- Allgemeine Angelegenheiten - Förderangelegenheiten - Vergabestelle - Siedlungswasserwirtschaft
Das Projekt "Soil-gas transport-processes as key factors for methane oxidation in soils" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Freiburg, Institut für Geo- und Umweltnaturwissenschaften, Professur für Bodenökologie durchgeführt. Methane (CH4) is a major greenhouse gas of which the atmospheric concentration has more than doubled since pre-industrial times. Soils can act as both, source and sink for atmospheric CH4, while upland forest soils generally act as CH4 consumers. Oxidation rates depend on factors influenced by the climate like soil temperature and soil moisture but also on soil properties like soil structure, texture and chemical properties. Many of these parameters directly influence soil aeration. CH4 oxidation in soils seems to be controlled by the supply with atmospheric CH4, and thus soil aeration is a key factor. We aim to investigate the importance of soil-gas transport-processes for CH4 oxidation in forest soils from the variability the intra-site level, down to small-scale (0.1 m), using new approaches of field measurements. Further we will investigate the temporal evolution of soil CH4 consumption and the influence of environmental factors during the season. Based on previous results, we hypothesize that turbulence-driven pressure-pumping modifies the transport of CH4 into the soil, and thus, also CH4 consumption. To improve the understanding of horizontal patterns of CH4 oxidation we want to integrate the vertical dimension on the different scales using an enhanced gradient flux method. To overcome the constraints of the classical gradient method we will apply gas-diffusivity measurements in-situ using tracer gases and Finite-Element-Modeling. Similar to the geophysical technique of Electrical Resistivity Tomography we want to develop a Gas Diffusivity Tomography. This will allow to derive the three-dimensional distribution of soil gas diffusivity and methane oxidation.
Das Projekt "2nd Workshop on Fats and Oils as Renewable Feedstock for the Chemical Industry" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von abiosus Gemeinnütziger Verein zur Förderung der Forschung über nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. durchgeführt. Internationale wissenschaftliche Diskussion und Gedankenaustausch der neuesten Ergebnisse auf dem Gebiet der chemischen Nutzung von Fetten und Ölen. Die wichtigsten Gruppen, die weltweit auf dem Gebiet 'Fats and Oils as Renewable Feedstocks fort he Chemical Industry' arbeiten, werden zur wissenschaftlichen Diskussion ihrer neuesten Ergebnisse und der Möglichkeiten der Anwendung neuer, insbesondere katalytischer Reaktionen auf Öle und Fette zu dem internationalen Workshop an der FH OOW in Emden eingeladen. Der Workshop dient auch dazu, die Nachwuchsgruppe 'Stoffliche Nutzung von Fetten und Ölen als nachwachsende Rohstoffe: Synthese von Zwischenprodukten der chemischen Industrie' als Zentrum der internationalen Diskussion zu diesem Thema etablieren. Die Nachwuchsgruppe an der FH OOW kann bei dem Workshop ihre bereits bestehenden Kontakte mit führenden Experten auf ihrem Forschungsgebiet weiterentwickeln und neue Kontakte knüpfen sowie diese für ihre Arbeit nutzen. Die Ergebnisse des Workshops werden in einem Special Issue des European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology publiziert.
Das Projekt "Is the immune system required to adapt to flowering time change?" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Köln, Biozentrum, Botanisches Institut durchgeführt. For effective crop improvement, breeders must be able to select on relevant phenotypic traits without compromising yield. This project proposes to investigate the evolutionary consequences of flowering time modifications on a second trait of major importance for plant breeding: immunity. This will have implications both for understanding cross-talks between flowering time and defense network and for developing efficient breeding strategies. There is clear evidence that plant maturity influences levels and effectiveness of defense. Theoretical models actually predict that changes in life-history can modulate the balance between costs and benefits of immunity. Simultaneously, actors of the immune system have often been observed to alter flowering time. Two alternative and possibly complementary hypotheses can explain this link: genetic constraints due to the pleiotropic action of players in either systems, or co-evolution, if flowering-time changes modulate the cost-benefit balance of immunity. We will conduct field assays in Arabidopsis thaliana, using constructed lines as well as recombinant inbred lines and natural accessions, to differentiate the action of the two explanatory hypotheses. Using transcriptome analyses, we will identify defense genes associating with flowering time modification (f-t-a defense genes). We will quantify their expression along the assay and test whether it varies with both flowering time and fitness. We will further test whether flowering time and immunity interact to determine yield in tomato and potato.
Das Projekt "Quellen und Senken von Gasen in der Critical Zone: In situ-Sensoren und Isotopie (B03)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Jena, Institut für Biodiversität, Lehrstuhl Aquatische Geomikrobiologie durchgeführt. B03 erforscht, wie Gase und Isotope die Umweltbedingungen und die funktionelle Biodiversität der unterirdischen Critical Zone widerspiegeln. Wir entwickeln neue Technologien für hochfrequente Multigas- und Isotopenmessungen mittels Raman-Spektroskopie und wenden simultane Multigasmessungen im Feld und im Labor an, um die Gasflüsse mit den mikrobiellen Stoffwechselvorgängen in Verbindung zu bringen. Wir entwickeln neuartige 14C-Methoden, um die Raten biogeochemischer Flüsse zu bestimmen und den Kohlenstoffkreislauf zu erforschen.
Das Projekt "G 1.1: Assessment of Innovations and Sustainable Strategies" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Landwirtschaftliche Betriebslehre durchgeführt. Farm households, whose living standard largely depend on the successful management of natural resources, have a low per capita income and are in danger of further impoverishment due to unsustainable resource management. Investigations in the first phase confirmed the hypothesis. A great number of farms were analyzed and clustered in representative types in both countries. Sustainability was measured using a sustainability index, which indicates tremendous environmental effects and variation between individual farms and ethnic groups.Sub-project G1.1 will follow three major tasks. The first is to evaluate sustainability strategies on the farm and farming system level, as it was done in the previous phase, but on the basis of a significantly extended data base. The second is to aggregate farm household data to the regional level. For this, a comparative-static approach is chosen. The third is to develop a multi-agent-based simulation model. Multi-agent simulation models (MAS) as well as GIS-tools are gaining increasing importance as tools for simulating future agriculture resource use, since they allow the integration of a wide range of different stakeholder's perceptions. It becomes possible to simulate the dynamic effects of changing land use patterns, environmental policy options, and technical innovation together with environmental constraints and structural change issues. The MAS approach is used to model heterogeneous farm-household and political decision makers perspectives by capturing their socio-economic, environmental, and spatial interactions explicitly. The integration of economic and spatial processes facilitates the consideration of feedback effects and the efficient use of scarce land resources. The simulation runs of the model will be carried out with a socio-economic and GIS data set, which is provided by the previous project phase in the attempt to generate effective ways of land use resource management. Land use efficiency is strongly influenced by the overall land allocation policy analyzed in project F1. Therefore, this is an important area further integrated research using MAS in combination with GIS as modeling tools.To achieve a continuous integration of results in the best possible way, a computer-based discussion/communication platform is developed. This serves as the conceptual basis for the development of the final multi-agent simulation model. Results of the discussion/communication platform and the agent-based simulation model will continuously be passed on to downstream sub-projects to be integrated into the ongoing research activities.
Das Projekt "C 2.2: Rehabilitation of barren hills: Improvement of communal grazing lands" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Tropische Agrarwissenschaften (Hans-Ruthenberg-Institut) (490), Fachgebiet Wasserstreß-Management bei Kulturpflanzen in den Tropen und Subtropen (490g) durchgeführt. A considerable proportion of the mountainous areas of Northern Vietnam consists of unproductive, degraded lands, the so-called 'barren hills'. Research during the first phase of the SFB aimed at (1) identifying plant communities that are indicators for the different degradation levels and thus may be useful for rapid-diagnosis purposes, and (2) exploring the potential of perennial legumes for rehabilitating such degraded areas, as an alternative to afforestation as the conventional attempt to 're-green' barren hills. Regarding the rehabilitation potential of legumes, a 24-accession core collection of the multipurpose shrub Flemingia macrophylla, assembled on the basis of the accessions' origin information, is examined for its variability with respect to morphological, agronomic, forage plant and soil-reclamation characteristics. This work has only begun in 2002 and will continue, within the proposed 2nd-phase research, until 2005. Research results of the first SFB phase (subprojects C2 and F1) suggest that a considerable portion of barren hills is used as communal grazing lands and that farmers are very interested in improvement measures to raise their productivity. Since to date there has been no research dealing with such native, communal pastures, C2.2 proposes to assess, in particularly close cooperation with A1.2 and F1.2, their role, productivity, forage value, and land use patterns leading to the development of grazing lands, by means of (1) PRA surveys and (2) primary-production and nutritive-value studies based on appropriate vegetation samplings (exclosures) on-farm during the rainy and dry seasons. Furthermore, C2.2 will test, under minimum-input conditions and by means of participatory research, a best-bet set of five 'improved' forage grasses and six 'improved' forage legumes regarding their adaptation to/production under prevailing soil and climate constraints, nutritive value, potential to persist under overgrazing conditions, and relative palatability to buffaloes and local cattle. Also this work will have close links with A1.2 and F1.2, in addition to D2.2. The expected outcome of the proposed research will be the availability of knowledge about and understanding of (1) the variability in the Flemingia macrophylla core collection regarding its forage and soil reclamation potential; (2) the influence of land use on the development of communal grazing lands and their contribution to local livestock production systems; and (3) promising pasture grass and legume species adapted to prevailing edaphic, climatic and management conditions.
Das Projekt "Teilprojekt B 03: Quellen und Senken von Gasen in der Critical Zone: in situ-Sensoren und Isotopie" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Leibniz-Institut für Photonische Technologien e.V. durchgeführt. Wir erforschen, wie Gase im Boden und im Grundwasser die Umweltbedingungen und die funktionelle Biodiversität der Critical Zone widerspiegeln. Hierzu (1) erforschen wir neue Konzepte für die verstärkte Raman-Gasspektroskopie, zur simultanen online-Quantifizierung einer ganzen Reihe von Gasen im Boden, (2) setzen Messkampanien zur Bestimmung zeitlicher Änderungen der Gaszusammensetzungen und der Isotopie vor Ort im Hainich-Transekt und den Sandstein-Probestellen fort und (3) führen kontrollierte Laborexperimente durch, um Einflüsse von mikrobieller Aktivität, Substratverfügbarkeit, etc. auf die Muster in der Freisetzung und Aufnahme einer Vielfalt von Gasen und Isotopen zu analysieren.
Das Projekt "Biological Control of Striga hermonthica in Sudan" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Tropische Agrarwissenschaften (Hans-Ruthenberg-Institut) (490), Fachgebiet Agrarökologie der Tropen und Substropen (490f) durchgeführt. Striga hermonthica is a parasitic flowering plant belonging to the family Scrophulariaceae. It is a root parasite that can attack sorghum, maize, millet and several grass weeds in the semi arid Tropics. In Sudan Striga is considered as the main constraint in sorghum production, the main staple food for the majority of Sudanese people. Several means of control are used to control Striga either chemically or physically, however these means are either inefficient or very costly. The biological control is an additional recent tool for the control of parasitic weeds. Several fusarium species were isolated from Striga in Sudan and they were found to be highly efficient in controlling Striga. The main objectives of this study are to (i) test the efficacy of formulated fusarium spp. in controlling Striga under field conditions; (ii) determine the optimum dose of the mycoherbicide to be used; and (iii) identify toxins produced by these bioagents for environmental safety.
Das Projekt "Human influences on forests in southern Ethiopia: the case of Shashemane-Munessa-forest" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Bayreuth, Fachgruppe Biologie, Bayreuther Zentrum für Ökologie und Umweltforschung (BayCEER), Lehrstuhl für Pflanzenökologie durchgeführt. Especially during the last decades, the natural forests of Ethiopia have been heavily disturbed by human activities. Some forests have been totally cleared and converted into fields for agricultural use, other suffered from different influences, such as heavy grazing and selective logging. The ongoing research in the Shashemane-Munessa-study area (Gu 406/8-1,2) showed clearly that, in spite of interdiction and control, forests continue to be cleared and degraded. However, it is not yet sufficiently known, how and why these processes are still going on. Growing population pressure and economic constraints for the people living in and around the forests contribute to the actual situation but allow no final answers to the complex situation. Concerning a sustainable management of the forests there is to no solid basis for recommendations from the socioeconomic and socio-cultural view. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the traditional needs and forms of forest use, including all forest products, is necessary. The objective of this project is, to achieve this basis by carrying out intensive field observations, the consultation of aerial photographs, satellite imagery and above all semi-structured interviews with the population in the study area in order to contribute to the recommendations for a sustainable use of the Munessa Shasemane forests.