Latest Phosphorus Stories

By Jeremy Hsieh, The Beaufort Gazette, S.C. Jul. 1--Nitrogen gas makes up about three-fourths of the air we breathe, but when it's bound in certain soluble compounds and carried into our waterways, it can cause ecologically disruptive algae blooms and fish kills. Under a proposed update of Beaufort County's stormwater management manual of best practices, nitrogen pollutants would be folded into exiting stormwater regulations, potentially forcing developers to drastically reduce the amount...

When rain settles the atmosphere and brings air pollutants to the ground, it can have a lasting effect on ecosystems, sometimes hundreds of miles away, according to a Texas AgriLife Research agricultural engineer.Dr. Brent Auvermann, research engineer and Texas AgriLife Extension Service specialist in Amarillo, is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies to see what is settling from the skies above the Panhandle."The question...

By Joe Knight, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis. Jun. 20--Ralph Bellore had a wake-up call three years ago when he read that Eurasian water milfoil had been found in Lake Wissota. Bellore, who has a home on the lake, knew the aggressive plant had the potential to take over by forming a thick mat of weeds. "I didn't buy a house on the lake to be walking across it," he said. Other lake residents shared his concerns. The Lake Wissota Improvement and Protection Association, which had...

By RONALD L. LITTLEPAGE Algal blooms - the nasty stuff that can turn the St. Johns River green, kill fish, suffocate critical vegetation and create a giant, stinking mess - have begun their summer run. The St. Johns River Water Management District said last week it was monitoring blooms from Lake Harney near Sanford to Doctors Lake in Clay County. A major cause of the blooms is the fact the river and its tributaries are overloaded with nutrients. It's no secret where a lot of those...

By Carol O'Meara You changed the light bulbs and installed the low-energy appliances; the trash is recycled and you eat local. Now that your home is eco-friendly, turn your attention to the landscape, where what you grow - and mow - may help save the environment. What's that - a lawn is environmentally helpful? How can this be when too much fertilizer and overwatering make turf public enemy No. 1, the exhaust-belching mowers a suburban eco-disaster? But the real culprit is operator error,...

By Heather Smith, The Reidsville Review, N.C. Jun. 14--WENTWORTH -- With the hefty budget issue passed, the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners will discuss department issues during its meeting Monday. The Rockingham County Public Library proposes increased fees for interlibrary loan and late penalties on children's books. Rockingham County Emergency Management proposes rate increases in specialty and ambulance emergency care and event standby. Because the old county courthouse will...

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a new way that phosphorus is naturally removed from the oceans "“ its stored in diatoms. The discovery opens up a new realm of research into an element that's used for reproduction, energy storage and structural materials in every organism. Its understanding is vital to the continued quest to understand the growth of the oceans. The research appears in the May 2, 2008 edition of the journal Science. Ellery Ingall, associate...

By Joe Lamp'l Sometimes it's not an easy choice between our safety and the safety of our plants and soil. If I lived alone, I'd give the nod to the latter. But, I must be prudent to protect my family and guests from winter perils, namely an icy slick sidewalk or driveway. If you live in an area where this can be a problem, you know that de-icers are a common way to eliminate slickness. But too often we don't use de-icers properly. Their job is to loosen ice from below making it easier to...

By Garcia-Zubiri, Inigo X Burrows, Hugh D; de Melo, J Sergio Seixas; Pina, Joao; Monteserin, Maria; Tapia, Maria J ABSTRACT The complexation of beta-carboline-3-carboxylic acid N- methylamide (betaCMAM) with the sodium salts of the nucleotides polyadenylic (Poly A), polycytidylic (Poly C), polyguanylic (Poly G), polythymidylic (Poly T) and polyuridylic (Poly U) acids, and with double stranded (dsDNA) and single stranded deoxyribonucleic acids (ssDNA) was studied at pH 4, 6 and 9. Predominant...

By Costello, Michael T Urrego, Roberto A; Hunter, Maureen Keywords Overbased Sulfonate. Sulfurized Olefin. Molybdenum Dithiocarbamate, XPS, Four-Ball ER Surface Chemistry, Metalworking Lubricants Abstract The role of amorphous or crystalline overbased detergent and sulfur containing AW/EP additives on the surface films created in a tribometer was investigated. In the crystalline overbased sulfonate containing samples the weld point was higher than for the equivalent blend using an...