Achievement

Using a laboratory mesocosm consisting of live plants and epiphytes grown in a re-circulating flume, dissolved nickel uptake by Elodea canadensis Michaux is compared with nickel uptake by the associated epiphytic community under a range of flow conditions. The relationship of these parameters to flow conditions, represented by the dimensionless variable Reynolds number, was compared between epiphytes and plants. This research indicates that fluid flow conditions alter nickel uptake by E. canadensis and the epiphytic community and that the two have different preferential flow regimes. It also suggests the promising bioremediation potential of both in moving fluids in aquatic environments.

Hansen1, A. T., R. A. Stark and M. Hondzo. Jan 2011. Uptake of dissolved nickel by Elodea canadensis and epiphytes influenced by fluid flow conditions. Hydrobiologia. 658: 127-138, doi:10.1007/s10750-010-0456-8.