Flies of the genus Drosophila inhabit a wide range of habitats, from the tropics to deserts to boreal forests. The primary physiological mechanism allowing Drosophila and other insects to survive in arid habitats is a reduction in rates of water loss. To understand mechanisms of water retention in greater detail, we investigated the three main routes by which Drosophila lose water: excretion, c...

Plants can have positive effects on each other in numerous ways, including protection from harsh environmental conditions. This phenomenon, known as facilitation, occurs in water-stressed environments when shade from larger shrubs protects smaller annuals from harsh sun, enabling them to exist on scarce water. The topic of this paper is a model of this phenomenon that allows search algorithms t...

In the United States, many state and federally funded conservation programs are required to quantify the water quality benefits resulting from their efforts. The objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of conservation practices subsidized by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission on phosphorus and sediment loads to Lake Wister. Conservation practices designed to increase vegetative ...

Conventional urban water and wastewater systems owe their design in particular to 19 Century thinking on combating waterborne disease and maintaining hygienic conditions in cities. The success of these systems has been out-lived and they are no longer compatible with closed systems which seek to minimise the net use of resources, encourage local recycling, water conservation and source protecti...

In this paper, a basic theoretical model of residential water consumption that adequately represents consumer behavior when facing a nonlinear budget constraint is developed. The theoretical model for an individual consumer is adapted to yield an aggregate model that essentially preserves the structure of the demand function for the individual. The model is used to study the influence of prices...

This article discusses the link between water conservation, reclamation, reuse and energy use as related to the goal of achieving the net zero carbon emission footprint in future sustainable cities. It defines sustainable ecocities and outlines quantitatively steps towards the reduction of energy use due to water and used water flows, management and limits in linear and closed loop water/stormw...