Effects of water-borne copper on metallothionein and lipid peroxidation in the marine amphipod Gammarus locusta

The aim of the current work was to determine over 10 days the effects of water-borne exposure of the marine amphipod Gammarus locusta to 4 microgCu l(-1) on the metallothionein (MT; measured by differential pulse polarography) protection system and lipid peroxidation (LP: thiobarbituric acid-reactive malondialdehyde equivalents) as a measure of oxidative damage. MT levels in exposed animals increased significantly at day 2 (36% > control; P < 0.001) and remained high at days 6 and 10 (55 and 38%, respectively, P < 0.001). The maximum level of MT at day 6 coincided with the highest Cu body-burden. LP increased within I day of exposure, indicative of Cu as an oxidative stressor. However, in contrast to MT, the highest LP level was seen at day 4 (68% > control, P < 0.001) before returning to control values by day 6, indicating a protective role of MT against the pro-oxidant effects of Cu.     

Annual heat balance and equilibrium temperature of Lake Aegeri,Switzerland

The mean heat budget of Lake Aegeri, Switzerland, is 950 MJ·m^–2, comparable to that of neighbouring lakes. The annual variation in the net heat flux can be adequately described using a six-term heat balance equation based on 12 years of monthly mean meteorological and surface temperature data. Although the magnitude of the net heat flux is dominated by the radiative terms of the equation, the one-month backward shift of the net flux and total heat content extrema from the solstices and equinoxes respectively is due to the phase shift of the non-radiative with respect to the radiative terms. A linear approximation was used to express the net heat flux in terms of a heat exchange coefficient and an equilibrium temperature. The former varies from 17 to 28 W·m^–2·K^–1 in the course of a year; fluctuations in the latter are found to depend mainly on fluctuations in cloud cover and relative humidity, whilst the effect of fluctuations in air temperature and wind speed is slight.     

Climatically relevant periodicities in the thickness of biogenic carbonate varves in Spooensee, Switzerland (9740-6870 calendar yr BP)

Accurate determination of the thicknesses of 2717 biogenic carbonate varves from a Swiss lake (Soppensee), spanning the period from about 9740 to 6870 calendar yr BP, allowed the computation of a power spectrum using classical FFT methods. The presence of pronounced peaks at 40-50 and 20-25 yr agrees with the results of other studies on varve thickness and D¹⁴C which have been interpreted as indicating an association between solar forcing and varve thickness. The presence in the Soppensee varve series of an additional peak at 10.9 yr, corresponding to the Schwabe sunspot cycle, lends further support to this hypothesis. Because the Soppensee varves are of biogenic rather than clastic origin, any influence fluctuations in solar irradiance may have had on sedimentation rates is likely to have been exerted via primary production.     

Impact of Secular Climate Change on the Thermal Structure of a Large Temperate Central European Lake

Strong climate-related secular trends are apparent in a 52-yr long (1947–1998) uninterrupted series of monthly temperature profiles fromLake Zurich, a large, deep (136 m), temperate lake on the Swiss Plateau. Decadal mean water temperatures have undergone a secular increase at all depths, reflecting the high degree of regional warming that occurred in the European Alpine area during the 20th century. From the 1950s to the 1990s, high warming rates ( 0.24 K per decade) in the uppermost 20 m of the lake (i.e., the epi/metalimnion) combined with lower warming rates ( 0.13 K per decade) below 20 m (i.e., in the hypolimnion), have resulted in a20% increase in thermal stability and a consequent extension of 2–3 weeksin the stratification period. In common with many other parts of the world, 20th-century climate change on the Swiss Plateau has involved a steep secular increase in daily minimum (nighttime) air temperatures, but not in daily maximum (daytime) air temperatures. With respect to both secular change and decadal-scale variability, the temporal structure of the temperature of the surface mixed layer of Lake Zurich faithfully reflects that of the regional daily minimum air temperature, but not that of the daily maximum. The processes responsible for longer-term changes in the temperature structure of the lake therefore act during the night, presumably by suppressing nighttime convective cooling of the surface mixed layer. Application of a one-box heat exchange model suggests that the observed secular changes in thermal structure are due to shifts in the nighttime rate of emission of infrared radiation from the atmosphere and in the nighttime rates of latent and sensible heat exchange at the air-water interface. The increase in hypolimnetic temperatures is mainly a result of the increased prevalence of warm winters in Europe.     

New phase-coherent measurements of pulsar braking indices

Pulsar braking indices offer insight into the physics that underlies pulsar spin-down. Only five braking indices have been measured via phase-coherent timing; all measured values are less than 3, the value expected from magnetic dipole radiation. Here we present new measurements for three of the five pulsar braking indices, obtained with phase-coherent timing for PSRs J1846-0258 (n=2.65±0.01), B1509-58 (n=2.839±0.001) and B0540-69 (n=2.140±0.009). We discuss the implications of these results and possible physical explanations for them.      

Paleolimnological investigations of anthropogenic environmental change in Lake Tanganyika: V. Palynological evidence for deforestation and increased erosion

Pollen spectra from seven short cores taken from deltaic sites in the central and northern parts of Lake Tanganyika provide information about vegetation changes around the lake during the last 5000 years. Pollen analysis was undertaken to understand the history and timing of catchment deforestation and its causal linkage to excess sedimentation and ecosystem change in Lake Tanganyika. The spectra are dominated by grass pollen at all levels in every core. Grass pollen percentage values range between 40 and 80%. Low values of arboreal pollen taxa (1–20%) were documented from most cores except core LT-98-2M. Core LT-98-2M represents the longest duration vegetation record of this study (close to 5000 years BP), and records the onset of increasingly arid conditions in the Late Holocene, especially after 500 A.D., with the probable replacement of forest by open grassland in the Mahale Mountains region. The pollen/spore content for other cores showed a consistent trend of a decrease in grass pollen and an increase in pteridophyte and forest indicator pollen taxa during the last few centuries, contemporaneous with other indications of increased watershed disturbance from forest clearing (especially isotopes and lake faunal change). The timing or strength of this trend is not tied to specific levels of watershed disturbance. However, increasing fern spore abundance does occur progressively later towards the south, where modern human population densities are lower. Although increasing fern spore abundance is consistent with a land-clearing hypothesis, the rising arboreal pollen percentages are seemingly counterintuitive. One possible explanation is that increasing arboreal pollen proportions reflects the recycling of abundant pollen of this type from rapidly eroding soils. Another likely explanation for this finding is that land clearing involved the replacement of miombo woodland, with its mixture of trees producing little pollen and understory grasses producing large amounts of pollen, by the present day cassava, banana, and legume agricultural systems, all of which are poor pollen producers. This shift in catchment vegetation would increase the relative contribution of Afromontane pollen transported long distances from the surrounding highland regions. This hypothesis is consistent with both the lack of correlation of palynological history with specific watershed deforestation attributes, as well as the broader historical record of human habitation in the Lake Tanganyika region. This study also highlights the need for both modern pollen transect data from the region and comparative cores from low elevation swamps or ponds (wetlands) in the region with smaller catchment areas.