Search results for "Aquatic Ecosystem"
showing 10 items of 124 documents
Assessment of Arundo donax Fibers for Oil Spill Recovery Applications
2019
In the last years, natural fibers are increasingly investigated as an oil recovery system in order to overcome the oil spillage phenomena, thus preserving environment and aquatic life. In particular, lignocellulose-based fibers have recently been employed with promising results. In such a context, the aim of this paper is to assess the oil sorption capability of natural fibers extracted from the stem of the giant reed Arundo donax L., a perennial rhizomatous grass belonging to the Poaceae family that grows naturally all around the world thanks to its ability to tolerate different climatic conditions. Sorption tests in several pollutants and water as a reference were carried out. The fibers …
Ecosystem services provided by marine and freshwater phytoplankton
2021
AbstractPhytoplankton, the ecological group of microalgae adapted to live in apparent suspension in water masses, is much more than an ecosystem’s engineer. In this opinion paper, we use our experience as phytoplankton ecologists to list and highlight the services provided by phytoplankton, trying to demonstrate how their activity is fundamental to regulate and sustain Life on our Planet. Although the number of services produced by phytoplankton can be considered less numerous than that produced by other photosynthetic organisms, the ubiquity of this group of organisms, and their thriving across oceanic ecosystems make it one of the biological engines moving our biosphere. Supporting servic…
Vulnerability of the North Water ecosystem to climate change
2021
High Arctic ecosystems and Indigenous livelihoods are tightly linked and exposed to climate change, yet assessing their sensitivity requires a long-term perspective. Here, we assess the vulnerability of the North Water polynya, a unique seaice ecosystem that sustains the world’s northernmost Inuit communities and several keystone Arctic species. We reconstruct mid-to-late Holocene changes in sea ice, marine primary production, and little auk colony dynamics through multi-proxy analysis of marine and lake sediment cores. Our results suggest a productive ecosystem by 4400–4200 cal yrs b2k coincident with the arrival of the first humans in Greenland. Climate forcing during the late Holocene, l…
Spatial and temporal variation in denitrification and in the denitrifier community in a boreal lake
2011
We investigated the spatial and temporal variation in denitrification rates (isotopepairing technique, IPT) and in the denitrifier community (examination of gene nirK by denaturinggradient gel electrophoresis [DGGE] of microbial DNA) in the sediments of a boreal, clear-water, eutrophic lake using samples collected from shallow littoral, deep littoral and shallow profundal sediments during early summer, mid-summer, autumn and winter. The measured denitrification rates (44 to 613 μmol N m−2 d−1) are among the lowest ever reported from lacustrine sediments. Denitri fi cation rates varied both spatially and temporally, being highest in the profundal zone during midsummer and in the littoral zon…
Artificial dam lakes as suitable habitats for exotic invertebrates: Ostracoda ecology and distribution in reservoirs of the Eastern Iberian Peninsula
2014
Reservoirs are the most common deep lakes in Spain, as a consequence of water needs and dry climate. Although these aquatic systems can play an important ecological role in such an area with few large natural lakes, they can also provide new habitats for exotic species, which can colonize ecosystems that native species have not explored yet. Here we present our results for a biannual survey of the ostracod fauna from 24 reservoirs in Xuquer River basin. We check which variables affect ostracod presence, test for differences between winter and summer assemblages, and compare our data with previous available ostracod records from the same river drainage network. Our results reveal that ostrac…
Optical types of inland and coastal waters
2017
Inland and coastal waterbodies are critical components of the global biosphere. Timely monitoring is necessary to enhance our understanding of their functions, the drivers impacting on these functions and to deliver more effective management. The ability to observe waterbodies from space has led to Earth observation (EO) becoming established as an important source of information on water quality and ecosystem condition. However, progress toward a globally valid EO approach is still largely hampered by inconsistences over temporally and spatially variable in-water optical conditions. In this study, a comprehensive dataset from more than 250 aquatic systems, representing a wide range of condi…
Shape and size in phytoplankton ecology: do they matter?
2007
This paper summarises the outcomes of the 14th Workshop of the International Association of Phytoplankton Taxonomy and Ecology (IAP). The authors mostly addressed their contributions on the following topics: morphological and morpho-functional descriptors of phytoplankton, size and shape structure of phytoplankton related to different kinds of environmental variables and the role of morphological and physiological plasticity of phytoplankton in maintaining the (apparently) same populations under different environmental conditions. Case studies from different kinds of aquatic environments (deep and shallow lakes, reservoirs with different age, purpose and trophic state, floodplain wetlands m…
Effect of pentachlorophenol on predator-prey interaction of two rotifers
1997
Abstract The effect of pentachlorophenol (PCP) on the predator-prey relationship of two rotifers (Asplanchna girodi and Brachionus calyciflorus) was studied using Asplanchna predatory behavior as an endpoint. The experimental design included three treatments: prey and predator exposure, only prey exposure, and only predator exposure. This enabled us to distinguish toxic effects on the predator from those on the prey and to detect interactions. The main toxic effects observed were on the predator and involved the number of predator-prey encounters. Encounters decreased in a dose-dependent manner, with a no observed effect threshold at 0.11 mg PCP l−1. Decrease in encounter rate reduced the n…
Flexible vegetation behaviour and effects on flow conveyance: experimental observations
2015
As it is known, vegetation is an important component of aquatic ecosystems. Because of the variety of species and, thus, of the characteristics of the vegetation elements (form, size, stiffness, etc.), it is difficult to develop a widely applicable method to predict mean flow and flow resistance. Despite the intense activity research, much work has to be done in understanding hydrodynamics in vegetated channels. This is important to analyse many physical processes involved in the ecosystem at different spatial and time scales. In this paper, attention is restricted to flexible vegetation. After a brief description of results obtained in previous experimental works conducted in a rectangular…
High Diversity of the Viral Community from an Antarctic Lake
2009
Viruses are the most abundant biological entities and can control microbial communities, but their identity in terrestrial and freshwater Antarctic ecosystems is unknown. The genetic structure of an Antarctic lake viral community revealed unexpected genetic richness distributed across the highest number of viral families that have been found to date in aquatic viral metagenomes. In contrast to other known aquatic viromes, which are dominated by bacteriophage sequences, this Antarctic virus assemblage had a large proportion of sequences related to eukaryotic viruses, including phycodnaviruses and single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) viruses not previously identified in aquatic environments. We also o…