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This research analyses the accumulation and degradation of poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) in experiments with pulse addition of acetate to samples of activated sludge from pilot-plant and full-scale wastewater treatment plants. The experiments are divided into two periods: a feast period defined as the time when acetate is consumed and a famine period when the added acetate has been exhausted. In the feast period the significant process occurring is the production of PHB from acetate. The produced PHB is utilised in the famine period for production of glycogen and biomass. According to modelling results approximately 90% of the total potential growth occurs in the famine period utilising the stored PHB. The degradation rate for PHB in the famine period is found to be dependent on the level of PHB obtained at the end of the feast period. It was found that multiple order kinetics gives a good description of the rate of PHB degradation. The examined sludge of low SRT origin is found to degrade PHB faster than long SRT sludge at high fractions of PHB. The observed yield of glycogen on PHB in the famine period is in the range of 0.22-0.33 g COD/g COD depending on the SRT. The storage pool of glycogen in the examined sludge is more slowly degraded than PHB (COD/COD/h).

AbstractRebuilding overexploited marine populations is an important step to achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 14—Life Below Water. Mitigating major human pressures is required to achieve rebuilding goals. Climate change is one such key pressure, impacting fish and invertebrate populations by changing their biomass and biogeography. Here, combining projection from a dynamic bioclimate envelope model with published estimates of status of exploited populations from a catch‐based analysis, we analyze the effects of different global warming and fishing levels on biomass rebuilding for the exploited species in 226 marine ecoregions of the world. Fifty three percent (121) of the marine ecoregions have significant (at 5% level) relationship between biomass and global warming level. Without climate change and under a target fishing mortality rate relative to the level required for maximum sustainable yield of 0.75, we project biomass rebuilding of 1.7–2.7 times (interquartile range) of current (average 2014–2018) levels across marine ecoregions. When global warming level is at 1.5 and 2.6°C, respectively, such biomass rebuilding drops to 1.4–2.0 and 1.1–1.5 times of current levels, with 10% and 25% of the ecoregions showing no biomass rebuilding, respectively. Marine ecoregions where biomass rebuilding is largely impacted by climate change are in West Africa, the Indo‐Pacific, the central and south Pacific, and the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Coastal communities in these ecoregions are highly dependent on fisheries for livelihoods and nutrition security. Lowering the targeted fishing level and keeping global warming below 1.5°C are projected to enable more climate‐sensitive ecoregions to rebuild biomass. However, our findings also underscore the need to resolve trade‐offs between climate‐resilient biomass rebuilding and the high near‐term demand for seafood to support the well‐being of coastal communities across the tropics.

To fulfill the market demand for year-round high-quality production, the use of assimilation light has increased over the last decades by 10% per year and continues to expand. The electrical consumption involved largely contributes to the high CO2 emission of greenhouse horticulture. Following the Kyoto protocol, the emission of greenhouse gases should be reduced. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can contribute to the reduction in carbon footprint by their high efficiency in converting electricity into light. Due to their low heat emission, LEDs can be positioned within the canopy, which allows the design of new, low-carbon production systems. Inter-canopy LED lighting is already commercially used on a small scale. This paper describes the steps taken to further optimize LED-based production systems. Since it is impossible to test all possible strategies of using LED lighting, a 3D functional-structural plant model was used to do scenario calculations to determine the light interception of the canopy and crop photosynthesis at different positions and orientations of the LEDs. Orienting inter-lighting LEDs 30° downwards positively affected the light interception by the crop, provided that there was sufficient leaf area below the LEDs to prevent light loss to the floor. Replacing the conventional high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps by LED lamps (efficiency 2.3 μmol J-1) reduced the carbon footprint of a tomato crop by approximately 15%, due to a combination of the higher efficiency of LEDs and an increased use of thermal energy to maintain plant temperatures. These calculations were validated in a greenhouse trial, where the production and energy consumption of a HPS+LED hybrid system was compared to those of a LED top-lighting and LED inter-lighting combination. Plant development and production levels were comparable, whereas the electrical consumption in the LED+LED system was 37% lower than under HPS+LED lighting. Approximately half of the reduction in electricity was used for additional heat input to maintain plant development rate, which agreed well with the carbon footprint calculations. Work in the near future will focus on plant architecture and LEDs with altered light emission patterns, aiming to design new LEDbased production systems, which combine a high production level with a low-carbon footprint.

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) No abstract provided.

In this study, we aimed to assess the population status of bleak (Alburnus spp.) over the Western Balkan Peninsula in terms of its sustainable use. A second objective was to determine key factors important for fishery management planning. Two different basins, continental (the Danube Basin and the Sava River sub-basin) and marine (the Adriatic and the Aegean Sea Basins) were examined. A sustainability assessment and factor analysis were conducted using the adjusted ESHIPPOfishing model, extended with additional socio-economic sub-elements, and the categorical principal components analysis (CATPCA), respectively. The results of the assessment revealed the bleak populations in the Danube Basin and the Sava River sub-basin to be highly sustainable. The population characteristics with abiotic and biotic factors were responsible for this status, while the influence of socio-economic factors was insignificant. The sustainability status of the bleak populations of the Mediterranean basin varied, with the populations from Ohrid and Skadar Lakes showing a high and those from Prespa and Dojran Lakes a medium status. Socio-economic factors with traditional fishing were the most important for the Mediterranean bleak populations.

SUMMARY.The policy of joint implementation is emerging as a new strategy for implementing global environmental aims, especially with regard to regulating the climate change process, where emission source and sink countries agree to develop a joint program upon a mixed argument of partnership and cost-effectiveness. Pros and cons have emerged during the development of this system.Costa Rica is the first country, together with Norway, to launch such a program jointly, and Costa Rica is also the first country developing Carbon Tradable Offset bonds to be sold on the world market as a new commodity. It is hoped that this initiative will help the country and its inhabitants to create better living conditions and economic growth; however, this new institutional transformation and international acceptance of this new instrument are only just beginning to develop.This, therefore, provides a very interesting field for research from a distinct perspective. We chose to start searching for positive or negative impact...