Metal accumulation in mosses across national boundaries: uncovering and ranking causes of spatial variation

This study aimed at cross-border mapping metal loads in mosses in eight European countries in 1990, 1995, and 2000 and at investigating confounding factors. Geostatistics was used for mapping, indicating high local variances but clear spatial autocorrelations. Inference statistics identified differences of metal concentrations in mosses on both sides of the national borders. However, geostatistical analyses did not ascertain discontinuities of metal concentrations in mosses at national borders due to sample analysis in different laboratories applying a range of analytical techniques. Applying Classification and Regression Trees (CART) to the German moss data as an example, the local variation in metal concentrations in mosses were proved to depend mostly on different moss species, potential local emission sources, canopy drip and precipitation.     

UWSF zum 20j?hrigen und Otto Fr?nzle zum 75j?hrigen Geburtstag

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

First Europe-wide correlation analysis identifying factors best explaining the total nitrogen concentration in mosses

In this study, the indicative value of mosses as biomonitors of atmospheric nitrogen (N) depositions and air concentrations on the one hand and site-specific and regional factors which explain best the total N concentration in mosses on the other hand were investigated for the first time at a European scale using correlation analyses. The analyses included data from mosses collected from 2781 sites across Europe within the framework of the European moss survey 2005/6, which was coordinated by the International Cooperative Programme on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops (ICP Vegetation). Modelled atmospheric N deposition and air concentration data were calculated using the Unified EMEP Model of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) of the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). The modelled deposition and concentration data encompass various N compounds. In order to assess the correlations between moss tissue total N concentrations and the chosen predictors, Spearman rank correlation analysis and Classification and Regression Trees (CART) were applied. The Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that the total N concentration in mosses and modelled N depositions and air concentrations are significantly correlated (0.53 ≤ r_s ≤ 0.68, p < 0.001). Correlations with other predictors were lower than 0.55. The CART analysis indicated that the variation in the total N concentration in mosses was best explained by the variation in NH₄⁺ concentrations in air, followed by NO₂ concentrations in air, sampled moss species and total dry N deposition. The total N concentrations in mosses mirror land use-related atmospheric concentrations and depositions of N across Europe. In addition to already proven associations to measured N deposition on a local scale the study at hand gives a scientific prove on the association of N concentration in mosses and modelled deposition at the European scale.     

Usability of food industry waste oils as fuel for diesel engines

Two cogeneration units were each fitted with a prechamber (IDI) diesel engine in order to test the feasibility of using waste oils from the food industry as a fuel source, and additionally to test emissions generated by the combustion of these fuels. Esterified waste oils and animal fats as well as mustard oil were tested and compared to the more or less "common" fuels: diesel, rapeseed oil and rapeseed methyl ester. The results show that, in principle, each of these fuels is suitable for use in a prechamber diesel engine. Engine performance can be maintained at a constant level. Without catalytic conversion, the nitrogen oxides emissions were comparable. A significant reduction in NO(x) was achieved through the injection of urea. Combining a urea injection with the SCR catalytic converter reduced NO(x) emissions between 53% and 67%. The carbon monoxide emissions from waste oils are not significantly different from those of "common" fuels and can be reduced the same way as of hydrocarbon emissions, through utilization of a catalytic converter. The rate of carbon monoxide reduction by catalytic conversion was 84-86%. A lower hydrocarbon concentration was associated with fuels of agricultural origin. With the catalytic converter a reduction of 29-42% achieved. Each prechamber diesel engine exhibited its own characteristic exhaust, which was independent of fuel type. The selective catalytic reduction of the exhaust emissions can be realized without restriction using fuels of agricultural origin.     

Aktuelle und künftige Emissionen treibhauswirksamer fluorierter Verbindungen in Deutschland

The fluorinated compounds sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆), perfluorocarbons (CF₄, C₂F₆) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are atmospheric trace gases with extremely high global warming potentials (GWP). The study examines the real emissions of these compounds in Germany between 1990 and 1995, and develops projections for the years up to 2020. These projections indicate that annual perfluorocarbon releases will drop between the years 1990 and 2000 from 335 t/34 t to 100 t/10 t due to automation measures at the main source (aluminium smelting). Sulphur hexafluoride emissions, however, will remain in the range between 200 and 300 t per annum until the year 2020. By far the largest emitters are car tyres and sound-insulation glazing, non-electrical swithgear, the latter being relatively well sealed and linked to management and reprocessing concepts for used gas. As concerns hydrofluorocarbons which have only been used since 1990 with the specific intention of substituting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), an increasing degree of CFC substitution in stationary and mobile refrigeration technology, in canned PUR foams and in asthma sprays must be expected to lead to steeply rising emissions to levels exceeding 9,700 t/a from the year 2007 onwards, if halogen-free alternatives are not used more strongly. Assuming these trends, the cumulative emissions of the stated fluorinated compounds will correspond to a global warming impact of 25 million t CO₂ (GWP time horizon: 100 years) by the year 2020.     

Measuring the complexity of interaction webs using vertical links between functional groups

Ecological insights into the usually high complexity of interaction webs demand a simplification of their structure to concentrate on the most important interactions within a community. One way to achieve this goal is to use functional groups (FGs). Using simple and partial Mantel tests the vertical interactions between FGs from different trophic levels were studied both at a disturbed grassland site and at a similar but undisturbed site. The resulting interaction structures of both ecosystems were compared. (i) An approximately 50% higher vertical FG-connectance could be found in the undisturbed than in the disturbed grassland; (ii) a much higher percentage of significant correlations did exist between FGs in the undisturbed than in the disturbed system; and (iii) the disturbed grassland was characterized by more simply structured biotic interaction patterns. From these results it was concluded that (a) Mantel tests are a useful tool for detecting significant interaction patterns (web links) between FGs, and that (b) FG-connectance is a powerful measure of complexity and functional diversity of communities.     

Reconstruction of palaeosalinity using carbon isotopes and benthic associations: a comparison

Carbon and oxygen isotopes were determined on 40 recrystallized shells of Late Jurassic bivalves from the Lusitanian Basin of Portugal. In contrast with the oxygen isotopes, which exhibited considerable diagenetic distortion, the carbon isotopes are thought to preserve a record of the salinity of the Jurassic marginal marine seas in which these bivalves lived. The reconstructed palaeosalinities range from 35‰ (euhaline) to 5‰ (oligohaline). Comparing these values with the palaeosalinity reconstructed from a palaeoecological analysis of 17 stratigraphic levels within the basin, the independently derived values agree in most cases. Strongly differing values are explained as being due to biotic factors and to diagenetic distortion of the isotopic signal; they are less likely to be due to small-scale time-averaging or insufficient microstratigraphic sampling. On the whole, the carbon isotope analyses are thought to produce reasonable palaeosalinity values, although data from infaunal, originally aragonitic bivalves appear to be less reliable than those from epifaunal bivalves with a predominantly or exclusively calcitic shell. As diagenetic alteration of the carbon isotope signal is, however, unpredictable and biotic effects on the isotopic composition are insufficiently known, palaeosalinity reconstructions based on stable isotope data should be supported by palaeoecological data.     

Blauzungenkrankheit in Deutschland 2006

The first appearance of bluetongue disease, a biting midge-borne viral infection of ruminants, in August 2006 in Germany struck farmers, veterinary departments and superior authorities, as well as disease and pest control managers completely unprepared. During the summer and autumn months of the past year, the virus spread across borders in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Luxembourg, and was eventually demonstrated on more than 2000 farms where numerous cattle and sheep fell ill or even perished. According to our limited epizootiological knowledge on bluetongue disease, the management of the crisis was of minor success. Particularly with respect to the vectors of bluetongue disease, our information is so restricted that directed vector control is impossible at present. Basic data regarding distribution, ecology and behaviour of the various species of biting midges in Germany is lacking. However, in these times of globalisation and fundamental ecological and climatic changes, in which the spread/import and establishment of vectors of disease and the agents they carry must be expected, it is essential to initiate monitoring programmes. These should be integrated into the ongoing environmental monitoring and designed by using geographic information systems and surface geodata. The monitoring data should be used to calculate predictive GIS maps of the distribution of ceratopogonids in space and time as well as to perform risk assessments with regard to bluetongue disease or other diseases transmitted by arthropods.