Modeling dissolved and particulate organic carbon dynamics at basin and sub-basin scales.

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) play a fundamental role in biogeochemical cycles of freshwater ecosystems. However, the lack of readily available distributed models for carbon export has limited the effective management of organic carbon fluxes from soils, through river networks and to receiving marine waters. We develop a spatially semi-distributed mass balance modeling approach to estimate organic carbon flux at a sub-basin and basin scales, using commonly available data, to allow stakeholders to explore the impacts of alternative river basin management scenarios and climate change on riverine DOC and POC dynamics.

Monitoring nutrients fate after digestate spreading in a short rotation buffer area.

One of the main sources of reactive nitrogen pollution is animal manure. The disposal of digestate (material remaining after the anaerobic digestion of a biodegradable feedstock) in agricultural soils could solve both the problems of soil fertilization and waste removal, but the fate of digestate in the environment must be assessed carefully before its massive utilization. To investigate whether digestate could be safely employed as a soil fertilizer, an agricultural field located in Monastier di Treviso (Northern Italy) and characterized by the presence of low hydraulic conductivity clay soils, was selected to be amended with bovine digestate.

Vegetation, soil and hydrology management influence denitrification activity and the composition of nirK-type denitrifier communities in a newly afforested riparian buffer.

Soil microbial community composition and activity could be affected by suitable manipulation of the environment they live in. If correctly applied such an approach could become a very effective way to remediate excess of chemicals. The concentration of nitrogen, especially nitrate deriving from agricultural managements, is generally found to increase in water flow.