Temperature responses of NO and N2O emissions from boreal organic soil

Both NO and N₂O are produced in soil microbial processes and have importance in atmospheric physics and chemistry. In recent years several studies have shown that N₂O emissions from organic soils can be high at low temperatures. However, the effects of low temperature on NO emissions from soil are unknown. We studied in laboratory conditions, using undisturbed soil cores, the emissions of NO and N₂O from organic soils at various temperatures, with an emphasis on processes and emissions during soil freezing and thawing periods. We found no soil freezing- or thawing-related emission maxima for NO, while the N₂O emissions were higher both during soil freezing and thawing periods. The results suggest that different factors are involved in the regulation of NO and N₂O emissions at low temperatures.     

Phoma–Didymella complex on hybrid arctic bramble with wilting symptoms

Pycnidia containing conidia characteristic of Phoma spp. and pseudothecia containing ascospores characteristic of Didymella applanata were isolated from edges of expanding stem lesions and dead stems of wilted cultivated hybrid arctic bramble plants ( Rubus arcticus nothossp. stellarcticus ) in Sweden in 1998 and 1999. The fungi were morphologically similar when grown on culture media, but some differences in growth rate were observed. They were also similar to the reference isolates of D. applanata (anamorph Phoma argillacea ). However, they were different from an isolate of Phoma sp. (HPP 38) isolated from cultivated arctic bramble ( R. arcticus ssp. arcticus ) in Finland in 1980, and from reference isolates of Phoma glomerata isolated from other hosts. Multivariate analysis of growth rate data and conidial dimensions measured in vitro indicated that the fungi isolated from hybrid arctic bramble in Sweden were not distinguishable from D. applanata , but were clearly distinct from P. glomerata and P. exigua. Furthermore, they had identical ITS1 and ITS2 sequences, and were placed in a phylogenetic clade very closely related to the clade that contained isolates of D. applanata isolated from raspberry ( Rubus idaeus ). In contrast, isolate HPP 38 from Finland was placed in a clade with P. exigua. These data indicate that the Swedish isolates infecting arctic bramble belong to a strain of D. applanata that differs from the isolate infecting raspberry only by two common nucleotide substitutions in ITS2. Fungi of the Phoma–Didymella complex on wild and cultivated arctic bramble (a total of 291 plants showing symptoms sampled from 37 sites) were detected by a PCR-based assay and found to be common in northern Sweden, but rare, albeit widely distributed, in Finland.     

Positional distribution of conjugated linoleic acid in triacylglycerol of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Saccharomyces cerevisiae was cultivated in the presence of cis-9,trans-11 or trans-10,cis-12 isomers of free conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and the effects of the isomers on the regioisomerisms of triacylglycerol (TAG) of the yeast were elucidated. Both isomers constituted about 34% of all fatty acids and increased drastically the number of different TAG species. Nearly all of the species contained CLA in at least one sn-position. In the most abundant species analyzed (20% of total species), the cis-9,trans-11 isomer appeared in combination with monounsaturated fatty acids (C16:1, C:18:1) whereas trans-10,cis-12 isomer was most frequently present with a medium chain fatty acid (C10:0 or C12:0) in the sn-2 position and C16:0 in one of the end positions (14% of total species). With either isomer, the amount of TAG species in which CLA encompassed all sn-positions was ca. 4%. Thus, S. cerevisiae can be used to produce edible single cell oil characterized by very heterogeneous distribution of CLA among the different TAG species.     

Microbially safe utilization of non-inactivated oats (Avena sativa L.) for production of conjugated linoleic acid

A microbially safe process for the enrichment of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in oats was developed. The process consists of hydrolysis of oat lipids by non-inactivated oat flour, followed by propionibacterium-catalyzed isomerization of the resulting free linoleic acid to CLA. The first stage was performed at water activity (a(w)) 0.7, where hydrolysis of triacylglycerols progressed efficiently without growth of the indigenous microflora of flour. Thereafter, the flour was incubated as a 5% (w/v) aqueous, sterilized slurry with Propionibacterium freudenreichii ssp. shermanii. The amount of CLA produced in 20 h was 11.5 mg/g dry matter corresponding to 116 mg/g lipids or 0.57 mg/mL slurry. The oat flour had also the capability to hydrolyze exogenous oils at a(w) 0.7. Sunflower oil, added to increase linoleic acid content in triacylglycerols 2.7-fold, was hydrolyzed rapidly. Isomerization of this oil-supplemented flour as a 5% slurry gave final CLA content of 22.3 mg/g dry matter after 50 h of fermentation, corresponding to 118 mg/g lipids or 1.14 mg/mL slurry. Storage stability of CLA in fermented oat slurries at 4 degrees C was good.     

Beyond participation! Social innovations facilitating movement from authoritative state to participatory forest governance in Ukraine

Tuning participatory processes is often insufficient to achieve transition from authoritative state to democratic and participatory forest governance due to institutional inertia and unwillingness to truly decentralize decision-making power. Social innovations as reconfigurations of relationships between state, market actors, civil society and science can help to meet concerns of local people about forest Ecosystem Services (ES). In Ukraine, the Swiss-Ukrainian Forest Development (FORZA) pilot project initiated a social innovation process complementing regional forest planning with local participatory community development plans in Transcarpathia. This paper examines what kind of changes need to accompany the succession of participatory practices in transition processes from authoritative state to democratic forest governance, and what are the lessons learned for social innovations based on the Ukrainian case study. This paper synthesizes knowledge on the FORZA case analyzed by inductive content analysis, and integrates these local level results with a national survey (N?=?244) on Ukrainian forest governance. Transition processes need to go “beyond participation” by (i) legal reforms to better acknowledge ES important for local people, (ii) a change from an exclusive focus on timber to acknowledging multiple ES, (iii) changed spatial and temporal rationales of state-based governance, and (iv) recognition of local people as credible experts. Social innovations can detect key barriers to the transition during the policy experiments, and need to pay significant attention on how the novel practices can be sustained after the pilot, replicated elsewhere and up-scaled. Without such considerations, social innovation projects may only remain as a marginal curiosity.

     

Goals for public participation implied by sustainable development, and the preparatory process of the Finnish National Forest Programme

Since the UNCED in 1992, National Forest Programmes (NFP) have been widely acknowledged as a means to implement internationally agreed upon sustainability goals for forest management. However, national forest programmes are prepared and implemented in national political, social and ecological contexts, which vary significantly between countries. Finland has a long tradition of “forest programming”, starting from the 1950s, which has contributed to the institutions and culture of preparing such programmes. These programmes have traditionally been prepared in governmentally facilitated committees and working groups in close collaboration with interest groups and representatives of research and administration.In this paper, we develop goals for participation in a policy decision-making process. These goals, based on sustainable development definitions and policies, include: (1) generating new relevant information, (2) incorporating all relevant interests, and (3) contributing to reaching public agreement.Demands for increasing public awareness, inclusion of different views as well as respect for procedural citizen rights were obvious expectations also behind Finland's National Forest Programme 2010 that was made in 1999. The new forms of participation applied in the already well-developed interest-group-integrating policy preparation system provided an opportunity to take the participation goals more seriously. According to our analysis, the arguments arising from the new forms of participation were strongly in line with those already previously present in Finnish forest policy discourse, and the new forms of participation functioned merely as legitimating and awareness raising systems.     

Catching the future: Applying Bayesian belief networks to exploratory scenario storylines to assess long‐term changes in Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras,Clupeidae) and salmon (Salmo salar,Salmonidae) fisheries

Fisheries management aims to ensure that the fishing activities are environmentally sustainable in the long term, while also achieving the economic, social and food security related management objectives. To facilitate this, both the ecological and human dimensions of sustainability need to be included in fisheries assessment. In addition, assessing long‐term sustainability calls for taking into account plausible changes in the surrounding societal conditions that shape the characteristics of the fisheries governance system, as well as the ecological conditions. The paper uses a combination of qualitative exploratory scenario storylines (ESS) and Bayesian belief networks (BBN) to integrate the environmental, economic, social and food security dimensions in an interdisciplinary assessment of the future sustainability of Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras, Clupeidae) and salmon (Salmo salar, Salmonidae) fisheries. First, four alternative ESS were created based on plausible changes in societal drivers. The ESS were then formulated into a BBN to (a) visualize the assumed causalities, and (b) examine quantitatively how changes in the societal drivers affect the social‐ecological fisheries system and ultimately the fisheries management objectives. This type of probabilistic scenario synthesis can help in thinking qualitative scenarios in a quantitative way. Moreover, it can increase understanding on the causal links between societal driving forces and the complex fisheries system and on how the management objectives can be achieved, thereby providing valuable information for strategic decision‐making under uncertainty.     

Berry phenolic extracts modulate the expression of p21(WAF1) and Bax but not Bcl-2 in HT-29 colon cancer cells

Previous studies have shown that anthocyanin-rich berry extracts inhibit the growth of cancer cells in vitro. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of berry extracts containing different phenolic profiles on cell viability and expression of markers of cell proliferation and apoptosis in human colon cancer HT-29 cells. Berry extracts were prepared with methanol extraction, and contents of the main phenolic compounds were analyzed using HPLC. Anthocyanins were the predominant phenolic compounds in bilberry, black currant, and lingonberry extracts and ellagitannins in cloudberry extract, whereas both were present in raspberry and strawberry extracts. Cells were exposed to 0-60 mg/mL of extracts, and the cell growth inhibition was determined after 24 h. The degree of cell growth inhibition was as follows: bilberry > black currant > cloudberry > lingonberry > raspberry > strawberry. A 14-fold increase in the expression of p21WAF1, an inhibitor of cell proliferation and a member of the cyclin kinase inhibitors, was seen in cells exposed to cloudberry extract compared to other berry treatments (2.7-7-fold increase). The pro-apoptosis marker, Bax, was increased 1.3-fold only in cloudberry- and bilberry-treated cells, whereas the pro-survival marker, Bcl-2, was detected only in control cells. The results demonstrate that berry extracts inhibit cancer cell proliferation mainly via the p21WAF1 pathway. Cloudberry, despite its very low anthocyanin content, was a potent inhibitor of cell proliferation. Therefore, it is concluded that, in addition to anthocyanins, also other phenolic or nonphenolic phytochemicals are responsible for the antiproliferative activity of berries.     

Aerosol particles in the developing world; a comparison between New Delhi in India and Beijing in China

In developing countries, aerosol particles damage the health of hundreds of millions of people. Migration from the country side to megacities increases emissions and exposure to particles. Some countries have started to limit emissions based on particulate mass, but this may increase particle number concentrations. In this study we discuss some earlier measurements carried out in the developing world and compare results from one-week measurement campaigns concerning the particle number size distribution and PM₁₀ mass concentrations in New Delhi, India and Beijing, China. Our results show that submicron particle concentrations are high in both places. The average PM₁₀ concentration was 360 μg/m³ in New Delhi and 120 μg/m³ in Beijing. The corresponding total particle number concentrations in the size range 3–800 nm were 63 000 cm^?3 and 35 000 cm^?3. Number and mass concentrations and their characteristics showed significantly different behaviour between these two locations, which stresses the importance of long-term simultaneous measurements of both quantities in different types of megacities.     

Differentiating sources of CO2 from organic soil under bioenergy crop cultivation: A field-based approach using C

We tested here a plant-soil system to separate recent, plant-derived and native, soil-derived carbon in soil respiration. The approach uses a perennial crop cultivated on an organic soil where upper soil layers have been removed as a result of peat extraction. There, the ¹⁴C signal from native organic matter is highly depleted compared to that in vegetation established at the site after peat extraction ceased. Radiocarbon was analyzed in carbon dioxide respired from soil over one growing season, and a two-pool isotope mixing model was applied to calculate the relative contribution of old vs. new carbon sources. The analysis showed that the approach is reliable for source partitioning with isotopes. After six years of cultivation, old peat decomposition contributed less to total soil respiration than respiration of recent plant material (30% vs. 70% on average, respectively), but the relative proportions were highly variable over the growing season. The approach offers a new possibility to follow the fate of old, native soil organic matter in highly organic soils.