Molecular tools for bathing water assessment in Europe: Balancing social science research with a rapidly developing environmental science evidence-base

The use of molecular tools, principally qPCR, versus traditional culture-based methods for quantifying microbial parameters (e.g., Fecal Indicator Organisms) in bathing waters generates considerable ongoing debate at the science–policy interface. Advances in science have allowed the development and application of molecular biological methods for rapid (~2 h) quantification of microbial pollution in bathing and recreational waters. In contrast, culture-based methods can take between 18 and 96 h for sample processing. Thus, molecular tools offer an opportunity to provide a more meaningful statement of microbial risk to water-users by providing near-real-time information enabling potentially more informed decision-making with regard to water-based activities. However, complementary studies concerning the potential costs and benefits of adopting rapid methods as a regulatory tool are in short supply. We report on findings from an international Working Group that examined the breadth of social impacts, challenges, and research opportunities associated with the application of molecular tools to bathing water regulations.     

Attribution of Carbon Dioxide Fluxes to Crop Types in a Heterogeneous Agricultural Landscape of Argentina

The increasing proportion of agricultural lands worldwide makes it necessary to intensify the research concerning the carbon exchange at agricultural sites. In order to determine the Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) in an agricultural landscape in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, we carried out eddy covariance measurements with a flux tower, which was placed between two agricultural fields. Therefore, the measured CO₂ flux represents the accumulated flux from both areas, i.e., from different crop types. We here present an analysis method which attributes the flux to the two crop types. For this analysis, we applied the Hsieh footprint model to identify the contributing source area to the flux measurement. We then applied a multiple regression analysis to calculate the NEE in the growing season 2011/2012 for each field separately. The pronounced differences in the time courses of the CO₂ fluxes in the two fields can be explained by the different sowing times and different growth stages of both cultivations. The time courses furthermore show that the CO₂ uptake of the plants was strongly affected by the drought which lasted from December 2011 to January 2012. For the growth cycle of maize (216 days), the NEE was ?240 g C m^?2 and for the growth cycle of soybean (154 days) ?231 g C m^?2. In order to obtain the NEE of a complete agricultural cycle (from harvest to harvest), we also considered the NEE of autumn and winter 2011. Uncertainties of the spatially partitioned NEE are quantified and discussed.     

成都市大气颗粒物粒径分布及其对能见度的影响

使用环境颗粒物分析仪（GRIMM180）对成都市2018年10月—2019年9月0.25~32 μm的大气颗粒物数浓度粒径分布进行观测,结合细颗粒物（PM_2.5）质量浓度以及相对湿度（RH）、能见度、降水量等气象要素数据,分析了成都市大气颗粒物粒径分布及其与能见度的关系.结果表明,观测期间成都市大气颗粒物以细粒子为主,0.25~0.5 μm的粒子数浓度占总数浓度的97.75%,数浓度谱呈单峰分布,2018年秋季、2019年夏季表面积谱呈双峰分布,2018年冬季、2019年春季表面积谱呈三峰,体积谱均为三峰分布;在不同RH区间,PM_2.5质量浓度及数浓度均与能见度呈负相关,且其中0.25~0.5 μm粒径段的细颗粒物因为对可见光波段的米散射效应而对能见度产生较大影响;在不同RH情况下,不同粒径段颗粒物数浓度对能见度的影响程度有所差别：在低RH（<70%）下,0.25~0.3 μm粒径段粒子数浓度对能见度影响最大;在中等RH（70%~80%）下,0.3~0.5 μm粒径段粒子数浓度对能见度的影响最大;而在高RH（>80%）下,0.3~0.5 μm和0.5~1 μm粒径段粒子数浓度对能见度影响相当.     

Mating System and Sexual Selection in the Scorpionfly Panorpa vulgaris (Mecoptera: Panorpidae)

Panorpa vulgaris   has become a model insect for testing theories of sexual selection. This contribution summarizes that which has been learned in recent years and presents new data that clearly show that the mating system of P. vulgaris is not simply a resource-defense polygyny, as has previously been thought. In P. vulgaris neither the pattern in food exploitation nor the ratio of variance in the lifetime reproductive success of the two sexes is in accordance with that expected in resource defense polygynous mating systems. Lifetime mating duration is the most important proximate determinant of male fitness. Males employing alternative mating tactics obtain copulations of varying duration in relation to the following sequence: saliva secretion  1  food offering  1  no gift. The number of salivary masses which males provide to females during their lifetime is significantly correlated with the lifetime condition index. The condition index depends on the fighting prowess of males and their ability to find food items. Thus saliva secretion of Panorpa is considered a Zahavian handicap, which can serve as an honest quality indicator used by mating females. Our results confirm four main predictions of the indicator model of the theory of sexual selection: (a) the indicator signals high ecological quality of its bearer, (b) the indicator value increases with phenotypic quality, (c) the indicator value is positively correlated with the genetic quality affecting offspring fitness in a natural selection context, and (d) the quality indicator is more costly for low- than for high-quality individuals. The evolutionary consequences of the mating pattern and the sperm competition mechanism in P. vulgaris are discussed in the context the way in which sexual selection creates and maintains sperm mixing and the evolution of a promiscuous mating system.     

Zur Geschichte der Geophysik

Alfred Wegener's most important work, the theory of continental drift, has a key position in the history of geophysics and has crucially advanced the discussion of this central problem of geodynamics amongst supporters and adversaries. The aim of this paper is to paint a portrait of Wegener's personality, of his stations of life, and of his interests and research work. The conceptions of the origin of continents and oceans prior to Wegener, and the further development of his ideas after his death on the ice cup of Greenland 50 years ago are discussed.