Socioecology Research Today

A universal environmental friendly method was developed to turn sand into effective flocculants for mitigating harmful algal blooms (HABs) in marine and freshwater systems. The isoelectric point of sand was largely increased from pH 4.5 to 10.5 after been modified by Moringa oleifera coagulant (MO) abstracted form MO seeds. However, when sand was modified by [...]

This study aims to quantify water appropriation and the potential production of algal bio-oil using freshwater and municipal wastewater effluent (MWW) as an alternative water resource. The county-level analysis focuses on open-pond algae cultivation systems located in 17 states in the southern United States. Several scenarios were developed to examine the water availability for algae [...]

The ultraviolet irradiated thin film coated spinning disc reactor is a new technology for the intensification of heterogeneous photocatalytic reactions. This reactor has previously been found to have a reaction rate maxima for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue across a spinning disc reactor. The reaction rate maxima occurred at an intermediate flow rate of [...]

We studied lipids and fatty acids (FA) in bottom sediments from four Siberian water bodies, Bugach, Lesnoi and Krasnoyarsk freshwater reservoirs and brackish Shira lake, that differed in physico-chemical and biological conditions. We considered the potential of the bottom sediments as a feedstock for biodiesel production and estimated properties of the obtained biodiesel as a [...]

The application of nanomaterials in water treatment plants has attracted significant attention recently. This study investigates the possibility of using graphene oxide (GO) as a novel flocculant to remove contaminants with different surface charges from water, including two particulate ones (kaolin and hematite) and two soluble ones (humic acid (HA) and cationic light yellow 7GL [...]

Dog mess: to most of the population, it is a bio-hazard about as welcome and useful as syphilis. Even those required to collect it approach it with a plastic bag and a grimace. But for one former banker, it is the key to a tantalising civic and eco-energy revolution.After three years of development work, Britain’s [...]

Biomass burning produces 40 to 250 million tons of charcoal per year worldwide. Much of this is preserved in soils and sediments for thousands of years. However, the estimated production rate of charcoal is significantly larger than that of decomposition, and researchers have calculated that a large fraction of the charcoal produced by fires is [...]

In 2011, Lake Erie experienced the largest harmful algal bloom in its recorded history, with a peak intensity over three times greater than any previously observed bloom. Here we show that long-term trends in agricultural practices are consistent with increasing phosphorus loading to the western basin of the lake, and that these trends, coupled with [...]

The majority of population growth in developing countries will occur in small cities closely linked to agricultural zones, with poor access to water and sanitation. Wastewater management priorities in these regions will be different from those in larger cities and developed countries. Two wastewater treatment systems in Bolivia, one with an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket [...]

In this study, quantitative polymerase chain reaction targeting the atrazine catabolism gene, atzA, was used to detect the presence of atrazine degrading bacteria as an indicator of atrazine contamination in 11 sites in Georgia, nine coastal sites in Puerto Rico and 11 coastal sites in Trinidad. The atzA gene was detected in five stations in [...]