In addition to recognizing natural selection as a universal mechanism in evolution, Darwin also saw the importance of sexual selection, yet the two have been traditionally treated largely in isolation. Here I propose to apply experimental evolution (exposing experimental populations to controlled specific selective pressures over many generations in the laboratory) to the ideally suited model system Tribolium castaneum to explore how these evolutionary forces interact and impact on the key processes underlying biodiversity. Understanding how these fundamental forces, singly and in conjunction, influence species divergence remains a major challenge in evolutionary biology. Participation of sexual selection in driving speciation is supported by substantial theoretical evidence. Theory further suggests that evolutionary conflicts (such as between the sexes or between host and parasite) might also accelerate extinction. Additional complexity is introduced by including the environmental context, linking back to natural selection. Direct experimental tests of the above concepts are essentially lacking. I will explicitly target this gap by exploiting powerful experimental evolution, incorporating the interplay between sexual selection intensity, host-parasite conflict, and adaptation to increasing temperature. Projects will assess how selection under evolutionary conflict and environmental change affects both adaptation and extinction rates, aiming to elucidate underlying mechanisms. Additionally, building on clear phenotypic divergence in key traits across experimental evolution lines, I will significantly expand on previous work by assessing patterns of divergence in gene expression, concentrating on target genes associated with reproduction, immunity and heat shock. This research will be of particular interest to scientists working in the fields of evolutionary biology and behavioural ecology, but also to ecologists, reproductive biologists, and conservation biologists. As Tribolium beetles are widespread agricultural pests, results will also be relevant to more applied researchers.
The Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA) is one of the internationally acting cross-cutting research networks of DIVERSITAS. GMBA acts as a platform of the international mountain biodiversity research (www.gmba.unibas.ch), currently listing more than 700 active partners worldwide. It aims to synthesise often fragmented knowledge, organize workshops/symposia and promote participation in international research projects. GMBA has also developed internationally accorded research guidelines for specific fields and encourages collaborative research programmes throughout the world and advocates the open access philosophy of GBIF and e-mining of mountain biodiversity data. The GMBA office is coordinating a network of field experiments worldwide, aiming to quantify the influences of land use and biodiversity on catchment value in steep mountian terrain, with successfully funded Joint Research Projects in Bolivia, Georgia, Austria, and upcomming projects in France, Switzerland and China. Main products of this funding period will include: - Global mountain biodiversity data portal and promotion of open access of geo-referenced mountain biodiversity data, in collaboration with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) in Copenhagen, Denmark; - publication of a synthesis book on mountain biodiversity data mining and results of comparative data-mining of GMBA data expert; - synthesis of results of the world-wide network of field experiments on land use and biodiversity, and catchment value in mountains (in a special journal issue or synthesis volume); - GMBA will link the mountain biodiversity community with the International Mechanism of Scientific Expertise on Biodiversity (IMoSEB), an international scientific biodiversity assessment panel. - organisation of the 2nd GMBA open science conference on mountain biodiversity in 2010. This will be the 10-year anniversary of GMBA under Swiss leadership.
In the past years, the persisting threat of desertification and degradation of natural resources has resulted in a large number of initiatives and research efforts on a global scale, including the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Despite significant progress, knowledge still remains fragmented in many fields, especially with respect to the definition of related indicators or early warning systems. The specific support activity 'Remote Sensing and Geoinformation processing in the assessment and monitoring of land degradation and desertification in support of the UNCCD. State of the art and operational perspectives', intends to serve as a platform to bring together leading scientists working in the fields of remote sensing and geoinformatics with a focus on desertification and land degradation with potential users. A dedicated conference striving for attention on a world wide level will be the core around which various other activities are assembled. Commissioned studies in specific target fields will provide an overview on the state of the art, being complemented through methodological and application studies. Besides taking care of a sound scientific management and logistic organisation of the conference, major efforts will be dedicated towards the international visibility of the event and its results by providing for a high-level dissemination following different pathways (abstract book/CDROM, special issues of scientific journals, printed conference proceedings). A web site will provide further dissemination of the project as well as dynamic elements. Following principles set forth by the Commission under the ENRICH initiative and the quest to strengthen the European Research Area, the project will address renowned scientific experts, and support the participation of experts and stakeholders from third world and developing countries, which are often among the regions most affected from desertification and land degradation.
Many of the world's mountain ecosystems are moving along trajectories that couple high rates of environmental change with strong economic changes, whose collective effect may alter the ability of mountain regions to provide critical goods and services, both to mountain inhabitants and lowland communities. In order to address the environmental challenges facing the world's mountain regions in the 21st Century, we will develop an integrative research strategy for detecting signals of global environmental change in mountain environments, for defining the consequences of these changes for mountain regions as well as lowland areas dependent on mountain resources, and for facilitating the development of sustainable resource management regimes for mountain regions. Following a kick-off meeting, the details of the research strategy will be formulated through a series of product-oriented workshops dedicated to: 1) Long-term Monitoring, 2) Integrated Modelling, 3) Process Studies, and 4) Sustainable Development. The concepts developed in these Thematic Workshops will be revisited, refined and synthesised during a final Open Science Conference on Global Change in Mountain Regions. By gearing the research strategy toward implementation in mountain Biosphere Reserves, the project will take advantage of the existing UNESCO infrastructure and ongoing Global Change research in these areas. The structure of UNESCO mountain Biosphere Reserves provides ideal natural Global Change laboratories with core protected mountainous areas surrounded by lower-elevation buffer zones that are more strongly influenced by human activities. European scientific participation, capacity building and leadership will be promoted by adapting the research strategy for implementation in UNESCO's mountain Biosphere Reserves in both developed and developing countries. This will be achieved through the active participation of Biosphere Reserve managers in the development of the research strategy.
Das Anschlussprojekt hat das Ziel, die wissenschaftlichen Kompetenzen des UfU in den Feldern Partizipation und Umweltbildung zu stärken. Die Ansätze der ersten beiden Jahre sollen erfolgreich fortgeführt und nachhaltig ausgerichtet werden. Hierbei soll auch das in den ersten beiden Projektjahren restrukturierte Fachgebiet 'Ressourcenschutz und Landschaftsökologie' einbezogen werden. Insgesamt soll die wissenschaftliche Kompetenz des UfU, insbesondere im Bereich der sozialökologischen Forschung durch verschiedene Aktivitäten in den Themenfeldern Partizipation und Bildung bei Jugendlichen gesteigert werden. Der nutzerorientierte Ausbau des Internetauftritts des UfU ordnet sich hierbei ebenso ein wie ein verstärktes Auftreten des UfU auf internationalen Konferenzen. Der wissenschaftliche Beirat des UfU soll bei allen Aktivitäten unterstützend tätig werden. Zudem wird das Netzwerk verstetigt. Die Hauptaktivitäten des Anschlussprojekts sind die Ausrichtung einer internationalen Tagung zum Thema Bildung, Kommunikation und Partizipation im Bereich Klimaschutz und Klimawandel sowie die Erstellung einer Studie zu diesem Themenkomplex. Diese Studie soll die Situation der Klimaschutzbildung und Partizipationsmöglichkeiten im Bereich Klimaschutz in unterschiedlichen Staaten vergleichend analysieren. Hierfür werden zusammen mit Partnerorganisationen aus den jeweiligen Ländern qualitative Interviews und Literaturrecherchen durchgeführt. Die Studie, in die sowohl die Ergebnisse der qualitativen Erhebungen und Recherchen als auch die Resultate der Tagung einfließen, wird abschließend als UfU-Paper veröffentlicht.
The aim of the research project is to further develop and compare the acceptability and technical performance of fluoride removal filters and to explore ways of sustainably implementing these in rural Ethiopia. According to estimates of the Ethiopian Ministry of Water Resources more than 14 million people in Ethiopia rely on drinking water contaminated by fluoride in the Rift Valley region. Over 40Prozent of deep and shallow wells are contaminated and concentrations, up to 26 mg/L, are significantly higher than the present international WHO guideline value of 1.5 mg/L. The main source of fluoride are the basaltic rocks in the Rift Valley. Over 80Prozent of children suffer from different degrees of dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis is increasing, mainly among older people. The mitigation of this health problem has been hampered mainly by the lack of a suitable, inexpensive removal method. A switch to treated surface waters for drinking is being discussed, but it is accepted that fluoride removal systems for rural communities are required. To date there has been no successful implementation of such a system in Ethiopia. This project aims to combine technical and social research at both Eawag and University of Addis Ababa, including field work together with NGOs to find a solution to the mitigation of fluorosis. Not only the suggested removal techniques but also the inter- and transdisciplinary research approach is innovative. Intensive interaction of engineering and social sciences is indispensable in this project, because even the best technical solution is useless when it is not accepted by the population. This collaborative project also has an important goal of capacity and human resource development in Ethiopia. It aims at strengthening the knowledge and research capacity of the Ethiopian university and the participation of NGOs will consolidate the ties between research and implementation. Furthermore, the results will be applicable not only to Ethiopia but also for other fluorosis-affected developing countries. Two fluoride removal systems that can cope with the elevated fluoride concentrations will be further developed and tested in the field. The first, based on filtration with aluminium (Al) oxide, has been developed in the Chemistry Department of Addis Ababa University. Laboratory tests have shown a very high removal capacity, but still further laboratory and field testing is required. The second filter material is based on a calcium hydroxyapatite, including bone char, that is successfully being developed and currently implemented by the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru (CDN) in Kenya. Preliminary implementation studies with bone char filtration in Ethiopia, carried out by the NGO consortium Swiss Interchurch Aid (HEKS) / Oromo Self-Help Organisation (OSHO) in collaboration with CDN and Eawag have shown that the water composition, the high fluoride concentrations,
Objective: Developing countries are reluctant to make any binding commitment as their per capita emissions are low and climate abatement measures conflict with their main priorities on socio-economic development. The question is if there is a way to simultaneously provide sufficient energy (which is also the main source of GHG emissions), to support poverty alleviation and economic growth and achieve sufficient emission reductions. Finding an answer is the main aim of this project. It may be possible with a combination of policies and measures encompassing from international level to national level supported by committed international cooperation to achieve both the goals together. The main focus of the study is on India and China. The primary objective is to develop a portfolio of policy options including both international and national policies as well as institutional frameworks for international cooperation for these two emerging economies to engage them in climate protection measures under a post-2012 regime. By applying an integrated modeling framework, the study will explore possible multiple pathways which may exist for these countries to contribute into international climate initiatives without compromising their national development priorities. Specific objectives are: - developing country-specific integrated modeling framework to analyse policies and identify multiple pathways to achieve socio-economic and climate targets - identifying/designing international climate polices in post-Kyoto regime for future commitments and participations of emerging economies (India and China) - designing national polices (in socio-economic sectors, energy and environment) compatible with the global climate targets - designing and quantifying as much as possible the international co-operations needed to make the participation in a post-2012 regime acceptable at least in economic terms - disseminating the results to potential users for use in future negotiations.
The interest to study impacts of climate change on the terrestrial biosphere, particularly on forests, has been ever increasing over the last decades, since forests are an integral part of the global climate system and at the same time provide many ecosystem services, i.e., direct and indirect benefits for people. However, rather recently the need to quantify a whole suite of greenhouse gases (GHG), namely H2O, CO2, CH4 and N2O, was recognized. In a European effort to establish a unique network of top-level ecosystem GHG flux sites (ESFRI project ICOS; International Carbon Observation System), the main interest for the Swiss participation is focusing on the role of high mountain ecosystems in the continental GHG budget. To maximize synergies with already existing infrastructure and long-term research efforts in the subalpine zone of Switzerland, we propose to extend the on-going CO2, CH4 and H2O vapor flux measurements at Davos, Switzerland and participate in this European effort to establish the ICOS network. Our goal is to establish cutting-edge eddy covariance flux measurements of climatically relevant GHGs. With the R'Equip proposal, we will be able to add a research site to ICOS which is unique in three aspects, in its high elevation location (at 1670 m), in its flux measurement history (since 1997) and in its broad range of on-going auxiliary measurements (soil, vegetation, air pollutants). The study site Davos is a long-term site (since 1997) of the Grassland Sciences group at ETH as well as the designated Swiss primary ecosystem site of ICOS, supported by WSL and EMPA as well as FOEN and SBF. Our research is embedded in the Swiss efforts to assess GHG fluxes and land surface-atmosphere feedbacks (e.g., SwissFluxNet, C2SM, NCCR Climate, CCES-Maiolica) as well as in international efforts (e.g., CarboEurope IP, GHG-Europe, Carbo-Extreme, ICOS, FluxNet), providing relevant background information on GHG budgets of different land use types and thus the basis for post-Kyoto negotiations and sustainable land use. Thus, our objectives are to quantify CO2, H2O vapor, CH4 and N2O fluxes at the ecosystem level continuously using state-of-the art infra-red laser absorption spectrometers, enabling us (1) to test hypotheses on the magnitude of such fluxes of a forest (rarely tested for CH4 and N2O despite first reports on such fluxes and soil N2O sink capacity), (2) to determine forest responses to climatic (extreme) events, and (3) to better understand soil and ecosystem CO2 fluxes for the long-term GHG balance of a subalpine forest to ensure sustainable use of natural resources for climate protection AND wood production.
Durch das Beratungshilfeprogramm des BMU werden Staaten Mittel- und Osteuropas, Südosteuropas, im Südkaukasus und in Zentralasien sowie die Russische Förderation bei der Verbesserung des Umweltschutzes, der Stärkung ihrer Umweltverwaltungen und beim Aufbau der Zivilgesellschaft unterstützt. Das Projekt soll die Umsetzung der von der Republik Moldau bereits 1999 ratifizierten Aarhus-Konvention unterstützen. Das Vorhaben beinhaltet drei Arbeitsphasen. Zunächst wird ein Aktionsplan zur Umsetzung der Aarhus-Konvention erarbeitet, der einzelne Arbeitsschritte und Zuständigkeiten regelt. Der Arbeitsplan soll bis Februar 2010 der Öffentlichkeit vorliegen. Darauf aufbauend werden Inhalte des Aktionsplanes in konkrete Gesetzesvorschläge überführt, die sich auf die zweite Säule der Konvention (Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung) konzentrieren. Die Gesetzesvorschläge werden mit VertreterInnen des Parlaments, aus Unternehmen, Umweltverbänden und dem Umweltministerium diskutiert. Im Anschluss werden die Gesetzesvorschläge modellhaft in Verwaltungsverfahren auf ihre Praxistauglichkeit erprobt und ausgewertet.
Die Partner entwickeln ein Weiterbildungskonzept mit dem Ziel, Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmer, besonders Betriebsräte, in gewerkschaftlichen Schulungen für eine höhere Ressourceneffizienz im Betriebs- und Produktionsablauf zu sensibilisieren. Praktisch-technische Kenntnisse sollen die Beschäftigten befähigen, Veränderungsprozesse anzuregen und umzusetzen. Betriebsräte haben nach dem Betriebsverfassungsgesetz die Möglichkeit, Einfluss auf die Gestaltung von Produktionsprozessen zu nehmen. Dadurch eröffnet sich die Chance, Ressourceneffizienz stärker im Sinne der Arbeitnehmer zu gestalten und als Beitrag zur Standort- und Beschäftigungssicherung zu diskutieren. Effizienz ist nicht nur eine ökologische, sondern für Unternehmen auch eine ökonomische Frage. Rohstoffe sind ein beträchtlicher und ständig steigender Kostenfaktor: Im produzierenden Gewerbe liegen die Materialkosten bei weitem über den Lohnkosten, dennoch konzentrieren sich viele Unternehmen auf eine höhere Arbeitsproduktivität anstatt auf eine bessere Energie- und Rohstoffproduktivität.
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