Das Projekt "Sub project: The impact of climate variability on recruitment, life history, and physiology of sympatric pairs of ciscoes (Teleostei: Coregonus spp.) in lakes" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Forschungsverbund Berlin, Leibniz-Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei durchgeführt. Recently, it has been speculated that global warming trends may favor year-class strengths of spring-spawning in opposition to autumn-spawning fish species. The mechanisms behind were assumed to be a differential timing of the hatching of fish and the spring peak of the zooplankton as food for the small fish, and a variable recruitment due to temperature-sensitive adaptations of the life cycle. Here, we compare the timing of hatch and early recruitment of a sympatric pair species of ciscoes in a deep lake whereby one species spawns in autumn, and the other in spring. In this postglacial lake, speciation and divergence have occurred during the last 10,000 years. The ecological, behavioural and physiological differences between both species (except for the spawning time) are assumed to be low. By following the growth, feeding, distribution and physiological performance of the early life stages of both species, we want to test whether the spring-spawning species is indeed better adapted to the anticipated earlier ice break and higher spring water temperatures due to global warming. Furthermore, the predation risk against piscivorous fish is estimated for both species by inspecting the stomach content of littoral predatory fish. In the future, the physiological adaptation of both species and potential hybrids to cold and warm temperatures shall be analysed in addition.
Das Projekt "Establishment and exploration of a gas ion source for micro-scale radiocarbon dating of glaciers and groundwater" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Heidelberg, Institut für Umweltphysik durchgeführt. Recent progress in the operation of CO2 gas ion sources for accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) 14C analysis on microgram-size samples opens a wide range of new applications in dating studies, e.g. for environmental and archeological applications. This proposal aims at implementing a gas ion source at the AMS system MICADAS at the Klaus-Tschira Laboratory of the Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum für Archäometrie (CEZA) in Mannheim and to use this new capability for cutting-edge applications in environmental studies, namely the dating of small amounts of organic carbon contained in glacier ice and of specific organic compounds in ground water. Cold glaciers hold unique records on past climate and atmospheric composition. Mid-latitude ice cores furthermore enable reconstructions of recent ice chemistry changes, but cannot be dated by stratigraphic methods. For such ice bodies, only radiometric dating based on 14C analysis of organic matter contained in the ice matrix presently offers a reasonable dating potential in the late Holocene and beyond. The challenge of this approach lies in the very restricted availability of this matter, but the ability to analyse microgram samples of organic carbon from ice via a gas ion source should now enable reliable 14C dating of ice. Ground water constitutes an important water resource worldwide, especially in semi-arid regions, and in addition constitutes a useful climate archive. Dating of ground water by 14C in the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) is standard but problematic due to the complex carbonate geochemistry. Dating of ground water based on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) has been attempted with mixed success, but now the new analytical developments enable compound-specific 14C analyses of the various DOC components, offering the chance to identify compounds suitable for dating. This project is based on the extensive experience of the collaborating scientists in 14C analytics and applications as well as in the use of glacier ice and ground water as archives, including the development and application of 14C dating methods for these systems. It will establish 14C-measurements at the MICADAS AMS of the CEZA via a gas ion source on a routine base to analyse CO2-samples in the range of 5 to 40 microgram C at a precision down to 0,5 Prozent. By improving existing sample preparation techniques for glacier ice samples, reliable 14C values of the particulate and dissolved organic fractions from small (some 100 g) ice samples shall be obtained. This capability will be applied to constrain ages of cold, sedimentary glaciers as well as of small scale, cold Alpine congelation ice bodies. The project will further develop and test the tools required for micro-scale, compound-specific radiocarbon dating of ground water via its organic fraction. For this purpose, ground water samples from the Upper Rhine Graben area will be analysed, where extensive isotopic data, including DIC 14C values, are available for comparison.
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 "Carbon, water and nutrient dynamics in vascular plant- vs. Sphagnum-dominated bog ecosystems in southern Patagonia" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Münster, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Fachbereich 14 - Geowissenschaften durchgeführt. In bog ecosystems, vegetation controls key processes such as the retention of carbon, water and nutrients. In northern hemispherical bogs, a shift from Sphagnum- to vascular plant-dominated vegetation is often traced back to Climate Change and increased anthropogenic nitrogen deposition and coincides with substantially reduced capacities in carbon, water and nutrient retention. In southern Patagonia, bogs dominated by Sphagnum and vascular plants coexist since millennia under similar environmental settings. Thus, South Patagonian bogs may serve as ideal examples for the long-term effect of vascular plant invasion on carbon, water and nutrient balances of bog ecosystems. The contemporary balances of carbon and water of both a bog dominated by Sphagnum and vascular plants are determined by CO2- H2O and CH4 flux measurements and an estimation of lateral water losses as well as losses via dissolved organic and inorganic carbon compounds. The high time resolution of simultaneous eddy covariance measurements of CO2 and H2O in both bog types and the strong interaction between climatic variables and the physiology of bog plants allow for direct comparisons of carbon and water fluxes during cold, warm, dry, wet, cloudy or sunny periods. By the combination with leaf-scale measurements of gas exchange and fluorescence, plant-physiological controls of photosynthesis and transpiration can be identified. Long-term peat accumulation rates will be determined by carbon density and age-depth profiles including a characterization of peat humification characteristics. A reciprocal transplantation experiment with incorporated shading, liming and labeled N addition treatments is conducted to explore driving factors affecting competition between Sphagnum and vascular plants as well as the interactions between CO2-, CH4-, and water fluxes and decisive plant functional traits affecting key processes for carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling. Decomposition rates and driving below ground processes are analyzed with a litter bag field experiment and an incubation experiment in the laboratory.
Das Projekt "Einbindung des Wärme- und Kältesektors in das Strommarktmodell PowerFlex zur Analyse sektorübergreifender Effekte auf Klimaschutzziele und EE-Integration" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Öko-Institut. Institut für angewandte Ökologie e.V. durchgeführt. Die Modellerweiterung betrifft sowohl die Bilanzierungsgrenzen als auch die Detaillierungstiefe. Mit der Modellerweiterung einhergehend soll explizit auch die Datengrundlage, insbesondere für Kälteanwendungen und Einspeisezeitreihen für fluktuierende erneuerbare Energien, verbessert werden. Die Datengrundlage zur Gebäudeklimatisierung wird durch eine empirische Erhebung und sozialwissenschaftliche Auswertung aktualisiert. In einer auf die Kopplung des Strom-, Wärme- und Kältesektors zugeschnittenen Szenarienanalyse werden die sektorübergreifenden Effekte, wie z.B. Brennstoffmix, CO2-Emissionen und EE-Anteile in den verschiedenen Sektoren, berechnet. Basierend auf diesen quantitativen Ergebnissen und einer vorangegangenen Analyse der Rahmenbedingungen werden Handlungsempfehlungen für die Weiterentwicklung von Rahmenbedingungen für sektorübergreifende Flexibilität, der marktorientierten EE-Integration sowie die Entwicklung im Bereich der Infrastruktur für Wärme- und Kälteanwendungen hinsichtlich Klimaschutz und EE-Integration abgeleitet. Das Projekt gliedert sich in 4 inhaltliche Arbeitspakete (AP), wobei jedes Arbeitspaket aus mehreren Arbeitsschritten (AS) besteht. Während die Arbeitspakete 1 bis 3 den Wärmesektor (AP 1), den Sektor Klimatisierung (AP 2) sowie die Ableitung von Windstrom- und PV-Zeitreihen (AP 3) zum Inhalt haben, wird in AP 4 das bestehende Strommarktmodell PowerFlex zu einem sektorübergreifenden Strommarktmodell PowerFlex-Heat&Cold weiterentwickelt und im Rahmen einer Szenarienanalyse angewendet. AP 1 und AP 2 schaffen dabei die methodische und datentechnische Grundlage für die gekoppelte Modellierung des Strom-Wärme-Kälte-Sektors und liefern einen zentralen Dateninput für die Szenarienanalyse in AP 4. Die in AP 3 abgeleiteten Wind- und PV-Zeitreihen spiegeln aufgrund der Fluktuation des dargebotsabhängigen Stromangebots näherungsweise auch den Bedarf an Flexibilität wider. Die Arbeiten für Projektleitung und Koordination sind AP 5 zugeordnet.
Das Projekt "Unraveling a mechanism for floral transition control in annual, biennial, and perennial Beta species" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Pflanzenbau und Pflanzenzüchtung, Lehrstuhl Pflanzenzüchtung durchgeführt. The species Beta vulgaris includes annual, biennial, and perennial accessions. Annual beets germinate, bolt, and flower within one season. Biennial beets such as sugar beets need prolonged exposure to cold temperatures to acquire floral competence. After seed production, annual and biennial beets senesce and die. By contrast, perennial beets live several years and repeat flower onset each year or bolt earliest in the third season. We hypothesize that there is at least one common flowering time gene which is responsible for bolting induction in annual, biennial, and perennial beets and that the different regulation of this gene (these genes) distinguishes between annual and perennial growth. Allelic variants of this gene (genes) may also be responsible for bolting failure in non-bolting Beta plants. Using genome-wide transcriptome and quantitative real-time PCR analyses, we will identify floral transition genes that induce bolting and floral competence in beets with different phenology. In order to detect loci that are responsible for perennial growth, a QTL analysis will be performed using Beta populations segregating for annual and iteroparous perennial growth. Subsequently, candidate genes determined by the transcriptome analysis will be mapped and tested for co-localization with detected QTLs to identify the common bolting inducing gene as well as genes responsible for longevity and repeated flowering. Additionally, we will clone genes that are responsible for bolting failure in perennials by a bulked segregant sequencing approach using a Beta population that segregate for biennial and non-bolting perennial plants. The identification of bolting control and bolting failure genes will allow to control the timeing of flowering and to create a genetic tool for targeted manipulation of bolting and flowering time in sugar beet.
Das Projekt "Bioaccumulation of mercury in water, fish and fish-eating species in the Tambopata National Reserve (Peru)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Freiburg, Forstzoologisches Institut, Professur für Wildtierökologie und Wildtiermanagement durchgeführt. The main objectives of this study are the evaluation and quantification of the inorganic and organic mercury (methylmercury) levels in water, fish and fish-eating predators tissues, especially in the Giant Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), of distinct areas of the Tambopata National Reserve (TNR) in the region Madre de Dios (Mother of God) region - Peru, which presents high levels of mercury contamination as a consequence of small-scale gold mining activities. An evaluation of how the South Interoceanic Highway, built only 25 km away from the legal limits of the TNR, could influence the increment of mining activities in the surroundings of the study area, and further threatening the living conditions of the aforementioned species, will also be performed. The techniques proposed for the chemical analysis of the sample are cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), for total mercury determination; and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC-ECD), for organic mercury determination (methylmercury).
Das Projekt "Effects of climate change on past, recent, and future biodiversity of alpine/arctic plants: Integrative evidence from phylogenies, population genetics, ecological niche modelling and new insights for conservation" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Heidelberg,Heidelberger Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften (HIP) Einrichtung: Botanischer Garten durchgeführt. Responding to the twin crises of global warming and biodiversity loss requires a deep understanding of how climate affects the processes that generate and destroy biodiversity, primarily through its effects on the ecology and distribution of species. Recent improvements in our ability to reconstruct the history of biodiversity through timed phylogenies, estimate changes in genetic diversity, and predict the potential distribution of selected species with ecological niche models (ENMs) now allow us to infer the evolution of ecological preferences and distributional ranges at different temporal scales. Our two case studies focus on alpine/arctic regions, because they are among those most endangered by global warming. The first study will use, for the first time, a combination of ENM and phylogeny to test the model of hybrid, polyploid speciation by secondary contact in arctic/alpine plants. We selected Primula sect. Aleuritia (simply Aleuritia, from here on), because our previous phylogenetic work provided clear hypotheses for the parental origins of polyploids, yet the distributions of the inferred progenitors do not currently overlap. Did the ranges of the proposed parents overlap at the time of allopolyploid origins, as predicted by the secondary contact model? To answer this question, we will produce a high-resolution, dated phylogeny of Aleuritia, optimize the ecological preferences of the hypothesized progenitors onto the dated phylogeny, and project their past distributional ranges onto the fine-resolution climatic scenarios recently developed for the Pleistocene. In the second case study, we will try to explain how small populations persisted on summits in the past and how they are affected by current and future climate change. Here we selected Saxifraga florulenta, a rare, endemic species of the Maritime Alps, because hypotheses of its phylogenetic relationships are available from our previous work, it occurs exclusively above 2000 m, and has very narrow ecological requirements. Consequently, if current trends of global warming continue, the strict ecological adaptation of S. florulenta to siliceous substrates at the highest altitudes of the Maritime Alps may represent a serious extinction risk. We will investigate whether the phylogeographic history, genetic diversity, climatic niche and dispersal mode of S. florulenta can explain its long persistence in the Maritime Alps, a hot spot of biodiversity, and predict its future survival or extinction on mountain tops. We will use a combination of genetic analysis and niche modeling to reconstruct changes in the niche, geographic distribution, and genetic diversity of this cold-adapted species.
Das Projekt "Herstellung und in-situ-Funktionalisierung von Polymerpartikeln in der flüssigen Phase" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Lehrstuhl für Kunststofftechnik, Sonderforschungsbereich 814 - Additive Fertigung durchgeführt. Dieses Projekt verfolgt das Ziel neue, optimierte Partikelsysteme für die additive Fertigung in der Flüssigphase zu erzeugen. Für die Herstellung der Ausgangsstoffe werden zwei alternative Prozessrouten untersucht. Über die Nassmahlung sowie die Schmelzemulgierung mit jeweils integrierter Oberflächenfunktionalisierung werden Partikelsysteme zwischen etwa 2 und 50 Mykrometer mit optimalen Fließ- und Packungseigenschaften hergestellt und damit die Voraussetzungen geschaffen, die verarbeitbaren Partikelgrößen in der additiven Fertigung deutlich abzusenken. Im ersten Projektteil werden Polymermaterialien unterhalb ihrer Glastemperatur in einer Rührwerkskugelmühle zerkleinert. Die Verwendung von Alkoholen erlaubt ein Kaltmahlen im Temperaturbereich bis herunter zu minus 80 Grad C. Beim Schmelzemulgierverfahren wird der Polymerausgangsstoff in einem flüssigen Medium, in dem er schlecht löslich ist, geschmolzen. Die Schmelze wird infolge hoher Scher- und Dehnbeanspruchung unter Zusatz entsprechender Hilfsstoffe zur Tropfenstabilisierung emulgiert. Nach Abkühlung der Emulsion, Erstarren des Polymers und Abtrennung der flüssigen Phase stehen pulverförmige Ausgangswerkstoffe zur Verfügung. Besonderer Vorteil der Schmelzemulgierung ist es, dass sphärische Partikeln hergestellt werden können. Die erzeugten Partikelgrößenverteilungen hängen in beiden Herstellungsverfahren von der Beanspruchungsintensität und von der Verweilzeitverteilung des Produktes ab. In beiden Fällen geht es darum optimal auf die additive Fertigung hin zugeschnittene Partikelgrößenverteilungen zu erzeugen. Erfolgt die Stabilisierung und Oberflächenfunktionalisierung über Nanopartikel, die an der Oberfläche der festen oder flüssigen Polymerpartikel angelagert werden, können zusätzlich die Haftkräfte durch Steuerung der Oberflächenrauheit maßgeblich reduziert werden und damit optimale Fließeigenschaften eingestellt werden. Beide Prozesse werden im Hinblick auf die nötige massespezifische Zerkleinerungsenergie, um die bestimmte Produktpartikelgrößenverteilung zu erhalten, optimiert.
Das Projekt "Microbial Diversity and Functionality in Cold Water Coral Reef Ecosystems (MiCROSYSTEMS) (EuroDIVERSITY 83)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenökologie (ZMT) GmbH durchgeführt. Cold-water coral reefs thriving on carbonate mounds have been discovered in the late 90-s off western Ireland and recently off Morocco. Mound building seems to be a fundamental but still enigmatic strategy of Life, developed since Precambrian times onwards. Various arguments suggest that microorganisms are playing a major role in reef development and biodiversity. Mounds may find their origin at the confluence of fluxes from external (oceanic) and internal origin (geofluids). Long cores taken in 2004 showed that the 'Pen Duick- mounds off Morocco, in which microbial action was demonstrated by an strong emission of hydrogen sulfide, may be considered as giant biogeochemical reactors. MiCROSYSTEMS proposes to turn the Pen Duick mounds into a natural laboratory through the following actions and experiments:- Biotope exploration and characterization of biodiversity through geophysical and video imaging, targeted microbiological profiling, evaluation of present and past oceanic conditions,- Microbial diversity census and evaluation of the functional link microbes-metazoans through metazoan species analysis, biogeochemical and molecular fingerprinting, laboratory culturing, fauna-microbe interactions analysis, evaluation of microbially mediated processes of carbonate precipitation,- Assessment of the impact of biodiversity changes through the development of a reactor technology to simulate and assess the functionality of the micro-ecological niches and the impact of environmental changes.The MiCROSYSTEMS project closely dovetails with European projects on deep-water coral ecosystem conservation and with IODP Expedition 307. The project will foster a Europe-Maghreb cooperation on the Moroccan margin and contribute to the ICoMM initiative within the Census of Marine Life Programme.
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