Seagrass restoration is possible: insights and lessons from Australia and New Zealand

Seagrasses are important marine ecosystems situated throughout the world's coastlines. They are facing declines around the world due to global and local threats such as rising ocean temperatures, coastal development and pollution from sewage outfalls and agriculture. Efforts have been made to reduce seagrass loss through reducing local and regional stressors, and through active restoration. Seagrass restoration is a rapidly maturing discipline, but improved restoration practices are needed to enhance the success of future programs. Major gaps in knowledge remain, however, prior research efforts have provided valuable insights into factors influencing the outcomes of restoration and there are now several examples of successful large-scale restoration programs. A variety of tools and techniques have recently been developed that will improve the efficiency, cost effectiveness, and scalability of restoration programs. This review describes several restoration successes in Australia and New Zealand, with a focus on emerging techniques for restoration, key considerations for future programs, and highlights the benefits of increased collaboration, Traditional Owner (First Nation) and stakeholder engagement. Combined, these lessons and emerging approaches show that seagrass restoration is possible, and efforts should be directed at upscaling seagrass restoration into the future. This is critical for the future conservation of this important ecosystem and the ecological and coastal communities they support

Seagrass restoration is possible:Insights and lessons from Australia and New Zealand

Seagrasses are important marine ecosystems situated throughout the world’s coastlines. They are facing declines around the world due to global and local threats such as rising ocean temperatures, coastal development and pollution from sewage outfalls and agriculture. Efforts have been made to reduce seagrass loss through reducing local and regional stressors, and through active restoration. Seagrass restoration is a rapidly maturing discipline, but improved restoration practices are needed to enhance the success of future programs. Major gaps in knowledge remain, however, prior research efforts have provided valuable insights into factors influencing the outcomes of restoration and there are now several examples of successful large-scale restoration programs. A variety of tools and techniques have recently been developed that will improve the efficiency, cost effectiveness, and scalability of restoration programs. This review describes several restoration successes in Australia and New Zealand, with a focus on emerging techniques for restoration, key considerations for future programs, and highlights the benefits of increased collaboration, Traditional Owner (First Nation) and stakeholder engagement. Combined, these lessons and emerging approaches show that seagrass restoration is possible, and efforts should be directed at upscaling seagrass restoration into the future. This is critical for the future conservation of this important ecosystem and the ecological and coastal communities they support

Microbial Quality of Gray Water for Reuse

From the Proceedings of the 1986 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Association, Hydrology Section - Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science and the Arizona Hydrological Society - April 19, 1986, Glendale Community College, Glendale, ArizonaAs the scarcity of water and the price of municipal water inevitably increase, gray water reuse may become an inexpensive and viable alternative for such purposes as irrigation, lawn maintenance and water closet flushing. However, some problems do exist. The microbial and chemical content of gray water includes agents that may present public health problems. The purpose of this study was to determine the general microbial composition of gray water using standard plate counts and selective media at specific sites (shower/bath, wash cycle and rinse cycle of a clothes washing machine) and the general chemical and physical properties of gray water at these same sites (phosphate, ammonia, chloride, pH, TDS and turbidity). Samples were taken from a diverse group of families with and without children (1 ½ - 9 years). Standard plate count bacteria ranged from 10⁵ to 10¹⁰ colony forming units (CFU)₄/100 ml. Shower and bath water contained an average of 10⁴ to 10⁶ CFU/100 ml of coliforms. Failies with children produced wash cycle gray water containing 10⁶ CFU /100 ml of fecal coliforms. Ammonia concentrations varied proportionally with bacterial concentrations while phosphate varied inversely with bacterial growth. Bacterial numbers increased one order of magnitude during storage of gray water.This article is part of the Hydrology and Water Resources in Arizona and the Southwest collections. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science and the University of Arizona Libraries. For more information about items in this collection, contact [email protected]

Religious perspectives on embaryo donation and research

The success of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) worldwide has led to an accumulation of frozen embryos that are surplus to the reproductive needs of those for whom they were created. In these situations, couples must decide whether to discard them or donate them for scientific research or for use by other infertile couples. While legislation and regulation may limit the decisions that couples make, their decisions are often shaped by their religious beliefs. Unfortunately, health professionals, scientists and policy-makers are often unaware of the way in which faith traditions view ART and decisions concerning the ‘fate’ of surplus embryos. In this paper scholars representing six major religious traditions provide a commentary on a hypothetical case concerning the donation or destruction of excess ART embryos. These commentaries provide a rich account of religious perspectives on the status of the human embryo and an insight into the relevance of faith to health and policy decisions, particularly in reproductive medicine, ART and embryo research.Ian H Kerridge, Christopher F C Jordens, Rod Benson, Ross Clifford and Rachel A Ankeny with commentaries by Damien Keown, Bernadette Tobin, Swasti Bhattacharyya, Abdulaziz Sachedina, Lisa Soleymani Lehmann and Brian Edga