Aquaponics: A Sustainable Solution?

By Carley Postma

A typical interaction at the local big-box home-improvement store (as I go to the plumbing aisle for my third time that week):

    The cashier sees a young woman carrying a single 10-foot PVC pipe to the
    checkout (I can understand how this is curiosity-inducing) and asks, “What
    are you working on?”

    “I’m a student intern at the university botanical gardens and arboretum building
    and eventually conducting research on an aquaponics system,” I explain, waiting
    for the inevitable next question….

    Timidly, the cashier responds, “Oh cool! ……What is aquaponics..?”

At this point it’s a question I’m used to answering. Aquaponics is a term that most people likely have never heard before. My best attempt at an explanation is the next logical sentence after uttering that I have an aquaponics internship this summer. In fact I think my father has heard me explain it to so many of our friends and family that he almost has my answer memorized. I find myself enjoying explaining it to others and getting them excited about the awesome process and complete ecosystem that is aquaponics. And yet why are so many people completely unfamiliar with the topic? It claims to be a sustainable and logical solution to the growing global food crisis. But if it is truly as great as it seems then why aren’t more people embracing this concept and why isn’t it being talked about?

Before I continue, I should explain what I’m working on as an intern at Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum. My project this summer is to help build a large aquaponics system that will be housed in Greenhouse 5 at the botanical gardens for a year while the Alfaro Lab and Sustainability Without Borders collect data about the system's energy and water usage and its parameters. (Jose Alfaro is assistant professor of practice in the School for Environment and Sustainability; Sustainability Without Borders is a student organization sponsored by the Center for Sustainable Systems at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability.) The goal for the project is a published study examining the hard numbers of an aquaponics system and assessing the claims of sustainability that surround this concept.

So what exactly is aquaponics anyway? To put it in the words of Sylvia Bernstein, author of Aquaponic Gardening, “Aquaponics is the cultivation of plants and fish together in a constructed, recirculating ecosystem utilizing natural bacteria cycles to convert fish waste into plant nutrients.”

In other words, aquaponics is a system where plants and fish are grown together symbiotically. The fish waste is converted from ammonia into nitrates by bacteria for the plants to use as fertilizer, and the plants filter and clean the water for the fish. Aquaponics is a great way to produce both plants and protein in the same system, and all of the food grown in aquaponics systems is organic by necessity. If you add growth hormones, the plants will die and any insecticides or fertilizers will kill the fish. However, as for the claims made about its sustainability, these have been harder to prove as fact.

In theory aquaponics sounds very sustainable. It has the potential to use less water than traditional farming, less space by being grown vertically, and it doesn’t create harmful fertilizer runoff. But there hasn’t been extensive research on the sustainability and practicality of aquaponics systems—especially on a larger scale.

Researching these claims is something that we hope to accomplish by building a large aquaponics system with Sustainability Without Borders. The system we are building at Matthaei Botanical Gardens is referred to as a CHOP system—an abbreviation for Constant Height, One Pump.

Image courtesy The Aquaponic Source Inc.

  

In this system the water is pumped from a sump tank into a fish tank that is raised above the grow beds. Using gravity, the water then flows out of the fish tank to the grow beds. The water courses completely through the gravel-filled grow beds and then siphons back into the sump tank. This system keeps the water levels at the same height, and this in turn reduces the stress on the fish—much more so than a basic flood and drain aquaponics system in which the water pumps straight out of the fish tank and into the grow beds.

(Our system before any plumbing. The large black-plastic-
covered structure in the foreground is the sump tank
where water will be pumped into the raised fish tank
in the back on the far left. The water then flows into
the two tanks on the right and then drains back into the sump tank.)

Irrigation grid to distribute water evenly over the large
surface of the grow beds in its early stages 

While aquaponics may seem like an exciting and eco-friendly way to produce food, it does also have its drawbacks—as I have experienced first hand! Below is the main reason why it is nearly August as I write this and we have yet to actually put any life forms into this system: a big and persistent leak problem.

We had a leak in one of our grow beds that attributed to a
loss of about 6 in of water a day! In a 12 ft long x 4 ft wide x 2 ft
deep tank that is nearly 24 cubic feet lost daily!

The water, water temperature, and pH are all crucial to helping three different types of organisms survive and thrive in one environment. This means that a significant leak or a rise in pH of .5 can have drastic consequences on the entire system. The constant running of pumps needed to provide oxygen to the fish and keep the nutrient-rich fish water flowing into the grow beds will also hike up our energy usage. But is this still a more sustainable solution? With the construction of this system we hope to answer that question by monitoring the use of electricity and water in a large-scale aquaponics system. Our hope is to be growing peppers and tomatoes in the grow beds and raising blue tilapia fish by September! I am very hopeful that our research will be able to provide some hard numbers for exactly how eco-friendly this concept is. Either way, I am hooked on aquaponics for life!

Carley Postma, from Holly, Michigan, is a senior at the University of Michigan studying ecology and evolutionary biology with a minor in the environment. This summer she is working with Jose Alfaro and Sustainability without Borders to build, manage, and research an aquaponics system at Matthaei. Carley hopes to work in herpetology or environmental education someday. Her lifetime goal is to visit every national park. Carley’s internship is made possible by Sustainability Without Borders, a student organization sponsored by the Center for Sustainable Systems at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability.

Nichols Arboretum Community United in Nature

By Roxane Strobel

A year ago on a July day, I sat atop the summit of a mountain, bundled in fleeces and basking in the alpine sunlight. I was a summit caretaker with the Green Mountain Club, a non-profit membership organization whose mission is to preserve and protect the Long Trail, the country’s first long-distance hiking trail.  As a summit caretaker, I maintained backcountry campsites and educated hikers about native plants and sustainable outdoor practices. I chatted with hikers about the alpine plants as they nodded knowingly and shared their excitement about seeing a mountaintop that was once barren in the 1970s and is now covered with a variety of sedges, cranberries, and blueberries. 

The view from the summit of Camel's Hump in Duxbury, Vermont. This was in
2016 when I worked as a summit caretaker for the Green Mountain Club. 

My summer in the Vermont backcountry introduced me to a unique community of individuals who retreated to the remote wilds in order to connect with nature. Although many hikers traveled solo, there was a unique hiking community on the trail.  Stories about wildlife sightings and especially rugged sections of trail were swapped over rehydrated dinners and summit snacks.  I found that the one unifying factor in this varied community of individuals was a deep appreciation for spending time in the outdoors.

The Nichols Arboretum Peony Garden in July. The peony garden is a beautiful
community attraction even when not in bloom. No flowers but still a beautiful
view and an enticing trail through the middle that begs to be followed.

This summer, I find myself on a July day in the midst of the hot and sunny peony garden in the not-so-backcountry Nichols Arboretum. As the peony intern, I have been learning how to prepare a world-class display garden for its bloom season and care for the health of the beds throughout the summer.

The peony bloom season has come and gone, and I spend large chunks of my day weeding and maintaining the flower beds. As I glance up from the dark soil in the beds, a mother and daughter pair wave at me excitedly from a distance. I wave back, weeder in hand, and, thinking nothing of it, return to my weeding. A couple of moments later I am greeted by light taps on my shoulder. I turn and see the same mother-daughter duo, but now notice that the young girl is holding a small plastic container.  The girl quickly opens the container and enthusiastically shares her findings with me: a swallowtail caterpillar which she found and identified herself. She asks if I might know where this caterpillar would like to live in the Arb. As we search for the perfect place to release the caterpillar to its new host plant, I listen to the girl’s tales of saving this very caterpillar from the perils of a hungry bird. I complement her budding naturalist skills and together we discover a lush host plant. As the girl carefully places the caterpillar onto a leaf, a sense of gratefulness washes over me. Although I am mere steps from a bustling college town, in the Arb I feel connected to my community through nature in the same way I did last summer on a secluded mountaintop. I am so grateful to be part of the diverse community that learns, plays, and grows closer to nature in the Arboretum.

Like the backpackers of Vermont, my new Arb community is also drawn together through a love of nature.  However, unlike the lengthy trips of the backcountry backpackers, the Arb community is able to express their devotion to natural areas in the form of 15-minute breaks from the nearby hospital, school field trips, family picnics, and hammock hangs with friends. This accessibility to the larger Ann Arbor community is what makes the Arboretum so special.

A scene from Shakespeare in the Arb that took place in the peony garden. In
the background you can see the U-M Mott Children's Hospital. The Arb is on
central campus and right across the street from a busy hospital complex. A
beautiful island of nature in the midst of urban Ann Arbor.

Visitors of all backgrounds find themselves excited by being in nature. I love being greeted with visitors’ questions which range from, “What kind of tree is that?” to, “What is your view on the deer population and its effect on the Arb?” It is so neat to see the wonder on the faces of young and old visitors alike and their genuine interest in these natural areas. With each of these visits to the Arb, the larger Ann Arbor community continues to grow closer to nature.  Each time a visitor sees a woodchuck scurry across a trail, or a monarch rest on a milkweed plant, the importance of natural areas becomes more apparent.

In times where natural areas are undervalued and public lands in the United States face the danger of becoming privatized, being a part of the accessible nature community in the Arb gives me hope for the future. The Arb allows all people to have a meaningful connection to nature through exploring their curiosities, observing unique ecosystems, and even more generally just having a pleasant walk on well-traveled trails. Having the unique opportunity to share my personal enthusiasm for the outdoors with the visitors of the Arb is an experience that has brought me closer to my community through nature and has reinforced my belief in the importance of universal access to natural areas.

Roxane Strobel is a rising senior from Spring Lake, Michigan. She is studying Ecology, Evolution & Biodiversity and Spanish. She is interested in studying environmental health and community organization. When not at work, she can be found trail running or swimming in Lake Michigan. Roxane’s internship is made possible by the Peony Garden Fund created by Martha Parfet. Martha was the surviving granddaughter of Dr. W.E. Upjohn, who donated a portion of his peony collection to the university in 1922. The Peony Fund was created to maintain the Nichols Arboretum Peony Garden and make information available to peony lovers and growers around the world.

A World Menu: Edible Plants in the Conservatory at Matthaei Botanical Gardens

By Mason Opp

Think about what you've eaten today. Now pick out the main plant-based ingredients. What do those plants look like? Wheat, corn, potato, rice, and soy: more than likely one of these crops will appear, and you probably know what those look like.

In the conservatory at Matthaei Botanical Gardens,a pomegranate
(Punica granatum) is growing in the temperate house! 

But we live in a globalized world, where the abundance of international shipping routes makes available goods which only decades ago would have been impossible to find on shelves. Let me ask you this; what does a peanut plant look like? Too easy? How about a cacao tree? Do you know how a pineapple grows, let alone how long it takes to grow one?

Two pineapple plants (Ananas comosus) bear fruit in the
tropical house. It can take up to two years for the plants to
fruit, and another 6 months for the fruit to mature!

One of the most amazing parts of being in the conservatory at Matthaei, an indoor, year-round space featuring many plants from regions totally different than ours, is seeing plants you otherwise might not have been able to identify, let alone know that they existed. The houses in the conservatory represent three different biomes (tropical, temperate, and desert) and host a diverse collection of plants from all over the world. Species from the Americas, Eurasia, Africa, Australia, and the Pacific Islands all call Matthaei home. Additionally, the collection is made up of a variety of plants, from large and woody to small and herbaceous, and everything in between. With over 20,000 species of edible plants in the world, there are still plenty of fascinating foods to be added to the collection. Of the newest is the Jabuticaba Plinia cauliflora, which when fully grown could stand up to 45 feet tall and will be covered in fruit which resembles a cross between a grape and a cherry.

Two cashew apples dangle on the cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale).
They hold the nut which is encased in a protective layer. Fruit flies really
like them!

The plants in the conservatory are selected based on four criteria: that they are 1) notable types of vegetation in a biome; 2) a good representation of plant diversity and evolution at work; 3) at risk of extinction or found in a threatened habitat; 4) iconic plants or ones with medicinal properties. These four criteria ensure that there is always something unique to look at, and that the collection is a valuable tool when it comes to educating visitors about the world of plants. There are always opportunities to learn something new at the gardens and, for me, the best way to start learning in the conservatory is by looking for the plants you can connect to your own kitchen!

When I’m not exploring the conservatory, I work as a horticulture intern in the greenhouses, outdoor gardens, and natural areas at Matthaei-Nichols. Specifically, I care for the Alexandra Hicks Herb Knot Garden, another wonderful place to see some of the edible plants of the world!

Ginger (Zingiber officinale). It’s officinale awesome!

Mason Opp, from Pinckney, Michigan, is entering his senior year as a Program in the Environment student at the University of Michigan studying environmental policy and law with a minor in sustainability. Mason enjoys hiking, biking, and spending time on the lake. This summer he hopes to finally land that backflip on his wakeboard. Mason’s internship is made possible by the Matthaei-Nichols Membership fund and by the Norman Memorial Fund created by Steve and Ann Norman for the care, maintenance, and study of the Matthaei Botanical Gardens outdoor plant collection.

Mapped and Visualized: Two Summers of Digitally Mapping Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum

By Xevy Zhang

As a landscape architecture student for several years now I’ve adapted to working in a group. But mostly I’m by myself, with only the company of a computer. So if you’ve observed a tiny figure working with graphics software in the storied “bullpen” (a former lab room at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, now used by interns) or the third floor of the Reader Center at Nichols Arboretum, or sometimes in the wild with a clipboard in hand—that’s me accomplishing my main summer storyline: mapping the Arb and Gardens.

Our hard-copy archive.

Before we initiated the project there was already a collection of hard copy blueprints, Google map clips, and hand-drawn maps. But they all presented some issue that made them less than ideal for archiving or daily use. For example, over time, many of the blueprint maps became outdated and no longer accurate. The ink fades and the paper ages, making the blueprints too vulnerable to be written on or used in the field. And it takes a relatively large amount of time and money to update the blueprints whenever changes are needed, and it’s not worthwhile to make a whole new map when only a small part of the garden is altered. Likewise, for keeping archives for the gardens during different years, scanning seems to be a plausible way, but making changes for updated information makes the task difficult and time-consuming.

With these challenges in mind, my supervisor---Matthaei-Nichols Field services Manager Jeff Plakke---and I concluded that creating a whole new set of vector-based digital blueprint-style maps using graphic software such as AutoCAD, and storing them on the staff-accessible drive so that future changes can be made, is the best way to replacing the existing paper maps. These digital maps can easily be exported to any size PDF and used for a number of purposes. In addition, we decided to create a set of colorized display maps.

When I started the project in May of 2016, I was shown the large collection of existing files—both paper and digital—that the Gardens currently holds. Most of them were created years ago. They were beautifully archived but in such great numbers and multiple versions that I felt a bit overwhelmed at first. Could I finish the job? I decided that the way to go would be to learn the mapping language from the existing files while striving to be graphically expressive, with a goal of making the maps detailed, precise, easily readable, and—most challenging of all—tidy and beautiful. Here’s a rough idea of what I do:

With the help of Google Maps/Earth, a GPS or a GPS smartphone, previous maps, and GIS data, I outlined the general frame of the gardens.

The frame and lineworks of the Matthaei Botanical
Gardens display gardens. Red color represents boulders,
rock walls, and buildings.

Then outside I go!—to mark down the trees and their names, benches, rocks, and other details.

 

Major trees and names added,
diameter of tree crowns almost to scale.

I found a useful way to use the Google map app in the process (see photos below). Try it yourself. Log into your Google account; click and hold a point on the map, then click label (I’ve crossed out the Chinese characters on the images and written the instructions in English). After labelling those points, open the Google Map web version and. . .  behold! This is how I get a general location and info on something outdoors without having to print it out, bring the print out, write it down, and then copy it again. A great timesaver!

Here’s how I operate on my phone. Not just for mapping, this function is also very useful for marking down places and taking notes while you’re out exploring.

How the web-version map looks like with those points.

Add annotations and labels in AutoCAD, and trying to figure out a way to arrange them --- legible and adequate for readers to get a general idea of what they are but not overwhelming.

Lay out in a proper scale, add legend and titles, and export
(into grayscale) as blueprints (though not blue).

The layout view of the Gateway Garden in AutoCAD.

Color!

Gateway Garden map, after being colorized.

The coloring process uses Adobe Photoshop, and while coloring one can increase or reduce the level of detail as need according to the scale and main function of the colored map. For example, if the map shows the whole Great Lakes Gardens and is only 11" x 17," it would be better to leave the labels of tree names out as they would in that case be too small to recognize.

It’s been great joy to work in the gardens on this program and to see that some of the maps have already helped the team! Nearly the entire Matthaei Botanical Gardens property (including trails) will be mapped by the end of this summer, as well as some zones in Nichols Arboretum. I hope that these maps will be helpful as orienting tools for garden installation and maintenance. Combined with the help of programming and GPS locationing, they could even be developed into a detailed interactive guide for visitors!

For the field services team at Matthaei-Nichols,
a printed and laminated map that can be drawn
on with a dry-erase marker.

Xevy Zhang returns to Matthaei-Nichols for a second summer internship. She will enter her last semester in fall 2017 at the University of Michigan to complete a master's degree in landscape architecture. Xevy loves plants and nature, as well as drawing/painting, cooking, and sci-fi. She's been working on mapping the gardens with CAD, Photoshop, and visualizations. Xevy’s internship is made possible by the Research Endowment Fund created by donor Marjorie Alpern to promote and support research in botany and related studies that will enhance the scientific basis for wise management of the environments of the earth.