Riparian Vegetation of Sao Carlos County, Sao Paulo

Retrieved from SciFLO, Brazil.

ABSTRACT

A map of the native vegetation remaining in São Carlos County was built based on aerial images, satellite images, and field observations, and a projection of the probable original vegetation was made by checking it against soil and relief surveys. The existing vegetation is very fragmented and impoverished, consisting predominantly of cerrados (savanna vegetation of various physiognomies), semideciduous and riparian forest, and regeneration areas. Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze, found in patches inside the semideciduous forest beginning at a minimum altitude of 850 m, has practically disappeared. By evaluating areas on the map for different forms of vegetation, we obtained the following results for original coverage: 27% cerrado (sparsely arboreal and short-shrub savanna, and wet meadows); 16% cerradão (arboreal savanna); 55% semideciduous and riparian forests; and 2% forest with A. angustifolia. There are now 2% cerrados; 2.5% cerradão; 1% semideciduous forest and riparian forests; 1.5% regeneration areas; and 0% forest with A. angustifolia.

This is interesting to me because I have been looking for lists of species, discussion of ecosystem structure and current conditions.

Below are some interesting bits of information from this article, published in the Brazilian Journal of Biology
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''The territory of the district is rough. There are open savannas and forests. They generally extended through the mountainous region and have been largely felled by the farmers, who have replaced them with verdant coffee plantations. In these areas the soil is, as a rule, very fertile. There are vast stretches of land whose soils are formed by the oxidation and breaking down of igneous rock – diorite (commonly known as ironstone), which has turned into the famous purple soil, of inexhaustible fertility. The open savanna is usually slightly undulating and abundantly sandy; and, specially in the southwest, by the Campo Alegre station, it is adorned with beautiful meadows, of pleasant aspect''. Regarding hydrology he mentions: ''The district is bathed by the Rivers Feijão, Lobo, Onça, Pinhal, Quebra-Canella, Mello, Monjolinho, Chibarro, Mineirinho, Corrente e Jacaré, which discharge into the Tietê; and by the Águas Turvas, dos Negros, Quilombo, da Água Vermelha, das Araras and das Cabeceiras brooks, tributaries of the Mogy-Guassú river, that also bathes the district''.

The devastation of the original areas of vegetation was a consequence of the large-scale use of soil for agriculture and pasture, beginning with the expansion of coffee planting after 1860. Until then, activity had been restricted to subsistence crops and breeding carried out by the inhabitants, useful also in supplying muleteers and travelers as they moved toward Brazil's central region (Truzzi, 2000).

In this period, semideciduous forest yielded to agriculture due to the demand for more fertile soils for coffee plantation expansion. Besides the loss of good part of the forests, even the remaining fragments were used to produce coffee seedlings and, consequently, the underwood was cleared, causing impoverishment and reduction of biodiversity in these areas, in the interior of which numerous coffee plants may still be found (Martins, 1991; Silva & Soares, 2000) The native pine [Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze], which is used as the official symbol of the county, and was apparently found in patches in the semideciduous forest, has practically disappeared, due to its use for timber and its felling during land occupation. Today, only a few isolated individuals survive.



Here is the projection of the original distribution of semideciduous and riparian forest, forest containing A. angustifolia, cerrados, and cerradão. The estimated total areas of the various vegetational forms, given as percentages of the total area of São Carlos were: 27.74% cerrado, 16.14% cerradão, 54.36% semideciduous and riparian forest, and 1.76% semideciduous forest with A. angustifolia (Table 1).



This is a graphic of what remains of this flora



How does this level of change in vegetation structure compare to the Pacific Northwest. The truth is that the impacts in both places is very similar. My work seed collecting in the Williamette Valley is a struggle to find intact plant populations to sample seed sources.

To finish here is text from this article describing the main vegetation types in this county and their species diversity.

Cerrados and cerradão

In São Paulo State, savanna occurs in the form of islands or branches, mainly in a central strip from the northwest to the southeast, which includes São Carlos County (Borgonovi & Chiarini, 1965). These islands comprise the physiognomies of cerradão (arboreal savanna), cerrado, (sparsely arboreal savanna), campo cerrado (short-shrub savanna), and campo sujo (grassland sparsely shrubbed), following Coutinho's classification (1978).

Silva (1994) compared the vegetation and soil characteristics in different savanna physiognomies on Canchim Farm, São Carlos, and concluded that the dominant factor in the distribution of physiognomies was the presence of more or less sandy soils. The sandier soils, with smaller amounts of clay, are poorer in nutrients and more easily washed away by strong summer rainfalls. In richer soils, vegetation is denser and higher but as the soil becomes sandier and poorer, the arboreal and shrub vegetation becomes lower and sparser. This author found, besides the variation in physiognomy, variation in morphological characteristics such as hair density, presence of protective scales, and hardness and size of leaves.

For the São Carlos it was concluded that cerrado predominated over other physiognomic forms. We believe that campo sujo and campo cerrado occurred only in some very restricted areas, mainly in old sandy alluvial deposits.

Similarly, the wet meadow region formed where a water sheet bursts out between riparian forest and adjacent savanna formations (cerrado, campo cerrado, and cerradão), which is common in many areas of the country, is restricted in São Carlos County, when it occurs at all, to a strip of a few meters.

Much of the remaining savanna formations have a considerably more open physiognomy than the original, due to fires and pasture formation. The cerrado and campo cerrado characteristic species regenerate more easily than the cerradão when the area is abandoned. Although regeneration is facilitated by the species' ability to sprout from the subsoil, it only occurs in places where the agricultural practices do not involve digging deep into the soil. Thus, the surviving savanna does not always reflect past physiognomy.

In the cerrado the underwood and the interlacing branches of stunted trees, growing just above the ground, form a typical landscape: low, dense, and tortuous, hindering attempts to walk through it. From this characteristic derived the term cerrado for this vegetational physiognomy. Researchers like Coutinho (1978) extended the use of this term to more open savanna physiognomies and taller arboreal savanna, owing to the similarity of their flora. The latter, although very similar, within its different physiognomies, varies in density of each species, with sometimes more arboreal species developing and sometimes more shrubs or herbs.

Cerradão is the forest physiognomy of this vegetation. The trees can reach 20 m in height, with stem diameters exceeding 50 cm. Lianas are found everywhere while the herbaceous stratum is very poor. It occurs generally on soil of average fertility.

This savanna has a rich flora in terms of species. Many of them are valued as decorations and used in arborization of streets and public squares (Almeida et al., 1998), or cultivated for their medicinal properties (Siqueira, 1981) or fruits (Almeida, 1998).

In the regional cerradão we found predominating, in the arboreal stratum, species like Anadenanthera falcata Speg., Bowdichia virgilioides H. B. & K., Copaifera langsdorffii Desf., Dimorphandra mollis Benth.., Hymenaea courbaril L., H. stigonocarpa Hayne, Pterodon pubescens Benth., Qualea grandiflora Mart., Q. parviflora Mart.; Virola surinamensis Warb, Vochysia tucanorum Mart., Machaerium acutifolium Mart ex Benth., M. villosum Vog., Sweetia dasycarpa Benth., Miconia rubiginosa Benth,and Kielmeyera coriacea Mart. A more detailed description of the specific composition and structure of this vegetation in the county can be found in Silva (1996).

Species like Annona cacans Warm., A. coriacea Mart., A. crassiflora Mart., Syagrus flexuosa (Mart.), Ocotea pulchella Mart, Ouratea spectabilis Engl., Stryphnodendron barbadetiman (Vell) Mart., S. polyphyllum Mart., Pouteria torta Radlk, Xilopia aromatica (Lam.) Mart., Caryocar brasiliense Cambess., Myrcia lingua (O. Berg.) Mattos, and Roupala montana Aubl. are some of the short trees and bushes commonly found in the savanna of São Carlos. These species also occur in the cerradão.

In more open formations of campo cerrado we found several species of Campomanesia spp., Solanum lycocarpum A. St. Hil., Casearia sylvestris Sw., Setaria poiretiana Kunt, Bromelia antiacantha Bertol, Andira humilis Mart ex Benth., Cochlospermum regium Pilger, Didymopanax vinosum March, Aspidosperma tomentosum Mart., Hancornia speciosa Gomez, Mandevilla velutina K. Schum, Baccharis dracunculifolia D.C., B. subdentata D.C., B. trimera D.C., Calea cimosa Less, C. hispida (D.C.) Baker, Memora axillaris K. Schum., Gochnatia polymorpha Herb. Berol ex D.C., Mikania cordifolia Willd, M. micrantha H. B. & K., Vernonia apiculata Mart. ex D.C., V. brevifolia Less., V. ferruginea Less., Anemopaegna arvense (Vell.) Stelfeld ex de Souza, Arrabidaea brachyopoda Burr., Jacaranda caroba D.C., Pyrostegia ignea Presl., Tabebuia aurea Benth and Hook f. ex S. Moore, Tabebuia caraiba Bureau Mart., Zeyhera montana Mart., Ananas ananassoides (Barker) L.B. Smith, Bauhinia holophylla (Bong) Steud., Cassia spp., Kielmeyera variabilis Mart., Davilla rugosa Poir., Diospyros hispida A.D.C. Erytroxylum spp., andlianes of the genera Banisteria, Banisteriopsis, and Byrsonima. Trees and short trees of higher physiognomic formations are also, though sparsely, among these species.

In the wet meadows we observed terrestrial orchid species of the genus Habenaria; Xyris jupicai Michx., X. metallica Klotzsch ex. Seub., X. hymenachne Mart., X. savanensis Miq., X. teres Alb. Nilsson., Andropogon leuchostachyus H.B.K., several species of Miconia and Leandra, Heleocharis interstincta (Vahl) Roem. & Schult, H. mutata (L.) Roem. & Shult, Rhynchospora exaltata Kunth., R. globosa (Kunt) Roem. & Schult, Scirpus cubensis Kunth., Scleria hirtella Bach., Eriocaulon aequinoctiale Ruhl., E. modestum Kunt., E. pygmaeum Dalz., Paepalanthus blepharocnemis Mart ex Koem, P. speciosus (Bong.) Koern, Syngonanthus caulescens (Poir) Ruhland, S. fischerianus (Bong.) Ruhland, S. xeranthemoides (Bong) Ruhland, and others such as Hydrocotile bonariensis Lam., Lycopodium spp., Nymphoides indica (L.) O. Ktze. (which develop from the edge of the water bodies), Ludwigia elegans (Cambess) Hara, L. leptocarpa (Nutt.) Hara, L. longifolia (D.C.) Hara, L. multinervia (Hook & Am.) T.P. Ramamoorthy, L. suffruticosa Walt., Pontederia cordata Larranaga, and P. lanceolata Nutt.

Riparian forest

The forests that extend along the riversides have received, through the years, denominations such as alluvial, riparian, gallery, and ciliate forest, among others. According to Ivanauskas et al. (1997) these formations have received the most varied designations owing to the variety of local characteristics, such as relief, soil, declivity, physiognomy, position in the landscape, and so on. Velozo & Goes Filho (1982) named them alluvial forests and, when alluvial soil under laid the meadows, they were called fluvial alluvial forest (Campos, 1912) or marshy forest (Lindman & Ferri, 1974; Fernandes & Bezerra, 1990). Bertoni & Martins (1987) called them meadows and Troppmair & Machado (1974), used the term condensation forest, when they occupied the valley bottom, where thick fog occurred at certain periods of the year.

As these formations border the water like eyelashes (Campos, 1912), they were also called rampart forest (Lindman & Ferri, 1974) and ciliary forest (Sampaio, 1938; Hueck, 1972; Bezerra, 1975). In the State of São Paulo, the term ciliary forest (mata ciliar) was sanctioned by Leitão Filho (1982), who defined it as broad-leaved wet forest with periodic flooding.

The ciliary forest designation has been used as a synonym for the term gallery forest (Joly, 1970; among others). However, the Ecology Glossary (Aciesp, 1987) differentiates between these terms based on forest width and the vegetational physiognomy of adjacent areas. According to this work, gallery forest is forest formations along watercourses, in regions where the interfluvial original vegetation is not forest. For regions where interfluvial original vegetation is also forest, the glossary suggests the term ciliary forest or waterside forest. The term ciliary forest, defined by Aciesp (1987), has been substituted by riparian forest (Bertoni & Martins, 1987; Catharino, 1989; Mantovani, 1989; Rodrigues, 1992), reserving the term ciliary forest, as used in the current legislation, for more generic commonly used designations (Rodrigues, 2000).

Swamp forest, also described as almost permanently flooded broadleaf wet forest (Leitão Filho, 1982), although frequently appearing associated with riparian and gallery forest, is distinct from the others, because of almost permanent presence of water in the soil. This saturated soil contributes to the selectivity of species occurring in this formation, and results from their specialized physiology adapted to hydric saturation (Ivanauskas et al., 1997).

According to Leitão-Filho (1982), swamp forest exhibits a relatively small number of very specific species, generally not deciduous, whose uppermost stratum reaches an average of 10-12 m in height.

Swamp forest is restricted to meadows or flood plains, on low, more or less flat land, found close to sources or in well-defined locations on riverbanks, by lakes, or in natural depressions. In these places there are hydromorphic soils (organic and gley; quartzose and hydromorphic sands; and plinthitic soil among others) forming a relief of low mounds and small superficial channels and presenting an irregular surface where the water flows in a definite direction.

The factors that lead to the occurrence of woods (forest physiognomy) or wet meadow (predominantly herbaceous physiognomy) on typically wet soils are still little known. However, it is believed that some of them relate to drainage, and to the presence of physical impediments in the soil and/or alteration of the original topography. In areas where water remained in the soil for long periods, to the point of almost stagnating, herbaceous vegetable formations would develop; and where the water movement was well-defined in superficial channels, forest formations would develop.

Because of its predominance on hydromorphic soils, swamp forest has a naturally restricted distribution in São Paulo State. In addition to this fragmentation, swamp-forest occupied areas have been greatly reduced in the recent past, due to programs stimulating agricultural use of the meadows and to construction of hydroelectric plants, the latter inundating a large part of these remnants. Riparian forest, besides protecting the hydrological characteristics of water bodies and the associated fauna, provides ecological corridors for biota. Such corridors can be found in São Carlos County, where the riparian forest of one hydrographic basin is continuous with the riparian forest of another, uniting two large hydrographic basins of São Paulo State drained respectively by the Mogi-Guaçu and Tietê rivers. The link is made through tributaries such as the Jacaré and Quilombo rivers (Fig. 2).

Studies of the flora and plant associations in riparian forest in the basins of the Mogi-Guaçu, Tietê, and their tributaries in São Carlos County show that the following species are common in the area, if we ignore the ecological variations from place to place: Cyclolobium vecchii A. Sampaio, Alchornea triplinervia Muell. Arg., Guarea trichilioides L., Genipa americana L., Duguetia lanceolata St. Hill., Inga vera H. B. & K., Syagrus romanzoffiana (Cham.) Glassm., Eugenia spp., Picramnia warmingiana Engl., Calophyllum brasiliense Camb., Hymenaea courbaril L., Copaifera langsdorffii Desf., Ixora gardneriana Benth., Lonchocarpus guilleminianus (Tul.) Malme, Aspidosperma peroba Saldanha da Gama, Luehea divaricata Mart, Protium heptaphyllum March, Cecropia pachystachya Trec., Talauma ovata A. St. Hill, Drymis brasiliensis Miers., Calophylum brasiliense Camb., Podocarpus sellowii Klotz. ex Endl., Inga affinis D.C., Rapanea guyanensis Aubl., Cyathea delgadii Sternb., Euterpe edulis Mart, Metrodorea nigra A. St. Hil., Croton floribundus Lund. ex Didr., Xylopia brasiliensis Spreng, and Rollinia silvatica Mart (Bertoni & Martins, 1987; Rodrigues, 1992; and collection of HUFSCar herbarium).

Semideciduous forest

Semideciduous forest is known by several names according to the region and the authors. It is distributed on the inland plateaus and in peripheral depressions of the Serra do Mar and Serra Geral towards the interior of the continent (FIBGE, 1993). For some authors, such forest should be categorized as Atlantic forest (SOS Mata Atlântica), although there are floristic differences between them that depend on location (Giulietti, 1992). The forest can be increased by including swamp forest in the northeast and on the upper Uruguay River, on the border between Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina States.

Torres et al. (1997) established relations among climate, soil, and arboreal flora in the São Paulo State forests, based on the possible influences of abiotic factors on the distribution of species and arboreal families. Thirteen surveys in São Paulo State were selected, representing different conditions (location at the ends of coordinates and altitudes, succession stadiums, surveying methods). By constructing phenograms the authors verified that the species studied formed two floristic blocks: hygrophilous (annual average rainfall higher than 2000 mm and no dry season) and semideciduous forest (total annual average rainfall of about 1400 mm, and variable dry season). The semideciduous forest block was divided in two groups: high altitude (average altitude higher than 750 m, average frost frequency higher than three days/year) and low altitude (below 700 m). Each of these groups was subdivided according to soil properties (texture, eutrophy, acid or alkaline dystrophy, iron content).

São Carlos County falls in the semideciduous forest block containing both floristic divisions (below 700 m and above 750 m).

Of São Paulo State, several surveys of the flora and structure of vegetation have been made, such as those of Pagano & Leitão Filho (1987), and Martins (1991). Of São Carlos there are the studies of Hora & Soares (2002) and Silva & Soares (2000) in Fazenda Canchim reserve, one of the best-preserved remnants of this forest in the county.

Remnants of semideciduous forest are, in general, very impoverished due to human interference and their reduced extent, which leads to diversity decrease. Observations in Fazenda Canchim showed that the dense soils of these forests prevent trees from rooting deeply. Roots are therefore predominantly superficial and cannot always withstand strong wind pressures on the treetops, especially those projecting above the canopy. Hence, trees fall, forming clearings. In addition, forest fragmentation makes treetops more wind vulnerable, mainly at the forest edges, and the smaller the fragment, the larger the effect of the winds is.

According to Silva & Soares (2000) the semideciduous forest shows, in general, an emerging stratum, formed by species that rise above the forest canopy; an arboreal stratum, forming a continuous canopy of about 20-30 meters; and one of smaller trees, less than 10 meters high, besides the shrub and herbaceous strata.

These authors cites as the most common species in the highest stratum Cariniana estrellensis Kunthze, Piptadenia gonoacantha Macbride, Chorisia speciosa St. Hil., Enterolobium contortisiliquum Morong.and, among species that predominate in the forest, Metrodorea nigra A. St. Hil., Pachystroma longifolium I. M. Johnston, Aspidosperma polyneuron Muell. Arg., Aspidosperma ramiflorum Muell. Arg., Savia dictyocarpa Muel. Arg., Ocotea odorifera (Vell) J. G. Rohwer, Machaerium stipitatum Vog., Holocalyx glaziovii Taub. ex. Glaziou., Cabralea cangerana Saldanha da Gama, Inga marginata H. B. & K., Actinostemon communis Pax., Actinostemon concolor Pax., Centrolobium tomentosum Guill. ex Benth. Cavassan et al. (1984) and Martins (1991) also mention, as common species in this forest, Croton salutaris Casar, Guarea trichilioides L., Acacia polyphylla Clos., Nectandra megapotamica (Spreng) Mez., Piptadenia rigida Benth., Gallezia gorazema Moq.,and Balfourodendron riedelianum Engl.

Semideciduous forest with Araucaria angustifolia

The presence of Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) O. Kuntze in the forest is striking. This species is shaped like a chandelier and the trees occupy within the forest structure an emerging position. When the population is sufficiently dense, the tops touch forming a continuous canopy, a configuration more common on higher plateaus in southern Brazil.

Araucaria species are typical in South American temperate and cold regions (Duarte, 1993). Their distribution in Brazil in earlier geological periods was more widespread, with only remnants remaining (Backes, 1983).

Two hypotheses are offered to explain the presence of Araucaria in São Carlos:

Paleoclimatic: occurrence a colder and drier paleoclimate in the tertiary, with Araucaria remaining in places where ecological conditions were favorable (Troppmair, 1974). Ledru et al. (1996, 1998) suggested dating the transition from a dry to a moist climate in 17,000 14 C. yr. BP and also that the presence of Araucaria, Podocarpus, and Drymys pollencan indicate high-moisture conditions in some places. In this case, the existence of A. angustifolia has a singular importance in the region of São Carlos, evidencing an ancient ecological condition.

Anthropic: indigenous populations during their migrations might have brought seeds, either planted or left behind while camping, that grew in places where favorable ecological conditions were found.

The forest with Araucaria in Southern Brazil shows a group of plant species differing little from the Atlantic formations (Jarenkow & Baptista, 1987). Thus, we believe that in the São Carlos region, Araucaria angustifolia occurred together with the semideciduous forest species, forming associations of larger or smaller density.

Treatment wetlands

Thinking about first design of simple biological water treatment systems and how chemicals are bound an otherwise immobilized. Next we need to look into how to monitor performance.

Interesting basic info below

From Wikipedia,key words, treatment wetland comes a link to this article by University of Florida wastewater treatment wetlands, by William F DeBusk

Wetlands are commonly known as biological filters, providing protection for water resources such as lakes, estuaries and ground water. Although wetlands have always served this purpose, research and development of wetland treatment technology is a relatively recent phenomenon. Studies of the feasibility of using wetlands for wastewater treatment were initiated during the early 1950s in Germany. In the United States, wastewater-to-wetlands research began in the late 1960s, and increased dramatically in scope during the 1970s. As a result, the use of wetlands for water and wastewater treatment has gained considerable popularity worldwide. Currently, an estimated one thousand wetland treatment systems, both natural and constructed, are in use in North America.
The goal of wastewater treatment is the removal of contaminants from the water in order to decrease the possibility of detrimental impacts on humans and the rest of the ecosystem. The term "contaminant" is used here to refer to an undesirable constituent in the water or wastewater that may directly or indirectly affect human or environmental health. Many contaminants, including a wide variety of organic compounds and metals, are toxic to humans and other organisms. Other types of contaminants are not toxic, but nevertheless pose an indirect threat to our well-being. For example, loading of nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus) to waterways can result in excessive growth of algae and unwanted vegetation, diminishing the recreational, economic and aesthetic values of lakes, bays and streams.

Wetlands have proved to be well-suited for treating municipal wastewater (sewage), agricultural wastewater and runoff, industrial wastewater, and stormwater runoff from urban, suburban and rural areas. Municipal wastewater originates primarily from residential and commercial sources. Wetland treatment systems for municipal wastewater vary greatly in size and scope, from single-residence backyard wetlands to regional-scale systems such as the 1200- acre (480-ha) Iron Bridge treatment wetland in central Florida. Agricultural wastewater may include runoff from crop lands and pastures, milking or washing barns and feedlots. Among the types of industrial wastewater that are amenable to treatment in wetlands are those associated with pulp and paper manufacturing, food processing, slaughtering and rendering, chemical manufacturing, petroleum refining, and landfill leachates.

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A number of physical, chemical and biological processes operate concurrently in constructed and natural wetlands to provide contaminant removal. Knowledge of the basic concepts of these processes is extremely helpful for assessing the potential applications, benefits and limitations of wetland treatment systems.

Physical Removal Processes

Wetlands are capable of providing highly efficient physical removal of contaminants associated with particulate matter in the water or waste stream. Surface water typically moves very slowly through wetlands due to the characteristic broad sheet flow and the resistance provided by rooted and floating plants. Sedimentation of suspended solids is promoted by the low flow velocity and by the fact that the flow is often laminar (not turbulent) in wetlands. Mats of floating plants in wetlands may serve, to a limited extent, as sediment traps, but their primary role in suspended solids removal is to limit resuspension of settled particulate matter.
Efficiency of suspended solids removal is proportional to the particle settling velocity and the length of the wetland. For practical purposes, sedimentation is usually considered an irreversible process, resulting in accumulation of solids and associated contaminants on the wetland soil surface. However, resuspension of sediment may result in the export of suspended solids and yield a somewhat lower removal efficiency. Some resuspension may occur during periods of high flow velocity in the wetland. More commonly, resuspension results from wind-driven turbulence, bioturbation (disturbance by animals and humans) and gas lift. Gas lift results from production of gases such as oxygen, from photosynthesis in the water, and methane and carbon dioxide, produced by microorganisms in the sediment during decomposition of organic matter. Problems with eventual buildup of sediment to detrimental levels may need to be addressed over the long term.


Biological Removal Processes

Biological removal is perhaps the most important pathway for contaminant removal in wetlands. Probably the most widely recognized biological process for contaminant removal in wetlands is plant uptake. Contaminants that are also forms of essential plant nutrients, such as nitrate, ammonium and phosphate, are readily taken up by wetland plants. However, many wetland plant species are also capable of uptake, and even significant accumulation of, certain toxic metals such as cadmium and lead. The rate of contaminant removal by plants varies widely, depending on plant growth rate and concentration of the contaminant in plant tissue. Woody plants, i.e., trees and shrubs, provide relatively long-term storage of contaminants, compared with herbaceous plants. However, contaminant uptake rate per unit area of land is often much higher for herbaceous plants, or macrophytes, such as cattail. Algae may also provide a significant amount of nutrient uptake, but are more susceptible to the toxic effects of heavy metals. Storage of nutrients in algae is relatively short-term, due to the rapid turnover (short life cycle) of algae. Bacteria and other microorganisms in the soil also provide uptake and short-term storage of nutrients, and some other contaminants.
In wetlands, as in many terrestrial ecosystems, dead plant material, known as detritus or litter, accumulates at the soil surface. Some of the nutrients, metals or other elements previously removed from the water by plant uptake are lost from the plant detritus by leaching and decomposition, and recycled back into the water and soil. Leaching of water-soluble contaminants may occur rapidly upon the death of the plant or plant tissue, while a more gradual loss of contaminants occurs during decomposition of detritus by bacteria and other organisms. Recycled contaminants may be flushed from the wetland in the surface water, or may be removed again from the water by biological uptake or other means.

In most wetlands, there is a significant accumulation of plant detritus, because the rate of decomposition is substantially decreased under the anaerobic (oxygen-depleted) conditions that generally prevail in wetland soil. If, over an extended period of time, the rate of organic matter decomposition is lower than the rate of organic matter deposition on the soil, formation of peat occurs in the wetland. In this manner, some of the contaminants originally taken up by plants can be trapped and stored as peat. Peat may accumulate to great depths in wetlands, and can provide long-term storage for contaminants. However, peat is also susceptible to decomposition if the wetland is drained or otherwise dries up. When that happens, the contaminants incorporated in the peat may be released and either recycled or flushed from the wetland.

Although microorganisms may provide a measurable amount of contaminant uptake and storage, it is their metabolic processes that play the most significant role in removal of organic compounds. Microbial decomposers, primarily soil bacteria, utilize the carbon (C) in organic matter as a source of energy, converting it to carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane (CH4) gases. This provides an important biological mechanism for removal of a wide variety of organic compounds, including those found in municipal wastewater, food processing wastewater, pesticides and petroleum products. The efficiency and rate of organic C degradation by microorganisms is highly variable for different types of organic compounds.

Microbial metabolism also affords removal of inorganic nitrogen, i.e., nitrate and ammonium, in wetlands. Specialized bacteria (Pseudomonas spp.) metabolically transform nitrate into nitrogen gas (N2), a process known as denitrification. The N2 is subsequently lost to the atmosphere, thus denitrification represents a means for permanent removal, rather than storage, of nitrogen by the wetland. Removal of ammonium in wetlands can occur as a result of the sequential processes of nitrification and denitrification. Nitrification, the microbial (Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter spp.) transformation of ammonium to nitrate, takes place in aerobic (oxygen-rich) regions of the soil and surface water. The newly-formed nitrate can then undergo denitrification when it diffuses into the deeper, anaerobic regions of the soil. The coupled processes of nitrification and denitrification are universally important in the cycling and bioavailability of nitrogen in wetland and upland soils.


Chemical Removal Processes

In addition to physical and biological processes, a wide range of chemical processes are involved in the removal of contaminants in wetlands. The most important chemical removal process in wetland soils is sorption, which results in short-term retention or long-term immobilization of several classes of contaminants. Sorption is a broadly defined term for the transfer of ions (molecules with positive or negative charges) from the solution phase (water) to the solid phase (soil). Sorption actually describes a group of processes, which includes adsorption and precipitation reactions.
Adsorption refers to the attachment of ions to soil particles, by either cation exchange or chemisorption. Cation exchange involves the physical attachment of cations (positively charged ions) to the surfaces of clay and organic matter particles in the soil. This a much weaker attachment than chemical bonding, therefore the cations are not permanently immobilized in the soil. Many constituents of wastewater and runoff exist as cations, including ammonium (NH4+) and most trace metals, such as copper (Cu2+). The capacity of soils for retention of cations, expressed as cation exchange capacity (CEC), generally increases with increasing clay and organic matter content. Chemisorption represents a stronger and more permanent form of bonding than cation exchange. A number of metals and organic compounds can be immobilized in the soil via chemisorption with clays, iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al) oxides, and organic matter. Phosphate can also bind with clays and Fe and Al oxides through chemisorption.

Phosphate can also precipitate with iron and aluminum oxides to form new mineral compounds (Fe- and Al-phosphates), which are potentially very stable in the soil, affording long- term storage of phosphorus. In the Everglades, and other wetlands that contain high concentrations of calcium (Ca), phosphate can precipitate to form Ca-phosphate minerals, which are also stable over a long period of time. Another important precipitation reaction that occurs in wetland soils is the formation of metal sulfides. Such compounds are highly insoluble and represent an effective means for immobilizing many toxic metals in wetlands.

Volatilization, which involves diffusion of a dissolved compound from the water into the atmosphere, is another potential means of contaminant removal in wetlands. Ammonia (NH3) volatilization can result in significant removal of nitrogen, if the pH of the water is high (greater than about 8.5). However, at a pH lower than about 8.5, ammonia nitrogen exists almost exclusively in the ionized form (ammonium, NH4+), which is not volatile. Many types of organic compounds are volatile, and are readily lost to the atmosphere from wetlands and other surface waters. Although volatilization can effectively remove certain contaminants from the water, it may prove to be undesirable in some instances, due to the potential for polluting the air with the same contaminants.


Conclusions

A wide range of physical, chemical and biological processes contribute to removal of contaminants from water in wetlands. These processes include sedimentation, plant uptake, chemical adsorption and precipitation, and volatilization. Removal of contaminants may be accomplished through storage in the wetland soil and vegetation, or through losses to the atmosphere.
An understanding of the basic physical, chemical and biological processes controlling contaminant removal in wetlands will substantially increase the probability of success of treatment wetland applications. Furthermore, a working knowledge of biogeochemical cycling, the movement and transformation of nutrients, metals and organic compounds among the biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components of the ecosystem, can provide valuable insight into overall wetland function and structure. This level of understanding is useful for evaluating the contaminant-removal performance of constructed wetlands and for assessing the functional integrity of human-impacted, restored and mitigation wetlands. More detailed discussions of wetland biogeochemistry and contaminant removal in treatment wetlands can be found in the references listed below.


References

Kadlec, R.H., and R.L. Knight. 1996. Treatment wetlands. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL.
Mitsch, W.J., and J.G. Gosselink. 1993. Wetlands. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.

Reddy, K. R., and E. M. D'Angelo. 1994. Soil processes regulating water quality in wetlands. p. 309-324. In Mitsch, W. J. (ed.) Global wetlands: old world and new. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam.

Terra preta, biochar and agriculture

The Oil Drum has an excellent posting on terra preta. The link with images and charts can be found heretext of article below fold
More...Terra Preta: Biochar And The MEGO Effect
Posted by Big Gav on September 28, 2008 - 10:27am in TOD: Australia/New Zealand
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: agrichar, agriculture, biochar, black earth, carbon sequestration, original, pyrolysis, terra preta [list all tags]
This month's edition of National Geographic has a feature article on "Soil", which looks at the steady degradation of agricultural land and the problem this poses in world where the population is heading for 9+ billion people - effectively calling attention to the "peak dirt" problem (however soil is renewable, so any "peak" should be able to be reversed if sufficient time and effort is put into doing so).
The article uses an acronym I've never come across before to describe the problem faced by those trying to draw attention to the issue: MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) - a phenomenon which should be familiar to anyone who has ever talked about peak oil, global warming or any of the other "limits to growth".

This year food shortages, caused in part by the diminishing quantity and quality of the world's soil, have led to riots in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. By 2030, when today's toddlers have toddlers of their own, 8.3 billion people will walk the Earth; to feed them, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates, farmers will have to grow almost 30 percent more grain than they do now. Connoisseurs of human fecklessness will appreciate that even as humankind is ratchetting up its demands on soil, we are destroying it faster than ever before. "Taking the long view, we are running out of dirt," says David R. Montgomery, a geologist at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Journalists sometimes describe unsexy subjects as MEGO: My eyes glaze over. Alas, soil degradation is the essence of MEGO.

One subject that features in the article is soil restoration, including a look at "terra preta" - rich, fertile artificial soils found in the Amazon. In this post I'll have a look at modern day techniques to produce terra preta (often called biochar or agrichar) which have the potential to increase soil fertility, generate energy and sequester carbon all at the same time.
The History Of Terra Preta

Terra Preta ("black earth") was discovered by Dutch soil scientist Wim Sombroek in the 1950's, when he discovered pockets of rich, fertile soil amidst the Amazon rainforest (otherwise known for its poor, thin soils), which he documented in a 1966 book "Amazon Soils". Similar pockets have since been found in other sites in Ecuador and Peru, and also in Western Africa (Benin and Liberia) and the Savannas of South Africa. Carbon dating has shown them to date back between 1,780 and 2,260 years.

Terra preta is found only where people lived - it is an artificial, human-made soil, which originated before the arrival of Europeans in South America. The soil is rich in minerals including phosphorus, calcium, zinc, and manganese - however its most important ingredient is charcoal, the source of terra preta's color.

It isn't entirely clear if the Amazon Indians whose old settlements terra preta is found at deliberately created the soils or if they were an accidental by-product of "slash and smoulder" farming techniques, though the emerging consensus seems to be that the Indians deliberately created the material, with some early European accounts in the area noting the practice still being performed.

The key ingredient is apparently the activated carbon in the charcoal. Activated carbon has a complex, spongelike molecular structure - a single gram can have a surface area of 500 to 1,500 square meters (or about the equivalent of one to three basketball courts). Having this material in the soil has several beneficial effects, including a 20% increase in water retention, increased mineral retention, increased mineral availability to plant roots, and increased microbial activity.

It has also been shown to be particularly beneficial to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, which form a symbiotic relationship with plant root fibers, allowing for greater nutrient uptake by plants. There is speculation that the mycorrhizal fungi may play a part in terra preta’s ability to seemingly regenerate itself.


Pyrolysis and Eprida

Modern day producers of biochar (agrichar) take dry biomass and bake it in a kiln to produce charcoal. Biochar is the term for what is left over after the energy is removed: a charcoal-based soil amendment - this process is called pyrolysis. Various gases and oils are driven off the material during the process and then used to generate energy. The charcoal is buried in the ground, sequestering the carbon that the growing plants had pulled out of the atmosphere. The end result is increased soil fertility and an energy source with negative carbon emissions.

Eprida is a company founded by Danny Day, which is attempting to commercialise the idea by building systems that turn farm waste into hydrogen, biofuel, and biochar (see here for a short movie explaining their process).

The Eprida technology uses agricultural waste biomass to produce hydrogen-rich bio-fuels and a new restorative high-carbon fertilizer (ECOSS) ...In tropical or depleted soils ECOSS fertilizer sustainably improves soil fertility, water holding and plant yield far beyond what is possible with nitrogen fertilizers alone. The hydrogen produced from biomass can be used to make ethanol, or a Fischer-Troupsch gas-to-liquids diesel (BTL diesel), as well as the ammonia used to enrich the carbon to make ECOSS fertilizer.
We don't maximize for hydrogen; we don't maximize for biodisel; we don't maximize for char...By being a little bit inefficient in each, we approximate nature and get a completely efficient cycle.


The potential power of biochar lies in this closed loop production process , where agricultural practices involving biochar production see increasing returns of crop yields, energy and soil fertility over time.

Biochar also has potential to address problems such as waste disposal and rural development. A significant proportion of the world's population relies on charcoal as a cooking fuel, the production of which drives deforestation in Africa and other places.

Replacing traditional charcoal kilns with modern pyrolysis units could reduce the demand for wood from forests by increasing the efficiency of energy production and adding the ability to use any source of biomass, including agricultural waste products. This would also help to reduce respiratory diseases in the developing world, particularly amongst children.


There has also been speculation that pyrolysis could be a useful technique for dealing with the huge swathes of Canadian forests that have been killed by pine beetles recently.

Some industry participants believe that energy, rather than agriculture, will be the key driver for adopting biomass pyrolysis. Desmond Radlein of Dynamotive Energy Systems has been quoted as saying "It is wishful thinking that people will switch to renewable fuels unless it is cheaper. All of this is tied to the price of oil; as it goes up, many more things are possible."

Another company active in the pyrolysis sector is Best Energies. Technical Manager Adriana Downey recently had an interview with Beyond Zero Emissions, talking about some of the pilot programs they have been running and plans to build the first fully commercial scale pyrolysis plant in Australia.

Lukas's program with the NSW DPI (Department of Primary Industries) in Northern NSW have basically taken some of the agrichar material that we've made here at Best Energies and they've been trialling that material in different agronomic applications to see how the agrichar, when its applied, can help crop-productivity and improve the sustainability of agriculture as well as, and what you guys are more interested in, sequester carbon long-term in soils and also decrease the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide emissions from soil. ...
The agrichar when it's applied to the soil has a good effect on the general physical structure of the soil. Because the agrichar has a really high surface area, it means that there's lots of pores in the soil which can then retain moisture and act as little reservoirs for the water to be retained in the soil. As well as this, all of the surface area helps to bind nutrients in the soil and also provides a microhabitat for micro organisms in the soil which are essential for the natural processes in the soil which allow micro organisms to flourish.


Carbon Capture Potential

There is a large difference between terra preta and ordinary soils - a hectare of meter-deep terra preta can contain 250 tonnes of carbon, as opposed to 100 tonnes in unimproved soils from similar parent material, according to Bruno Glaser, of the University of Bayreuth, Germany. The difference in the carbon between these soils matches all of the carbon contained in the vegetation on top of them.

The ABC's "Catalyst" program last year had a feature on "Agrichar – A solution to global warming ?" (shown below) in the lead up to an international biochar conference in Terrigal, NSW, which included Tim Flannery talking about the potential for sequestering gigatonnes of carbon in the soil.


This year's International Biochar Initiative conference has just been held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK.


It is not yet clear what the limits are to how much biochar can be added to the soils using these techniques, however some fairly extravagant claims about biochar's capacity to capture carbon have been made. Soil scientist and author of "Amazonian Dark Earths: Origin, Properties, Management" Johannes Lehmann believes that a strategy combining biochar with biofuels could ultimately offset 9.5 billion tons of carbon per year - an amount equal to the total current fossil fuel emissions. Lehmann also notes that unlike biodiesel and corn ethanol, biochar doesn’t take land away from food production.

If true, this would be an interesting form of geoengineering to try and reverse the effects of global warming (and one far less risky than some of the alternatives proposed) but I would still question our ability to turn all the world's oil, coal and gas reserves back into rich soil via burn - atmosphere - pyrolysis loop.

Criticisms

A number of criticisms have been made about biochar. These include:

* The technology to implement the process is still immature.
* Scientists don’t know how much charcoal farmers should use, how they should apply it, or which feedstocks work best.
* Farmers are reluctant to spread unproven products on their fields, so the few companies manufacturing biochar have struggled to find buyers.
* Charcoal production can generate toxic waste if performed incorrectly.
* The energy needed to produce, transport, and bury biochar could outweigh the carbon savings.
* Some analysts say the economics of the process will not be acceptable until carbon markets are established, allowing farmers to earn carbon credits for applying biochar to their fields.
* Some environmental activists claim that applying the process on a large scale would result in further rainforest clearing which would actually degrade soil quality and increase global warming.
Rhizome In The Amazon

Jeff Vail recently had a post on a "Rhizome Template in the Amazon ?", which looked at a paper by Mark Heckenberger suggesting that a dense civilization of networked villages once existed in the Amazon, which Jeff noted was interesting because it "appears to show a form of organization that permits density without significant hierarchy".

The paper shows that the Xingu region of the Amazon was once populated by a grid-like pattern or villages, each connected by a precisely aligned network of roadways (the Xingu river is the Amazon's second longest tributary, with the region currently experiencing tension over plans to dam the river).

Here's an alternate mode of organization--a networked "grid," "lattice," or "peer-to-peer" structure of small, minimally self-sufficient villages, or "rhizome" as proposed in my article The Hamlet Economy. The Xingu settlement structure seems to consicously model itself in the latter pattern. Heckenberger even notes that each village was surrounded by a buffer zone of "managed parkland," exactly the kind of fall-back, resiliency-enhancing production zone that I recommended for rhizome. Here's a link to a satellite image of one section fo Xingu settlement.
Did this Xingu civilization really develop a dense, ecologically sustainable civilization without hierarchal structure? Or did they simply find a new way to impose hierarchy without developing the signatures of "central places"? Was this a conscious reaction to prior abuses of hierarchy, or simply an expedient to survival in the dense forrests and poor agricultural soils of the Amazon? We don't know the answers to these questions at this time, but the research of Heckenberger and his colleagues suggests that there is still a great deal for us to learn from the past about how we can best live in the future

Heckenberger also examined the terra preta pockets in the region, which is described briefly in an interesting article by Charles Mann in The Atlantic Monthly called "1491".
Scientific American also notes the correlation between the lost cities of the Amazon and terra preta in "Ancient Amazon Actually Highly Urbanized", as does The Vermont Quarterly in "Pay Dirt".

Terra preta, Woods guesses, covers at least 10 percent of Amazonia, an area the size of France. It has amazing properties, he says. Tropical rain doesn't leach nutrients from terra preta fields; instead the soil, so to speak, fights back. Not far from Painted Rock Cave is a 300-acre area with a two-foot layer of terra preta quarried by locals for potting soil. The bottom third of the layer is never removed, workers there explain, because over time it will re-create the original soil layer in its initial thickness. The reason, scientists suspect, is that terra preta is generated by a special suite of microorganisms that resists depletion. "Apparently," Woods and the Wisconsin geographer Joseph M. McCann argued in a presentation last summer, "at some threshold level ... dark earth attains the capacity to perpetuate—even regenerate itself—thus behaving more like a living 'super'-organism than an inert material."
In as yet unpublished research the archaeologists Eduardo Neves, of the University of São Paulo; Michael Heckenberger, of the University of Florida; and their colleagues examined terra preta in the upper Xingu, a huge southern tributary of the Amazon. Not all Xingu cultures left behind this living earth, they discovered. But the ones that did generated it rapidly—suggesting to Woods that terra preta was created deliberately. In a process reminiscent of dropping microorganism-rich starter into plain dough to create sourdough bread, Amazonian peoples, he believes, inoculated bad soil with a transforming bacterial charge. Not every group of Indians there did this, but quite a few did, and over an extended period of time.

When Woods told me this, I was so amazed that I almost dropped the phone. I ceased to be articulate for a moment and said things like "wow" and "gosh." Woods chuckled at my reaction, probably because he understood what was passing through my mind. Faced with an ecological problem, I was thinking, the Indians fixed it. They were in the process of terraforming the Amazon when Columbus showed up and ruined everything.

Scientists should study the microorganisms in terra preta, Woods told me, to find out how they work. If that could be learned, maybe some version of Amazonian dark earth could be used to improve the vast expanses of bad soil that cripple agriculture in Africa—a final gift from the people who brought us tomatoes, corn, and the immense grasslands of the Great Plains.

All in all I think biochar is worth exploring further in some depth.
Further Reading:

Nature: Putting the carbon back "Black is the new green": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v442/n7103/full/442624a.html

Biochar overview from Cornell University: http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/biochar/Biochar_home.htm

Terra Preta web site from the University of Bayreuth http://www.geo.uni-bayreuth.de/bodenkunde/terra_preta/

The Earth Science Forum: http://forums.hypography.com/earth-science/3451-terra-preta.html

Biochar summary from Georgia Tech: http://www.energy.gatech.edu/presentations/dday.pdf

Terra preta mailing list: Terrapreta@bioenergylists.org http://bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/terrapreta_bioenergylists.org

FAO: Organic Agriculture And The Environment http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/Y4137E/y4137e02.htm

WorldChanging: A Carbon-Negative Fuel http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007427.html

Hen and Harvest: Black Magic http://henandharvest.com/?p=118

Peak Energy: On population growth and the green revolution - "The Fat Man, The Population Bomb And The Green Revolution" http://peakenergy.blogspot.com/2007/10/fat-man-population-bomb-and-green.html

Peak Energy: On worms and soil - "The Turning Of The Worm" http://peakenergy.blogspot.com/2007/01/turning-of-worm.html

Peak Energy: On Mycelium - "Nature's Internet: The Vast, Intelligent Network Beneath Our Feet" http://peakenergy.blogspot.com/2008/07/natures-internet-vast-intelligent.html

(Hat tip to Erich J Knight and Aaron Newton for providing some of the links used in the post)

Cross-posted from Our Clean Energy Future.

Shade and seedling propagation

Managing the intense sunlight of the tropics is a critical issue. At our temperate zone nursery we field raise our plants direct seeded in seedbeds. Here also we are concerned about ensuring survival of seedlings in the harsh reality of spring sunlight. We use overhead irrigation in early spring until our drip irrigation is installed. As the root emerge from the surface sown seed sunlight and desiccation is deadly. Seedlings are also tender and need to be protected until they have roots to sustain their leaves.

We use remay a rayon fabric used as a spring crop cover in our own special application This and more under the fold
More... This is the remay we use on our crops



These are emerging seedlings



Now, last few days I have been looking for literature helpful in our interest of restoration ecology in Sao Paulo State. This and the series of recent posts is topical for this purpose. Here is a link to a FAO article,Management of Forest Nurseries, the chapter on the use of shade is here



Noteworthy is the use of natural materials to build shade structures and supporting structure.

the Pro's and Cons of Vegetative Propagation

Rooting Cuttings of Tropical Trees Here is a basic manual useful for beginner to an excellent review for the experienced grower. These are the different categories of vegetative propagation(from page A3) 1.rooting cuttings - a piece of the stem is encouraged to grow roots 2.grafting or budding a piece of stem or but is attached to a live root system (rootstock) 3.planting shoot or root tubers 4.taking suckers 5.separating offsets or dividing plants that form clumps, etc 6.micropropagation growing pieces of tissue in laboratory Is this the best practice for riparian and wildland restoration?
More...
The answer to this question depends on how you are using these plants


Ornamental, timber species and plants with economic use are selected for uniformity and special production features. If you are harvesting a commercial fruit crop then it will be useful to have all or your crop to ripen evenly at once, on the other hand in nature the same species with uneven blooming periods and ripening offers benefits to wildlife with sustained food availability.

Genetic variations are also advantage to plants that must adapt to wide selection of climates and microhabitats. In my experiences seed collecting and propagating native plants, I have seen expression of this adaptation in native species in their natural habitat. One of our willow species from my home has 5 strains that are easily recognized. One is adapted to dry sites and even in the vicinity of other strains this type will appear in the proper environmental location.

Seed propagation from diverse locations offers the genetic diversity so plants can self select to their best habitat. With vegetative propagation it is a gamble that you have made the correct choice.

Nursery design

I've been looking around for basic manual for restoration nursery design for tropics. I came across this FAO publication written by KA Longman,Growing Good Tropical Trees For Planting, and is useful as helpful in a decision. Below the fold is a discussion of temporary versus permanent nursery development

More...Isn't a permanent nursery always best?

No, it is often a good choice, but sometimes a temporary nursery makes more sense.

When would that be?

Provided that (given the seeds) people locally could raise good planting stock, temporary nurseries can be a good idea, for instance when:

small numbers of young trees are to be grown near the house, perhaps under the shade of a short-duration crop such as bananas;
plants will be wanted nearby for one or two seasons only; or
planting is in remote areas or difficult terrain where bringing in young trees would be very difficult.

What are the advantages of temporary nurseries?

They can be set up near the planting site, so that the young trees:
do not have to be carried far; and
can be moved just before the planting time (Manual 5); and so
may be subjected to considerably less stress (C 41, C 47).
If the nursery is made by clearing a piece of woodland:
the soil may remain relatively fertile during the period of use (C 23);
trees may be left around the nursery, with perhaps a few scattered across it, to give protection from wind and sun (C 25).
Establishing them is less dependent on the availability of substantial funds.
And what counts against temporary nurseries?

Particularly when they are remote, it may be harder to:

provide the knowledge and training (C 50, C 52) needed for small, scattered tree nurseries to succeed, utilising the skills that have been learnt in another area;
bring in the tools and materials needed (C 51); and
check regularly that the work is being done properly, whether the plants are growing well and when they will be ready for planting (C 40, C 47).
Could a temporary nursery be converted into a permanent one?

Yes, this might be possible, provided that it is appropriately sited, and:

there is enough space available (C 22);
the water supply is sufficient and reliable (C 24);
access is adequate (C 20).
You could take this possibility into account when setting up a temporary nursery.

What are the advantages of permanent nurseries?

Larger numbers of young trees can be grown, sometimes at a lower cost per plant;
Planning and supervision of the work may be easier (C 40, C 50), reducing the risks of damage to the young trees (C 3, C 41);
More tools and materials can be held (C 51), immediately available for use;
It is easier to build up the experience and skills of a team of staff and workers (C 50, C 52), and to continue to benefit from the training received;
Fences and buildings can be put up, and hedges and shade trees grown, which improve:
the growing environments for the young trees (C 4, C 10–15, C 25);
their protection from damage (C 3, C 25, C 46, C 60);
the smooth day-to-day running of the nursery (C 54); and
Special facilities for research (C 15) or for valuable collections can be handled.

A Story of a Forest

Here is a image of a forest, a natural stand of old growth forest near Lake Whatcom, Washington that escaped clearcutting during the railroad logging era of pioneer settlement in early 1900's. Superimposed on this image is a section of a log found in this forest showing 107 years approximately of growth.
This lovely tract of land has recently been transferred from the Stimson Family to a protected natural area with a series of developed trails. Come with us for a walk in this place
More...We enjoy walking on these trails and especially our wildlife encounters. On the day this image below was taken I literally bumped into a coyotte, who came trotting towards me on our path and came to a skidding stop just 30 feet away. This deer below was fearless and we watched her for a half hour browsing on vegetation on the forest floor and now and then lifting her head and carefully sniffing the air. Perhaps that coyoteHere is an example of wise stewardship in this natural protected forest. This is a 'beaver deceiver' Beavers are friendly little rodents who serve a useful role in ecology to perpetuate disturbance. Sometimes though their enthusiasm for damming water flows can cause damage to nearby property by flash flooding and plugging culverts. This simple structure is a fence with trapizoidal shape that confuses the beaver to find the water outlet to dam. Simple, and amazing that this technique works so well

A Sense of Community published

The article I was working out in this blog has been published in Fourth Corner Nurseries, fall catalog. 

The link to the article is here. 'A sense of community'

Habitat restoration and protection

The commercial timber plantation, poplars, eucalyptus or conifer species are biological deserts. It is true that the watershed is protected so far as soil erosion and rates of runoff but there are many other services to the ecosystem that should be considered.

In contrast to the sterile plantation look at a natural forest. In this case here is a moist mixed deciduous forest of the Pacific Northwest, Washington State. 

Yet how do we go about to restore this diversity and ecological function in an urbanized or agricultural production area along a riparian corridor. 


Here is how I go about this:

Find a natural habitat near your community that is more or less undisturbed.  

Make a listing of the plants that occur there naturally and learn how ecological succession and habitat specialization, such as soil type, is related to the species nature has allowed to succeed in this place. 

For example: Here is a stream habitat in high elevation, Utah State that is much different from the moist forest of the Pacific Northwest.


Notice the distinct differences in vegetation types of the upland natural conifer forest and the riparian corridor. Also look at the natural sampling of species in this stream-side mix.

Try to emulate a local natural place in your restoration project. 


Select appropriate plants for each particular site (each plant has its unique requirements and most sites have a variety of conditions). While there's not usually a problem with occasional use of exotic plants, native plants have evolved to local conditions over millions of years and form an integral part in the life cycles of the local wildlife; they also give an area its unique sense of place.


Even with a widely distributed species local seed sources assure a better adapted plant 

Here is a completed riparian restoration project in Western Washington State: 


What was once a reed canary grass choked watercourse is now functional habitat for natural fishes and wildlife

In biological terms, a community is a group of interacting organisms sharing an environment. We the humans are also a part of this community. Recognition of ecosystem services returns to us tangible economic and aesthetic benefits

Closed Loop versus Open System

Closed systems like this seem capitol intensive and finicky, needing full time tinkering and are subject to unexplained perturbations . Our idea of  Typha and Scirpus as biological water treatment seem to be a more logical approach in warm climates at least. 

The only issue to consider with domestic sewage plant water is concentration of heavy metals and pharmaceuticals by food species. However putting the food production on the downstream side of the biological treatment may mitigate for this problem. We need to look into this angle, and any pilot program could include monitoring and testing of protein production and quality of fish, shellfish and mussels grown.  

There is also nutrient rich waters of rivers downstream from urban/agricultural districts. In the district Ben and i are studying these places have huge potential for biological water treatment on regional scale. 

An aquaculture system in a subtropical or temperate water cleanup system should be vegetarian, detritis feeders or filter feeders. Not carnivores like trout or salmonids. However creating rearing habitat for an anadromous species (ie a fish that migrates to Ocean)  like the salmon could use enhanced habit for juvenile rearing and overwintering before migration then return 2 to 4 years later. 

From August 28, 2008  Scientific American

Angling for a better way to grow fish and vegetables too.

Images

'Growing food crops at Cabbage Hill takes place in long, shallow tubs on the south side of the greenhouse, which are filled with newly nutritious water from the bioreactor. On so-called rafts (repurposed polystyrene insulation panels) floating in the tubs, basil, bok choy and lettuce plants grow hydroponically—that is, without soil—their bare roots dangling through holes in the rafts to draw nutrients directly from the water below.

Stripped of its nitrate, the water is ready for return to the fish tanks, having essentially been filtered by the roots of fast-growing, edible, high-value plants.'

or-------

Stripped of its nitrates the waters of the Parana river are returned to the natural drainage system from which they were lifted with biomass powered harmonic pumps, upstream,  a weeks earlier. Biofuels and fiber products are harvested from the enhanced wetland treatment system and in return these waters provide improved ecosystem services that allow marine harvest of anadromous salmon in offshore waters. 


Visioning

Productivity and Diversity

In a detritis driven ecosystem this is where it all starts. The natural products of photosynthesis of native plants living in the wetlands of the Skagit River Delta, seeds and plant debris.... These seeds shown above are a part of a predictable pattern of nature offering to migratory wildfowl. The plant is a common component of the local flora, Carex lyngbyei. Oh the gifts to us of this plant, beginning with the sweet odor to the air that perfumes this sedge meadow. Yet within literally hundreds of yards is the intercontinental arterial of the interstate highway system, I-5. 


We should call this place A - 5 because here we have natural and wild habitat maintained in nature by the cycles of ebb and flow of the seasons, the tides and predictable patterns of disturbance. Animals in transit here following their life cycles, the aquatic insects, the fish , the mammals representing the countless critters growing out of the humble productivity of these plant inhabitants. 


I am in unsupressed awe viewing what is happening in this place and how natural systems continue to dominate. When pioneer settlers arrived at the delta the outlet was plugged with log jams and the channels could not be detected. Dynamite and dredging opened the channels making passage for steam driven craft to serve communities that sprung up along the river banks. there were no roads, much less trail that penetrated the dense forest of the pacific northwest. To present day the old river bank communities thrive but no longer needing the river for transportation but now for tapping water and waste disposal. Mount Vernon, to Rockport and Marblemount similar sets of communities along the Nooksack River, the Skykomish and Snohomish Rivers and others in the Puget Sound basin.


Yet also the riparian habitats are disappearing, waters are nutrient polluted, people are appearing everywhere and this Skagit delta habitat continues to purify and sustain us and the natural inhabitants.

Food, Fiber and Ethnobotany

Thank you Christophe Meneboeuf for this wonderful image of Bulrush harvest on Lake Titicaca. 


This is a current day image of Uros people an indigenous people predating the Incas. Image taken in 2005, of a practice, rooted so to speak with people whose history is linked to evidence for populating polynesia from South America. Their boats for transpacific voyages were made from living giant bulrush, Scirpus californicus a plant with many uses for food and fiber.


What can I say about the biology of the plant shown in this picture

This week, late August I am collecting seed of Scirpus acutis. It is a tricky plant to gather seeds as soon as they ripen they fall out of the heads. When picking seed I am pulling these fruit clusters from over my head and I am sprinkled with seed. End of day I am brushing the flat, hard black seeds out of hair and arms like lice. 


When finished fruiting the deep green plants immediately become senescent and change color. The bulrush patch starts looking as if a frost had hit but just a rapid decline to preserve the starch content in the roots. These rhizomes and their starch content were important food source for  original people. What is nice about this plant is how the rhizomes grow very shallow. Perhaps this is adaptation to boggy soils where oxygen is limited due to the nutrient rich and reducing environment. When I grow this plant at our native plant nursery, on sandy loam soil,even in second year without irrigation the roots remain shallow. This is an easy plant to harvest for food, especially during dry season at end of growth period. 


Other uses for this plant is as a source of fiber for mats, roofing and floating residence,  Even duck decoys.
More from Norm Kidders article linked above curing the collection and working with tules. 


'WORKING WITH TULES


Cut tules anytime after they have reached full height. They will tend to get firmer from late summer into fall. They can be cut in the fall until wind and rain have broken and dried them. The feel of the stem is the real determining factor. Be careful when cutting to keep the tules neatly stacked in the same direction so they don't bend or break. I tie them into bundles about 8 inches thick at the base with cords near each end and one in the middle. Always carry the bundles with the butt ends forward to avoid breakage.
Once cut, the stems must dried before use. Depending on when they are cut, they may shrink up to 50% in diameter as they dry. When they are uniformly light green they are just dry enough, although yellow or tan is better. While drying, be sure to allow for good ventilation, and don't stack the tules too thickly, or mold and mildew will result. I prefer to dry tules in the shade. It takes longer, but they acquire a leathery texture. Drying in the sun is quicker (few days instead of a few weeks), but the stems end up more crisp and brittle.

TWINING
Twining is easily confused with weaving, but differs in a fundamental way. Weaving involves a single strand passing in and out between the standing stock or ribs. Twining involves two (or three) strands which pass around the ribs in sequence, while intertwining around each other. This results in a 'locked' stitch compared to weaving's looser wrapping. Twining done without ribs (twisting) results in a two (or three) ply rope.

TWISTING
Twisting is used to turn fibers into string, or in this case using whole or split tules to make tule rope. To begin, grasp a bundle of at least two tules at each end and twist them between your fingers until the tules begin to 'kink' back on themselves. Move your hands closer together as the tule strands are twisted, and the kink begins to twist into a 2-ply strand. Attach the end to something (your teeth?), and now, as you twist clockwise, pass the strand over each other counterclockwise, switching hands. Repeat this endlessly, adding in new tules (fat end first) into each side as needed (See the "Bulletin of Primitive Technology" #2 for a complete description of the string making process).

TULE MATS AND SUCH
To twine tules into mats or other items, begin as you would for rope, twisting together three or tour inches of single ply cord. Instead of twisting the plys together, place the twisted section around a small bunch of tules with each twist. You should have the tules laid out roughly. Pass the strand which lies on top of the first bunch over the strand which comes up from beneath, and then this strand passes beneath the second bunch of tules and then comes back out to the working face. Repeat this - over, behind and out - until you have completed a row. Add in additional pieces of tule as needed to maintain the thickness of the strand. As the row progresses, each 'stitch' should slant at the same angle across the face of the project At the end of a row, twine the tule strands into rope until it is long enough to reach the next spot you want a row to begin, then turn and twine the row. Continue this process until you have finished. End the last row with a knot, then tuck the ends back into the work.'


To the modern day
Making paper from bulrush is also an ancient craft. To this day specialty papers are sold for special and decorative purposes. Surfing the net I have seen bulrush wallpaper objects of art and yes below bulrush sandals made  with 60% Bulrush,30% PVC 5% poly fabric and 5%bead, offered by a chinese manufacturer.