Das Projekt "Physicochemical Aging Mechanisms in Soil Organic Matter (SOM- AGING): II. Hydration-dehydration mechanisms at Biogeochemical Interfaces" wird/wurde gefördert durch: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Es wird/wurde ausgeführt durch: Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau, Institut für Umweltwissenschaften.Soil organic matter (SOM) controls large part of the processes occurring at biogeochemical interfaces in soil and may contribute to sequestration of organic chemicals. Our central hypothesis is that sequestration of organic chemicals is driven by physicochemical SOM matrix aging. The underlying processes are the formation and disruption of intermolecular bridges of water molecules (WAMB) and of multivalent cations (CAB) between individual SOM segments or between SOM and minerals in close interaction with hydration and dehydration mechanisms. Understanding the role of these mediated interactions will shed new light on the processes controlling functioning and dynamics of biogeochemical interfaces (BGI). We will assess mobility of SOM structural elements and sorbed organic chemicals via advanced solid state NMR techniques and desorption kinetics and combine these with 1H-NMR-Relaxometry and advanced methods of thermal analysis including DSC, TGADSC- MS and AFM-nanothermal analysis. Via controlled heating/cooling cycles, moistening/drying cycles and targeted modification of SOM, reconstruction of our model hypotheses by computational chemistry (collaboration Gerzabek) and participation at two larger joint experiments within the SPP, we will establish the relation between SOM sequestration potential, SOM structural characteristics, hydration-dehydration mechanisms, biological activity and biogechemical functioning. This will link processes operative on the molecular scale to phenomena on higher scales.
Das Projekt "Assessing Global Land Use and Soil Management for Sustainable Resource Policies (Land and Soils)" wird/wurde gefördert durch: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), International Resource Panel. Es wird/wurde ausgeführt durch: Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie gGmbH.The Land and Soils Working Group of the International Resource Panel is preparing a comprehensive review of the challenges and opportunities facing land and soil management from the local to global level. Global land use and soil management are both connected and complementary aspects of agriculture, forestry and built-up land development with consequences on food, energy, material and water security. Global land use change is currently characterised by the expansion of agricultural land and built-up areas along with land degradation and the polices which support these processes. Expansion is taking place at the expense of global forests, savannahs and grasslands while degradation is the result of soil erosion, nutrient depletion, water scarcity, salinity and the disruption of biological cycles, putting the best quality soils of the world under risk. As world dietary habits change, international trade and a rising consumption of goods are fuelling the demand for land. Globalisation is increasing the distance between production and consumption, so that consumer decisions to buy products and the detrimental impacts which may be associated with those products are drifting apart. The result is an increasing competition for land with unintended and unrecognised side-effects. Policy is therefore challenged to follow a double approach: tackling both the field level of sustainable extraction and the global level of sustainable use. This project explores the connections, trade-offs, and relationships between land use, soil management and resource security more deeply. It proposes developing a safe operating space for global land use and safe operating practices for soil management that could work together towards ensuring a long-lasting and sustainable supply of products for food, feed, fuel and materials.
Das Projekt "Effects of anthropogenic noise on fish behaviour and development" wird/wurde gefördert durch: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung. Es wird/wurde ausgeführt durch: University Bristol, School of Biological Sciences.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?