Concurrent imaging of chlorophyll fluorescence,Chlorophyll a content and green fluorescent proteins‐like proteins of symbiotic cnidarians

Research on photosynthetic cnidarians has been mainly focused on the symbiosis established between the cnidarian host and its dinoflagellates endosymbionts from genus Symbiodinium. Despite the potential of imaging techniques for assessing the spatial distribution of key parameters of cnidarian photobiology, such as photochemical activity, chlorophyll a content or green fluorescent proteins (GFPs), to our best knowledge, no study has ever attempted to simultaneous map these three features. In this study, we developed a modified imaging pulse amplitude fluorometer by applying excitation light of different wavelengths and selectively detecting short spectral bands through bandpass filters. The imaging system was used to sequentially excite and quantify chlorophyll variable fluorescence (maximum quantum yield of photosystem II, F_v/F_m), Chl a content (normalized difference vegetation index) and relative content of GFPs. The spatial distribution of these photophysiological parameters was mapped both horizontally, across the surface of the soft corals Sarcophyton cf. glaucum and Sinularia flexibilis and the zoanthid Protopalythoa sp., and vertically, throughout a vertical section of S. cf. glaucum. Results showed bleached areas within each individual coral colony and registered photophysiological changes with S. cf. glaucum tissue depth. Analysis of Protopalythoa sp. polyps’ expansion revealed differential surface patterns of NDVI and GFP concentration, and a negative relation between these latter parameters within each polyp. This novel non‐invasive approach allowed a high‐resolution characterization of the spatial relationship between these key parameters through the analysis of image information on a pixel‐by‐pixel basis, which has great potential for investigating the physiological state of symbiotic associations.     

Bounce Rock—A shergottite‐like basalt encountered at Meridiani Planum,Mars

Abstract– The Opportunity rover of the Mars Exploration Rover mission encountered an isolated rock fragment with textural, mineralogical, and chemical properties similar to basaltic shergottites. This finding was confirmed by all rover instruments, and a comprehensive study of these results is reported here. Spectra from the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and the Panoramic Camera reveal a pyroxene‐rich mineralogy, which is also evident in Mössbauer spectra and in normative mineralogy derived from bulk chemistry measured by the alpha particle X‐ray spectrometer. The correspondence of Bounce Rock’s chemical composition with the composition of certain basaltic shergottites, especially Elephant Moraine (EET) 79001 lithology B and Queen Alexandra Range (QUE) 94201, is very close, with only Cl, Fe, and Ti exhibiting deviations. Chemical analyses further demonstrate characteristics typical of Mars such as the Fe/Mn ratio and P concentrations. Possible shock features support the idea that Bounce Rock was ejected from an impact crater, most likely in the Meridiani Planum region. Bopolu crater, 19.3 km in diameter, located 75 km to the southwest could be the source crater. To date, no other rocks of this composition have been encountered by any of the rovers on Mars. The finding of Bounce Rock by the Opportunity rover provides further direct evidence for an origin of basaltic shergottite meteorites from Mars.     

Chemostratigraphy of the Tamengo Formation (Corumbá Group,Brazil): A contribution to the calibration of the Ediacaran carbon-isotope curve

The Corumbá Group, cropping out in the southern Paraguay Belt in Brazil, is one of the most complete Ediacaran sedimentary archives of palaeogeographic, climatic, biogeochemical and biotic evolution in southwestern Gondwana. The unit hosts a rich fossil record, including acritarchs, vendotaenids (Vendotaenia, Eoholynia), soft-bodied metazoans (Corumbella) and skeletal fossils (Cloudina, Titanotheca). The Tamengo Formation, made up mainly of limestones and marls, provides a rich bio- and chemostratigraphic record. Several outcrops, formerly assigned to the Cuiabá Group, are here included in the Tamengo Formation on the basis of lithological and chemostratigraphical criteria. High-resolution carbon isotopic analyses are reported for the Tamengo Formation, showing (from base to top): (1) a positive δ¹³C excursion to +4‰ PDB above post-glacial negative values, (2) a negative excursion to −3.5‰ associated with a marked regression and subsequent transgression, (3) a positive excursion to +5.5‰, and (4) a plateau characterized by δ¹³C around +3‰. A U-Pb SHRIMP zircon age of an ash bed interbedded in the upper part of the δ¹³C positive plateau yielded 543 ± 3 Ma, which is considered as the depositional age ( Babinski et al., 2008a). The positive plateau in the upper Tamengo Formation and the preceding positive excursion are ubiquitous features in several successions worldwide, including the Nama Group (Namibia), the Dengying Formation (South China) and the Nafun and Ara groups (Oman). This plateau is constrained between 542 and 551 Ma, thus consistent with the age of the upper Tamengo Formation. The negative excursion of the lower Tamengo Formation may be correlated to the Shuram–Wonoka negative anomaly, although δ¹³C values do not fall beyond −3.5‰ in the Brazilian sections. Sedimentary breccias occur just beneath this negative excursion in the lower Tamengo Formation. One possible interpretation of the origin of these breccias is a glacioeustatic sea-level fall, but a tectonic interpretation cannot be completely ruled out.     

Mobility of potentially harmful metals in latosols impacted by the municipal solid waste deposit of Londrina,Brazil

The contamination of soils by metals issuing from municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal in tropical environments has hardly been studied with regard to the particular problems associated with them, i.e., generally a high permeability of soils despite the abundance of clay, and the role of reactive Fe compounds. From a previous geotechnical and chemical survey, three latosol profiles differently affected by MSW leachates in the region of Londrina (Paraná, Brazil) were selected. The aims were to evaluate the extent of their contamination, to better understand the fate of potentially harmful metals in tropical soils and rank the determining factors. Samples between 0.5 and 7 m depth were analyzed for their physical, mineralogical and chemical properties, and their micro-morphology was described by optical and transmission electron microscopy. Two steps of a sequential extraction procedure helped to assess the mobility of elements and to better discriminate between metals originating from pedogenesis and issued from MSW. These combined approaches showed that exposed soil profiles have been impacted at various depths, down to 7 m, through increased metal content, especially enhanced mobility of Zn, Co, Mn, Cu and Fe, and through increased salinity and organic matter. The mobility of potentially harmful metals should decrease with pH, which significantly increased in some impacted horizons, but other factors can reverse this trend.     

Phytoplankton Interannual Variability at Cassino Beach, Southern Brazil (1992–2007), with Emphasis on the Surf Zone Diatom Asterionellopsis glacialis

A long-term study (monthly sampling, 1992 to 2007) was conducted in the surf zone of Cassino Beach, Southern Brazil, in order to detect possible natural and/or anthropogenic disturbances. Surface water temperature (6–29°C) was the only parameter with predictable seasonal variation; salinity (14–38) was inversely related to rainfall (3.1–485.2 mm month⁻¹) and low values followed extreme precipitation periods in 1997/1998 and 2002/2003 (El Ni?o years). Asterionellopsis glacialis and chlorophyll a presented high concentrations and peak frequency until 1998, when an intense mud deposition occurred with concomitant extreme rainfall. It affected the surf zone and beach, changing the hydrology and dissolved inorganic nutrient availability. Six phytoplankton species groups were recognized with distinct responses to this mud deposition. We conclude that large-scale climatic changes, like El Ni?o Southern Oscillation, in conjunction with human activities significantly altered the phytoplankton ecology of the highly dynamic Cassino Beach surf zone.     

Petrogenesis of a voluminous Quaternary adakitic volcano: the case of Baru volcano

The origin of adakite magmas remains controversial because initially the term adakite had petrogenetic significance implying an origin by direct melting of the eclogitized subducting oceanic crust. Many models have been produced for their origin, and until now there has not been a straightforward method to discriminate between these models in a given adakite suite. Here, we use detailed chronological and geochemical studies of selected adakitic edifices that allows for the determination of the magmatic output rate parameter (Qe), which has been correlated with the rates of magma generation deep within subduction zones. By providing temporal and eruption rate estimates, we provide constraints on the possible petrogenetic processes involved in the generation of adakite-like signatures. Adakite magmas derived from the melting of the subducting slab should be volumetrically insignificant when compared to the adakite-like magmas produced by typical arc magma generation processes. In this study, we use this observation and the extraordinary stratigraphic exposure from Miocene to present in an adakitic volcano in Panama and to study the temporal and chemical variation in erupted magmas to estimate rates of magma generation. Detailed chemical and geochronological analyses of Baru volcano indicate that the volcanic edifice was constructed in its entirety during the Quaternary and magmas display adakite-like features such as steep rare earth elements patterns, pronounced depletions in the heavy rare earth elements, low Y, high Sr, and high Sr/Y. The magmatic output rates (Qe) that we have calculated show that compared to other typical adakitic volcanoes, most of the volcanic edifice of Baru volcano was constructed extremely rapidly (<~213 k.a.) and in time frames that are similar to typical arc volcanoes. The observed chemical and mineralogical variation, coupled with the high magma production rates, indicate that Baru volcano is more representative of a typical arc volcano than a small-volume melt of the subducting oceanic crust. The technique we outline may have broader application in determining the petrogenetic conditions of other adakite suites.     

Two paleoecological histories spanning the period of human settlement in southeastern Brazil

The absence of human occupation sites in southeastern Brazil during the mid Holocene has been referred to as the 'Archaic Gap' (8970–1940 cal. a BP) and is predicted to have resulted from increased aridity. A ca. 14 000 cal. a pollen history from two well‐dated lake sediment cores located within the archeological district of Lagoa Santa, in the State of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, was used to test this hypothesis. Our analyses indicated that the present cerrado and tropical semi‐deciduous forest mosaic persisted throughout the mid Holocene, until ca. 5500 cal. a BP, and the Lagoa Santa region did not experience especially dry conditions during the Holocene period. The early Holocene pollen spectra contained an assemblage of cold‐adapted taxa such as Podocarpus, Myrsine and Araucaria, co‐occurring with taxa from cerrado, e.g. Caryocar. A replacement of cold taxa by the modern cerrado–semi‐deciduous forest vegetation took place progressively, but appears to have been completed by the mid Holocene. No evidence of sustained drought was found in sedimentation or forest composition, nor any prolonged dry event in the study region. Holocene dryness as an explanation for the abandonment of Lagoa Santa region is not supported by the palynological analyses conducted in this study. Rather it is suggested that unpredictable climate may have underlain that abandonment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary in southern low-latitude regions: preliminary study in Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil

A preliminary integrated study of a Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) boundary section in Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil, provides evidence for an extraterrestrial bolide impact in the earliest Danian. A non-graded, nodular carbonate mudstone/wackestone bed is interpreted as a slump or a mud Flow deposit, induced by a tsunami event or by a gravity mass movement during a sea-level lowstand, the former possibly generated by the K/T boundary Yucatán impact. This bed overlies marlstones deposited in an upper bathyal environment and marks the top of the Cretaceous. Nearly all known latest Maastrichtian planktonic foraminifera are recovered from the Cretaceous strata. Iridium shows a marked peak in a thin hemipelagic claystone layer, about 75 cm above the K/T boundary, deposited in a middle to deep neritic environment. The claystone overlies alternating beds of finegrained limestones and marlstones and a 50 cm-thick graded bioclastic packstone, which rests upon a marly limestone breccia of the lowermost Danian. Abundant reworked Cretaceous and rare lowermost Danian microfossils (e.g. E. edita, E. eobulloides, E. fringa, G. irregularis, P. eugubina, P. cf. pseudobulloides, W. claytonensis and W. hornerstownensis ) have been recovered from these strata. These lowermost Danian beds record the sudden appearance of abundant shock-metamorphosed quartz grains, with several sets of intersecting deformation lamellae and microtektite-like microspherules. This suggests that these deposits were formed by an additional tsunami caused by a second impact event in the earliest Danian, near or at the boundary between the Palaeocene P α and P 1a foraminiferal zones. Impact-derived material has not been found in the uppermost Cretaceous beds.     

The droughts of 1997 and 2005 in Amazonia: floodplain hydrology and its potential ecological and human impacts

It is well known that most of the severe droughts in Amazonia, such as that of 1997, are El Niño-related. However, in 2005, the Amazon was affected by a severe drought that was not El Niño-related, as most of the rainfall anomalies that have happened in southwestern Amazonia are driven by sea surface temperature anomalies in the tropical North Atlantic. Earlier studies have analyzed both droughts in terms of their meteorological causes and impacts in terra firme (non-flooded) forests. This study compares the hydrological effects of both droughts on the Amazonian floodplain and discusses their potential ecological and human impacts based on an extensive literature review. The results revealed that the effects of the 2005 drought were exacerbated because rainfall was lower and evaporation rates were higher at the peak of the dry season compared to the 1997 drought. This induced a more acute depletion of water levels in floodplain lakes and was most likely associated with higher fish mortality rates. Based on the fact that the stem growth of many floodplain species is related to the length of the non-flooded period, it is hypothesized that the 1997 drought had more positive effects on floodplain forest growth than the 2005 drought. The fishing community of Silves in central Amazonia considered both droughts to have been equally severe. However, the 2005 drought was widely broadcasted by the press; therefore, the governmental mitigation efforts were more comprehensive. It is suggested that the availability of new communication technology and greater public awareness regarding environmental issues, combined with the new legal framework for assessing the severity of calamities in Brazil, are among the primary factors that explain the difference in societal response between the two droughts.