Search results for "Earth"

Decline in coccolithophore diversity and impact on coccolith morphogenesis along a natural CO2 gradient

2014

A natural pH gradient caused by marine CO2 seeps off Vulcano Island (Italy) was used to assess the effects of ocean acidification on coccolithophores, which are abundant planktonic unicellular calcifiers. Such seeps are used as natural laboratories to study the effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems, since they cause long-term changes in seawater carbonate chemistry and pH, exposing the organisms to elevated CO2 concentrations and therefore mimicking future scenarios. Previous work at CO2 seeps has focused exclusively on benthic organisms. Here we show progressive depletion of 27 coccolithophore species, in terms of cell concentrations and diversity, along a calcite saturation …

Epifaunal and infaunal responses to submarine mine tailings in a Norwegian fjord.

2019

Abstract Disposal of mine tailings in marine shallow water ecosystems represents an environmental challenge, and the present paper reports results from a field study in Fraenfjorden, Norway, which is subject to such disposal. Structural and functional responses of benthic infauna and epifauna were investigated along a gradient from heavy tailings deposition to reference conditions. The tailings clearly impacted the faunal composition, with lowered species number close to the outfall. Total abundance of infauna increased in the most impacted area due to dominance of opportunistic species, whereas the epifauna was reduced and represented by a few scattered specimens only. In the most impacted…

Variability in δ13C values between individual Daphnia ephippia: Implications for palaeo-studies

2018

The stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13 C value) of Daphnia spp. resting egg shells (ephippia) provides information on past changes in Daphnia diet. Measurements are typically performed on samples of _20 ephippia, which obscures the range of values associated with individual ephippia. Using a recently developed laser ablation-based technique, we perform multiple δ13 C analyses on individual ephippia, which show a high degree of reproducibility (standard deviations 0.1e0.5‰). We further measured δ13 C values of 13 ephippia from surface sediments of three Swiss lakes. In the well-oxygenated lake with low methane concentrations, δ13 C values are close to values typical for algae (_31.4‰) and the …

Ultraviolet radiation exposure of a high arctic lake in Svalbard during the Holocene

2014

Long-term fluctuations in lake-water optical properties were examined using a Holocene sediment sequence and multi-proxy palaeolimnological approach in Lake Einstaken, Nordaustlandet, Svalbard. UV-absorbance of sedimentary cladoceran remains provided information on underwater UV exposure and changes in lake-catchment coupling processes were inferred from sediment geochemistry. In addition, aquatic community succession was used as an indicator for lake-water bio-optical properties and a Holocene record of sun activity (sunspots) was utilized to evaluate long-term solar forcing. The results indicated that the UV-absorbance of cladoceran remains was highest (i.e. maximum UV-induced pigmentatio…

Climate signal age effects in boreal tree-rings: Lessons to be learned for paleoclimatic reconstructions

2016

Abstract Age-related alternation in the sensitivity of tree-ring width (TRW) to climate variability has been reported for different forest species and environments. The resulting growth-climate response patterns are, however, often inconsistent and similar assessments using maximum latewood density (MXD) are still missing. Here, we analyze climate signal age effects (CSAE, age-related changes in the climate sensitivity of tree growth) in a newly aggregated network of 692 Pinus sylvestris L. TRW and MXD series from northern Fennoscandia. Although summer temperature sensitivity of TRW ( r All  = 0.48) ranges below that of MXD ( r All  = 0.76), it declines for both parameters as cambial age in…

Interspecific comparison of the performance of soaring migrants in relation to morphology, meteorological conditions and migration strategies.

2012

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.-- et al.

2018

Optimized Application of Biome-BGC for Modeling the Daily GPP of Natural Vegetation Over Peninsular Spain

2018

A methodology for improving the application of Biome-BGC in peninsular Spain was developed focusing on the optimization of the rooting depth (zroot), which is not available for the study area on a spatially distributed basis. The optimal zroot was identified by comparing daily gross primary production (GPP) simulations with varying zroot to GPP estimations from a production efficiency model previously optimized for and validated in the study area. The methodology was first tested in four eddy covariance (EC) sites representative of Mediterranean ecosystems and next applied at a regional scale to the whole study area. As a result, daily GPP simulated maps for the 2005-2012 period and an opti…

Habitat associations drive species vulnerability to climate change in boreal forests

2016

Species climate change vulnerability, their predisposition to be adversely affected, has been assessed for a limited portion of biodiversity. Our knowledge of climate change impacts is often based only on exposure, the magnitude of climatic variation in the area occupied by the species, even if species sensitivity, the species ability to tolerate climatic variations determined by traits, plays a key role in determining vulnerability. We analyse the role of species’ habitat associations, a proxy for sensitivity, in explaining vulnerability for two poorly-known but species-rich taxa in boreal forest, saproxylic beetles and fungi, using three IPCC emissions scenarios. Towards the end of the 21…

Iodine emissions from the sea ice of the Weddell Sea

2012

Iodine compounds were measured above, below and within the sea ice of the Weddell Sea during a cruise in 2009, to make progress in elucidating the mechanism of local enhancement and volatilisation of iodine. I<sub>2</sub> mixing ratios of up to 12.4 pptv were measured 10 m above the sea ice, and up to 31 pptv was observed above surface snow on the nearby Brunt Ice Shelf – large amounts. Atmospheric IO of up to 7 pptv was measured from the ship, and the average sum of HOI and ICl was 1.9 pptv. These measurements confirm the Weddell Sea as an iodine hotspot. Average atmospheric concentrations of CH<sub>3</sub>I, C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>5</sub>I, CH&l…