Search results for "greenhouse gases"
showing 10 items of 42 documents
BIOCHARS IN SOILS: TOWARDS THE REQUIRED LEVEL OF SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING
2017
The special issue on Biochar as an Option for Sustainable Resource Management Key priorities in biochar research for future guidance of sustainable policy development have been identified by expert assessment within the COST Action TD1107. The current level of scientific understanding (LOSU) regarding the consequences of biochar application to soil were explored. Five broad thematic areas of biochar research were addressed: soil biodiversity and ecotoxicology, soil organic matter and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil physical properties, nutrient cycles and crop production, and soil remediation. The highest future research priorities regarding biochar’s effects in soils were: functional …
The crucial interactions between climate and soil
2022
Since the birth of soil science, climate has been recognized as a soil-forming factor, along with parent rock, time, topography, and organisms (from which humans were later kept distinct), often prevalent on the other factors on the very long term. But the climate is in turns affected by soils and their management. This paper describes the interrelationships between climate – and its current change – and soil, focusing on each single factor of its formation. Parent material governs, primarily through the particle size distribution, the capacity of soil to retain water and organic matter, which are two main soil-related drivers of the climate. Time is the only unmanageable soil-forming facto…
Habilitation Thesis
2004
This habilitation thesis presents a synthesis of my research activities during the last eight years. I have distinguished, one the one hand, researches concerning rovibrational spectroscopy in a singlet electronic state (Part III) and, on the other hand, those concerning rovibronic spectroscopy in a degenerate electronic state (Part IV).
Comprehensive dataset of shotgun metagenomes from oxygen stratified freshwater lakes and ponds
2021
Stratified lakes and ponds featuring steep oxygen gradients are significant net sources of greenhouse gases and hotspots in the carbon cycle. Despite their significant biogeochemical roles, the microbial communities, especially in the oxygen depleted compartments, are poorly known. Here, we present a comprehensive dataset including 267 shotgun metagenomes from 41 stratified lakes and ponds mainly located in the boreal and subarctic regions, but also including one tropical reservoir and one temperate lake. For most lakes and ponds, the data includes a vertical sample set spanning from the oxic surface to the anoxic bottom layer. The majority of the samples were collected during the open wate…
Climate change: where are we right now?
2019
15ème Rencontres Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Nature : Changement climatique, humanité et biodiversité; International audience; Greenhouse gases (GHGs), naturally part of the atmosphere, have protected us from severe glaciations in thepast. Today, human activities increase GHG concentrations and cause rapid and unprecedented Earth warming.Climate change is not resumed only to warming, water cycle is also changed. All the researches confi rm: the climateis changing fast, too fast for ecosystems and societies to adapt. Despite the alerts of the international scientifi ccommunity, States gathered into Conferences of the Parties (COP) ratify agreements but do not comply with all theircommitments. Pu…
Development of an aerobic digestion model for the assessment of greenhouse gases production (AeDMG1): Calibration and validation
2015
The increasing interest in greenhouse gas emissions from WWTPs has been leading to new tools for their designing and managing. The activated sludge models have been modified in order to consider on – site emissions from nitrification and denitrification, in particular. The biological nitrogen removal processes have been mainly assessing due to nitrous oxide (N2O) production as intermediate. The IPCC suggests that N2O contributes to climate change because it has a global warming potential 298-fold stronger than carbon dioxide. Even if the mathematical modelling is wide regarding the activated sludge models for greenhouse gases, a model for aerobic digestion is still not available. In this pa…
UCT-MBR vs IFAS-UCT-MBR for Wastewater Treatment: A Comprehensive Comparison Including N2O Emission
2017
In this study the performance (in terms of carbon and nutrient removal) and N2O emission of two plant configurations adopting innovative technologies were investigated. With this regards, an University Cape Town (UCT) membrane bioreactor (MBR) plant and an Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) -UCT-MBR plant were monitored. Both plants treat real wastewater under two different values of the influent carbon nitrogen ratio (C/N = 5 mgCOD/mgN and C/N = 10 mgCOD/mgN). Results have shown the highest carbon and nutrients removal efficiencies for the IFAS-UCT-MBR configuration during both the two investigated C/N values. Furthermore, the lowest N2O emission occurred for the IFAS-UCT-MBR.
A globally relevant stock of soil nitrogen in the Yedoma permafrost domain
2022
AbstractNitrogen regulates multiple aspects of the permafrost climate feedback, including plant growth, organic matter decomposition, and the production of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Despite its importance, current estimates of permafrost nitrogen are highly uncertain. Here, we compiled a dataset of >2000 samples to quantify nitrogen stocks in the Yedoma domain, a region with organic-rich permafrost that contains ~25% of all permafrost carbon. We estimate that the Yedoma domain contains 41.2 gigatons of nitrogen down to ~20 metre for the deepest unit, which increases the previous estimate for the entire permafrost zone by ~46%. Approximately 90% of this nitrogen (37 gigaton…
Environmental Assessment of an Innovative High-Performance Experimental Agriculture Field
2022
To increase food availability, optimizing production systems and reducing burdens related to human activities is essential in a scenario of population growth and limited natural resources. In this context, the life cycle methodology can represent a valuable asset for assessing the environmental performance of agricultural products and services. This study sought to investigate and characterize potential impacts of an experimental tomato field at the University of Perugia and evaluate if the production increment obtained using high-reflective mulching compensated for the emissions caused by this extra component. The first-year crop campaign was the baseline reference to measure the system’s …
Biotic oxidation of methane in landfills in boreal climatic conditions
2010
This study focused on the biotic oxidation of methane in landfill covers as a technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, particularly those located in the boreal climatic zone. First, methane oxidation was studied in laboratory batch assays in a landfill cover soil consisting of a composted mixture of sewage sludge and chemical sludge which had been installed on the landfill surface 4-5 years earlier. Second, methane oxidation was studied using mechanically-biologically treated municipal solid waste (MBT residual) as a material for methane-oxidizing landfill covers both in continuously methane-sparged laboratory columns and in an outdoor pilot lysimeter. Finally, meth…