Despite the promising research findings on microalgae as a feedstock for biodiesel, reduction of its production cost is still a challenge. One possible solution to overcome this problem is outdoor biomass production using wastewater as a growth medium. The present study aimed to evaluate the climate key parameters for Scenedesmus obliquus outdoor biomass production during different seasons, as ...

This study was conducted to characterize periphyton biomass, productivity, and algal species composition, and to examine how these parameters changed seasonally over the course of two years in Walker Branch, a temperate forest stream. Seasonal variations in several factors potentially controlling periphyton (irradiance, streamwater nutrient concentrations, temperature, and the incidence of seve...

Soil fauna can be an important regulator of community parameters and ecosystem processes, but there have been few quantitative syntheses of the role of soil fauna in terrestrial soil communities and ecosystems. Here, we conducted a metaanalysis to investigate the impacts of invertebrate soil microand mesofauna (grazers and predators) on plant productivity and microbial biomass. Overall our resu...

Recent rising public concerns about climate change and increasing energy costs have led to the need to re-evaluate forest biomass as an alternative energy feedstock. Biomass harvesting could potentially impact ecosystems in various ways, including site productivity and forest stand dynamics. Since these issues influence decision-making, the effects of biomass utilization are primary issues not ...

We investigated changes in species richness, community biomass, and productivity during secondary forest succession in Ziwuling area of the Loess Plateau of China. Species richness(number of taxa) increased as the succession proceeds, and peaked at the climax forest community, but the richness growth gradually slowed down as the succession advanced. Community biomass rapidly increased from the ...

The relationship between biodiversity and productivity has been a hot topic in ecology. However, the relative importance of taxonomic diversity and functional characteristics (including functional dominance and functional diversity) in maintaining community productivity and the underlying mechanisms (including selection and complementarity effects) of the relationship between diversity and comm...

The basic ecology of seagrass beds was investigated by comparing biomass, productivity and density of Thalassia testudinum (turtle grass) at three sites: Puerto Vargas, Punta Cahuita and Rio Perezoso, in Cahuita National Park, Limón, Costa Rica, over a two month period (March-April 1999). Above ground biomass, density, and productivity were highest in the Puerto Vargas site while Punta Cahuita ...

Fodder trees and shrubs are crucial sources of animal feed in Sudan, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas. This is because they can fill up the feed gaps in the summer period when grassland growth is limited due to unfavorable weather conditions. The study was conducted in Elnour forest-southeastern Sudan in 2015, which is dominated by Acacia seyal. The objectives of this study were to esti...

Dynamic vegetation models forced with spatially homogeneous biophysical parameters are capable of producing average productivity and biomass values for the Amazon basin forest biome that are close to the observed estimates, but these models are unable to reproduce observed spatial variability. Recent observational studies have shown substantial regional spatial variability of above-ground produ...

The effects of grazing and nutrients on epiphyte biomass in seagrass beds have received much attention, yet less is known about effects on other metrics of epiphyte growth dynamics, such as epiphyte productivity and biomass turnover rates. To help address this gap, we present here a number of mesocosm experiments in which we manipulate grazer presence and nutrient concentrations under initially...