In many plant species, FLOWERING LOCUS T and related proteins are the mobile signal that communicates information on photoperiod from the leaves to the shoots, where the transition to flowering is realized. FT expression is tightly controlled at the transcriptional level so that it is restricted to leaves, occurs only in appropriate photoperiods, and integrates ambient temperature and developmental cues, as well as information on biotic and abiotic stress. We previously established that FT transcription in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana requires proximal promoter cis-elements and a distal enhancer, both evolutionary conserved among Brassicacea species. In addition, FT transcription is blocked prior vernalization in biannual accessions and vernalization-dependency of FT is controlled through a CArG-box located in the first intron that binds the transcriptional repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). Chromatin-mediated repression by the Polycomb Group (PcG) pathway is required for photoperiod-dependent FT regulation and participates in FT expression level modulation in response to other cues.In this project, I propose to explore the available sequence data from the 1001 genome project in Arabidopsis to evaluate how often changes in regulatory cis-elements at FT have occurred and how these translate into an adaptive value. Allele-specific FT expression pattern will be measured in F1 hybrids of different accessions in response to varying environmental conditions. FT alleles that show cis-regulatory variation will be further analyzed to pinpoint the causal regulatory changes and study their effect in more detail. The allotetrapolyploid species Brassica napus is a hybrid of two Brassiceae species belonging to the A- and C-type genome, which are in turn mesopolyploid due to a genome triplication that occurred ca. 10x106 years ago. We will determine allele-specific expression of FT paralogs from both genomes of a collection of B. napus accessions. The plants will be grown in the field in changing environmental conditions to maximize the chance to detect expression variation of the paralogs. We will compare the contribution of the founder genomes to the regulation of flowering time and asses variation in this contribution. A particular focus will be to study the impact of chromatin-mediated repression on allele selection in B. napus.
Magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) on microcosm soil cores (200 mm Ø) used for CeMiX, comprising naturally stacked subsoil down to 700 mm plus topsoil from CeFiT, will be implemented at a laterally partially open Split 1.5 T magnet, with intended final in-plane spatial resolution of 200 Micro m. Three-dimensional biopore distributions and dynamics of their formation within the cores will be determined non-invasively and compared to complementing CT analyses of SP 2. One major aim is a non-invasive differentiation of the biopores into earthworm- and root system-originating ones and currently air-, water-, root- and earthwormfilled ones, based on NMR relaxation parameters. Attempts will additionally be made to classify different wall coatings of the biopores with regard to their water affinity. Dynamics of water distribution within the microcosm core and its biopore structures, starting from initial values taken from CeFiT (SP 3), will be documented with an in-plane resolution of 5 mm, in parallel to measurements of root growth dynamics for calculation of biomass and root surface area. Special emphasis will be put on the role of the plant root system for a re-distribution of water/D2O (and solutes) between different soil layers. Finally we will attempt MRT-controlled sample collection from the microcosm cores, to get - together with our research unit partners of SPs 4-8 - repeated access to minimally invasively acquired data on nutrient and microorganism distributions in concert with non-invasively collected water and root distribution data as a basis for dynamic modelling of water and solute circuits in SP 10. Beside the microcosm cores, flat rhizotrons as used in SP 3 will be employed to enable measurements of root and shoot hydrostatic pressure profiles with pressure probes, in addition to MRT measurements. In this way water distributions and corresponding driving forces and growth dynamics will be measured altogether in a minimally invasive manner.
Boron (B) is an essential microelement for plants. Despite the use of modern fertilization methods, B deficiency still causes losses in agricultural plant production. Even though many positive effects of B on plant growth and physiology have been reported, a large majority of B functions and the regulatory mechanisms controlling the B nutritional status remain unknown. The main objective of this project is to elucidate how the greatly B deficiency-sensitive Brassica crop plants process and regulate their B status during vegetative and reproductive growth. In this context, the project aims at identifying the mode of action of B in mechanisms regulating the B status itself and uncovering those mechanisms contributing to B efficiency in different genotypes. Plant species subjected to investigation will be the agronomically important oilseed and vegetable plant Brassica napus (rapeseed) and its close relative the genetic and molecular model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Questions addressed within the scope of this project should lead to a detailed understanding of mechanisms controlling B uptake and allocation from the level of the whole plant down to the cellular level. B transport routes and rates will be determined in sink- and source tissues and in developmental periods with a particularly high B demand. A special focus will be on the identification of B transport bottlenecks and the analysis of B deficiency-sensitive transport processes to and within the highly B-demanding reproductive organs. Recent studies in Arabidopsis suggest that Nodulin26-like Intrinsic Proteins (NIPs), which belong to the aquaporin channel protein family, are essential for plant B uptake and distribution. The systematic focus on the molecular and physiological characterization of B. napus NIPs will clarify their role in B transport and will identify novel NIP-associated mechanisms playing key roles in the B response network.To further resolve the mostly unknown impact of the B nutritional status on gene regulation and metabolism, a transcript and metabolite profile of B-sufficient and B-deficient rapeseed plants will be generated. Additionally, an Arabidopsis transcription factor knockout collection (greater 300 lines) will be screened for abnormalities in responses to the B nutritional status. This will identify yet unknown B-responsive genes (transcription factors and their targets) and gene products (enzymes or metabolite variations) playing key roles in signalling pathways and mechanisms regulating the B homeostasis. Boron (in form of boric acid) and arsenite (As) share in all likelihood the same NIP-mediated transport pathways. To assess the consequences of this dual transport pathway the so far unstudied impact of the plants B nutritional status on the accumulation and distribution of As will be investigated in B. napus. Moreover, the current dimension of the As contamination of Brassica-based food products, to which consumers are exposed to, will be analyzed. usw.
Im April 2012 führte PUMA das Rücknahmesystem Bring Me Back ein. Seither können Kunden in PUMA Stores weltweit gebrauchte Produkte zurückgeben, die dann durch die Firma I:CO der Weiterverwendung und Verwertung zugeführt werden. Auch die Produkte der neuen recyclefähigen und biologisch abbaubaren PUMA-InCycle-Kollektion, die seit März 2013 auf dem Markt sind, werden so erfasst. Hierzu gehört etwa das recycelbare PUMA Track Jacket, das zu 98 Prozent aus Polyester aus gebrauchten PET-Flaschen besteht. Der PUMA-Rucksack aus Polypropylen wird nach Gebrauch an den ursprünglichen Hersteller zurückgegeben, der das Material wieder zu neuen Rucksäcken verarbeitet. Durch solche Neuentwicklungen will PUMA seine Planungs- und Entscheidungsbasis verbessern. Deshalb hat sie bifa mit der Analyse abfallwirtschaftlicher Optionen für gebrauchte PUMA Produkte beauftragt. bifa untersuchte hierzu Referenzprodukte und Optionen für die Erfassung und Sortierung von Produkten und Materialien. 35 Pfade mit unterschiedlichen Verwertungs- und Beseitigungsansätzen wurden entwickelt und bewertet. Die Realisierungschancen der Pfade wurden dann dem zu erwartenden Nutzen insbes. für die Umwelt gegenübergestellt. Dabei wurde zwischen gut entwickelten und wenig entwickelten Abfallwirtschaften (Waste-Picking-Szenario W-P-Szenario) unterschieden. Es zeigte sich, dass Pfade, die im Szenario Abfallwirtschaft ökologisch nachteilig sind, im W-P-Szenario durchaus vorteilhaft sein können. Im W-P-Szenario sind zudem Pfade realisierbar, die in entwickelten Abfallwirtschaften keine Chance hätten. Die moderne Abfallverbrennung ist für W-P-Szenarien ökologisch vorteilhaft, aber dennoch eine schwierige Option. In entwickelten Abfallwirtschaften sollten Sammlung und Wiedereinsatz gebrauchter Schuhe und Textilien weiterentwickelt werden. Die folgenden generellen Empfehlungen wurden gegeben: - Der Einsatz von Recyclingmaterialien in PUMA-Produkten ist aus ökologischer Sicht zu empfehlen. Diese Erkenntnis wird auch durch die Ergebnisse der ersten ökologischen Gewinn-und-Verlust-Rechnung von PUMA belegt. Über die Hälfte aller Umweltauswirkungen entlang der gesamten Produktions- und Lieferkette des Unternehmens werden bei der Herstellung von Rohmaterialien verursacht - Das Produktdesign sollte auch für bestehende Verwertungspfade optimiert werden, da realistischerweise nur ein Teil der Produkte über das Sammelsystem erfasst werden kann - Die ökologischen Vorteile von Produkten, die aus nur einem Material bestehen, kommen nur dann zum Tragen, wenn das Produkt nach Gebrauch aussortiert und das Material tatsächlich recycelt wird - Biol. abbaubare Produkte können auch Nachteile haben, zum Beispiel die schnellere Entwicklung von klimaschädlichem Methan bei ungeordneter Deponierung - Eine Verlängerung der Produktlebensdauer über den gesamten Lebenszyklus einschl. der Verwendung als Gebrauchtprodukt ist der effektivste Weg, Umweltlasten zu reduzieren. Meth. Ökobilanzierung und Systemanalyse (Text gekürzt)
Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is an important cereal grain which serves as major animal fodder crop as well as basis for malt beverages or staple food. Currently barley is ranked fourth in terms of quantity of cereal crops produced worldwide. In times of a constantly growing world population in conjunction with an unforeseeable climate change and groundwater depletion, the accumulation of knowledge concerning cereal growth and rate of yield gain is important. The Nordic Genetic Resource Center holds a major collection of barley mutants produced by irradiation or chemical treatment. One phenotypic group of barley varieties are dwarf mutants (erectoides, brachytic, semidwarf, uzu). They are characterized by a compact spike and high rate of yield while the straw is short and stiff, enhancing the lodging resistance of the plant. Obviously they are of applied interest, but they are also of scientific interest as virtually nothing is known about the genes behind the development of plant dwarfism. The aim of this project is to identify and isolate the genes carrying the mutations by using state of the art techniques for gene cloning at the Carlsberg Laboratory. The identified genes will be connected with the mutant phenotype to reveal the gene function in general. One or two genes will be overexpressed and the resulting recombinant proteins will be biochemically and structurally characterized. The insights how the mutation effects the protein will display the protein function in particular. Identified genes and their mutant alleles will be tested in the barley breeding program of the Carlsberg brewery.
While considerable uncertainties are associated with the understanding of the earth's climate system, General Circulation Models (GCMs) commonly predict future widespread temperature increases into the next century. Impacts of the recent warming have been recognized for both abiotic (e.g., permafrost melting) and biotic (e.g., spring greening) systems. Forests represent an important biosphere component, as they contain about 90Prozent of the living terrestrial biomass, significantly regulate the land-atmosphere flux of water vapor, and are of considerable economic importance to society. However, even without consideration of feedbacks, warming impacts on ecosystem functioning in general and forests in particular, are difficult to predict due to their great complexity. In this project we will study the influence of a warming climate on tree-growth. To reach this objective, we have selected a study location (Lötschental Valley in the Central Swiss Alps) that offers a 1000 meter elevational gradient within a confined geographical region. The Lötschental offers both north and south facing slopes that are forested from the valley bottom (ca.1300 m asl) to treeline (ca.2300 m asl) with inter-mixed evergreen spruce (Picea abies) and deciduous larch (Larix decidua) trees. The temperature change along this transect (ca. 4 C) roughly corresponds with that projected for the year 2100 based on GCMs. As effects from warming may involve non-linear and subtle shifts in growing season length and cellular activity, significant emphasis will be placed on temporally highly-resolved (intra-seasonal) field measurements including: i) weekly collection of microcore samples, ii) hourly dendrometer measurements, iii) weekly phenological observations, and iv) in-situ meteorological measurements. Data will provide 'snapshots' of how trees grow and form annual rings at the cellular level and allow us to understand exactly how long cells spend in their various life stages. Details about the timing and duration of tracheid growth for different growing seasons (2007 - 2010) and as a function of elevation, will allow determination of climatic influences upon growing season length and growth rates for two major tree species. Our results will be used to help calibrate models of tree growth and will allow better prediction of how trees will respond to the future projected warming.
Die Insektensammlung des DEI ist mit etwa 3.000.000 präparierten Objekten eine faktische Datensammlung, die kritisch erschlossen werden muss. Nur so können die in der Sammlung enthaltenen Primärinformationen sowohl auf dem Gebiet der Taxonomie als auch für andere biologische sowie zoogeographische Untersuchungen nutzbar gemacht werden. Die Neuordnung von Sammlungsteilen unter modernen wissenschaftlichen Gesichtspunkten zur Sicherstellung der internationalen Verfügbarkeit der Bestände und die Publikation damit zusammenhängender Kataloge sind wesentliche Projektbestandteile.
The elevated areas of Northern Thailand highlands are inhabited by ethnic minorities. On the other hand, the Thai majority prefers the valley bottoms. Population growth of all groups, reforestation and commercialisation of agriculture lead to an increasing pressure on land and water resources. Therefore, intensified land and water use systems are desired which are resource conserving at the same time. Here, special problem areas are the karstic limestone catchments due to the limited of surface waters.Own pre-investigations together with subproject A1 have shown, that land use systems there are subsistence oriented and local farmers do not use irrigation. But they would like to develop such technology, especially in order to increase staple crop production (highland rice, maize). But lack of irrigation possibilities is also responsible for the lack of diversification of land use systems with respect to orchards. One possibility to increase staple crop yields is to prolong the vegetation period by use of water harvesting technologies. Aim of this project is to develop such low cost water harvesting technologies (together with subproject B3.1) based on a participatory approach and to model the effect of these on the water balance at the catchments scale. This will be done on the basis of the previous variability studies and should lead to model tools, which allow to evaluate ex ante SFB innovation effects on the water balance. The project area is the Bor Krai catchments. Here, weirs will be installed to quantify surface water availability. An investigation plot will be situated near the village of Bor Krai which serves for water balance measurements (TDR/densitometry) and at the same time as demonstration plot for the local community. Here water harvesting by means of filling the soils field capacity at the end of the rainy season by gravity irrigation in order to prolong the vegetation period will be researched. Through cropping of participatory evaluated varieties the crop yield should be increased. The water consumption of traditionally managed and dominant crops (including orchards) will be measured at three further sites in the catchment (TDR, tensiometer). The water balance of the soil cover in the karst catchment will be based on the coupling of a SOTER map with a water transport model. The data base will be completed by soil type mapping, spatially randomised collection of soil physical properties (texture, bulk density, infiltration, water retention curve) and determination of the ku-function at two representative sites. As project results the available water amount for irrigation purposes will be quantified. The effective use of this water reserve will lead to increased productivity of the dominant crops and limitations to orchard productivity will be reduced. (abridged text)
In ecological sanitation, the wastewater is considered not only as a pollutant, but also as a resource for fertiliser, water and energy and for closing water and nutrients cycles (Otterpohl et. al., 1999; Otterpohl et. al., 2003; Elmitwalli et al. 2005). The ecological sanitation based on separation between grey and black water (and even between faeces and urine), is considered a visible future solution for wastewater collection and treatment. Grey water, which symbolises the wastewater generated in the household excluding toilet wastewater (black water), represents the major volume of the domestic wastewater (60- 75 percent) with low content of nutrients and pathogens (Otterpohl et. al., 1999; Jefferson et al., 1999; Eriksson et al., 2002). Most of grey-water treatment plants include one or two-step septic-tank for pre-treatment (Otterpohl et al., 2003). The grey-water treatment needs both physical and biological processes for removal of particles, dissolved organic-matters and pathogens (Jefferson et al., 1999). Recently, many researchers have studied the grey-water treatment either by application of high-rate aerobic systems, like rotating biological contactor (Nolde, 1999), fluidised bed (Nolde, 1999), aerobic filter (Jefferson et al., 2000), membrane bioreactor (Jefferson et al., 2000), or by application of low-rate systems, like slow sand filter (Jefferson et al., 1999), vertical flow wetlands (Otterpohl et. al., 2003). Although high-rate anaerobic systems, which are low-cost systems, have both physical and biological removal, no research has been done until now on grey water in these systems. The grey water contains a significant amount (41 percent) of chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the domestic wastewater (Otterpohl et al., 2003) and this amount can be removed by the highrate anaerobic systems. Although high-rate anaerobic systems have been successfully operated in tropical regions for domestic wastewater treatment, the process up till now is not applied in lowtemperature regions. The COD removal is limited for domestic wastewater treatment in high-rate anaerobic systems at low temperatures and, therefore, a long HRT is needed for providing sufficient hydrolysis of particulate organic (Zeeman and Lettinga, 1999; Elmitwalli et al. 2002). The grey water has a relatively higher temperature (18-38 degree C), as compared to the domestic wastewater (Eriksson et al. 2002), because the grey water originates from hot water sources, like shower (29 degree C), kitchen (27-38 degree C) and laundry (28-32 degree C). Therefore, high-rate anaerobic systems might run efficiently for on-site grey water treatment, even in low-temperature regions. The upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor is the most applied system for anaerobic domestic waster treatment. Accordingly, the aim of this research is to study the feasibility of application of UASB reactor for the treatment of grey water at low and controlled (30 degree C) temperatures.
Objectives: Bertholletia excelsa Humb. and Bonpl. is one of the protected tree species of Amazonia in Brazil although classified as vulnerable acc. to IUCN. It is prohibited to fell trees and use their timber. However, the fruits, commonly known as Brazil nuts, can be harvested for local consumption and export. The objective of the project is to investigate a natural primary forest in Roraima, Brazil and assess the commercial potential for harvesting nuts, with special reference to international sustainability criteria. Although there has been no timber harvest in the forest in the past, nuts have been collected extensively by the local population - mainly for sale on the local markets. These activities were stopped in 2004. The research is closely connected to the natural forest management project. Results: Results are not yet available. However, preliminary data analyses reveal that - there is hardly any correlation between size of mother trees and available regeneration or available fruit mass located on the ground around those trees; - the amount of nuts per tree (approx. greater than 60 cm dbh) is very variable; - regeneration (seedlings and advanced growth) is sparse which makes long-term survival of the species questionable if collection of nuts in continued like in the past.
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