Cherry leaf roll virus (CLRV) is a plant pathogen of economic and ecologic importance. It is globally distributed in a wide range of forest, fruit, and ornamental trees and shrubs. In several areas of cherry and walnut production CLRV causes severe losses in yield and quality. With current reference to the rapid dissemination and strong symptom expression in Finnish birches and the Germany-wide distribution of CLRV in birches and elderberry, we continuously investigate and gradually reveal CLRV transmission pathways as by pollen, seeds or water. However, modes and interactions responsible for the wide intergeneric host transmission as well as for the exceptional CLRV epidemic in Fennoscandia still remain unknown. In this project systematic studies shall investigate biological vectors as a causal agent to finally derive control mechanisms and strategies to avoid new epidemics in different hosts and geographic regions. Detailed monitoring of the invertebrate fauna of birch stands/forests and elderberry plantations in Germany and Finland shall reveal potential vectors to subsequently study them in detail by approved virus detection methods and transmission experiments. Molecular analyses of the CLRV coat protein shall prove its role as a viral determinant for a virus/vector interaction. Consequently, this project essentially will contribute important answers on the CLRV epidemiology, and this will be a key element within the first network of research on plant viral pathogens in forest trees.
Lake Sevan, the only large water reservoir within the South Caucasus, is under severe ecological pressure, and understanding the species composition of the lake and especially the rivers of its drainage basin is of central importance to inform natural resource management decisions in Armenia. Due to the limited capacity in the area for exact and fast taxonomic identification of benthic invertebrates, we started to compile a DNA barcode reference database of aquatic arthropods from the Lake Sevan drainage basin, spearheaded by Dr. Marine Dallakyan from Yerevan's Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology (Armenian Academy of Sciences), whose first visit to ZFMK has been financed by DAAD. The project is closely linked to the efforts undertaken and planned within the GGBC(link is external) project. The project results are aimed at making future standardized assessment of aquatic biodiversity monitoring in Armenia and the Caucasus easier, faster, and more reliable.
Bamboos (Poaceae) are widespread in tropical and subtropical forests. Particularly in Asia, bamboos are cultivated by smallholders and increasingly in large plantations. In contrast to trees, reliable assessments of water use characteristics for bamboo are very scarce. Recently we tested a set of methods for assessing bamboo water use and obtained first results. Objectives of the proposed project are (1) to further test and develop the methods, (2) to compare the water use of different bamboo species, (3) to analyze the water use to bamboo size relationship across species, and (4) to assess effects of bamboo culm density on the stand-level transpiration. The study shall be conducted in South China where bamboos are very abundant. It is planned to work in a common garden (method testing), a botanical garden (species comparison, water use to size relationship), and on-farm (effects of culm density). Method testing will include a variety of approaches (thermal dissipation probes, stem heat balance, deuterium tracing and gravimetry), whereas subsequent steps will be based on thermal methods. The results may contribute to an improved understanding of bamboo water use characteristics and a more appropriate management of bamboo with respect to water resources.
Background and Objectives: The project area is located in the Ashanti Region of Ghana / West Africa in the transition zone of the moist semideciduous forest and tropical savannah zone. Main land use in this region is subsistence agriculture with large fallow areas. As an alternative land-use, forest plantations are under development by the Ghanaian wood processing company DuPaul Wood Treatment Ltd. Labourers from the surrounding villages are employed as permanent or casual plantation workers. Within three forest plantation projects of approximately 6,000 ha, DuPaul offers an area of 164 ha (referred to as Papasi Plantation) - which is mainly planted with Teak (Tectona grandis) - for research purposes. In return, the company expects consultations to improve the management for sustainable timber and pole production with exotic and native tree species. Results: In a first research approach, the Papasi Plantation was assessed in terms of vegetation classification, timber resources (in qualitative and quantitative terms) and soil and site conditions. A permanent sampling plot system was established to enable long-term monitoring of stand dynamics including observation of stand response to silvicultural treatments. Site conditions are ideally suited for Teak and some stands show exceptionally good growth performances. However, poor weed management and a lack of fire control and silvicultural management led to high mortality and poor growth performance of some stands, resulting in relative low overall growth averages. In a second step, a social baseline study was carried out in the surrounding villages and identified landowner conflicts between some villagers and DuPaul, which could be one reason for the fire damages. However, the study also revealed a general interest for collaboration in agroforestry on DuPaul land on both sides. Thirdly, a silvicultural management concept was elaborated and an improved integration of the rural population into DuPaul's forest plantation projects is already initiated. If landowner conflicts can be solved, the development of forest plantations can contribute significantly to the economic income of rural households while environmental benefits provide long-term opportunities for sustainable development of the region. Funding: GTZ supported PPP-Measure, Foundation
Together with several colleagues from Argentina and Peru (main investigator is Paola Carrasco (Universidad Nacional de Cordoba), but also Gustavo Scrocchi (CONICET and Instituto de Herpetologia, San Miguel de Tucuman), Pablo Venegas (Centro de Ornitologia y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI), Lima), Juan Chaparro (Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Cusco)), we started a collaboration on the phylogeny of bothropoid pitvipers (Bothrops, Bothrocophias), with the aim to solve systematic conflicts within the Bothrops-complex (to agree 50 species) using a phylogenetic analysis combining a large number of morphological and molecular data. Until recently, most phylogenetic analyses of the South American pitviper genus Bothrops used exclusively mitochondrial DNA sequences, whereas few of them have included morphological traits. Moreover, the systematic affinities of some species remain unclear. As part of this project we are currently working on a systematic revision of the Bothrops-complex in Peru (11 + 2 new species). We recently published the first data including the description of a new species (Carrasco et al. 2019) and a manuscript with the description of a second new species is in preparation. Additionally, the morphological variability in the Bothrops neuwiedii species group will be examined, with special respect to the widely distributed B. diporus. Bothrops diporus shall serve as a model species for studying possible influences of environmental factors on the phenotypical diversity of species in the genus Bothrops. The collaborative work started mid of 2015. First results of the collaborative project were presented at the XVI Congreso Argentino de Herpetología in San Miguel de Tucumán (September 2015), the I Congreso Argentino-Paraguayo de Herpetologia in Posadas, Argentina and Encarnación, Paraguay (September 2016), the XVIII Congreso Argentino de Herpetologia in Salta, Argentina (October 2017), the Latinamerican Congress of Herpetology in Quito, Ecuador (July 2017), and will be presented at the 3rd Biology of Pitvipers Symposium in Rodeo, USA (July 2019). Paola Carrasco just submitted a proposal to SYNTHESYS+ to visit the ZFMK in early 2020, in which I will serve as her host. In this visit, besides intensifying our collaboration, Paola wants to study different genera of Viperidae from our collection in the framework of our collaborative project.
Buntfuß-Sturmschwalben Oceanites oceanicus sind die kleinsten endothermen Tiere, die in der Antarktis brüten. Durch ihre geringe Körpergröße und die daher eingeschränkte Möglichkeit Energie zu speichern, brauchen Buntfuß-Sturmschwalben effiziente Strategien um mit vorhersehbaren aber auch mit unvorhersehbaren Perioden von Futterknappheit zurechtzukommen. Sowohl während einer Brutsaison als auch zwischen verschiedenen Brutsaisons wurden für diese Art starke Schwankungen der Futterverfügbarkeit beobachtet. In der geplanten Studie werden wir untersuchen wie junge Buntfuß-Sturmschwalben durch Heterothermie als physiologische Strategie ihren Energieumsatz optimieren und wie Torpor als Überlebensstrategie während unvorhergesehener Futterknappheit genutzt werden kann. Wir werden untersuchen, welchen Einfluss der Ernährungszustand auf Körpertemperatur und die Energieumsatz im Ruhezustand (Ruheumsatz) hat und ob diese mit der Außentemperatur zusammenhängen. Als Anpassung an vorhersehbare Unterschiede der Futterverfügbarkeit werden wir den Tagesrhythmus der Körpertemperatur und der Ruheumsatz untersuchen. Wir werden testen, ob Buntfuß-Sturmschwalben ihre Körpertemperatur und ihren Ruheumsatz während dem Tag, wenn die adulten Vögel nicht zum Füttern kommen können, strategisch herunterfahren. Außerdem werden wir die Gründe und Folgen individueller Unterschiede im heterothermischen Verhalten der Nestlinge untersuchen. Wir erwarten, dass Körperfunktionen wie Wachstum oder die Investition in das Immunsystem mit sinkender Körpertemperatur eingeschränkt werden und dass Küken, die weniger häufig von ihren Eltern gefüttert werden, häufiger Torpor nutzen. Somit könnte Heterothermie bei Küken der Sturmschwalben durch einen Trade-off zwischen verringerten Energiekosten und der Investition in Körperfunktionen, die schlussendlich die Überlebenschancen bis zur Brutzeit bestimmen, Auswirkungen auf ihre biologische Fitness haben. Als Anpassung an vorhersehbare Unterschiede in der Futterverfügbarkeit, werden wir die Heterothermie der Küken während Unwetterperioden, wie zum Beispiel während Schneestürmen, untersuchen. Schneestürme werden nach Vorhersagen der Klimamodelle in der Region in Zukunft häufiger auftreten und in dieser Zeit sind die Eingänge der Bruthöhlen häufig blockiert. Diese Studie hat daher Auswirkungen auf die Anpassungsfähigkeit der Art an den Klimawandel, sowohl im Zusammenhang mit der verringerten Futterverfügbarkeit, die vor allem durch die Abnahme des Antarktischen Krills hervorgerufen wird, als auch durch ein vermehrtes Auftreten von Schneestürmen.
In many plant species, FLOWERING LOCUS T and related proteins are the mobile signal that communicates information on photoperiod from the leaves to the shoots, where the transition to flowering is realized. FT expression is tightly controlled at the transcriptional level so that it is restricted to leaves, occurs only in appropriate photoperiods, and integrates ambient temperature and developmental cues, as well as information on biotic and abiotic stress. We previously established that FT transcription in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana requires proximal promoter cis-elements and a distal enhancer, both evolutionary conserved among Brassicacea species. In addition, FT transcription is blocked prior vernalization in biannual accessions and vernalization-dependency of FT is controlled through a CArG-box located in the first intron that binds the transcriptional repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). Chromatin-mediated repression by the Polycomb Group (PcG) pathway is required for photoperiod-dependent FT regulation and participates in FT expression level modulation in response to other cues.In this project, I propose to explore the available sequence data from the 1001 genome project in Arabidopsis to evaluate how often changes in regulatory cis-elements at FT have occurred and how these translate into an adaptive value. Allele-specific FT expression pattern will be measured in F1 hybrids of different accessions in response to varying environmental conditions. FT alleles that show cis-regulatory variation will be further analyzed to pinpoint the causal regulatory changes and study their effect in more detail. The allotetrapolyploid species Brassica napus is a hybrid of two Brassiceae species belonging to the A- and C-type genome, which are in turn mesopolyploid due to a genome triplication that occurred ca. 10x106 years ago. We will determine allele-specific expression of FT paralogs from both genomes of a collection of B. napus accessions. The plants will be grown in the field in changing environmental conditions to maximize the chance to detect expression variation of the paralogs. We will compare the contribution of the founder genomes to the regulation of flowering time and asses variation in this contribution. A particular focus will be to study the impact of chromatin-mediated repression on allele selection in B. napus.
The basidiomycete Armillaria mellea s.l. is one of the most important root rot pathogens of forest trees and comprises several species. The aim of the project is to identify the taxa occurring inSwitzerland and to understand their ecological behaviour. Root, butt and stem rots caused by different fungi are important tree diseases responsible for significant economic losses. Armillaria spp. occur world-wide and are important components of many natural and managed forest ecosystems. Armillaria spp. are known saprothrophs as well as primary and secondary pathogens causing root and butt rot on a large number of woody plants, including forest and orchard trees as well as grape vine and ornamentals. The identification of several Armillaria species in Europe warrants research in the biology and ecology of the different species. We propose to study A. cepistipes for the following reasons. First, A. cepistipes is dominating the rhizomorph populations in most forest types in Switzerland. This widespread occurrence contrasts with the current knowledge about A. cepistipes, which is very limited. Second, because the pathogenicity of A. cepistipes is considered low this fungus has the potential for using as an antagonist to control stump colonising pathogenic fungi, such as A. ostoyae and Heterobasidion annosum. This project aims to provide a better understanding of the ecology of A. cepistipes in mountainous Norway spruce (Picea abies) forests. Special emphasis will be given to interactions of A. cepistipes with A. ostoyae, which is a very common facultative pathogen and which often co-occurs with A. cepistipes. The populations of A. cepistipes and A. ostoyae will be investigated in mountainous spruce forests were both species coexist. The fungi will be sampled from the soil, from stumps and dead wood, and from the root system of infected trees to determine the main niches occupied by the two species. Somatic incompatibility will be used to characterise the populations of each species. The knowledge of the spatial distribution of individual genets will allow us to gain insights into the mode of competition and the mode of spreading. Inoculation experiments will be used to determine the variation in virulence expression of A. cepistipes towards Norway spruce and to investigate its interactions with A. ostoyae.
Das Projektteam übernahm die Aufgabe, den Beitrag landwirtschaftlicher Brachflächen zum Artenschutz und zur Steigerung der Biodiversität zu untersuchen. Die Anlage von Brachen erfolgt in Österreich unter anderem mit der ÖPULMaßnahme 'Neuanlegung von Landschaftselementen'. Dabei vereinbaren Fachleute der Naturschutzabteilungen des Bundeslandes mit den Bewirtschaftern unterschiedliche Pflegemaßnahmen (Sukzession, Mahd, Umbruch etc.) für jede Fläche. Im ersten Projektjahr wurden in Kärnten 30 von insgesamt 250 im Rahmen von ÖPUL stillgelegten Flächen vegetationskundlich bearbeitet. Aus diesen 30 Flächen wurden im zweiten Jahr 5 für zoologische Erhebungen ausgewählt. Fachleute haben im Gelände die Tiergruppen Wildbienen, Wanzen, Heuschrecken und Schmetterlinge erhoben und die Ergebnisse nach einem einheitlichen Schema bewertet. Damit konnten diese sektoralen Daten zu einer fachübergreifenden Bewertung und Interpretation zusammengeführt werden. Wichtige Ergebnisse sind: - Bewertung der Brachen aus der Sicht von Naturschutz und Biodiversität - Beschreibungen der Zusammenhänge zwischen Vorkommen von Arten, Standort und Maßnahmen - Leitlinien für die Anlage und Pflege von Stilllegungsflächen - Unterschiedliche, sich kleinräumig abwechselnde Pflegeeingriffe erhöhen die Biodiversität. - Pflegemaßnahmen sind auf Standortverhältnisse, ökologische Ausstattung des Umlandes und Größe der Stilllegungsflächen abzustimmen. - Zeitlich versetzte Nutzung in Teilbereichen ist einer großflächigen, einmaligen Nutzung auf der Gesamtfläche zu bevorzugen. - Regelmäßiges Monitoring und ein flexibler Einsatz von Maßnahmen erhindert unerwünschte Entwicklungen auf den Stilllegungsflächen. Diese Leitlinien werden ab sofort bei der Betreuung bestehender und bei der Anlage neuer Brachen verwendet. Die überraschende Artenvielfalt auf den untersuchten Flächen und das Vorkommen zahlreicher seltener und gefährdeter Arten belegen den bedeutenden Beitrag der ÖPUL-Maßnahme 'Neuanlegung von Landschaftselementen' zum Artenschutz und zur Erhöhung der Biodiversität in Agrarlandschaften. e-mail: daniel.bogner umweltbuero-klagenfurt.at www.umweltbuero-klagenfurt.at.
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