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Ecological engineering
Elsevier Science B.V.
Ecological engineering

Elsevier Science B.V.

0925-8574

Ecological engineering/Journal Ecological engineeringSCIISTPEI
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    Performance and treatment assessment of a pilot-scale decentralized greywater reuse system in rural schools of north-central Chile

    Rodriguez C.Leiva E.Carrasco F.Sanchez R....
    14页
    查看更多>>摘要：? 2021 Elsevier B.V.The problem of water scarcity in the world has gained great relevance in recent decades. One of the fields of study that has been developed as an ecological alternative to combat the water demand is the reuse of greywater. Greywater corresponds to domestic wastewater that excludes water from the toilet. These waters have the potential to be reused after simple treatments for non-potable uses. In the last decade, Chile has gone through the most intense mega-drought in its history. One of the most affected regions is the Coquimbo Region, located in the north-central zone, with a semi-arid climate and extensive agricultural activity. This paper presents the first results of pilot greywater treatment systems installed in rural public schools in the Coquimbo Region. In the first instance, different sorbent materials such as sand, zeolite, acid-activated carbon (AAC), base-activated carbon (BAC) and heat-activated carbon (HAC) were studied for the removal of organic matter and turbidity. It was found that the adsorbent materials based on carbon were more efficient for the removal of organic matter, registering maximum mean sorption capacities of 107.7 mg/g, 77.5 mg/g and 78.5 mg/g, for AAC, BAC and HAC, respectively. On the one hand, the treatment columns composed HAC, zeolite and sand, were very effective for removing turbidity, reaching removal percentages over 90%. On the other hand, pilot treatment systems were efficient in reaching the water quality levels required by Chilean legislation for the use of irrigation of recreational areas and services, and in some cases for the use of ornamental irrigation. The advantage of these systems is their simplicity and low installation cost. These systems have allowed savings of between 840 and 26,000 L per month, depending on the size of the school, which has allowed the watering of gardens.
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    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Unimodal response of N2O flux to changing rainfall amount and frequency in a wet meadow in the Tibetan Plateau

    Wu J.Wang H.Li G.Wei X....
    11页
    查看更多>>摘要：? 2021 Elsevier B.V.The rainfall amount and the frequency of extreme rainfall events have been predicted to increase in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the growing season. These changes will likely affect ecosystem processes, including those that control nitrogen (N) cycling and storage; however, the direction of the changes remains unclear. In this study, we experimentally altered the amount and frequency of precipitation events during the growing season (May through October) at an alpine wetland in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The treatments included ambient rain (CK) plus 25 mm of extra water for each irrigation event but with different irrigation frequency, i.e., weekly (DF1), biweekly (DF2), every three weeks (DF3) and every four weeks (DF4). During the growing season, the N2O flux showed a large seasonal variation. Compared with the treatment of natural rainfall events, the increase in the rainfall amount promoted the N2O emission flux. As the frequency of rainfall events increased, the aboveground biomass increased significantly from 85.82 g·m?2 to 245.79 g·m?2, and the accumulated N2O emissions first increased and then decreased; we observed the peak of the N2O flux at the DF2 rainfall frequency. We also found the significant linear relationships between soil N2O flux, nitrate nitrogen, and microbial biomass nitrogen content. Furthermore, among the soil microbial factors, higher rainfall frequency (DF1) significantly reduced the relative abundance of the original dominant species (Alphaproteobacteria) in the studied wetland soil. Our results indicate that alpine wetlands are highly sensitive to increased precipitation variability and high frequencies of extreme rainfall events could significantly reduce N2O emission. Future precipitation patterns could weaken the contribution rate of wetland N2O emission to the global warming.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Ecosystem services (ES) provided by ditches in a desert agricultural valley

    Cital F.Ramirez-Hernandez J.Rodriguez-Burgueno J.E.Ramirez-Barreto M.E....
    10页
    查看更多>>摘要：? 2021 Elsevier B.V.Agricultural ditches can be an efficient method for removing nutrients in wetlands and rivers. In this paper, we document that additionally, ditches offer other ecosystem services (ES) such as providing bird habitat and sediment retention. A typical ditch reach of 6 km with variable width between 3 and 80 m and water depth from 0.06 and 0.5 m, was selected as a monitoring site among 1492 km of a drain network in the agricultural Mexicali Valley located in the Colorado River Delta. Nitrogen and phosphorus concentration and discharge flow rate determinations were obtained monthly during a year, at three stations along the ditch, dividing the reach into two segments. Total nutrient removal efficiency of 39%, along the monitoring year was observed. Additionally, nutrient mass flow had a significant winter-spring seasonal increment associated with crop irrigation, up four times for total nitrogen, nearly 2.5 times for nitrogen-based nutrients, and five times for PO4. Monthly estimations of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from Sentinel images were obtained to evaluate the response of riparian vegetation to high flow discharge seasonal fluctuations, from 0.072 to 1.219 m3 s?1, and nutrient mass flow changes. No correlation among them was found, as riparian species are tolerant to high water levels and nutrient concentration fluctuation. Downstream changes in water electrical conductivity from 6.06 to 8.45 mS cm?1 along the resulted in the shift from Typha domingensis to Phragmatis australis which has a higher salinity tolerance. An intensive bird census showed ditch vegetation provided suitable habitat and refuge to 29 different bird species, including five common birds of the flooded remnant areas of the Colorado River Delta, as well as migratory birds. By using slope criteria of drainage network, 47% of it has a high and moderated potential of sediment retention. These ES are fundamental in semiarid regions because of the intense land-use changes from riparian and desert ecosystems to irrigation lands, as well as water being diverted from natural streams to irrigation channels. This study highlights the importance of considering agricultural ditches as helpful, not only as a natural water treatment of agricultural pollutants, but also as providers of resident and migratory bird habitat and vegetation diversity and erosion regulation by sediment retention on desert agricultural valleys.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Plants playing at home: Advantage of native plant seeds for ski slope revegetation in the French Pyrenees

    Dupin B.Durand B.Cambecedes J.Fromin N....
    11页
    查看更多>>摘要：? 2021 Elsevier B.V.Machine levelling for the creation or maintenance of ski slopes is a major source of disturbance in high elevation ecosystems. Traditional, exogenous seed mixtures can help restoring plant cover and mitigate soil erosion, but they comprise species that are not ecologically adapted to high elevation conditions. Here, the use of local seed mixtures, harvested at nearby sites, was compared to that of exogenous seed mixtures for revegetation of three machine-graded ski runs with different soil conditions in the French Pyrenees. The plant cover, biomasses and associated soil microbial activity were recorded for four years following seeding. The results showed that the establishment of the plant cover was highly dependent of the soil conditions and strongly differed between paired plots that had received local or exogenous seed mixtures. In both seed treatments, some Poaceae dominated the plant cover, allowing the settlement of several spontaneous native species. But the plant cover established more rapidly and more densely, and included a larger cover of target, native species after seeding with local compared to exogenous seed mixtures.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Eco-engineering techniques reduce soil loss from steep slopes in Nova Scotia, Canada

    Ellis K.Lundholm J.Lohnes R.
    10页
    查看更多>>摘要：? 2021Local nature-based techniques for erosion control on slopes in Nova Scotia, Canada involve a combination of mulching with hay and brush, and planting native species, but there are no quantitative assessments of their effectiveness in the region. These techniques were tested for their effect on soil loss and runoff on slopes. Soil loss and water runoff data from natural rainfall and controlled watering experiments (CWEs) were collected from bounded plots. Soil loss was significantly reduced in the treatments that provided high amounts of soil cover for both natural rainfall and CWEs. Runoff from natural rainfall was not affected by the treatments but runoff was significantly reduced by the mulching treatments in the CWEs. The combination of treatments used to manage erosion caused by rainfall on slopes reduced soil loss from natural rainfall by 98% compared to the controls. Reduction in soil loss was observed for all soil size classes investigated. These techniques can be recommended for reducing erosion on slopes as a soft engineering or “living shorelines” approach.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Analysis and discrimination of hyperspectral characteristics of typical vegetation leaves in a rare earth reclamation mining area

    Xu F.Zhou B.Li H.
    11页
    查看更多>>摘要：? 2021 Elsevier B.V.Large area hyperspectral remote sensing monitoring of physiological parameters of reclaimed vegetation is an important technology for environmental regulation in mining areas, but accurate identification of reclaimed tree species is a prerequisite. In this study, we collected hyperspectral data of six typical vegetation leaves at the Jiazibei reclamation site and analyzed the characteristics of the original vegetation spectrum, including its reciprocal logarithm, first derivative, and continuum removal. Additionally, on the basis of the mean confidence interval method that reduces the dimensionality of the hyperspectral data to select the characteristic bands, the t-test detection method was used to select the best characteristic bands on the basis of the significant difference among the characteristic bands. Finally, three discrimination models, Fisher, stepwise discrimination (SD), and multi-layer perceptron (MLP), were constructed to discriminate typical vegetation types based on th e best feature bands. The results show that the first derivative and continuum removal processing can intensify the characteristic difference of the spectral curve and that the blueshift in the vegetation spectrum based on the first derivative of the red edge feature indicates that the Camellia is the most severely stressed in the mining area. Compared with other research on the characteristic bands selected based on reclaimed vegetation in the mining area, we obtained richer water content information for vegetation types. Among the three discriminate models, the SD method based on the hyperspectral measured leaf sample data in the mining area had the best effect in identifying the reclaimed vegetation in the study area, in which the average discriminative accuracy of Wetland pine is 93.6%. The identification and analysis of reclaimed vegetation provide technical support and a theoretical basis for the inversion of physiological parameters of reclaimed vegetation in rare earth mining areas and the monitoring of reclamation effects, which is of significance for realizing large-scale monitoring of the ecological environment of mining areas.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Wildlife crossings increase bat connectivity: Evidence from Northern Germany

    Martinez-Medina D.Ahmad S.Gonzalez-Rojas M.F.Reck H....
    8页
    查看更多>>摘要：? 2021 Elsevier B.V.Although roads are important cultural objects in our society, they can have negative impacts on the environment. Bat populations are affected by roads in several ways, including habitat loss, death due to collision with vehicles, and reduced habitat connectivity. In recent years, different mitigation practices have been introduced to help animals safely cross roads, reduce road kills, and minimize habitat fragmentation. This study aims to investigate to what extent two types of existing wildlife crossings (a green bridge and an underpass) on the A21 highway (in Northern Germany) are used by bats. All-night acoustic recordings of bat activity at the wildlife crossings, on the highway, and in the surroundings show that bats use both mitigation structures. Our results indicate that bats use mitigation structures depending on their degree of clutter-adaptation: Species from the genus Myotis, which are highly clutter-adapted, were the most recorded in the underpass, while Pipistrellus spp., which are less clutter-adapted, were the most recorded on the Green Bridge. Contrary to expectations, many bat passes were registered on the highway as well. Long-term monitoring studies are needed (including counting of bat fatalities) to clarify if further mitigation measures are needed. In conclusion, the use of wildlife crossings as mitigation structures can be effective, mostly for clutter-adapted species (Myotis spp. and Plecotus auritus).
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Nitrogen cycling in plant and soil subsystems is driven by changes in soil salinity following coastal embankment in typical coastal saltmarsh ecosystems of Eastern China

    Feng H.Xia L.Jeelani N.An S....
    12页
    查看更多>>摘要：? 2021 Elsevier B.V.Recently, coastal land reclamation through the use of embankments has increased worldwide, and its impacts on ecosystem processes and functionality have been widely reported. However, the ecosystem nitrogen (N) cycling turnover processes following the establishment of coastal embankments remain unknown. For this study, we investigated stocks of various types of N in soils, N storage in plant subsystems, the microbial immobilization and mineralization of N, as well as soil physiochemical properties in embanked and adjacent unembanked Spartina alterniflora, Suaeda salsa, and Phragmites australis saltmarshes in the coastal wetlands of China. Coastal embankments in a S. alterniflora saltmarsh significantly decreased the total plant N storage by 50.24%, concentrations of total soil organic N (SON) by 55.16%, ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) by 32.33%, nitrite nitrogen (NO2-N) by 41.23%, nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) by 13.38%, and the value of soil net ammonification (RA) by 83.49%. However, in P. australis saltmarshes they significantly increased the total plant N storage by 160.24%, concentrations of SON by 57.28%, NH4-N by 7.89%, NO2-N by 101.76%, NO3-N by 32.05%, and the value of RA by 392.95%. Nevertheless, there were no significant differences in N cycling following the establishment of coastal embankments in S. salsa saltmarshes. Significant changes in the organic and inorganic soil N pools of S. alterniflora and P. australis saltmarshes were driven by plant residue inputs, which were significantly affected by decreasing soil salinity in these coastal wetlands. Furthermore, our results indicated that coastal embankments altered the immobilization of soil N and mineralization of microorganisms by influencing the growth and activities of soil microbes, which were primarily associated with changes in soil organic and inorganic N pools following the development of coastal embankments. In summary, alterations in the organic N inputs of plants were initiated by the dramatically decreased soil salinity, which was the main determinant that drove N cycling in the soil subsystems of coastal wetlands subsequent to the establishment of coastal embankments.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Mining in the Amazon: Importance, impacts, and challenges to restore degraded ecosystems. Are we on the right way?

    Martins W.B.R.Rodrigues J.I.D.M.de Oliveira V.P.Ribeiro S.S....
    13页
    查看更多>>摘要：? 2021 Elsevier B.V.Mining is one of the main economic activities in the Amazon region, contributing substantially to the economy of countries that share its territory. This activity, however, brings environmental aftermaths as vegetation suppression, soil destruction, hydrological instability, and faunal displacement, making restoration of degraded ecosystems a challenge. In this sense, the objective of our study was to present the economic importance, the main restoration methods, and the bottlenecks to obtain successful restoration trajectories in degraded areas by industrial mining in the Amazon. We listed eight possible relevant procedures for successful restoration after mining and discussed worldwide adopted restoration methods such as seedling planting, inducing natural regeneration, hydroseeding, and nucleation. Despite the great development of restoration methods after mining, there are still barriers to obtain inputs, which include seedlings, and qualified labor to plan and develop restoration projects. These issues come in addition to operational restrictions, technical incapacity, deficient or inflexible legal basis, and lack of law enforcement. We suggest the selection of key species for planting, associated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and biochar, establishment of lists with ecological indicators and reference values, usage of organic waste, and monitoring through unmanned aerial vehicles with high sensors resolution to correct revegetation failures and estimate aboveground biomass and carbon.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Corrigendum to “Comparison of modelling approaches to estimate trapping efficiency of sedimentation basins on peatlands used for peat extraction” [Ecological Engineering 133 (2019) 60–68] (Ecological Engineering (2019) 133 (60–68), (S0925857419301429), (10.1016/j.ecoleng.2019.04.025))

    Garneau C.Duchesne S.St-Hilaire A.
    2页
    查看更多>>摘要：? 2021 Elsevier B.V.The authors regret that the units for the vertical axis of Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 should be “g/l” instead of “mg/l”. Here are the modified Figures: [Figure presented] Fig. 6. Observed SSC entering basin 1 during the flood of August 11th, 2015. The various colors highlight the contributions of each particle class. [Figure presented] Fig. 7. Modelled and observed SSC exiting Basin 1 during the flood of August 11th, 2015. The various colors highlight the contributions of each grain size class. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier