Swine wastewater treatment in a two stage sequencing batch reactor using real‐time control

Abstract

A laboratory scale two‐stage sequencing batch reactor (TSSBR) was used to study the effectiveness of pH as a real‐time control parameter in swine wastewater treatment. A Ringlace media was inserted into the A/O (Anoxic/Oxic) reactor for bacteria immobilization. The TSSBR was subjected to three levels of organic loading. The pH and ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) patterns obtained were consistent with distinct features, enabling the real‐time control strategy to effectively set a flexible aeration time pending on influent concentration, hence resulting in flexible cycle time and HRT (Hydraulic Retention Time) for the system. The real‐time process ensured a removal efficiency of over 99% and 95%, respectively, for ammonia and TOC (Total Organic Carbon). For NO₃ ^‐‐N and PO₄ ^‐3, the run with influent TOC = 4,000 mg/L yielded the most efficient removal of 61% and 95%, respectively. Test results suggest that pH can be a viable tool for on‐line real‐time control of a biological treatment process.     

Effect of fatty acids and oils on photodegradation of azadirachtin‐A

Abstract

Azadirachtin‐A on exposure to UV‐light (254 nm) as a thin film on glass surface gave a isomerised (Z)‐2‐ methylbut‐2‐enoate product. Half‐life of azadirachtin‐A as thin film under UV light was found to be 48 min. Azadirachtin ‐A was irradiated along with saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, and fatty oils under ultra‐violet light as thin film. Saturated fatty acid increased the rate of photodegradation of azadirachtin‐A, whereas unsaturated fatty acids such as oleic, linoleic and elaidic acid reduced the rate of degradation. Castor, linseed and olive oil accelerated the rate of degradation, whereas neem oil showed no or little change in the rate of degradation of azadirachtin‐A. None of these fatty acids and fatty oils were effective in controlling the rate of degradation of azadirachtin‐A under UV‐light as thin film.     

Bayesian Networks and Adaptive Management of Wildlife Habitat

Abstract: Adaptive management is an iterative process of gathering new knowledge regarding a system's behavior and monitoring the ecological consequences of management actions to improve management decisions. Although the concept originated in the 1970s, it is rarely actively incorporated into ecological restoration. Bayesian networks (BNs) are emerging as efficient ecological decision‐support tools well suited to adaptive management, but examples of their application in this capacity are few. We developed a BN within an adaptive‐management framework that focuses on managing the effects of feral grazing and prescribed burning regimes on avian diversity within woodlands of subtropical eastern Australia. We constructed the BN with baseline data to predict bird abundance as a function of habitat structure, grazing pressure, and prescribed burning. Results of sensitivity analyses suggested that grazing pressure increased the abundance of aggressive honeyeaters, which in turn had a strong negative effect on small passerines. Management interventions to reduce pressure of feral grazing and prescribed burning were then conducted, after which we collected a second set of field data to test the response of small passerines to these measures. We used these data, which incorporated ecological changes that may have resulted from the management interventions, to validate and update the BN. The network predictions of small passerine abundance under the new habitat and management conditions were very accurate. The updated BN concluded the first iteration of adaptive management and will be used in planning the next round of management interventions. The unique belief‐updating feature of BNs provides land managers with the flexibility to predict outcomes and evaluate the effectiveness of management interventions.     

The Quagga Mussel Crisis at Lake Mead National Recreation Area,Nevada (U.S.A.)

Abstract: Parks are cornerstones of conservation; and non‐native invasive species drive extensive changes to biological diversity in parks. Knowing this, national park staff at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in the southwestern United States had a program in place for early detection of the non‐native, invasive quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis). Upon finding the mussel in January 2007, managers moved quickly to access funding and the best available science to implement a response. Managers considered four options—doing nothing, closing the park, restricting movement on the lakes, and educating and enforcing park visitors—and decided to focus on education and enforcing existing laws. Nonetheless, quagga spread throughout the park and soon began to appear throughout the western United States. I examined why efforts to control the expansion failed and determined the general lessons to be learned from this case. Concentrating human visitation on the lakes through land‐use zoning opened a pathway for invasion, reduced management options, and led to the rapid spread of quagga. To reconcile competing mandates to protect nature and provide recreation, zoning in parks has become a common practice worldwide. It reduces stress on some areas of a park by restricting and thus concentrating human activity in particular areas. Concentrating the human activity in one area does three things: cements pathways that repeatedly import and export vectors of non‐native invasive species; creates the disturbed area necessary to enable non‐native invasive species to gain a foothold; and, establishes a source of invasions that, without appropriate controls, can quickly spread to a park's wilderness areas.     

Use of an Action‐Selection Framework for Human‐Carnivore Conflict in the Bangladesh Sundarbans

Abstract: Human–carnivore conflict is manifested in the death of humans, livestock, and carnivores. The resulting negative local attitudes and retribution killings imperil the future of many endangered carnivores. We tailored existing management tools to create a framework to facilitate the selection of actions to alleviate human–carnivore conflict and applied the framework to the human–tiger conflict in the Bangladesh Sundarbans. We identified potential actions that consider previous management efforts, local knowledge, cost‐effectiveness, fieldwork experience of authors and project staff, previous research on tiger ecology by the authors, and recommendations from human–carnivore conflict studies in other countries. Our framework includes creation of a profile to improve understanding of the nature of the conflict and its underlying causality. Identified actions include deterrents, education, direct tiger management, and response teams. We ranked actions by their potential to reduce conflict and the monetary cost of their implementation. We ranked tiger‐response teams and monitoring problem tigers as the two best actions because both had relatively high impact and cost‐effectiveness. We believe this framework could be used under a wide range of human–wildlife conflict situations because it provides a structured approach to selection of mitigating actions.     

Evaluating Private Land Conservation in the Cape Lowlands,South Africa

Abstract: Evaluation is important for judiciously allocating limited conservation resources and for improving conservation success through learning and strategy adjustment. We evaluated the application of systematic conservation planning goals and conservation gains from incentive‐based stewardship interventions on private land in the Cape Lowlands and Cape Floristic Region, South Africa. We collected spatial and nonspatial data (2003–2007) to determine the number of hectares of vegetation protected through voluntary contractual and legally nonbinding (informal) agreements with landowners; resources spent on these interventions; contribution of the agreements to 5‐ and 20‐year conservation goals for representation and persistence in the Cape Lowlands of species and ecosystems; and time and staff required to meet these goals. Conservation gains on private lands across the Cape Floristic Region were relatively high. In 5 years, 22,078 ha (27,800 ha of land) and 46,526 ha (90,000 ha of land) of native vegetation were protected through contracts and informal agreements, respectively. Informal agreements often were opportunity driven and cheaper and faster to execute than contracts. All contractual agreements in the Cape Lowlands were within areas of high conservation priority (identified through systematic conservation planning), which demonstrated the conservation plan's practical application and a high level of overlap between resource investment (approximately R1.14 million/year in the lowlands) and priority conservation areas. Nevertheless, conservation agreements met only 11% of 5‐year and 9% of 20‐year conservation goals for Cape Lowlands and have made only a moderate contribution to regional persistence of flora to date. Meeting the plan's conservation goals will take three to five times longer and many more staff members to maintain agreements than initially envisaged.     

Use of genetic,climatic, and microbiological data to inform reintroduction of a regionally extinct butterfly

Species reintroductions are increasingly used as means of mitigating biodiversity loss. Besides habitat quality at the site targeted for reintroduction, the choice of source population can be critical for success. The butterfly Melanargia russiae (Esper´s marbled white) was extirpated from Hungary over 100 years ago, and a reintroduction program has recently been approved. We used museum specimens of this butterfly, mitochondrial DNA data (mtDNA), endosymbiont screening, and climatic‐similarity analyses to determine which extant populations should be used for its reintroduction. The species displayed 2 main mtDNA lineages across its range: 1 restricted to Iberia and southern France (Iberian lineage) and another found throughout the rest of its range (Eurasian lineage). These 2 lineages possessed highly divergent wsp alleles of the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia. The century‐old Hungarian specimens represented an endemic haplotype belonging to the Eurasian lineage, differing by one mutation from the Balkan and eastern European populations. The Hungarian populations of M. russiae occurred in areas with a colder and drier climate relative to most sites with extant known populations. Our results suggest the populations used for reintroduction to Hungary should belong to the Eurasian lineage, preferably from eastern Ukraine (genetically close and living in areas with the highest climatic similarity). Materials stored in museum collections can provide unique opportunities to document historical genetic diversity and help direct conservation.