In the Bavarian Forest National Park a brief, but intense storm event on 1 August 1983 created large windfall areas. The windfall ecosystems within the protection zone of the park were left develop without interference; outside this zone windfall areas were cleared of dead wood but not afforested. A set of permanent plots (transect design with 10 to 10 m plots) was established in 1988 in spruce forests of wet and cool valley bottoms in order to document vegetation development. Resampling shall take place every five years; up to now it was done in 1993 and 1998. On cleared areas an initial raspberry (Rubus idaeus) shrub community was followed by pioneer birch (Betula pubescens, B. pendula) woodland, a sequence well known from managed forest stands. In contrast to this, these two stages were restricted to root plates of fallen trees in uncleared windfalls; here shade-tolerant tree species of the terminal forest stages established rather quickly from saplings that had already been present in the preceeding forest stand. Soil surface disturbances are identified to be causal to the management pathway of forest development, wereas the untouched pathway is caused by relatively low disturbance levels. The simulation model FORSKA-M is used to analyse different options of further stand development with a simulation time period of one hundred years.
Der schnelle Fortschritt der elektronischen Geräte erhöht die Nachfrage nach verbesserten Li-Ionen Batterien. Kommerziell erhältliche Li-Zellen nutzen meist Lithiumkobaltoxid für die positive Elektrode. Doch gerade dieses Material ist ein Hindernis für eine weitere Optimierung, insbesondere für eine Kostensenkung. Vor allem für größere Anwendungen wie Hybrid- oder Elektrofahrzeuge müssen alternative Materialen erforscht werden, die billiger, sicherer und umweltverträglicher sind. Daher wird im ISEA derzeit ein neues Forschungsprojekt ins Leben gerufen und die dafür benötigte Infrastruktur geschaffen. Die Forschung wird sich auf die Untersuchung geeigneter Übergangsmetalloxide und Polyanionen konzentrieren, die besonders gut zur Einlagerung von Li-Ionen geeignet sind. Es werden neue Herstellungsverfahren unter Verwendung wässriger Precurser-Substanzen untersucht, die Verbindungen mit überlegenen Eigenschaften erzeugen und außerdem leicht an eine Massenproduktion angepasst werden können. Ziel der Arbeiten ist, preisgünstiges Elektrodenmaterial zu entwickeln, das eine spezifische Energie von über 200 Wh/kg und eine Leistungsdichte von 400 W/kg aufweist. Außerdem werden Arbeiten im Bereich der physikalisch-chemischen Charakterisierung der neuen Materialien stattfinden sowie elektrochemische Analysen der gesamten Zellen- und Batteriesysteme durchgeführt. Das elektrodynamische Verhalten der neuen Zellen wird u. a. mit Hilfe der elektrochemischen Impedanzspektroskopie analysiert, um präzise und zuverlässige Algorithmen für ein späteres Batteriemonitoring im realen Betrieb zu finden.
Entwicklungs-, Pflege- und Erschließungsmaßnahmen gem. § 13 LNatSchG NRW
Aquifers are the main source of water in most semi-arid areas of the Mediterranean basin. As a result of over-exploitation hydrologic deficits of varying acuity prevail in these areas. Seawater intrusion and pollution have been identified as the primary factors for quality degradation. Further deterioration can be expected based on trends in the precipitation regime attributed to climate change. The objective of this project is to identify alternative sources of water and to investigate the feasibility, both environmental and economic of their utilization. Alternative water sources to be artificially recharged comprise: surface water runoff, treated effluent, and imported water. Furthermore, brackish water bodies, present in many aquifers could be utilised after desalination. The project structured into eight work-packages comprehensively addresses all issues related to the problem: expected precipitation rates, recharge and water budgets, identification of potential alternative water sources and technologies for their utilization, development of tools for the management of groundwater resources under artificial recharge conditions, aquifer vulnerability assessment, characterization of the unsaturated zone, and mixing effects. Four test sites have been selected for practical application of the approach. Substantial field testing, integration of technologies and findings to ensure optimal implementations of aquifer recharge alternatives, quantification of socio-economic impacts and development of dissemination platform are planned. Finally a carefully designed project management shall drive and accompany the project execution in order to ascertain consistency and efficiency.
Bisherige Untersuchungen beschäftigen sich lediglich mit dem Bau und der Pflege von Schotterrasen, nicht aber mit der Versickerungsleistung der Flächen und der Qualität des anfallenden Sickerwassers. Dabei bieten versickerungsaktive Belagsflächen zusätzliche Möglichkeiten dezentraler Regenwasserbehandlung. Der Einsatz von Recycling-Baustoffen mit unterschiedlichen Kompostanteilen soll Rückschlüsse auf deren Eignung hinsichtlich der Tragfähigkeit, der Versickerungsleistung, der Schadstoffrückhaltekapazität bzw. der Schadstoffkonzentration im Sickerwasser der Schotterrasenflächen bei verkehrstypischer Belastung ermöglichen.
Marine ecosystems posses great intrinsic value as reserves of biological diversity and are vital providers of goods and services to humanity. However, they are often disregarded during economic and social development. Europe's four sea areas; the Baltic, NE Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea have each paid a heavy price for unsustainable development within their catchments and sea areas. Their ecosystems have suffered to differing degrees from eutrophication, chemical pollution, unsustainable fisheries and physical destruction of habitats. This damage is closely connected with human lifestyles throughout the continent. The future integrity of marine systems depends on our approach to European development in the coming decades. Bringing marine ecosystems into policies for sustainable development requires better information on the causal connections between human pressures and the changing state of the systems. This is particularly important at a time when the European Community is expanding, re-examining its agricultural and chemical policies, implementing a new fisheries policy and exploring new ways to protect marine systems. ELME will enhance understanding of causality, forecast the impacts of divergent development scenarios and inform evolving Community policies. Current interdisciplinary knowledge linking lifestyles with their marine environmental consequences is widely dispersed. ELME brings together a necessarily large consortium, covering all relevant disciplines and regions. It integrates existing knowledge of environmental state changes, sectoral pressures and social and economic drivers using a common conceptual model. It will select contextual indicators for each causal level and model the relationships between them. These models will be applied to plausible development scenarios with particular focus on the accession process, to explore possible consequences for the stated four marine ecosystems. Results will be diffused to the various stakeholders/groups. Prime Contractor: University of Plymouth; Plymouth, Devon; United Kingdom.