Das Projekt "Life history transformations among HAB species, and the environmental and physiological factors that regulate them (SEED)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas Madrid durchgeführt. SEED aims to understand how and to what extent anthropogenic forces influence the non-vegetative stages of the life cycles of harmful algal species thereby contributing to the increase in harmful algal blooms in European marine, brackish and fresh waters. The overall objectives are to improve and extend our understanding of the transition between the different life history stages to identify the environmental and physiological factors that regulate those transitions, and hence the relative importance of anthropogenic vs. natural causes, and to integrate the recent, acquired knowledge in the development of a new simulation model or refining existing ones. This will allow improved prediction, mitigation and management strategies. The approach of SEED is comparative, from species to ecosystem level. It is imperative to recognize common patterns of responses among species to facilitate the development of conceptual and numerical models of HAB dynamics. SEED will focus on an array of target HAB species, ranging from marine through brackish to fresh water organisms, and covering a broad range of phylogenetic types. SEED research is multifaceted, as the problems in life history transitions are complex and processes occur over a wide range of scales. SEED will combine field studies and laboratory experiments. Field work is centered on areas where ongoing monitoring programs and much baseline information about distribution of species and physical-chemical data already exists. The innovation is to implement the most appropriate research strategies to be applied to the non-vegetative phases which determine the success of HABs and their expansion due to anthropogenic forcing. Moreover, a mitigation strategy, analogous to sterile insect releases that are an effective element of agricultural pest control on land, will be investigated for the dormancy stages of HABs. As part of the EU-US Cooperation Agreement the Coastal Ocean Institute of Woods Hole Oceonagraphic Institution is actively participating in the SEED project and acts as coordinator of the project.
Das Projekt "Bioelectrochemical systems for metal recovery (BIOELECTROMET)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Stichting Wetsus Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology durchgeführt. Global primary metal resources are rapidly dwindling and the mining and metallurgical industries are increasingly turning to lower grade minerals for metal extraction, typically increasing costs. Innovative environmental metal extraction techniques are required to increase mining sustainability, increase revenues and lower its impact on the environment. In this project, bioelectrochemical technology is proposed as an entirely new method for metal processing with the aim to produce marketable metal-containing (intermediate) products with low environmental impact compared to state-of-the art technologies. In bioelectrochemical technology, microorganisms catalyse the reaction occurring on one or both electrodes of an electrolytic cell. Such cells are called Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) when power is produced and Microbial Electrolysis Cells (MECs) when power is required to drive the desired reaction. Recently, it has been shown that Cu2+ is reduced to metallic copper on the cathode of a MFC coupled to the biological oxidation of organic matter and with resulting electricity generation. The proof-of-principle MFC almost completely recovered the Cu2+ in its metallic form (decrease in concentration from 1 g/L to less than 1 mg/L) and produced a maximum power density of 0.8 W/m2. Bioelectrochemical technology can be used for the base metals copper, nickel, iron, zinc, cobalt and lead, which are mined, processed and used in large quantities. These metals are ubiquitous in process- and waste streams from the mining and metallurgical industry and therefore application of bioelectrochemistry for these metals has a high impact. Compared to traditional techniques, the use of Bioelectrochemical technology allows high recovery efficiencies, increased metal selectivity and reduced use of energy with in some cases (e.g. copper reduction) electricity production.
Das Projekt "Wasserhaushalt eines ehemaligen Lehmgewinnungsgebietes in der Weststeiermark" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität Graz, Institut für Siedlungswasserwirtschaft und Landschaftswasserbau durchgeführt. Fragen der Folgenutzung eines Naturschutzgebietes. Mit besonderer Beruecksichtigung des Nutzungskonfliktes zwischen Wasserwirtschaft, Tourismus und Naturschutz.