Isotopic evidence for neogene hominid paleoenvironments in the kenya rift valley

Bipedality, the definitive characteristic of the earliest hominids, has been regarded as an adaptive response to a transition from forested to more-open habitats in East Africa sometime between 12 million and 5 million years ago. Analyses of the stable carbon isotopic composition (delta(13)C) of paleosol carbonate and organic matter from the Tugen Hills succession in Kenya indicate that a heterogeneous environment with a mix of C3 and C4 plants has persisted for the last 15.5 million years. Open grasslands at no time dominated this portion of the rift valley. The observed delta(13)C values offer no evidence for a shift from more-closed C3 environments to C4 grassland habitats. If hominids evolved in East Africa during the Late Miocene, they did so in an ecologically diverse setting.     

Kilimanjaro ice core records: evidence of holocene climate change in tropical Africa

Six ice cores from Kilimanjaro provide an approximately 11.7-thousand-year record of Holocene climate and environmental variability for eastern equatorial Africa, including three periods of abrupt climate change: approximately 8.3, approximately 5.2, and approximately 4 thousand years ago (ka). The latter is coincident with the "First Dark Age," the period of the greatest historically recorded drought in tropical Africa. Variable deposition of F- and Na+ during the African Humid Period suggests rapidly fluctuating lake levels between approximately 11.7 and 4 ka. Over the 20th century, the areal extent of Kilimanjaro's ice fields has decreased approximately 80%, and if current climatological conditions persist, the remaining ice fields are likely to disappear between 2015 and 2020.     

The variability of holocene climate change: evidence from varved lake sediments

Varved sediments from a lake near the present forest-prairie border in northwestern Minnesota provide an annual record of climate change for the last 10,400 years. Climate-sensitive mineral, chemical, and biological components show that the mid-Holocene dry interval between 8500 and 4000 years ago is asymmetrical and actually consists of two distinct drier pulses separated by a moister interval that lasted about 600 years. Cyclic fluctuations with periods of several hundred years were abrupt and persistent throughout the Holocene and are most clearly recorded within the two drier pulses.     

河北平原区土壤有机碳及其对气候变化的响应

近年来,众多研究报道了华北平原土壤有机碳具有明确地显著增加的趋势,表现出"碳汇"的效应,但是,华北平原土壤有机碳对气候变化的响应尚未明确。基于已有研究结果的基础上,利用河北平原区多目标区域地球化学调查的20 029个土壤分析数据和河北省各气象站多年年均温度和年降水量资料,采用多元线性回归模型的方法,分析探讨了土壤有机碳密度及其变化量在不同年均温度和年降水量带下对气候变化的响应。结果表明,研究区年均温度变化为0.29℃/10a,年降水变化为-25.99 mm/10a。河北平原区表层土壤有机碳密度为0.18-18.72kg/m2,平均为(2.19±0.78)kg/m2,其空间分布呈由西向东递减的趋势,土壤有机碳储量的变化量为39.17 Mt。相关分析结果表明,温度是河北平原区土壤有机碳密度及其变化量的主控气候因素,但是,其受到降水量的制约。但研究区土壤有机碳及其变化与年均温度、年降水量并不服从简单的依变关系,还存在其他因素的影响,而农业活动很可能就是气候因素之外影响土壤有机碳的重要因素。研究表明,充分考虑到研究区的年均温度和年降水量分带等因素,可以有效地分析大尺度区域范围内的气候因素对土壤有机碳的影响。     

Blade technology in the egyptian-nile valley: some new evidence

An Upper Paleolithic site with blade technology was excavated at Nazlet Khater, Egypt. Radiocarbon dates center around 31,500 years ago, indicating that the Egyptian Nile Valley was not an isolated enclave where blade technology appeared late in comparison with other eastern Mediterranean areas. This site fills a gap in the record of human history in Egypt between 40,000 and 20,000 years ago.     

Deuterium isotope effect on carbon isotope fractionation in photosynthesis

Plants grown in D(2)O show a decreased tendency to fractionate carbon-13 during photosynthetic incorporation of carbon dioxide. The isotopic ratio C(13)/C(12) of the tissues of deuterated plants appears to be proportional to the deuterium content of the tissue. This effect was found in specimens of the partially deuterated vascular plant Nicotiana tabacum as well as in cultures of the fully deuterated alga Chlorella vulgaris.     

Molybdenum isotope evidence for widespread anoxia in mid-Proterozoic oceans

How much dissolved oxygen was present in the mid-Proterozoic oceans between 1.8 and 1.0 billion years ago is debated vigorously. One model argues for oxygenation of the oceans soon after the initial rise of atmospheric oxygen approximately 2.3 billion years ago. Recent evidence for H(2)S in some mid-Proterozoic marine basins suggests, however, that the deep ocean remained anoxic until much later. New molybdenum isotope data from modern and ancient sediments indicate expanded anoxia during the mid-Proterozoic compared to the present-day ocean. Consequently, oxygenation of the deep oceans may have lagged that of the atmosphere by over a billion years.     

Neodymium isotope evidence for a chondritic composition of the Moon

Samarium-neodymium isotope data for six lunar basalts show that the bulk Moon has a 142Nd/144Nd ratio that is indistinguishable from that of chondritic meteorites but is 20 parts per million less than most samples from Earth. The Sm/Nd formation interval of the lunar mantle from these data is 215(-21)(+23) million years after the onset of solar system condensation. Because both Earth and the Moon likely formed in the same region of the solar nebula, Earth should also have a chondritic bulk composition. In order to mass balance the Nd budget, these constraints require that a complementary reservoir with a lower 142Nd/144Nd value resides in Earth's mantle.     

Osmium isotope evidence for an s-process carrier in primitive chondrites

Osmium extracted from unequilibrated bulk chondrites has isotope anomalies consistent with an insoluble s-process carrier, termed Os(i) here. Osmium from metamorphosed bulk chondrites does not have isotope anomalies, implying that the Os(i) carrier was destroyed by metamorphism. The isotopic homogeneity of metamorphosed bulk chondrites is consistent with extremely effective mixing of presolar grains from varied sources in the nebula. Osmium in the Os(i) carrier is likely from nucleosynthetic sites with a neutron density about two to four times as high as that of the average solar s-process Os.     

Soil carbon sequestration impacts on global climate change and food security

The carbon sink capacity of the world's agricultural and degraded soils is 50 to 66% of the historic carbon loss of 42 to 78 gigatons of carbon. The rate of soil organic carbon sequestration with adoption of recommended technologies depends on soil texture and structure, rainfall, temperature, farming system, and soil management. Strategies to increase the soil carbon pool include soil restoration and woodland regeneration, no-till farming, cover crops, nutrient management, manuring and sludge application, improved grazing, water conservation and harvesting, efficient irrigation, agroforestry practices, and growing energy crops on spare lands. An increase of 1 ton of soil carbon pool of degraded cropland soils may increase crop yield by 20 to 40 kilograms per hectare (kg/ha) for wheat, 10 to 20 kg/ha for maize, and 0.5 to 1 kg/ha for cowpeas. As well as enhancing food security, carbon sequestration has the potential to offset fossil fuel emissions by 0.4 to 1.2 gigatons of carbon per year, or 5 to 15% of the global fossil-fuel emissions.     

Stable carbon isotopic evidence for carbon limitation in hydrothermal vent vestimentiferans

Stable carbon isotope composition (delta(13)C values) can be used to evaluate an animal's source of nutritional carbon. Most animals with chemoautotrophic endosymbionts have quite negative tissue delta(13)C values due to discrimination against (13)C associated with chemoautotrophic assimilation of inorganic carbon. However, the delta(13)C values of hydrothermal vent (HTV) vestimentiferans are significantly higher than the values reported for non-HTV vestimentiferans or other invertebrates with chemoautotrophic endosymbionts. Tissue delta(13)C values of two species of HTV vestimentiferans increase with increasing size of the animals. This relation supports the hypothesis that the relatively high delta(13)C values are the result of inorganic carbon limitation during carbon fixation. A more favorable relation between gas exchange and carbon fixation in the smaller individuals is expected, due to differences in the geometric scaling of gas-exchange surfaces and trophosome volume.     

岷江上游干旱河谷气候变化对农业发展的影响及适应性对策

岷江上游干湿季节分明,在局地焚风效应的影响下,还出现干早河谷的隐域性分异现象.农业也呈现立体分布格局.对岷江上游干旱气候变化对农业发展的潜在影响进行了分析.提出以集约农业技术推广建立干早河谷生态农业区、优化土地利用格局,采用科学整地方式,构建生态农业推广技术保障体系和合理规划居民用地的岷江上游干旱河谷农业适应性对策.     

Carbon isotopic evidence for different feeding patterns in two hyrax species occupying the same habitat

The carbon-13/carbon-12 ratios of the carbonate and collagen fractions of bone of the sympatric hyrax species Procavia johnstoni and Heterohyrax brucei indicate that the former obtains most of its diet by grazing while the latter is primarily a browser. The carbon-13/carbon-12 ratios of these fractions in fossil bone will record information about diet if they have not been altered during diagenesis.     

喀斯特石灰岩产状地下生境的土壤质量

为揭示喀斯特石灰岩地下生境的土壤质量差异,选择基于喀斯特石灰岩的3种不同典型地下生境类型样地(石灰岩低倾产状地下生境、石灰岩中倾产状地下生境、石灰岩高倾产状地下生境)的土壤为研究对象,测定不同类型样地土壤的物理、化学及生物学指标,计算土壤质量综合指数,对其土壤质量进行综合评价。结果表明,不同石灰岩地下生境类型及其不同层次的土壤指标值差异显著,层次性明显,土壤质量均表现为表层>中层>下层;不同类型的土壤质量存在差异,石灰岩低倾产状生境最好,中倾生境次之,高倾生境最差。     

广东北江流域沉水植物群落物种多样性及生境特点研究

【目的】为广东省北江流域及其邻近地区沉水植物资源的保护提供参考。【方法】采用实地踏查和样方调查法,于2009—2013年调查了广东北江上游的沉水植物群落多样性及其所在水域的水质。【结果】在韶关市浈水(SG1)、北江(SG2)、武江(SG3)和南水(SG4和SG5)等5个调查点,共记录了沉水植物12种,其中包括11种被子植物和1种藻类植物,均为广域分布种;群落以竹叶眼子菜Potamogeton wrightii、黑藻Hydrilla verticillata、密刺苦草Vallisneria denseserrulata和穗状狐尾藻Myriophyllum spicatum为优势种,微齿眼子菜P.maackianus为广东省首次记录。水质检测结果表明,北江流域水质变化较大的指标主要是总氮(TN)、总磷(TP)、氨氮(NH+4-N)含量和化学需氧量(CODCr)。南水2个调查点除TN和NH+4-N外,其余指标达到或接近国家I级质量水平,其余调查点的TN含量和CODCr处于国家水质标准II~III级。TP、NH+4-N含量和CODCr以冬季较高,TN含量以夏季较高。【结论】北江流域沉水植物物种丰富度较低,其群落的物种丰富度与所在流域的人为活动密切相关,水质最佳的南水物种丰富度和多样性最高,水质最差的浈江物种丰富度最低。工业污染、水电站大坝建设和挖沙等因素是导致北江流域沉水植物物种多样性下降的主要原因。     

Sr-Nd-Pb isotope evidence for ice-sheet presence on southern Greenland during the Last Interglacial

To ascertain the response of the southern Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) to a boreal summer climate warmer than at present, we explored whether southern Greenland was deglaciated during the Last Interglacial (LIG), using the Sr-Nd-Pb isotope ratios of silt-sized sediment discharged from southern Greenland. Our isotope data indicate that no single southern Greenland geologic terrane was completely deglaciated during the LIG, similar to the Holocene. Differences in sediment sources during the LIG relative to the early Holocene denote, however, greater southern GIS retreat during the LIG. These results allow the evaluation of a suite of GIS models and are consistent with a GIS contribution of 1.6 to 2.2 meters to the ≥4-meter LIG sea-level highstand, requiring a significant sea-level contribution from the Antarctic Ice Sheet.     

Neodymium and strontium isotope evidence for crustal contamination of continental volcanics

Combined neodymium and strontium isotope studies on Tertiary volcanics from northwest Scotland indicate that their parental mantle isotopic compositions have been substantially modified in many instances by contamination with the Precambrian continental crust through which they were erupted. The occurrence of samarium-neodymium and rubidium-strontium "pseudoisochrons" of different ages in these contaminated continental volcanics indicates that they are artifacts of the contamination processes and have no temporal significance with respect to mantle fractionation events.     

Soil apparent electrical conductivity and must carbon isotope ratio provide indication of plant water status in wine grape vineyards

Precision Agriculture - Proximal sensing is being integrated into vineyard management as it provides rapid assessments of spatial variability of soils’ and plants’ features. The...