrial conditions, but it develops C 3 -like traits without Kranz anatomy under submerged conditions. When submerged plants are exposed to aerial conditions, they rapidly produce new photosynthetic tissues with C 4 -like traits. In this study, experiments were performed to determine w...

N.sitophila was grown under controlled conditions of solid state and submerged fermentation on Sago hampas. The optimum conditions of protein enrichment previously established for sugar beet pulp was used for this study. Under this condition the protein content of Sago hampas under solid state increased from 1.4 to 14.45% (W/W) whereas for Sago hampas and Sago starch, the protein content under ...

Invasion by free-floating species, such as Eichhornia crassipes, is one of the most critical threats to the biodiversity and sustainability of wetland ecosystems, where all plants experience spatial heterogeneity in substrate nutrients. However, few studies have focused on the effects of free-floating invaders on the capacity of submerged plants to utilize substrate nutrients. A 10-week greenho...

To study the influence of different organic amendments on the quality of poultry manure compost, three pilot composting trials were carried out with different mixes: poultry manure/carcasse meal/ashes/grape pomace (Pile 1), poultry manure/ cellulosic sludge (Pile 2) and poultry manure (Pile 3). For all piles, wood chips were applied as bulking agent. The process was monitored, over time, by eva...

Composting swine slurries has several advantages, liquid slurries are converted to solids at lower moisture, the total volume and weight of material is reduced and the stabilized product is more easily transported off-site. Despite this, swine waste is generally stored, treated and applied in its liquid form. High-rise finishing facilities (HRFF) permit liquid slurries to be converted to solids...

the pile-raft foundation is a combination of a raft foundation with piles. pile-raft foundation has been widely designed, assuming all structure loads to be transferred to piles without considering contribution of the load taken by contact surface between raft and soil. methods of analysis currently used in practice are based upon relatively conservative assumptions of soil behavior or on the l...