Ecological Questions最新文献

{"title":"Diversity, Informant Consensus Factor and Cultural Significance Index of Wild Edible Plants in the Jaunpur region, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand","authors":"Lakhi Ram Dangwal, Tarseem Lal Baldev Raj","doi":"10.12775/eq.2024.011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12775/eq.2024.011","url":null,"abstract":"The wild edibles are essential not only for nutrition, medicine, fodder and fuel but also as potential source of income generation. The conventional use of wild edible plants is habitual in the remote and hill regions of the Uttarakhand state (India). The present study was carried out in a mountainous part of the Uttarakhand namely Jaunpur region situated in the district Tehri Garhwal. Extensive field surveys were conducted in the area to gather information (traditional knowledge on wild edible plants) from the inhabitants through questionnaire method. A total of 220 key informants including old aged farmers, shepherds, and vaidyas were surveyed. The present study resulted in documentation of a total 73 plant species (under 58 genera and 38 families) as source of wild edibles. Rosaceae (10 species) and Fabaceae (7 species) revealed as the most dominant families followed by Anacardiaceae, Moraceae and Rutaceae (4 species each). Majority of the recorded species belong to the tree habit (35% species) followed by herb (29%), shrub (29%), and climber (7%). The commonly used plant parts as source of wild edible in the area include fruits (59% species), leaves (24%), seeds (5%) and flowers (4%). Documentation of the traditional knowledge is much important because it provide alternative means to reduce hunger, poverty, and health issues especially in finding novel compounds (drug discovery).","PeriodicalId":44105,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Questions","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135483858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biofiltration of Volatile organic compounds Using Chir Pine Cone Nuts Inoculated with Pseudomonas putida","authors":"Sanjeev Kumar, Divya Kumar","doi":"10.12775/eq.2024.013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12775/eq.2024.013","url":null,"abstract":"Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) are the major pollutants in industrial and agricultural emissions. This study targets the efficiency and applicability of biofiltration to remove methanol and n-hexane, two common air pollutants, using Chir pine cone nuts as filter media and Pseudomonas putida as the inoculant. The designed biofilter was operated between 25-35°C, with an airflow rate of 0.35 m3 h-1 and nutrient supply of 1-2 L Day-1. From a 60-day operating period, methanol's removal efficiency was higher than n-hexane, with a maximum removal efficiency of 93.91% achieved at an inlet loading rate of 101.39 g m-3h-1 for methanol and 87.96% at 398.46 g m-3h-1 for n-hexane. The effects of varying loading rates on the elimination capacity for both pollutants were also studied. In addition, the temperature profile of the biofilter, microbial analysis, and the BOD concentration of leachate was also studied during the operation period. The findings offer insights into the potential use of Chir pine nuts as filter media for the biodegradation of methanol and n-hexane and provide a foundation for future research to optimize the biofilter system's design and operation to increase its removal efficiency of other contaminants.","PeriodicalId":44105,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Questions","volume":"49 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135483982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Towards Increasing the Utilization of Anaerobic Digestate from Biogas Production in Agrotechnologies","authors":"I. Tymchuk, M. Malovanyy, V. Zhuk, Viktoriya Kochubei, Katerina Yatsukh, Liubov Luchyt","doi":"10.12775/eq.2023.054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12775/eq.2023.054","url":null,"abstract":"The paper presents the results of a comprehensive study that focused on the composition and properties of digestate obtained through mesophilic anaerobic co-fermentation of broadleaf cattail suspensions with yeast waste inoculum. Additionally, bioindication studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of the digestate on the germination of ryegrass and barley under lab-scale conditions. The initial total solids in suspensions before digestion varied from 5%wt. to 10%wt., and the mass fraction of the inoculum ranged from 0.05 to 0.2. Through thermogravimetric analysis, it was observed that digestate samples with higher initial inoculum content exhibited lower thermal stability. One of the limiting factors for the use of digestate was its high water content, ranging from 95.6% to 97.9%. To address the high water content, centrifugation of the digestate samples was performed for 2 minutes at 5000 rpm. This process led to significant dewatering, particularly for samples with a higher inoculum content. The maximum possible reduction in water content of the digestate was achieved at 31.65%. The bioindication study involved evaluating the germination of ryegrass and barley in soil samples with different digestate content. The results indicated that the highest germination rates were achieved with a digestate content of 20%wt. For ryegrass, the germination rate was 93.33%, which was 1.67% higher than the soil control sample and 0.33% higher than the sterile control. Similarly, for barley, the germination rate was 91.33%, surpassing the soil control by 4.00% and the sterile control by 0.67%. The findings of this study confirm the potential of utilizing digestate in agricultural technologies as an additional source of plant nutrients. The comprehensive analysis of the digestate's composition, properties, and its positive impact on germination rates further supports its viability as a valuable resource in agricultural practices.","PeriodicalId":44105,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Questions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42550012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bioutilization of the distillery stillage of different grain species from bioethanol production","authors":"K. Danilova, Sergey Oliynichuk, Sergii Verbytskyi","doi":"10.12775/eq.2023.050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12775/eq.2023.050","url":null,"abstract":"Wastewater from bioethanol plants is classified as highly concentrated in terms of organic pollution precisely due to distillery stillage. The main problem in the disposal of distillery stillage is the processing of the liquid phase, the volume of which is up to 92% of all wastewater from a bioethanol plant. The existing wastewater treatment technologies of a bioethanol plant can be conditionally divided into four types: evaporation, aerobic biological treatment with fodder yeast production, anaerobic stillage treatment with biogas production, combined schemes. The aim of our work was to study a combined method for cleaning grain stillage by the anaerobic-aerobic method with the immobilization of microorganisms on a fibrous carrier. Physicochemical parameters of grain stillage and purified methane mash were determined according to generally accepted methods for analyzing wastewater from distilleries.\u0000Under anaerobic conditions, biogas was formed from distillery stillage, including low molecular weight organic compounds – methane, carbon dioxide, organic acids. After the first anaerobic stage of treatment, the pollution of wastewater decreased by 8-10 times, after which it was fed to the aerobic stage of post-treatment, which was carried out by microorganisms immobilized on a fixed carrier, which reduced the removal of biomass with the flow of purified water and improved treatment performance. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) of methane mash after the 1st stage of anaerobic fermentation was 1360 mg/dm3 compared to the initial COD of grain stillage of 15800 mg/dm3, which ensured a purification efficiency of 91.4%. The purification efficiency according to biochemical oxygen demand in five days (BOD5) was 97.5%. After the aerobic stage, the purification efficiency was 98.2% in terms of COD and 99.8% in terms of BOD5. The values of the content of total phosphorus also decreased by almost 20 times, nitrogen – by 9 times, sulfates – by 5 times. The advantages of the proposed method of wastewater treatment of bioethanol plants over existing ones are the ability to treat wastewater with any concentration of pollutants and additional obtaining of fuel – biogas, which can be used to replace natural gas, solving the problem of removing the biomass of microorganisms from the purification zone due to their fixation on a fibrous fixed carrier.","PeriodicalId":44105,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Questions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43912375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Inhibition and reduction of general microflora with natural antimicrobial agents (oregano), in poultry products, Albania","authors":"S. Ajçe, G. Mero, A. Maho, Besnik Skënderasi, Lenida Suraj","doi":"10.12775/eq.2023.049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12775/eq.2023.049","url":null,"abstract":"Food safety today is one of the top priorities for consumer health. The study aims to realize products of pure poultry with high antimicrobial values. The most important point of studies of this type is the determination of lower antimicrobial concentrations that inhibit the action of harmful microorganisms. The methodology of this study is based on the microbiological analysis of chickens in the poultry plants of Patos (Fier) and Boboshtica (Korça) untreated and after treatment with oregano (natural antimicrobial agent). From the laboratory analysis it was found that there is a significant difference from part to part in the untreated samples. The surface offers less load compared to the inside and neck area associated with packaging techniques and hygienic conditions during processing. In untreated Patos chickens the bacterial load dominates, the fungal one is almost negligible, in untreated Boboshtica chickens the bacterial and fungal load dominates, where both signs are significantly reduced after treatment.","PeriodicalId":44105,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Questions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44188327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"What are the organizational and economic principles of organic farming in the context of sustainable development? Case of Ukraine","authors":"O. Dobrovolska, T. Grabovska, Vitaliy Lavrov, Y. Ternovyi, M. Jelínek, H. Roubík","doi":"10.12775/eq.2023.053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12775/eq.2023.053","url":null,"abstract":"The development of organic agriculture is a long-term global trend; with different local factors that affect the development rate. Ukraine is one of the largest food suppliers in the world and this also applies to organic production. The evaluation of organic production at Skvyra Organic Research Station was conducted in 2015-2020 on 40 ha land; focusing on the economic performance of the enterprise and the specialization of production. The systematic approach and dialectical method of cognition were used to identify the key factors in the development of organic farming. The purpose of the study is an organizational and economic analysis of a state enterprise that is making a gradual transition from intensive to organic production, in order to determine the main principles that stimulate the development of organic production, and to overcome the challenges faced by the enterprise on the way to the introduction of organic production. The results indicate that the enterprise is profitable but does not operate up to its potential. The key issues were identified in the lack of focus on marketable crops, efficiency of labour, crop production, and management. The enterprise is negatively affected by the current legal framework and insufficient financial stability. The enterprises income consists of selling crops (i.e. cereals, legumes) and service-to-business (i.e. laboratory testing), with no state funding. Further results show the relation of the production and specialization with climatic, natural, biological and socio-economic factors. To improve the organisational and economic framework for the development of organic production, Ukrainian enterprises should focus on cost-effective products. Furthermore, competition between agricultural enterprises should support deeper specialization and production of competitive products, contributing to the profitability and economic stability of producers","PeriodicalId":44105,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Questions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44693398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analyzing the impact of reforestation on forest fires and the economic outcome in an area in northern Greece.","authors":"Ioannis Papatheodorou, K. Kitikidou, Athanasios Stampoulidis, E. Milios","doi":"10.12775/eq.2023.052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12775/eq.2023.052","url":null,"abstract":"The reforestation that occurred in the South Evros region in northern Greece was documented and studied. Our hypothesis is that the economic footprint of reforestation with conifers is negative, and the presence of conifers influences the size of the burned area in forest fires. The reforested area, the species, the amount spent on reforestation and operations to enhance the quality of the forest products, as well as the amount of money spent to protect such areas and prevent fires, were documented. Additionally, the extraction of forest products and the sales income were examined. The numbers of fires, as well as the total burned area, were documented for the fires that occurred in the studied forests between 1980 and 2016. Then, the fire episodes that had burned areas of more than 100 hectares, were examined. In order to compare spending across time, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was utilized to convert all gathered expense numbers to December 2016 values. The cost of reforestation is significantly greater than the income it produces, and there is a correlation between the size of the burned forest area and the presence of conifers in the burned area. Based on the results of the present study, the use of conifers in reforestations must be avoided in all cases in the studied area, as well as in similar areas regarding their characteristics and ecology","PeriodicalId":44105,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Questions","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41640975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reconstruction of the Old Bydgoszcz Canal buried section as a potential direction for development of green and blue infrastructure in Bydgoszcz city center","authors":"Karl Mechkin","doi":"10.12775/eq.2023.051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12775/eq.2023.051","url":null,"abstract":"This paper tackles the possibility for the reconstruction of the buried section of the Old Bydgoszcz Canal, as a potential direction for the development of green and blue infrastructure in Bydgoszcz city center. As a result of the literature review, archival query, field works, and social research in the form of a public survey and interviews with local experts, the concept for reopening the buried section of the Old Bydgoszcz Canal was drawn up. It takes into account local spatial conditions and social expectations and shows how the project complies with the current municipal strategic and planning documents. This work also presents historic and contemporary practices for the development of urban water areas, and concepts of ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, and urban quality of life, which are important for the development of urban green infrastructure. The results of this research lay the foundations for a broader discussion on the possible reconstruction of the Bydgoszcz Canal, as well as the implementation of similar projects in other cities.","PeriodicalId":44105,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Questions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47663551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New European locality of three rare taxa (Zygnematophyceae, Streptophyta): Cosmarium pseudoprotuberans var. sulcatum (Nordstedt) Coesel, Gonatozygon aculeatum W.N.Hastings and Pleurotaenium simplicissimum Grönblad","authors":"I. Shyndanovina, O. Lukash","doi":"10.12775/eq.2023.048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12775/eq.2023.048","url":null,"abstract":"In the current article the new Ukrainian desmid material: three species new for Ukraine and their location are examined. The discussion focuses on comparing newly found species in Ukraine to their previous published descriptions in Europe. The reported distribution of these taxa in Europe: Cosmarium pseudoprotuberans var. sulcatum (Nordstedt) Coesel was reported for five countries, Gonatozygon aculeatum W.N.Hastings was found in eight countries and Pleurotaenium simplicissimum Grönblad was previously revealed only in four European countries. We provide a detailed description of the morphological characters of the Ukrainian cells and supply it with the drawings and pictures. The ecological aspects of the new habitat important for the European flora of desmids are discussed. This article provides information for better understanding of desmids ecology and correct identification of the described rare and sometimes poorly known species.","PeriodicalId":44105,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Questions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45441170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Study on the Socioeconomics of Imperata Grassland Managers at Dargakona Village, Barak Valley, Assam, Northeast India","authors":"Ashim Das Astapati, A. Das","doi":"10.12775/eq.2023.046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12775/eq.2023.046","url":null,"abstract":"Socioeconomic profile of farmers has great implications in present days for providing insight into demography, education, income and management of bio-resources. The small scale farmers of rural regions have indeed conserved the indigenous and traditional facts since past generations that eventually redefined as traditional ecological knowledge. Hence, keeping in view, the socioeconomic structure of the villages in Barak Valley region, the grassland managers of agricultural communities could be recognized as a great storehouse of traditional knowledge that play a vital role towards various land recuperation processes. The study was carried out at Dargakona village, Barak Valley, Assam, northeast India with an objective to identify factors that regulate the socioeconomic characteristics of rice farmers and measures to be adopted for improvement of their status. Data were collected from 48 households that were randomly sampled through questionnaire survey and structured interview schedule. The dominant inhabitants of the village were Deshawali (56.30%), Bardhamani (36.70%) and Koibarta (7%) in order of their proportionate share of the population. The average family size indicated almost identical size among the population below 14 years as well as above 30 years of age. Education status expressed low rate of literacy with 41% had no experience of school learning. Roofing pattern of houses indicated maximum use of thatch grass as raw material. The age of the grasslands varied from 10 years to more than 40 years. The rice farmers classified four soil types i.e. ‘lal’, ‘balu’, ‘athail’ and ‘citta’. Majority (50%) of the respondents were found with marginal land holdings of one bigha or less. About 23% of the farm natives briefed that the yield of their grasslands amounts to 1000 gollas (a local unit for cash transaction) of dried leaves per annum. Although much of the farmers are in favor of grassland management but still there are people who wants replacement with plantation of economically important species. The Imperata grasslands are generally managed for both subsistence and income generation. The study concluded that there is an urgent need of Government, NGO and other stakeholders to intervene and study the issues and challenges of the small scale farmers. Thereafter, proper policies may be formulated in restoration of the degraded grasslands and improving the socioeconomic status of the village communities residing in Barak Valley, Assam, northeast India.","PeriodicalId":44105,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Questions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46200818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}