Response patterns in adult forest trees to chronic ozone stress: identification of variations and consistencies

The responsiveness of adult beech and spruce trees to chronic O(3) stress was studied at a free-air O(3) exposure experiment in Freising/Germany. Over three growing seasons, gas exchange characteristics, biochemical parameters, macroscopic O(3) injury and the phenology of leaf organs were investigated, along with assessments of branch and stem growth as indications of tree performance. To assess response pattern to chronic O(3) stress in adult forest trees, we introduce a new evaluation approach, which provides a comprehensive, readily accomplishable overview across several tree-internal scaling levels, different canopy regions and growing seasons. This new approach, based on a three-grade colour coding, combines statistical analysis and the proficient ability of the "human eye" in pattern recognition.     

模拟放牧改变了氮添加作用下高寒草甸生物量的分配模式

高寒草甸是氮素匮乏的生态系统,氮添加和放牧都会显著改变土壤养分的有效性及高寒植物对养分的利用方式,从而影响群落生产力。为了认识氮沉降和放牧干扰对青藏高原高寒草甸的影响,在西藏当雄县高山嵩草草甸开展了氮添加及模拟放牧实验。在模拟放牧样地(G+N)和不放牧样地(NG+N)分别设置4个氮添加处理:0、 10、 20和40 kg N·hm^-2·a^-1,在生长季采用原位封顶埋管法测定净氮矿化速率,同时分析群落生物量分配与植物氮利用的相互关系。研究表明:氮添加与模拟放牧对植物的分配模式有不同的影响。在无放牧压力下,氮添加主要刺激植物地上部分的生长;在放牧压力下,氮添加更倾向于促进植物地下部分的生长。虽然剪草移走了15%~20%的地上生物量,但由于氮添加促进了植物的补偿生长,模拟放牧与不放牧处理的总生物量无显著差异,甚至前者高于后者。高寒草甸植物生物量分配对氮添加和模拟放牧的响应也体现在土壤供氮潜力的作用模式上,土壤净氮矿化速率在NG+N样地与植物地上生物量呈显著负相关,而在G+N样地与植物地下生物量呈显著负相关。这表明高寒草甸植物可以通过改变自身光合产物的分配模式来响应土壤养分状况和放牧干扰,在有效养分匮乏的高寒草甸添加氮素能够促进植物的补偿性生长。     

Degradation of indomethacin in river water under stress and non-stress laboratory conditions: degradation products, long-term evolution and adsorption to sediment

The pharmaceutical compound indomethacin is not totally removed in wastewater treatment plants,whose effluents flow into aquatic environments;concentrations in the 0.1-100 ng/L range are commonly found in surface waters,and its fate is unknown.Here,biological,photochemical and thermal degradation assays were conducted under stress and non-stress conditions to estimate its degradation rate in river water and establish its degradation products over time.The results revealed that direct sunlight irradiation promoted the complete degradation of indomethacin(2 μg/L) in less than 6 hr,but indomethacin was detected over a period of 4 months when water was kept under the natural day-night cycle and the exposure to sunlight was partially limited,as occurs inside a body of water.The biological degradation in water was negligible,while the hydrolysis at pH 7.8 was slow.Residues were monitored by ultra-pressure liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight/mass spectrometry after solid-phase extraction,and six degradation products were found;their structures were proposed based on the molecular formulae and fragmentation observed in high-resolution tandem mass spectra.4-Chlorobenzoic and 2-acetamido-5-methoxybenzoic acids were the long-term transformation products,persisting for at least 30 weeks in water kept under non-stress conditions.Furthermore,the degradation in the presence of sediment was also monitored over time,with some differences being noted.The adsorption coefficients of indomethacin and degradation products on river sediment were calculated;long-term degradation products did not have significant adsorption to sediment.     

Animal Welfare,National Identity and Social Change: Attitudes and Opinions of Spanish Citizens Towards Bullfighting

Traditionally, in Spain bullfighting represents an ancient and well-respected tradition and a combined brand of sport, art and national identity. However, bullfighting has received considerable criticism from various segments of society, with the concomitant rise of the animal rights movement. The paper reports a survey of the Spanish citizens using a face-to-face survey during January 2016 with a total sample of 2522 citizens (1256 men and 1266 women). The survey asked about degree of liking and approving; culture, art and national identity; socio-economic aspects; emotional perception and animal welfare. The hypothesis proposed that the perception of bullfights may be affected by gender, age, occupation, origin and nationality of the persons surveyed. The hypothesis was confirmed. The majority of citizens surveyed do not like bullfights and great majorities do not attend or watch such events. Two extreme clusters were described: one representing favorable attitude towards bullfighting and other against bullfighting. The proportion of indifferent persons was important. Women and young people showed a more favorable attitude towards animal welfare issues associated with these events. Rural people were more accepting bullfights than urban people. Students were more anti-bullfight than those in other occupations. Additionally, technical economic factors made people favor more bullfights. The growth of claim against bullfights establishes an element of a far more multifaceted phenomenon that animal cruelty per se and support of a new paradigm called social change in countries as Spain.     

An empirically tested overlap between indigenous and scientific knowledge of a changing climate in Bolivian Amazonia

Regional Environmental Change - Existing climate data for Bolivian Amazonia rely on observations from a few sparse weather stations, interpolated on coarse-resolution grids. At the same time, the...     

Pollution,habitat loss,fishing, and climate change as critical threats to penguins

Cumulative human impacts across the world's oceans are considerable. We therefore examined a single model taxonomic group, the penguins (Spheniscidae), to explore how marine species and communities might be at risk of decline or extinction in the southern hemisphere. We sought to determine the most important threats to penguins and to suggest means to mitigate these threats. Our review has relevance to other taxonomic groups in the southern hemisphere and in northern latitudes, where human impacts are greater. Our review was based on an expert assessment and literature review of all 18 penguin species; 49 scientists contributed to the process. For each penguin species, we considered their range and distribution, population trends, and main anthropogenic threats over the past approximately 250 years. These threats were harvesting adults for oil, skin, and feathers and as bait for crab and rock lobster fisheries; harvesting of eggs; terrestrial habitat degradation; marine pollution; fisheries bycatch and resource competition; environmental variability and climate change; and toxic algal poisoning and disease. Habitat loss, pollution, and fishing, all factors humans can readily mitigate, remain the primary threats for penguin species. Their future resilience to further climate change impacts will almost certainly depend on addressing current threats to existing habitat degradation on land and at sea. We suggest protection of breeding habitat, linked to the designation of appropriately scaled marine reserves, including in the High Seas, will be critical for the future conservation of penguins. However, large‐scale conservation zones are not always practical or politically feasible and other ecosystem‐based management methods that include spatial zoning, bycatch mitigation, and robust harvest control must be developed to maintain marine biodiversity and ensure that ecosystem functioning is maintained across a variety of scales. Contaminación, Pérdida de Hábitat, Pesca y Cambio Climático como Amenazas Críticas para los Pingüinos     

Characterization of storm wave asymmetries with functional data analysis

Functional data analysis (FDA) is a set of tools developed to perform statistical analysis on data having a functional form. In our case we consider the one-dimensional wave surface profiles registered during a North-Sea storm as functional data. The data is split into 20 min intervals within which an individual wave is defined as the profile between two consecutive downcrossings. After registration of these individual waves to the interval [0, 1], the mean wave profile for the entire 20 min interval is obtained along with the first two derivatives of this mean profile. We analyze the shape of these mean waves and their derivatives and show how they change as a function of the significant wave height, which is a measure of the severity of the sea for the corresponding time interval. We also look at the evolution of the energy, as represented by the phase diagram, as a function of significant wave height. The results show the asymmetry in vertical and horizontal scales for real data. Comparison with a Gaussian wave simulation model calculated from the actual wave spectra shows important differences in symmetry and shape of the average wave and seem to indicate that the greatest difference in the distribution of energy during the wave cycle lies in the second and fourth quarters of the wave period. FDA can be applied to derive information on the individual and average wave profiles and also provide an understanding of the variation in energy throughout the wave phase.