Tag: improving

New insight into ecosystem services. Article titled: On the biotic self-purification of aquatic ecosystems: elements of the theory

A new insight into ecosystem services was provided in the article titled:

On the biotic self-purification of aquatic ecosystems: elements of the theory. Article.

link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FB%3ADOBS.0000033278.12858.12;

DOI 10.1023/B:DOBS.0000033278.12858.12.

One of key benefits from normal function of healthy aquatic ecosystems is  the provisioning of clean  water, in other words, maintaining proper water quality (which is a result of water self-purification in ecosystem).  Until the time of publishing this article, no consistent and multi-faceted theory of water self-purification had existed. This article is the first publication to formulate such a theory that  elucidates and integrates multiple roles of aquatic organisms involved, including not only microorganisms but also macroorganisms, e.g., higher plants and invertebrates. Both plankton and benthic organisms are involved and their roles were discovered and analyzed in this article.
A more detailed description of the content of this paper:
This article presents a  new theory of biotic (biological) maintaining the natural purification potential of aquatic ecosystems. The fundamental elements are formulated for a qualitative theory of the multifunctional (polyfunctional) role of the biota (the biological community of aquatic organisms) in improving water quality and doing water self-purification in aquatic ecosystems. The  theory covers the following:
the sources of energy for the mechanisms of water self-purification;
the main functional blocks of the system of self-purification;
the system of the main processes that are involved;
the analysis of the degree of participation of the main large taxa; the reliability of the mechanisms of water self-purification; regulation of the processes;
the response of the mechanisms of water self-purification towards the external influences (man-made impacts, pollution);
and some conclusions relevant to the practice of environment protection.
In support of the theory, the results are given of the author’s experiments which demonstrated the ability of some pollutants (surfactants, detergents, and some others) to inhibit the water filtration activity of aquatic invertebrate filter-feeders, namely, the bivalve mollusks, including mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis, Mytilus edulis), and oysters (Crassostrea gigas).
More information on this article:

Laboratory of Physico-Chemistry of Biomembranes, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vorob’evy gory, Moscow, 119991 Russia.

Doklady Biological Sciences. 2004; 396:206-211.

Source: PubMed;

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2015/01/on-biotic-self-purification-of-aquatic_22.html;

This paper is on the short prestigious, honorable list ‘Top papers, books on aquatic ecology, ecotoxicology’ at the largest global catalog, WorldCatalog

[source:

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-series-of-publications-on-list-of.html].

This fundamental and innovative article was cited and commented favorably by scientists in many countries.

A Diploma (Academy of Water Sciences) – a certificate of high scientific quality – was awarded to the series of publications (on ecology, environmental science) including this article: http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2014/07/award-july-1-2014-to-series-of.html;

The paper was bookmarked by members of ResearchGate.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/200567576_On_the_biotic_self-purification_of_aquatic_ecosystems_elements_of_the_theory ;

This paper is on the short prestigious, honorable list ‘Top papers, books on aquatic ecology, ecotoxicology’ at the largest global catalog, WorldCatalog [source: http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-series-of-publications-on-list-of.html].

This article was cited by scientists in Europe, N. America (U.S.A.), and Asia. Diploma (Academy of Water Sciences) – a certificate of high scientific quality – was awarded to the series of publications (on ecology, environmental science) including this article: http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2014/07/award-july-1-2014-to-series-of.html;

The paper was bookmarked by members of ResearchGate.

DOI: 10.1023/B:DOBS.0000033278.12858.12; http://scipeople.ru/users/2943391/; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/200567576_ ;

This paper has a double impact as it is in the journal that is being published in 2 languages.

The Russian version of this paper was published:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265294672_ ;

The reference to the Russian version: Doklady Akademii Nauk, V.396, No.1, 2004, p.136–141.

Attention attracted:  by 26st January 2015, this article was mentioned by  17 Facebook users; and a Google+ user. At ResearchGate: 143 downloads of this article,  6 bookmarks,  and 1007 views (by January 26, 2015);

It was mentioned at web-pages / links:

FAQ: Biotic Self-purification of Aquatic Ecosystems … – 5bio5

5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/11/faq-biotic–self–purification-of-aquatic.html ;
 

On the biotic self-purification of aquatic ecosystems …

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15354827;

http://www.citeulike.org/user/ATP/article/6113556 ;

http://libra.msra.cn/Publication/38311417/on-the-biotic-self-purification;
http://istina.msu.ru/publications/article/591025/ ;

At citeulike.org,

Groups interested in: On the Biotic Self-purification of Aquatic Ecosystems: Elements of the Theory.

key words:

theory, polyfunctional, multifunctional, role, biological, community, ecosystem service, ecosystem health, biota, improving, water quality, self-purification, aquatic ecosystems, sources of energy, mechanisms of water self-purification, functional blocks, reliability, man-made impacts, pollution, environment, protection, pollutants, surfactants, detergents, filtration activity, marine, filter-feeders, suspension feeders, bivalve, mollusks, mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis, Mytilus edulis, oysters, Crassostrea gigas, environmental safety, sustainable use, aquatic resources, sustainability, aquaculture, aqua-farming, protection of environment, top publications, pollution control, environmental safety, water, limnology, freshwater, marine, ecology, environmental toxicology, ecotoxicology, Moscow State University, hazard assessment, bioassays,

Amazing grace: nature’s machine to treat water, to purify water

Amazing grace: nature’s machine to treat water, to purify water

The series of publications authored by Dr. S.A. Ostroumov (M.V. Lomonosov Moscow University) discovered the ecosystem’s machinery that functions as a hi-tech mechanism to make water clear and pure, safe for human consumption. This was a secret of water quality and sustainability. This secret was discovered.  In the table given at some of the sites mentioned below, the reference to the key publications are given. Also, examples are given of the papers that cited  Dr. S. Ostroumov’s works.   These works were cited by experts and scientists from countries as diverse as U.S.A., France, U.K., Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Australia, Argentina, China, India…

See more detail at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/54504932/;
http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/06/amazing-grace-natures-machine-to-treat.html;

Venus, or Aphrodite, goddess of love, Environment, Water and Ecology. Environmental role of synthetic surfactants

Environment, Water and Ecology. Environmental role of synthetic surfactants.

 

 

Background.

In the previous parts of this series of the material posted, it was explained why it is so important to analyze the issues of aquatic environment, water quality, and related issues of how chemicals interact with aquatic organisms (see Part 1, [1]). Also, it was shown that aquatic organisms contribute a lot to improving water quality, as exemplified by the organisms that are filter-feeders (Part 2, [2]).

Goal.
In this material (which is item 3 to continue the series of previous posts on Environment, Water and Ecology [1, 2]), the goal is to consider additional eye-opening information on chemical pollutants of water, especially on the chemicals that until recently were considered as relatively safe, namely, synthetic surfactants.

Location in industrial products.

These chemicals – surfactants – are components of many industrial products of broad use: laundry detergents, shampoo, liquid soap, dish washing liquid detergents, cosmetics, car cosmetics, pipe washing mixtures (including pipes of various use, e.g., pipes for milk and pipes for gasoline), liquids for fire extinguishers, and even pesticide mixtures of broad use in agriculture, horticulture, and in making lawns and playing grounds for golf to look nice.

Variety of names.

These chemicals are known under various names: surfactants, detergents, tensides, surface-active substances, surface active agents.

Quantity. Discharge that pollutes the environment.

The daily discharge of surfactants to waste waters is more than 10 g per an average inhabitant of urbanized areas, which means a discharge of 10 thousand kilogram in a city of 1 million people, which is equal to 22 thousand pound every day or more than 6 million pound annually!

Safe or not?

Until recently the synthetic surfactants were considered as relatively safe chemicals. Their level of environmental hazard was considered far lower than the environmental hazards from the champions of pollution, the notorious ecotoxicants: heavy metals, chlororganic products, PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls), insecticides, herbicides, just to list a few …

Innovation and eye-opening discovery.

The point is that recent research [3 – 5] demonstrated that it was a wrong opinion. A key issue is the issue of criteria to use for assessment of  the environmental hazards of chemicals. Recently, a development of new criteria was made [3].
These criteria gave attention not only to easily visible lethal effects of chemicals (increase in mortality of the organisms tested in the experiments) but also to less noticeable sublethal effects (which decrease functional performance of the organisms and finally their health). Moreover, more attention was given to the ecosystem health.

New experiments showed a variety of negative effects of surfactants on bacteria and cyanobacteria, algae, higher plants and invertebrates, including mussels and oysters that are key organisms that are being grown in aquaculture [3-5].
The results on the new approach, and new experiments, were presented in a series of papers [4 ] and the book [5 ]. The results demonstrated that the synthetic surfactants pose a more serious hazard to environment, especially water environment [3 – 5], than it was previously thought.

This is the book [5], in which a large amount of innovative results of bioassay of synthetic surfactants and detergents is presented. As it was mentioned, the experiments discovered many negative effects of these chemicals on bacteria and cyanobacteria, algae, higher plants and aquatic invertebrates.

Bottom line.

As a matter of fact, the discovery is: a new hazard to environment, a new priority in preventing negative effects of chemical pollution, in prevention of deterioration of water quality.

Recognition: international scientific community.

The book mentioned and the related papers were cited by scientists of a number of countries as diverse as U.S.A., Germany, U.K., Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Turkey, China, Slovakia, and Argentina (in arbitrary order) [6].

Location of the laboratories.

This research was carried out at Moscow State University (Russia), Plymouth Marine Laboratory (U.K.), University of New York (U.S.A.), University of Maryland (U.S.A.), and the Institute of Biology of Southern Seas (Crimea, Ukraine). A concise summary was presented in [7].

Foam and surfactants: a contrasting variety of connotations, including Venus, or Aphrodite.

According to legends of the ancient Greek mythology, a foam produced by sea water was a place of birth of the goddess of love, Aphrodite (Venus in mythology of ancient Rome). Love (to Simonetta Vespucci, nicknamed la bella Simonetta) and the legend on Venus inspired a genius painter of Renaissance, Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445 – 1510), to create one of the most charming images of the cultural heritage of mankind: The Birth of Venus (in Italian: Nascita di Venere; 1486). However, the research project and the book that summarized its results and was mentioned above added some less charming connotations to another type of foam, namely the foam produced by synthetic surfactants.

Location of this post in the series of posts.

This post is No.3 in the series on Environment, Water and Ecology. The previous posts were:

[1] Will wars of future be related to modern science and theories of ecology? Key issues, water quality: scientific fundamentals, achievements, discoveries, bibliography.

Will wars of future be related to modern science and theories of ecology? Key issues, water quality: scientific fundamentals, achievements, discoveries, bibliography


[2] on the discovery of the key role of organisms in making water clear http://sergostroumov.scienceblog.com/2012/04/14/discovery-of-the-key-role-of-organisms-that-filter-water-and-make-it-clear/

**

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND KEY SITES:
[1] Will wars of future be related to modern science and theories of ecology? Key issues, water quality: scientific fundamentals, achievements, discoveries, bibliography.

Will wars of future be related to modern science and theories of ecology? Key issues, water quality: scientific fundamentals, achievements, discoveries, bibliography


[2] on the discovery of the key role of organisms in making water clear http://sergostroumov.scienceblog.com/2012/04/14/discovery-of-the-key-role-of-organisms-that-filter-water-and-make-it-clear/
[3] new criteria for environmental hazards: http://www.scribd.com/doc/60891549; http://www.scribd.com/doc/49088234; www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12852181; http://www.scribd.com/doc/52636721/
[4] series of papers on ecotoxicology of surfactants and detergents: http://www.scribd.com/doc/49065593; http://www.scribd.com/doc/59417067/; http://www.scribd.com/doc/52634169/; http://www.springerlink.com/content/p7754h672w814m30/; http://www.scribd.com/doc/45914806; http://www.scribd.com/doc/45958156/; scribd.com/doc/59544597/;
[5] on the book Biological Effects of Surfactants : http://www.scribd.com/doc/64066178/;
[6] on citation: www.scribd.com/doc/54504932
[7] summary: http://www.scribd.com/doc/60757545;

Addition:

interesting posts on innovations in environmental science:

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/05/normal-0-false-false-false-ru-x-none-x_03.html;

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/04/environmental-science-key-bibliography.html;

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/05/websites-on-scientific-activities-of.html;

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/05/blog-post.html;

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/05/discovery-of-inhibitory-analysis-in.html;

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/05/aquatic-macrophyte-ceratophyllum.html;

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/04/well-cited-article-inhibitory-analysis.html;

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/05/innovative-contribution-to-solution-to.html;

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/05/new-scientific-terminology-integral.html;

http://5bio5.blogspot.com/2012/05/monetary-estimate-of-good-scientific.html;

A new way of mining gold from water? Environment, Nanomaterials, Water, Gold. Know-how using biological

Discovery of the key role of organisms that filter water and make it clear

Venus, or Aphrodite, goddess of love, Environment, Water and Ecology. Environmental role of synthetic surfactants

Will wars of future be related to modern science and theories of ecology? Key issues, water quality: scientific fundamentals, achievements, discoveries, bibliography

Discoveries, innovations in environmental sciences, ecology

New facts on hazardous biological and toxic effects of surfactants and detergents: paradigm shifted

On the author: http://famous-scientists.ru/3732/

ecological, discoveries, 2012, science, terminological,

Key words:
Venus, Aphrodite, love, goddess, environment, detergents, surfactants, tensides, surface active substances, pollutants, ecotoxicology, environmental, chemistry, water, sustainability; aquatic, ecosystem services, marine, resources, environmental safety, protection, hydrosphere, pollution, control, prevention, decontamination, book, biotesting, bioassay, phytotest, phytotoxicity, ecology, improving, water quality, environmental sciences, purification, self-purification, ecosystem health, freshwater, streams, water bodies, pollution control, sublethal, hazard assessment, aquaculture,

Will wars of future be related to modern science and theories of ecology? Key issues, water quality: scientific fundamentals, achievements, discoveries, bibliography


Will wars of future be related to modern science and theories of ecology?
Key issues, water quality: scientific fundamentals, achievements, discoveries, bibliography.
About 400 billion gallons water is used worldwide each day. The goal of this material is to consider some publications in ecology and environmental science that are focused on aquatic ecosystems and their role in maintaining high level of water quality [see sites 1 – 4]. In pristine aquatic bodies – both marine and freshwater ecosystems – why is water pure, transparent, clear, of high water quality?
Until recently, the scientific fundamentals of this issue have not been completely understood. They were not understood until the recent series of papers authored by a scientist of M.V.Lomonosov Moscow University (see [2, 4]).
In this series of articles, what are the main ACHIEVEMENTS? The key achievements are making a new conceptualization and formulating a multi-aspect theory of how aquatic ecosystems and their biological communities with organisms of many biological species work towards improving water quality. These became the key achievements that were presented in the author’s publications [1-4, and therein].
To facilitate the innovative analysis and formulating a new theory, the author proposed some new scientific terminology [3] .
What are the relevant DISCOVERIES? They are some individual steps towards building this new conceptualization. They are 18 steps (discoveries) that were listed and described in [1].
Many experts think that the wars of future will perhaps be wars for water – in more precise terms, the wars for clear waters, for waters of good water quality. The theory mentioned above is perhaps an encouraging victory in another war – the eternal war of knowledge against ignorance.

 

***
Bibliography and Key sites:
1. http://www.scribd.com/doc/83168032/INNOVATIONS-DISCOVERIES-in-ecology-environmental-sciences-biology-18-Items-w-shrt-List-in-English-List-of-Sites-in-Other-Languages;
2. http://www.scribd.com/doc/82780861/Key-References-more-than-50-with-annotations-on-what-is-new-with-sites-of-free-texts-In-English-Dr-S-A-Ostroumov-Ecology-Environment-Water;
3. http://www.scribd.com/doc/82868065/BioMachinery-for-Maintaining-Water-Quality-and-Natural-Water-Self-purification-in-Marine-and-Estuarine-Systems-elements-of-a-qualitative-theory;
4. http://www.scribd.com/doc/79546542/Bibliography-in-English-Environmental-Science-Ecology-Biology-List-with-annotations-http-www-scribd-com-doc-79546542;

***

Key words:
Ecology, improving, water quality, fundamentals, achievements, discoveries, bibliography, environmental sciences, purification, self-purification, ecosystem health, ecosystem services, freshwater, marine, aquatic, resources, streams, water bodies, pollution control,