Arava Institute

Abstract To successfully develops Positive Energy Districts (PEDs), it is essential to increase citizen awareness and encourage their engagement. Without acceptance and active participation from the citizens, they might not benefit from the technologies and inclusive business models that PEDs offer to foster energy efficiency, productivity, and flexibility. This contribution provides new evidence about the importance of prioritising citizens’ needs when developing PEDs, describing key findings from a case study recently conducted by the authors, in Nürtingen, in the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region, Germany. The research used urban building energy modeling tools, analyzed on-going projects of the city administration, and directly engaged with citizens by different research methods such as d go-along interviewing, SWOT analysis, and the promotion of best practices. The analysis and conclusions on working on the municipality project “Bahnstadt” were checked against the understanding of a “human-centred” PED. Five action areas were considered: energy efficiency, production and flexibility, carbon footprint, water management, and capital expenditures. This action research, part of the EU-funded project TELOS (2020-2024), aimed to provide recommendations to improve the quality of life of the community and enhancing citizen participation in planning and implementation processes, and towards the ambitious European climate neutrality goals.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress increase susceptibility to neurodegeneration and other age-related pathologies. We have previously demonstrated that an infusion prepared from Pulicaria incisa (Pi) has protective, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative effects in glial cells. However, the neuroprotective activities of Pi infusion in cultured neurons and aging mice have never been studied. In the following study, the effects of Pi infusion were explored in a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative stress model in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells. Profiling of the infusion by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry identified chlorogenic acid, quercetin, and aucubin as some of its main constituents. H2O2-induced ROS accumulation and caspase 3 activity decreased SH-SY5Y viability and were prevented upon the pretreatment of cells with Pi infusion. Additionally, the Pi infusion upregulated cellular levels and the nuclear translocation of nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 (Nrf2) as well as the phosphorylation of cyclic AMP response element-binding protein (CREB). Aging mice treated daily for 18 months with Pi infusion exhibited reduced neuronal cell death in the hippocampus as compared to age-matched controls. We, therefore, propose Pi infusion as a candidate regulator of oxidative stress in the brain.

The unlimited nitrogen(N) availability that has characterized crop production in the lastfew decades is accompanied by environmental burdens, including thegreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with fertilizer production,post-application nitrate (NO3–) pollutionof water bodies, and emissions of reactive gaseous N forms into theatmosphere. Here, we quantified the environmental tradeoffs of replacingmineral N fertilizer with NO3– and ammonium(NH4+) originating from effluent water of aquaculturein a cucumber (Cucumis sativus) cultivationsystem. While the yield, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), and NO3– leaching were similar between the cucumbersfertilized and irrigated (fertigated) by aquaculture effluent watercontaining 100 mg of NO3–-N L–1 (AN), by aquaculture effluent water supplemented with NH4+ (AN+), or by tap water with NO3– and NH4+ added (FN+), there were significantdifferences in the nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions betweenthe systems. The N2O emissions peaked after each irrigationevent followed by an exponential decline. The cumulative N2O emissions were between 60 and 600 g N2O-N ha–1, smaller than predicted based on a fertilizer application rate of600 kg N ha–1 and were in the order AN+ ≫FN+ > AN.

Plant parasitic nematodes such as Meloidogyne incognita have a complex life cycle, occurring sequentially in various niches of the root and rhizosphere. They are known to form a range of interactions with bacteria and other microorganisms that can affect their densities and virulence. High-throughput sequencing can reveal these interactions in high temporal and geographic resolutions, although thus far we have only scratched the surface. In this study, we have carried out a longitudinal sampling scheme, repeatedly collecting rhizosphere soil, roots, galls, and second-stage juveniles from 20 plants to provide a high-resolution view of bacterial succession in these niches, using 16S rRNA metabarcoding. Our findings indicate that a structured community develops in the root, in which gall communities diverge from root segments lacking a gall, and that this structure is maintained throughout the crop season. We describe the successional process leading toward this structure, which is driven by interactions with the nematode and later by an increase in bacteria often found in hypoxic and anaerobic environments. We present evidence that this structure may play a role in the nematode's chemotaxis toward uninfected root segments. Finally, we describe the J2 epibiotic microenvironment as ecologically deterministic, in part, due to the active bacterial attraction of second-stage juveniles.IMPORTANCE The study of high-resolution successional processes within tightly linked microniches is rare. Using the power and relatively low cost of metabarcoding, we describe the bacterial succession and community structure in roots infected with root-knot nematodes and in the nematodes themselves. We reveal separate successional processes in galls and adjacent non-gall root sections, which are driven by the nematode's life cycle and the progression of the crop season. With their relatively low genetic diversity, large geographic range, spatially complex life cycle, and the simplified agricultural ecosystems they occupy, root-knot nematodes can serve as a model organism for terrestrial holobiont ecology. This perspective can improve our understanding of the temporal and spatial aspects of biological control efficacy.

Anticipating benefits of leaching salts when irrigating with low quality water is problematic due to the complexities of water and salt balances in soil–crop systems and diverse and changing economic realities. We hypothesized that coupling of current physical–biological modeling of soil–crop–salinity interactions with robust economic data would provide novel and important tools for decision makers. We present a biological–physical model of water and salt balance, plant water use and plant response to stress coupled with economic calculations of grower net profit to consider options for irrigating with water of varying salinity. The coupled model is implemented in a user-friendly menu- and web-based platform (http://app.agri.gov.il/answerapp/). Model inputs characterize the physical (soil hydraulic properties, weather), biological (crop response to water and salt), management (applied water salinity and quantity), and economic (yield value, yield determined and static expenses, capital return, water pricing, farm unit size, etc.) parameters. The application returns yield and net profit data for scenarios of interest and allows consideration of the environmental repercussions of economic decisions through calculation of leachate carrying excess water and salts out of the root zone. To demonstrate the potential of the application, a case study is presented for evaluation of maximizing profits in production of bell peppers grown in greenhouses in Israel's Arava Valley. In this study, we consider sensitivity to irrigation water salinity and application rate, market pricing, potential yield and water price scheduling. We additionally consider date palm as an alternative crop choice. We suggest that the application, while limited by some of the assumptions it is based on, represents a powerful first order tool for agricultural water management decision making when parameterized wisely for any particular question of interest.