994 research outputs found
Carbon dioxide concentration in Mediterranean greenhouses : how much lost production?
In the absence of artificial supply of carbon dioxide in the greenhouse environment, the CO2 absorbed in the process of photosynthesis must ultimately come from the external ambient through the ventilation openings. This requires that the CO2 concentration within the house must be lower than the external concentration, as there would be no flow inwards otherwise. Since potential assimilation (that is, the assimilation level that can be attained when no other factor is limiting) is heavily dependent on carbon dioxide concentration, this implies that assimilation is reduced, whatever the light level or crop status. The ventilation of the greenhouse implies a trade-off between ensuring inflow of carbon dioxide and maintaining an adequate temperature within the house, particularly during sunny, chilly days. We apply a simple model, on which the Dutch ¿philosophy¿ of CO2 fertilisation is based, for estimating the potential production loss, through data measured in commercial greenhouses in Almeria and Sicily. Thereafter we discuss the management options for a grower to limit losses. In particular we analyse costs, potential benefits and consequences of bringing in more carbon dioxide either through increased ventilation, at the cost of lowering temperature, or through artificial supply. We find out that, whereas the reduction in production caused by depletion is comparable to the reduction resulting from the lower temperature caused by ventilation to avoid depletion, compensating the effect of depletion is much cheaper than making up the loss by heating
Planetary Nebulae as Probes of Stellar Evolution and Populations
Planetary Nebulae (PNe) have been used satisfactory to test the effects of
stellar evolution on the Galactic chemical environment. Moreover, a link exists
between nebular morphology and stellar populations and evolution. We present
the latest results on Galactic PN morphology, and an extension to a distance
unbiased and homogeneous sample of Large Magellanic Cloud PNe. We show that PNe
and their morphology may be successfully used as probes of stellar evolution
and populations.Comment: to appear in: Chemical Evolution of the Milky Way: stars versus
clusters, ed. F. Giovannelli and F. Matteucci, Kluwer (2000), in pres
The population of planetary nebulae and HII regions in M81. A study of radial metallicity gradients and chemical evolution
We analyze the chemical abundances of planetary nebulae and HII regions in
the M81 disk for insight on galactic evolution, and compare it with that of
other galaxies, including the Milky Way. We acquired Hectospec/MMT spectra of
39 PNe and 20 HII regions, with 33 spectra viable for temperature and abundance
analysis. Our PN observations represent the first PN spectra in M81 ever
published, while several HII region spectra have been published before,
although without a direct electron temperature determination. We determine
elemental abundances of helium, nitrogen, oxygen, neon, sulfur, and argon in
PNe and HII regions, and determine their averages and radial gradients. The
average O/H ratio of PNe compared to that of the HII regions indicates a
general oxygen enrichment in M81 in the last ~10 Gyr. The PN metallicity
gradient in the disk of M81 is -0.055+-0.02 dex/kpc. Neon and sulfur in PNe
have a radial distribution similar to that of oxygen, with similar gradient
slopes. If we combine our HII sample with the one in the literature we find a
possible mild evolution of the gradient slope, with results consistent with
gradient steepening with time. Additional spectroscopy is needed to confirm
this trend. There are no Type I PNe in our M81 sample, consistently with the
observation of only the brightest bins of the PNLF, the galaxy metallicity, and
the evolution of post-AGB shells. Both the young and the old populations of M81
disclose shallow but detectable negative radial metallicity gradient, which
could be slightly steeper for the young population, thus not excluding a mild
gradients steepening with the time since galaxy formation. During its evolution
M81 has been producing oxygen; its total oxygen enrichment exceeds that of
other nearby galaxies.Comment: A&A, in pres
Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph slitless observations of Small Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebulae: a study on morphology, emission line intensity, and evolution
A sample of 27 Planetary Nebulae (PNs) in the Small Magellanic Clouds (SMC)
have been observed with the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph
(HST/STIS) to determine their morphology, size, and the spatial variation of
the ratios of bright emission lines. The morphologies of SMC PNs are similar to
those of LMC and Galactic PNs. However, only a third of the resolved SMC PNs
are asymmetric, compared to half in the LMC. The low metallicity environment of
the SMC seems to discourage the onset of bipolarity in PNs. We measured the
line intensity, average surface brightness (SB), and photometric radius of each
nebula in halpha, hbeta, [O III] lambda4959 and 5007, [NII] 6548 and 6584, [S
II] lambda6716 and 5731, He I 6678, and [OI] 6300 and 6363. We show that the
surface brightness to radius relationship is the same as in LMC PNs, indicating
its possible use as a distance scale indicator for Galactic PNs. We determine
the electron densities and the ionized masses of the nebulae where the [S II]
lines were measured accurately, and we find that the SMC PNs are denser than
the LMC PNs by a factor of 1.5. The average ionized mass of the SMC PNs is 0.3
Msun. We also found that the median [O III]/hbeta intensity ratio in the SMC is
about half than the corresponding LMC median. We use Cloudy to model the
dependence of the [O III]/hbeta ratio on the oxygen abundance. Our models
encompass very well the average observed physical quantities. We suggest that
the SMC PNs are principally cooled by the carbon lines, making it hard to study
their excitation based on the optical lines at our disposal.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 30 pages, 13
figures, 6 tables. For high resolution version of Figs 1 to 6, see
http://archive.stsci.edu/hst/mcpn/home.htm
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