Ontogenetic development is a fundamental aspect of the life history of all organisms and has major effects on population and community dynamics. We postulate a general conceptual framework for understanding these effects and claim that two potential energetics bottlenecks at the level of the individual organism--the rate by which it develops and the rate by which it reproduces--form a fundament...

BACKGROUND Recent studies have shown that fragmentation is an increasing threat to global forests, which has major impacts on biodiversity and the important ecosystem services provided by forested landscapes. Several tools have been developed to evaluate global patterns of fragmentation, which have potential applications for REDD+. We study how canopy height and above ground biomass (AGB) chang...

Sludge bulking causes loss of biomass in the effluent and deterioration of effluent water quality. This study explored the use of nano zero-valent iron (NZVI with an average particle size of 55 ± 11 nm) for sludge bulking control. In two Modified Ludzack-Ettinger (MLE) activated sludge treatment systems, a single dose of NZVI at the final concentration of 100 mg Fe per L in the mixed liquor red...

To figure out the torrefaction characteristics and weight loss dynamics of microalgae residues, the thermogravimetric analyses of two microalgae (Chlamydomonas sp. JSC4 and Chlorella sorokiniana CY1) residues are carried out. A parameter of torrefaction severity index (TSI) in the range of 0-1, in terms of weight loss ratio between a certain operation and a reference operation, is defined to in...

Earthquakes can produce significant tree mortality, and consequently affect regional carbon dynamics. Unfortunately, detailed studies quantifying the influence of earthquake on forest mortality are currently rare. The committed forest biomass carbon loss associated with the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China is assessed by a synthetic approach in this study that integrated field investigation, r...

Biomass co-firing is becoming a promising solution to reduce CO2 emissions, due to its renewability and carbon neutrality. Biomass normally has high moisture and volatile contents, complicating its combustion behaviour, which is significantly different from that of coal. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) combustion model of a single biomass particle is developed in this work, to predict the ...

Fluctuations in climate and edaphic factors influence field decomposition rates and preclude a complete understanding of how microbial communities respond to plant litter quality. In contrast, laboratory microcosms isolate the intrinsic effects of litter chemistry and microbial community from extrinsic effects of environmental variation. Used together, these paired approaches provide mechanisti...

The optimal conditions for the torrefaction of mixed softwood were investigated by response surface methodology. This showed that the chemical composition of torrefied biomass was influenced by the severity factor of torrefaction. The lignin content in the torrefied biomass increased with the SF, while holocellulose content decreased. Similarly, the carbon content energy value of torrefied biom...