Understanding the electromagnetic properties of plant roots is useful to quantify plant properties and monitor plant physiological responses to changing environmental factors. We investigated the electrical properties of the primary roots of Brachypodium and maize plants during the uptake of fresh and saline water using spectral induced polarization. Our results indicate that salinity tolerance varies with the species and that Maize is more tolerant to salinity than Brachypodium.

A new mathematical formulation of the dynamic energy budget model is presented for the growth of biological organisms. This new formulation combines mass conservation law and chemical kinetics theory and is computationally faster than the standard formulation of dynamic energy budget models. In simulating the growth of Thalassiosira weissflogii in a nitrogen-limiting chemostat, the new model is as good as the standard dynamic energy budget model using almost the same parameter values.

We present a novel method for quantifying N₂ fixation by cyanobacteria, which is crucial in Baltic Sea eutrophication. Our Gas Equilibrium – Membrane-Inlet Mass Spectrometer (GE-MIMS), designed for operation on voluntary observing ships (VOSs), enables large-scale monitoring of surface water N₂ depletion caused by N₂ fixation. Laboratory tests confirm the device’s accuracy and precision, ensuring that it can complement current methods and contribute valuable data for better understanding N₂ fixation in the Baltic Sea.

In the context of the ecological sustainability of phosphorus, the ubiquitous presence of polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria in natural environments invites efforts to reveal their unknown roles in the biogeochemical cycle of phosphorus. In this study, we evaluated the potential of combining the staining of intracellular polyphosphate granules and their subsequent detection by flow cytometry for the detection, quantification and cell sorting of polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria.