Das Projekt "E 4.1: Quality and food safety issues in markets for high-value products in Thailand and Vietnam" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Agrar- und Sozialökonomie in den Tropen und Subtropen durchgeführt. The production and marketing of high-value agricultural commodities - such as fruits, vegetables, and livestock products - has been an important source of cash income for small-scale farmers in the northern mountainous regions of Thailand and Vietnam. However, against the background of recent free trade agreements and market liberalization, there is increasing national and international competition, partly leading to significant price decreases. Given structural disadvantages of farmers in northern Thailand and Vietnam, it will be very difficult for them to achieve and maintain a competitive position in markets for undifferentiated high-value products. Therefore, product differentiation - in terms of health attributes (e.g., low-pesticide residues, free from diseases and pathogens), taste (e.g., indigenous livestock breeds), time (e.g., off-season production), or processing characteristics (e.g., packaging, drying, canning) - could be a promising alternative. Quality and safety attributes play an increasing role in domestic and international food trade. The additional value generated could lead to sustainable income growth in the small farm sector, but this potential will only materialize when appropriate institutional mechanisms help reduce transaction costs and allow a fair distribution of benefits. This subproject seeks to analyze how the production and marketing of high-value agricultural products with quality and safety attributes can contribute to pro-poor development in northern Thailand and Vietnam. Quality and safety attributes can only generate value when they directly respond to consumer demand. Furthermore, since they are often credence attributes, the product identity has to be preserved from farm to fork. Therefore, the analysis will cover the whole supply chain, from agricultural production to final household consumption. Interview-based surveys of farmers, intermediate agents, and consumers will be carried out in Thailand, and to a limited extent also in Vietnam. The data will be analyzed econometrically with regard to the structure of high-value markets, trends and their determinants, and efficiency and equity implications of different institutional arrangements (e.g., contract agriculture, supermarket procurement). Since in northern Vietnam, the marketing of high-value products is a relatively recent activity, markets for more traditional crops will be analyzed as well, to better understand the linkages between different cash-earning activities in the semi-subsistent farm households. Apart from their direct policy relevance, the results will contribute to the broader research direction of the economics of high-value agricultural markets in developing countries. Moreover, they will generate useful information for other subprojects of the Uplands Program.
Das Projekt "AZV Project West Greenland" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Münster, Institut für Ökologie der Pflanzen durchgeführt. The AZV (Altitudinal Zonation of Vegetation) Project was initiated in the year 2002. On the basis of a detailed regional study in continental West Greenland the knowledge about altitudinal vegetation zonation in the Arctic is aimed to be enhanced. The main objectives of the project are: a) considering the regional study: characterize mountain vegetation with regard to flora, vegetation types, vegetation pattern and habitat conditions, investigate the differentiation of these vegetation characteristics along the altitudinal gradient, develop concepts about altitudinal indicator values of species and plant communities, extract suitable characteristics for the distinction and delimitation of vegetation belts, assess altitudinal borderlines of vegetation belts in the study area. b) considering generalizations: test the validity of the altitudinal zonation hypothesis of the Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map ( CAVM Team 2003), find important determinants of altitudinal vegetation zonation in the Arctic, develop a first small scale vegetation map of entire continental West Greenland. Field work consists of vegetational surveys according to the Braun-Blanquet approach, transect studies, soil analyses, long-time-measurements of temperature on the soil surface and vegetation mapping in three different altitudinal vegetation belts (up to 1070 m a.s.l.).
Das Projekt "The iron-snow regime in Fe-FeS cores: a numerical and experimental approach" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Roßendorf, Institut für Fluiddynamik durchgeführt. In the Earth, the dynamo action is strongly linked to core freezing. There is a solid inner core, the growth of which provides a buoyancy flux that drives the dynamo. The buoyancy in this case derives from a difference in composition between the solid inner core and the fluid outer core. In planetary bodies smaller than the Earth, however, this core differentiation process may differ - Fe may precipitate at the core-mantle boundary (CMB) rather than in the center and may fall as iron snow and initially remelt with greater depth. A chemical stable sedimentation zone develops that comprises with time the entire core - at that time a solid inner core starts to grow. The dynamics of this system is not well understood and also whether it can generate a magnetic field or not. The Jovian moon Ganymede, which shows a present-day magnetic dipole field, is a candidate for which such a scenario has been suggested. We plan to study this Fe-snow regime with both a numerical and experimental approach. In the numerical study, we use a 2D/3D thermo-chemical convection model that considers crystallization and sinking of iron crystals together with the dynamics of the liquid core phase (for the 3D case the influence of the rotation of the Fe snow process is further studied).The numerical calculations will be complemented by two series of experiments: (1) investigations in metal alloys by means of X-ray radioscopy, and (2) measurements in transparent analogues by optical techniques. The experiments will examine typical features of the iron snow regime. On the one hand they will serve as a tool to validate the numerical approach and on the other hand they will yield important insight into sub-processes of the iron snow regime, which cannot be accessed within the numerical approach due to their complexity.
Das Projekt "U-Th-Ra disequilibria in basalts from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge 6-11 S: Constraints on melting, mixing and time-scales of magmatic processes" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum Nordbayern, Lehrstuhl für Endogene Geodynamik durchgeführt. We propose to study the U, Th, and Ra isotopic compositions of zero-age MORB samples from the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge between 6 and 11 degree S. This part of the spreading axis shows large variations in axial depth, crustal thickness and samples melts with significant variations in major and trace element geochemistry as well as Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopic composition. The existing data indicates a complex interplay of variations in mantle sources, binary mixing and degree of magma differentiation during melt ascent. In the first year wie suggest to determine U, Th and Ra isotope compositions of fresh young samples along the axis and from young ( 200.000 years) near- axis seamounts to evalute the depth and extent of melting, the mantle composition, porosity and upwelling rate and the mixing processes along a propagating ridge segment. In the second year wie propose to investigate the timing of magma evolution and eruption processes on this spreading axis on the basis of U series isotope data and stratigraphic mapping and sampling of selected volcanic structures of the working area.
Das Projekt "Seasonal regulation of ion- and metabolite transport between poplar shoot tissues" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Institut für Biowissenschaften mit Botanischem Garten, Lehrstuhl für Botanik I Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie und Biophysik durchgeführt. We intend to investigate the molecular mechanisms of mineral nutrient dependent poplar physiology with special focus on potassium. This will be accomplished using two different approaches. 1. Molecular biology: We will study the regulation of ion channels and transporters by different environmental conditions, such as the effect of nutrition, salt, hormonal action, cold and drought during wood production and the dormancy-growth transitions. Phenotype analysis of transporter sense/antisense plants will be used to gain insights into the role of the transporters in tree physiology. On the basis of a laser-micro-dissection system, we will be able to prepare cDNA of distinct cell types and generate subtractive cDNAs to determine genes, specific for the differentiation of vessels and bast fibers. 2. Electrophysiological investigations: We will compare the functional properties of the transporters. Ion-fluxes and transporters, involved in cambial activation will be characterized in vivo and in vitro. The response to changes in e.g. the extracellular medium in vitro, will provide a measure for the regulation of ion transport by apoplastic factors in vivo. Based on this data sets we should be able to establish a model on the seasonal fluxes of potassium in relation to the transporter properties and dynamics in the context of tree physiology in general and xylogenesis in particular.
Das Projekt "Nachhaltige Entwicklung der Waldlandschaft Solling - Teilvorhaben: FO-1.1.2: Verjuengungsmodell für die Baumart Fichte" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Göttingen, Forschungszentrum Waldökosysteme durchgeführt. Bei der Walderneuerung sprechen oft oekologische und oekonomische Gruende fuer eine Bevorzugung der natuerlichen Verjuengung. Entscheidungshilfen zur Steuerung der natuerlichen Verjuengung der Fichte koennen wesentlich dazu beitragen, beim Umbau der heutigen Waldbestaende im Solling zielkonforme Fichten-Naturverjuengungen erst gar nicht ankommen zu lassen. Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojektes sollen auf Versuchsflaechen und in Weiserbestaenden die Zusammenhaenge zwischen Ankommen, Entwicklung und Selbstdifferenzierung von Fichten-Naturverjuengungen und den jeweiligen Licht- und Standortverhaeltnissen, Oberbodenzustaenden und Bestandesstrukturen untersucht werden. Mit diesen Informationen und Angaben aus der Literatur soll anschliessend ein Verjuengungsmodell mit den drei Teilmodellen Etablierung, Wachstum und Differenzierung erarbeitet werden.
Das Projekt "Characterization of salt tolerance in poplar" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Göttingen, Büsgen-Institut, Abteilung Forstbotanik und Baumphysiologie durchgeführt. In the genus Populus, P. euphratica is outstanding with respect to its salt tolerance but also for its slow growth. Salt stress leads to anatomical changes in wood structure. Since the degree of salt tolerance is furthermore age-dependent, this model offers the possibility to study age-related functions as well as structural adaptation to stress. The goal of this proposal is to characterize the salt tolerant tree Populus euphratica in comparison with the salt sensitive Populus x canescens. Since we found that salt treatment also affected the differentiation of roots and triggered production of H2O2, our working hypothesis is that salinity induces changes in differentiation via disturbance of the cellular redox state and/or effects on ion homeostasis. We plan to analyze H2O2 production in relation to salt-induced changes in stem anatomy. Transcriptional profiling of salinity-induced genes of the cambium in relation to oxidant formation and developmental changes in poplar will be performed. In the context of salt tolerance ion homeostasis is important. We have cloned two cDNAs coding for different putative Na+/H+ antiporters from P. euphratica. These antiporters will be characterized at the gene and protein level and their expression will be compared with changes in the subcellular localisation and concentration of Na+/K+ in the cambium under salt stress in relation to tree age.
Das Projekt "Untersuchungen ueber die genetische Variation der Stieleiche (Quercus robur L.) und der Traubeneiche (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität München, Lehrbereich Forstgenetik durchgeführt. Ziel des Vorhabens ist die genetische Charakterisierung bayerischer Eichenbestaende (Schwerpunkt Stieleiche). Mit Hilfe von Isoenzym-Genmarkern werden Multilocus-Genotypen von Einzelbaeumen identifiziert. Der Stichprobenumfang betraegt 100 Baeume/Versuchsbestand. Das Projekt konzentriert sich auf Samenerntebestaende, weil deren genetische Variabilitaet das Anpassungspotential kuenftiger Waldbaumgenerationen bestimmt. Ziel der genetischen Inventuren ist die Quanitfizierung genetischer Variation innerhalb und zwischen Eichenbestaenden. Diese Inventuren sind die Voraussetzung fuer Massnahmen zur Vermeidung von Genverlusten und Inzuchtbelastungen sowie zur Erhaltung genetischer Ressourcen. Genetische Merkmale sind wichtige Kriterien fuer die Zulassung von Erntebestaenden, fuer die Beurteilung der genetischen Qualitaet von Vermehrungsgut sowie der Anpassungsfaehigkeit von Bestaenden an sehr variable Umweltbedingungen. Genetische Inventuren koennen auch zur Unterscheidung der einheimischen Eichenarten beitragen.
Das Projekt "Das Verhalten von Platingruppenelementen während oberkrustaler in situ - Fraktionierung in Magmen der Ferrar Plateaubasaltprovinz, Antarktis" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Geowissenschaften durchgeführt. The PGE-patterns of shallow intrusive rocks of the Ferrar Large Igneous Province studied within our previous project are fractionated with respect to primitive mantle, R and Pd being strongly enriched over Ir and Ru (IPGE), correlating with the degree of magma differentiation. While the compatible IPGE are uniformly depleted like Ni and the chalcophile element Cu is uniformly enriched with further differentiation, R and Pd either exhibit enrichment or depletion. The coupled enrichment trend with Cu is unknown from any other volcanic field in MORB-, ocean island- or flood basalt environments. Based on the existing data set on rock chemistry and petrography we are unable to deduce physicochemical differences that may explain the compatible or incompatible behaviour of Pt and Pd during differentiation. Within the project applied here for, we will test the model that internal physicochemical variations in shallow upper crustal magma bodys during in situ - differentiation are responsible for the observed fractionation patterns. Aside from whole-rock analyses we will identify the PGE-bearing mineral phases. These studies will be performed exclusively on already taken samples from sills and the Dufek Intrusion provided by Prof. Woerner, Goettingen, and Prof. Mukasa, Univ. of Michigan, USA and taken by the applicant during the expedition GANOVEX IX in 2005/06. The project is intended to be the initiation of detailed investigations on the PGE internal stratigraphy in the Dufek Intrusion within the framework of two IPY-projects (MESCHEDE et al. 2004, MUKASA 2004
Das Projekt "Petrogenese der Magmatite der Ferrar Large Igneous Province (FLIP)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Geowissenschaften durchgeführt. Für Magmatite der jurassischen Ferrar Large Igneous Province (FLIP) wird der subkontinentale lithosphärische Mantel als Quelle angenommen, dem während des Phanerozoikums eine isotopenchemisch sediment-ähnliche Komponente beigemischt wurde. Unter Einbeziehung der Platingruppenelemente und ausgewählter Isotopenverhältnisse sollen an neu entnommenen Proben aus Nord Viktoria Land, Antarctica, (1) der Einfluß differenter lithosphärischer Mantelprovinzen auf die Magmenchemie und (2) Mantel Plume-Anteile in den Magmen identifiziert werden. Ergänzend sollen (3) die Differentiation-Bedingungen der erstmals in NVL auch intrusiv nachgewiesenen Gruppen der sog. 'high-Ti'-Magmen ermittelt werden. Zu diesem Zweck wurde während der deutsch-italienischen Expedition GANOVEX VIII unter Einbeziehung zahlreicher Neufunde sowie der Erstbeprobung bekannter Aufschlüsse von Magmatiten der FLIP ein Transekt aus dem Ostantarktischen Kontinent (hier Wilson Terrane) in das cambro-ordovizische vulkano-sedimentäre Bowers Terrane gelegt, das von der Proterozoischen Lithosphäre des Robertson Bay Akkretions-Terranes unterlagert wird.
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