Artificial light at night: implications for early life stages development in four temperate freshwater fish species

Flora and fauna have both evolved under a natural cycle of light and dark. But especially in urban areas, the night is now increasingly disturbed by artificial light. Many traits and behaviours in fish are triggered by a circadian clock, for example hatching and swim bladder inflation, which predominantly take place at dusk or night. As lighting becomes brighter and extends farther into rural areas, the distinction between day and night becomes increasingly blurred. Therefore, the loss of diurnal trigger by artificial light at night was hypothesized having deleterious effects on these traits and impact fish reproduction. To assess these effects, eggs of four native freshwater fishes, Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis, roach Rutilus rutilus, bleak Alburnus alburnus and chub Leuciscus cephalus, were incubated under two different light conditions: a photoperiod of 14 h light:10 h darkness (LD) and continuous illumination (LL). The time to hatch and swim bladder inflation was recorded. The species showed inconsistent reactions to the light treatments. In roach and bleak, the time to 50% hatch was longer in LL, whereas continuous lighting had an accelerating effect in chub. Incubation in LL elongated the hatching period in perch and roach and, in perch, the onset of darkness seemed to trigger hatching. The swim bladder inflation was significantly promoted by continuous light in chub and bleak but was not affected in roach. In conclusion, nocturnal artificial illumination could have an effect on hatching and initial swim bladder filling by masking the day–night-change and thereby diminish the trigger effect. However, the reactions were species specific and the increase in variation indicated a lack of diurnal triggering, whilst a general deleterious effect of artificial light at night has not been identified on early life stages.     

Mantle(?) xenoliths in the carbonatites of northern Transbaikalia

The composition and nature of high-Cr minerals in lithic clasts from the carbonatites of the Veseloe occurrence, northern Transbaikalia, were considered. In order to determine their source, the Cr-bearing phases were compared with chromite, magnetite, and rutile from ultrabasic rocks, mantle xenoliths, and eclogites. It was suggested that the xenoclasts studied were formed at great depths, whereas the carbonatites were directly derived from the mantle rather than formed by the crustal differentiation of a silicate-carbonate melt.     

Stratigraphie und Fazies des Erzgebirgischen Kristallins im Rahmen des Mitteleuropäischen Varistikums

Zusammenfassung Es läßt sich zeigen, daß im erzgebirgischen Raum die jungalgonkische Serie des varistischen Sockels von der Petrofazies diskordant geschnitten wird. Im Bereich des erzgebirgischen Kristallins steigt die Amphibolitfazies beulenförmig bis an die Basis des varistischen Sedimenttroges auf. Mit diesem Aufstieg wird eine Granitbildung regionalen und lokalen Charakters als möglich in Verbindung gebracht.

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It can be demonstrated that the Upper Algonkian rocks of the Hercynian basement are disconformably cut by the petrofacies of the Erzgebirge. In the environment of crystallin rocks amphibolitic facies ascend to the bottom of the hercynian sedimentary trough. With this rise a granitisation of regional and locally restricted character might seem to be possible.

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Résumé On peut montrer que dans la région de l'Erzgebirge les couches de l'Algonkien supérieur du socle hercynien sont recoupées en discordance par le petrofacies. Dans le domaine du cristallin de l'Erzgebirge, le facies amphibolite a la forme d'un dûme atteignant la base de la fosse sédimentaire varisque. On croit pouvoir établir une relation entre la formation de granite à l'échelle régionale et locale et cette montée métamorphique.

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Herrn Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c.Erich Bederke zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet.     

Structural characteristics of zooplankton of the Shardarinskoe Reservoir and their use in water quality assessment

Data on the Shardarinskoe Reservoir are used to assess the indicator role of zooplankton community under unstable hydrological regime. The structural characteristics of zooplankton featured significant seasonal variations. The averaged indices characterized reservoir water quality at the level of mesotrophic and eutrophic water bodies. The possible use of cyclopidas to characterize toxic pollution of water is discussed.     

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley as a risk area

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley, granted the status of a World Heritage site, is well known for its unique inner narrow valley of Quaternary age with its historical legacy of numerous medieval castles and old towns. Less known is that this has always been a risk area of floods and gravitative mass movements. Up to the recent past, mainly ice floods caused enormous damage. The inhabitants of the valley were well aware that they lived in a risk area, but they had learned to handle the flood hazard. With the demise of ice floods over the last 40 years, due to climate change and because of the additional heating of the river water by power plants, the awareness of flood hazards has been much diminished, in contrast to that of potential damage by rockfalls and landslides which were also much feared in the past, though at the local level only. Still in the people’s memory is the Kaub catastrophe of March 10, 1876, when 28 persons were killed by a landslide. Nowadays, even minor rockfalls are a major threat, as they will affect the much-used traffic lines on both banks of the river, in particular the railroads. Therefore, since 2002, on behalf of German Rail (Deutsche Bahn, DB), all problematic slopes have been protected by costly steel-ring nets, although they are an aesthetic problem by UNESCO standards. The feeling of absolute safety created among the public is only subjective, though, as planners are well aware of. Moreover, the impact of modern climate change on slope stability is nearly unknown. Therefore, it is still necessary to develop a risk map for the narrow valley, with emphasis on gravitational hazards.     

Wolkenklassifikation auf Morphologischer Grundlage

Zusammenfassung Es wird eine Wolkensystematik vorgeschlagen auf Grund der Wolkenform, der struktur — Verband — des Wolkenhimmels und auf Grund der räumlichen Verteilung der Wolken. Jede an einer Einzelwolke selbständig auftretende Form wird als Hauptform bezeichnet und folgende Typen werden genannt: Schicht, Scheier, Faser, Welle, Linse, Balle, Flocke, Haufen (Cumulus) und Dorn. Andere, dem Verfasser bisher unbekannte Formen könnten dazugefügt werden. Zwischen den Hauptformen treten alle möglichen Uebergänge auf, die noch mit der nicht dominierenden Hauptform, Nebenform genannt, charakterisiert werden. Zusätzliche Formen-elemente, die aber nicht selbständig auftreten können, werden Spielformen genannt (Mammatus etc.).Auf die Bedeutung der Verbandsverhältnisse und der räumlichen Anordnung wurde in Beispielen hingewiesen. Die klare Unterscheidung zwischen Form, Verband und Anordnung gestattet, Wolkenbestimmungstabellen zu erstellen.

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Summary The author proposes a systematical cloud classification according to their form (shape), their association (structure) and their repartition on the sky. Every form of a single cloud which appears independent of other forms is called main form or main shape. The following forms can be distinguished: layer, wave, lens, veil, thred, bale, flake, cumulus, thorn. Other forms may be added if necessary. All possible combinations of forms are to be found inbetween the main forms, so that there will be a secondary form next to the mainform (e. g. wave-lens). Additional forms which exist only together with main or secondary forms are details (e. g. mammatus). Some examples given in this study show the importance of combination's assembly and their repartitition in space. A clear difference made between the form, association and repartition allows to establish a convenient way of determining the clouds.

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Résumé L'auteur propose une classification des nuages d'après leur forme, leur structure (assemblage) et aussi d'après leur répartition dans l'espace. L'allure d'un nuage indépendant donne sa forme principale définie comme suit: couche, voile, veine, vague, lentille, balle, flocon, cumulus et pointe. D'autres formes peuvent être ajoutées. Entre les formes principales se trouvent toutes les combinaisons possibles qui ne sont pas dominantes, elles sont nommées les formes secondaires. Des états supplémentaires qui ne sont pas indépendants, constituent le jeu des formes.

     

Linear mechanism of generation and intencification of internal gravity waves in the ionosphere at their interaction with a nonuniform zonal wind: 1. Model of the medium and initial dynamic equations

The specific features of the generation and intensification of internal gravity wave structures in different atmospheric-ionospheric regions, caused by zonal local nonuniform winds (shear flows), are studied. The model of the medium has been explained and an initial closed system of equations has been obtained in order to study the linear and nonlinear dynamics of internal gravity waves (IGWs) when they interact with the geomagnetic field in a dissipative ionosphere (for the D, E, and F regions).