Das Projekt "Einfluss von chronischem Verkehrslärm auf Vögel: vokales Lernen, Gesundheit und Fitness" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie durchgeführt. Anthropogenic noise has become a topic of increasing concern to conservation biologists as well as to those dealing with issues of human health and safety. The detrimental effects of environmental noise on human health are well recognized, however, very little is known about the effect of noise pollution on the health and fitness of animals in urban areas. To date, most studies investigating the impact of anthropogenic noise on wild animals have focused on behavioural responses to noise. Across the globe, high levels of anthropogenic noise have been linked with decreased breeding success, species richness, and changes in vocal behaviour in a variety of taxa. While the number of publications describing negative effects of environmental noise on free-living species continues to grow, there are relatively few studies that investigate the causal mechanisms underlying these changes. The proposed research project will fill this gap with a series of experiments on songbirds, combining studies on the impact of noise on vocal learning and ontogeny, stress physiology, and reproductive success. Songbirds are the primary animal model for the study of vocal learning in animals and at the same one of the best studied groups regarding hearing in noise and noise-induced vocal plasticity. The proposed project will be a first step towards establishing songbirds as a model system for investigating the mechanisms underlying the negative impact of noise-related stress on learning, communication, and fitness. In particular, the proposed project aims to (1) examine the impact of chronic noise exposure on the stress physiology, immune function, learning and development of juvenile songbirds, (2) to investigate the effect of chronic noise on reproductive success and health in adult songbirds, and (3) to determine if noise-induced stress in parents affects the stress response and telomere length (and thus premature cell ageing and longevity) in their offspring.
Das Projekt "Multi-proxy tree-ring analysis of conifer trees disturbed by insect outbreaks" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von University of British Columbia, Faculty of Forestry, Department of Forest Resources Management Vancouver durchgeführt. Insect outbreaks are a major disturbance influencing forest dynamics in many ecosystems and can affect forest productivity worldwide. Reconstruction of insect outbreak history is fundamental to forest management. While the action of cambium feeders on trees leads to the formation of scars, that of defoliators is observable via growth suppression in tree rings. The occurrence of past insect attacks can thus be inferred from such tree-ring signatures. However, it necessitates an accurate dating of events, with high temporal resolution, as well as their correct attribution to the right disturbance agent. Fire also leaves scars on trees that can occur on cross-sectional disks where insect scars are already present, thus making them difficult to distinguish. Furthermore, insect-elicited reductions in radial growth may not be clearly visible on samples, and the radial growth response to defoliation often bears a lag of one or more years. This project tackles these issues directly by proposing a multi-proxy approach aiming at improving tree-ring reconstructions of insect outbreaks. Tree rings will be investigated to study radial variations of tree-ring width, wood anatomy, wood density, and wood chemistry. While dendrochronologists have long relied on tree-ring width variations to track the signal induced by climate, geomorphic and ecological processes, they have scarcely exploited the potential of other proxies and rarely used them in combination. The most advanced studies that have embraced these possibilities are owed to dendroclimatologists. The core of this research therefore lies in the use of multiple wood traits to provide answers to the above mentioned dendroecological questions. Two conifer tree species from British Columbia and their respective pests are within the scope of this study: the mountain pine beetle (MPB, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins), a cambium feeder, on lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Douglas), and the western spruce budworm (WSBW, Choristoneura occidentalis Freeman), a defoliator, on Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii Franco). It is hypothesized that insect outbreak disturbance in the form of bark beetle or defoliation events results in abrupt significant structural differences between the wood formed prior to and after the insect attack. Based on pioneering tree-ring research on insect outbreaks, there are great prospects that the variations of wood traits be proven useful for differentiating MPB scars from fire scars and for identifying WSBW defoliation events, possibly with higher temporal resolution. The study of multiple wood traits (proxies) will help gain an understanding of the influence of insect outbreak disturbance on wood formation and tree physiological processes, a prerequisite for improving the detection and dating of events in tree-ring series. (...)
Das Projekt "Teilprojekt A" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Stuttgart, Institut für Biochemie und Technische Biochemie (IBTB), Abteilung Technische Biochemie durchgeführt. Ziel des Projekts HYtec ist die Entwicklung und das enzymatische Engineering von Biokatalysatoren zur cofaktorfreien Addition von H2O an nicht-aktivierte Alkene für die Biosynthese marktrelevanter Duft- und Riechstoffe sowie Pharma- und Pflanzenschutzmolekülen. Die Synthese beruht auf der Verwendung von Enzymen aus der Familie der Hydratasen. Hydratasen vermögen die Umsetzung von Alkenen zum korrespondierenden chiralen Alkohol zu katalysieren. In Vorarbeiten konnte festgestellt werden, dass die Oleat-Hydratase aus Elizabethkingia meningoseptica (Em-OHA) ein vielversprechendes evolvierbares Ausgangsenzym zur selektiven Hydratisierung von kurzkettigen freien Fettsäuren und Alkenen darstellt. Eine Mutagenese der Oleat-Hydratase wird im Weiteren die Hydratisierung von Alkenen mit verzweigten Motiven ermöglichen und so die Substratplattform erweitern. Das hier vorgestellte Vorhaben ermöglicht so die effektive Herstellung von Duft- und Riechstoffen, Pharma- und Pflanzenschutzmolekülen, Pheromonen und Terpenoiden durch eine deutliche Reduktion von Synthesestufen basierend auf nachwachsenden Rohstoffen. Die im Labor entwickelte und optimierte Hydratase Technologie wird schlussendlich durch den Partner Bell Flavors & Fragrances GmbH hinsichtlich ökologischer, ökonomischer und technischer Gesichtspunkte evaluiert und angewandt.
Das Projekt "Developing biometric sampling systems and optimal harvesting methods for medicinal tree bark in southern Africa" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Göttingen, Burckhardt-Institut, Abteilung Waldinventur und Fernerkundung durchgeführt. Tree bark from more than 700 species is used in southern African traditional medicine. Among the priority species are for example Prunus africana, a prostate disorder remedy, or Ocotea bullata and Warburgia salutaris, which have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties respectively. Traditionally, bark harvesting for medicinal use is a sustainable practice. Traditional healers and their harvesters collect enough for their needs and not more. But as the population grows and becomes urbanized, forests diminish and trade in bark for medicinal purposes is commercialized. Unsustainable extraction methods, involving excessive debarking that may ultimately kill the tree, become common and threaten the species. For some species the bark is also internationally traded and export demand increases pressure on the preferred species. The harvest of Prunus africana for example is estimated at 3,500 tons a year to fuel a USDollar220 million market in Europe and North America. Consequently, certain popularly traded species such as Warburgia salutaris and Prunus africana are experiencing serious decline and regarded as rare in many areas. A possibility to prevent the overexploita-tion of these species will be the implementation of sustainable resource management. Objectives: Resource management requires quantitative data of resource availability and growth rates. Therefore, the project will develop suitable methods for quantifying bark quantities, growth rates and optimal harvesting strategies for selected tree species in afromontane forest and miombo woodland. The project component we are dealing with, is the development of optimal sampling methods for determining the stocking of a particular species as well as the development of a bark growth and yield model to evaluate the sustained bark production and yield from different management systems.
Das Projekt "Herpetologie: Systematik, Zoogeographie, Bioakustik und Ökologie der Froschlurche Uruguays" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Abteilung Zoologie durchgeführt.
Was haben sich eine Birke, eine Kiefer und eine Eiche im Grunewald zu erzählen? Lauschen Sie den verschiedenen Baumgenerationen und erfahren Sie mehr über die natürlichen Abläufe des Entstehens und Vergehens im Ökosystem Wald. Hinweis: Um die Soundsäule vor dem nass-kalten Wetter zu schützen, schicken wir sie jedes Jahr in den Winterschlaf. Damit Sie trotzdem in den Genuss der Baumgespräche kommen, haben wir hier und auf der Insel 7 die drei Dateien zum kostenlosen Download bereitgestellt. Diese Hörstücke, eingesprochen von Benno Fürmann und Eva Mattes, schildern in bildhaften Worten drei Stellen entlang des Ausstellungsrundgangs. Sie vermitteln das Sichtbare und das Unsichtbare: Außer dem Anblick beschreiben sie auch die Tiergeräusche, die hier bisweilen zu hören sind, die mikrobiologische Vielfalt oder die Veränderungen des jeweiligen Ortes im Laufe der Zeit.
Das Projekt "Effects of anthropogenic noise on fish behaviour and development" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von University Bristol, School of Biological Sciences durchgeführt. Effects of anthropogenic noise on fish behaviour and development Background Anthropogenic (man-made) noise is causing an ever-increasing problem in the natural world and it penetrates through all media - air, soil, vegetation and even water -, and may therefore affect any animals with hearing abilities and for which sound plays a crucial role. Compared to terrestrial animals, however, there have been far fewer investigations of the impact of anthropogenic noise on marine and freshwater organisms; relatively little is known about how exposure to such sounds affects fish. Investigations into potentially negative influences on fish are vital because they provide a critical food resource to the burgeoning human population and form an integral link in many food webs. The need for scientifically rigorous studies examining the impacts of anthropogenic noise on fish is therefore obvious, and has been highlighted in recent academic review and by inclusion in the policies of international and national organisations. Many species live in groups, where social interactions are essential. This is especially true for cooperative breeders - species in which parents are assisted in the care of their offspring by other individuals, known as 'helpers' - which display a wide repertoire of behaviours. Cooperatively breeding fishes are frequently territorial and consequently cannot escape areas of high anthropogenic noise; they are therefore highly vulnerable to any disruptive effects of such noise on behaviour and development. However, nothing is yet known about how anthropogenic noise might impact helping behaviour and very little about its effects on fish development. Objectives This project focuses on the effects of anthropogenic noise on fish behaviour and development. Specifically, I will investigate for the first time in fish how anthropogenic noise affects cooperative behaviour. Furthermore, I will examine how any noise-induced changes in cooperative care impact on offspring development, in addition to direct effects arising from the exposure of eggs and fry to the noise itself. By combining physiological assessment of hearing thresholds, controlled experimental manipulations, detailed behavioural observations and developmental measures of a well-studied model species (the cooperatively breeding cichlid, Neolamprologus pulcher), my overall aim is to advance our understanding of the disruptiveness of man-made sound on fish. In particular, I will address the following key research questions: o Q1. Does anthropogenic noise disrupt cooperative behaviour? o Q2. How is reproductive success affected by anthropogenic noise?
Mit einem Antrag auf Gewährung vorläufigen Rechtsschutzes hat sich ein Nachbar gegen die dem Betreiber des Magdeburger Zoos erteilte Genehmigung zur Errichtung eines Neubaus für ein Menschenaffenhaus für 15 Menschenaffen gewandt.Das Verwaltungsgericht Magdeburg hat mit Beschluss vom heutigen Tage dem Antrag stattgegeben und die aufschiebende Wirkung des Widerspruchs des Antragstellers gegen die von der Landeshauptstadt Magdeburg erteilte Genehmigung wieder hergestellt.Zur Begründung hat es insbesondere ausgeführt, die der Genehmigung zugrunde liegende Immissionsprognose auf der Grundlage eines schalltechnischen Gutachtens werde den Besonderheiten, die von zu erwartenden Affenschreien ausgingen, nicht gerecht. Es hätte als Beurteilungsmaßstab nicht rein schematisch auf die für Industrielärm geltende TA Lärm zurück gegriffen werden dürfen. Gerade die auf der mangelnden Vorhersehbarkeit beruhende ?aufschreckende Wirkung? von Tierlärm könne mitunter zu höheren Anforderungen an den Nachbarschutz führen. Darüber hinaus hat das Gericht bemängelt, dass in dem angegriffenen Bescheid ausreichende Regelungen des Lärmschutzes für den Fall fehlten, dass etwa aus klimatischen Gründen in der Nachtzeit zum Schutz der Tiere die für das Affenhaus vorgesehenen Oberlichter geöffnet werden müssten.Gegen diesen Beschluss kann Beschwerde beim Oberverwaltungsgericht des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt eingelegt werden.Aktenzeichen: 1 B 299/13 MD Impressum:Verwaltungsgericht Magdeburg Pressestelle Breiter Weg 203 - 20639104 MagdeburgTel: 0391 606-7041 Fax: 0391 606-7032Mail: presse.vg-md@justiz.sachsen-anhalt.deWeb: www.vg-md.sachsen-anhalt.de