Soil and water bioengineering: practice and research needs for reconciling natural hazard control and ecological restoration

Soil and water bioengineering is a technology that encourages scientists and practitioners to combine their knowledge and skills in the management of ecosystems with a common goal to maximize benefits to both man and the natural environment. It involves techniques that use plants as living building materials, for: (i) natural hazard control (e.g., soil erosion, torrential floods and landslides) and (ii) ecological restoration or nature-based re-introduction of species on degraded lands, river embankments, and disturbed environments. For a bioengineering project to be successful, engineers are required to highlight all the potential benefits and ecosystem services by documenting the technical, ecological, economic and social values. The novel approaches used by bioengineers raise questions for researchers and necessitate innovation from practitioners to design bioengineering concepts and techniques. Our objective in this paper, therefore, is to highlight the practice and research needs in soil and water bioengineering for reconciling natural hazard control and ecological restoration. Firstly, we review the definition and development of bioengineering technology, while stressing issues concerning the design, implementation, and monitoring of bioengineering actions. Secondly, we highlight the need to reconcile natural hazard control and ecological restoration by posing novel practice and research questions

Potential for nitrogen fixation in fungus-growing termite symbiosis

Termites host a gut microbiota of diverse and essential symbionts that enable specialization on dead plant material; an abundant, but nutritionally imbalanced food source. To supplement the severe shortage of dietary nitrogen (N), some termite species make use of diazotrophic bacteria to fix atmospheric nitrogen (N2). Fungus-growing termites (subfamily Macrotermitinae) host a fungal exosymbiont (genus Termitomyces) that provides digestive services and the main food source for the termites. This has been thought to obviate the need for N2-fixation by bacterial symbionts. Here we challenge this notion by performing acetylene reduction assays of live colony material to show that N2 fixation is present in two major genera (Macrotermes and Odontotermes) of fungus-growing termites. We compare and discuss fixation rates in relation to those obtained from other termites, and suggest avenues of research that may lead to a better understanding of N2 fixation in fungus-growing and other termites

SPECIALIZATION PROCESS FOR THE BIOENGINEERING SECTOR IN THE MEDITERRANEAN ENVIRONMENT. ECOMED PART II. PROTOCOLS AND CASE STUDIES

O livro apresenta metodologia e protocolos de obras de engenharia natural, assim como casos de estudo de seis países mediterrânico

Acrocephalus orinus: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Recent discovery of the Large-billed Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus orinus) in museums and in the wild significantly expanded our knowledge of its morphological traits and genetic variability, and revealed new data on geographical distribution of the breeding grounds, migration routes and wintering locations of this species. It is now certain that A. orinus is breeding in Central Asia; however, the precise area of distribution remains unclear. The difficulty in the further study of this species lies in the small number of known specimens, with only 13 currently available in museums, and in the relative uncertainty of the breeding area and habitat of this species. Following morphological and genetic analyses from Svensson, et al, we describe 14 new A. orinus specimens from collections of Zoological Museums of the former USSR from the territory of Central Asian states. All of these specimens were erroneously labeled as Blyth's Reed Warbler (A. dumetorum), which is thought to be a breeding species in these areas. The 14 new A. orinus specimens were collected during breeding season while most of the 85 A. dumetorum specimens from the same area were collected during the migration period. Our data indicate that the Central Asian territory previously attributed as breeding grounds of A. dumetorum is likely to constitute the breeding territory of A. orinus. This rare case of a re-description of the breeding territory of a lost species emphasizes the importance of maintenance of museum collections around the world. If the present data on the breeding grounds of A. orinus are confirmed with field observations and collections, the literature on the biology of A. dumetorum from the southern part of its range may have to be reconsidered

Obtention de Blés résistants aux Rouilles en Tchécoslovaquie.

Peklo J. Obtention de Blés résistants aux Rouilles en Tchécoslovaquie.. In: Revue de botanique appliquée et d'agriculture coloniale, 12ᵉ année, bulletin n°128, avril 1932. pp. 285-291

The continuity of care of a coronary syndrome patient in Czech Republic

Bakalářská práce se zabývá návazností nemocniční neodkladné péče na péči přednemocniční u pacientů s akutním koronárním syndromem. Tato práce je členěna na teoretickou a praktickou část. Teoretická část popisuje základní anatomii a fyziologii kardiovaskulárního systému, dále diagnostiku a léčbu akutního koronárního syndromu a jeho možné komplikace. Praktická část obsahuje rozbor 3 kazuistik pacientů s infarktem myokardu.ObhájenoThis thesis focuses on the continuity between urgent hospital care and the precending prehospital care. The researched subjects are patients with the acute coronary syndrome. This thesis is structured into a theoretical backround section and a practical research section. The theoretical section defines the basic anatomy and physiology of a cardiovascular system. Furthermore, the theory of diagnostic method and treatment of acute coronary syndrome is assessed while considering possible complications. The practical section contains as analysis of three case studies of patients suffering from myocardial infarction