Liebe Gutachterinnen und liebe Gutachter

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Beitragsserie: Probabilistische Expositionsabsch?tzung in Umweltmedizin und Verbraucherschutz (Workshop)

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Critical Loads Exceedances in Germany and their Dependence on the Scale of Input Data

Critical load exceedances have been used as an effects-related parameter for guiding international air emission control negotiations. High-resolution critical load data are combined with low-resolution deposition data.This article shows that doing so systematicallyunderestimates `true' critical load exceedances as obtainedfrom combining critical load and deposition data of identicalhigh spatial resolution. 95th percentile critical loadexceedances in EMEP grids based on high resolution depositiondata are 60 and 150% higher (mean values for nutrientnitrogen and acidity, respectively) than critical loadexceedances based on the low resolution EMEP depositionmodel. The latter are used in international negotiations. Differences in individual EMEP grid squares vary betweeninsignificantly different from zero and 340%, depending onregional deposition and critical load characteristics andcritical load types (nutrient nitrogen versus acidity).Exceedances based on high-resolution deposition values arealso compared to EMEP grid averages of these values forforests only. This comparison excludes the effect ofsystematically higher depositions to forests. Still, thescale difference of (averaged, low-resolution) deposition and(high-resolution) critical loads data yields underestimatesof the 95th percentiles by on average ca. 20%.These systematic errors due to the scale dependence should beborne in mind when interpreting effects of internationalemission control measures.     

Korrosionsschutz und Umwelt

Ohne Zusammenfassung Schlagw?rter: Gesetzgebung: Schweiz; Korrosionsschutz     

Selenium and nano-selenium in plant nutrition

Selenium (Se) is a naturally occurring metalloid element which occurs nearly in all environments. Se is considered as a finite and non-renewable resource on the Earth. The common sources of Se in earth’s crust occur in association with sulfide minerals such as metal selenide, whereas it is rarely found in elemental form (Se⁰). While there is no evidence of Se need for higher plants, several reports show that when Se added at low concentrations, Se exerts beneficial effects on plant growth. Se may act as quasi-essential micronutrient through altering different physiological and biochemical traits. Thus, plants vary considerably in their physiological and biochemical response to Se. This review focusses on the physiological importance of Se forms as well as different Se fertilizers for higher plants, especially plant growth, uptake, transport, and metabolism.     

Female great tits do not alter their yolk androgen deposition when infested with a low-transmittable ectoparasite

In birds as in many other taxa, parasites can have deleterious effects on offspring development. Therefore, avian mothers have evolved responses to counteract parasite virulence in offspring via transgenerational defense mechanisms that is the transfer of immune-enhancing substances such as antibodies to their eggs. Another maternal pathway is suggested by the finding that infested great tit mothers produced eggs with lower androgens, since these yolk androgens are immunosuppressive and potentially affect parasite susceptibility of the nestlings. However, whether this pathway is a specific adaptation to infestation with parasites that affect the offspring or an epiphenomenon of lower androgen production in the female due to the parasite effects on the mother itself is as yet unclear. In this study we infested female great tits (Parus major) with sheep ticks (Ixodes ricinus), which are nonnidicolous ectoparasites with low vertical transmission capability, and evaluated the effects on yolk androgen deposition. Tick-infested females did not significantly reduce their deposition of androgens (androstenedione (A₄) and testosterone) compared to tick-reduced females, which is in contrast to a previous study showing a lowered deposition of A₄ and testosterone when females were exposed to the nidicolous hen flea. Thus, females alter their hormone deposition, and thus likely offspring phenotype, when exposed to parasites that also form the parasitic environment of their offspring, but not when temporarily infested with the field-dwelling sheep ticks with low transmission capability. This suggests that selection favored the evolution of an adaptive transgenerational effect by acting mainly on the parasite-induced maternal effect.     

Windows of change: temporal scale of analysis is decisive to detect ecosystem responses to climate change

Long-term ecological research has become a cornerstone of the scientific endeavour to better understand ecosystem responses to environmental change. This paper provides a perspective on how such research could be advanced. It emphasizes that a profound understanding of the mechanisms underlying these responses requires that records of ecologic processes be not only sufficiently long, but also collected at an appropriate temporal resolution. We base our argument on an overview of studies of climate impacts in limnic and marine ecosystems, suggesting that lakes and oceans respond to (short-term) weather conditions during critical time windows in the year. The observed response patterns are often time-lagged or driven by the crossing of thresholds in weather-related variables (such as water temperature and thermal stratification intensity). It becomes clear from the previous studies that average annual, seasonal or monthly climate data often fall short of characterizing the thermal dynamics that most organisms respond to. To illustrate such literature-based evidence using a concrete example, we compare 2?years of water temperature data from Müggelsee (Berlin, Germany) at multiple temporal scales (from hours to years). This comparison underlines the pitfalls of analysing data at resolutions not high enough to detect critical differences in environmental forcing. Current science initiatives that aim at improving the temporal resolution of long-term observatory data in aquatic systems will help to identify adequate timescales of analysis necessary for the understanding of ecosystem responses to climate change.