Search results for "Ability"
showing 10 items of 18559 documents
Assessing Methane Emission and Economic Viability of Energy Exploitation in a Typical Sicilian Municipal Solid Waste Landfill
2018
Sanitary landfills for municipal solid waste (MSW) represent one of the major anthropogenic source of GHGs emissions and are directly responsible of the climate changes we are facing nowadays. Indeed, the biodegradable organic matter of MSW undergoes anaerobic digestion producing the landfill gas (LFG), whose main components are CH4 and CO2. Therefore, biomethane energy exploitation in MSW landfills will reduce GHGs emission positively affecting the global warming. The aim of the present study was to assess the methane production in a Sicilian landfill by comparing the results from field measurements of methane emission and the estimates achieved by applying different mathematical models. A…
Natural Selection Fails to Optimize Mutation Rates for Long-Term Adaptation on Rugged Fitness Landscapes
2008
The rate of mutation is central to evolution. Mutations are required for adaptation, yet most mutations with phenotypic effects are deleterious. As a consequence, the mutation rate that maximizes adaptation will be some intermediate value. Here, we used digital organisms to investigate the ability of natural selection to adjust and optimize mutation rates. We assessed the optimal mutation rate by empirically determining what mutation rate produced the highest rate of adaptation. Then, we allowed mutation rates to evolve, and we evaluated the proximity to the optimum. Although we chose conditions favorable for mutation rate optimization, the evolved rates were invariably far below the optimu…
Forecasting the volatility of biofuel feedstock prices: the US evidence
2019
Given that, nowadays, 40% of the US corn crop is used for biofuel production, there is a growing concern that the rise in biofuel production might lead to an increase in food prices. However, it is also obvious that significant growth in biofuel use has minimized the demand for fossil fuel and has hence reduced the volume of carbon emissions. It is therefore crucial to model corn market volatility precisely because such an estimate could play a vital role in stabilizing food and biofuel market prices. For this purpose, we consider using the information content of the corn implied volatility (CIV) index to predict the corn futures market return volatility. Using symmetric and asymmetric GARC…
Transformation of agricultural landscapes in the Anthropocene: Nature's contributions to people, agriculture and food security
2020
Fil: Vanbergen, Adam J. Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté. AgroSup Dijon. Agroécologie. Francia. Fil: Aizen, Marcelo A. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Rio Negro, Argentina. Fil: Aizen, Marcelo A. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de Argentina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Rio Negro, Argentina. Fil: Cordeau, Stephane. Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté. AgroSup Dijon. Agroécologie. Francia. Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas A. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Ga…
Searching for a compromise between biological and economic demands to protect vulnerable habitats
2018
AbstractIdentifying vulnerable habitats is necessary to designing and prioritizing efficient marine protected areas (MPAs) to sustain the renewal of living marine resources. However, vulnerable habitats rarely become MPAs due to conflicting interests such as fishing. We propose a spatial framework to help researchers and managers determine optimal conservation areas in a multi-species fishery, while also considering the economic relevance these species may have in a given society, even in data poor situations. We first set different ecological criteria (i.e. species resilience, vulnerability and trophic level) to identify optimal areas for conservation and restoration efforts, which was bas…
New frontiers from removal to recycling of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater in the Circular Economy
2020
[EN] Nutrient recovery technologies are rapidly expanding due to the need for the appropriate recycling of key elements from waste resources in order to move towards a truly sustainable modern society based on the Circular Economy. Nutrient recycling is a promising strategy for reducing the depletion of non-renewable resources and the environmental impact linked to their extraction and manufacture. However, nutrient recovery technologies are not yet fully mature, as further research is needed to optimize process efficiency and enhance their commercial applicability. This paper reviews state-of-the-art of nutrient recovery, focusing on frontier technological advances and economic and environ…
Plant species identities and fertilization influence on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonisation and soil bacterial activities
2016
International audience; Plant species influence soil microbial communities, mainly through their functional traits. However, mechanisms underlying these effects are not well understood, and in particular how plant/ microorganism interactions are affected by plant identities and/or environmental conditions. Here, we performed a greenhouse experiment to assess the effects of three plant species on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) colonization, bacterial potential nitrification (PNA) and denitrification activities (PDA) through their functional traits related to nitrogen acquisition and turnover. Three species with contrasting functional traits and strategies (from exploitative to conservat…
Spatial dynamics of an invasive bird species assessed using robust design occupancy analysis: the case of the Eurasian collared dove ( Streptopelia d…
2007
Aim The study of the spatial dynamics of invasive species is a key issue in invasion ecology. While mathematical models are useful for predicting the extent of population expansions, they are not suitable for measuring and characterizing spatial patterns of invasion unless the probability of detection is homogeneous across the distribution range. Here, we apply recently developed statistical approaches incorporating detection uncertainty to characterize the spatial dynamics of an invasive bird species, the Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto). Location France. Methods Data on presence/absence of doves were recorded from 1996 to 2004 over 1045 grid cells (28 × 20 km) covering th…
Can biological structures be natural and sustainable capsules?
2015
Flavor and fragrance molecules are used in many industrial fields such as food, cosmetics, tissues, pharmacy, agriculture (pheromones) etc. As most actives have a specific target and are fragile molecules, encapsulation processes have been developed for their use. These technologies are efficient to avoid loss of actives, dissemination out of the target and subsequent pollution, and to protect molecules up to their target. Several processes have been developed responding to the numerous situations encountered (e.g., protection against air, temperature, light, pH; masking or revealing sensorial properties of the molecule; release during the process, in the plate, in the mouth, etc.). However…
Involvement of osmotic cell shrinkage on the proton extrusion rate in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
2001
Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been subjected to hyperosmotic shocks by using permeating (sorbitol, xylitol, glycerol, NaCl) and nonpermeating (PEG 600) solutes. The proton extrusion rate decreased as the osmotic pressure increased, whichever solute was used. However, the total inhibition of the cellular H+ extrusion depended on the solute used. A total inhibition was observed at about 20 MPa with glycerol, xylitol and sorbitol. With PEG 600, a total inhibition of extracellular acidification was obtained at 8.5 MPa. NaCl, with an extracellular pressure of 37.8 MPa (near saturation), did not completely inhibit the extracellular acidification. These results showed that the total inhibition of p…