Thirty years of aquatic science at the Dorset Environmental Science Centre: transforming understanding of factors that regulate aquatic ecosystems on the southern Canadian Shield / [Trente ans de sciences aquatiques au Centre des sciences environnementales de Dorset : l’évolution de la compréhension des facteurs qui régulent les écosystèmes aquatiques de la partie méridionale du Bouclier canadien]

2008 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Canadian Shield ◽  
Science Centre ◽  
Aquatic Science ◽  
Bouclier Canadien

An introduction to the Dorset special issue: transforming understanding of factors that regulate aquatic ecosystems on the southern Canadian Shield

2008 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 781-785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman D Yan ◽  
Andrew M Paterson ◽  
Keith M Somers ◽  
Wolfgang A Scheider
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Canadian Shield ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
South Central

This special issue demonstrates that aquatic ecosystems on the south-central Canadian Shield have changed in many ways over the last three decades. El Niño cycles have synchronized multilake dynamics in lake-water chemistry and in several components of the aquatic biota. Overlain on this cyclic regional pattern, phosphorus, sulphate, and calcium levels have all declined, whereas alkalinity has not yet risen in the most acid-sensitive study lakes, despite large reductions in SO2 emissions. Further, novel and unanticipated stressors have appeared, including nonindigenous predator introductions, Ca decline, salinity increase, and autumn spikes in metals following El Niño induced droughts. The resident biota are clearly responding not only to the familiar historical phosphorus and acid stressors, but also to the interactive effects of changes in multiple stressors in a warming environment. Lakes are best managed with an understanding of dominant limnological trends, their causes, and their responses to past management interventions. The research conducted at the Dorset Environmental Science Centre indicates “progress but no cigar” on acid rain, proof of climate variability as a direct and indirect regulator of south-central Shield ecosystems, and the emergence of novel stressors, the effects of which we cannot yet fully predict.

The classification of the sciences and the quest for interdisciplinarity: a brief history of ideas from ancient philosophy to contemporary environmental science

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. W. TROMPF
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Science ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Deep Roots ◽  
Science Centre ◽  
History Of ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
Medieval Universities ◽  
Unity Of Knowledge

SUMMARYBurgeoning acquisition of information about the workings, scope and diversities of the cosmos put serious pressure on 19th-century European intellectuals to classify branches of human knowledge. A challenge presented itself not only to order different subject-areas and disciplines intelligently, or assess them according to apparent degrees of certitude, but also to discover some synthesizing principle by which all the distinctive methods of approaching the world might be viewed in interrelationship. This review shows that such endeavours to classify and unify were traditional procedures, with deep roots going back to antiquity, and they brought coherence to academic programmes through the centuries. As a mark of European modernity, there was a tendency to establish more rational, scientific and secular principles of order, and the consequent tensions between positivistic and holistic styles of approach to science have continued since. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, it is also recognized, the constant subdividing of academic agendas has made the work of classification much less manageable and attractive. If traditional principles to express the unity of knowledge were philosophical, or, in the case of the medieval universities, evoked the oneness of the divine Creation, it is intriguing how planetary survivalism in the present time has pushed environmental science centre-stage as a pivotal point of activity encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration. If varying consideration has been granted to practical subjects (for example agriculture) in the history of knowledge classification, their importance has been clarified by current biospheric predicaments.

scholarly journals Strategies to Overcome Intermediate Accumulation During in situ Nitrate Remediation in Groundwater by Hydrogenotrophic Denitrification

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Duffner ◽  
Anja Wunderlich ◽  
Michael Schloter ◽  
Stefanie Schulz ◽  
Florian Einsiedl
Keyword(s):  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Nitrogen Loading ◽  
Groundwater Systems ◽  
Lag Times ◽  
Agriculture And Food ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Stimulation Of

Bioremediation of polluted groundwater is one of the most difficult actions in environmental science. Nonetheless, the clean-up of nitrate polluted groundwater may become increasingly important as nitrate concentrations frequently exceed the EU drinking water limit of 50 mg L–1, largely due to intensification of agriculture and food production. Denitrifiers are natural catalysts that can reduce increasing nitrogen loading of aquatic ecosystems. Porous aquifers with high nitrate loading are largely electron donor limited and additionally, high dissolved oxygen concentrations are known to reduce the efficiency of denitrification. Therefore, denitrification lag times (time prior to commencement of microbial nitrate reduction) up to decades were determined for such groundwater systems. The stimulation of autotrophic denitrifiers by the injection of hydrogen into nitrate polluted regional groundwater systems may represent a promising remediation strategy for such environments. However, besides high costs other drawbacks, such as the transient or lasting accumulation of the cytotoxic intermediate nitrite or the formation of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, have been described. In this article, we detect causes of incomplete denitrification, which include environmental factors and physiological characteristics of the underlying bacteria and provide possible mitigation approaches.

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