A question of origin: Where and how to collect seed for ecological restoration

Native plant species are routinely planted or sown in ecological restoration projects, but successful establishment and survival depend on where and how seeds are collected. Research suggests that it is important to use locally adapted seeds. Local populations often show a home-site advantage and non-local genotypes may be maladapted to local environmental conditions. Furthermore, intraspecific hybridisation of local and non-local genotypes may have a negative impact on the genetic structure of local populations via mechanisms such as outbreeding depression. Many species show a strong small-scale genetic differentiation between different habitats so that matching habitats of the restoration and donor site can be more important than minimizing geographical separation. It is a challenge to identify appropriate seed sources because strong small-scale population differentiation makes it difficult to delineate geographically defined seed zones to which seed exchange should be limited. Moreover, it is important to consider the genetic diversity of introduced material because it may be crucial to avoid genetic bottlenecks, inbreeding depression and poor establishment of plant populations. Repeated propagation in stock, which is often required to obtain a sufficient amount of seeds, can further reduce genetic diversity and may select for particular genotypes. Negative impacts of improper seed choice for nursery planting stock may become detectable only after many years, especially in long-lived and slow growing plants. Although scientific information on many species remains limited, the increasing demand for translocation of seed means that mandatory regulations are necessary. Guidelines should prescribe a specification of seed provenance, a record of genetic diversity of wild collections and rules for subsequent processing such as direct transfer and propagation of stock or seed orchards. We use a literature review to evaluate current legislation and to develop recommendations for herbaceous and woody species

Studies of sound attenuation depending on meteorological conditions

Previously used standardized calculation methods for sound propagation contain the influence of meteorological parameters just in a very simplified way. But the propagation of acoustic signals over a distance of several kilometers is essentially dependent on the distribution of temperature and wind. The sound level attenuation maps shown in this work have been calculated with the use of the sound ray model SMART (Sound propagation Model of the Atmosphere using Ray-Tracing). They demonstrate the meteorological influence on the sound attenuation in a distance of up to 15 km from the sound source. SMART takes the current or the predicted state of the atmosphere into account to depict the distribution of sound attenuation near the ground surface. Therefore it is an instrument which is able to estimate sound immission for a current or future moment (sound weather). Applied to meteorological data of longer time periods typical mean sound immissions for individual regions can be derived, which is referred as sound climate. On the one hand these attenuation maps firstly clarify the difference between these two terms. On the other hand they show the dependence of sound propagation on atmospheric conditions on several timescales. Radiosonde data from the years 1990 – 2009 were used for this analysis. A second part of this study deals with the question whether observational data (radiosonde) can be replaced by model data (COSMO-EU). For this purpose data of the station of Bergen was used for the year 2009.Bisher verwendete standardisierte Berechnungsverfahren für die Schallausbreitung beinhalten meteorologische Einflüsse nur in stark vereinfachter Weise. Die Ausbreitung akustischer Signale über mehrere Kilometer Entfernung hängt jedoch wesentlich von der Temperatur- und Windverteilung im Gebiet des Emissionsortes ab. In der Umgebung einer Schallquelle bis hin zu einer Entfernung von 15 km wird in dieser Studie der meteorologische Einfluss auf Schallpegeldämpfungskarten dargestellt, die mit Hilfe des Schallstrahlenmodells SMART (Sound propagation Model of the Atmosphere using Ray-Tracing) berechnet wurden. Das Modell SMART bezieht dabei die beobachteten bzw. prognostizierten meteorologischen Verhältnisse in die Darstellung der bodennahen Schalldämpfungsverteilung ein. Es ist damit ein Instrument für die Abschätzung der Schallimmission zu einem aktuellen oder zukünftigen Zeitpunkt (Schallwetter). Angewendet auf meteorologische Daten aus längeren Zeitabschnitten sind mittlere, für einzelne Regionen typische Schallimmissionsaussagen ableitbar, was hier als Schallklima bezeichnet wird. Diese Dämpfungskarten sollen zum einen den Unterschied dieser beiden Begriffe verdeutlichen, auf der anderen Seite aber auch die Abhängigkeit beider Zeitrahmen von der Meteorologie aufzeigen. In die Auswertungen gehen Radiosondenbeobachtungen aus den Jahren 1990 – 2009 ein. Ein zweiter Teil dieser Arbeit befasst sich mit der Frage der Ersetzbarkeit von Beobachtungsdaten (Radiosonde) durch Modelldaten (COSMO-EU). Diese Analyse erfolgt beispielhaft für die Station Bergen für das Jahr 2009

The functional genome of CA1 and CA3 neurons under native conditions and in response to ischemia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The different physiological repertoire of CA3 and CA1 neurons in the hippocampus, as well as their differing behaviour after noxious stimuli are ultimately based upon differences in the expressed genome. We have compared CA3 and CA1 gene expression in the uninjured brain, and after cerebral ischemia using laser microdissection (LMD), RNA amplification, and array hybridization.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Profiling in CA1 vs. CA3 under normoxic conditions detected more than 1000 differentially expressed genes that belong to different, physiologically relevant gene ontology groups in both cell types. The comparison of each region under normoxic and ischemic conditions revealed more than 5000 ischemia-regulated genes for each individual cell type. Surprisingly, there was a high co-regulation in both regions. In the ischemic state, only about 100 genes were found to be differentially expressed in CA3 and CA1. The majority of these genes were also different in the native state. A minority of interesting genes (e.g. inhibinbetaA) displayed divergent expression preference under native and ischemic conditions with partially opposing directions of regulation in both cell types.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The differences found in two morphologically very similar cell types situated next to each other in the CNS are large providing a rational basis for physiological differences. Unexpectedly, the genomic response to ischemia is highly similar in these two neuron types, leading to a substantial attenuation of functional genomic differences in these two cell types. Also, the majority of changes that exist in the ischemic state are not generated de novo by the ischemic stimulus, but are preexistant from the genomic repertoire in the native situation. This unexpected influence of a strong noxious stimulus on cell-specific gene expression differences can be explained by the activation of a cell-type independent conserved gene-expression program. Our data generate both novel insights into the relation of the quiescent and stimulus-induced transcriptome in different cells, and provide a large dataset to the research community, both for mapping purposes, as well as for physiological and pathophysiological research.</p

Nonclassical Vitamin D Action

It is becoming increasingly clear that vitamin D has a broad range of actions in the human body. Besides its well-known effects on calcium/phosphate homeostasis, vitamin D influences muscle function, cardiovascular homeostasis, nervous function, and the immune response. Vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency has been associated with muscle weakness and a high incidence of various chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 and 2 diabetes. Most importantly, low vitamin D status has been found to be an independent predictor of all-cause mortality. Several recent randomized controlled trials support the assumption that vitamin D can improve muscle strength, glucose homeostasis, and cardiovascular risk markers. In addition, vitamin D may reduce cancer incidence and elevated blood pressure. Since the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency is high throughout the world, there is a need to improve vitamin D status in the general adult population. However, the currently recommended daily vitamin D intake of 5-15 µg is too low to achieve an adequate vitamin D status in individuals with only modest skin synthesis. Thus, there is a need to recommend a vitamin D intake that is effective for achieving adequate circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations (>75 nmol/L)

Preliminary Results for the Multi-Robot, Multi-Partner, Multi-Mission, Planetary Exploration Analogue Campaign on Mount Etna

This paper was initially intended to report on the outcome of the twice postponed demonstration mission of the ARCHES project. Due to the global COVID pandemic, it has been postponed from 2020, then 2021, to 2022. Nevertheless, the development of our concepts and integration has progressed rapidly, and some of the preliminary results are worthwhile to share with the community to drive the dialog on robotics planetary exploration strategies. This paper includes an overview of the planned 4-week campaign, as well as the vision and relevance of the missiontowards the planned official space missions. Furthermore, the cooperative aspect of the robotic teams, the scientific motivation, the sub task achievements are summarised