Search results for "BIOSPHERE"
showing 10 items of 55 documents
The SMOS mediterranean ecosystem L-band characterisation experiment (MELBEX) over natural shrubs
2010
10 páginas, 5 figuras, 7 tablas.
Scaling carbon fluxes from eddy covariance sites to globe: synthesis and evaluation of the FLUXCOM approach
2020
FLUXNET comprises globally distributed eddy-covariance-based estimates of carbon fluxes between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Since eddy covariance flux towers have a relatively small footprint and are distributed unevenly across the world, upscaling the observations is necessary to obtain global-scale estimates of biosphere–atmosphere exchange. Based on cross-consistency checks with atmospheric inversions, sun-induced fluorescence (SIF) and dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs), here we provide a systematic assessment of the latest upscaling efforts for gross primary production (GPP) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of the FLUXCOM initiative, where different machine learning methods…
The Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis
2011
Information on land surface properties finds applications in a range of areas related to weather forecasting, environmental research, hazard management and climate monitoring. Remotely sensed observations yield the only means of supplying land surface information with adequate time sampling and a wide spatial coverage. The aim of the Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis (Land-SAF) is to take full advantage of remotely sensed data to support land, land-atmosphere and biosphere applications, with emphasis on the development and implementation of algorithms that allow operational use of data from European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMET…
Evaluation of the most recent reprocessed SMOS soil moisture products: Comparison between SMOS level 3 V246 and V272
2015
International audience; Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite has been providing surface soil moisture (SSM) and ocean salinity (OS) retrievals at L-band for five years (2010–2014). During these five years, the SSM retrieval algorithm i.e. the L-MEB (L-Band Microwave Emission of the Biosphere [1] model has been progressively improved and hence results in different versions of the SMOS SSM products. This study aims at evaluating the last improvement in the SSM products of the most recent SMOS level 3 (SMOSL3) reprocessing (SMOSL3_2.72) vs. an earlier version (SMOSL3_246). Correlation, bias, Root Mean Square Difference (RMSD) and unbiased RMSD (unbRMSD) were used as perform…
Between a rock and a soft place: the role of viruses in lithification of modern microbial mats.
2021
10 pages; International audience; Stromatolites are geobiological systems formed by complex microbial communities, and fossilized stromatolites provide a record of some of the oldest life on Earth. Microbial mats are precursors of extant stromatolites; however, the mechanisms of transition from mat to stromatolite are controversial and are still not well understood. To fully recognize the profound impact that these ecosystems have had on the evolution of the biosphere requires an understanding of modern lithification mechanisms and how they relate to the geological record. We propose here viral mechanisms in carbonate precipitation, leading to stromatolite formation, whereby viruses directl…
Torilis pseudonodosa Bianca (Apiaceae) – new species for the flora of Ukraine
2022
We report the first record of Torilis pseudonodosa Bianca (Apiaceae) from Ukraine. It was found on 28th of May 2021 in the “Potiivska” section of the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve near the village of Zaliznyi Port (Southern Ukraine). Torilis pseudonodosa previously was known from various countries in the Mediterranean Basin and Western Asia, but not from Ukraine nor elsewhere in Eastern Europe. We discovered a hitherto unknown population of Torilis pseudonodosa during the 15th EDGG Field Workshop, an international expedition of the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) taking place in Southern Ukraine, from 23 May to 2 June 2021. We present the taxon, its morphology and general distribution, de…
1993
The history of life may be compared to a huge cable enclosing as many strands as there are fossil and present species. The biosphere, with its 2 million species, would then correspond to a transverse section through this cable.
Sulfur cycling and methanogenesis primarily drive microbial colonization of the highly sulfidic Urania deep hypersaline basin
2009
Urania basin in the deep Mediterranean Sea houses a lake that is >100 m deep, devoid of oxygen, 6 times more saline than seawater, and has very high levels of methane and particularly sulfide (up to 16 mM), making it among the most sulfidic water bodies on Earth. Along the depth profile there are 2 chemoclines, a steep one with the overlying oxic seawater, and another between anoxic brines of different density, where gradients of salinity, electron donors and acceptors occur. To identify and differentiate the microbes and processes contributing to the turnover of organic matter and sulfide along the water column, these chemoclines were sampled at a high resolution. Bacterial cell numbers…
The armoured mite fauna (Acari: Oribatida) from a long-term study in the Scots pine forest of the Northern Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve, Latvia
2014
In 1992-2012, a considerable amount of soil micro-arthropods has been collected annually as a part of a project of the National Long-Term Ecological Research Network of Latvia at the Mazsalaca Scots Pine forest sites of the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve. Until now, the data on oribatid species have not been published. This paper presents a list of oribatid species collected during 21 years of ongoing research in three pine stands of different age. The faunistic records refer to 84 species (including 17 species new to the fauna of Latvia), 1 subspecies, 1 form, 5 morphospecies and 18 unidentified taxa. The most dominant and most frequent oribatid species are Oppiella (Oppiella) nova, Tecto…
Anthosart Green Tool: Selecting Species for Green Infrastructure Design
2021
The environmental and economic costs of greenery depend on the planning criteria adopted and on the plants used. These costs can become more sustainable and can also be significantly lowered by using native flora and getting inspired by local plant communities. Nature-based solutions entail the use of species that co-occur naturally, thus replicating a model of coexistence consolidated by the evolutionary coherence of the biosphere. Planning, using and (re-)producing – getting inspired by natural ecosystems – may foster the dissemination of ecological awareness, with gardens, avenues, rooftops, walls and balconies seen as spaces available for the urban reconciliation with nature. The Anthos…