Analyse von Quecksilber in Seeadlerfedern aus Mecklenburg-Vorpommern mit Hilfe der Hamburger Protonenmikrosonde

Zusammenfassung  Mit der Hamburger Protonenmikrosonde untersuchen wir den Quecksilbergehalt in Seeadlerfedern, die in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern über Jahrzehnte gesammelt wurden. Anhand der Fundorte und Funddaten ist es m?glich, ein zeitliches und regional differenziertes Bild der Quecksilberbelastung, die vorwiegend durch Hg-halrige Saargutbeizen in der Landwirtschaft verursacht wurden, zu erstellen. Wir vergleichen die gefundenen Konzentrationen mit der ‘geogenen’ Grundbelastung, die an Federproben des vorigen Jahrhunderts von Museumstieren ermittelt wurde.      

Identification of material flow systems

Material Flow Analysis (MFA) has become an important instrument in environmental science and pollution research. In this paper, we look at the MFA problem as a particularly structured system identification problem. Special emphasis is given to the linear, static case, where we describe a procedure for reconciliating the flow measurements and for estimating the unmeasured flows and the transfer coefficients by taking into account a priori restrictions such as balance equations.     

Klimafolgenforschung

Some case studies are described to show progress, potentials and limits of present day climate impact research. The examples given cover impacts on Lakes worldwide, Europe's cost lines, landscapes in the USA, South America and in Germany and on the people living there. Forecasts using not only future scenarios of climatic but of socieal change as well are rare. It is rather state of the art to use future climate scenarios to analyse the vulnerability of today's regional structures. The objective is to identify weak points and measures to eliminate them. Mostly the analysis is based on the consideration of global climate scenarios on one hand and regionally specific economic patterns on the other. But now regionalized climate models and scenarios are used more and more to describe climate change. In most impact studies more accurate and concrete results are obtained and this is demonstrated in the Brandenburg study.     

Family insurance: kin selection and cooperative breeding in a solitary primate (Microcebus murinus)

Lactation imposes substantial physiological costs on mothers and should therefore not be directed towards foreign offspring. Such allonursing, however, is common in mammal species that share roosts. Hypotheses to explain allonursing among such plural breeders include misdirected parental care, milk evacuation, brood parasitism, reciprocity, and kin selection. The necessary behavioral data, in combination with data on kinship and kin recognition, have rarely been available to distinguish among these explanations, however. In this study, we provide evidence for cooperative nursing and adoption by plural-breeding females in a nocturnal primate, the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), in which females forage solitarily during the night, but form day-time sleeping groups with one to two other females. We observed 34 resident females in an 8 ha study area in Kirindy Forest, Madagascar, over three consecutive annual breeding seasons and determined genetic relationships among all members of this population. Five sleeping groups of adult females were filmed inside their roosts during one breeding season after females gave birth. The composition of groups changed substantially across years, but they always consisted of close maternal relatives. All females within a group gave birth to one to three infants. They regularly transferred only their own offspring among roosting sites, demonstrating an ability to discriminate between their own and other’s offspring, but they regularly groomed and nursed related offspring other than their own and adopted related dependent young after their mother’s death. Kin selection may therefore be the main selective force behind cooperative breeding among these closely related females with a high mortality risk, providing each of them with family insurance.     

Foliar injury air pollution surveys of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.): A review

A thorough review and critical evaluation of field surveys from 1900 to the present of foliar injury to Pinus strobus L. supposedly caused by air pollution was undertaken. Ninety percent of the surveys failed to meet current scientific standards of acceptability. The conduct and peer review of surveys has been poor and the correct injury symptoms have not always been used. Data were obtained for nine that met screening criteria and injury incidence and severity were mapped. Three fourths of the counties in the natural and planted range of eastern white pine have not been scientifically surveyed, so generalizations regarding large-scale spatial patterns of eastern white pine foliar pathological conditions were not possible. However, recent growth and inventory data indicate that growth throughout the natural range regardless of air pollution or other stresses (e.g. blister rust) is excellent, suggesting that regional performance and foliar conditions are unrelated. Sufficient compelling corroborative evidence was found to conclude that a general decline of eastern white pine throughout its range is not a tenable finding.The putative air pollution sensitivity of eastern white pine appears to be based on studies published between 1963 and 1973 on hypersensitive individuals that are no longer being observed in the field. More recent research on eastern white pine has noted a lack of sensitivity and/or high variability of response. The idea that eastern white pine as a species is highly sensitive to air pollution is no longer supported by the available evidence. However, hypersensitive juvenile individuals comprising no more than 8–9% of the total population may still germinate and grow for a brief period of time (because old enough parent trees are still alive) but soon succumb to current levels of ozone and sulfur dioxide in the environment or are suppressed by tolerant neighbors. This phenomenon has been documented anecdotally and is more aptly called tree decline instead of forest decline. An emerging working hypothesis to explain recent reports of unusual eastern white pine tolerance is that sufficient time has elapsed for tree decline to have occurred leading to a gradual elimination of sensitive genotypes from populations.     

Walk the line—dispersal movements of gray mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus)

Despite the importance of dispersal for individuals and populations, little is known about the actual dispersal process in most species. We observed 90 subadult gray mouse lemurs-small, arboreal, nocturnal primates-in Kirindy Forest in western Madagascar, to determine the behavioral processes underlying natal dispersal. Twelve radio-collared males dispersed over distances between 180 and 960?m (≈1-7 home range diameters) away from their presumed natal ranges. Dispersal forays were fast and highly directed, and thus distinct from routine movements. Contrary to expectations of current hypotheses on potential differences between different types of dispersal movements, their special movement style did not prevent dispersers from interrupting forays to exploit resources they encountered during their forays. Data from a translocation experiment indicated that highly directed dispersal or search forays reflect a general strategy for large-scale exploration away from familiar sites in this species. A prolonged transfer phase was also observed, with regular commuting between old and new sites for up to 14?days, which probably served to moderate costs of unfamiliarity with a new site. In conclusion, the dispersal process of gray mouse lemurs is characterized by high intra- and interindividual consistency in movement strategies, but variation in the duration of the transfer phase. The observed dispersal movement style represents an effective strategy balancing costs of dispersal with the need to gather an appropriate level of information about potential dispersal target sites. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00265-012-1371-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Platinum pollution in road dusts, roadside soils, and tree barks in Seoul, Korea

This study presents the level of platinum in urban environment in and around Seoul, the capital city of Korea. Road dust, roadside soil, and tree bark samples were collected from the sites of various traffic volumes and from control sites in the suburbs. The above samples were analyzed for Pt by ICP-MS and other heavy metals by ICP-OES. Platinum levels in road dusts and roadside soils from Seoul were in the range of 3.8-444 ng/g (av. 115.0 ng/g) and 0.7-221 ng/g (av. 49.7 ng/g), respectively, whereas those in the suburbs were in the range of 2.3-5.2 ng/g (av. 3.9 ng/g) in road dusts and 0.4-5.1 ng/g (av. 2.4 ng/g) in roadside soils. The highest Pt levels in road dusts were found from major roads with high traffic volume. The remarkable difference in average Pt level between heavy traffic roads (av. 132.2 ng/g) and light traffic roads (av. 22.8 ng/g) reflects that an important source of Pt in roadside environment is automobile catalytic converter. High Pt level in road dust was found from the site of erratic stop-start driving condition, for example, 178 ng/g Pt in road dust around a vehicle crossing gate. Platinum level in tree barks ranged from 0.9 to 4.5 ng/g, which indicates the existence of Pt-containing particulate matter in the atmosphere. Road dusts with high Pt level were enriched in traffic-related heavy metals.