Subproject 3 will investigate the effect of shifting from continuously flooded rice cropping to crop rotation (including non-flooded systems) and diversified crops on the soil fauna communities and associated ecosystem functions. In both flooded and non-flooded systems, functional groups with a major impact on soil functions will be identified and their response to changing management regimes as well as their re-colonization capability after crop rotation will be quantified. Soil functions corresponding to specific functional groups, i.e. biogenic structural damage of the puddle layer, water loss and nutrient leaching, will be determined by correlating soil fauna data with soil service data of SP4, SP5 and SP7 and with data collected within this subproject (SP3). In addition to the field data acquired directly at the IRRI, microcosm experiments covering the broader range of environmental conditions expected under future climate conditions will be set up to determine the compositional and functional robustness of major components of the local soil fauna. Food webs will be modeled based on the soil animal data available to gain a thorough understanding of i) the factors shaping biological communities in rice cropping systems, and ii) C- and N-flow mediated by soil communities in rice fields. Advanced statistical modeling for quantification of species - environment relationships integrating all data subsets will specify the impact of crop diversification in rice agro-ecosystems on soil biota and on the related ecosystem services.
The magnetosphere of a planet is controlled by a number of factors such as the intrinsic magnetic field, the atmosphere and ionosphere, and the solar wind. Different combinations of these control factors are at work at the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, hence they form a very suitable set for quantitative comparative studies. A significant intrinsic dipolar magnetic field is present only on Earth and on Mercury. However, the configuration at Mercury differs considerably from that at Earth because Mercury does not support an atmosphere and ionosphere, the dipolar field is much weaker, the solar wind denser, and the interplanetary magnetic field stronger. Both Mars and Venus have atmospheres but lack a global planetary magnetic field, with regional crustal magnetization being present on Mars. This proposal aims at investigating and comparing electrical current systems in the space environments of terrestrial planets using magnetic vector data collected by orbiting spacecraft such as Venus Express, Mars Global Surveyor, CHAMP (Earth), and MESSENGER (Mercury). We propose to construct data-driven and physically meaningful representations that reveal and quantify the influence of various control factors. To achieve this, we will tailor Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis and other multivariate methods to the specifics of planetary magnetic field observations. In contrast to representations that build on predefined functions like spherical harmonics, basis functions in the EOF approach are derived directly from the data. EOFs are designed to extract dominant coherent variations for further interpretation in terms of known physical phenomena, and then, in a regression step, for modeling using suitable control variables. The EOF methodology thus allows quantifying the relative importance of control factors for each planet individually, and thus contributes to the solution of topical science questions. The resulting empirical models will facilitate comparative studies of current systems at the terrestrial planets.
Objectives: Sustainable management of tropical moist forests through private forest owners will become increasingly important. Media report that in Brazil, particularly in Amazonia, approx. 80 percent of the timber harvested is from illegal sources. Private management of forests according to internationally acknowledged standards offers an opportunity to significantly lower the portion of illegally cut timber. Moreover, it contributes significantly to the conservation of the Amazon forest. Private forest owners show a clear long-term commitment towards the implementation of management standards according that is ecologically compatible, socially acceptable and economically viable. The project area, a pristine forest in legal Amazonia in the transition zone between moist tropical forests and savannas (cerrado), is extremely diverse in floristic and faunistic terms. The institute cooperates with the private forest owner. Main tasks are to document the faunistic and floristic diversity, to calculate the Annual Allowable Cut and to elaborate concepts for site-specific silviculture. Results: To date (Oct. 2006) the following activities were started: - a comprehensive inventory system for planning at the FMU-level has been successfully introduced; - the inventory system for the annual coupe area has been designed and data for the first coupe are being processed; - the annual allowable cut is currently calculated based on the results of the above described inventories; - two fauna surveys are completed; one focusing on large mammals and one on the avi-fauna. A long-term monitoring concept to assess the influence of forest management on the faunistic diversity is currently under development; - forest zoning is completed applying terrestrial surveys and interpreting high-resolution satellite images; - a study on the use of Bethollethia excelsa-fruits (Brazil nuts) is currently implemented; - a study on timber properties of lesser known species is currently implemented.
The present-day configuration of Indonesia and SE Asia is the results of a long history of tectonic movements, volcanisms and global eustatic sea-level changes. Not indifferent to these dynamics, fauna and flora have been evolving and dispersing following a complicate pattern of continent-sea changes to form what are today defined as Sundaland and Wallacea biogeographical regions. The modern intraannual climate of Indonesia is generally described as tropical, seasonally wet with seasonal reversals of prevailing low-level winds (Asian-Australian monsoon). However at the interannual scale a range of influences operating over varying time scales affect the local climate in respect of temporal and spatial distribution of rainfall. Vegetation generally reflects climate and to simplify it is possible to distinguish three main ecological elements in the flora of Malaysia: everwet tropical, seasonally dry tropical (monsoon) and montane. Within those major ecological groups, a wide range of specific local conditions caused a complex biogeography which has and still attract the attention of botanists and biogeographers worldwide. Being one of the richest regions in the Worlds in terms of species endemism and biodiversity, Indonesia has recently gone through intensive transformation of previously rural/natural lands for intensive agriculture (oil palm, rubber, cocoa plantations and rice fields). Climate change represents an additional stress. Projected climate changes in the region include strengthening of monsoon circulation and increase in the frequency and magnitude of extreme rainfall and drought events. The ecological consequences of these scenarios are hard to predict. Within the context of sustainable management of conservation areas and agro-landscapes, Holocene palaeoecological and palynological studies provide a valuable contribution by showing how the natural vegetation present at the location has changed as a consequence of climate variability in the long-term (e.g. the Mid-Holocene moisture maximum, the modern ENSO onset, Little Ice Age etc.). The final aim of my PhD research is to compare the Holocene history of Jambi province and Central Sulawesi. In particular: - Reconstructing past vegetation, plant diversity and climate dynamics in the two study areas Jambi (Sumatra) and Lore Lindu National Park (Sulawesi) - Comparing the ecological responses of lowland monsoon swampy rainforest (Sumatra) and everwet montane rainforests (Sulawesi) to environmental variability (vulnerability/resilience) - Investigating the history of human impact on the landscape (shifting cultivation, slash and burn, crop cultivation, rubber and palm oil plantation) - Assessing the impact and role of droughts (El Niño) and fires - Adding a historical perspective to the evaluation of current and future changes.
The nature of the microbial communities inhabiting the deeper soil horizons is largely unknown. It is also not clear why subsurface microorganisms do not make faster use of organic compounds under field conditions. The answer could be provided by a reciprocal soil transfer experiment studying the response of transferred soils to fluctuations in microclimate, organic inputs, and soil biota. The subproject P9 will be responsible for the establishment of reciprocal transfer experiments offering a strong link between subgroups interested in organic matter quality, transport of organic substances, as well as functions of the soil microbial community. A single, high molecular weight substrate (13C labelled cellulose) will be applied at two different levels in the pre-experiment to understand the dose-dependent reaction of soil microorganisms in transferred surface and sub-soils. Uniformly 13C labelled beech roots - representing complex substrates - will be used for the main reciprocal soil transfer experiment. We hypothesize that transferring soil cores between subsoil and surface soil as well as addition of labelled cellulose or roots will allow us to evaluate the relative impact of surface/subsurface habitat conditions and resource availability on abundance, function, and diversity of the soil microbial community. The second objective of the subproject is to understand whether minerals buried within different soil compartments (topsoil vs. subsoil) in the field contribute to creation of hot spots of microbial abundance and activity within a period of two to five years. We hypothesize that soil microorganisms colonize organo-mineral complexes depending on their nutritional composition and substrate availability. The existence of micro-habitat specific microbial communities could be important for short term carbon storage (1 to 6 years). The third objective is to understand the biogeography and function of soil microorganisms in different subsoils. Parent material as well as mineral composition might control niche differentiation during soil development. Depending on size and interconnectedness of niches, colonization and survival of soil microbial communities might be different in soils derived from loess, sand, terra fusca, or sandstone. From the methodological point of view, our specific interest is to place community composition into context with soil microbial functions in subsoils. Our subgroup will be responsible for determining the abundance, diversity, und function of soil microorganisms (13C microbial biomass, 13C PLFA, enzyme activities, DNA extraction followed by quantitative PCR). Quantitative PCR will be used to estimate total abundances of bacteria, archaea and fungi as well as abundances of specific groups of bacteria at high taxonomic levels. We will apply taxa specific bacterial primers because classes or phyla might be differentiated into ecological categories on the basis of their life strategies.
Die Sea-Surface Microlayer (SML) als dünne Grenzschicht trennt Hydrosphäre und Atmosphäre. Häufig sind die Konzentrationen bestimmter Verbindungen in der SML höher, entweder durch physikalische Konzentration aus dem darunter liegenden Wasser, durch Produktion in der SML oder durch atmosphärische Ablagerungen. Ein bekannter Aspekt ist die durchweg höhere Konzentration von chromophoren gelösten organischen Stoffen (CDOM) in der SML im Vergleich zum darunter liegenden Wasser. Kürzlich haben wir gezeigt, dass die inhärenten optischen Eigenschaften (IOP) â€Ì d.h. die Lichtstreu- und Absorptionseigenschaften von Wasser und seinen Bestandteilen â€Ì der SML genutzt werden können Komponenten in der SML zu charakterisieren und nützliche Informationen für den Strahlungstransfer und für Fernerkundungsstudien zu liefern. Darüber hinaus war unsere frühere Forschung zu optischen Eigenschaften in der SML unsere Motivation hier vorzuschlagen, IOPs und apparente optischen Eigenschaften (AOPs) â€Ì abgeleitet aus spektralradiometrischen Messungen des Lichtfeldes â€Ì sowie die Fluoreszenz zur Charakterisierung von organischen Stoffen (OM) und deren Transformation für die Echtzeitbewertung der SML als biologischen und chemischen Lebensraum zu nutzen. Hiermit können wir in außergewöhnlicher Weise die Kurzzeitdynamik relevanter biologischer und chemischer Treiber in der SML untersuchen.
This project is aimed at the characterization of the systemic reprogramming in barley, which modulates the compatible interaction with the biotrophic leaf pathogen Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei upon root infestation with the mutualistic endophyte Piriformospora indica. We have recently shown that the basidiomycete P. indica - upon successful establishment in the roots - reprograms barley to salt stress tolerance, resistance to root diseases and higher yield (Waller et al., 2005). Successful powdery mildew infections in barley leaves are also disturbed by the mutualistic fungus. These processes are associated with a strong change in plant metabolism, especially with a drastic alteration of leaf and root antioxidants. On the basis of these findings we will perform an in-depth analysis of the barley metabolome (B6) and transcriptome (B7) with two specific foci: First, to elucidate the process of establishment of the mutualistic fungus within the barley roots; second, to characterize elements of the systemic response in leaves leading to an interruption or failure of compatibility processes required for successful establishment of biotrophic leaf pathogens like Blumeria. New gene candidates will be pre-selected systematically for their regulatory role in compatibility by means of transiently transformed barley leaves upon Blumeria inoculation. Stable transgenic barley and maize lines (B3) generated with verified gene candidates and genes identified by other projects (A1, A2, B5, B6) will be tested with Blumeria and P. indica. By comparing candidate genes in the different plant - microbe systems, we will identify common regulatory processes, metabolites and metabolic networks implicated in compatibility including those required for successful interactions with mutualistic fungi.
The sorption of anions in geotechnical multibarrier systems of planned high level waste repositories (HLWR) and of non-ionic and organic pollutants in conventional waste disposals are in the center of recent research. In aquatic systems, persistent radionuclides such as 79Se, 99Tc, 129I exist in a form of anions. There is strongly increasing need to find materials with high sorption capacities for such pollutants. Specific requirements on barrier materials are long-term stability of adsorbent under various conditions such as T > 100 C, varying hydrostatic pressure, and the presence of competing ions. Organo-clays are capable to sorb high amounts of cations, anions and non-polar molecules simultaneously having selectivity for certain ions. This project is proposed to improve the understanding of sorption and desorption processes in organo-clays. Additionally, the modification of material properties under varying chemical and thermal conditions will be determined by performing diffusion and advection experiments. Changes by sorption and diffusion will be analyzed by determining surface charge and contact angles. Molecular simulations on models of organo-clays will be conducted in an accord with experiments with aim to understand and analyze experimental results. The computational part of the project will profit from the collaboration of German partner with the group in Vienna, which has a long standing experience in a modeling of clay minerals.
Die temperatur- und feuchteabhängige Eisnukleationseffizlenz von verschiedenen Aerosolen kann in Laborexperimenten genau charakterisiert und für die Beschreibung von primärer Eisbildung in numerischen Modellen auf verschiedensten Skalen parametrisiert werden. Wenn diese Effizienten als bekannt vorausgesetzt werden, unter welchen Bedingungen und wie oft tritt heterogene Eisnukleation in den verschiedenen Nukleationsmoden tatsächlich in typischen Mischphasenwolken auf? Dieser Frage wird in diesem Projekt mit dem Modell ICON-LES (der Large Eddy Version des neuen icosahedrischen nichthydrostatischen Modells, welches zurzeit am Deutschen Wetterdienst und dem Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie in Hamburg entwickelt wird) nachgegangen. Dieses Modell enthält ein Zwei-Momenten-Wolkenphysikschema und wird durch aerosolspezifische Eisnukleationsparameterisierungen ergänzt werden. Zusätzlich wird eine einfache Diagnostik von Aerosolen in Wolkentropfen eingeführt, um zwischen potentiellen Immersionseiskeimen und interstitiellen eisnukleierenden Partikeln, die als Kontakt- oder Depositionseiskeime dienen können, zu unterscheiden. In idealisierten Simulationen von verschiedenen Mischphasenwolkentypen, die in Europa häufig auftreten (Winternebel, Altostratus, orographische Wolken, hochreichende Konvektion) und unter Benutzung von klimatologischen Aerosolfeldern wird das Auftreten von Immersions-, Depositions- und Kontaktgefrieren und die Werte der Eiskeimkonzentrationen statistisch ausgewertet und mit den Sensitivitätsbereichen der INUIT Labor- und Feldmessgeräten verglichen. Zusätzlich wird das bevorzugte räumliche Auftreten dieser Prozesse (z. B. Kontaktgefrieren in den Einmischbereichen an den Wolkenrändern) analysiert und quantifiziert werden. Das Modellsetup für die Fallstudie der konvektiven Wolke wird mit RP3 abgestimmt, so dass ein Vergleich zwischen dem spektralen und dem Zwei-Momenten- Mikrophysikschema möglich ist. Außerdem wird in diesem Projekt zusammen mit WP-F und WP-L eine Schließungsstudie für die Messungen in der Mittelmeerkampagne durchgeführt. Dabei wird untersucht, welche Parameter zu den größten Unsicherheiten in der Vorwärtsberechnung von potentiellen Eiskeimen führen.
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.
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