High-Velocity Stretching of Renewable Polymer Blends

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - We evaluated the influence of blending various renewable polymer grades and amounts to allow for high stretchability during stretching at 800 mm/s...     

Spatial anatomy of species survival: effects of predation and climate-driven environmental variability

The majority of survival analyses focus on temporal scales. Consequently, there is a limited understanding of how species survival varies over space and, ultimately, how spatial variability in the environment affects the temporal dynamics of species abundance. Using data from the Barents Sea, we study the spatiotemporal variability of the juvenile Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) survival. We develop an index of spatial survival based on changes of juvenile cod distribution through their first winter of life (from age-0 to age-1) and study its variability in relation to biotic and abiotic factors. Over the 25 years analyzed (1980-2004), we found that, once the effect of passive drift due to dominant currents is accounted for, the area where age-0 cod survival was lowest coincided with the area of highest abundance of older cod. Within this critical region, the survival of age-0 cod was negatively affected by its own abundance, by that of older cod, and by bottom depth. Furthermore, during cold years, age-0 cod survival increased in the eastern and coldest portion of the examined area, which was typically avoided by older conspecifics. Based on these results we propose that within the examined area top-down mechanisms and predation-driven density dependence can strongly affect the spatial pattern of age-0 cod survival. Climate-related variables can also influence the spatial survival of age-0 cod by affecting their distribution and that of their predators. Results from these and similar studies, focusing on the spatial variability of survival rates, can be used to characterize species habitat quality of marine renewable resources.     

Evolution of a stream ecosystem in recently deglaciated terrain

Climate change and associated glacial recession create new stream habitat that leads to the assembly of new riverine communities through primary succession. However, there are still very few studies of the patterns and processes of community assembly during primary succession for stream ecosystems. We illustrate the rapidity with which biotic communities can colonize and establish in recently formed streams by examining Stonefly Creek in Glacier Bay, Alaska (USA), which began to emerge from a remnant glacial ice mass between 1976 and 1979. By 2002, 57 macroinvertebrate and 27 microcrustacea species had become established. Within 10 years of the stream's formation, pink salmon and Dolly Varden charr colonized, followed by other fish species, including juvenile red and silver salmon, Coast Range sculpin, and sticklebacks. Stable-isotope analyses indicate that marine-derived nitrogen from the decay of salmon carcasses was substantially assimilated within the aquatic food web by 2004. The findings from Stonefly Creek are compared with those from a long-term study of a similarly formed but older stream (12 km to the northeast) to examine possible similarities in macroinvertebrate community and biological trait composition between streams at similar stages of development. Macroinvertebrate community assembly appears to have been initially strongly deterministic owing to low water temperature associated with remnant ice masses. In contrast, microcrustacean community assembly appears to have been more stochastic. However, as stream age and water temperature increased, macroinvertebrate colonization was also more stochastic, and taxonomic similarity between Stonefly Creek and a stream at the same stage of development was <50%. However the most abundant taxa were similar, and functional diversity of the two communities was almost identical. Tolerance is suggested as the major mechanism of community assembly. The rapidity with which salmonids and invertebrate communities have become established across an entire watershed has implications for the conservation of biodiversity in freshwater habitats.     

Haithabu — Entdeckung neuer Funde durch hochauflösende kleinseismische Messungen

A high-precision seismic reflection method has been developed for investigating archeological objects which are hidden in a mud-layer of the Haddebyer Noor, a lake in front of the old Viking settlement Haithabu near Schleswig. Wooden and metallic objects larger than about 30 cm could be detected and mapped. Some of the mapped objects have been rescued by diving operations. Others, like wooden harbour constructions of unexpectedly large dimensions, and a large (second) shipwrack were left conserved in the mud. All finds provide a new picture of this old Viking settlement showing that its inhabitants had a far higher stage of development than hitherto suspected.     

Exploring socio-cultural values of ecosystem service categories in the Central Alps: the influence of socio-demographic factors and landscape type

The socio-cultural assessment of ecosystem services has been proposed as a promising tool for eliciting people’s preferences towards ecosystem services. Despite an increasing integration of the socio-cultural perspective in ecosystem service research, little knowledge exists about linkages between landscape and the socio-cultural values people assign to ecosystem services. This paper combines a socio-cultural valuation approach with the use of landscape pictures to analyse and compare people’s perceived importance of the provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem service categories across three landscape types (i.e. larch meadows, spruce forests, and hay meadow). A survey with 470 tourists visiting the region of South Tyrol (Italy) was conducted to link people’s perceived importance to their socio-demographic background and to the landscape types explored. The results show that regulating ecosystem services are preferred over provisioning and cultural services, whereby environmental awareness is found to be more influential than formal education levels regarding the perceived importance of regulating services. The results further demonstrate that cultural background is an important driver in determining people’s perceived importance of cultural services. The underlying landscape types, however, exert an even stronger influence on people’s socio-cultural valuation of ecosystem service categories. This finding suggests that the focus of most ecosystem services assessments on the study area as a whole risks mistakenly attributing differences in people’s socio-cultural values to socio-demographic characteristics only. A better knowledge of the spatial integration of socio-cultural values, however, could help with anticipating the consequences of changes in the landscape and provide better guidance for future landscape planning.     

Metals and selenium in wild animals from Norwegian areas close to Russian nickel smelters

This paper reports the concentrations of metals (Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and/or Zn) and selenium (Se) in kidney and/or liver samples from capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus), hares (Lepus timidus), common shrews (Sorex araneus) and grey-sided voles (Clethrionomus rufocanus) from the Norwegian areas most heavily contaminated by pollutants from the Russian smelters on the Kola peninsula. In addition to comparing areas that differed in expected pollution rate within Sør-Varanger, comparisons are drawn with reference data from other parts of Norway. The relatively highest levels of metals were found for Cu and Ni in the sub-area most heavily exposed to pollution from the smelters. Also the highest Cr concentrations were found in the areas closest to the smelters. In this study, there is evidence for a direct link between increased metal concentrations in wild animals and pollution from the Russian smelters for Cu and Ni and to some extent for Cr. relatively high concentration of Hg and slight increases in Pb are also documented, but regional differences within Sør-Varanger indicate no direct relationship to the Russian smelters. No samples showed concentrations of any of the analysed metals in excess of the limits where negative effects on animals can be measured.