22,882 research outputs found
Using all-sky differential photometry to investigate how nocturnal clouds darken the night sky in rural areas
Artificial light at night has affected most of the natural nocturnal
landscapes worldwide and the subsequent light pollution has diverse effects on
flora, fauna and human well-being. To evaluate the environmental impacts of
light pollution, it is crucial to understand both the natural and artificial
components of light at night under all weather conditions. The night sky
brightness for clear skies is relatively well understood and a reference point
for a lower limit is defined. However, no such reference point exists for
cloudy skies. While some studies have examined the brightening of the night sky
by clouds in urban areas, the published data on the (natural) darkening by
clouds is very sparse. Knowledge of reference points for the illumination of
natural nocturnal environments however, is essential for experimental design
and ecological modeling to assess the impacts of light pollution. Here we use
differential all-sky photometry with a commercial digital camera to investigate
how clouds darken sky brightness at two rural sites. The spatially resolved
data enables us to identify and study the nearly unpolluted parts of the sky
and to set an upper limit on ground illumination for overcast nights at sites
without light pollution.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
First light for avian embryos: eggshell thickness and pigmentation mediate variation in development and UV exposure in wild bird eggs
Article first published online: 29 JUL 20141. The avian embryo's development is influenced by both the amount and the wavelength of the light that passes through the eggshell. Commercial poultry breeders use light of specific wavelengths to accelerate embryonic growth, yet the effects of the variably patterned eggshells of wild bird species on light transmission and embryonic development remain largely unexplored. 2. Here, we provide the first comparative phylogenetic analysis of light transmission, through a diverse range of bird eggshells (74 British breeding species), in relation to the eggshell's thickness, permeability, pigment concentration and surface reflectance spectrum (colour). 3. The percentage of light transmitted through the eggshell was measured in the spectral range 250ā700 nm. Our quantitative analyses confirm anecdotal reports that eggshells filter the light of the externally coloured shell. Specifically, we detected a positive relationship between surface eggshell reflectance (ābrightnessā) and the percentage of light transmitted through the eggshell, and this relationship was strongest at wavelengths in the human-visible blue-green region of the spectra (c. 435 nm). 4. We show that less light passes through thicker eggshells with greater total pigment concentrations. By contrast, permeability (measured as water vapour conductance) did not covary significantly with light transmission. Eggs of closed-nesting species let more light pass through, compared with open nesters. 5. We postulate that greater light transmission is required to assist embryonic development under low light exposure. Importantly, this result provides an ecological explanation for the repeated evolution of immaculate, white- or pale-coloured eggshells in species nesting in enclosed spaces. 6. Finally, we detected correlative support for the solar radiation hypothesis, in that eggshells of bird species with a longer incubation period let significantly less of the potentially harmful, ultraviolet (UV) light pass through the eggshell. In summary, we demonstrate suites of avian eggshell properties, including eggshell structure and pigmentation, which are consistent with an evolutionary pressure to both enhance and protect embryonic development.Golo Maurer, Steven J. Portugal, Mark E. Hauber, Ivan MikÅ”Ćk, Douglas G. D. Russell and Phillip Casse
Selected bibliography of remote sensing
Bibliography of remote sensing techniques for analysis and assimilation of geographic dat
Hyperspectral remote sensing of cyanobacterial pigments as indicators for cell populations and toxins in eutrophic lakes
The growth of mass populations of toxin-producing cyanobacteria is a serious concern for the ecological
status of inland waterbodies and for human and animal health. In this study we examined the performance
of four semi-analytical algorithms for the retrieval of chlorophyll a (Chl a) and phycocyanin (C-PC) from data
acquired by the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager-2 (CASI-2) and the Airborne Imaging Spectrometer
for Applications (AISA) Eagle sensor. The retrieval accuracies of the semi-analytical models were
compared to those returned by optimally calibrated empirical band-ratio algorithms. The best-performing
algorithm for the retrieval of Chl a was an empirical band-ratio model based on a quadratic function of the
ratio of re!ectance at 710 and 670 nm (R2=0.832; RMSE=29.8%). However, this model only provided a
marginally better retrieval than the best semi-analytical algorithm. The best-performing model for the
retrieval of C-PC was a semi-analytical nested band-ratio model (R2=0.984; RMSE=3.98 mg mā3). The
concentrations of C-PC retrieved using the semi-analytical model were correlated with cyanobacterial cell
numbers (R2=0.380) and the particulate and total (particulate plus dissolved) pools of microcystins
(R2=0.858 and 0.896 respectively). Importantly, both the empirical and semi-analytical algorithms were
able to retrieve the concentration of C-PC at cyanobacterial cell concentrations below current warning
thresholds for cyanobacteria in waterbodies. This demonstrates the potential of remote sensing to contribute
to early-warning detection and monitoring of cyanobacterial blooms for human health protection at regional
and global scales
Extended patchy ecosystems may increase their total biomass through self-replication
Patches of vegetation consist of dense clusters of shrubs, grass, or trees,
often found to be circular characteristic size, defined by the properties of
the vegetation and terrain. Therefore, vegetation patches can be interpreted as
localized structures. Previous findings have shown that such localized
structures can self-replicate in a binary fashion, where a single vegetation
patch elongates and divides into two new patches. Here, we extend these
previous results by considering the more general case, where the plants
interact non-locally, this extension adds an extra level of complexity and
shrinks the gap between the model and real ecosystems, where it is known that
the plant-to-plant competition through roots and above-ground facilitating
interactions have non-local effects, i.e. they extend further away than the
nearest neighbor distance. Through numerical simulations, we show that for a
moderate level of aridity, a transition from a single patch to periodic pattern
occurs. Moreover, for large values of the hydric stress, we predict an opposing
route to the formation of periodic patterns, where a homogeneous cover of
vegetation may decay to spot-like patterns. The evolution of the biomass of
vegetation patches can be used as an indicator of the state of an ecosystem,
this allows to distinguish if a system is in a self-replicating or decaying
dynamics. In an attempt to relate the theoretical predictions to real
ecosystems, we analyze landscapes in Zambia and Mozambique, where vegetation
forms patches of tens of meters in diameter. We show that the properties of the
patches together with their spatial distributions are consistent with the
self-organization hypothesis. We argue that the characteristics of the observed
landscapes may be a consequence of patch self-replication, however, detailed
field and temporal data is fundamental to assess the real state of the
ecosystems.Comment: 38 pages, 12 figures, 1 tabl
Behavioral modeling of GaN-based power amplifiers: impact of electrothermal feedback on the model accuracy and identification
In this article, we discuss the accuracy of behavioral models in simulating the intermodulation distortion (IMD) of microwave GaN-based high-power amplifiers in the presence of strong electrothermal (ET) feedback. Exploiting an accurate self-consistent ET model derived from measurements and thermal finite-element method simulations, we show that behavioral models are able to yield accurate results, provided that the model identification is carried out with signals with wide bandwidth and large dynamics
Shedding Light on Diatom Photonics by means of Digital Holography
Diatoms are among the dominant phytoplankters in the worl's ocean, and their
external silica investments, resembling artificial photonics crystal, are
expected to play an active role in light manipulation. Digital holography
allowed studying the interaction with light of Coscinodiscus wailesii cell wall
reconstructing the light confinement inside the cell cytoplasm, condition that
is hardly accessible via standard microscopy. The full characterization of the
propagated beam, in terms of quantitative phase and intensity, removed a
long-standing ambiguity about the origin of the light. The data were discussed
in the light of living cell behavior in response to their environment
Plant clonal morphologies and spatial patterns as self-organized responses to resource-limited environments
We propose here to interpret and model peculiar plant morphologies (cushions,
tussocks) observed in the Andean altiplano as localized structures. Such
structures resulting in a patchy, aperiodic aspect of the vegetation cover are
hypothesized to self-organize thanks to the interplay between facilitation and
competition processes occurring at the scale of basic plant components
biologically referred to as 'ramets'. (Ramets are often of clonal origin.) To
verify this interpretation, we applied a simple, fairly generic model (one
integro-differential equation) emphasizing via Gaussian kernels non-local
facilitative and competitive feedbacks of the vegetation biomass density on its
own dynamics. We show that under realistic assumptions and parameter values
relating to ramet scale, the model can reproduce some macroscopic features of
the observed systems of patches and predict values for the inter-patch distance
that match the distances encountered in the reference area (Sajama National
Park in Bolivia). Prediction of the model can be confronted in the future to
data on vegetation patterns along environmental gradients as to anticipate the
possible effect of global change on those vegetation systems experiencing
constraining environmental conditions.Comment: 14 pages, 6figure
The application of optical coherence tomography to image subsurface tissue structure of Antarctic krill Euphausia superba
Many small open ocean animals, such as Antarctic krill, are an important part of marine ecosystems. To discover what will happen to animals such as krill in a changing ocean, experiments are run in aquaria where conditions can be controlled to simulate water characteristics predicted to occur in the future. The response of individual animals to changing water conditions can be hard to observe, and with current observation techniques it is very difficult to follow the progress of an individual animal through its life. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an optical imaging technique that allows images at high resolution to be obtained from depths up to a few millimeters inside biological specimens. It is compatible with in vivo imaging and can be used repeatedly on the same specimens. In this work, we show how OCT may be applied to post mortem krill samples and how important physiological data such as shell thickness and estimates of organ volume can be obtained. Using OCT we find an average value for the thickness of krill exoskeleton to be (30Ā±4) Āµm along a 1 cm length of the animal body. We also show that the technique may be used to provide detailed imagery of the internal structure of a pleopod joint and provide an estimate for the heart volume of (0.73Ā±0.03) mm3
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