An experimental study of magnesium-isotope fractionation in chlorophyll-a photosynthesis

Measurements are presented of the magnesium isotopic composition of chlorophyll-a, extracted from cyanobacteria, relative to the isotopic composition of the culture medium in which the cyanobacteria were grown. Yields of 50-93% chlorophyll-a were achieved from the pigment extracts of Synechococcus elongatus, a unicellular cyanobacteria. This material was then digested using concentrated nitric acid to extract magnesium. Separation was accomplished using columns of cation-exchange resin, which achieved a 103 ± 10% yield of magnesium from chlorophyll-a. This procedure ensured accurate measurement of the magnesium-isotopic ratios without isobaric interferences using a multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). We find a slight depletion in the heavier isotopes of magnesium in chlorophyll-a relative to culture medium, early growth phase: Δ²⁶Mg = −0.71(±0.35)‰ and Δ²⁵Mg = −0.37(±0.18)‰; late growth phase: Δ²⁶Mg = −0.53(±0.20)‰ and Δ²⁵Mg = −0.26(±0.11)‰, due to an apparent mass-dependent fractionation. We suggest that the small fractionation results from chelation during intracellular processes. A likely candidate for this chelation step involves the magnesium-chelatase enzyme, which mediates the insertion of magnesium to the tetrapyrrole ring during chlorophyll-a biosynthesis. Proof of this hypothesis can be tested with biological controls whereby steps in the enzymatic pathways of chlorophyll synthesis are selectively suppressed.     

Change detection in Sal forest in Dehradun Forest Division using remote sensing and geographical information system

The review of study site have revealed the change in vegetation cover of Sal Dense to Sal Medium and Sal Open in 6 forest Mosaics owing to biotic and abiotic conditions prevailing in the specific areas. Analysis carried out using thematic map derived from aerial photograph of 1976 and satellite data of IRS 1C LISS III False Colour Composite (FCC) of March 1999 revealed the cause for change in forest density classes. Deforestation, encroachment and agriculture have been identified as the underlying causes, which have affected some specific locations to a marked extent. There has been a progressive and remarkable change among vegetation classes from 1976 to 1999. It is evident from forest type and density map that Sal density has significantly reduced from Sal Dense 65.61 % in 1976 to Sal Dense 11.12% in the year 1999 followed by Sal Open 11.18 % and Sal Medium 18.24 %. The overall change has been estimated to be 42.11% of the total forested area.     

Elasticity of tetragonal end-member majorite and solid solutions in the system Mg4Si4O12-Mg3Al2Si3O12

 The adiabatic elastic moduli of polycrystalline En₅₀Py₅₀ and En₈₀Py₂₀ majorite-garnet solid solutions (where En=4MgSiO₃, Py=Mg₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂) and the end-member En₁₀₀ tetragonal majorite were determined at ambient conditions using Brillouin spectroscopy. The adiabatic bulk modulus, K, and shear modulus, μ, of En₅₀Py₅₀ were found to be K=173.1 (20) and μ=92.3 (10) GPa, and are indistinguishable from those of the end-member pyrope, Py₁₀₀. The moduli of the more majorite-rich samples are significantly lower and are virtually identical to each other (K=162.6(11) and μ=85.7(7) for En₈₀Py₂₀; K=166(5) and μ=88(2) for En₁₀₀). In combination with previously reported moduli for this system, we conclude that both K and μ are constant over the compositional range from Py₁₀₀ to a majorite content of about 70–80%, whereupon the moduli decrease substantially. For compositions ranging from En₈₀Py₂₀ to the end-member majorite, the moduli are also approximately independent of composition, but at a lower value. An alternative model with a continuous decrease in moduli with increasing majorite content cannot be excluded, within the uncertainties of existing measurements. The contrast in moduli between aluminous pyrope garnet and Al-free majorite are small compared with the modulus changes accompanying the pyroxene – majorite phase transformation. Received August 16, 1995 /Revised, accepted January 12, 1996     

Byproduct Formation During the Reduction of TCE by Zero-Valence Iron and Palladized Iron

Trichloroethene (TCE) was reduced with zero-valence iron and palladized iron in zero-head-space extractors. Progress of the reaction in these batch studies was monitored with purge-and-trap gas chromatography and a flame ionization detector. When a 5 ppm initial concentration of TCF. reacts with zero-valence iron, approximately 140 ppb of vinyl chloride persists for as long as 73 days. The concentration of vinyl chloride (approximately If) ppb) remaining with palladized iron is approximately an order of magnitude less than when zero-valence iron is the reductant. These data suggest that volatile byproducts may be under-represented in oilier published data regarding reduction with zero-valence metals. These results also demonstrate that the reduction of TCE with palladized iron (0.05 percent palladium) is more than an order of magnitude faster than with zero-valence iron. Wilh a 5:1 solution-to-solid ratio the TCE half-life with zero-valence iron is 7.41 hours. but is only 0.59 hours with the palladized iron.     

The causes and environmental effects of land use conversion during agricultural restructuring in Northeast China

During the last decade of the 20th century, extensive conversion in agricultural land use took place in Northeast China. The goal of this study is to ascertain its spatial distribution and regional differentiation, determine its causes, and analyze its environmental impact. Especially we attempt to elucidate how institutional constraints have facilitated the change at a time of agrarian restructuring when newly emerging free market was hybridized with the former planned economy. Information on six categories of land use was mapped from interpretation of Landsat TM images recorded in 1990, 1995 and 2000. Most of land use changes took place during the first half of the decade, coinciding with abrupt and chaotic changes in government directives. Farmland was changed mainly to woodland, water body and built-up areas while woodland and grassland were converted chiefly to farmland. Spatially, the change from farmland to woodland was restricted to the west of the study area. The change from grassland to farmland took place in the grazing and farming interlocked west. These chaotic and occasionally conflicting changes were largely caused by lack of stability and consistency in agricultural land use policies promulgated. They have exerted adverse impacts on the local environment, including land degradation, increased flooding, and modified climate regime.     

Grassland productivity in an alpine environment in response to climate change

Situated in a climatically stressful environment, alpine grassland is sensitive to subtle climate changes in its productivity. We remedy the current deficiency in studying grassland productivity by taking the integrated effect of all relevant factors into consideration. The relative importance of temperature, rainfall and evaporation to the alpine grassland productivity in western China was determined through analysis of their relationship with the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) between 1981 and 2000. Climate warming stimulated grassland productivity in the 1980s, but hampered it in the 1990s. Temperature is more important than rainfall to grassland productivity early in the growing season. However, their relative importance is reversed late in the growing season. Monthly summer month rainfall modified by maximum monthly temperature is a good predictor of alpine grassland productivity at 62.0 per cent. However, the best predictor is water deficiency, which is able to improve the estimation accuracy to 78.3 per cent. Hence, the impact of temperature on grassland productivity is better studied indirectly through evaporation.     

Isotopic variability in the aragonite shells of freshwater gastropods living in springs with nearly constant temperature and isotopic composition

We conducted a year-long, intensive monitoring program of live aquatic gastropods (Helisoma duryi, Melanoides tuberculata, Physa virgata, Pyrgulopsis sp., and Tyronia sp.) and their host springs in the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge of southern Nevada. Our purpose was to constrain the degree of natural variation in the isotopic values of shell aragonite for gastropods living in near-constant conditions. Inter- and intraspecies variations, as well as within-shell variations, of δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values for all taxa were larger than predicted based on variations in environmental conditions alone. This result suggests that different organisms growing in identical or nearly identical environmental conditions may not produce shells with equilibrium isotopic compositions and that these offsets from equilibrium may differ by small, but statistically significant amounts. For the gill-breathing, fully aquatic gastropods M. tuberculata, Pyrgulopsis sp., and Tyronia sp., the deviation of measured isotopic values compared to predicted values based on average environmental conditions were consistent with differences between taxa in the seasonal timing of shell growth. Measured values for the lung-breathing gastropods H. duryi and P. virgata were higher for δ¹⁸O and lower for δ¹³C than predicted at isotopic equilibrium, even when accounting for seasonality effects. We suggest that explaining the differences between the shell isotopic composition of lung- and gill-breathing snails requires a combination of both behavioral and physiologic factors. Our results illustrate the potential complexities of interpreting stable isotopic data from fossil gastropod shells even when environmental conditions are nearly constant, and place limitations on the paleoenvironmental deductions that can be made from the isotopic measurements on fossil gastropods.     

Simulation of urban expansion via integrating artificial neural network with Markov chain – cellular automata

Accurate simulations and predictions of urban expansion are critical to manage urbanization and explicitly address the spatiotemporal trends and distributions of urban expansion. Cellular Automata integrated Markov Chain (CA-MC) is one of the most frequently used models for this purpose. However, the urban suitability index (USI) map produced from the conventional CA-MC is either affected by human bias or cannot accurately reflect the possible nonlinear relations between driving factors and urban expansion. To overcome these limitations, a machine learning model (Artificial Neural Network, ANN) was integrated with CA-MC instead of the commonly used Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Logistic Regression (LR) CA-MC models. The ANN was optimized to create the USI map and then integrated with CA-MC to spatially allocate urban expansion cells. The validated results of kappa and fuzzy kappa simulation indicate that ANN-CA-MC outperformed other variously coupled CA-MC modelling approaches. Based on the ANN-CA-MC model, the urban area in South Auckland is predicted to expand to 1340.55 ha in 2026 at the expense of non-urban areas, mostly grassland and open-bare land. Most of the future expansion will take place within the planned new urban growth zone.     

Estimating Pile Set-up Using 24-h Restrike Resistance and Computed Static Capacity for PPC Piles Driven in Soft Lousiana Coastal Deposits

In this paper, the CPT-based predicted ultimate pile resistances (R_p) were compared with the measured pile resistances (R_m) at different elapsed time for the piles driven into saturated soft clays where piles displayed significant set-up effect. The measured pile resistances were based on 115 restrike records collected from 95 production piles, and 74 records of 9 tested piles. The predicted ultimate pile resistances were calculated from the LCPC, the Schmertmann, and the de Ruiter–Beringen methods, respectively. With the significant pile set-up effect taken into account, the relationship between measured resistances and predicted capacities at different times after pile installation were investigated. The ratios of the measured pile resistances to the predicted capacities scattered in a large spectrum. The ratios fluctuated and stayed within a range of 0.6–1.6 for different CPT methods since end of initial driving until more than 2 months after pile installation. Plots of the ratios versus the predicted pile capacities using different CPT methods have revealed that the ratio (R_m/R_p) presented a strong dependence on the predicted capacities. Great research efforts have been devoted to the analyses of the ratios of the 24-h measured resistance to the predicted capacity based on different CPT methods, in an attempt to find a feasible empirical correlation. It is found that a simple linear relationship exists between the quad root of the ratio and the predicted capacity. The developed empirical equations will give pile foundation engineers an insight into the ultimate resistances of driven piles demonstrating significant pile set-up effects. Pile set-up makes pile resistances grow with time, and it might be one of the reasons that cause the frequently reported large discrepancy between calculated static capacity and measured resistance at a certain time after pile installation.