Clean Water, Biodiversity and Environment

Water pollution is global problem and more efficient and sustainable materials are needed for the treatment processes. Adsorbents are one potential option providing relatively simple process design and potential to recover valuable components from water. The topic for this project is to develop new adsorbents compositions containing geopolymers (amorphous aluminosilicates) as a matrix and for example biochar, chitosan, or bisphosphonates as added components. The work will consist of preparing and extensively characterizing the adsorbents as well as testing them for realistic water treatment scenarios. Thus, the goal is to develop new synergistic and practically feasible composite adsorbents and understand the linkage between their nano/microstructural features and performance in water treatment.

Related I4WORLD research theme: Clean Water, Biodiversity and Environment

Location of the position: Fibre and Particle Engineering (FPE)

Supervisors: Assist. Prof. Tero Luukkonen (FPE), Prof. Jouko Vepsäläinen (BioSO4, Chairman of the Board)

Partners: BioSO4 Oy

Environmental flow (EF) refers to the magnitude, timing, and quality of required water to sustain the impacted aquatic ecosystems. The EF terms are usually used for altered flow below dams and hydropower. In this research project, we will design the criteria for defining EF for the lakes in cold climates. The case studies are of two urban lakes in the North of Oulu Pyykösjärvi and kyivjärvi. The remote sensing and in-situ data will be assimilated for calibrating the lakes' water quality model. A scenario-based lake water quality analysis will be done based on different transferred flow magnitudes from the oulujoki in different timing patterns. Finally, we optimize the water-energy Nexus by applying dynamic programming to obtain the best scenario for the magnitude and timing of EF.

Related I4WORLD research theme: Clean Water, Biodiversity and Environment

Location of the position: Water, Energy, and Environmental Engineering (WE3)

Supervisors: Assoc Prof. Ali Torabi Haghighi (WE3) and Dr. Nasim Fazel (SYKE)

Partner: Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) (Finland)

Moss species are commonly found in peat bogs and other wetlands, and peat bogs are sometimes used for Phyto filtration of mining wastewater. The aquatic moss, floating hook-moss (Warnstorfia fluitans) can lower the levels of arsenic and nitrogen from water. The moss can survive well in aquatic conditions of low nutrients, pH and temperature, being especially suitable for cleaning of wastewater in cold subarctic conditions. Microbial symbionts of mosses can be crucial in improving phytoremediation, using plants to clean up contaminated soil and water. The moss can take up pollutants from the soil, and its associated microbial symbionts can further degrade or detoxify these pollutants through their metabolic processes. The microbial community associated with floating-hook moss is diverse, including bacteria and fungi. Specifically, several endophytic fungi of floating-hook moss are potential candidates for aiding in the phytoremediation process. These microorganisms can degrade or detoxify many pollutants, including heavy metals, such as nickel, arsenic, and copper.

Related I4WORLD research theme: Clean Water, Biodiversity and Environment; Sustainable Industries and Production

Location of the position: Ecology and Genetics (EG)

Supervisors: prof. Anna-Maria Pirttilä, Dr. Janne Koskimäki (EG), Dr. Kaisa Lehosmaa (EG) and and Minna Männistö (Luke)

Partners: Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)

Understanding biodiversity loss is crucial in preserving natural habitats and threatened species, and supporting sustainable forest and peatland management. Only a few studies have attempted to combine eDNA with remote sensing so far. However, a combination of both can provide us with much higher resolution and information to better understand current and future biodiversity changes. Bridging the gap between these state-of-the-art biodiversity monitoring technologies will help to develop streamlined approaches to assess an environment’s biodiversity efficiently and quickly. The project aims to develop an effective, integrated biodiversity monitoring approach over a spatio-temporal scale. The data can be used for evidence-based policy decisions, conservation, education, and outreach.

Related I4WORLD research themes: Clean Water, Biodiversity and Environment

Location of the position: Ecology and Genetics (EG)

Supervisors: Ass. Prof. Stefan Prost (EG), Senior curator Marko Mutanen (EG) and Senior Scientist Aleksi Räsänen (Luke)

Partners: Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)

Being able to read and monitor biodiversity is severely hindered by the realities that most species remain un-described and identification of others is inefficient and inaccurate based on classical tools and due to shortage of species experts. Unprecedented rapid development of genomics technologies during the last years has opened new avenues for efficient survey and monitory of biodiversity as well as automated identification and standardized delimitation of species. The doctoral research will focus of developing and/or testing novel high-throughput DNA sequencing tools and approaches to find solutions to the prevailing predicament rendering us largely bio-illiterate, and therefore to help the humankind to overcome the biodiversity crisis.

Related I4WORLD research theme: Clean Water, Biodiversity and Environment

Location of the position: Ecology and Genetics (EG)

Supervisors: Senior curator Marko Mutanen (EG), Prof. Niklas Wahlberg (Lund University), Ass. professor. Stefan Prost (EG)

Partners: Lund University (Sweden)