On the (im-)possibilities of defining human climate thresholds

The aim of this study is to explore the way climate creates thresholds within society. Both human physiology and the human mind determine when and where climate can trigger and influence human activities. By presenting a stimulus-response model, deliberate weather- and climate- related decisions (e.g. migration, clothing) and physiological responses in daily life (e.g. sweating) are placed in a broader theoretical context. While physiological thresholds can be described quantitatively to a certain extent, subjective thresholds may be illustrated in a predominantly qualitative manner through surrogates (surveys on wants or needs). Examples from the literature on climate thresholds for humans highlight the complexity of the issue: People have different thresholds, as they do not necessarily respond to the same stimuli in the same way. At the same time, given the same stimulus, an individual may perceive it, and thus react, differently at different times in their life. In many cases, the threshold rather specifies a bandwidth or transition zone than a particular point. The level of acceptance and the cultural, technological and genetic aspects of adaptation will decide how climate may influence human well-being and contribute in setting limits to society, for example where to live, what impacts to expect, and when and what decisions to take. Knowledge of the complexity of human thresholds can be an important supplement to the analysis of peoples’ vulnerability to climate change. When populations are vulnerable and thresholds are exceeded, only then will there be a measurable response.     

Evaluation of stable iodine status of the areas affected by the Chernobyl accident in an epidemiological study in Belarus and the Russian Federation

Variation of the stable iodine supply was evaluated in the soils of around more than 700 settlements in the regions (oblasts) of Belarus and the Russian Federation contaminated after the Chernobyl accident. It involved the use of regional information on iodine content in different types of soil cover, biogeochemical criteria of iodine deficiency in food chains, and the available soil maps.     

Seawater intrusion and fresh groundwater hydraulics in fjord delta aquifers inferred from ground penetrating radar and resistivity profiles—Sunndalsøra and Esebotn, western Norway

Geophysical surveys have been carried out in two fjord delta aquifers in western Norway. Geophysical methods comprised ground penetrating radar (GPR), shallow reflection seismic and resistivity measurements. The purpose of the investigations was to evaluate hydrogeological properties of the fjord delta aquifers with emphasis on the possibilities of abstracting saline groundwater for use in fish farming. At Sunndalsøra, reflection seismic was helpful in the mapping of the base of the aquifer. Resistivity profiles revealed both the spatial and seasonal variability of seawater intrusion. Penetration depths of ground penetrating radar (GPR-D) revealed the spatial variation of the boundary of the transition zone between saline and fresh groundwater. Maps of GPR-D can be used to indicate direction and magnitude of mean hydraulic gradients and thus to locate optimal sites for both fresh and saline groundwater abstraction.In fjord delta aquifers, both rivers and abandoned river channels constitute important groundwater divides. Optimal locations for saline groundwater abstraction wells are in areas separated from the rivers by abandoned river channels. In areas between the rivers and the abandoned river channels, groundwater abstraction will result in decreasing salinity of the water.     

Endocrine disrupting compounds: can they target the immune system of fish?

Endocrine disruption, in particular disruption by estrogen-active compounds, has been identified as an important ecotoxicological hazard in the aquatic environment. Research on the impact of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) on wildlife has focused on disturbances of the reproductive system. However, there is increasing evidence that EDCs affect a variety of physiological systems other than the reproductive system. Here, we discuss if EDCs may be able to affect the immune system of fish, as this would have direct implications for individual fitness and population growth. Evidence suggesting an immunomodulatory role of estrogens in fish comes from the following findings: (a) estrogen receptors are expressed in piscine immune organs, (b) immune gene expression is modulated by estrogen exposure, and (c) pathogen susceptibility of fish increases under estrogen exposure.     

Determination of Rare Earth Elements, Y, Th, Zr, Hf, Nb and Ta in Geological Reference Materials G-2, G-3, SCo-1 and WGB-1 by Sodium Peroxide Sintering and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry

Data are reported for rare earth elements (REE), Y, Th, Zr, Hf, Nb and Ta in four geological reference materials using sodium peroxide (Na₂O₂) sintering and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The described procedure was used by students during their thesis work. A compilation of their reference material data acquired over one year of laboratory work demonstrates the ease and reliability of the method and the high reproducibility of the analytical results. Relative standard deviations of up to thirty six measurements of one reference material were lower than 5% for Y and the REE. Reproduciblities of Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta and Th were higher at between 5% and 10%, and can be attributed to the inhomogeneous distribution of zircon and other trace mineral phases and uncorrected drift effects. The concentration data are compared to reference and literature values and demonstrate that the procedure is also accurate. New data on G-3 show some systematic deviations from G-2, which are statistically significant.     

Combined object-based classification and manual interpretation–synergies for a quantitative assessment of parcels and biotopes

Recent technical advances in remote sensing data capture and spatial resolution lead to a widening gap between increasing data availability on the one hand and insufficient methodology for semi-automated image data processing and interpretation on the other hand. At the interface of GIS and remote sensing, object-based image analysis methodologies are one possible approach to close this gap. With this, methods from either side are integrated to use both the capabilities of information extraction from image data and the power to perform spatial analysis on derived polygon data. However, dealing with image objects from various sources and in different scales implies combining data with inconsistent boundaries. A landscape interpretation support tool (LIST) is introduced which seeks to investigate and quantify spatial relationships among image objects stemming from different sources by using the concept of spatial coincidence. Moreover, considering different categories of object fate, LIST enables a change categorization for each polygon of a time series of classifications. The application of LIST is illustrated by two case-studies, using Landsat TM and ETM as well as CIR aerial photographs: the first showing how the tool is used to perform object quantification and change analysis; the latter demonstrating how superior aggregation capabilities of the human brain can be combined with the fine spatial segmentation and classification. Possible fields of application are identified and limitations of the approach are discussed.     

Interindividual variability and ontogenetic effects on Mg and Sr incorporation in the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer

In order to investigate the interindividual and ontogenetic effects on Mg and Sr incorporation, magnesium/calcium (Mg/Ca) and strontium/calcium (Sr/Ca) ratios of cultured planktonic foraminifera have been determined. Specimens of Globigerinoides sacculifer were grown under controlled physical and chemical seawater conditions in the laboratory. By using this approach, we minimised the effect of potential environmental variability on Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios. Whereas temperature is the overriding control of Mg/Ca ratios, the interindividual variability observed in the Mg/Ca values contributes 2-3 °C to the apparent temperature variance. Interindividual variability in Sr/Ca ratios is much smaller than that observed in Mg/Ca values. The variability due to ontogeny corresponds to −0.43 mmol/mol of Mg/Ca ratio per chamber added. This translates into an apparent decrease of ∼1 °C in Mg/Ca-based temperature per ontogenetic (chamber) stage. No significant ontogenetic effect is observed on Sr incorporation. We conclude that the presence of a significant ontogenetic effect on Mg incorporation can potentially offset Mg/Ca-based temperature reconstructions. We propose two new empirical Mg/Ca-temperature equation based on Mg/Ca measurements of the last four ontogenetic (chamber) stages and whole foraminiferal test: Mg/Ca = (0.55(±0.03) − 0.0002(±4 × 10⁻⁵) MSD) e^0.089T and, Mg/Ca = (0.55(±0.03) − 0.0001(±2 × 10⁻⁵) MSD) e^0.089T, respectively, where MSD corresponds to the maximum shell diameter of the individual.     

Diet of fishes in a detritus-based sandy lowland brook

To assess the trophic relationships of consumers in a sandy lowland brook (Ladberger Mühlenbach, Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany) the fish as well as the benthic communities were sampled monthly over half a year. Analysis of stomach contents of the fishes revealed two different feeding types: detritivores (including only Cyprinidae; foremost roach, Rutilus rutilus and Prussian carp, Carassius auratus gibelio) and benthivores (mostly stone loach, Barbatula barbatula and three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus). The detritivores mainly foraged on detritus, but also benthic invertebrates were found in their stomachs. This latter prey (especially some Trichoptera and Coleoptera, which were selected with a high preference) is strongly associated to hard substrates, only present in the brook as coarse detritus. Benthivore fishes only foraged on benthic invertebrates, mostly Gammaridae and Chironomidae, which were the most dominant elements of the macrozoobenthos. Niche overlap between these two foraging groups was very low, while the within-group overlap was rather high. As food could not be shown to be a limiting factor, a direct competition for food between most of these species in this brook seems most unlikely.     

Regional-scale monitoring of cropland intensity and productivity with multi-source satellite image time series

In the context of growing populations and limited resources, the sustainable intensification of agricultural production is of great importance to achieve food security. As the need to support management at a range of spatial scales grows, decision-support tools appear increasingly important to enable the timely and regular assessment of agricultural production over large areas and identify priorities for improving crop production in low-productivity regions. Understanding productivity patterns requires the timely provision of gapless, spatial information about agricultural productivity. In this study, dense 30-m time series covering the 2004–2014 period were generated from Landsat and MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images over the irrigated cropped area of the Fergana Valley, Central Asia. A light-use efficiency model was combined with machine learning classifiers to assess the crop yield at the field level. The classification accuracy of land cover maps reached 91% on average. Crop yield and acreage estimates were in good agreement (R² = 0.812 and 0.871, respectively) with reported yields and acreages at the district level. Several indicators of cropland intensity and productivity were derived on a per-field basis and used to highlight homogeneous regions in terms of productivity by means of clustering. Results underlined that regions with lower water-use efficiency were not only located further away from irrigation canals and intake points, but also had limited access to markets and roads. The results underline that yield could be increased by roughly 1.0 and 1.4 t/ha for cotton and wheat, respectively, if the access to water would be optimized in some of the regions. The minimum calibration requirement of the method and the fusion of multi-sensor data are keys to cope with the constraints of operational crop monitoring and guarantee a sustained and timely delivery of the agricultural indicators to the user community. The results of this study can form the baseline to support regional land- and water-resource management.     

The Paleo Heat Flow Contents in Vitrinite Reflectance Observations

The heat flow content in vitrinite reflectance (VR) observations is studied based on a simple model of burial at a constant rate. The model is made dimensionless, and it has just one parameter except for the paleo heat flow. The question of existence and uniqueness of a solution is studied, and there exist in general no paleo heat flow that will reproduce a given VR-depth curve. But a solution is unique if it exists. A computed VR-depth function is shown to be smooth, even for piecewise constant heat flow histories. The paleo heat flow can be obtained from a VR-depth function after two times with derivations. It is also shown how the present day thermal gradient can be obtained by derivation of a VR-depth representation. The one-parameter model allows for approximate expressions for the optimal paleo heat flow as a step function. The results obtained from the one-parameter model is also compared with similar results from a real case study from the North Sea using a state-of-the-art basin simulator.