Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons^™

Carbon, Nitrogen And Algal Biomass In Cold Desert Soil Crusts, Mary Cleave Vogelsberg

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The algal biomass, total organic carbon, total nitrogen and percent soil moisture of soil crusts for a ten month period are presented for the Curlew Valley region of northern Utah. The estimates establish a significant relationship among these parameters.

A method involving chlorophyll extraction to determine the biomass of soil algae has been developed, and from this method the following conclusions are suggested: the revegetation of soil surfaces by algal crusts after lethal treatment, without physical disruption, appears to be rapid; there is no apparent relationship between the amount of algal biomass and the type of vascular vegetation present.

Nitrogen Fixation In Arid Western Soils, Robert Charles Rychert

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nitrogen fixation by blue-green algae-lichen crusts from South Curlew Valley, Utah, in the Great Basin Desert, was studied using the acetylene reduction technique. A molar ratio of 3 moles C₂H₄ produced/mole of N₂ fixed was used to estimate nitrogen (N₂) fixation by acetylene reduction. Nostoc was found to be present in many of the lichen thalli examined microscopically. Crust nitrogen fixation decreased rapidly below -1/3 bar pressure (water potential) which indicated that nitrogen fixation occurs only when the crust is wet. This would suggest that most of the crust nitrogen fixation in the Great …

Removal Of Phosphorus From Static Sewage Effluent By Waterhyacinth, W Harold Ornes

W. Harold Ornes

Waterhyacinth [Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms] was grown in static sewage effluent during May to July 1974 in outdoor concrete containers with a capacity of 760 liters and a surface area of 1.66 m². The plants were removed weekly from one-half of the surface area of the containers during 5-wk growth periods. Tissue phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N), plant productivity, and some parameters of water quality were measured. A maximum uptake of 5,500 µg of P/g dry weight of plant material occurred when the level of orthophosphate phosphorus (available P) in the effluent was 1.1 µg/ml. Phosphorus in the effluent was …