In the Bavarian Forest National Park a brief, but intense storm event on 1 August 1983 created large windfall areas. The windfall ecosystems within the protection zone of the park were left develop without interference; outside this zone windfall areas were cleared of dead wood but not afforested. A set of permanent plots (transect design with 10 to 10 m plots) was established in 1988 in spruce forests of wet and cool valley bottoms in order to document vegetation development. Resampling shall take place every five years; up to now it was done in 1993 and 1998. On cleared areas an initial raspberry (Rubus idaeus) shrub community was followed by pioneer birch (Betula pubescens, B. pendula) woodland, a sequence well known from managed forest stands. In contrast to this, these two stages were restricted to root plates of fallen trees in uncleared windfalls; here shade-tolerant tree species of the terminal forest stages established rather quickly from saplings that had already been present in the preceeding forest stand. Soil surface disturbances are identified to be causal to the management pathway of forest development, wereas the untouched pathway is caused by relatively low disturbance levels. The simulation model FORSKA-M is used to analyse different options of further stand development with a simulation time period of one hundred years.
Der schnelle Fortschritt der elektronischen Geräte erhöht die Nachfrage nach verbesserten Li-Ionen Batterien. Kommerziell erhältliche Li-Zellen nutzen meist Lithiumkobaltoxid für die positive Elektrode. Doch gerade dieses Material ist ein Hindernis für eine weitere Optimierung, insbesondere für eine Kostensenkung. Vor allem für größere Anwendungen wie Hybrid- oder Elektrofahrzeuge müssen alternative Materialen erforscht werden, die billiger, sicherer und umweltverträglicher sind. Daher wird im ISEA derzeit ein neues Forschungsprojekt ins Leben gerufen und die dafür benötigte Infrastruktur geschaffen. Die Forschung wird sich auf die Untersuchung geeigneter Übergangsmetalloxide und Polyanionen konzentrieren, die besonders gut zur Einlagerung von Li-Ionen geeignet sind. Es werden neue Herstellungsverfahren unter Verwendung wässriger Precurser-Substanzen untersucht, die Verbindungen mit überlegenen Eigenschaften erzeugen und außerdem leicht an eine Massenproduktion angepasst werden können. Ziel der Arbeiten ist, preisgünstiges Elektrodenmaterial zu entwickeln, das eine spezifische Energie von über 200 Wh/kg und eine Leistungsdichte von 400 W/kg aufweist. Außerdem werden Arbeiten im Bereich der physikalisch-chemischen Charakterisierung der neuen Materialien stattfinden sowie elektrochemische Analysen der gesamten Zellen- und Batteriesysteme durchgeführt. Das elektrodynamische Verhalten der neuen Zellen wird u. a. mit Hilfe der elektrochemischen Impedanzspektroskopie analysiert, um präzise und zuverlässige Algorithmen für ein späteres Batteriemonitoring im realen Betrieb zu finden.
Entwicklungs-, Pflege- und Erschließungsmaßnahmen gem. § 13 LNatSchG NRW
SEED aims to understand how and to what extent anthropogenic forces influence the non-vegetative stages of the life cycles of harmful algal species thereby contributing to the increase in harmful algal blooms in European marine, brackish and fresh waters. The overall objectives are to improve and extend our understanding of the transition between the different life history stages to identify the environmental and physiological factors that regulate those transitions, and hence the relative importance of anthropogenic vs. natural causes, and to integrate the recent, acquired knowledge in the development of a new simulation model or refining existing ones. This will allow improved prediction, mitigation and management strategies. The approach of SEED is comparative, from species to ecosystem level. It is imperative to recognize common patterns of responses among species to facilitate the development of conceptual and numerical models of HAB dynamics. SEED will focus on an array of target HAB species, ranging from marine through brackish to fresh water organisms, and covering a broad range of phylogenetic types. SEED research is multifaceted, as the problems in life history transitions are complex and processes occur over a wide range of scales. SEED will combine field studies and laboratory experiments. Field work is centered on areas where ongoing monitoring programs and much baseline information about distribution of species and physical-chemical data already exists. The innovation is to implement the most appropriate research strategies to be applied to the non-vegetative phases which determine the success of HABs and their expansion due to anthropogenic forcing. Moreover, a mitigation strategy, analogous to sterile insect releases that are an effective element of agricultural pest control on land, will be investigated for the dormancy stages of HABs. As part of the EU-US Cooperation Agreement the Coastal Ocean Institute of Woods Hole Oceonagraphic Institution is actively participating in the SEED project and acts as coordinator of the project.
The Central Loess Plateau of north-western China is well known for its massive soil erosion which has emerged as one of the major environmental problems in China. It is reported that about 90 percent of the silt load washed into the Yellow River every year is generated from this area, which accounts for only about 40 percent of the total area of the Yellow River Basin. In addition to soil erosion and severe ecological degradation the region is considered to be one of the least developed and poorest regions in China. Incomes of the local population range already below the national average and continued degradation of farmland and water resources can only further deteriorate local living standards and ecological conditions. The Central Government of China has given high priority to a stable growth in the agricultural sector of the region but has also recognized that one important option to reduce soil erosion besides implementing improved farming techniques is to implement large scale restoration programmes of natural vegetation. However, current activities such as the development of fruit tree plantations and mono-species afforestation might only be of limited use in this regard. In 1999 a joint Sino-German research project between the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) and the Northwest Science and Technology University of Agriculture and Forestry (NWUF) of Yangling was initiated. The overall goal of this project is two-fold: One objective is to consolidate knowledge on remnant natural forests in the Loess Plateau Region and to explore if remaining local vegetation types can be used as guidance for larger-scale restoration in areas where original vegetation has been destroyed completely. The second component of the project is designed to generate reliable scientific data on how soil and farmland conservation can be integrated into agricultural development by using remote sensing technologies.
This study has to be understood in the frame of the global Energy Policy. A great part of world energy production is currently based on non-renewable sources: oil, gas and coal. Global warming and restricted fossil energy sources force a strong demand for another climate compatible energy supply. Therefore, fossil energy sources will nearly disappear until the end of this century. The question is to find a viable replacement. By using viable' it is meant a low-cost and environmental friendly energy. In other words, the question is to find an alternative to nuclear energy among all proposed but still not mature renewable energies. One of the solutions proposed is solar energy. Yet, two major concerns slow down its development as an alternative: first, it lacks of technological maturity and secondly it suffers from alternating supply during days and nights, winters and summers. The idea proposed by Glaser in the sixties to bypass this inconvenient is to take the energy at the source (or at least, as near as possible): in other words, to put a solar station on orbit that captures the energy without problems of climatic conditions and to redirect it through a beam to the ground. That is the concept of Solar Power Satellites. Its principal feasibility was shown by DOE / NASA in 1970 years studies (5 GW SPS in GEO). Project objectives: This phase 1 study activity is to be seen as the initial step of a series of investigations on the viability of power generation in space facing towards an European strategy on renewable, CO2 free energy generation, including a technology development roadmap pacing the way to establish in a step-wise approach on energy generation capabilities in space. The entire activity has to be embedded in an international network of competent, experienced partners. As part of this, an interrelationship to and incorporation of activities targeting the aims of the EU 6th FP ESSPERANS should be maintained. In particular, the activities related to following objectives are described: The generation of scientifically sound and objective results on terrestrial CO2 emission free power generation solutions in comparison with state-of-the-art space based solar power solutions The detailed comparison and trades between the terrestrial and the space based solutions in terms of cost, reliability and risk The identification of possible synergies between ground and space based power generation solutions The assessment on terrestrial energy storage needs by combining ground based with space based energy generation solutions The investigation of the viability of concepts in terms of energy balance of the complete systems and payback times.