Climate-driven bedrock incision in an active mountain belt

Measurements of fluvial bedrock incision were made with submillimeter precision in the East Central Range of Taiwan, where long-term exhumation rates and precipitation-driven river discharge are independently known. They indicate that valley lowering is driven by relatively frequent flows of moderate intensity, abrasion by suspended sediment is an important fluvial wear process, and channel bed geometry and the presence of widely spaced planes of weakness in the rock mass influence erosion rate and style.     

Mantophasmatodea: a new insect order with extant members in the Afrotropics

A new insect order, Mantophasmatodea, is described on the basis of museum specimens of a new genus with two species: Mantophasma zephyra gen. et sp. nov. (one female from Namibia) and M. subsolana sp. nov. (one male from Tanzania). This is the first time since 1914 that a newly described extant insect taxon has proved unplaceable within a recognized order. Mantophasmatodeans are apterous carnivores. Their closest phylogenetic relationships may be to Grylloblattodea (ice-crawlers) and/or Phasmatodea (stick insects), but the morphological evidence is ambiguous. Raptophasma Zompro from Baltic amber is assigned to the Mantophasmatodea, revealing a wider previous range for the lineage.     

A 10,000-year record of Arctic Ocean sea-ice variability--view from the beach

We present a sea-ice record from northern Greenland covering the past 10,000 years. Multiyear sea ice reached a minimum between ~8500 and 6000 years ago, when the limit of year-round sea ice at the coast of Greenland was located ~1000 kilometers to the north of its present position. The subsequent increase in multiyear sea ice culminated during the past 2500 years and is linked to an increase in ice export from the western Arctic and higher variability of ice-drift routes. When the ice was at its minimum in northern Greenland, it greatly increased at Ellesmere Island to the west. The lack of uniformity in past sea-ice changes, which is probably related to large-scale atmospheric anomalies such as the Arctic Oscillation, is not well reproduced in models. This needs to be further explored, as it is likely to have an impact on predictions of future sea-ice distribution.     

Pattern-oriented modelling for estimating unknown pre-breeding survival rates: The case of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Picoides minor)

In population viability analysis we are often faced with a lack of knowledge of survival rates in animal populations. In particular, survival of recruits is usually hard to assess. However, data on population structure might be considered as patterns that contain valuable information to estimate missing parameters indirectly. As an example for this pattern-oriented modelling and parameterization, pre-breeding survival rate of the endangered Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Picoides minor) was determined here using data on population structure (e.g. sex ratio) and reproductive success at the population level (e.g. nesting success). Therefore, an individual-based model was developed simulating the population dynamics for two different populations that had been empirically studied at Lake Möckeln, Sweden, and Taunus, Germany. For both populations, a small range for pre-breeding survival rates could be identified wherein all simulated patterns corresponded best to the empirical values. Pre-breeding survival rate was found to be higher in the German scenario than in the Swedish and geographical variation in life-history traits is discussed as a possible reason. It is concluded that the pattern-oriented approach is a valuable method for estimating missing demographic parameters, even when using weak patterns from empirical investigations. Furthermore, it was shown that the use of multiple patterns is necessary for this purpose.     

Water Exchange and Deposition of Sediment and Phosphorus during Inundation of Natural and Restored Lowland Floodplains

Water exchange, flow patterns and deposition of sediment and phosphorus were measured in cross-sections of a naturally functioning floodplain during one winter and in three restored floodplains following remeandering of formerly straightened and channelized rivers. Sediment and phosphorus depositional processes were studied, deploying artificial grass mats at different distances from the river channel. In addition, a mass-balance approach was applied on the experimental site. Our results show that the deposition of sediment and particulate phosphorus constituted 3,000–4,700 g DW m^?2 and 1.2–7.3 g P m^?2, respectively, on the four floodplains studied during a winter where flood duration lasted between 20 and 76 days. The storage efficiency for sediment ranged between 28–47 and 4.0–7.0% for phosphorus.     

Comparison of CLPP and enzyme activity assay for functional characterization of bacterial soil communities

Background, Aims and Scope  

Functional characterization of soil microbial communities by the use of BIOLOG GN microtiter plates was compared with an optimized assay of measuring the enzymatic activity of bacterial associated enzymes. Since the first use of BIOLOG GN microtiter plates for characterization of environmental microorganisms, this Community Level Physiological Profile (CLPP) has been widely used and is today routinely used in soil monitoring programmes in e.g. the Netherlands (Nielsen and Winding 2002). The CLPP method is based upon the metabolic capabilities of bacteria during growth in the wells of the microtiter plates at nutrient rich conditions compared to the conditions in soil. Inoculum preparation, incubation conditions, reading intervals and data treatment have all been the subject of many investigations. In spite of the various criticisms, the method remains to be widely used, to a large extent due to the ease and speed of performance. The Enzymatic Activity Assay (EAA) is based on enzymatic cleavage of model fluorogenic enzyme substrates (4-methylumbelliferyl, MUF), that upon cleavage forms a fluorescent product. The assay is independent of bacterial growth and can be used directly on bacteria extracted from soil, yielding a functional characterization of the bacterial communities based on the enzymatic activities. The substrates chosen here represent 14 different enzymes related to the degradation of different carbohydrates, including starch, chitin and cellulose.     

Measuring capacity and capacity utilization in fisheries: the case of the Danish Gill-net fleet

Different measures of capacity and capacity utilization (CU) are estimated and examined for the multi-species Danish Gill-net fleet using a mathematical programming approach—data envelopment analysis (DEA). The potential capacity output is calculated using an output-orientated measure. CU is assessed using both a partial CU measure, which permits CU to be assessed relative to each output, and a ray measure. Based on the ray measure, the average CU for the Danish Gill-net fleet was estimated to be between 0.85 and 0.95. The partial CU measure for cod was determined to be approximately the same as the overall or ray CU measure, but the partial CU measure for plaice was less than the level of the ray measure, which indicated that the production of plaice could be increased by a higher proportion than could the production of cod. The optimal variable input utilization was also estimated. It was determined that, on average, the variable input—number of trips—could be increased by 27% compared to the optimal level. Results also indicated higher excess capacity for cod and sole than for other species, which is in accordance with how the fishery developed.     

Large-scale microalgae production for nursery rearing of marine bivalves

The feasibility of large-scale bloom induction of nutritionally suited natural phytoplankton species, to feed a semi-industrial nursery of edible shellfish, built on the Belgian coast, was tested.The outdoor microalgal production unit consisted of four tanks of 100 m² surface each (two of 1 m depth and two of 0·5 m depth), equipped with different mixing devices.The cultures were run as chemostats in which seawater was enriched with commercial inorganic N, P, and Si fertilizers. Depending on the season, between 5–10 and 80% of the culture volume could be harvested daily, with algal densities ranging from 50 000 to 500 000 cells per ml.By manipulation of operational parameters such as detention time, nutrient levels and nutrient ratios (N:Si:P), unsuited or less suited species of algae (e.g. Chlorella and Phaeodactylum) could be replaced by more desirable species (e.g. Skeletonema, Nitzschia, Chaetoceros).Various biological and technological problems encountered during year round operation, including collapsing of the culture, seawater enrichment, water quality, fouling and water treatment, are commented.