Search results for " Ecosystem"
showing 10 items of 633 documents
Whole-lake experiments reveal the fate of terrestrial particulate organic carbon in benthic food webs of shallow lakes
2014
Lake ecosystems are strongly linked to their terrestrial surroundings by material and energy fluxes across ecosystem boundaries. However, the contribution of terrestrial particulate organic carbon (tPOC) from annual leaf fall to lake food webs has not yet been adequately traced and quantified. In this study, we conducted whole-lake experiments to trace artificially added tPOC through the food webs of two shallow lakes of similar eutrophic status, but featuring alternative stable regimes (macrophyte rich vs. phytoplankton dominated). Lakes were divided with a curtain, and maize (Zea mays) leaves were added, as an isotopically distinct tPOC source, into one half of each lake. To estimate the …
Ten Years of Paleoceanographic Studies at ODP Site 963 (Central Mediterranean Sea)
2014
The geographical location, the shape and the circulation pattern makes the Mediterranean Sea an ideal laboratory to study the interplay between different climatic systems, abrupt climate changes and the response of marine ecosystems. The Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 was drilled in the Northwestern part of the Sicily Channel, the sill that divides the western from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Numerous papers have been published on Site 963 sediments in the last decade, investigating Mediterranean paleoceanographic themes. Here we offer a synthetic framework of these investigations carried out by sub-centennial resolution. We present the whole sequence of suborbital climatic oscillations…
Exploring the spatial relationship between airborne-derived red and far-red sun-induced fluorescence and process-based GPP estimates in a forest ecos…
2019
International audience; Terrestrial gross primary productivity (GPP) plays an essential role in the global carbon cycle, but the quantification of the spatial and temporal variations in photosynthesis is still largely uncertain. Our work aimed to investigate the potential of remote sensing to provide new insights into plant photosynthesis at a fine spatial resolution. This goal was achieved by exploiting high-resolution images acquired with the FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) airborne demonstrator HyPlant. The sensor was flown over a mixed forest, and the images collected were elaborated to obtain two independent indicators of plant photosynthesis. First, maps of sun-induced chlorophyll fluore…
Effectiveness of Entrepreneurial Universities: Experiences and Challenges in Digital Era (A Systemic Approach)
2021
The modern world actively discusses the challenges that will lead to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As the specialists assume, part of the jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence. In addition, creation of completely new jobs is expected. As for the jobs that might be maintained in future, skills upgrading will be particularly important. In such a turbulent environment of economic development, universities, and in particular entrepreneurial universities, play a significant role. We think so as these universities have special structures that promote form a university-industry-government triple helix, reskilling and commercialization of new ideas, etc. Due to the above-mentioned fa…
Seabird influence on ecological processes in coastal marine ecosystems: An overlooked role? A critical review
2021
Abstract Seabirds are vital, but overlooked, components of coastal marine ecosystems and may connect the marine and terrestrial environment at a global scale, significantly contributing to inter-habitat connectivity and the provision of multiple ecosystem services. Although the ecological and functional role of birds in terrestrial areas, islands in particular, has been deeply studied since the last century, the same does not hold true for coastal marine areas. Given the importance of coastal areas for seabirds worldwide and, at the same time, the high vulnerability of both, looking into the role of seabirds in influencing the ecosystem functioning in coastal areas is needed nowadays. Here,…
66 In vitro comparison of six raw materials on gastric ecosystem activity and acidity
2021
International audience; The great biochemical variability of the raw materials used in horse feeds can induce changes in gastric fermentation, and therefore affect gastric health through the resulting acidity of the bacterial end products. This in vitro trial compared the effect of 6 raw materials (BA: barley; WB: wheat bran; OA: oats; SM: sunflower meal; SB: sugar beet pulp; AL: alfalfa – Table 1) commonly used in horse feeds on gastric bacterial fermentation and buffering capacity. In 3 horses fed a mixture of the 6 raw materials 3h before sampling, gastric chyme was collected via a nasogastric tube and mixed. Bottles containing 1mL of the mixed gastric chymes, 50mL dilution medium and 1.…
High Diversity of the Viral Community from an Antarctic Lake
2009
Viruses are the most abundant biological entities and can control microbial communities, but their identity in terrestrial and freshwater Antarctic ecosystems is unknown. The genetic structure of an Antarctic lake viral community revealed unexpected genetic richness distributed across the highest number of viral families that have been found to date in aquatic viral metagenomes. In contrast to other known aquatic viromes, which are dominated by bacteriophage sequences, this Antarctic virus assemblage had a large proportion of sequences related to eukaryotic viruses, including phycodnaviruses and single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) viruses not previously identified in aquatic environments. We also o…
Sustainable Infrastructure Projects: Systemic versus Traditional Delivery Models
2021
Sustainability involves multiple environmental, technical, social and economic factors, and such complex analysis requires systemic solutions. Delivery models are key to achieving system benefits and enhancing sustainable development in infrastructure investments. They define the phases of a project, incentive structures, risk sharing and the relationships among the actors in it. They are usually developed early in the project and determine the project dynamics and outcomes. We compared traditional delivery models with systemic ones. We identified and illustrated elements that differ between them through two cases. The contribution is an increased understanding of how systemic infrastructur…