Das Projekt "Biological Regulation of Subsoil C-cycling under Field Conditions" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Bodenkunde und Standortslehre, Fachgebiet Bodenbiologie durchgeführt. The nature of the microbial communities inhabiting the deeper soil horizons is largely unknown. It is also not clear why subsurface microorganisms do not make faster use of organic compounds under field conditions. The answer could be provided by a reciprocal soil transfer experiment studying the response of transferred soils to fluctuations in microclimate, organic inputs, and soil biota. The subproject P9 will be responsible for the establishment of reciprocal transfer experiments offering a strong link between subgroups interested in organic matter quality, transport of organic substances, as well as functions of the soil microbial community. A single, high molecular weight substrate (13C labelled cellulose) will be applied at two different levels in the pre-experiment to understand the dose-dependent reaction of soil microorganisms in transferred surface and sub-soils. Uniformly 13C labelled beech roots - representing complex substrates - will be used for the main reciprocal soil transfer experiment. We hypothesize that transferring soil cores between subsoil and surface soil as well as addition of labelled cellulose or roots will allow us to evaluate the relative impact of surface/subsurface habitat conditions and resource availability on abundance, function, and diversity of the soil microbial community. The second objective of the subproject is to understand whether minerals buried within different soil compartments (topsoil vs. subsoil) in the field contribute to creation of hot spots of microbial abundance and activity within a period of two to five years. We hypothesize that soil microorganisms colonize organo-mineral complexes depending on their nutritional composition and substrate availability. The existence of micro-habitat specific microbial communities could be important for short term carbon storage (1 to 6 years). The third objective is to understand the biogeography and function of soil microorganisms in different subsoils. Parent material as well as mineral composition might control niche differentiation during soil development. Depending on size and interconnectedness of niches, colonization and survival of soil microbial communities might be different in soils derived from loess, sand, terra fusca, or sandstone. From the methodological point of view, our specific interest is to place community composition into context with soil microbial functions in subsoils. Our subgroup will be responsible for determining the abundance, diversity, und function of soil microorganisms (13C microbial biomass, 13C PLFA, enzyme activities, DNA extraction followed by quantitative PCR). Quantitative PCR will be used to estimate total abundances of bacteria, archaea and fungi as well as abundances of specific groups of bacteria at high taxonomic levels. We will apply taxa specific bacterial primers because classes or phyla might be differentiated into ecological categories on the basis of their life strategies.
Das Projekt "Innovationsplattform einer grünen, detektierbaren und direkt recycelbaren Lithium-Ionen Batterie" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Pure Devices GmbH durchgeführt. Ziel dieses Teilvorhabens ist die Entwicklung eines Niederfeld Lithium-NMR Sensors zur Detektion von Lithium in den einzelnen Prozessschritten beim Recycling von LIB. Für die Qualitäts- und Prozesskontrolle mittels Protonen-NMR gibt es in der Industrie bereits viele Anwendungen (solid fat content, contactless weight checking, polymer profiling). Eine Prozesskontrolle an Lithium-haltigen Substanzen durch Li-NMR im Niederfeld ist eine neue Anwendung, welche in diesem Projekt implementiert werden soll. Ziel ist es die Lithiumströme im Recycling-Prozess und der Verbleib von Lithium in den einzelnen abgetrennten Komponenten zu verfolgen. Eine solcher Li-NMR Sensor zur Prozesskontrolle ließe sich durch weitere Optimierungen zu einem Produkt weiterentwickeln und ermöglicht so die Etablierung einer weiteren Messmethode zur Lithiumdetektion.
Das Projekt "Zuverlässigkeit und Haftung im Kontext von Climate Engineering: Eine integrierte Betrachtung (CELARIT)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Bielefeld, Fakultät für Geschichtswissenschaft, Philosophie und Theologie, Abteilung Philosophie durchgeführt. In Anbetracht der potentiell katastrophalen Nebeneffekte von Climate Engineering (CE) wird generell ein passgenaues Haftungsregimes als Voraussetzung für einen international anerkannten und legitimen Einsatz für erforderlich gehalten. Diesbezüglich ergeben sich jedoch zwei grundsätzliche Fragen: Zum einen bedarf der Klärung, ob ein Haftungsregime als Mittel der Zuordnung und Verteilung von Risiken gewollt und realisierbar ist; zum anderen ist zu untersuchen, wie mit der Tatsache umzugehen ist, dass die Einschätzung der durch CE hervorgerufenen Klimaeffekte nur auf numerischen Klimamodellen, nicht aber auf empirischen Daten beruht. Obwohl das Thema der Haftung für CE-induzierte Schäden in der Literatur zunehmend Beachtung gefunden hat, wurde diesen Fragen bislang noch nicht systematisch Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt. Auch ist ungeklärt, wie Urteile über die Robustheit und Verlässlichkeit konkurrierender Modelle, die Auswirkungen eines CE-Einsatzes simulieren, getroffen werden können. Noch nicht beleuchtet worden ist schließlich, ob und wie die Entscheidung darüber, wie Beweise zu beurteilen sind, das Verhalten der Streitparteien (Staaten) beeinflusst, insbesondere im Hinblick auf die Frage, wann und ggf. wie CE eingesetzt wird. Angesichts dieser Forschungslücken kommt in vorliegendem Projekt, anders als in traditionellen Haftungsregimen, der Verlässlichkeit und Robustheit von Modellen zentrale Bedeutung zu. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird CELARIT (1) der Frage nachgehen, wie konkurrierende Modelle vor Gericht oder einem anderen zuständigen Gremium beurteilt, verglichen und bewertet werden können, und mit welchen Abstrichen erhöhte Robustheit und Verlässlichkeit einhergehen; (2) untersuchen, ob und ggf. nach welchen Kriterien ein Modell vor Gericht als zulässige Methode der Beweiserbringung herangezogen werden kann; und (3) erarbeiten, wie ein Schaden in einer Situation festgestellt werden kann, in der der kontrafaktische Zustand, welcher zur Ermittlung des Schadens herangezogen wird (eine Welt ohne CE oder sogar ohne Klimawandel), keiner Beobachtung zugänglich, sondern selbst Ergebnis eines numerischen Modells ist. Schließlich (4) wird das Problem in einem größeren Zusammenhang betrachtet. Es wird untersucht, wie Modelle trotz ihrer beschränkten Verlässlichkeit genutzt werden können, um mit CE zusammenhängende Maßnahmen zu steuern, und wie wissenschaftliche Politikberatung angemessen mit Unsicherheit und Nichtwissen umgehen kann. CELARIT bringt die Projektpartner von CEIBRAL (Klimamodellierer, Ökonomen, Juristen und Philosophen) erneut zusammen, geht jedoch insoweit einen großen Schritt über CEIBRAL hinaus, als eine methodische Neuorientierung in Richtung einer integrierten Untersuchung unternommen wird, und zwar von Anfang an disziplinübergreifend hinsichtlich sämtlicher Forschungsfragen.
Das Projekt "Differential selection of photobionts and ecophysiological acclimation by the bipolar lichen Cetraria aculeata" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Senckenberg durchgeführt. Lichens are highly specialized symbioses between heterotrophic fungi and autotrophic green algae or cyanobacteria. Polar and alpine habitats are mostly dominated by lichens, which successfully outcompete vascular plants and bryophytes in terms of biodiversity and often also biomass. Previous results by the applicant show that (sub) Antarctic and arctic populations of Cetraria aculeata select different strains of the green algal photobiont Trebouxia jamesii s. lat. than temperate populations. However, it is so far unknown, whether this is just a phlogeographic pattern or whether genetic differences between the photobionts are associated with differences in physiological traits (ecotypic differentiation). In this project, we propose (1) to genotype mycobionts and photobionts from six antarctic, arctic and temperate populations, (2) to measure photosynthetic parameters for these genotyped lichens and their isolated photobionts, and (3) to transplant temperate individuals to arctic populations and vice versa in a common garden design to measure changes in dry weight over three years. The ultimate goal is to investigate whether differential association with ecotypically differentiated photobionts allows widely distributed lichen fungi to inhabit climatically hostile Polar Regions. The results of our study will strongly influence our ability to predict the impact of global climate change on polar terrestrial ecosystems.
Das Projekt "High Performance, Economical and Sustainable Biocomposite Building Materials" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von NetComposites Ltd. durchgeführt. The aim of BioBuild is to use biocomposites to reduce the embodied energy in building facade, supporting structure and internal partition systems by at least 50Prozent over current materials with no increase in cost. This will lead to a step change in the use of sustainable, low carbon construction materials, by replacing aluminium, steel, FRP, brick and concrete in buildings. Facades are widely used in construction, primarily to protect and insulate the internal structure. Internal partitions are used to divide space, carry utilities and provide thermal and acoustic insulation. The current materials used such as aluminium, steel, brick and concrete are energy intensive to produce and have high embodied energy. FRP is an alternative construction material, benefitting from low weight, formability and simple manufacturing, allowing low material content structures and innovative design. However, typical resin and glass fibre are non-renewable, energy intensive to synthesise. Biocomposites overcome these drawbacks, whilst maintaining the benefits, being based on natural fibres and bioresins which have low embodied energy and cost. Biocomposites are renewable and sustainable resin and reinforcement structures. The resins in this project are furan and cashew nut oil based with reinforcing fibres of flax and jute. Bast fibres have lower environmental impacts than glass, concerning climate change and energy but have similar properties. Biocomposites are used commercially in automotive interior parts, but for outdoor applications they can degrade due to moisture absorption and bio-degradation. BioBuild will develop biocomposites and construction products with a life span of 40 years, by protecting the fibres with novel treatments and coatings. The result of the project will be a low cost, lightweight, durable and sustainable biocomposite building system, with full technical and environmental validation, offering low embodied energy construction materials.
Das Projekt "Storage of hydrogen in hydrides" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik durchgeführt. Hydrogen is the ideal synthetic fuel to convert chemical energy into electrical energy or into motive power because it is light weight, highly abundant and its oxidation product is vapor of water. Thus its usage helps to reduce the greenhouse gases and it conserves fossile resources. There is even a clean way to produce hydrogen by electrolysis of water by means of photo voltaics (SvW06, VSM05, PMM05). There are various possibilities to store the hydrogen for later use: Liquid and gaseous hydrogen can be stored in a pressure vessel, hydrogen can be adsorped on large surface areas of solids, and finally crystal lattices of metals or other compounds can be used as the storage system, where hydrogen is dissolved either on interstitial or on regular lattice sites by substitution (SvW06, San99). The latter process and its reversal is called hydriding respectively dehydriding. The subject of this proposal is the modeling and simulation of that process. The main problem of a rechargeable lithium-ion battery is likewise a storage problem, because in a rechargeable battery, both the anode and cathode do not directly take part in the electrochemical process that converts chemical energy into electrical energy, rather they act as host systems for the electron spending element, which is here lithium (Li). During the last month the applicant developed and exploited a mathematical model that is capable to capture the storage problem of an iron phosphate (FePO4) cathode, where the Li atoms are stored on interstitial lattice sites (DGJ07).
Das Projekt "Shifts in the climate niche of mammals: evolutionary constraints or adaptation potential?" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Freiburg, Institut für Geo- und Umweltnaturwissenschaften, Abteilung für Biometrie und Umweltsystemanalyse durchgeführt. Predictions of effects of climate change on species distributions assume constant climatic niches. Our current understanding of how climate niches developed through evolution is very limited. This project shall analyse how climate niche of the 5488 mammal species worldwide is related to their phylogenetic position. The hypothesis is that closely related species will also have similar climate niches, indicating climate niche conservation. Based on current distributions and environmental data, we shall quantify the climate niche of each species and compare it to that of its closest relative (sister species). We shall investigate whether climate niche position is similarly phylogenetically constrained as other species traits such as body weight, gestation length or litter size. The huge breadth of mammal ecologies, their highly resolved phylogenetic tree, their high conservation relevance and their relatively well-known geographical distribution make them an ideal study system. In the process of this study, new methodological standards for the analysis of niche evolution will be developed, including randomisation tests, virtual species analysis and character tracing of climate niche position. In the end, we shall be able to specify the adaptation potential to climate change for a large number of species studied.
Das Projekt "Reinforcement of electron beam welding for application to heavy plates in offshore wind power plants" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von RWTH Aachen University, Institut für Eisenhüttenkunde durchgeführt. Due to ecological reasons and because of the need to remain independent from foreign energy suppliers, the power generation in offshore wind parks becomes more and more important in Germany. It is therefore planned to build up approximately 1,300 new offshore wind power plants with a capacity of 6,500 MW near the German coastline until 2020. The structures are installed on the ground of the sea in a water depth that might in some cases reach 50 m. The mechanical loading situation for these structures is characterised by an enormous weight combined with high cyclic stresses resulting from the service loads and the tide. Hence, hot rolled steels with a yield strength of 355 MPa are employed in a maximum thickness of 100 mm. Until now, the required toughness properties for these structural steels and their welds are 40 J at -20 C. However, in a plate thickness of 100 mm, only the submerged arc welding (SAW) process can be used to guarantee such toughness properties, but especially in these heavy plates, submerged arc welding is rather time consuming and consequently more uneconomic compared to other welding techniques. Due to these disadvantages, it can even be expected that only part of the planned power plants will be built up in time as the high welding time of several hours per m causes too many delays. From the point of structural integrity, it can be argued wether a Charpy impact toughness of 40 J is really required, as this criterion is only set based on experiences of mechanical and civil engineers. Thus, it can be concluded that different welding techniques should be regarded as alternatives to SAW in case that the 'real' toughness requirements are less than 40 J at -20 C. Electron beam welding would be a favourable welding process for such heavy plates as even 100 m thick plates can be welded in one single step, but until now the toughness requirements of 40 J have not yet been met. It is therefore the aim of the research project to reinforce the electron beam welding process for the application to heavy plates in offshore wind power plants. To reach this aim, the following tasks are be carried out: - improvement of the electron beam welding process in order to achieve better toughness properties of the welds, - application of reliable fracture mechanics concepts in order to calculate realisitc toughness requirements. With regard to the process, already a this stage of the project an enormous improvement of the toughness properties of EB weld seams could be demonstrated based on optimisation of the welding process. Furthermore, it could be shown that by establishing the leakage before breakage criterion combined with regular inspections, the toughness requirements can be significantly reduced. Thus, the EB welding can be applied to offshore wind energy installations even if steels of higher yield strength (e.g. S460Q) are selected.
Das Projekt "Fuzzy-Based Sediment Transport Simulation Using Contemporary Modeling Concepts and Measurement Methods as Validation" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Stuttgart, Institut für Wasser- und Umweltsystemmodellierung durchgeführt. An estimate of sediment transport rates in alluvial rivers is important in the context of erosion, sedimentation, flood control, long-term morphological assessment, etc. Extensive research during the last decades has produced a plethora of sediment transport models. Sediment transport is complex and often subject to semi-empirical or empirical treatment. Most of the sediment transport functions are based on simplified assumptions that the rate of sediment transport could be determined by one or two dominant factors, such as water discharge, average flow velocity, energy slope, and shear stress (Yang, 1996). In many practical situations prediction errors of these models are observed to be high.An alternative approach is to use data driven modelling, which is especially attractive for modelling processes about which adequate knowledge of the physics is limited, like in the case of sediment transport. Over the last decade fuzzy rule-based models have been introduced in engineering as a powerful alternative modelling tool. The fuzzy rule-based approach introduced by Zadeh (1965) is being widely utilized in various fields of engineering. It is a qualitative modelling scheme in which the system behaviour is described using a natural language (Sugeno & Yasukawa, 1993). This research focuses on the applicability of a data-driven fuzzy rule-based modelling approach in estimating sediment transport rates. It also aims at the comparison of the results of the fuzzy rule-based model with the results of other commonly utilized sediment transport functions.A number of variables play important roles in determining sediment transport capacity. These variables are: flow depth, particle fall velocity, particle diameter, flow velocity, energy or water surface slope, shear velocity, shear stress, fluid density, sediment density, stream power, unit stream power, and discharge. Additionally; size, shape, and unit weight of bed composition; morphology of bed forms and availability of sediment from source area affect sediment transport capacity. The most significant factors affecting sediment transport capacity will be identified and used for constructing a fuzzy model. The fuzzy model identification is usually carried out in two steps: (1) determining the number of fuzzy rules and their associated membership functions and (2) optimizing the fuzzy model. The fuzzy logic toolbox in MATLAB will be used for performing the fuzzy modelling.A general fuzzy system has the components of fuzzification, fuzzy rule base, fuzzy output engine, and defuzzification. Fuzzification converts each piece of input data to degrees of membership by a look-up in one or more several membership functions. Intuition, fuzzy clustering, neural networks, genetic algorithms, and inductive reasoning can be among many ways to assign membership values or functions to fuzzy variables...
Das Projekt "Development of hybrid stochastic-mechanistic models for the partitioning and extrapolation of land surface to atmosphere water, energy and carbon fluxes" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, Institut für Hydrologie und Wasserwirtschaft durchgeführt. Measurements of the exchange of water vapour, energy and carbon between the land surface and the atmosphere are made at many locations around the globe using tower based measurement platforms (FLUXNET). These data represent a substantial financial investment into understanding, monitoring and ultimately predicting the role of the land surface in regulating the surrounding climate. Novel methodology for deriving a new class of predictive models for these natural systems is proposed, where information from measurements is given more weight in the model building process than has previously been the case. This project will explore the potential of this methodology for the identification of hybrid stochastic-mechanistic models for water, energy and carbon fluxes. It is anticipated to derive a database of robust parsimoneous process descriptions and parameterizations dependent on site characteristics and the required temporal resolution. The subsequent development of regionalization schemes and the extensive use of remote sensing information in this second phase of the proposed project will allow for a more robust temporal and spatial extrapolation of flux measurements worldwide.
| Origin | Count |
|---|---|
| Bund | 21 |
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Förderprogramm | 21 |
| License | Count |
|---|---|
| offen | 21 |
| Language | Count |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | 7 |
| Englisch | 18 |
| Resource type | Count |
|---|---|
| Keine | 15 |
| Webseite | 6 |
| Topic | Count |
|---|---|
| Boden | 17 |
| Lebewesen & Lebensräume | 17 |
| Luft | 16 |
| Mensch & Umwelt | 21 |
| Wasser | 14 |
| Weitere | 21 |