Other language confidence: 0.7721858916062472
Flowering time (FTi) genes play a key role as regulators of complex gene expression networks, and the influence of these networks on other complex systems means that FTi gene expression triggers a cascade of regulatory effects with a broad global effect on plant development. Hence, allelic and expression differences in FTi genes can play a central role in phenotypic variation throughput the plant lifecycle. A prime example for this is found in Brassica napus, a phenotypically and genetically diverse species with enormous variation in vernalisation requirement and flowering traits. The species includes oilseed rape (canola), one of the most important oilseed crops worldwide. Previously we have identified QTL clusters related to plant development, seed yield and heterosis in winter oilseed rape that seem to be conserved in diverse genetic backgrounds. We suspect that these QTL are controlled by global regulatory genes that influence numerous traits at different developmental stages. Interestingly, many of the QTL clusters for yield and biomass heterosis appear to correspond to the positions of meta-QTL for FTi in spring-type and/or winter-type B. napus. Based on the hypothesis that diversity in FTi genes has a key influence on plant development and yield, the aim of this study is a detailed analysis of DNA sequence variation in regulatory FTi genes in B. napus, combined with an investigation of associations between FTi gene haplotypes, developmental traits, yield components and seed yield.
Forests play a relevant role in mitigation of climate change. A major issue, however, is the scientifically well founded, transparent and verifyable monitoring of achievements in forest carbon sequestration through reduction of deforestation and forest degradation, and through fostering sustainable forest management. Monitoring is particularly difficult in diverse and inaccessible humid tropical forest areas. The proposed research will contribute to the improvement of forest carbon monitoring under the challenging conditions of humid tropical forests. Sample based field observations and model based biomass predictions will be linked to area-wide satellite remote sensing imagery (RapidEye) and to strip samples of LiDAR imagery. Techniques of linking these data sources will be further developed and analysed with respect to (1) precision of carbon estimation and (2) accuracy of carbon regionalization. The proposed project implies research on methodological improvements of both sample based forest inventories (resampling techniques for biomass, imputation of non-response) and remote sensing application to forest monitoring (regionalization, sample based application of LiDAR data). At the core of this research is the analysis of the error variance components that each data source brings into the system. Such error analysis will allow identifying optimal resource allocation for the efficient improvement of forest carbon monitoring systems.
This project focuses on the long-term stability (or otherwise) of vegetation, based on a series of multi-proxy records in southern South America. We will build a network of sites suitable for high-resolution reconstructions of changes in vegetation since the Last Glacial Maximum, and use these to test a null hypothesis that changes in vegetation over the past 14,000 years are driven by internal dynamics rather than external forcing factors. The extent to which the null hypothesis can be falsified will reveal the degree to which we can expect to be able to predict how vegetation is affected by external events, including future climate change. The southern fringes of the South American landmass provide a rare opportunity to examine the development of moorland vegetation with sparse tree cover in a wet, cool temperate climate of the Southern Hemisphere. We present a record of changes in vegetation over the past 17,000 years, from a lake in extreme southern Chile (Isla Santa Inés, Magallanes region, 53°38.97S; 72°25.24W; Fontana, Bennett 2012: The Holocene), where human influence on vegetation is negligible. The western archipelago of Tierra del Fuego remained treeless for most of the Lateglacial period. Nothofagus may have survived the last glacial maximum at the eastern edge of the Magellan glaciers from where it spread southwestwards and established in the region at around 10,500 cal. yr BP. Nothofagus antarctica was likely the earlier colonizing tree in the western islands, followed shortly after by Nothofagus betuloides. At 9000 cal. yr BP moorland communities expanded at the expense of Nothofagus woodland. Simultaneously, Nothofagus species shifted to dominance of the evergreen Nothofagus betuloides and the Magellanic rain forest established in the region. Rapid and drastic vegetation changes occurred at 5200 cal. yr BP, after the Mt Burney MB2 eruption, including the expansion and establishment of Pilgerodendron uviferum and the development of mixed Nothofagus-Pilgerodendron-Drimys woodland. Scattered populations of Nothofagus, as they occur today in westernmost Tierra del Fuego may be a good analogue for Nothofagus populations during the Lateglacial in eastern sites. Climate, dispersal barriers and/or fire disturbance may have played a role controlling the postglacial spread of Nothofagus. Climate change during the Lateglacial and early Holocene was a prerequisite for the expansion of Nothofagus populations and may have controlled it at many sites in Tierra del Fuego. The delayed arrival at the site, with respect to the Holocene warming, may be due to dispersal barriers and/or fire disturbance at eastern sites, reducing the size of the source populations. The retreat of Nothofagus woodland after 9000 cal. yr BP may be due to competitive interactions with bog communities. Volcanic disturbance had a positive influence on the expansion of Pilgerodendron uviferum and facilitated the development of mixed Nothofagus-Pilgerodendron-Drimys woodland.
Biogeochemical interfaces shape microbial community function in soil. On the other hand microbial communities influence the properties of biogeochemical interfaces. Despite the importance of this interplay, basic understanding of the role of biogeochemical interfaces for microbial performance is still missing. We postulate that biogeochemical interfaces in soil are important for the formation of functional consortia of microorganisms, which are able to shape their own microenvironment and therefore influence the properties of interfaces in soil. Furthermore biogeochemical interfaces act as genetic memory of soils, as they can store DNA from dead microbes and protect it from degradation. We propose that for the formation of functional biogeochemical interfaces microbial dispersal (e.g. along fungal networks) in response to quality and quantity of bioavailable carbon and/or water availability plays a major role, as the development of functional guilds of microbes requires energy and depends on the redox state of the habitat.To address these questions, hexadecane degradation will be studied in differently developed artificial and natural soils. To answer the question on the role of carbon quantity and quality, experiments will be performed with and without litter material at different water contents of the soil. Experiments will be performed with intact soil columns as well as soil samples where the developed interface structure has been artificially destroyed. Molecular analysis of hexadecane degrading microbial communties will be done in vitro as well as in situ. The corresponding toolbox has been successfully developed in the first phase of the priority program including methods for genome, transcriptome and proteome analysis.
The dataset is composed of Neo HySpex (VNIR/SWIR) hyperspectral imagery acquired during airplane overflights on June 6th, 2015 covering the Omongwa Pan located in the South-West Kalahari, Namibia. The dataset includes three cloud-free flight lines with 408 spectral bands ranging from VNIR to SWIR wavelength regions (0.4-2.5 µm). The dataset also includes Level 2A EnMAP-like imagery simulated using the end-to-end Simulation tool (EeteS). The overall goal of the campaign was to acquire imagery over the Omongwa Pan and use the spectral reflectance for the analyses of surface sediments, specifically the mineralogical composition of exposed surface evaporites / salts on the airborne and spaceborne scale. The data are highly novel and can be used to test estimation of surface sediment properties in a highly saline and dynamic environment.
Objective: Various recent epidemiological studies have indicated that exposure to low doses of environmental biologically active contaminants during human development can alter gene expression and have deleterious effects on cognitive development in childhood. The DENAMIC project is ultimately focused on reducing such effects of environmental contamination on learning and developmental disorders in children. It aims to study and evaluate environment-health relationships in children. Key elements are: development of sophisticated tools and methods for early warning and screening of compounds for neurotoxicity, to study mechanisms of disease development and the role of individual susceptibility, to improve assessment of exposures and effects, focus on combined exposures to environmental agents that can interact to enhance adverse effects and reduction of health inequalities of children through Europe. One of the main aims of DENAMIC is to develop tools and methods for neurotoxic effects of mixtures of environmental pollutants at low levels, possibly resulting in (subclinical) effects on learning (cognitive skills) and developmental disorders in children (e.g ADHD, autism spectrum disorders and anxiety disorders). A broad suite of contaminants will be included in the studies, with options to bring in new chemicals in case evidence comes up during the project. With 14 partners from ten different countries DENAMIC has a true international character. It is a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary project. Six SME's will play a key role in the development of biotechnological screening tools. The most modern techniques in the fields of genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and transcriptomics will be applied. Dissemination will ensure the project results to arrive at policymakers' desks, and will also illustrate the subject for a scientific audience and the public. The very large network of the consortium ensures dissemination to European industries, and every other interested stakeholder.
Development cooperation between northern donors and southern/eastern states is characterised by a variety of approaches, interests, varying degrees of stakeholder involvement, differences in priority setting, and modalities of engagement. Still, these variations are underpinned by a surprisingly similar perception of the causes of underdevelopment and the interventions required to overcome it. Indeed, development in its present guise is based on an understanding of, and guided by, an ontology of inclusive liberalism which differs slightly from the neo-liberal and Washington Consensus paradigms of the 1980s. The core ontology of inclusive liberalism, though, continues to be based on a market-growth paradigm, reflecting, in political economic terms, a capitalist imagination of a developed society . The formation of this mainstream has been supported by recent trends towards donor harmonisation , including procedures such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. Its core marker, though, are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which resulted from the 2000 UN Millennium Summit and the widely acclaimed United Nations Millennium Declaration. Amongst others, the MDGs include Goal Nr. 1 (MDG-1) to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than Dollar1 a day. Enormous efforts were undertaken to implement these goals. However, while only four and a half years remain until 2015, there is still a huge gap between achievements and plans. Disenchantment starts to spread, but also reflection, and it appears that the MDGs - and especially MDG-1 - are becoming a crucial signifier for poverty-oriented development debates for advocates of the development mainstream as well as for critics and radical opponents. We therefore expect the emerging debate on poverty-oriented development policies beyond the MDGs (especially MDG-1) to play a crucial role in the shaping of future development interventions by northern donors as well as the states in the south/east. Thus, the overall goal of our project is to harvest on existing knowledge produced by the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research North-South (NCCR N-S) and to produce insights that can critically inform the emerging global debate on poverty-oriented development policies beyond the MDGs. To do so, we established a working group of NCCR N-S researchers for work towards these four objectives: (1) To provide an overview on the positions, dimensions and challenges of the emerging debate; (2) To define core dimensions that emerge in this debate (e.g. the role of the state; of private companies, civic and social movements, the nature of underlying societal visions; etc.); (3) To critically assess these core dimensions based on the knowledge base available with NCCR N-S and beyond. usw.
Objective: The CONVERGE project will build from the concept of 'contraction and convergence' that informed the Kyoto process. C&C linked the key social concept of equal rights to emissions with the key ecological need for reduced emissions to issue a challenge to economic systems to develop fair processes for emissions reduction. CONVERGE aims to re-think globalisation by developing our understanding of convergence beyond emissions-trading across wider social, economic and ecological dimensions of sustainability. CONVERGE will research, develop and test the processes of contraction, convergence and divergence in current forms of globalisation. The research will be based on systems science to integrate social, scientific and economic disciplines in order to create coherent solutions to complex problems. Key to the success of this study is the interdisciplinary approach and working with stakeholders from civil society, government and business. CONVERGE seeks to explore convergent sustainability relationships across different scales from local, national, global-regional to global. CONVERGE will research current examples of convergence in communities, policies and indicators moving towards sustainability. The project will develop a convergence frame for understanding and development in civil society and policy communities; accessible publications providing guidance and tools for the use of this framework; a set of Convergence indicators, quantitative and qualitative, that will be used to test and model the processes of convergence including development of a Computer Programme; and recommendations to assist policy makers to integrate C&C into the decision making process. CONVERGE will play a significant role in achieving the strategic objective of EUs global partnership: 'to promote sustainable development actively worldwide and ensure that the European Union's internal and external policies are consistent with global sustainable development and its international commitments.'
1. Vorhabenziel: Die Untersuchung von mikrobiellen Gemeinschaften in Salzpfannen im südwestlichen Afrika über die Zeit birgt das Potential, wertvolle Informationen über die mit den Mikroorganismen assoziierten Klima- und Umweltbedingungen der Vergangenheit zu erhalten. In der GeoArchives II Phase wollen wir neue mikrobiologische Ansätze und Methoden anwenden, um die Änderungen der mikrobiellen Gemeinschaften mit der Zeit zu dokumentieren (Kultivierungsexperimente von Schlüsselorganismen, externe DNA als Schlüssel zur Vergangenheit), die gewonnenen Daten mit biogeochemischen Methoden (mikrobielle Biomarker) zu validieren und Klimainformationen aus den Daten abzuleiten. Außerdem wollen wir die Wechselwirkung von Mikroorganismen mit Gesteinsoberflächen im Zuge von bodenbildenden Verwitterungsprozessen in der Region untersuchen. Weiterhin sollen mit Hilfe geochronologischer Datierungsansätze relevante Landschaftsformen (Salzpfannen, Hänge, Schwemmfächer und Terrassen) in ihrer Genese datiert werden, um aktuelle Fragen nach den Auswirkungen des Klima- und Nutzungswandels auf die heutigen Landschaftsökosysteme zu beantworten. 2. Arbeitsplanung: Im Projekt sollen zwei Probenahmen durchgeführt werden. Die Salzpfannen werden Ende 2016 Gegenstand der ersten Kampagne sein. Die Salzpfannenproben sollen für die Kultivierungsexperimente und die Studien zur extrazellularen DNA verwendet werden. In der zweiten Kampagne soll im Frühjahr 2017 im Tsauchab-Tal Material für die Untersuchung der Verwitterungsprozesse gewonnen werden. Des Weiteren sollen Altersdatierung von Hangsedimenten, Schwemmfächern, Flussterrassen und Talbodenverschüttungen vorgenommen werden, um die Stabilität und das Potenzial dieser Flächen für die Landnutzung unter dem Einfluss des Klimawandels zu bewerten.
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