Plants are a major factor influencing methane emissions from wetlands, along with environmental parameters such as water table, temperature, pH, nutrients and soil carbon substrate. We conducted a field experiment to study how different plant species influence methane emissions from a wetland in Switzerland. The top 0.5 m of soil at this site had been removed five years earlier, leaving a subst...

Title of Dissertation: DISTRIBUTION AND DYNAMICS OF THE EVERGREEN UNDERSTORY LAYER IN CENTRAL APPALACHIAN HIGHLAND FORESTS Robert A. Chastain Jr., Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 Dissertation Directed By: Associate Professor Philip A. Townsend, Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Science Graduate Program Evergreen understory layer communities dominated by Rhododendron maximum L. and/or Kalmia latifo...

We have found that the most probable cause of the leakage seen when dry cells or organisms such as seeds, pollen, or yeast cells are plunged into water is a gel to liquid crystalline phase transition in membrane phospholipids accompanying rehydration. By using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy we have recorded infrared spectra of CH(2) stretching vibrations in dry and partially hydrated i...

The potential of reed beds to act as biofilters of pathogenic and environmental mycobacteria was investigated through examination of the fate of mycobacteria in a constructed reed bed filtering effluent from a large captive wildfowl collection. Particular emphasis was placed on the presence and location of Mycobacterium avium--the causal agent of avian tuberculosis (ATB)--in an effort to clarif...

The impact of thermal pollution of leachate from a post-coal mine heap on three macrophyte species: Phragmites australis, Typha latifolia, and Scirpus sylvaticus was examined over the entire vegetation season. Hydrological measurements showed that the temperature of the leachate was ca 50 °C at the site of leachate inflow and decreased to ca 15 °C at the end of discharge canal. The annual tempe...

Constructed wetlands, including floating islands, are a suitable technology for wastewater treatment. They low cost and respectful with the environment, which is why they significantly beneficial agricultural irrigation systems. One of limiting factors in structuring efficient constructed wetlands choice plant species that can tolerate eliminate contaminants. Macrophytes have an important role,...