We study the effects of plants and root-associated fungi on wind erosion within the alpine environment of Tibet. China is one of the countries most affected by desertification processes and Tibet, in particular, a key region in desertification combat. The presented project focuses on the Barkha Plain surrounded by Mount Kailash and the Lake of Manasarovar (Ngari Prefecture). This Western Tibet region experienced little scientific attention but, nowadays, faces rapidly increasing touristic activities and expanding local settlements associated with socio-economic changes that are serious threats to the delicate ecological balance and potential triggers of desertification. It exists almost unanimous agreement that revegetation is the most efficient and promising strategy to combat wind erosion and desertification in the long term. However, re-colonising success is often poor, mainly under extreme environmental conditions. Compared to conventional practices, the approach of the presented project attains better accordance with natural succession processes and promises acceleration of both plant and soil development and, conclusively, more efficient desertification control. The project assesses the potential of native plants and symbiotic fungi to control wind erosion and desertification processes. It aims to identify key plants and fungi that increase soil aggregate stability and efficiently drive succession into a natural and self-maintaining cycle of the ecosystem. Furthermore, it provides crucial information for implementing environmentally compatible and cost-effective measures to protect high-elevation ecosystems against desertification. Within three successional stages (early, intermediate, late), field investigations are performed on the basis of Modified-Whittaker plots. Classic methods of vegetation analysis and myco-sociology are combined with analysis of distribution patterns at different scales (patchiness, connectivity). Comprehensive soil analysis is performed comprising grain size distribution, aggregate stability, pH as well as water and nutrient contents. Additionally, important parameters of wind erosion are measured concurrently and continuously to assess their magnitude and variability with respect to vegetation and soil at different levels of development. The parameters addressed, include sediment transport, air temperature, radiation, precipitation, relative humidity as well as speed and direction of wind. Surface moisture is recorded periodically and roughness described. Species and environmental parameters are checked for spatial correlation. Cutting edge technologies are applied in laboratory work, comprising molecular methods for fungal species identification and micro-tomography to analyse soil structure. Furthermore, successfully cultivated fungi and plants are subject of synthesis experiments and industrial propagation in view of practical implementation in restoration measures.
Outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to consumptions of fresh, or partially processed, agricultural products are a growing concern in industrialized and developing countries. The incidence of human pathogens on fresh fruits and vegetables is often related to the use of recycled wastewaster in surface irrigation as well as high amounts of animal manure in agricultural management practice. Thereby the soil inhabiting fauna plays an important role in the transport and dissemination of microorganisms. The focus of the proposed project is on nematodes, well known vectors for bacteria and viruses in soil. The major goals are to: (1) survey human pathogens in soil and on/in free-living and plant parasitic nematodes in agriculture field sites irrigated with recycled wastewater or fertilized with fresh animal manure in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, (2) assess the function of nematodes as vectors in transmitting bacteria from microbial hot spots to plants, and (3) localize bacteria on and/or within the nematode and identify bacterial factors required for survival in the nematode host. Understanding the mechanisms involved in dissemination of human pathogens by nematodes will enhance the ability to develop practical means to minimize contamination of fresh produce and increase safety in food production.
BACKGROUND: The Kingdom of Jordan belongs to the ten water scarcest countries in the world, and climate change is likely to increase the frequency of future droughts. Jordan is considered among the 10 most water impoverished countries in the world, with per capita water availability estimated at 170 m per annum, compared to an average of 1,000 m per annum in other countries. Jordan Government has taken the strategic decision to develop a conveyor system including a 325 km pipe to pump 100 million cubic meters per year of potable water from Disi-Mudawwara close to the Saudi Border in the south, to the Greater Amman area in the north. The construction of the water pipeline has started end of 2009 and shall be finished in 2013. Later on, the pipeline could serve as a major part of a national water carrier in order to convey desalinated water from the Red Sea to the economically most important central region of the country. The conveyor project will not only significantly increase water supplies to the capital, but also provide for the re-allocation of current supplies to other governorates, and for the conservation of aquifers. In the context of the Disi project that is co-funded by EIB two Environmental and Social Management Plans have been prepared: one for the private project partners and one for the Jordan Government. The latter includes the Governments obligation to re-balance water allocations to irrigation and to gradually restore the protected wetlands of Azraq (Ramsar site) east of Amman that has been depleted due to over-abstraction by re-directing discharge of highland aquifers after the Disi pipeline becomes operational. The Water Strategy recognizes that groundwater extraction for irrigation is beyond acceptable limits. Since the source is finite and priority should be given to human consumption it proposes to tackle the demand for irrigation through tariff adjustments, improved irrigation technology and disincentive to water intensive crops. The Disi aquifer is currently used for irrigation by farms producing all kinds of fruits and vegetables on a large scale and exporting most of their products to the Saudi and European markets and it is almost a third of Jordan's total consumption. The licenses for that commercial irrigation were finished by 2011/12. Whilst the licenses will be not renewed the difficulty will be the enforcement and satellite based information become an important supporting tool for monitoring. OUTLOOK: The ESA funded project Water management had the objective to support the South-North conveyor project and the activities of EIB together with the MWI in Jordan to ensure the supply of water for the increasing demand. EO Information provides a baseline for land cover and elevation and support the monitoring of further stages. usw.
Der Ozean im Westpazifik ist mit Temperaturen von ganzjährig 30°C der wärmste Ozean der Welt. Im tropischen Westpazifik ist die Lufttemperatur der Grenzschicht weltweit am höchsten und die Ozonkonzentration am niedrigsten. Aufgrund der allgemeinen Advektion der Luftmassen in der unteren und mittleren Troposphäre aus dem Osten durch die Walker-Zirkulation über den Pazifik befindet sich die Luft über dem tropischen Westpazifik für längere Zeit in einer sauberen, warmen und feuchten Umgebung. Der Abbau von reaktiven Sauerstoff- und Ozonvorläufern wie NOx findet daher länger als anderswo in den Tropen, was zu sehr niedrigen Ozonkonzentrationen führte. Dies erhöht die Lebensdauer von kurzlebigen biogenen und anthropogenen Spurengasen. Darüber hinaus begünstigen hohe Meeresoberflächentemperaturen eine starke Konvektion im tropischen Westpazifik, was zu niedrigen Ozonmischungsverhältnissen in den konvektiven Ausflussgebieten in der oberen Troposphäre führen kann. Der Warmpool im Westpazifik ist auch eine wichtige Quellregion für stratosphärische Luft. Daher fallen die Region, in der die Lebensdauer kurzlebiger Spurengase erhöht ist, und die Quellregion der stratosphärischen Luft zusammen. Somit bestimmt die Zusammensetzung der troposphärischen Atmosphäre in dieser Region in hohem Maße auch die globale stratosphärische Zusammensetzung.Ozon ist aufgrund von Rückkopplungsprozessen zwischen Temperatur, Dynamik und Ozon ein wichtiges Spurengas in der Klimaforschung. Da der Warmpool im Westpazifik die Hauptquellenregion für stratosphärische Luft ist, ist die Kenntnis von Ozon und anderen kurzlebigen Spurengasen auch wichtig, um den Transport von Spurengasen in die Stratosphäre zu verstehen.Ziel unseres Projektes ist die Messung des Tagesgangs von Ozon und anderen Spurengasen mit Hilfe der hochauflösenden solaren Absorptions-FTIR-Spektroskopie. Die Messungen liefern die Gesamtsäulendichten von bis zu 20 Spurengasen. Für einige Spurengase erlaubt die Analyse der Spektrallinienform die Ableitung der Konzentrationsprofile in bis zu etwa vier atmosphärischen Höhenschichten. Ergänzt werden die Beobachtungen durch Ozonballonsondierungen, kontinuierliche Messungen der UV-Strahlung, und Modellrechnungen mit einem Chemie-Transport-Modell. Die Messungen sind für den Zeitraum August bis Oktober 2022 geplant, die Auswertung und Interpretation von November 2022 bis Januar 2023.
Aims: Floods in small and medium-sized river catchments have often been a focus of attention in the past. In contrast to large rivers like the Rhine, the Elbe or the Danube, discharge can increase very rapidly in such catchments; we are thus confronted with a high damage potential combined with almost no time for advance warning. Since the heavy precipitation events causing such floods are often spatially very limited, they are difficult to forecast; long-term provision is therefore an important task, which makes it necessary to identify vulnerable regions and to develop prevention measures. For that purpose, one needs to know how the frequency and the intensity of floods will develop in the future, especially in the near future, i.e. the next few decades. Besides providing such prognoses, an important goal of this project was also to quantify their uncertainty. Method: These questions were studied by a team of meteorologists and hydrologists from KIT and GFZ. They simulated the natural chain 'large-scale weather - regional precipitation - catchment discharge' by a model chain 'global climate model (GCM) - regional climate model (RCM) - hydrological model (HM)'. As a novel feature, we performed so-called ensemble simulations in order to estimate the range of possible results, i.e. the uncertainty: we used two GCMs with different realizations, two RCMs and three HMs. The ensemble method, which is quite standard in physics, engineering and recently also in weather forecasting has hitherto rarely been used in regional climate modeling due to the very high computational demands. In our study, the demand was even higher due to the high spatial resolution (7 km by 7 km) we used; presently, regional studies use considerably larger grid boxes of about 100 km2. However, our study shows that a high resolution is necessary for a realistic simulation of the small-scale rainfall patterns and intensities. This combination of high resolution and an ensemble using results from global, regional and hydrological models is unique. Results: By way of example, we considered the low-mountain range rivers Mulde and Ruhr and the more alpine Ammer river in this study, all of which had severe flood events in the past. Our study confirms that heavy precipitation events will occur more frequently in the future. Does this also entail an increased flood risk? Our results indicate that in any case, the risk will not decrease. However, each catchment reacts differently, and different models may produce different precipitation and runoff regimes, emphasizing the need of ensemble studies. A statistically significant increase of floods is expected for the river Ruhr in winter and in summer. For the river Mulde, we observe a slight increase of floods during summer and autumn, and for the river Ammer a slight decrease in summer and a slight increase in winter.
Background: Ghanas transition forests, neighbouring savannahs and timber plantations in the Ashanti region face a constant degradation due to the increased occurrence of fires. In most cases the fires are deliberately set by rural people for hunting purposes. Main target is a cane rat, here called grasscutter (Thryonomys swinderianus), whose bushmeat is highly esteemed throughout the country. The animal is a wild herbivorous rodent of subhumid areas in Africa south of the Sahara. The grasscutter meat is an important source of animal protein. Existing high-value timber plantations (mainly Teak, Tectona grandis) are affected by fires for hunting purposes. Thus resulting in growth reduction, loss of biomass or even complete destruction of the forest stands. It became obvious that solutions had to be sought for the reduction of the fire risk. Objectives: Since 2004 the Institute for World Forestry of the Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products, Hamburg, Germany is cooperating with a Ghanaian timber plantation company (DuPaul Wood Treatment Ltd.) the German Foundation for Forest Conservation in Africa (Stiftung Walderhaltung in Afrika) and the Center for International Migration with the purpose to improve the livelihood of the rural population in the surroundings of the forest plantation sites and simultaneously to safeguard and improve the timber plantations. The introduction of grasscutter rearing systems to local farmers accompanied by permanent agricultural and agroforestry practices appeared to be a promising approach for the prevention of fires in the susceptible areas. Additionally a functioning grasscutter breeding system could contribute to the improvement of food security, development of income sources and the alleviation of poverty. The following measures are implemented: - Identification of farmers interested in grasscutter captive breeding, - Implementation of training courses for farmers on grasscutter rearing, - Delivery of breeding animals, - Supervision of rearing conditions by project staff, - Development of a local extension service for monitoring activities, - Evaluation of structures for grasscutter meat marketing. Results: After identification of key persons for animal rearing training courses were successfully passed and animals were delivered subsequently. Further investigations will evaluate the effects of the grasscutter rearing in the project region. This will be assessed through the - Acceptance of grasscutter rearing by farmers, - Success of the animal caging, - Reproduction rate, - Meat quality, - Marketing success of meat, - Reduction of fire in the vicinity of the timber plantations, - Improvement of peoples livelihood.
Background: An increasing frequency of massive flooding along the lower Yangtse River in China ended in a disastrous catastrophe in summer 1998 leaving several thousand people homeless, more than 3.600 dead and causing enormous economic damage. Inappropriate land-use techniques and large scale timber felling in the water catchment of the upper Yangtse and its feeder streams were stated to be the main causes. Immediate timber cutting bans were imposed and investigations on land use patterns were initiated by the Chinese Government. The Institute for World Forestry of the Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products was approached by the Yunnan Academy of Forestry in Kunming to exchange experiences and to cooperate scientifically in the design and application of appropriate afforestation and silvicultural management techniques in the water catchment area of the Yangtse. This cooperation was initiated in 1999 and is based on formal agreements in the fields of agrarian research between the German and Chinese Governments. Objectives: The cooperation was in the first step focussing on the identification of factors which caused the enormous floodings. After their identification measures of prevention were determined and put into practice. In this context experiences made in past centuries in the alpine region of central Europe served as an incentive and example for similar environmental problems and solutions under comparable conditions. Relevant key questions of the cooperation project were: - Analysis of forest related factors influencing the recent floodings of the Yangtse, - Analysis and evaluation of silvicultural management experiences from central Europe for know-how transfer, - Evaluation of rehabilitation measures for successful application in Yunnan, - Dissemination of knowledge through vocational training. Results: - Frequent wild grazing of husbandry is a key factor for forest degeneration beyond unsustainable timber harvests, forest fires and insect calamities leading to increased water run-off in the mountainous region of Yunnan; - Browsing of cattle interrupts succession thus avoiding natural regeneration and leaving a logging ban ineffective; - Mountain pasture in the Alps had similar effects in the past in central Europe. The introduction of controlled grazing has led to an ecologically compatible coexistence of pasture and ecology. Close-to-nature forestry can have positive effects in this sensitive environment. - Afforestation with site adopted broadleaves and coniferous tree species was implemented on demonstration level using advanced techniques in Yunnan.
Gefrierkonservierungen wurden bisher nur bei wenigen Fischarten erfolgreich durchgefuehrt. Weiterentwicklung der Methoden ist notwendig. Ziel: Schaffung praxisreifer Methoden zur Anwendung bei der kontrollierten Vermehrung von Fischen. Methoden: Konservierung in Fluessigstickstoff.
| Organisation | Count |
|---|---|
| Bund | 1252 |
| Europa | 30 |
| Global | 4 |
| Kommune | 4 |
| Land | 48 |
| Wissenschaft | 456 |
| Zivilgesellschaft | 18 |
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Förderprogramm | 1252 |
| unbekannt | 1 |
| License | Count |
|---|---|
| Offen | 1252 |
| Unbekannt | 1 |
| Language | Count |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | 522 |
| Englisch | 912 |
| Resource type | Count |
|---|---|
| Datei | 1 |
| Dokument | 10 |
| Keine | 946 |
| Webseite | 306 |
| Topic | Count |
|---|---|
| Boden | 990 |
| Lebewesen und Lebensräume | 1239 |
| Luft | 828 |
| Mensch und Umwelt | 1249 |
| Wasser | 829 |
| Weitere | 1253 |