The project aims at achieving a better understanding of the processes that drive or limit the response of grassland systems in a world of increasing atmospheric pCO2. We will test the hypothesis that the previously shown increase in below-ground allocation of C under elevated pCO2 provides the necessary energy excess and will stimulate free-living N2 fixers in a low N grassland environment. The project thus aims at assessing the occurrence and importance of free-living N2 fixers under elevated pCO2 and identify the associated microbial communities involved in order to better understand ecosystems response and sustainability of grassland systems. This project had the last opportunity to obtain soil samples from a grassland ecosystem adapted to long-term (10 year) elevated atmospheric pCO2 as the Swiss FACE experiment. The project aims to identify the relevant components of free-living diazotrophs of the microbial community using 15N stable isotope - DNA probing.
In order to study the effects of parasitoid associated factors on lepidopteran larval hosts we used g-irradiation of sterilize females of the braconid parasitoid Glyptapanteles liparidis. Along with eggs, G. liparidis females inject a secrete of the calyx gland containing particles of a symbiotic virus, the polydnavirus (PDV) and venom into the host. These associated factors are known from other host-parasitoid systems to suppress the immune system of the host and cause alterations in its development. g-irradiation should sterilize the eggs inside the wasp's ovary, so that sterile eggs are oviposited together with PDV and venom and the influence of parasitoid larvae inside the host is excluded. We irradiated G. liparidis females with different doses, ranging from 2.4 to 10.5 krad, in a Co60 g-irradiator. L. dispar larvae were stung by such irradiated wasps as well as untreated wasps, and the development of hosts and parasitoid progeny was controlled by rearing and dissections of hosts. Also G. liparidis were reared under controlled conditions to measure the effect of irradiation on their longevity and oviposition. A sting by an irradiated wasp (= pseudoparasitization) caused prolonged development and supernumerary molts of L. dispar larvae, and lead to the production of heavier pupae. However, such pseudoparasitized hosts suffered from higher pupal mortality due to incomplete larval-pupal molts or incomplete hardening of pupal cuticle. Effects on the host immune system were studied indirectly using an additional infection with the entomopathogenic microsporidium Vairimorpha sp. Pseudoparasitized hosts died earlier from the microsporidiosis and showed infections of higher intensity. For G. liparidis adults the g-irradiation caused no marked reduction in lifespan, except at the highest dose of 10.5 krad, but irradiated females laid significantly fewer eggs. The treatment did not result in complete sterilisation; about 10 to 20 percent of parasitoid eggs did hatch and such G. liparidis were able to complete their development to adults. Further studies will investigate the incomplete sterilization of G. liparidis eggs by g-irradiation. We will test whether these synovigenic wasps can recover after a certain time after irradiation and produce fertile eggs again. Consequently, we aim to develop a protocol of dose and timing of g-irradiation to give the best results for using it as a tool in studying the effects of PDV and venom of G. liparidis.
Based on a better understanding of terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem functioning ALARM will develop and test methods and protocols for the assessment of large-scale environmental risks in order to minimise negative direct and indirect human impacts. Research will focus on assessment and forecast of changes in biodiversity and in structure, function, and dynamics of ecosystems. This relates to ecosystem services and includes the relationship between society, economy and biodiversity. In particular, risks arising from climate change, environmental chemicals, biological invasions and pollinator loss in the context of current and future European land use patterns will be assessed. There is an increasing number of case studies on the environmental risks subsequent to each of these impacts. This yields an improved understanding on how these act individually and affect living systems. Whereas the knowledge on how they act in concert is poor and ALARM will be the first research initiative with the critical mass needed to deal with such aspects of combined impacts and their consequences. So far the ALARM consortium combines the expertise of 54 partners from 26 countries (19 EU, Bulgaria, Romania, Israel, Switzerland, Russia, Chile, and Argentina). Within this call we propose to include 16 new TTC partners from Russia, Belarus, China, South-Africa, India, Croatia, Ukraine, Serbia & Montenegro, The Philippines, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Mexico, in order to complement expertise and geographical coverage of the existing consortium.
Der aktuelle Sachstand bei der Erstellung von Luftreinhalte- und Aktionsplänen in Deutschland wird mit Hilfe einer eingehenden Analyse derzeit veröffentlichter Pläne beschrieben (Stand: 31.08.2008). Diese Pläne stellen in der Zusammenschau eine umfangreiche Darstellung der aktuellen Luftschadstoffsituation, der verschiedenen Methoden der Prognose und der diskutierten Maßnahmen dar. Als wichtiges Hilfsmittel der vergleichenden Auswertung dient die Darstellung der Daten der Luftreinhaltepläne als thematische Karte. Es gibt zahlreiche strukturelle und inhaltliche Unterschiede zwischen den verschiedenen Entwicklungsstufen der Pläne und ebenso zwischen den Plänen verschiedener Bundesländer. Zur Klassifizierung der in den Plänen genannten Maßnahmen wurde in den vorigen Arbeiten (FKZ 204 42 222) und (FKZ 363 01 140) ein Maßnahmenschema entwickelt, das im vorliegenden Bericht nochmals erweitert wurde. Mit diesem Analysewerkzeug wurden alle bis zum 31.08.2008 vorgelegten Veröffentlichungen, d. h. Pläne, Fortschreibungen und Entwürfe, systematisch erfasst und untersucht. Um die Vergleichbarkeit der in den Plänen aufgeführten Maßnahmen zu gewährleisten, wurde die in den Vorgängerarbeiten entwickelte Zusammenstellung von standardisierten Maßnahmen weitergeführt. Diese sogenannten Standard- Maßnahmen stellen ein zentrales Element der Maßnahmenanalyse dar und bilden alle Maßnahmen ab, die in Deutschland laut den vorgelegten Plänen durchgeführt, geplant oder diskutiert werden. Die erneute Aktualisierung dient insbesondere auch dazu festzustellen, mit welchen Maßnahmen die Länder planen, die ab 2010 gültigen Luftqualitätsgrenzwerte einzuhalten. Umweltzonen haben sich, wie bereits in den Vorgängerarbeiten gezeigt, als wichtiges Element im Maßnahmenbündel etabliert. Die neue Bestandsaufnahme erfasst auch den aktuellen und geplanten Stand der Umweltzonen. Das Vorhaben diskutiert darüber hinaus die Abschätzung der Wirksamkeit der Maßnahmen im Hinblick auf das Minderungspotenzial für PM10-Feinstaub und Stickstoffdioxid unter Berücksichtigung anderer nationaler Wirkungsuntersuchungen.
The overall objective of ERAP harm is to improve and complement existing knowledge and procedures for the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals. Based on EU regulatory frameworks on the ERA of pharmaceuticals and on the outcome of previous projects ERAP harm will address the following aspects: It will investigate previously unstudied major routes leading to exposure of the terrestrial and aquatic environment and subsequent fate of pharmaceuticals in surface water and sediment. Factors and processes affecting the behavior of pharmaceuticals in the environment will be studied on the laboratory, semi-field and fieldscale. A scenario-based exposure assessment system will be developed for predicting concentrations of pharmaceuticals in soils, surface waters and sediments and leaching to groundwater. It will be investigated if environmentally relevant concentrations of pharmaceuticals pose a risk to aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Pharmaceuticals and selected transformation products will be screened using in vitro and low complexity bioanalytical tests in order to provide a first hazard characterization and to target higher tier testing. Higher tier test methods will be improved and applied for detecting the effects of long-term, low-level exposure to pharmaceuticals on aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates and fish. It will be evaluated if information on pharmaco- and toxicodynamics in mammalian species can be used to predict effects of pharmaceuticals on environmental organisms. Moreover, the effects of antibiotics on microbial communities will be studied with a main focus on the spread of genetically encoded resistance. Based on the developed approaches recommendations will be provided on how to improve the ERA procedures for pharmaceuticals. A guidance document will be compiled that will be made available to regulators, industry and the scientific community.
This GSE-FM service option provides a powerful tool for effective forest monitoring and inventory at regional scale using both EO-data and ground based observations. It is especially designed for allocating reliable and up-to-date information over large forest areas. Many regions of the world like wide parts of Russia and the Irkutsk Oblast are covered by vast forests. The countries and administrative regions often have to deal with pressing environmental problems such as frequent forest fires events, illegal logging practices as well as other human activities and natural forest disturbances. Due to the large forest areas, which are often difficult to access or characterized by insufficient infrastructure and severe climate conditions, frequent monitoring of the forest resources is a great challenge. Forest monitoring by the means of ground inventories is rather complicated or even impossible. The use of aerial photographs is also often insufficient and cost-intensive. As a result, forest information available today, often does not correspond to the current situation. This is true for wide parts of Siberia, for example. However, according to their own legislation and to fulfill international obligations up-to-date and reliable information on forest resources are essential. For instance, in order to update the Russian State Forest Account as well as for forest management and monitoring issues an annual update of forest information is obligatory. The use of EO-technologies offers an excellent tool to obtain spatial forest information. Especially for regions covered by vast forest areas the combined use of high and low resolution EO-data is the most promising and cost-efficient strategy. Therefore, this GSE-FM service option follows a two-level strategy: Level 1: Low and medium resolution satellite data are used for operational monitoring of forest changes over large areas caused by fires, cutting, and other natural and human induced disturbances. Territories where significant changes occurred are identified at this level. Level 2: Both high-resolution satellite data and aerial photos are used for a detailed inventory of all candidates registered by the first level observations. Ground truth data (inventory maps, topography, archive EO data etc.) are used in addition.
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.
The proposal suggests the organisation of the 7th EC Conference on Cultural Heritage Research in Prague, in 2006. The scope of the project stems from the SSP priorities, and the conference aims at the consolidation and impact assessment of results achieved in EU research projects related to movable and immovable cultural heritage, with a special focus on exploitation and spin-off of cultural heritage research results and testing of the acceptability of new sustainability approaches and new technologies by the user community, SMEs, owners, managers and restorers or conservationists of the cultural heritage. The Prague conference has been designed to further define the role of Europes cultural heritage research within the international context and as part of international cooperation, to explore the possibilities for SMEs in contributing to competitiveness and job creation, to define the support of cultural heritage research to policy needs and to contribute to the 7th Framework Programme establishment through support of the European Construction Technology Platform concept and research infrastructure development. The wider public will be addressed by means of special accompanying events, too, in order to ensure feedback and response from non-professional stakeholders. The Conference will consist of sessions dealing with political exploitation and public dissemination of cultural heritage research, the international role of European cultural heritage research, poster displays and verbal presentations of policy impact assessment, research infrastructure achievements, innovative applications and new ideas, as well as coordination of national education and research into cultural heritage issues. Public and professional awareness shall be increased by special demonstration and post-conference activities, including publication of the Conference Proceedings. The results and continuing activities will be supported by IT tools and follow-up working groups, after the event.
Differenzierung der Quellen- und Senkenfunktion des Bodens unter Berücksichtigung der Nutzungsgeschichte. Im Rahmen des CARBOEUROFLUX-Projekts wurden im Hainich (Thüringen) Kohlenstoff (C)- Speicherungsraten festgestellt, die der Vorstellung der Kohlendioxid-Neutralität von alten Wäldern widersprechen und die Frage nach deren Kyoto-Relevanz aufwerfen. Im Rahmen europäischer Projekte lässt sich allerdings nicht klären, wie diese hohen Speicherraten entstehen und wo C im System verbleibt. Wir vermuten, dass durch historischen C-Export, z.B. infolge von Streunutzung, die Böden im Hainich verarmten und die entleerten Speicher jetzt wieder aufgefüllt werden. Um das Ausmaß des nutzungsbedingten C-Exports abschätzen zu können, werden aus Schriftquellen Art und Umfang der Biomassenutzung in ihrer zeitlichen und örtlichen Entwicklung rekonstruiert. Zudem untersuchen wir, welche Anteile des C-Eintrages veratmet, gespeichert und über den Wasserpfad exportiert werden. Hierzu werden 13C und 14C- Isotopenverhältnisse an Bodengasen sowie gelöstem und festem Boden- C bestimmt. Unsere Untersuchungen zielen auf ein grundlegendes Verständnis der C-Speicherung im Jahresverlauf ab. Die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kompetenzzentrum 'Dynamik Komplexer Geosysteme' und dem europäischen CARBOEUROPE Cluster wird die Doppelerhebung von Daten verhindern und deren gegenseitige Verfügbarkeit sicherstellen. Ziel der Arbeit ist es, den historischen Kohlenstoffexport insbesondere unter Berücksichtigung der forstlichen Nebennutzung abzuschätzen. Hierzu soll anhand von Literaturdaten einerseits die Vegetationsgeschichte geklärt werden. Andererseits soll der im Untersuchungsgebiet im Zuge der forstlichen und landwirtschaftlichen Nutzungen erfolgte Biomasseentzug nach Art und Umfang dokumentiert werden. Diese Arbeiten sind notwendig, um den Einfluss der Nutzungsgeschichte auf die Kohlenstoffspeicherung im Untersuchungsstandort abzuschätzen. Im Rahmen des Gesamtprojektes sollen zunächst Daten zur Entwicklung der Biomasse im Untersuchungsgebiet zusammengestellt werden. Eine weitere Aufgabe besteht darin, auf der Basis von Literaturstudien einen möglichen Vergleichsstandort mit unterschiedlicher Nutzungsgeschichte zu identifizieren.
In contrast to their advances in other areas, weather forecast models have not been successful in improving the Quantitative Precipitation Forecast during the last 16 years. One reason for this stagnation is the lack of comprehensive, high-quality data sets usable for model validation as well as for data assimilation, thus leading to improved initial fields in numerical models. Theoretical analyses have identified the requirements measured data have to meet in order to close the gaps in process understanding. In field campaigns, it has been shown that the newest generation of remote sensing systems has the potential to yield data sets of the required quality. It is therefore time to combine the most powerful remote sensing instruments with proven ground-based and airborne measurement techniques in an Intensive Observations Period (IOP). Its goal is to serve as a backbone for the SPP 1167 by producing the demanded data sets of unachieved accuracy and resolution. This requires a sophisticated scientific preparation and a careful coordination between the efforts of the institutions involved. For the first time, the pre-convective environment, the formation of clouds and the onset and development of precipitation as well as its intensity will be observed in four dimensions simultaneously in a region of sufficient size. This shall be achieved by combining the IOP with international programs and by collaboration between leading scientists in Europe, US and other countries. Thus, the IOP is a unique opportunity to make Germany the setting of an international field campaign featuring the newest generation of measurement systems such as scanning radar and lidar and leading to outstanding advances in atmospheric sciences.
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