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This is the first study investigating the effects of lignosulfonate (LS) properties and reaction conditions on the precipitation of proteins from green biomass juice for producing monogastric animal feed. Both the improvement in the protein precipitation yield and the resulting impact on the quality of the protein pellets were investigated with new methods and approaches. High molecular weight (MW) LS gave the highest precipitation yield, 21–33% higher than traditional heat and isoelectric methods. Electrostatic interaction between LS and soluble proteins was observed to be higher in high MW LS than others, and likely improved the precipitation. A response surface design experiment showed that pH was more important than LS concentration for precipitation. The optimum conditions predicted by the model improved precipitation by up to 61% compared to traditional methods. Using high MW LS at near optimum conditions resulted in more LS being retained in the pellet, with a final LS content of up to 60 g/kg dry matter (DM). The improved precipitation yield came at the expense of lower crude protein (CP) content of the pellet. Despite reduced pellet protein purity, the total CP recovery from the juice was improved by up to 800 g/kg DM. The in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD) and amino acid composition were not significantly affected by the presence of LS. Using high MW LS at optimum reaction conditions can significantly improve protein precipitation yield from green biomass juice without compromising digestibility. However, finding the compromise between yield and protein purity is necessary to improve feasibility.

Sugars are a sustainable platform for producing chemicals and polymers, while cellulose nanofibers (CNF) are sustainable materials with high specific mechanical properties that have an important role to play in many applications. This study highlights the feasibility of producing sugars and CNF using high dry matter (DM) content of 20 %. A commercial enzyme cocktail at low dosage, 5 mg EP/g DM, and a high 15 mg EP/g DM, were used to hydrolyze the pulp cellulose to produce sugars and CNF. HPLC was used to evaluate the cellulose conversion rate and amount of sugar realized. The CNF were studied using TEM, the diameter of the CNF were measured and estimate the crystallinity. The cellulose conversion plateaued at about 48 h for both the low and high dosage, indicating inhibition due to higher sugar concentration and/or increased recalcitrance of the remaining CNF. The CNF obtained at low enzyme indicated the fibrils were insufficiently separated. At the high dosage, less clumps were observed and with smaller diameter than with the low enzyme dosage. The high dosage also produced CNF with significantly higher crystallinity index, confirming that amorphous cellulose portions readily underwent enzymatic hydrolysis and left more recalcitrant CNF.

There is no escaping the fact that the island biogeography of the North Atlantic Region is singularly peculiar. Sitting in the north of the Atlantic Ocean, these islands have been subjected to largescale shifts in climate over the last few million years, unlike the other island groups further south which were likely more buffered from the vicissitudes of Quaternary climate changes. Uniquely for a group of islands there is only one documented extinction in the North Atlantic (the Great Auk), and those in the insects are local events relating to species that are distributed throughout the Palearctic region. Over half the insect species in Iceland and Greenland are introduced. The faunas, excluding Greenland, are predominantly of Palearctic origin and have close affinities with the faunas of Scandinavia and the British Isles and. These unique physical and biological characteristics have interested biologists and biogeographers for centuries. The key debates concerning the biogeography of the North Atlantic islands still rumble on: Do the biota reflect cryptic refugia or otherwise, or tabula rasa and recolonization? How important were human communities in shaping the existing biota and biogeographical patterns? Throw into this mix current concerns over global warming, and we can now ask, how resilient is the biota to change, either natural or anthropogenic? This volume draws together a range of researchers with longstanding research interests in the region, from diverse academic backgrounds, to evaluate some of these questions., There is no escaping the fact that the island biogeography of the North Atlantic Region is singularly peculiar. Sitting in the north of the Atlantic Ocean, these islands have been subjected to largescale shifts in climate over the last few million years, unlike the other island groups further south which were likely more buffered from the vicissitudes of Quaternary climate changes. Uniquely for a group of islands there is only one documented extinction in the North Atlantic (the Great Auk), and those in the insects are local events relating to species that are distributed throughout the Palearctic region. Over half the insect species in Iceland and Greenland are introduced. The faunas, excluding Greenland, are predominantly of Palearctic origin and have close affinities with the faunas of Scandinavia and the British Isles and. These unique physical and biological characteristics have interested biologists and biogeographers for centuries. The key debates concerning the biogeography of the North Atlantic islands still rumble on: Do the biota reflect cryptic refugia or otherwise, or tabula rasa and recolonization? How important were human communities in shaping the existing biota and biogeographical patterns? Throw into this mix current concerns over global warming, and we can now ask, how resilient is the biota to change, either natural or anthropogenic? This volume draws together a range of researchers with longstanding research interests in the region, from diverse academic backgrounds, to evaluate some of these questions.

Utilizing saline soil and water resources are essential in meeting future demands for food, feed, and biofuels in a world of increasing freshwater scarcity, by use of halophytes (salt-loving plants). The succulent halophyte Salicornia bigelovii Tor. was cultivated as a green biomass crop irrigated with saline aquaculture effluents, and bio-fractionation was tested as a way to improve the value of the crop. Bio-fractionation proved to be an effective way of extracting ash and nitrogen into the green juice fraction, from which a protein concentrate was produced with 15 % crude protein and 33 % ash. The fiber fraction was not found useful as fodder due to a relatively low crude protein content of 4.1 % and 10–12 % remaining ash. However, the high digestibility of the structural carbohydrates in the fiber demonstrated its potential as a feedstock for biorefining with estimated bioethanol yields around 2500 L/ha.