Concentrated organic waste is a major societal problem. It is a disease vector, a source of groundwater contamination, as well as a source of greenhouse gases. Managed Ecosystem Fermentation (MEF) is a technology that converts this societal problem into an economic resource for the community. MEF is a fermentation process that uses over 3,000 species of microbes simultaneously to produce multiple high-value products used in industry and agriculture. The products include fertilizer, high-protein animal feed, volatile fatty acids, longer chain fatty acids, amino acids, enzymes, etc. The values of these products range from $50 to over $16,000 per ton. MEF is an adaptive system that processes non-homogeneous, non-sterile organic waste/s under non-sterile conditions. It converts the waste into industrial products in 24 hours using a microbial system that has worked for millions of years. It is the only known technology that can convert cellulose into protein. Society benefits from converting what is now a cause of disease, groundwater contamination and greenhouse gases into valuable products.
Environment literally means surrounding and everything that affect an organism during its lifetime is collectively known as its environment. In another words “Environment is sum total of water, air and land interrelationships among themselves and also with the human being, other living organisms and property”. It includes all the physical and biological surrounding and their interactions.
Environmental studies provide an approach towards understanding the environment of our planet and the impact of human life upon the environment.
Thus environment is actually global in nature, it is a multidisciplinary subject including physics, geology, geography, history, economics, physiology, biotechnology, remote sensing, geophysics, soil science and hydrology etc. Scope of Environmental Science Environmental science is a multidisciplinary science whose basic aspects have a direct relevance to every section of the society.
Its main aspects are:
• Conservation of nature and natural resources.
• Conservation of biological diversity.
• Control of environmental pollution.
• Stabilization of human population and environment.
• Social issues in relation to development and environment.
• Development of non-polluting renewable energy system and providing new dimension to nation’s security. Importance of Environmental Science Environment belongs to all the living beings and thus is, important for all.
Each and every body of whatever occupation he or she may have, is affected by environmental issues like global warming, depletion of ozone layer, dwindling forest, energy resources, loss of global biodiversity etc.
Environment study deals with the analysis of the processes in water, air, land, soil and organisms which leads to pollute or degrade environment. It helps us for establishing standard,Environment and Ecology for safe, clean and healthy natural ecosystem.
It also deals with important issues like safe and clean drinking water, hygienic living conditions and clean and fresh air, fertility of land, healthy food and development. Sustainable environmental law, business administration, environmental protection, management and environmental engineering are immerging as new career opportunities for environment protection and managements.
Need for Public Awareness With the ever increasing development by modern man, large scale degradation of natural resources have been occurred, the public has to be educated about the fact that if we are degrading our environment we are actually harming ourselves.
To encourage meaningful public participation and environment, it is necessary to create awareness about environment pollution and related adverse effects. The United Nations conference on Environment and Development held in Rio-de-Janeiro, followed by Earth summit on sustainable Development have high-lighted the key issues of global environmental concern and have attracted the general public towards the...
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with each other and their non-living environment. A food web shows how energy and nutrients flow between organisms in an ecosystem through trophic levels. It consists of interconnected food chains with producers like plants at the bottom providing energy, a variety of consumers at higher trophic levels that eat other organisms, and decomposers that break down waste and dead organisms.
Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components such as chemicals, bedrock, soil, plants, and animals.
1) The document discusses key aspects of ecosystems and the environment, including biotic and abiotic factors, producers, consumers, decomposers, and trophic levels.
2) It explains how human activities impact the environment through waste production and chemical usage, and how non-biodegradable materials can accumulate up the food chain.
3) The document also covers the roles of plants and photosynthesis in energy flow, and environmental issues like ozone layer depletion and waste disposal.
Abstract:Biodiversity is one of the earth’s greatest treasures. Compared to plants and animals, microbes are least explored since they are mostly considered as pathogens and very little is known about their beneficial potentiality. Hence, there arises an urgent need to raise the public awareness about its economic value by taking effective measures in exploiting and conserving the microbial diversity. An attempt has been made to discuss about the strategy of microbial screening and its applications along with future innovative practices that has to be undertaken in order to conserve its diversity. Microbiologists have just begun to isolate and study microbial life for a better understanding of its role in ecology. Only <1% of microbes in the world have been explored. Proper strategy has to be followed to study the microbial diversity which includes habitat selection, microbial isolation methods, polyphasic taxonomy studies and its application in varied fields. Apart from ex situ and in situ conservation, several innovative initiatives such as new long-term infrastructure funding mechanisms to foster multidisciplinary involvement of microbial biodiversity research centers in collaboration with collections, education and training programmes on taxonomic studies in schools and colleges, creation of repository for cultivated collections and a reference library creation of integrated center for data management and analysis, ultimately leading to national microbial diversity management policy creation.
Keyword: application, innovative initiatives. polyphasic taxonomy, screening, strategy, management policy.
This document provides an overview of ecological concepts and principles of ecosystems. It defines ecology and describes the basic units of ecological systems from protoplasm to the biosphere. Key concepts discussed include populations, communities, ecosystems, food webs, and the abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems. Four principles of ecosystems are outlined: everything is related, everything must go somewhere, nature knows best, and there is no free lunch. Factors affecting ecosystems and environmental health are also summarized.
This document discusses key concepts in ecology, including:
1) Ecology is the study of interactions between organisms and their environment. It examines relationships between living and non-living components.
2) Organisms exist within different ecological levels from cells to the biosphere. Food chains and webs show how energy flows between organisms as herbivores, carnivores and omnivores feed.
3) Populations grow over time according to exponential, logistic, or S-curve models until limited by carrying capacity due to factors like predation, competition, and crowding. Human population growth poses challenges for global carrying capacity.
Communities can be described and compared through diversity indices which take into account the number of species and their distribution. Low diversity indices could indicate pollution, eutrophication, or recent colonization. Quantifying biodiversity is important for conservation efforts to identify and protect high biodiversity areas. Assessing changes in biodiversity over time helps evaluate human impacts on communities.
Environment literally means surrounding and everything that affect an organism during its lifetime is collectively known as its environment. In another words “Environment is sum total of water, air and land interrelationships among themselves and also with the human being, other living organisms and property”. It includes all the physical and biological surrounding and their interactions.
Environmental studies provide an approach towards understanding the environment of our planet and the impact of human life upon the environment.
Thus environment is actually global in nature, it is a multidisciplinary subject including physics, geology, geography, history, economics, physiology, biotechnology, remote sensing, geophysics, soil science and hydrology etc. Scope of Environmental Science Environmental science is a multidisciplinary science whose basic aspects have a direct relevance to every section of the society.
Its main aspects are:
• Conservation of nature and natural resources.
• Conservation of biological diversity.
• Control of environmental pollution.
• Stabilization of human population and environment.
• Social issues in relation to development and environment.
• Development of non-polluting renewable energy system and providing new dimension to nation’s security. Importance of Environmental Science Environment belongs to all the living beings and thus is, important for all.
Each and every body of whatever occupation he or she may have, is affected by environmental issues like global warming, depletion of ozone layer, dwindling forest, energy resources, loss of global biodiversity etc.
Environment study deals with the analysis of the processes in water, air, land, soil and organisms which leads to pollute or degrade environment. It helps us for establishing standard,Environment and Ecology for safe, clean and healthy natural ecosystem.
It also deals with important issues like safe and clean drinking water, hygienic living conditions and clean and fresh air, fertility of land, healthy food and development. Sustainable environmental law, business administration, environmental protection, management and environmental engineering are immerging as new career opportunities for environment protection and managements.
Need for Public Awareness With the ever increasing development by modern man, large scale degradation of natural resources have been occurred, the public has to be educated about the fact that if we are degrading our environment we are actually harming ourselves.
To encourage meaningful public participation and environment, it is necessary to create awareness about environment pollution and related adverse effects. The United Nations conference on Environment and Development held in Rio-de-Janeiro, followed by Earth summit on sustainable Development have high-lighted the key issues of global environmental concern and have attracted the general public towards the...
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with each other and their non-living environment. A food web shows how energy and nutrients flow between organisms in an ecosystem through trophic levels. It consists of interconnected food chains with producers like plants at the bottom providing energy, a variety of consumers at higher trophic levels that eat other organisms, and decomposers that break down waste and dead organisms.
Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components such as chemicals, bedrock, soil, plants, and animals.
1) The document discusses key aspects of ecosystems and the environment, including biotic and abiotic factors, producers, consumers, decomposers, and trophic levels.
2) It explains how human activities impact the environment through waste production and chemical usage, and how non-biodegradable materials can accumulate up the food chain.
3) The document also covers the roles of plants and photosynthesis in energy flow, and environmental issues like ozone layer depletion and waste disposal.
Abstract:Biodiversity is one of the earth’s greatest treasures. Compared to plants and animals, microbes are least explored since they are mostly considered as pathogens and very little is known about their beneficial potentiality. Hence, there arises an urgent need to raise the public awareness about its economic value by taking effective measures in exploiting and conserving the microbial diversity. An attempt has been made to discuss about the strategy of microbial screening and its applications along with future innovative practices that has to be undertaken in order to conserve its diversity. Microbiologists have just begun to isolate and study microbial life for a better understanding of its role in ecology. Only <1% of microbes in the world have been explored. Proper strategy has to be followed to study the microbial diversity which includes habitat selection, microbial isolation methods, polyphasic taxonomy studies and its application in varied fields. Apart from ex situ and in situ conservation, several innovative initiatives such as new long-term infrastructure funding mechanisms to foster multidisciplinary involvement of microbial biodiversity research centers in collaboration with collections, education and training programmes on taxonomic studies in schools and colleges, creation of repository for cultivated collections and a reference library creation of integrated center for data management and analysis, ultimately leading to national microbial diversity management policy creation.
Keyword: application, innovative initiatives. polyphasic taxonomy, screening, strategy, management policy.
This document provides an overview of ecological concepts and principles of ecosystems. It defines ecology and describes the basic units of ecological systems from protoplasm to the biosphere. Key concepts discussed include populations, communities, ecosystems, food webs, and the abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems. Four principles of ecosystems are outlined: everything is related, everything must go somewhere, nature knows best, and there is no free lunch. Factors affecting ecosystems and environmental health are also summarized.
This document discusses key concepts in ecology, including:
1) Ecology is the study of interactions between organisms and their environment. It examines relationships between living and non-living components.
2) Organisms exist within different ecological levels from cells to the biosphere. Food chains and webs show how energy flows between organisms as herbivores, carnivores and omnivores feed.
3) Populations grow over time according to exponential, logistic, or S-curve models until limited by carrying capacity due to factors like predation, competition, and crowding. Human population growth poses challenges for global carrying capacity.
Communities can be described and compared through diversity indices which take into account the number of species and their distribution. Low diversity indices could indicate pollution, eutrophication, or recent colonization. Quantifying biodiversity is important for conservation efforts to identify and protect high biodiversity areas. Assessing changes in biodiversity over time helps evaluate human impacts on communities.
B sc micro, biotech, biochem i es u 2 ecologyRai University
This document provides an overview of ecology. It begins by defining ecology as the scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environments, with a focus on energy transfer. It then discusses key ecological terms like environment, organism, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere, habitat, and niche. The document also covers the abiotic and biotic factors that make up environments. It explains ecology's interdisciplinary nature and relationship to other sciences. Finally, it discusses important ecological concepts like biodiversity, climate change, levels of ecological organization, types of ecosystems and adaptations.
Everything in an ecosystem is connected, and each component plays a role and contributes to the ecosystem's functioning. The food chain and food web illustrate how different living things depend on one another. For an ecosystem to be sustainable, the consumption of resources cannot exceed the ecosystem's production and carrying capacity, otherwise homeostasis or balance is disrupted.
Biodiversity refers to all living things in an ecosystem. It allows ecosystems to support life and recover from environmental changes. An ecosystem consists of biotic and abiotic components that interact and depend on each other. However, biodiversity and ecosystems are threatened by human activities like habitat destruction, pollution, and introduction of invasive species. Biodiversity plays an important role in ecosystems by providing habitats, food sources, nutrient cycling, pollination, and other essential functions. While human activities pose the greatest threats, individuals can help protect biodiversity through practices like recycling, reducing pollution and carbon footprints, and sustainable consumption.
The document provides an overview of key concepts in ecology, including:
1) It describes five levels of ecological organization from the biosphere level down to the individual organism level.
2) It explains the interdependence between organisms and their environment and how ecological models are used to study these relationships.
3) It discusses important ecological concepts such as producers, consumers, trophic levels, biogeochemical cycles, and energy flow through ecosystems.
The document discusses the key components and dynamics of ecosystems. It describes how ecosystems have interacting abiotic and biotic factors that are connected by energy, nutrients, and minerals. Energy flows in one direction through ecosystems from the sun to producers to consumers, while nutrients and minerals circulate and recirculate between factors. The main dynamics of ecosystems include energy flow, primary and secondary production through food chains and webs, trophic levels, and biogeochemical cycles.
The document discusses ecosystems and how human activities impact the environment. It describes the components of an ecosystem like producers, consumers, decomposers and abiotic factors. There is a 10% loss of energy at each trophic level, limiting the number that can exist in a food chain. Human waste and chemicals like CFCs threaten ecosystems by polluting the air, water and soil. Improper waste disposal and ozone layer depletion are significant environmental issues addressed in the text.
This document discusses various ecological concepts and terms:
1. It defines organism, population, community, species, habitat, trophic levels, food chains, food webs, ecological pyramids, and biomass.
2. It explains the three types of ecological pyramids - numbers, biomass, and productivity - and provides examples of each.
3. It discusses how biomass is measured and represented in a pyramid of biomass, noting that these pyramids provide information on standing stocks at each trophic level.
Ecological concepts are introduced and described in the document. The document discusses 7 key ecological concepts:
1) Levels of biological organization ranging from genes to landscapes.
2) The definition of native species and their importance in natural ecosystems.
3) The concept of keystone species that have disproportionate influence on ecosystems.
4) The concept of population viability and extinction thresholds related to amount of habitat.
5) Ecological resilience and the ability of ecosystems to withstand disturbance and return to stability.
6) Disturbances as events that cause changes to ecological systems, both natural and human-induced.
7) Connectivity and fragmentation, and their effects on organism movement between habitat patches.
The document provides an overview of the key concepts regarding ecosystems, including:
1. An ecosystem consists of both biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components that interact as a functional unit. The biotic components include producers, consumers, and decomposers, while the abiotic components include factors like sunlight, temperature, water, and soil chemistry.
2. Energy enters ecosystems via photosynthesis and is transferred between trophic levels, though efficiency decreases at each level. Materials cycle between biotic and abiotic components through processes like respiration and decomposition.
3. Ecosystems can be classified and mapped based on dominant vegetation and climate. Climate patterns influence global biome distributions like tropical rainfore
This document discusses ecosystems and the environment. It defines key terms like environment, ecology, biotic and abiotic components. It describes the major components of ecosystems - producers, consumers, decomposers and how energy flows through ecosystems. Examples of different ecosystem types like forests and hydrosphere are provided. The document also discusses the ideal characteristics of ecosystems and impacts of human activity, like pollution and deforestation, on ecosystems.
This document introduces the key concepts of ecology, including:
1) Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with their environment and each other.
2) Organisms are organized into levels ranging from cells to the biosphere.
3) The environment consists of biotic and abiotic factors that surround organisms.
4) All organisms are interdependent and interact through competition, predation, and nutrient recycling.
This document discusses key concepts in ecology including the biosphere, ecosystems, trophic chains, and ecological factors. It begins by defining the biosphere as the global sum of all ecosystems, including the troposphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere. It then explains ecosystem types from micro to macro and their parameters. Factors like species diversity and population sizes are qualitative and quantitative parameters. Trophic chains involve producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers and decomposers transmitting energy between trophic levels in food webs and chains. Ecological factors like optimum, pessimum and spectrum influence species distributions. In summary, the document outlines foundational ecological concepts and relationships between biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems.
Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environment. It was coined in 1866 by Ernst Haeckel from the Greek words "oikos" meaning house or environment, and "logos" meaning study. Ecology studies the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions between organisms and their physical and biological environment. It examines these relationships at different levels of organization from organisms to ecosystems. Ecology is important for understanding how to maintain a healthy biosphere and sustainable use of natural resources through principles of conservation.
This document discusses conservation of biological diversity or biodiversity. It defines biodiversity as all the living organisms on Earth, from microorganisms to plants and animals. Biodiversity exists at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. The origin of life on Earth began over 4 billion years ago. Factors that affect biodiversity include climate change, global warming, pollution, deforestation, food production practices, and human conflicts. Biodiversity provides many benefits and ecosystem services including food, medicines, materials, and ecological functions. It is important for resistance to catastrophes and each species depends on other species for survival in balanced ecosystems. Loss of biodiversity could destabilize ecosystems and agriculture. Some species now in danger of
Environmental, ecosystem and biodiversityusharanicivil
The document discusses key concepts in environmental science and ecology, including:
- The environment consists of biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors. Main types of ecosystems are described like ponds, lakes, deserts and forests.
- Ecosystems have a flow of energy and cycling of materials between producers, consumers and decomposers. Succession over time leads to a climax community.
- Environmental studies are important for problem solving, maintaining ecological balance and sustainable development. Hazards can be physical, chemical or biological in nature.
This document provides a literature review on the effects of top predators on biodiversity and ecosystem functions. It discusses how top predators regulate trophic cascades and food webs through controlling prey populations. The loss of top predators like wolves and lynx in Germany has allowed herbivore populations to increase, impacting vegetation. Reintroducing these predators could help control ungulate numbers and damage. The document also examines factors that reduce top predator populations in human-dominated landscapes, such as habitat loss, poaching, and conflicts with livestock.
This document summarizes a project to pilot sustainable environmental sanitation in two unions in Bangladesh. The project aims to create model unions with 100% sanitary latrine coverage, safe waste disposal, and improved hygiene behaviors. It will include both "software" activities like awareness campaigns and "hardware" activities providing some infrastructure with community cost-sharing. Key activities under the software and hardware components include motivational meetings, volunteer training, cultural programs, and limited provision of community latrines and waste management infrastructure to demonstrate best practices.
Island financial resource impacts from microbial ecosystem fermentation Johnny Rodrigues
Managed Ecosystem Fermentations (MEF) can bring business, financial and environmental benefits to island economies by generating multiple revenue streams from organic waste that currently requires expensive disposal. MEF systems do not require sterile feedstocks and are
capable of multiple concurrent products, offering a ten-fold increase in revenue compared to stand-alone biogas using the organic waste feedstock and reducing disposal volumes by 90%. MEF consumes many organic waste materials including feed grade (FG) fruit and vegetable waste, municipal solid wastes (MSW) and sewage sludge (SS). Different feedstocks make different products, increasing local economic diversity. Carbohydrates and cellulose in FG materials are converted to High Protein Animal Feed (HPAF), displacing soybean meal imports. MSW and SS can be used to produce enzymes, proteins and amino acids for use in other industrial processes providing export revenue. All of the MEF systems can produce
enough byproduct bio-methane to self-power their process with a potential surplus thereby reducing fuel imports.
Sustainability is the future of world livestock.docxfeed arshine
1. The document discusses the future of sustainable livestock production. It argues that silvopastoral systems, which integrate trees, shrubs, and pasture plants to feed livestock, can provide more efficient feed conversion, higher biodiversity, better animal welfare, and replace unsustainable systems.
2. It then provides details on silvopastoral systems used in various countries. Systems that plant fodder trees and shrubs like Leucaena leucocephala alongside pasture grasses have been shown to increase milk production, dry matter, and protein available to cattle compared to pasture alone.
3. Soil structure and earthworm populations are better maintained in silvopastoral
B sc micro, biotech, biochem i es u 2 ecologyRai University
This document provides an overview of ecology. It begins by defining ecology as the scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environments, with a focus on energy transfer. It then discusses key ecological terms like environment, organism, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere, habitat, and niche. The document also covers the abiotic and biotic factors that make up environments. It explains ecology's interdisciplinary nature and relationship to other sciences. Finally, it discusses important ecological concepts like biodiversity, climate change, levels of ecological organization, types of ecosystems and adaptations.
Everything in an ecosystem is connected, and each component plays a role and contributes to the ecosystem's functioning. The food chain and food web illustrate how different living things depend on one another. For an ecosystem to be sustainable, the consumption of resources cannot exceed the ecosystem's production and carrying capacity, otherwise homeostasis or balance is disrupted.
Biodiversity refers to all living things in an ecosystem. It allows ecosystems to support life and recover from environmental changes. An ecosystem consists of biotic and abiotic components that interact and depend on each other. However, biodiversity and ecosystems are threatened by human activities like habitat destruction, pollution, and introduction of invasive species. Biodiversity plays an important role in ecosystems by providing habitats, food sources, nutrient cycling, pollination, and other essential functions. While human activities pose the greatest threats, individuals can help protect biodiversity through practices like recycling, reducing pollution and carbon footprints, and sustainable consumption.
The document provides an overview of key concepts in ecology, including:
1) It describes five levels of ecological organization from the biosphere level down to the individual organism level.
2) It explains the interdependence between organisms and their environment and how ecological models are used to study these relationships.
3) It discusses important ecological concepts such as producers, consumers, trophic levels, biogeochemical cycles, and energy flow through ecosystems.
The document discusses the key components and dynamics of ecosystems. It describes how ecosystems have interacting abiotic and biotic factors that are connected by energy, nutrients, and minerals. Energy flows in one direction through ecosystems from the sun to producers to consumers, while nutrients and minerals circulate and recirculate between factors. The main dynamics of ecosystems include energy flow, primary and secondary production through food chains and webs, trophic levels, and biogeochemical cycles.
The document discusses ecosystems and how human activities impact the environment. It describes the components of an ecosystem like producers, consumers, decomposers and abiotic factors. There is a 10% loss of energy at each trophic level, limiting the number that can exist in a food chain. Human waste and chemicals like CFCs threaten ecosystems by polluting the air, water and soil. Improper waste disposal and ozone layer depletion are significant environmental issues addressed in the text.
This document discusses various ecological concepts and terms:
1. It defines organism, population, community, species, habitat, trophic levels, food chains, food webs, ecological pyramids, and biomass.
2. It explains the three types of ecological pyramids - numbers, biomass, and productivity - and provides examples of each.
3. It discusses how biomass is measured and represented in a pyramid of biomass, noting that these pyramids provide information on standing stocks at each trophic level.
Ecological concepts are introduced and described in the document. The document discusses 7 key ecological concepts:
1) Levels of biological organization ranging from genes to landscapes.
2) The definition of native species and their importance in natural ecosystems.
3) The concept of keystone species that have disproportionate influence on ecosystems.
4) The concept of population viability and extinction thresholds related to amount of habitat.
5) Ecological resilience and the ability of ecosystems to withstand disturbance and return to stability.
6) Disturbances as events that cause changes to ecological systems, both natural and human-induced.
7) Connectivity and fragmentation, and their effects on organism movement between habitat patches.
The document provides an overview of the key concepts regarding ecosystems, including:
1. An ecosystem consists of both biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components that interact as a functional unit. The biotic components include producers, consumers, and decomposers, while the abiotic components include factors like sunlight, temperature, water, and soil chemistry.
2. Energy enters ecosystems via photosynthesis and is transferred between trophic levels, though efficiency decreases at each level. Materials cycle between biotic and abiotic components through processes like respiration and decomposition.
3. Ecosystems can be classified and mapped based on dominant vegetation and climate. Climate patterns influence global biome distributions like tropical rainfore
This document discusses ecosystems and the environment. It defines key terms like environment, ecology, biotic and abiotic components. It describes the major components of ecosystems - producers, consumers, decomposers and how energy flows through ecosystems. Examples of different ecosystem types like forests and hydrosphere are provided. The document also discusses the ideal characteristics of ecosystems and impacts of human activity, like pollution and deforestation, on ecosystems.
This document introduces the key concepts of ecology, including:
1) Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with their environment and each other.
2) Organisms are organized into levels ranging from cells to the biosphere.
3) The environment consists of biotic and abiotic factors that surround organisms.
4) All organisms are interdependent and interact through competition, predation, and nutrient recycling.
This document discusses key concepts in ecology including the biosphere, ecosystems, trophic chains, and ecological factors. It begins by defining the biosphere as the global sum of all ecosystems, including the troposphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere. It then explains ecosystem types from micro to macro and their parameters. Factors like species diversity and population sizes are qualitative and quantitative parameters. Trophic chains involve producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers and decomposers transmitting energy between trophic levels in food webs and chains. Ecological factors like optimum, pessimum and spectrum influence species distributions. In summary, the document outlines foundational ecological concepts and relationships between biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems.
Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environment. It was coined in 1866 by Ernst Haeckel from the Greek words "oikos" meaning house or environment, and "logos" meaning study. Ecology studies the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions between organisms and their physical and biological environment. It examines these relationships at different levels of organization from organisms to ecosystems. Ecology is important for understanding how to maintain a healthy biosphere and sustainable use of natural resources through principles of conservation.
This document discusses conservation of biological diversity or biodiversity. It defines biodiversity as all the living organisms on Earth, from microorganisms to plants and animals. Biodiversity exists at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. The origin of life on Earth began over 4 billion years ago. Factors that affect biodiversity include climate change, global warming, pollution, deforestation, food production practices, and human conflicts. Biodiversity provides many benefits and ecosystem services including food, medicines, materials, and ecological functions. It is important for resistance to catastrophes and each species depends on other species for survival in balanced ecosystems. Loss of biodiversity could destabilize ecosystems and agriculture. Some species now in danger of
Environmental, ecosystem and biodiversityusharanicivil
The document discusses key concepts in environmental science and ecology, including:
- The environment consists of biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors. Main types of ecosystems are described like ponds, lakes, deserts and forests.
- Ecosystems have a flow of energy and cycling of materials between producers, consumers and decomposers. Succession over time leads to a climax community.
- Environmental studies are important for problem solving, maintaining ecological balance and sustainable development. Hazards can be physical, chemical or biological in nature.
This document provides a literature review on the effects of top predators on biodiversity and ecosystem functions. It discusses how top predators regulate trophic cascades and food webs through controlling prey populations. The loss of top predators like wolves and lynx in Germany has allowed herbivore populations to increase, impacting vegetation. Reintroducing these predators could help control ungulate numbers and damage. The document also examines factors that reduce top predator populations in human-dominated landscapes, such as habitat loss, poaching, and conflicts with livestock.
This document summarizes a project to pilot sustainable environmental sanitation in two unions in Bangladesh. The project aims to create model unions with 100% sanitary latrine coverage, safe waste disposal, and improved hygiene behaviors. It will include both "software" activities like awareness campaigns and "hardware" activities providing some infrastructure with community cost-sharing. Key activities under the software and hardware components include motivational meetings, volunteer training, cultural programs, and limited provision of community latrines and waste management infrastructure to demonstrate best practices.
Island financial resource impacts from microbial ecosystem fermentation Johnny Rodrigues
Managed Ecosystem Fermentations (MEF) can bring business, financial and environmental benefits to island economies by generating multiple revenue streams from organic waste that currently requires expensive disposal. MEF systems do not require sterile feedstocks and are
capable of multiple concurrent products, offering a ten-fold increase in revenue compared to stand-alone biogas using the organic waste feedstock and reducing disposal volumes by 90%. MEF consumes many organic waste materials including feed grade (FG) fruit and vegetable waste, municipal solid wastes (MSW) and sewage sludge (SS). Different feedstocks make different products, increasing local economic diversity. Carbohydrates and cellulose in FG materials are converted to High Protein Animal Feed (HPAF), displacing soybean meal imports. MSW and SS can be used to produce enzymes, proteins and amino acids for use in other industrial processes providing export revenue. All of the MEF systems can produce
enough byproduct bio-methane to self-power their process with a potential surplus thereby reducing fuel imports.
Sustainability is the future of world livestock.docxfeed arshine
1. The document discusses the future of sustainable livestock production. It argues that silvopastoral systems, which integrate trees, shrubs, and pasture plants to feed livestock, can provide more efficient feed conversion, higher biodiversity, better animal welfare, and replace unsustainable systems.
2. It then provides details on silvopastoral systems used in various countries. Systems that plant fodder trees and shrubs like Leucaena leucocephala alongside pasture grasses have been shown to increase milk production, dry matter, and protein available to cattle compared to pasture alone.
3. Soil structure and earthworm populations are better maintained in silvopastoral
Organic Farming: History and Techniques
`
For more information, Please see websites below:
`
Organic Edible Schoolyards & Gardening with Children
http://scribd.com/doc/239851214
`
Double Food Production from your School Garden with Organic Tech
http://scribd.com/doc/239851079
`
Free School Gardening Art Posters
http://scribd.com/doc/239851159`
`
Increase Food Production with Companion Planting in your School Garden
http://scribd.com/doc/239851159
`
Healthy Foods Dramatically Improves Student Academic Success
http://scribd.com/doc/239851348
`
City Chickens for your Organic School Garden
http://scribd.com/doc/239850440
`
Simple Square Foot Gardening for Schools - Teacher Guide
http://scribd.com/doc/239851110
The document defines environment and environmental science. It states that environment includes all physical and biological factors surrounding organisms and their interactions. Environmental science is a multidisciplinary field concerning conservation of nature and resources, pollution control, population issues, and more. The document also discusses ecosystems, including their components, functions, types of food chains and webs, ecological succession, and ecological pyramids.
This document discusses the history and techniques of organic farming. It begins with a brief overview of the issues with Green Revolution technologies, such as overuse of chemicals negatively impacting soil and environment. It then covers the three eras in the development of organic farming: Emergence from 1924-1970 focusing on early pioneers; Development from 1970-1990 when research and practice expanded globally; and Growth from 1990 onward as certification standards were established and the market grew rapidly. The document also outlines the essential characteristics and concepts of organic farming techniques, which aim to build soil fertility without synthetic chemicals and favor maximum use of organic materials.
This document discusses the history and techniques of organic farming. It begins with a brief overview of the issues with Green Revolution technologies, such as overuse of chemicals negatively impacting soil and environment. It then covers the three eras in the development of organic farming: Emergence from 1924-1970 focusing on early pioneers; Development from 1970-1990 when research and practice expanded globally; and Growth from 1990 onward as certification standards were established and the market grew rapidly. The document also outlines the essential characteristics and concepts of organic farming techniques, which aim to favorably impact soil health, biodiversity and sustainability.
This document discusses the history and techniques of organic farming. It begins with a brief overview of the issues with Green Revolution technologies, such as overuse of chemicals negatively impacting soil and environment. It then covers the three eras in the development of organic farming: Emergence from 1924-1970 focusing on early pioneers; Development from 1970-1990 when research and practice expanded globally; and Growth from 1990 onward as certification standards were established and the market grew rapidly. The document also outlines the essential characteristics and concepts of organic farming techniques, which aim to build soil fertility without synthetic chemicals and favor maximum use of organic materials.
Organic agriculture scope and problems for conservation Saleman Sultani
Organic agriculture aims to optimize quality in all aspects of agriculture and the environment while respecting plants, animals, and landscapes. However, organic farming faces several problems including insufficient organic inputs, lower initial yields, lack of expertise and infrastructure. Transitioning to organic also requires adopting practices like crop rotation and biological pest control that are less common in conventional farming.
This document is a biology investigatory project report submitted by Poovel Arun T to fulfill curriculum requirements. It discusses microbes and their importance in human welfare. Microbes play vital roles in ecology as decomposers. They are also used in industries like food production, water treatment, energy production, and chemical/enzyme production. Microbes are essential tools in science and have importance in human health as symbionts in the human body.
This document provides information about ecosystems, including:
1. An ecosystem consists of organisms and their environment interacting in cyclical material and energy exchanges. Ecosystems can be terrestrial, freshwater, marine, or oceanic.
2. Ecosystems have biotic components (living organisms) and abiotic components (non-living physical and chemical elements). Organisms play roles as producers, consumers, or decomposers in ecosystems.
3. Ecosystem functions include regulatory, habitat, production, and information functions that provide goods and services for organisms, including humans. Biogeochemical cycles circulate important elements like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur through ecosystems.
9761254 food-security-home scale-permacultureNgaire Taylor
The document discusses topics related to home-scale permaculture, including permaculture principles and designs, square-foot gardening, re-localization, food security, and biochar. Specifically, it defines permaculture as a design approach that maximizes beneficial relationships between components by integrating ecological and social considerations. It also describes techniques like square-foot gardening that can be implemented on a small scale. Relocalization and food security are discussed as goals of permaculture to build sustainable local food systems. Additionally, the document provides details on biochar and its soil-enhancing properties as a permaculture technique.
This PPT gives a detailed information about
1.Introduction to Organic Farming
2.Review of Literature about Organic Farming
3.Materials & Methods used to establish an "Organic Kitchen Garden"
4.Implementation
5.Observation & Results
6.Conclusion
A presentation written by Miguel Altieri, Professor of Agroecology at the University of California, Berkeley in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, with the participation of Angela Hilmi. You can choose to download the short or the long version; both of them are in Power Point format and available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese download at ag-transition.org
This document discusses the principles and key characteristics of organic farming. Organic farming avoids synthetic inputs and relies on techniques like crop rotation, animal manures, and nutrient cycling. The four main principles of organic farming are health, ecology, fairness, and care. Organic farming aims to sustain soil, plant, animal and human health while working with ecological systems. It emphasizes building fair relationships and managing farms responsibly to protect current and future generations. Key techniques include maintaining soil organic matter, using insoluble nutrient sources, biological nitrogen fixation, and limited pest and disease control.
Bioremediation is the process in which the micro-organisms are used to degrade the pollutants from the environment. Plants and micro-organisms are used to clean up the environment. Bioremediation is carried out by microbes and their metabolisms are used to remove the contaminants. Microbes have the ability to resolve the issue of contaminated ecosystem1. To improve or better living style the degradation of contaminated areas is very important. Importance of the biodegradation is increasing due to the expensiveness of the chemicals. So bioremediation is the best choice. The effluents should be degraded from the environment because they are very dangerous and have a bad impact on human beings. These pollutants sink into the water and cause pollution. These pollutants are treated with the help of microbes in bioremediation process. It is the best method because it is cost effective and eco-friendly. Different techniques of bioremediation are used to convert toxic substances into less toxic substances.
Bioremediation is the process in which the micro-organisms are used to degrade the pollutants from the environment. Plants and micro-organisms are used to clean up the environment. Bioremediation is carried out by microbes and their metabolisms are used to remove the contaminants. Microbes have the ability to resolve the issue of contaminated ecosystem1. To improve or better living style the degradation of contaminated areas is very important. Importance of the biodegradation is increasing due to the expensiveness of the chemicals. So bioremediation is the best choice. The effluents should be degraded from the environment because they are very dangerous and have a bad impact on human beings. These pollutants sink into the water and cause pollution. These pollutants are treated with the help of microbes in bioremediation process. It is the best method because it is cost effective and eco-friendly. Different techniques of bioremediation are used to convert toxic substances into less toxic substances.
This document is a biology investigatory project report submitted by Poovel Arun T to fulfill curriculum requirements. It discusses microbes and their importance in human welfare. Microbes play vital roles in ecology as decomposers. They are also used in food production, water treatment, energy production, chemical/enzyme production, and scientific research. Microbes can form symbiotic relationships and contribute to human health as part of the human microbiome. However, some pathogenic microbes can cause disease.
Presentation from Salman Hussain, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) describing TEEB Agriculture and Food, a study designed to provide an economic evaluation of the ‘eco-agri-food systems’ complex. The presentation was prepared and delivered in occasion of the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition, held at FAO in Rome on 18-19 September 2014.
This document summarizes research on using microorganisms for bioremediation of environmental pollutants. It discusses how bioremediation uses microbes like bacteria and fungi to break down toxic waste into less harmful substances. The document reviews studies on designing bioreactors to clean contaminated soil and water. One study discussed used a designed surface soil treatment unit and cow dung microbial consortia to bioremediate common pesticides like chlorpyrifos at different concentrations in soil, maintaining simulated environmental conditions until thresholds were met. Overall, the document reviews the potential of bioremediation technology to degrade hazardous organic and inorganic pollutants using microbes into less toxic forms.
Similar to Changing the Economics of Organic Waste Disposal Using MEF (20)
TrustArc Webinar - 2024 Global Privacy SurveyTrustArc
How does your privacy program stack up against your peers? What challenges are privacy teams tackling and prioritizing in 2024?
In the fifth annual Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey, we asked over 1,800 global privacy professionals and business executives to share their perspectives on the current state of privacy inside and outside of their organizations. This year’s report focused on emerging areas of importance for privacy and compliance professionals, including considerations and implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, building brand trust, and different approaches for achieving higher privacy competence scores.
See how organizational priorities and strategic approaches to data security and privacy are evolving around the globe.
This webinar will review:
- The top 10 privacy insights from the fifth annual Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey
- The top challenges for privacy leaders, practitioners, and organizations in 2024
- Key themes to consider in developing and maintaining your privacy program
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
available on those devices, but many of the features provide convenience and capability but sacrifice security. This best practices guide outlines steps the users can take to better protect personal devices and information.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 5DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 5. In this session, we will cover CI/CD with devops.
Topics covered:
CI/CD with in UiPath
End-to-end overview of CI/CD pipeline with Azure devops
Speaker:
Lyndsey Byblow, Test Suite Sales Engineer @ UiPath, Inc.
Dr. Sean Tan, Head of Data Science, Changi Airport Group
Discover how Changi Airport Group (CAG) leverages graph technologies and generative AI to revolutionize their search capabilities. This session delves into the unique search needs of CAG’s diverse passengers and customers, showcasing how graph data structures enhance the accuracy and relevance of AI-generated search results, mitigating the risk of “hallucinations” and improving the overall customer journey.
GraphRAG for Life Science to increase LLM accuracyTomaz Bratanic
GraphRAG for life science domain, where you retriever information from biomedical knowledge graphs using LLMs to increase the accuracy and performance of generated answers
Maruthi Prithivirajan, Head of ASEAN & IN Solution Architecture, Neo4j
Get an inside look at the latest Neo4j innovations that enable relationship-driven intelligence at scale. Learn more about the newest cloud integrations and product enhancements that make Neo4j an essential choice for developers building apps with interconnected data and generative AI.
GraphSummit Singapore | The Art of the Possible with Graph - Q2 2024Neo4j
Neha Bajwa, Vice President of Product Marketing, Neo4j
Join us as we explore breakthrough innovations enabled by interconnected data and AI. Discover firsthand how organizations use relationships in data to uncover contextual insights and solve our most pressing challenges – from optimizing supply chains, detecting fraud, and improving customer experiences to accelerating drug discoveries.
For the full video of this presentation, please visit: https://www.edge-ai-vision.com/2024/06/building-and-scaling-ai-applications-with-the-nx-ai-manager-a-presentation-from-network-optix/
Robin van Emden, Senior Director of Data Science at Network Optix, presents the “Building and Scaling AI Applications with the Nx AI Manager,” tutorial at the May 2024 Embedded Vision Summit.
In this presentation, van Emden covers the basics of scaling edge AI solutions using the Nx tool kit. He emphasizes the process of developing AI models and deploying them globally. He also showcases the conversion of AI models and the creation of effective edge AI pipelines, with a focus on pre-processing, model conversion, selecting the appropriate inference engine for the target hardware and post-processing.
van Emden shows how Nx can simplify the developer’s life and facilitate a rapid transition from concept to production-ready applications.He provides valuable insights into developing scalable and efficient edge AI solutions, with a strong focus on practical implementation.
Essentials of Automations: The Art of Triggers and Actions in FMESafe Software
In this second installment of our Essentials of Automations webinar series, we’ll explore the landscape of triggers and actions, guiding you through the nuances of authoring and adapting workspaces for seamless automations. Gain an understanding of the full spectrum of triggers and actions available in FME, empowering you to enhance your workspaces for efficient automation.
We’ll kick things off by showcasing the most commonly used event-based triggers, introducing you to various automation workflows like manual triggers, schedules, directory watchers, and more. Plus, see how these elements play out in real scenarios.
Whether you’re tweaking your current setup or building from the ground up, this session will arm you with the tools and insights needed to transform your FME usage into a powerhouse of productivity. Join us to discover effective strategies that simplify complex processes, enhancing your productivity and transforming your data management practices with FME. Let’s turn complexity into clarity and make your workspaces work wonders!
Removing Uninteresting Bytes in Software FuzzingAftab Hussain
Imagine a world where software fuzzing, the process of mutating bytes in test seeds to uncover hidden and erroneous program behaviors, becomes faster and more effective. A lot depends on the initial seeds, which can significantly dictate the trajectory of a fuzzing campaign, particularly in terms of how long it takes to uncover interesting behaviour in your code. We introduce DIAR, a technique designed to speedup fuzzing campaigns by pinpointing and eliminating those uninteresting bytes in the seeds. Picture this: instead of wasting valuable resources on meaningless mutations in large, bloated seeds, DIAR removes the unnecessary bytes, streamlining the entire process.
In this work, we equipped AFL, a popular fuzzer, with DIAR and examined two critical Linux libraries -- Libxml's xmllint, a tool for parsing xml documents, and Binutil's readelf, an essential debugging and security analysis command-line tool used to display detailed information about ELF (Executable and Linkable Format). Our preliminary results show that AFL+DIAR does not only discover new paths more quickly but also achieves higher coverage overall. This work thus showcases how starting with lean and optimized seeds can lead to faster, more comprehensive fuzzing campaigns -- and DIAR helps you find such seeds.
- These are slides of the talk given at IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, ICSTW 2022.
Infrastructure Challenges in Scaling RAG with Custom AI modelsZilliz
Building Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems with open-source and custom AI models is a complex task. This talk explores the challenges in productionizing RAG systems, including retrieval performance, response synthesis, and evaluation. We’ll discuss how to leverage open-source models like text embeddings, language models, and custom fine-tuned models to enhance RAG performance. Additionally, we’ll cover how BentoML can help orchestrate and scale these AI components efficiently, ensuring seamless deployment and management of RAG systems in the cloud.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of technologies, XML continues to play a vital role in structuring, storing, and transporting data across diverse systems. The recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) present new methodologies for enhancing XML development workflows, introducing efficiency, automation, and intelligent capabilities. This presentation will outline the scope and perspective of utilizing AI in XML development. The potential benefits and the possible pitfalls will be highlighted, providing a balanced view of the subject.
We will explore the capabilities of AI in understanding XML markup languages and autonomously creating structured XML content. Additionally, we will examine the capacity of AI to enrich plain text with appropriate XML markup. Practical examples and methodological guidelines will be provided to elucidate how AI can be effectively prompted to interpret and generate accurate XML markup.
Further emphasis will be placed on the role of AI in developing XSLT, or schemas such as XSD and Schematron. We will address the techniques and strategies adopted to create prompts for generating code, explaining code, or refactoring the code, and the results achieved.
The discussion will extend to how AI can be used to transform XML content. In particular, the focus will be on the use of AI XPath extension functions in XSLT, Schematron, Schematron Quick Fixes, or for XML content refactoring.
The presentation aims to deliver a comprehensive overview of AI usage in XML development, providing attendees with the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions. Whether you’re at the early stages of adopting AI or considering integrating it in advanced XML development, this presentation will cover all levels of expertise.
By highlighting the potential advantages and challenges of integrating AI with XML development tools and languages, the presentation seeks to inspire thoughtful conversation around the future of XML development. We’ll not only delve into the technical aspects of AI-powered XML development but also discuss practical implications and possible future directions.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 6DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 6. In this session, we will cover Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI webinar offers an in-depth exploration of leveraging cutting-edge technologies for test automation within the UiPath platform. Attendees will delve into the integration of generative AI, a test automation solution, with Open AI advanced natural language processing capabilities.
Throughout the session, participants will discover how this synergy empowers testers to automate repetitive tasks, enhance testing accuracy, and expedite the software testing life cycle. Topics covered include the seamless integration process, practical use cases, and the benefits of harnessing AI-driven automation for UiPath testing initiatives. By attending this webinar, testers, and automation professionals can gain valuable insights into harnessing the power of AI to optimize their test automation workflows within the UiPath ecosystem, ultimately driving efficiency and quality in software development processes.
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into integrating generative AI.
2. Understanding how this integration enhances test automation within the UiPath platform
3. Practical demonstrations
4. Exploration of real-world use cases illustrating the benefits of AI-driven test automation for UiPath
Topics covered:
What is generative AI
Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath integration with generative AI
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
2. 2 International Journal of Biotechnology for Wellness Industries, 2013 Vol. 2, No. 2 Edward A. Calt
the community. These technologies require substantial
community resources including land that could be put
to more productive use.
A behavioral shift occurs when people go from
spending money on a problem to making money from
the problem. What was once thrown away is now
diverted to profit. The application of Managed
Ecosystem Fermentation (MEF) to the problems of
organic waste can significantly change the economics
of disposal. The MEF process can produce multiple
industrial feedstocks that can generate sufficient
revenues to change the disposal from an economic
burden to an economic resource.
The realities of the negative implications of
concentrated organic waste are clear. In order for any
new process to effectively address this situation four
basic concepts must be addressed:
1. No species can survive in its own waste stream.
2. For a new technology to take hold it must offer
the society a better value proposition than the
current methods in use.
3. For a technology to make permanent
environmental improvements, it must be
economically sustainable.
4. Biomass is the only renewable source of organic
chemicals available.
Nature already has the technology to address these
issues. Nature converts organic matter using microbial
ecosystems. They involve multiple species of bacteria,
fungi, protozoa, and other microbes interacting in
various ways. Examples of natural microbial
ecosystems would be in the digestive microbes of
ruminant animals such as cows, goats, and sheep as
well as the digestive microbes in insects such as
termites, or soil bacteria. Our own digestive system is
another example of a microbial ecosystem. They are
also used in a few industrial processes such as
anaerobic digestion and wastewater treatment plants.
What has been lacking is a technology that can
harness the productive capacity of these ecosystems in
a cost-effective manner.
3. BIOLOGICAL BASIS FOR MEF
Nature has developed multiple microbial
ecosystems. These ecosystems involve multiple
species interacting in complex ways. Many of these
interactions are neither known nor fully understood.
Regardless of our understanding of these interactions,
these ecosystems thrive because of the symbiotic
relationship that exists between the multiple species.
Each species performs one or more functions within
that ecosystem. Whether the species is consuming
another species or is being consumed is not relevant.
Each species is providing something needed by
another species. This is the basis for a self-sustaining
ecosystem.
We are exposed to multiple Natural Microbial
Ecosystems (NMEs) on a daily basis. NMEs change
based on the availability of food, water, heat (energy)
and the absence or presence of various chemicals to
facilitate the different chemical/biological reactions
involved. These various reactions occur without human
input. Whenever humans influence these reactions, the
microbes adapt in ways that ensure their own survival.
The difference between NMEs and MEF is in the
management of the process. MEF actively manages
the process.
Both natural and managed ecosystems share
several common traits:
1. Microbial ecosystems do not require sterilized
feedstock. Animals and humans do not sterilize
their food. Their digestive ecosystems have
evolved to protect the host, yet assist in the
nutrition of the host. Essentially, most pathogens
find an adversarial microbe inside the ecosystem
to consume it.
2. Microbial ecosystems can consume a broad
spectrum of organic matter. This permits the
ecosystem to survive for years at a time. This is
illustrated by the variety of food we eat.
3. Microbial ecosystems are symbiotic. Each
microbe is dependent upon its relationships with
the other microbes as well as its host
environment. These relationships are complex
and continuously changing based upon the
conditions encountered by each microbe.
4. Microbial ecosystems work because they are
focused on their own survival.
5. Microbial ecosystems work because a multi-
species system has many more chemical
pathways to break down a feedstock than any
single species does.
3. Changing the Economics of Organic Waste Disposal International Journal of Biotechnology for Wellness Industries, 2013 Vol. 2, No. 2 3
Integrated BioChem, LLC has developed the term
Managed Ecosystem Fermentation (MEF) to describe a
symbiotic ecosystem that exists solely in an artificial
environment. There are four methods that permit
control over the ecosystem. First, the chemistry of the
feedstock can be altered with various pretreatments to
facilitate both processing and output of products.
Second, the ecosystem can be biologically altered to
change both the yields and outputs. Third, the process
can be chemically stimulated. Finally, the containment
environment can be modified to alter the results. It is
the ability to control the process that influences the
economics of the process. These controls permit
shifting the product mix from low value materials to
higher value products. The shifting is focused on
producing more valuable longer chain carbon
compounds.
4. MEF VERSUS THE STATUS QUO OF WASTE
TREATMENT
Today there are essentially three methods for the
disposal of organic matter for which there is no other
use: recycle it, burn it, or bury it. Each of these
alternatives provides some relief from the waste stream
and limited economic benefits. However, none of these
methods bring in significant new revenues to the
community.
Recycling organic waste can be broken down into
two forms: anaerobic digestion and composting.
Composting is the aerobic microbial breakdown of the
organic matter into compost/fertilizer. This method
allows for the re-cycling of both the nutrients and the
microbes back into the soil. However, this method has
limited effectiveness in the urban environment. The
product receives a low value in the marketplace and its
market is limited by the cost of transport since organic
matter is over 50% water. The cost of transporting
water precludes the recycling of the material.
Additionally, it requires land and time to accomplish this
conversion. Anaerobic digestion is focused on the
production of methane. The by-product is a material
similar to that derived from composting. In the rural
environment, the generation of methane does provide a
source of energy for the people. It also permits the
recycling of the nutrients and microbes back into the
soil. However, in an urban environment the methane
generated must now compete with shale gas and
methane hydride [1]. At best the methane produced by
anaerobic digestion can be used as a cost offset while
the residue of the process is still subject to the same
economic issues as composting.
The burning of organic waste is intended to convert
the organic matter into electricity to be sold to the
community. This technology has limited potential
because of the significant amount of water that must be
displaced from the organic waste itself. Additionally, the
burning of organic matter contributes to global warming
through emissions of carbon dioxide and other
pollutants. The bigger economic issue with burning lies
not with the technology itself, but rather with the
regulatory environment in which it operates. As the
regulations increase, the cost to build and operate
these facilities increases. Within the United States, the
volatility of the United States tax code makes financing
of these facilities a challenge.
It is recognized that simply burying organic waste
will lead to groundwater contamination. The technology
of landfilling has been created to prevent the
contamination. Landfill economics are dictated by the
volume of waste a landfill can hold and the surface
area needed to provide that volume; the greater the
volume the greater the earning potential of the landfill.
However, the resources needed to permit, build,
operate, and close a landfill are increasing. Nobody
wants a landfill in his or her backyard. The economics
of this are shown in Figure 1 [2]. Additionally, landfills
do not completely encapsulate the waste. There is
discharge in the form of leachate that must be treated.
Essentially, landfills just entomb the waste.
Figure 1: Shifting the economics of waste disposal from a
cost to a revenue source [2].
Landfills and MEF operate as semi-anaerobic
processes. They both require small amounts of oxygen
to work. Both work with a community of bacteria, fungi,
4. 4 International Journal of Biotechnology for Wellness Industries, 2013 Vol. 2, No. 2 Edward A. Calt
yeast, and protozoa. The difference between the two
processes is in the amount of fluid available. Landfills
operate under the premise the less water the better. In
contrast, MEF operates in a totally fluid environment.
While both processes produce volatile fatty acids [2]
(VFA), there is a significant economic difference
between the two based on how these VFAs are
handled. In a landfill, the VFAs are allowed to
decompose into methane and carbon dioxide. In MEF,
the VFAs are extracted for sale. The most significant
difference arises in the time to convert the waste into
salable product. The economics of this are outlined in
Table 1 [2] using the lowest value VFA, acetic acid.
Table 1: A Significant Economic Advantage can be
Obtained by Extracting Acetic Acid before it
can Decompose into Methane [2]
Economic Loss from Decomposition
Description
Acetic
Acid
Methane
Formula C2H4O2 CH4 + CO2
Carbon Available for Sale 100% 50%
Current Price Per Ton $600 $156
Time to Produce 48 Hours 4 to 5 Years
The economics illustrated in Table 1 show that it is
more efficient to extract the acetic acid from the waste
in 48 hours than to wait for the conversion into
methane and then into electricity. This result is
amplified when the higher value VFAs are considered
such as butyric acid. Butyric acid sells between $1,000
and $90,000 per ton based on purity. This extraction
cannot be done in a landfill. It can be done using the
MEF process.
The differences in economics between landfilling
and MEF become more pronounced when the input
volume of organic waste is considered. In both landfills
and MEF, the VFAs are produced in low concentrations
of less than 1%. Initially it makes no sense to consider
processing materials at this level. However, Table 2 [2]
would suggest that such processing could generate
substantial amounts of money.
The key point is that there is a significant economic
opportunity available to the waste industry by
converting the organic fraction of the waste stream into
basic industrial chemicals and enzymes. Figure 2
illustrates the relationship between price and
concentration. The more diluted the material, the higher
the price per kilogram [3]. However, many of the
30,000 enzymes produced by this process can be
extracted with existing technology that is currently used
in multiple industries [4].
Table 2: Significant Revenue is Available Even at Low
Concentrations [2]
Low Concentrations, High Revenues
Tons per day of organic waste 1,000
Concentration (%) 0.5%
Tons of product per day 5
Price per ton of product (Acetic Acid) $600
Revenue per day $3,000
Days per year 365
Revenue per year $1,095,000
Figure 2: The value of the enzymes increases as the
concentration decreases [3].
5. FEEDSTOCK AVAILABILITY
MEF can adapt to a wide variety of organic
materials. These organic materials are concentrated
within the community at specific locations. In order to
derive the most health and economic benefits for the
community, it makes sense to locate the processing
equipment for MEF at those locations. These sources
of organic waste are available at no or even negative
cost.
The preferred organic material would be derived
from food processing plants. Most of these facilities
produce food products for either human or animal
consumption. They run on a year-round basis. This
organic waste material could be converted into high-
5. Changing the Economics of Organic Waste Disposal International Journal of Biotechnology for Wellness Industries, 2013 Vol. 2, No. 2 5
protein animal feed. The high-protein animal feed
derived from the source could be fed to fish, prawns,
poultry, hogs, and cattle.
The organic fraction of municipal solid waste
(OFMSW) is a major disposal challenge for many
communities. Locating MEF processing facilities at
either landfill sites or waste transfer centers eliminates
the secondary transportation of this material. Locating
the MEF processing facilities at either the waste
collection centers or landfills automatically extends the
life of the landfills. Additionally, the disposal costs to
the community could be reduced by up to 25%. Beyond
the industrial chemicals and enzymes produced at
these sites, there would be a substantial amount of
fertilizer available in forms compatible with local
agricultural practice. Heavy metals associated with this
waste are extracted using ion resin exchange and sold.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the
United Nations estimates approximately one third of the
food produced for human consumption is wasted every
year [5]. Approximately 850 million tons are generated
annually from food processing plants and municipalities
in Europe, North America, and industrialized Asia.
Table 3 provides estimates as to the amount of
material available for potential use with the MEF
technology.
Additionally Confined Animal Feeding Operations
(CAFO) generate significant amounts of manure per
year. The MEF technology could provide the CAFO
sites with the means to dispose of both the manure and
the animal mortalities. Feedstock derived from CAFO
sites would only be used to produce probiotic fertilizer.
MEF offers the potential to convert both the
agricultural and municipal organic waste into multiple
materials used by society. In particular, the agricultural
waste could become a new source of high protein
animal feed thereby minimizing the need for soybean
meal imports. The municipal waste has the phosphate,
nitrate and potassium from the plant material
incorporated into its fertilizer. This could become a
valuable source of fertilizer for developing economies.
6. THE TECHNOLOGY
MEF process is the industrialization of the first
stomach of a ruminant animal (cow, goat, etc.). In a
ruminant animal, cellulose is converted into volatile
fatty acids and proteins that provide the nourishment
for the animal. MEF has moved this cellulosic
conversion process out of the animal and harnessed
the productive capability of the microbial ecosystem.
The process operates only within a controlled
artificial environment. Significant differences come from
removing some of the natural control systems of the
animal and allowing the microbes to produce under a
different environment and control system. This permits
the management of the yields of the various natural
compounds produced. These chemicals can be
extracted from the industrial MEF unit in the separation
process and used in industry [6]. But the basic question
remains, can rumen (and MEF) survive on garbage?
Figure 3 shows cows grazing on garbage in Delhi,
India. Cows can live for over 20 years.
Figure 3: Cattle with ruminant stomachs processing food
waste.
The MEF process converts organic wastes into
metabolites and biomass and has been confirmed
using gas chromatography as shown in Figure 4. The
process has been run in vitro for 76 days with a daily
addition of the feedstocks using residential food scraps,
Table 3: Significant Economic Opportunity Exists by Converting the Food Waste into Usable Products [2]
Food Losses for all Categories of Food
(Millions of Tons Per Year)
Food losses, all categories of food Europe & Russia North America Industrial Asia
Processing &Packaging Losses (includes food grade) 76.3 65.1 97.7
Post Consumer at Household Level (OF-MSW) 189.5 197.2 223.6
6. 6 International Journal of Biotechnology for Wellness Industries, 2013 Vol. 2, No. 2 Edward A. Calt
garbage with newsprint or the sludge from a paper mill.
The control of the process is discussed elsewhere [7].
Research has also shown that the process is inherently
stable, so remote monitoring and control are technically
feasible for MEF processes.
An early video of the MEF fermentation process can
be viewed at http://integratedbiochem.com/?page_
id=32 and clicking on the video to see the process
demonstrated with time-lapse photography. The still
image (shown in Figure 5) from the video shows the
conversion of household garbage (left), wood pulp from
a paper mill (center), and household garbage with
newsprint (right) being digested. This video covers a
twenty-four hour period with one frame every 30
seconds.
There are several critical points demonstrated in the
video. First, this is a rapid conversion process. The liter
bottle in Figure 6 started out as a liter of garbage. It
takes approximately 1 day to convert the various
wastes into chemicals as seen in photograph. The solid
matter on the bottom is organic fertilizer. The liquid
above is water, enzymes and proteins. The second
point demonstrated is the process does not require
complex equipment to operate. Simplicity is the key to
making this technology work. Third, the process
converts cellulose into salable product. Fourth, there is
substantial reduction in the solid matter. Most of the
solid matter is less than 20 microns in size. Finally, the
process produces a wide array of organic chemicals
that are used in multiple industries throughout the
world. Some of these high value materials can be seen
in Table 4.
Figure 5: MEF process over 24 hours [2].
7. THE RESOURCE WITHIN
Understanding why organic waste can be viewed as
an economic resource comes from the understanding
Figure 4: Volatile fatty acid production for a 76 day test period [2].
7. Changing the Economics of Organic Waste Disposal International Journal of Biotechnology for Wellness Industries, 2013 Vol. 2, No. 2 7
where this organic matter fits within the chemical world
we inhabit. Cellulose, carbohydrates and other
organics can be converted into the basic chemicals we
use on a daily basis. Nature does this biologically with
processes that have worked for millions of years. The
compounds produced in one step become feedstock
for the next step. Essentially, nature uses a multi-step
process to break down the longer chain carbon
materials and convert them into shorter chain
compounds. Ultimately, the material is broken down to
a point to where it can be recycled back into plants that
convert these shorter chain materials back into longer
chain carbon compounds.
The MEF process leverages the natural process
from a ruminant animal to break down the organic
waste into compounds that are used in industry and
agriculture today. These organic compounds include
volatile fatty acids, longer chain fatty acids, proteins,
enzymes, peptides, and amino acids. MEF controls the
fermentation process by continuously extracting the
VFAs, proteins, etc. The MEF core process can be
seen in Figure 7.
The key to understanding the economic potential of
the MEF process is in recognizing that it is not what the
process produces but rather what can be made from
the products produced. Figure 7 illustrates the
opportunity that exists through the conversion of the
initial outputs into the multiple products used today.
MEF produces basic feedstocks used in multiple
industries.
While the production of fertilizer and animal feed
provide the basis to make the disposal of organic waste
viable, the additional value inherent in the MEF output
stream is that the opportunity exists to make higher
value products available as separation technology
improves.
One of the important features of any ecosystem
fermentation is the diversity of microbes, and therefore
Figure 6: One liter of converted food waste [2].
Table 4: Market Prices and Applications of some of the Enzymes Produced by MEF in 2011 [2]
Markets Prices for Enzymes & Amino Acids in MEF processes
Enzyme or Amino Acid Price per Ton Application
Alpha-amylase
$15,000 Textiles, Starch syrups, laundry and dish washing detergent, fermentation of ethanol,
animal feed
Cellulase $16,636 Cellulostic ethanol production, laundry detergent, textile finishing, animal feed
Pepsin $2,000 Cheese production
Lysozyme $11,800 Antibacterial (germicidal in dairy industry)
Hemicellulase $3,790 Baking, fruit juice, wood pulp processing.
Aspartic Acid $2,150 Acrylic acid
Lysine $2,400 Nylon precursor
Proline $2,800 Catalyst in biological reaction
Carbohydrases $500 Tank cleaners, pulp and paper, textiles, fermentation ethanol
Penicillin acylase $6,400 Chemical synthesis
Histidase $16,000 Cosmetics
Peroxidase $6,100 Laundry and wood pulp bleaches
Alkaline protease $280 Detergent
8. 8 International Journal of Biotechnology for Wellness Industries, 2013 Vol. 2, No. 2 Edward A. Calt
a diversity of enzymes, the primary tools of the
microbes. As an example, rumen, the digestive
microbial ecosystem for cattle can contain over 30,000
enzymes [8]. Enzymes are known to catalyze over
4,000 biochemical reactions, and likely many more.
The value of enzymes comes from their ability to lower
the energy required for a specific biochemical reaction.
Table 4 shows the market price (prices as of 2011) of
some of the more important enzymes found in rumen
and expected in MEF working with organic wastes
feedstocks.
MEF has demonstrated the ability to produce
protein suitable for fish food as shown in Figure 8. This
ability to produce protein from cellulose suitable for
animal feed opens the potential to make more animal
protein available at lower costs.
Figure 8: Microbial protein produced from the MEF process
[2].
Additionally, MEF has demonstrated the ability to
extract cellulase. Cellulase is the most expensive
ingredient in the production of cellulosic ethanol. This is
illustrated in Figure 9. Being able to produce cellulase
in large quantities now permits the conversion of waste
newsprint into multiple high value industrial chemicals.
Figure 9: Enzymatic consumption of waste newsprint with
cellulase extracted from the MEF process.
These products would include longer fiber cellulose
for reuse in local paper mills, sugars that could be
converted into biofuel, and lipids that could be
converted into biodiesel.
8. SUMMARY
The MEF technology has advanced to the point of
being awarded a patent by the United States Patent
Office on February 5, 2013 (U.S. Patent 8,367,372).
Figure 7: MEF process from waste to products [2].
9. Changing the Economics of Organic Waste Disposal International Journal of Biotechnology for Wellness Industries, 2013 Vol. 2, No. 2 9
The technology is in the engineering scale-up phase of
its development. The design efforts are focused on
standardizing the equipment to facilitate deployment.
The MEF production units are being designed to go
into a standard 40 feet (12.2 meter) shipping container.
This criteria facilitates manufacturing, shipping,
installation and operation. It also permits the scaling of
the technology to the requirements of the specific
location.
The MEF technology integrates a natural process
with today’s separation methods to focus on providing
a more complete solution to the disposal of organic
waste. The technology changes how waste is viewed
as there are now multiple products that can be
produced from the material. This provides the
economic incentive to bring private capital to bear on a
public problem.
The benefits available to society by shifting the
value of organic waste are significiant. First, a disease
vector is eliminated. Second, a source of ground water
contamination is eliminated. Third, a source of
greenhouse gases in eliminated. Fourth, a new source
of protein is available for animal feed to increase local
production of fish, prawns, poultry, hogs or cattle. The
increase in affordable animal protein could make a
significant improvement in public health. Fifth, a new
source of fertilizer is available thereby reducing the
need to import phosphate, nitrate, and potassium.
Sixth, new jobs are created in the manufacturing of the
production units as well as in local operation. Finally,
foreign currency can be brought back to the community
through the sale of the higher value feedstocks
produced that are not used within the community.
SYMBOLS & ABBREVATIONS
C2H4O2 = Acetic Acid
CH4 = Methane
CO2 = Carbon Dioxide
= Converts into
CAFO = Confined animal feeding operation
MEF = Managed Ecosystem Fermentation
NME = Natural Microbial Ecosystem
OFMSW = Organic fraction of municipal solid waste
VFA = Volatile fatty acid
REFERENCES
[1] Soble, Johnathan, Japan warms to ‘fire ice’ potential,
Financial Times, March 12, 2013.
[2] Calt E. Converting Organic Waste to Money Using Managed
Ecosystem Fermentation; International Conference for Solid
Waste Technology and Management, March 2013.
[3] Singh RK, Rizivi SSH. Bioseparation Processes in Food.
Marcel Decker 1995; p. 377.
[4] Department of Energy (DOE) http://www.ornl.gov/info/news/
pulse/no330/story4.shtml
[5] United Nations Report: Global Food Losses and Waste May
11, 2011 http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/74192/icode/
[6] Dowex: Ion R esin Exchange, The Dow Chemical Company
1959.
[7] Tull HG, Hergerth H. Technical Assessment of Microbial
Ecosystem Fermentation; International Environmental
Association; Kona, Hawaii 2011.
[8] Department of Energy (DOE); http://www.ornl.gov/info/news/
pulse/no330/story4.shtml