Search results for "soil"

Long-term survival of pathogenic and sanitation indicator bacteria in experimental biowaste composts

2005

ABSTRACT For economic, agricultural, and environmental reasons, composting is frequently used for organic waste recycling. One approach to limiting the potential risk from bacterial food-borne illnesses is to ensure that soil amendments and organic fertilizers are disinfected. However, more knowledge concerning the microbiological safety of composted substrates other than sludge and manure is necessary. Experimental in-vessel biowaste composts were used to study the survival of seeded Listeria monocytogenes , Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotype Enteritidis, and Escherichia coli . Four organic waste mixtures, containing various proportions of paper and cardboard, fruits and vegetabl…

Assessing Effects of Temperature Change on Four Limonium Species from Threatened Mediterranean Salt-Affected Habitats

2018

[EN] Evaluation of tolerance to temperatures in the germination stage is an important tool to foresee the possible effect of global warming. Moreover, establishing germination protocols for endemic and threatened species is most interesting for restoration and management plans that focus on habitat conservation. Seed germination was analysed in four species of the genus Limonium (L. virgatum, L. narbonense, L. girardianum and L. santapolense) growing in two saline habitats on the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The study aim was to compare responses of seed germination to different temperature regimes. Seeds were collected in two protected areas, `L¿Albufera de Valencia¿ (province o…

Improvement of BEST (Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters) method for soil hydraulic characterization

Interpreting and modeling soil hydrological processes require the determination of the soil hydraulic characteristic curves, i.e. the relationships between volumetric soil water content, pressure head, and hydraulic conductivity. Using traditional methods to determine these properties is expensive and time consuming. Haverkamp et al. (1996) pioneered a specific method for soil hydraulic characterization known as the “Beerkan method”. An improved version of this methodology, called the Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters (BEST) procedure, was developed by Lassabatère et al. (2006) to simplify soil hydraulic characterization. BEST considers certain analytic formulae for hydraulic c…

Modelling sediment delivery using connectivity components at the experimental SPA2 basin, Sicily (Italy)

2018

Sediment delivery ratio can be used as a measure of sediment connectivity and it can be linked to the structural connectivity (morphological unit, slope length, slope steepness, travel time) of a basin and to the functional connectivity (rainfall-runoff processes at morphological unit scale). In this paper the sediment connectivity approach was applied at basin scale both using Sediment Delivery Distributed (SEDD) model, which takes into account the hillslope sediment transport, and sediment yield measurements carried out at SPA2 experimental basin (Sicily, Italy). The expression of the sediment delivery ratio SDRi of a morphological unit was modified for highlighting two components corresp…

Root cause analysis of large scale application testing results

2015

In this paper we present a new root cause analysis algorithm for discovering the most likely causes of the differences found in testing results of two versions of the same software. The problematic points in test and environment attribute hierarchies are presented to the user in compact way which in turn allows to save time on test result processing. We have proven that for clearly separated problem causes our algorithm gives exact solution. Practical application of described method is discussed.

Measuring soil erosion by field plots: Understanding the sources of variation

2006

Soil erosion plots of different types and sizes are widely used to investigate the geomorphological processes related to soil erosion. This field method has provided a variety of results, depending on the characteristics of the plots, on their suitability to reflect the ecosystem's characteristics and on the objectives of each particular research. The coupling of real soil loss at patch and slope scale within a landscape and the values obtained by field plots depend, among other things, on how good the methodology performs over a set of ecosystem properties, such as those related with temporal and spatial scale issues, disturbance and representation of natural conditions, and the ability to…

A method to estimate soil moisture from Airborne Hyperspectral Scanner (AHS) and ASTER data: Application to SEN2FLEX and SEN3EXP campaigns

2012

Abstract In this paper the soil moisture is estimated at airborne level and at satellite level by combining remotely sensed images with in situ measurements. At airborne level we process high-resolution images acquired with the Airborne Hyperspectral Scanner (AHS) sensor, and at satellite level we compute images acquired with the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). The study has been accomplished in the framework of two field campaigns in the Barrax region (Spain): the SEN2FLEX (SENtinel-2 and FLuorescence EXperiment) campaign which was developed in July of 2005 and the SEN3EXP (Sentinel-3 Experiment) campaign which was carried out in June of 2009. The me…

2016

Abstract. Various geoscientific applications require a fast prediction of fracture permeability for an optimal workflow. Hence, the objective of the current study is to introduce and validate a practical method to characterize and approximate single flow in fractures under different stress conditions by using a core-flooding apparatus, in situ X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans and a finite-volume method solving the Navier–Stokes–Brinkman equations. The permeability of the fractured sandstone sample was measured stepwise during a loading–unloading cycle (0.7 to 22.1 MPa and back) to validate the numerical results. Simultaneously, the pressurized core sample was imaged with a medical X-ray…

On Infiltration and Infiltration Characteristic Times

2022

In his seminal paper on the solution of the infiltration equation, Philip (1969), https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-1-4831-9936-8.50010-6 proposed a gravity time, tgrav, to estimate practical convergence time and the time domain validity of his infinite time series expansion, TSE, for describing the transient state. The parameter tgrav refers to a point in time where infiltration is dominated equally by capillarity and gravity as derived from the first two (dominant) terms of the TSE. Evidence suggests that applicability of the truncated two-term equation of Philip has a time limit requiring higher-order TSE terms to better describe the infiltration process for times exceeding that limit. Since …

Nectar-Inhabiting Bacteria Affect Olfactory Responses of an Insect Parasitoid by Altering Nectar Odors

2022

AbstractFloral nectar is ubiquitously colonized by a variety of microorganisms among which yeasts and bacteria are the most common. Microorganisms inhabiting floral nectar can alter several nectar traits, including nectar odor by producing microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs). Evidence showing that mVOCs can affect the foraging behavior of insect pollinators is increasing in the literature, whereas the role of mVOCs in altering the foraging behavior of third-trophic level organisms such as insect parasitoids is largely overlooked. Parasitoids are frequent visitors of flowers and are well known to feed on nectar. In this study, we isolated bacteria inhabiting floral nectar of buckwhe…