The Diets in Four Pacific Tube Blennies (Acanthemblemaria: Chaenopsidae): Lack of Ecological Divergence in Syntopic Species

Abstract. The diets of three syntopic Gulf of California Acanthemblemaria (A. balanorum, A. crock-eri and A. macrospilus) and A. castroi from the Galapagos Island are nearly uniformly composed of harpacticoid copepods and other small benthic-vagile or planktonic crustaceans. On occasion, large prey items such as crabs or other small fishes are taken. HORN'S index of niche overlap indicates that the three syntopic Acanthemblemaria are not separated along the food resource utilization axis. Slight variations in diets among the syntopic species seem to be related to differences in degree of microhabitat specialization.     

Feeding Ecology of three Populations of Blennius incognitus BATH 1968 (Pisces: Teleostei: Blenniidae) during the Reproduptive Period and under Human Influence

Abstract. Samples of Blennius incognitus from three differently polluted locations on the Istrian west coast (Adriatic Sea, Yugoslavia) were collected in early July during the spawning season. The gut content was analyzed employing the occurrence and point (relative volumetric) method. This fish grazes the surface of the rocky substratum. Inhabiting small benthic animals are ingested together with algae and detritus. The diet depends on the composition and condition of the covering phytal and its inhabiting fauna. A decrease of available animal food seems to intensify grazing on the substrate. A sexual dimorphism in the feeding habit during the reproductive period exists. Females feed more on animals; males feed more on substrate and in cases also on eggs of their own species.     

The role of sediments in the phosphorus cycle in Lake Lugano. II. Seasonal and spatial variability of microbiological processes at the sediment-water interface

P, Fe, Mn, and S species were analyzed in water samples from the sediment-water interface collected at four seasonally different times during the course of a year at two sampling sites in the southern basin of Lake Lugano (Lago di Lugano). The results reveal the strong influence of the biogeochemical processes in the sediment on the chemical composition of the lake water above. Consumption of oxygen and nitrate under oxic to microoxic conditions in the water column as well as sequential release of reduced manganese and iron under anoxic conditions was observed as a direct or indirect consequence of microbially mediated degradation of organic matter. The seasonal pattern observed for the release and the retainment of dissolved reduced iron and manganese correlates well with the one for dissolved phosphate. Iron, manganese and phosphorus cycling are coupled tightly in these sediments. Both sediment types act as sinks for hydrogen sulfide and sulfate. An inner-sedimentary sulfur cycle is proposed to couple iron, manganese and phosphorus cycling with the degradation of organic matter. Nutrient cycling at the sediment-water interface might thus be driven by a microbially regulated electron pumping mechanism. The results contribute to a better understanding of the role of sediment processes in the lake's internal phosphorus cycle and its seasonal dynamics.     

Unquenchable high-pressure perovskite polymorphs of MnSnO3 and FeTiO3

New high-pressure orthorhombic (GdFeO₃-type) perovskite polymorphs of MnSnO₃ and FeTiO₃ have been observed using in situ powder X-ray diffraction in a diamond-anvil cell with synchrotron radiation. The materials are produced by the compression of the lithium niobate polymorphs of MnSnO₃ and FeTiO₃ at room temperature. The lithium niobate to perovskite transition occurs reversibly at 7 GPa in MnSnO₃, with a volume change of -1.5%, and at 16 GPa in FeTiO₃, with a volume change of -2.8%. Both transitions show hysteresis at room temperature. For MnSnO₃ perovskite at 7.35 (8) GPa, the orthorhombic cell parameters are a=5.301 (2) A, b=5.445 (2) Å, c=7.690 (8) Å and V= 221.99 (15) ų. Volume compression data were collected between 7 and 20 GPa. The bulk modulus calculated from the compression data is 257 (18) GPa in this pressure region. For FeTiO₃ perovskite at 18.0 (5) GPa, cell parameters are a=5.022 (6) Å, b=5.169 (5) Å, c=7.239 (9) Å and V= 187.94 (36) ų. Based on published data on the quench phases, the FeTiO₃ perovskite breaks down to a rocksalt + baddelyite mixture of FeO and TiO₂ at 23 GPa. This is the first experimental verification of the pressure-induced breakdown of a perovskite to simple oxides.     

Late Pleistocene to Holocene record of changing uplift rates in southern Calabria and northeastern Sicily (southern Italy, Central Mediterranean Sea)

A combination of published and new radiometric dates on uplifted Holocene fossil beaches from northeastern Sicily and southern Calabria (southern Italy) is compared with the altitude of the inner margin of the Last Interglacial (LIg) (Late Pleistocene, 124 ka) and older marine terraces in order to gain a regional-scale outline of uplift rates and their temporal changes in a region which is one of the fastest uplifting sectors of the Central Mediterranean Sea. Late Holocene radiocarbon dates from Ioppolo (southern Calabria) and Ganzirri (northeast Sicily), two newly discovered sites are here presented for the first time. The Holocene uplift rates are highest at St. Alessio and Taormina in eastern Sicily (2.4 mm/y) and at Scilla in southwestern Calabria (2.1 mm/y), two sites located across the Messina Straits and which separate the island of Sicily from mainland Italy. Uplift rates decrease towards the south and north from this centre of uplift. Late Holocene uplift rates show an apparent increase of between 64 and 124% when compared with the longer-term uplift rates calculated from the LIg highstand terraces. Furthermore, we discovered that the locations of fastest Late Pleistocene and Late Holocene uplift rates spatially coincide. To what extent the Holocene increase in uplift rates results from incomplete elastic strain release along the major extensional faults which frame the seismotectonic of the area, or indicate a true change in regional tectonic processes, is not resolved. Nonetheless, the heterogeneity of uplift, with a well-defined centre that crosses the Messina Straits, and its persistence at different time-scales indicates a tight connection between wider regional processes and fault-related displacement in controlling crustal instability in this area.     

How sensitive are estimates of carbon fixation in agricultural models to input data?

Background

Accurate, high-resolution mapping of aboveground carbon density (ACD, Mg C ha^-1) could provide insight into human and environmental controls over ecosystem state and functioning, and could support conservation and climate policy development. However, mapping ACD has proven challenging, particularly in spatially complex regions harboring a mosaic of land use activities, or in remote montane areas that are difficult to access and poorly understood ecologically. Using a combination of field measurements, airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and satellite data, we present the first large-scale, high-resolution estimates of aboveground carbon stocks in Madagascar.

Results

We found that elevation and the fraction of photosynthetic vegetation (PV) cover, analyzed throughout forests of widely varying structure and condition, account for 27-67% of the spatial variation in ACD. This finding facilitated spatial extrapolation of LiDAR-based carbon estimates to a total of 2,372,680 ha using satellite data. Remote, humid sub-montane forests harbored the highest carbon densities, while ACD was suppressed in dry spiny forests and in montane humid ecosystems, as well as in most lowland areas with heightened human activity. Independent of human activity, aboveground carbon stocks were subject to strong physiographic controls expressed through variation in tropical forest canopy structure measured using airborne LiDAR.

Conclusions

High-resolution mapping of carbon stocks is possible in remote regions, with or without human activity, and thus carbon monitoring can be brought to highly endangered Malagasy forests as a climate-change mitigation and biological conservation strategy.     

Acceleration of Relativistic Protons During the 20 January 2005 Flare and CME

The origin of relativistic solar protons during large flare/CME events has not been uniquely identified so far. We perform a detailed comparative analysis of the time profiles of relativistic protons detected by the worldwide network of neutron monitors at Earth with electromagnetic signatures of particle acceleration in the solar corona during the large particle event of 20 January 2005. The intensity – time profile of the relativistic protons derived from the neutron monitor data indicates two successive peaks. We show that microwave, hard X-ray, and γ-ray emissions display several episodes of particle acceleration within the impulsive flare phase. The first relativistic protons detected at Earth are accelerated together with relativistic electrons and with protons that produce pion-decay γ rays during the second episode. The second peak in the relativistic proton profile at Earth is accompanied by new signatures of particle acceleration in the corona within ≈1R _⊙ above the photosphere, revealed by hard X-ray and microwave emissions of low intensity and by the renewed radio emission of electron beams and of a coronal shock wave. We discuss the observations in terms of different scenarios of particle acceleration in the corona.     

Internal structural geometry of the Paleozoic of Graz

The Paleozoic of Graz is an isolated nappe complex of about 1,500 km² size and belongs to the Austroalpine units of the eastern European Alps. Despite more than 500 publications on stratigraphy, paleontology and local structure, many aspects of the internal geometry of this complex as a whole remained unclear. In this contribution, we present integrated geological profiles through the entire nappe complex. Based on these profiles, we present (1) a simplified lithological subdivision into 13 rock associations, (2) a modified tectonostratigraphy where we consider only two major tectonic units: an upper and a lower nappe system and in which we abandon the traditionally used facies nappe concept, and (3) a modified paleogeography for the whole complex. Finally, we discuss whether the internal deformation of the Paleozoic of Graz is of Variscan or Eo-Alpine age and which of the published models best explain the tectonic evolution of the Paleozoic of Graz.     

Sea level and shoreline reconstructions for the Red Sea: isostatic and tectonic considerations and implications for hominin migration out of Africa

The history of sea level within the Red Sea basin impinges on several areas of research. For archaeology and prehistory, past sea levels of the southern sector define possible pathways of human dispersal out of Africa. For tectonics, the interglacial sea levels provide estimates of rates for vertical tectonics. For global sea level studies, the Red Sea sediments contain a significant record of changing water chemistry with implications on the mass exchange between oceans and ice sheets during glacial cycles. And, because of its geometry and location, the Red Sea provides a test laboratory for models of glacio-hydro-isostasy. The Red Sea margins contain incomplete records of sea level for the Late Holocene, for the Last Glacial Maximum, for the Last Interglacial and for earlier interglacials. These are usually interpreted in terms of tectonics and ocean volume changes but it is shown here that the glacio-hydro-isostatic process is an additional important component with characteristic spatial variability. Through an iterative analysis of the Holocene and interglacial evidence a separation of the tectonic, isostatic and eustatic contributions is possible and we present a predictive model for palaeo-shorelines and water depths for a time interval encompassing the period proposed for migrations of modern humans out of Africa. Principal conclusions include the following. (i) Late Holocene sea level signals evolve along the length of the Red Sea, with characteristic mid-Holocene highstands not developing in the central part. (ii) Last Interglacial sea level signals are also location dependent and, in the absence of tectonics, are not predicted to occur more than 1–2 m above present sea level. (iii) For both periods, Red Sea levels at ‘expected far-field’ elevations are not necessarily indicative of tectonic stability and the evidence points to a long-wavelength tectonic uplift component along both the African and Arabian northern and central sides of the Red Sea. (iv) The observational evidence is consistent with tectonic and isostatic processes both operating over the past 300,000 years without requiring changes in the time averaged (over a few thousand years) tectonic rates. (v) Recent bathymetric data for the Bab al Mandab region have been compiled to confirm the location and depth of the sill controlling flow in and out of the Red Sea. Throughout the last 400,000 years the Red Sea has remained open to the Gulf of Aden with cross sectional areas at times of glacial maxima about 2% of that today. (vi) The minimum channel widths connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden at times of lowstand occur south of the Hanish Sill. The channels are less than 4 km wide and remain narrow for as long as local sea levels are below ?50 m. This occurs for a number of sustained periods during the last two glacial cycles and earlier. (vii) Periods suitable for crossing between Africa and Arabia without requiring seaworthy boats or seafaring skills occurred periodically throughout the Pleistocene, particularly at times of favourable environmental climatic conditions that occurred during times of sea level lowstand.     

Expanded response-surfaces: a new method to reconstruct paleoclimates from fossil pollen assemblages that lack modern analogues

Pollen-based paleoclimatic interpretations of late-glacial to early Holocene climates (17–9 ka) in Midwestern North America are hampered by samples that lack modern analogues. Unresolved questions include the magnitude and direction of temperature seasonality (i.e. were these climates more or less seasonal than present) and the temporal changes in precipitation. Central to the no-analogue problem is the truncation of modern pollen-climate relationships for abundant late-glacial taxa such as Fraxinus. Here we present a new method called the expanded response-surface (ERS) method, developed to reconstruct climates from no-analogue pollen assemblages and applied to a high-resolution late-glacial pollen record from Crystal Lake, Illinois to test hypotheses about late-glacial climates. The key assumptions central to the ERS method are: (1) plant species and pollen abundances follow symmetrical unimodal distributions along climatic gradients, (2) taxa with truncated distributions in modern climate space occupy a subset of their fundamental niche, and (3) expansion of truncated distributions by mirroring around the distributional mode recovers the portion of the fundamental niche not realized in the modern climate space. With the ERS method, we expanded modern pollen-climate relationships by mirroring pollen abundances for each taxon around a mode defined with respect to four climate axes (mean winter temperature, mean summer temperature, mean winter precipitation, and mean summer precipitation). The ERS method reconstructed past temperatures and precipitation during the height of no-analogue conditions (14 160–12 370 cal yr BP) for 37% of the Crystal Lake samples where techniques that employed only modern observational data found matches for only 13% of the fossil samples. The total climate space of the expanded taxa set allowed analogue matches under more seasonal-than-present climates with higher-than-present precipitation. The ERS climate reconstructions for the height of no-analogue conditions indicated cooler-than-present summer and winter temperatures, similar-to-present seasonal range in temperatures, higher-than-present winter precipitation, and similar-to-present summer precipitation. These results thus suggest that high moisture availability helped drive the formation of the Midwestern no-analogue communities with high Fraxinus nigra abundances, but do not show higher-than-present temperature seasonality notwithstanding the higher-than-present insolation seasonality at this time. During the no-analogue late-glacial interval, Picea mariana, F. nigra, and Larix stands probably grew on low-lying, poorly drained soils in the Crystal Lake region; whereas Abies, Picea glauca, Quercus, and Ostrya/Carpinus grew on upland positions with better soil drainage.