Search results for "Environmental biotechnology"
showing 10 items of 568 documents
A time domain triangle method approach to estimate actual evapotranspiration: Application in a Mediterranean region using MODIS and MSG-SEVIRI produc…
2016
Abstract In this study, spatially distributed estimates of regional actual evapotranspiration (ET) were obtained using a revised procedure of the so called “triangle method” to parameterize the Priestley–Taylor ϕ coefficient. In the procedure herein proposed, named Time-Domain Triangle Method (TDTM), the triangular feature space was parameterized considering pairs of T s –VI values obtained by exploring, for each pixel, only their temporal dynamics. This new method was developed using time series products provided by MODIS and MSG-SEVIRI sensors. Moreover the proposed procedure does not depend on ancillary data, and it is only based on remotely sensed vegetation indices and day–night time l…
Research focusing on plant performance in constructed wetlands and agronomic application of treated wastewater – A set of experimental studies in Sic…
2019
Constructed wetlands are sustainable technologies for the treatment of wastewater. These biological systems have been widely studied throughout the world for more than 30 years; however, most studies have focused on the effects of design and engineering on pollutant removal from wastewater. Undoubtedly, agro-technical aspects have been given too little consideration by research. This paper reports the main results of a set of experiments carried out on two pilot horizontal subsurface flow systems in Sicily (Italy). Festuca, Lolium and Pennisetum spp. in combination and three emergent macrophytes-Arundo donax L., Cyperus alternifolius L. and Typha latifolia L.-alone, were assessed. The aim o…
Aberrant gene expression profiles in Mediterranean sea urchin reproductive tissues after metal exposures
2019
Abstract Marine organisms are simultaneously exposed to numerous pollutants, among which metals probably represent the most abundant in marine environments. In order to evaluate the effects of metal exposure at molecular level in reproductive tissues, we profiled the sea urchin transcriptional response after non-lethal exposures using pathway-focused mRNA expression analyses. Herein, we show that exposures to relatively high concentrations of both essential and toxic metals hugely affected the gonadic expression of several genes involved in stress-response, detoxification, transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation, without significant changes in gonadosomatic indices. Even though …
Occurrence of DBPs in Drinking Water of European Regions for Epidemiology Studies
2016
International audience; A three-year study was conducted on the occurrence of disinfection by-products (DBPs) - trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), and haloacetonitriles - in drinking water of regions of Europe where epidemiology studies were being carried out. Thirteen systems in six countries (i.e., Italy, France, Greece, Lithuania, Spain, United Kingdom) were sampled. Typically chlorinated DBPs dominated. However, in most of Catalonia (Spain) and in Heraklion (Greece), brominated DBPs dominated. The degree of bromine incorporation into the DBP classes was in general similar among them. This is important, as brominated DBPs are a greater health concern. In parts of Catalonia,…
The use of soil water retention curve models in analyzing slope stability in differently structured soils
2017
Abstract This study analyzes whether and at what rate the parameterization of the Soil Water Retention Curve (SWRC) affects the analysis of shallow slope stability for differently structured unsaturated soils. Advanced empirical or physically-based equations of SWRCs have been proposed in literature to describe soil systems characterized by the so-called bimodal porous domain. In unsaturated soils, SWRC affects the stability assessment in two ways. It influences the resistance properties in terms of shear strengths, which depend on the soil water suction; and it affects the hydrological process modeling (e.g. infiltration) directly influencing soil moisture patterns and indirectly influenci…
Monthly Hydrological Indicators to Assess Possible Alterations on Rivers’ Flow Regime
2018
Assessing potential deviations of the fundamental river basins’ hydrological processes and streamflow characteristics from the “natural trajectory” represents a high-priority objective to understand the biological impact of altered flow regime on river ecosystems. Existing approaches are mainly based on the analysis of daily-based indicators of hydrologic alteration, which requires wide database, including “pre-impact” and “post-impact” daily flow data frequently unavailable. The hydrological modeling is commonly used to face data missing problems or reconstruct natural conditions, even if models, especially at the daily scales, are often complex and computationally intensive. The use of si…
2019
Abstract. The cumulative occurrence of heavy precipitation and flood events during recent years in various Central European locations emphasises the urgent need to improve extreme rainfall observations and forecasts. Precipitation gauges based on a weighing system allow the recording of intense short-term precipitation events with a very high temporal resolution (down to 1 min). In this study, observational data that were collected during the period 2000 to 2016 for 126 stations of two corresponding measuring networks in the Central German state of Hesse were investigated for the first time to answer the following questions: (1) Are the recorded high-resolution precipitation data plausible …
SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater anticipated COVID-19 occurrence in a low prevalence area
2020
Preprint disponible en http://hdl.handle.net/10261/209125
A review of preferential water flow in soil science
2018
A better understanding of preferential water flow is important because water-related crises, i.e., water scarcity and security, are strongly associated with water retention rates in different landscapes. This review aims to evaluate significant advances in the main themes of preferential water flow to establish the inconsistent roles of preferential water flow in eco-hydrology and suggest promising areas for future work. Results showed that preferential water flow studies have made significant advances in our understanding of certain parameters functioning at multiple scales but that most studies focus on preferential water flow in the vadose zone, whereas few studies on the soil surface. …
Unsaturated Soil Hydraulic Properties
2016
In the first part of this chapter, the tension infiltrometer (TI) technique is illustrated. After having described apparatus and instruments as well as the operative procedures in the field, the solutions based on the Wooding’s equation for steady-state flow are presented. Specific focus is given to the multi-potential approaches that allow determination of unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity, K 0, corresponding to a sequence of pressure head values, h 0, imposed on the soil surface. The analytical model proposed by Haverkamp et al. (1994) to describe three-dimensional transient infiltration from a circular source is introduced and a single-test approach is presented that allows estimat…