Search results for "Biological"
showing 10 items of 12574 documents
Land Use Affects Carbon Sources to the Pelagic Food Web in a Small Boreal Lake
2016
Small humic forest lakes often have high contributions of methane-derived carbon in their food webs but little is known about the temporal stability of this carbon pathway and how it responds to environmental changes on longer time scales. We reconstructed past variations in the contribution of methanogenic carbon in the pelagic food web of a small boreal lake in Finland by analyzing the stable carbon isotopic composition (δ13C values) of chitinous fossils of planktivorous invertebrates in sediments from the lake. The δ13C values of zooplankton remains show several marked shifts (approx. 10 ‰), consistent with changes in the proportional contribution of carbon from methane-oxidizing bacteri…
Increase inabovegroundfreshlitterquantityover-stimulatessoil respiration inatemperatedeciduousforest
2010
In the context of climate change, the amount of carbon allocated to soil, particularly fresh litter, is predicted to increase with terrestrial ecosystem productivity, and may alter soil carbon storage capacities. In this study we performed a 1-year litter-manipulation experiment to examine how soil CO2 efflux was altered by the amount of fresh litter. Three treatments were applied: litter exclusion (E), control (C, natural amount: 486 g m −2 ) and litter addition (A, twice the natural amount: 972 g m −2
Diving into exoplanets: Are water seas the most common?
2019
One of the basic tenets of exobiology is the need for a liquid substratum in which life can arise, evolve, and develop. The most common version of this idea involves the necessity of water to act as such a substratum, both because that is the case on Earth and because it seems to be the most viable liquid for chemical reactions that lead to life. Other liquid media that could harbor life, however, have occasionally been put forth. In this work, we investigate the relative probability of finding superficial seas on rocky worlds that could be composed of nine different, potentially abundant, liquids, including water. We study the phase space size of habitable zones defined for those substance…
Biomonitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the urine of lactating mothers: Urinary levels, association with lifestyle factors, and risk ass…
2020
Abstract Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are pollutants produced during incomplete combustion of organic matter and several industrial processes. Humans can be exposed to PAHs through ingestion of food, inhalation of tobacco smoke or polluted air, and dermal contact, causing immunologic, developmental, and reproductive problems. In the present research, eleven metabolites of PAHs were analyzed in the urine of 110 lactating women living in Spain (2015). PAH metabolites were extracted from the urine samples by liquid-liquid extraction and their determination was performed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. In addition, information on lifestyle and dietary ha…
Blood flow in the internal jugular veins during the spaceflight - Is it actually bidirectional?
2020
Recently intriguing results of the research performed on astronauts of the International Space Station have been published. Unexpectedly, in some crew members a stagnant and bidirectional flow in the internal jugular vein was found, and in one of the astronauts this vein seemed to be totally thrombosed. If it actually were the case that in the settings of weightlessness there is a substantial risk of jugular vein thrombosis, any long-term human space missions would be extremely dangerous. Yet, we interpret these findings differently. In our opinion, what has been explained as bidirectional flow, actually represented the flow separation, and what has been described as occluded vein was rathe…
Microbiology and atmospheric processes: biological, physical and chemical characterization of aerosol particles
2008
Abstract. The interest in bioaerosols has traditionally been linked to health hazards for humans, animals and plants. However, several components of bioaerosols exhibit physical properties of great significance for cloud processes, such as ice nucleation and cloud condensation. To gain a better understanding of their influence on climate, it is therefore important to determine the composition, concentration, seasonal fluctuation, regional diversity and evolution of bioaerosols. In this paper, we will review briefly the existing techniques for detection, quantification, physical and chemical analysis of biological particles, attempting to bridge physical, chemical and biological methods for …
Humusica 2, article 19: Techno humus systems and global change - Conservation agriculture and 4/1000 proposal
2018
International audience; Philosophy can overlap pedology. It is not casual that life begins and finishes in the soil. We separated the concepts of Humipedon, Copedon and Lithopedon. Some sections were dedicated to the founders of the movement for a new type of agriculture (agroecology). They simply proclaim to accompany the process of natural evolution instead of spending a lot of energy in hunting competitor organisms with pesticides or boosting the soil with mineral fertilisation and tillage. The core of the article is built on a biological concept of the soil and shows researches supporting this view. After pointing to the soil structure and illustrating its natural genesis, explaining wh…
A Participatory Agrobiodiversity Conservation Approach in the Oases: Community Actions for the Promotion of Sustainable Development in Fragile Areas
2021
Rural development policies today include significant directions towards ecological transition and sustainability. Biodiversity plays a fundamental role, especially in fragile environments. The North African oases, for example, are socio-ecological structures with delicate balances in terms of natural resources, where the activation of participatory conservation approaches appears today to be very useful, aiming at long-lasting results. This type of approach was applied in the oasis of El Hamma, in Tunisia. The socio-ecological analysis was carried out through semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders of the oasis. The results were used to activate focus groups and to identify, …
Stage–Discharge Relationship for an Upstream Inclined Grid with Transversal Bars
2016
AbstractCheck dams with grids upgrading upstream are often used in mountain rivers, where intense sediment transport and steep slopes occur. In some cases, sloping grids are used in the construction of debris flow breakers. In this paper, the outflow process of an upstream-inclined grid with transversal bars is studied by using the dimensional analysis and the incomplete self-similarity theory. Next, the theoretical analysis shows that a power equation can be used for establishing the stage-discharge equation. The coefficient of the power equation depends on both the slope angle and the void ratio, whereas the exponent depends only on the slope angle. Finally, this deduced stage–discharge r…
A risk assessment of the effects of mercury on Baltic Sea, Greater North Sea and North Atlantic wildlife, fish and bivalves
2021
Abstract: A wide range of species, including marine mammals, seabirds, birds of prey, fish and bivalves, were investigated for potential population health risks resulting from contemporary (post 2000) mercury (Hg) exposure, using novel risk thresholds based on literature and de novo contamination data. The main geographic focus is on the Baltic Sea, while data from the same species in adjacent waters, such as the Greater North Sea and North Atlantic, were included for comparative purposes. For marine mammals, 23% of the groups, each composing individuals of a specific sex and maturity from the same species in a specific study region, showed Hg-concentrations within the High Risk Category (H…