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At least 55 records · Page 3

Analysis of effect of the solubility on gas exchange in nonhomogeneous lungs

A comparison is made of the gas exchange in nonhomogeneous lung models and in homogeneous lung models with the same total blood flow and ventilation. It is shown that the ratio of the rate of gas transfer of the inhomogeneous lung model over the rate of gas transfer of the homogeneous lung model as a function of gas solubility always has the qualitative features for gases with linear dissociation curves. This ratio is 1 for a gas with zero solubility and decreases to a single minimum. It subsequently rises to approach 1 as the solubility tends to infinity. The early portion of the graph of this function is convex, then after a single inflection point it is concave.

Colburn, W. E., Jr.↗

The Gas Exchange Experiment for life detection - The Viking Mars Lander.

The Gas Exchange Experiment of the Viking mission accepts a sample of Martian soil, incubates this soil with nutrient medium, and periodically samples the enclosed atmosphere over this soil for the gases H2, N2, O2, Kr, and CO2. These gases are analyzed by an automated gas chromatograph, and the data are transmitted to earth. The design of the experiment and the qualitative and quantitative changes, if any, of gas composition should allow conclusions to be made on the presence of life on Mars. Data and theory substantiating this approach are presented.

Oyama, V. I.↗

The Viking gas exchange experiment results from Chryse and Utopia surface samples

Immediate gas changes occurred when untreated Martian surface samples were humidified and/or wet by an aqueous nutrient medium in the Viking lander gas exchange experiment. The evolutions of N2, CO2, and Ar are mainly associated with soil surface desorption caused by water vapor, while O2 evolution is primarily associated with decomposition of superoxides inferred to be present on Mars. On recharges with fresh nutrient and test gas, only CO2 was given off, and its rate of evolution decreased with each recharge. This CO2 evolution is thought to come from the oxidation of organics present in the nutrient by gamma Fe2O3 in the surface samples. Atmospheric analyses were also performed at both sites. The mean atmospheric composition from four analyses is N2, 2.3%; O2, not greater than 0.15%; Ar, 1.5% and CO2, 96.2%.

Oyama, V. I.↗

Potential of a Plant Gas Exchange Mechanistic Model to Predict Plant Transpiration in Veggie on ISS

Plants are an essential part of long-duration space travel, as they enable food production and contribute to air revitalization through photosynthesis, and water recycling through transpiration. Understanding their growth mechanisms is essential to use them to sustain human life in space. In particular, gas exchange – e.g., CO2 absorption and water transpiration – are modified in microgravity because of the lack of buoyancy-driven convection, and in the long run, this could result in impaired plant growth. Water absorbed by the plants mainly depends on their size and on environmental conditions (air temperature, humidity and ventilation), but in microgravity watering plants is a delicate operation – too much water results in flooded roots and too little water leads in a few hours to wilted plants. This is regularly experienced in the Veggie system on ISS, which enables small-scale food production in microgravity since 2014. This presentation explores how a mechanistic model of plant gas exchange can help predict plant transpiration in Veggie and thus better predict daily watering. For each plant, inputs on canopy leaf area (acquired with daily photos), air temperature and relative humidity in the plant compartment, as well as airspeed at the top of its canopy enable accurate predictions of transpiration in microgravity. This brings a better understanding of water movement through the plant in microgravity in relation to ventilation and plant size and would result in easier management of plant watering in Veggie. Ultimately, this work could be applied to any space crop production in microgravity and be used for water management and yield predictions. This work was funded by NASA Space Biology through NASA postdoctoral program / USRA.

Lucie Poulet↗

Potential of a Plant Gas Exchange Mechanistic Model to Predict Plant Transpiration in Veggie on ISS

Plants are an essential part of long-duration space travel, as they enable food production and contribute to air revitalization through photosynthesis, and water recycling through transpiration. Understanding their growth mechanisms is essential to use them to sustain human life in space. In particular, gas exchange – e.g., CO2 absorption and water transpiration – are modified in microgravity because of the lack of buoyancy-driven convection, and in the long run, this could result in impaired plant growth. Water absorbed by the plants mainly depends on their size and on environmental conditions (air temperature, humidity and ventilation), but in microgravity watering plants is a delicate operation – too much water results in flooded roots and too little water leads in a few hours to wilted plants. This is regularly experienced in the Veggie system on ISS, which enables small-scale food production in microgravity since 2014. This presentation explores how a mechanistic model of plant gas exchange can help predict plant transpiration in Veggie and thus better predict daily watering. For each plant, inputs on canopy leaf area (acquired with daily photos), air temperature and relative humidity in the plant compartment, as well as airspeed at the top of its canopy enable accurate predictions of transpiration in microgravity. This brings a better understanding of water movement through the plant in microgravity in relation to ventilation and plant size and would result in easier management of plant watering in Veggie. Ultimately, this work could be applied to any space crop production in microgravity and be used for water management and yield predictions. This work was funded by NASA Space Biology through NASA postdoctoral program / USRA.

Lucie Poulet↗

Design of Plant Gas Exchange Experiments in a Variable Pressure Growth Chamber

Sustainable human presence in extreme environments such as lunar and martian bases will require bioregenerative components to human life support systems where plants are used for generation of oxygen, food, and water. Reduced atmospheric pressures will be used to minimize mass and engineering requirements. Few studies have assessed the metabolic and developmental responses of plants to reduced pressure and varied oxygen atmospheres. The first tests of hypobaric pressures on plant gas exchange and biomass production at the Johnson Space Center will be initiated in January 1996 in the Variable Pressure Growth Chamber (VPGC), a large, closed plant growth chamber rated for 10.2 psi. Experiments were designed and protocols detailed for two complete growouts each of lettuce and wheat to generate a general database for human life support requirements and to answer questions about plant growth processes in reduced pressure and varied oxygen environments. The central objective of crop growth studies in the VPGC is to determine the influence of reduced pressure and reduced oxygen on the rates of photosynthesis, dark respiration, evapotranspiration and biomass production of lettuce and wheat. Due to the constraint of one experimental unit, internal controls, called pressure transients, will be used to evaluate rates of CO2 uptake, O2 evolution, and H2O generation. Pressure transients will give interpretive power to the results of repeated growouts at both reduced and ambient pressures. Other experiments involve the generation of response functions to partial pressures of O2 and CO2 and to light intensity. Protocol for determining and calculating rates of gas exchange have been detailed. In order to build these databases and implement the necessary treatment combinations in short time periods, specific requirements for gas injections and removals have been defined. A set of system capability checks will include determination of leakage rates conducted prior to the actual crop growouts. Schedules of experimental events for lettuce and wheat are outlined and include replications in time of diurnal routines, pressure transients, variable pO2, pO2/pCO2 ratio, and light intensity responses.

Corey, Kenneth A.↗

Raw leaf gas exchange data in the Amazon basin, 2014-2016

This data package contains raw leaf gas exchange data used to support the publication "Leaf isoprene and monoterpene emission distribution across hyperdominant tree genera in the Amazon basin," Phytochemistry, in-press. Data was collected from 162 individuals, distributed among 25 botanical families and 113 species, from four sites in the Amazon. The data was collected using a modified portable photosynthesis system for environmental control coupled to a thermal desorption tube for volatile isoprenoid collections. Collected TD tube samples were analysed in Manaus, Brazil, using thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). The dataset includes both photosynthesis and isoprene/monoterpene emission rates from leaves under standard environmental conditions as well as controlled light response curves. For detailed methods and raw data, refer to the publication and related material cited in Dataset References.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Photosynthetic Gas Exchange in the Closed Ecosystem for Space. Phase II, Part III. Screening for Thermophilic Algae and Mutation Studies

An algal screening and mutation study was undertaken to obtain algae superior to Chlorella 71105 for use in a photosynthetic gas exchanger. Of the forty-four thermophilic algae studied, eighteen appeared to have growth rates as great as Chlorella 71105. Optimization of the physical and chemical environments of these strains is recommended as a way to further improve growth rates and concomitant oxygen production. The mutation study revealed that Chlorella 71105 is relatively resistant to germicidal ultraviolet radiation. No high temperature mutants of Chlorella 71105 were found.

ALGAE↗

BOREAS TE-4 Gas Exchange Data from Boreal Tree Species

The BOREAS TE-4 team collected steady-state gas exchange and reflectance data from several species in the BOREAS SSA during 1994 and in the NSA during 1996. Measurements of light, CO2, temperature, and humidity response curves were made by the BOREAS TE-4 team during the summers of 1994 and 1996 using intact attached leaves of boreal forest species located in the BOREAS SSA and NSA. These measurements were conducted to calibrate models used to predict photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and leaf respiration. The 1994 and 1996 data can be used to construct plots of response functions or for parameterizing models. Parameter values are suitable for application in SiB2 (Sellers et al., 1996) or the leaf model of Collatz et al. (1991), and programs can be obtained from the investigators. The data are stored in tabular ASCII files. The data files are available on a CD-ROM (see document number 20010000884), or from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC).

Hall, Forrest G.↗

Relationship between gas exchange, wind speed, and radar backscatter in a large wind-wave tank

The relationships between the gas exchange, wind speed, friction velocity, and radar backscatter from the water surface was investigated using data obtained in a large water tank in the Delft (Netherlands) wind-wave tunnel, filled with water supersaturated with SF6, N2O, and CH4. Results indicate that the gas-transfer velocities of these substances were related to the wind speed with a power law dependence. Microwave backscatter from water surface was found to be related to gas transfer velocities by a relationship in the form k(gas) = a 10 exp (b A0), where k is the gas transfer velocity for the particular gas, the values of a and b are obtained from a least squares fit of the average backscatter cross section and gas transfer at 80 m, and A0 is the directional (azimuthal) averaged return.

Wanninkhof, Richard H.↗

The relationship between leaf water status, gas exchange, and spectral reflectance in cotton leaves

Measurements of leaf spectral reflectance, the components of water potential, and leaf gas exchanges as a function of leaf water content were made to evaluate the use of NIR reflectance as an indicator of plant water status. Significant correlations were determined between spectral reflectance at 810 nm, 1665 nm, and 2210 nm and leaf relative water content, total water potential, and turgor pressure. However, the slopes of these relationships were relatively shallow and, when evaluated over the range of leaf water contents in which physiological activity occurs (e.g., photosynthesis), had lower r-squared values, and some relationships were not statistically significant. NIR reflectance varied primarily as a function of leaf water content, and not independently as a function of turgor pressure, which is a sensitive indicator of leaf water status. The limitations of this approach to measuring plant water stress are discussed.

Bowman, William D.↗

Seasonal trends in leaf-level photosynthetic capacity and water use efficiency in a North American Eastern deciduous forest and their impact on canopy-scale gas exchange

Vegetative transpiration (E) and photosynthetic carbon assimilation (A) are known to be seasonally dynamic, with changes in their ratio determining the marginal water use efficiency (WUE). Despite an understanding that stomata play a mechanistic role in regulating WUE, it is still unclear how stomatal and nonstomatal processes influence change in WUE over the course of the growing season. As a result, limited understanding of the primary physiological drivers of seasonal dynamics of canopy WUE remains one of the largest uncertainties in earth system model projections of carbon and water exchange in temperate deciduous forest ecosystems. Here, we investigated seasonal patterns in leaf-level physiological, hydraulic, and anatomical properties, including the seasonal progress of the stomatal slope parameter (g 1 ; inversely proportional to WUE) and the maximum carboxylation rate (V cmax ). V cmax and g 1 were seasonally variable; however, their patterns were not temporally synchronized. g 1 generally showed an increasing trend until late in the season, while V cmax peaked during the midsummer months. Seasonal progression of V cmax was primarily driven by changes in leaf structural, and anatomical characteristics, while seasonal changes in g 1 were most strongly related to changes in V cmax and leaf hydraulics. Using a seasonally variable V cmax and g 1 to parameterize a canopy-scale gas exchange model increased seasonally aggregated A and E by 3% and 16%, respectively.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Growth, pod, and seed yield, and gas exchange of hydroponically grown peanut in response to CO2 enrichment

The effects of elevated CO2 on growth, pod, and seed yield, and gas exchange of 'Georgia Red' peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) were evaluated under controlled environmental conditions. Plants were exposed to concentrations of 400 (ambient), 800, and 1200 micromoles mol-1 CO2 in reach-in growth chambers. Foliage fresh and dry weights increased with increased CO2 up to 800 micromoles mol-1, but declined at 1200 micromoles mol-1. The number and the fresh and dry weights of pods also increased with increasing CO2 concentration. However, the yield of immature pods was not significantly influenced by increased CO2. Total seed yield increased 33% from ambient to 800 micromoles mol-1 CO2, and 4% from 800 to 1200 micromoles mol-1 CO2. Harvest index increased with increasing CO2. Branch length increased while specific leaf area decreased linearly as CO2 increased from ambient to 1200 micromoles mol-1. Net photosynthetic rate was highest among plants grown at 800 micromoles mol-1. Stomatal conductance decreased with increased CO2. Carboxylation efficiency was similar among plants grown at 400 and 800 micromoles mol-1 and decreased at 1200 micromoles mol-1 CO2. These results suggest that CO2 enrichment from 400 to 800 micromoles mol-1 had positive effects on peanut growth and yield, but above 800 micromoles mol-1 enrichment seed yield increased only marginally.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗

State of gas exchange in recumbent and orthostatic positions and under physical load in healthy persons of varying age, sex and body build

Age effect on gas exchange was studied in the recumbent and orthostatic positions and under physical load. In the case of the older age group and for normal as compared with hypersthenic persons, oxygen consumption during rest and during moderate physical overload diminishes. When the vertical position is assumed oxygen consumption in persons of various age groups is distinctly increased, particularly in the elderly group. There is a reduction in the amount of oxygen consumption, oxygen pulse, recovery coefficient, and work efficiency under moderate overload. In persons over 50, physical labor induces a large oxygen requirement and a sharp rise in the level of lactic acid and the blood's lactate/pyruvate ratio. No distinct difference was noted in the amount of oxygen consumed during rest and during physical overload in men and women of the same physical development and age.

Glezer, G. A.↗

Injection of dust into the Martian atmosphere - Evidence from the Viking Gas Exchange experiment

The hypothesis that predawn midlatitude storms are triggered by a soil humidification process is examined. A freeze/thaw model of the process is evaluated in the Viking Gas Exchange experiments conducted on Mars. The humidification-driven desorption and desiccation state of Martian soil samples are analyzed. The periodic humidification of equatorial regolith soil is studied in terms of pore space pressure during desorption events and soil diffusivity; the thermal properties of the regolith surface layer are modeled using the program of Clifford (1984). Consideration is given to the diurnal and seasonal cycles of the humidification process, the permanent, low-albedo features in the midlatitudes, and the production of H2SO4 and HCl aerosols.

Huguenin, R. L.↗