Zala Schmautz


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Schmautz

First Name

Zala

ORCID

0000-0003-0672-7086

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2016 - 201922020 - 20223
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Publications 1 - 5 of 5
  • Babyleaf NFT production and water management in aquaponic system
    Item type: Conference Paper
    Nicoletto, Carlo; Maucieri, Carmelo; Schmautz, Zala; et al. (2018)
    Acta Horticulturae
  • Characterization of nitrogen dynamics in an aquaponic system
    Item type: Doctoral Thesis
    Schmautz, Zala (2020)
    The rapid environmental change during the last years has emphasized the need for new global solutions for food production. However, a substantial increase in food production with a concomitant reduction of its environmental footprint presents a significant challenge and requires the development of nutrient efficient and sustainable strategies. Here, multi-trophic aquaponic systems, which reduce nutrient loss to the environment through the co-cultivation of plants and aquatic animals, may present a solution. These systems consist of various compartments, with each compartment having its own specific function as part of the total system. This compartmentalization of functions creates a range of unique microenvironments, each of which supports the development of a unique microbial community. This high microbial diversity makes aquaponics an attractive soilless model system for the study of nutrient transformation processes. In particular, the nitrogen cycle is of importance, as its disruption is not only detrimental to plant and animal growth but has environment-wide consequences. This dissertation deepens the understanding of aquaponic system-specific nitrogen transformation processes through the characterization of individual interactions in the aquaponic compartments on both a chemical and a microbial level. To this end, next-generation DNA sequencing was used to characterize localized microbial community composition and diversity and was combined with chemical analyses to determine nutrient content and abiotic parameter values. Significant differences in nitrogen composition and abiotic parameters were observed between the individual compartments of the aquaponic system. These differences could be responsible for the unique microenvironments that, in turn, give rise to specific microbial communities and, thus, foster further specialization of compartment function. Notable differences were especially observed between the aerobic and anaerobic compartments regarding archaeal and bacterial composition. While this work investigated both the presence and composition of bacterial and archaeal communities, it also points to the importance of determining their active role in the nitrogen cycle.
  • Tomato Productivity and Quality in Aquaponics: Comparison of Three Hydroponic Methods
    Item type: Journal Article
    Schmautz, Zala; Loeu, Fionna; Liebisch, Frank; et al. (2016)
    Water
  • Microbial diversity across compartments in an aquaponic system and its connection to the nitrogen cycle
    Item type: Journal Article
    Schmautz, Zala; Walser, Jean-Claude; Espinal, Carlos A.; et al. (2022)
    Science of The Total Environment
    Aquaponics combines hydroponic crop production with recirculating aquaculture. These systems comprise various compartments (fish tank, biofilter, sump, hydroponic table, radial flow settler and anaerobic digester), each with their own specific environmental pressures, which trigger the formation of unique microbial communities. Triplicated aquaponic systems were used to investigate the microbial community composition during three lettuce growing cycles. The sampling of individual compartments allowed community patterns to be generated using amplicon sequencing of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA genes. Nitrifying bacteria were identified in the hydroponic compartments, indicating that these compartments may play a larger role than previously thought in the system's nitrogen cycle. In addition to the observed temporal changes in community compositions within the anaerobic compartment, more archaeal reads were obtained from sludge samples than from the aerobic part of the system. Lower bacterial diversity was observed in fresh fish feces, where a highly discrete gut flora composition was seen. Finally, the most pronounced differences in microbial community compositions were observed between the aerobic and anaerobic loops of the system, with unique bacterial compositions in each individual compartment.
  • Nitrogen transformations across compartments of an aquaponic system
    Item type: Journal Article
    Schmautz, Zala; Espinal, Carlos A.; Smits, Theo H.M.; et al. (2021)
    Aquacultural Engineering
    The presence and transformations of nitrogen (N) in the environment depend on a variety of environmental factors but are also strongly influenced by anthropogenic activities such as modern agriculture. Understanding N transformations within the context of agricultural systems is crucial for efficient use thereof. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in concentration of N forms (ammonium, nitrite, nitrate and organic N) within an aquaponic system, a modern agricultural system, in order to obtain insights into environmental pressures influencing N transformation processes. By measuring the concentrations of the individual N compounds, complemented by the determination of abiotic parameters and other relevant nutrients within the system water at 13 sampling points, significant differences between compartments that build up an aquaponic system could be demonstrated. These differences were attributed to individual microenvironments specific to the aerobic loop, anaerobic loop and radial flow settler as a connection between the two, shaping the microbial processes within the aquaponic system.
Publications 1 - 5 of 5