The Biological Survival Rule, Biosphere 2 and the Mars Ecological Engineering Project

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengxi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Engineering ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Biosphere 2

scholarly journals The green bulkhead: a vertical wetland design for urban harbors

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 76-79
Author(s):  
Peter I May ◽  
Matthew Lagomarsino ◽  
Patrick Kangas
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Ecological Engineering ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Urban Setting ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Treatment Wetland ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Vertical Orientation ◽  
The Matrix

In urban harbors there is a reliance on the “gray infrastructure” of armored bulkheads along shorelines. While this form of shoreline technology provides stability and eliminates erosion, it limits shoreline biodiversity and lacks aesthetic value. In this paper, a living shoreline concept, termed the Green Bulkhead, is described and demonstrated. This is a kind of artificial vertical wetland with plants grown in a porous plastic fabric that is draped over the surface of an existing bulkhead. The system is irrigated with water that is pumped from the harbor. Several alternate designs have been tested for different medium types, planting patterns and water pumping regimes. It is proposed that the green bulkhead system can provide limited treatment wetland services in an urban setting where cost-effective water quality management options are minimal. Testing found that high percentages of sediment were retained within the matrix of the different media. The system has aesthetic benefits by “greening” the harbor environment with wetland plants and, because of its vertical orientation, it can be managed adaptively for sea level rise. This work is a report of an on-going ecological engineering project with demonstrations along the Baltimore, Maryland Inner Harbor and the Anacostia Waterfront in Washington, DC.

scholarly journals Mice Against Ticks: an experimental community-guided effort to prevent tick-borne disease by altering the shared environment

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1772) ◽  
pp. 20180105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Buchthal ◽  
Sam Weiss Evans ◽  
Jeantine Lunshof ◽  
Sam R. Telford ◽  
Kevin M. Esvelt
Keyword(s):  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Ecological Engineering ◽  
Shared Environment ◽  
Gene Drive ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Mouse Population ◽  
Transmission Cycle ◽  
Tick Borne Disease

Mice Against Ticks is a community-guided ecological engineering project that aims to prevent tick-borne disease by using CRISPR-based genome editing to heritably immunize the white-footed mice ( Peromyscus leucopus ) responsible for infecting many ticks in eastern North America. Introducing antibody-encoding resistance alleles into the local mouse population is anticipated to disrupt the disease transmission cycle for decades. Technology development is shaped by engagement with community members and visitors to the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, including decisions at project inception about which types of disease resistance to pursue. This engagement process has prompted the researchers to use only white-footed mouse DNA if possible, meaning the current project will not involve gene drive. Instead, engineered mice would be released in the spring when the natural population is low, a plan unlikely to increase total numbers above the normal maximum in autumn. Community members are continually asked to share their suggestions and concerns, a process that has already identified potential ecological consequences unanticipated by the research team that will likely affect implementation. As an early example of CRISPR-based ecological engineering, Mice Against Ticks aims to start small and simple by working with island communities whose mouse populations can be lastingly immunized without gene drive. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The ecology and evolution of prokaryotic CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems’.

scholarly journals Intelligent Control System of an Ecological Engineering Project for Carbon Sequestration in Coastal Mariculture Environments in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 5227
Author(s):  
Wei Fan ◽  
Canbo Xiao ◽  
Peiliang Li ◽  
Zhujun Zhang ◽  
Tiancheng Lin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Intelligent Control ◽  
Ecological Engineering ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Sea Trial ◽  
Future Design ◽  
Intelligent Control System ◽  
Self Powered ◽  
Engineering Projects

As an ecological engineering project, artificial upwelling can enhance seaweed growth in the oligotrophic sea area by lifting bottom water, which is rich in nutrients, to the surface and thereby increase coastal carbon sequestration. Generally, engineering projects producing artificial upwelling occur far away from land and are self-powered using offshore solar energy or wind energy. The key to successfully implementing such engineering projects is to produce artificial upwelling with limited energy. With this in mind, an intelligent control system is designed for the energy management of the artificial upwelling engineering project that operates at AoShan Bay in Qingdao, China. This engineering project uses artificial upwelling to assist in the cultivation of macroalgae. The intelligent control system can automatically produce upwelling according to the battery condition and guarantee safety during operation. Meanwhile, users can monitor the system in real time with a Cloud platform. The functioning of the system and the effect of upwelling are confirmed by a sea trial. This research provides guidelines and technical support for the future design of intelligent control systems mounted on artificial upwelling engineering projects.

scholarly journals Relationship between multi-scale climate factors and performance of ecological engineering on the Loess Plateau, China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panxing He ◽  
Jun Ma ◽  
Zhiming Han ◽  
Mingjie Shi ◽  
Dongxiang Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Gross Primary Production ◽  
Ecological Engineering ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Vegetation Restoration ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Multi Scale

AbstractThe long-term “Grain-to-Green Program” (GGP) on China’s Loess Plateau is a major global ecological engineering project which has significantly boosted vegetation renewal. Some studies have found that the rate of restoration is quite rapid during the implementation of ecological engineering, however, the influence of multi-scale climatic conditions on the performance of ecological engineering is unclear. In this study, multiple sources of remote sensing data were used to estimate the dynamics of vegetation structural and functional indicators, water-related local climatic factors, and atmospheric circulation factors. These datasets were also used to detect possible causes for vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau over the past 20 years. The results show that widespread increases in rates of normalized difference vegetation indexes (NDVI), leaf area indexes (LAI), gross primary production (GPP), and aboveground biomass carbon (ABC) during 2000–2016 were significantly higher than before 2000. GPP was significantly correlated with rainfall and surface runoff on a monthly scale, and there were significant positive correlations between GPP and atmospheric circulation. Our results demonstrate that both vegetation structural and functional indicators rapidly increase, and ecological engineering greatly accelerated vegetation restoration after 2000. Local climatic conditions and atmospheric circulation patterns enhance vegetation growth and impact of ecological engineering.

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