The project aims at achieving a better understanding of the processes that drive or limit the response of grassland systems in a world of increasing atmospheric pCO2. We will test the hypothesis that the previously shown increase in below-ground allocation of C under elevated pCO2 provides the necessary energy excess and will stimulate free-living N2 fixers in a low N grassland environment. The project thus aims at assessing the occurrence and importance of free-living N2 fixers under elevated pCO2 and identify the associated microbial communities involved in order to better understand ecosystems response and sustainability of grassland systems. This project had the last opportunity to obtain soil samples from a grassland ecosystem adapted to long-term (10 year) elevated atmospheric pCO2 as the Swiss FACE experiment. The project aims to identify the relevant components of free-living diazotrophs of the microbial community using 15N stable isotope - DNA probing.
Differenzierung der Quellen- und Senkenfunktion des Bodens unter Berücksichtigung der Nutzungsgeschichte. Im Rahmen des CARBOEUROFLUX-Projekts wurden im Hainich (Thüringen) Kohlenstoff (C)- Speicherungsraten festgestellt, die der Vorstellung der Kohlendioxid-Neutralität von alten Wäldern widersprechen und die Frage nach deren Kyoto-Relevanz aufwerfen. Im Rahmen europäischer Projekte lässt sich allerdings nicht klären, wie diese hohen Speicherraten entstehen und wo C im System verbleibt. Wir vermuten, dass durch historischen C-Export, z.B. infolge von Streunutzung, die Böden im Hainich verarmten und die entleerten Speicher jetzt wieder aufgefüllt werden. Um das Ausmaß des nutzungsbedingten C-Exports abschätzen zu können, werden aus Schriftquellen Art und Umfang der Biomassenutzung in ihrer zeitlichen und örtlichen Entwicklung rekonstruiert. Zudem untersuchen wir, welche Anteile des C-Eintrages veratmet, gespeichert und über den Wasserpfad exportiert werden. Hierzu werden 13C und 14C- Isotopenverhältnisse an Bodengasen sowie gelöstem und festem Boden- C bestimmt. Unsere Untersuchungen zielen auf ein grundlegendes Verständnis der C-Speicherung im Jahresverlauf ab. Die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kompetenzzentrum 'Dynamik Komplexer Geosysteme' und dem europäischen CARBOEUROPE Cluster wird die Doppelerhebung von Daten verhindern und deren gegenseitige Verfügbarkeit sicherstellen. Ziel der Arbeit ist es, den historischen Kohlenstoffexport insbesondere unter Berücksichtigung der forstlichen Nebennutzung abzuschätzen. Hierzu soll anhand von Literaturdaten einerseits die Vegetationsgeschichte geklärt werden. Andererseits soll der im Untersuchungsgebiet im Zuge der forstlichen und landwirtschaftlichen Nutzungen erfolgte Biomasseentzug nach Art und Umfang dokumentiert werden. Diese Arbeiten sind notwendig, um den Einfluss der Nutzungsgeschichte auf die Kohlenstoffspeicherung im Untersuchungsstandort abzuschätzen. Im Rahmen des Gesamtprojektes sollen zunächst Daten zur Entwicklung der Biomasse im Untersuchungsgebiet zusammengestellt werden. Eine weitere Aufgabe besteht darin, auf der Basis von Literaturstudien einen möglichen Vergleichsstandort mit unterschiedlicher Nutzungsgeschichte zu identifizieren.
Recent events such as the Pakistan earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunami and the European heat waves of 2003 reveal the vulnerability of societies to extreme events. The goal of this project is to strengthen prevention, mitigation and preparedness strategies in order to reduce the health, social and economic impacts of extreme events on communities. The objectives of the MICRODIS project are to strengthen the scientific and empirical foundation on the relationship between extreme events and their impacts; to develop and integrate knowledge, concepts, methods and databases towards a common global approach and to improve human resources and coping capacity in Asia and Europe through training and knowledge sharing. This integrated project involves 19 partners from Asia and Europe, including research, policy and ground roots institutions. The outputs will include an evidence-base on impacts, field methodologies and tools for data compilation, impact models, and integrated vulnerability assessments. It will also strengthen standardised data collection of extreme events and their impacts at local, regional and global levels. Prime Contractor: Université Catholique de Louvain; Louvain-la-neuve; Belgium.
Context: With increasing global change pressures, and due to existing limitations, and un-sustainability factors and risks of conventional urban water management (UWM), cities experience difficulties in efficiently managing the ever scarcer water resources, their uses/services, and their after-use disposal, without creating environmental, social and/or economic damage. In order to meet these challenges, SWITCH calls for a paradigm shift in UWM. There is a need to convert adhoc actions (problem/incident driven) into a coherent and consolidated approach (sustainability driven). This calls for an IP Approach. Research conceptSWITCH therefore proposes an action research project which has as a main objective: The development, application and demonstration of a range of tested scientific, technological and socio-economic solutions and approaches that contribute to the achievement of sustainable and effective UWM schemes in 'The City of the future'.The project will be implemented by different combinations of consortium partners, along the lines of seven complementary and interactive themes. The research approach is innovative for the combination of: action research: address problems through innovation based upon involvement of users.learning alliances: to link up stakeholders to interact productively and to create win-win solutions along the water chain; multiple-way learning: European cities learn from each other and from developing countries, and vice versa.multiple-level or integrated approach: to consider the urban water system and its components (city level) in relation to its impacts on, and dependency of, the natural environment in the river basin (river basin level), and in relation to Global Change pressures (global level).Instruments and scopeAn IP with 30 partners, their resources, and a total budget of 25,191,396 EURO including budget for demonstration activities in 9 Cities in Europe and developing countries. Prime Contractor: UNESCO - Institute for Water Education, Delf, Netherlands.
The HyFLEET:CUTE project involves the operation of 47 hydrogen powered buses in regular public transport service in 10 cities on three continents. The Project aims to diversify and reduce energy consumption in the transport system by developing new, fuel efficient hydrogen powered bus technology, and clean, efficient and safe ways of producing and distributing hydrogen fuel. Objectives: - Develop hydrogen powered bus technology in order to reduce the consumption of fuel and energy in the whole transportation system. - Develop efficient and environmentally 'friendly' ways to produce hydrogen. - Research the technology and development needs to establish a hydrogen refueling infrastructure. - Inform the community and key decision-makers about the potential advantages of a hydrogen-based transport system and how they can help to develop it.
Der aktuelle Sachstand bei der Erstellung von Luftreinhalte- und Aktionsplänen in Deutschland wird mit Hilfe einer eingehenden Analyse derzeit veröffentlichter Pläne beschrieben (Stand: 31.08.2008). Diese Pläne stellen in der Zusammenschau eine umfangreiche Darstellung der aktuellen Luftschadstoffsituation, der verschiedenen Methoden der Prognose und der diskutierten Maßnahmen dar. Als wichtiges Hilfsmittel der vergleichenden Auswertung dient die Darstellung der Daten der Luftreinhaltepläne als thematische Karte. Es gibt zahlreiche strukturelle und inhaltliche Unterschiede zwischen den verschiedenen Entwicklungsstufen der Pläne und ebenso zwischen den Plänen verschiedener Bundesländer. Zur Klassifizierung der in den Plänen genannten Maßnahmen wurde in den vorigen Arbeiten (FKZ 204 42 222) und (FKZ 363 01 140) ein Maßnahmenschema entwickelt, das im vorliegenden Bericht nochmals erweitert wurde. Mit diesem Analysewerkzeug wurden alle bis zum 31.08.2008 vorgelegten Veröffentlichungen, d. h. Pläne, Fortschreibungen und Entwürfe, systematisch erfasst und untersucht. Um die Vergleichbarkeit der in den Plänen aufgeführten Maßnahmen zu gewährleisten, wurde die in den Vorgängerarbeiten entwickelte Zusammenstellung von standardisierten Maßnahmen weitergeführt. Diese sogenannten Standard- Maßnahmen stellen ein zentrales Element der Maßnahmenanalyse dar und bilden alle Maßnahmen ab, die in Deutschland laut den vorgelegten Plänen durchgeführt, geplant oder diskutiert werden. Die erneute Aktualisierung dient insbesondere auch dazu festzustellen, mit welchen Maßnahmen die Länder planen, die ab 2010 gültigen Luftqualitätsgrenzwerte einzuhalten. Umweltzonen haben sich, wie bereits in den Vorgängerarbeiten gezeigt, als wichtiges Element im Maßnahmenbündel etabliert. Die neue Bestandsaufnahme erfasst auch den aktuellen und geplanten Stand der Umweltzonen. Das Vorhaben diskutiert darüber hinaus die Abschätzung der Wirksamkeit der Maßnahmen im Hinblick auf das Minderungspotenzial für PM10-Feinstaub und Stickstoffdioxid unter Berücksichtigung anderer nationaler Wirkungsuntersuchungen.
The main objective of the project is to investigate, assess and enhance the potentiality of promising technological options (i.e., technologies, processes and concepts) for the treatment of industrial wastewater with the specific aim to provide tailor-mad e solutions to end-users for a wide range of wastewaters. Such solutions will be essentially based on the optimised integration of the investigated options and on technological improvements with respect to treatment system components, operation and control. Referring to the investigated options and the envisaged technological solutions, the project's goals are: -Investigating and enhancing the performances of promising wastewater treatment options such as aerobic granulation, integrated advanced oxidation processes (AOP) and membrane-based hybrid processes -Achieving fundamental and technological knowledge advancements necessary for advanced wastewater treatment application in different industrial sectors -Assessing the economic and environmental sustainability of promising wastewater treatment options -Developing integrated tailor-made solutions for end-users in different industrial sectors -Transferring the developed know-how to potential end-users inside and outside the project -Favouring their actual implementation for enhancing the EU Water Industry competitiveness. In order to achieve such goals, coordinated research activities will be carried out on selected options treating different wastewater. The experiences from such activities will be merged to define tailor-made solutions for end-users in different industrial sectors. A major goal will be the definition of treatment needs and framework conditions for a wide range of wastewaters based on the specific features of the options investigate d (i.e., aerobic granulation, AOP combined processes, membrane contactors, membrane chemical reactors). Prime Contractor: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Department of Bari, Water Research Institute, Roma, Italien.
MAI-TAI deals with integrated water resources management. It is designed as a coordination action of leading research and innovation operators, aiming at developing a coherent set of innovative, relevant and cooperative policy options and management strategies. Regionally it works with partners from China and India, and the work will focus around two lead river basins: The Hai river basin in North-East China and the Yamuna river basin in North India, both in arid and/or semi arid regions. The proposal features the following core coordination activities: 1. Enabling a dialogue between researchers and practitioners promoting state of the art and indigenous technologies and practices: The consortium believes that modern systems alone are not capable of solving the water needs of the people in many developing countries, and there is a strong need of generating innovative options through cross fertilization between both worlds. This cross-fertilization will be enabled by methods and rich experiences of user innovations research. 2. Based on (1), innovative policy options and management strategies will be compiled. Then, a multi-stakeholder interaction in order to evaluate these options and strategies will be carried out, supported by intelligent knowledge management tools: In the presence of a variety of actors (institutions, organisations, individuals) each with specific forms of knowledge with respect to scale, topic, reasoning processes, and a large number of information expected to be generated through the multi-stakeholder interaction, the issue of learning and knowledge management is of paramount importance. A strong impact of the coordination action is ensured by a highly inter- and transdisciplinary team, encompassing internationally reputable scientific institutions as well as strong governmental partners and NGOs. The latter two will considerable facilitate a wide and in particular meaningful stakeholder dialogue throughout the project.
The overall objective of ERAP harm is to improve and complement existing knowledge and procedures for the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals. Based on EU regulatory frameworks on the ERA of pharmaceuticals and on the outcome of previous projects ERAP harm will address the following aspects: It will investigate previously unstudied major routes leading to exposure of the terrestrial and aquatic environment and subsequent fate of pharmaceuticals in surface water and sediment. Factors and processes affecting the behavior of pharmaceuticals in the environment will be studied on the laboratory, semi-field and fieldscale. A scenario-based exposure assessment system will be developed for predicting concentrations of pharmaceuticals in soils, surface waters and sediments and leaching to groundwater. It will be investigated if environmentally relevant concentrations of pharmaceuticals pose a risk to aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Pharmaceuticals and selected transformation products will be screened using in vitro and low complexity bioanalytical tests in order to provide a first hazard characterization and to target higher tier testing. Higher tier test methods will be improved and applied for detecting the effects of long-term, low-level exposure to pharmaceuticals on aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates and fish. It will be evaluated if information on pharmaco- and toxicodynamics in mammalian species can be used to predict effects of pharmaceuticals on environmental organisms. Moreover, the effects of antibiotics on microbial communities will be studied with a main focus on the spread of genetically encoded resistance. Based on the developed approaches recommendations will be provided on how to improve the ERA procedures for pharmaceuticals. A guidance document will be compiled that will be made available to regulators, industry and the scientific community.
Coastal ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic perturbation, affecting biodiversity and ecosystem stability and resilience. Shallow water sediments and their associated biota represent a reservoir for biodiversity, hosting resting and reproductive stages of planktonic organisms, and regulating carbon and nutrient biogeochemical cycles. However, the relationship between tightly coupled biological and geochemical processes in this environment is poorly defined with respect to their temporal and spatial variability. The overall objective of COBO is to integrate emerging and innovative technologies from different disciplines (physics, chemistry, biology, imagery) to provide in situ monitoring of sediment habitats, a key component of coastal marine ecosystems, in order to understand complex interactions between the biota (function and diversity) and their chemical environment. Existing technologies have limited spatial and temporal sampling resolutions and this has hampered progress in determining key parameters and in explaining biogeochemical patterns / processes and in modeling ecosystem dynamics. Improved in situ technologies are required to provide rigorous scientific information on processes regulating this unique and fragile habitat and for assessing, controlling and minimising human impact on European coastal waters thus addressing societal need. Organism-sediment processes, with both enhancing and mediating effects, are still poorly understood in shallow water sediments that receive the bulk of anthropogenic disturbance. The combination of innovative instruments from the different disciplines will provide powerful tools to significantly advance our understanding of organism sediment relations under dynamic coastal conditions and enhance predictive capability. COBO represents a major step towards the development of permanently operating benthic observatories for coastal management. Prime Contractor: Scottish Association for Marine Science; Dunberg Oban; United Kingdom.
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