Industrial Pollution Prevention

The 1992 A&WMA Critical Review was authored by Harry Freeman and members of his staff at the Pollution Prevention Research Branch, Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Freeman presented the paper "Industrial Pollution Prevention," at the Critical Review session held during the 85th Air & Waste Management Association Annual Meeting in Kansas City, Missouri. Prepared discussions and invited comments presented during the session are published here, as well as closing remarks by Mr. Freeman.     

Effect of the C:N:P ratio on the denitrifying dephosphatation in a sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR)

A series of investigations were conducted using sequencing batch biofilm reactor(SBBR) to explore the influence of C:N:P ratio on biological dephosphatation including the denitrifying dephosphatation and the denitrification process.Biomass in the reactor occurred mainly in the form of a biofilm attached to completely submerged disks.Acetic acid was used as the source of organic carbon.C:N:P ratios have had a significant effect on the profiles of phosphate release and phosphate uptake and nitrogen removal.The highest rates of phosphate release and phosphate uptake were recorded at the C:N:P ratio of 140:70:7.The C:N ratio of 2.5:1 ensured complete denitrification.The highest rate of denitrification was achieved at the C:N:P ratio of 140:35:7.The increase of nitrogen load caused an increase in phosphates removal until a ratio C:N:P of 140:140:7.Bacteria of the biofilm exposed to alternate conditions of mixing and aeration exhibited enhanced intracellular accumulation of polyphosphates.Also,the structure of the biofilm encouraged anaerobic–aerobic as well as anoxic–anaerobic and absolutely anaerobic conditions in a SBBR.These heterogeneous conditions in the presence of nitrates may be a significant factor determining the promotion of denitrifying polyphosphate accumulating organism(DNPAO) development.     

Patterns of mussel recruitment in southern Africa: a caution about using artificial substrata to approximate natural recruitment

Quantifying sessile marine invertebrate recruitment often requires destructive sampling or extrapolation from artificial substrata, the latter introducing the danger of artifacts. We measured intertidal mussel recruitment into mussel beds and into brushes at three-month intervals for five years across 3,200 km of southern Africa and determined substrata effects on recruitment rate. Recruitment into mussel beds showed a strong, coast-wide gradient, with high recruitment on the West coast, diminishing on the South coast, and increasing slightly on the East coast. At scales of 10 s of km, brushes reflected natural temporal recruitment variability, with a strong significant linear correlation between recruitment into brushes and into mussel beds. However, the relationship became semi-logarithmic when comparing among locations at a scale of 100 s of km. Artificial substrata thus reflect local natural settlement well but may be a poor indicator of it when spatial scales are large, particularly when mussel bed topography is complex, or localities have very different recruitment densities.     

A genetic basis to community repeatability and stability

Recent studies have shown that genetically based traits of plants can structure associated arthropod and microbial communities, but whether the effects are consistent and repeatable across years is unknown. If communities are both heritable (i.e., related individuals tend to support similar communities) and repeatable (i.e., the same patterns observed over multiple years), then plant genetics may also affect community properties previously thought to be emergent, such as "stability." Using replicated clones of narrowleaf cottonwood (Populus angustifolia) and examining an arthropod community of 103 species, we found that (1) individual tree genotypes supported significantly different arthropod communities, which exhibited broad-sense heritability; (2) these findings were highly repeatable over three consecutive years (repeatability = 0.91) indicating that community responses to individual tree genotypes are consistent from year to year; (3) differences among tree genotypes in community stability (i.e., changes in community composition over multiple years) exhibited broad-sense heritability (H(C)2 = 0.32). In combination, these findings suggest that an emergent property such as stability can be genetically based and thus subject to natural selection.     

The impact of the invasive shrub Lonicera maackii on the decomposition dynamics of a native plant community

Invasive plants may have variable effects within a given environment depending on their interactions with the dominant native species, yet little research has examined such species-species interactions within a site. Savanna trees with nonoverlapping canopies offer an ideal opportunity to assess associated changes in the ecosystem processes that result from interactions between an invasive species and different native tree species. We examined the influence of the exotic invasive shrub Lonicera maackii on decomposition dynamics under three native tree species: Fraxinus quadrangulata, Quercus muehlenbergii, and Carya ovata. Litter decomposition rates and litter C and N were evaluated over two years using single- and mixed-species litterbags (L. maackii and individual tree species litter); microarthropod abundance was measured at 6 weeks using Tulgren funnels. Litter from the invasive L. maackii decomposed and lost N more rapidly than the litter of the three native tree species. The rate at which L. maackii decomposed depended on its location, with L. maackii litter decomposing and losing N more rapidly under C. ovata than under the other two native tree species. Mixing L. maackii with the native species' litter did not accelerate litter mass loss overall but did result in synergistic N losses at variable times throughout the experiment, further highlighting the variable interaction between native species and L. maackii. Nitrogen loss was significantly higher than expected in mixtures of C. ovata + L. maackii litter at 6 weeks, in F. quadrangulata + L. maackii litter at 12 weeks, and in Q. muehlenbergii + L. maackii litter at 24 weeks. If the effects of invasive species on certain ecosystem processes, such as litter decomposition, are strongly influenced by their association with native species, this could suggest the need for a more nuanced understanding of the vulnerability of ecosystem processes to invasions of L. maackii and potentially other invasive species.