Chironomid (Insecta: Chironomidae) community structure response to hydrological changes in the mid-1950s in lake Nam Co, Tibetan Plateau

The recent rise in air temperatures detected at high altitudes of the Tibetan Plateau has accelerated glacier melt and retreat. Moreover, enhanced monsoonal precipitation has increased runoff and transport of allochthonous material to the lakes. Consequently, water levels are rising, modifying the spatial distribution and composition of local aquatic biota. To infer these environmental and biological changes in recent decades, a 30-cm-long sediment core, representing the past ~160 years, from Nam Co, an endorheic lake, was analyzed for subfossil chironomid assemblages and sediment geochemistry. In total, 25 chironomid morphotypes were identified. Nineteen were considered as non-rare taxa (abundances ≥2%) and six as rare taxa (abundances <2%). Since 1956 ce, higher chironomid richness (S = 19) is evident compared to the previous 100 years. The simultaneous decrease in the abundance of profundal Micropsectra radialis-type and increase of both Chironomus and Procladius, taxa adapted to more eurytopic and slightly warmer water bodies, indicate increasing water temperatures and intensified primary productivity. The dominance of littoral chironomid assemblages reflects increasing lake water levels, flooded shorelines and expansion of littoral areas driven by increased precipitation and glacial meltwater input both resulting from the increase in air temperatures. This scenario is confirmed by increases in total nitrogen and Zr/Rb ratios, indicating higher productivity and coarser grain size as a consequence of increased runoff via the Niya Qu. These hydrological changes have resulted in a positive water balance that can be linked to an increase in moisture supply from the Indian summer monsoon and glacier melt, reflecting increasing temperatures and precipitation since 1956 ce, ultimately driven by anthropogenic warming

Sub-fossil chironomids as indicators of hydrological changes in the shallow and high-altitude lake Shen Co, Tibetan Plateau, over the past two centuries

Understanding climate and monsoonal dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau is crucial, as recent hydrological changes, evidenced by rising lake levels, will be accelerated by current global warming and may alter aquatic habitats and species inventories. This study combines chironomid assemblages with sedimentological, mineralogical and geochemical data of a short sediment core (37.5 cm) from the high-altitude (> 4,733 m asl), saline (9 g L-1) and shallow (~5 m water depth) Shen Co, located in the southern part of the central Tibetan Plateau. The predominantly littoral, species-poor (10 chironomid morphotypes) chironomid assemblages are dominated by salt-tolerant taxa, that are highly sensitive to lake level fluctuations and macrophyte vegetation dynamics, making them ideally suited for tracking lake level changes over time. Results indicate a period (from ca. 1830 to 1921 CE) of drier conditions with low runoff and high evaporation rates in the Shen Co catchment, as indicated by a dominance of low-Mg calcite and dolomite and increased Ca/Fe and Sr/Rb ratios. This resulted in a decline in lake levels, an increase in salinity and the periodic occurrence of desiccation events at the sampling site. The first chironomid morphotype to appear after the dry period is Acricotopus indet. morphotype incurvatus, which indicate still low (<2 m) but rising lake levels after 1921 CE due to increasing runoff and a lower evaporation/precipitation ratio, as reflected by coarser grain size, higher quartz content and increased TN, TOC and Al/Si ratios. A replacement of A. indet. morphotype incurvatus by Procladius is observed as lake level rise continued after 1950 CE. The highest lake level is proposed for the period since 2006 CE. From 1955 to 1960 CE and from 2011 to 2018 CE, the presence of the phytophilic taxon Psectrocladius sordidellus-type supported abundant macrophyte growth. These changes are consistent with climate reconstructions from the northern and central Tibetan Plateau, indicating warmer and wetter climate conditions since the beginning of the 20th century, which have led to an increase in lake level in a number of Tibetan lakes. Our study specifically highlights 1920 and 1950 as years with enhanced precipitation. This can be attributed to the strong, with overlapping multidecadal cycles of Westerlies and monsoon systems. This study demonstrates the significance of studying small, shallow lakes, as they frequently contain aquatic communities that respond more rapidly to the changes in the lake system. In addition, this study expands our understanding of the ecology of Tibetan chironomid morphotypes, highlighting this group’s potential as paleolimnological proxies for investigating past environmental and climatic changes

Late Quaternary changes in moisture availability and weathering intensity on the central Tibetan Plateau indicated by chemical signatures of ostracod shells

High-resolution multi-proxy records from two lakes on the southern Tibetan Plateau, Nam Co and Tangra Yumco, are used to infer long-term variations in the Asian monsoon system with a novel set of ostracod shell chemistry proxies. We track the moisture evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum using the trace element, rare earth element (REE) and stable isotope composition of ostracod shells. The sediment records covering the past 18.8 cal. ka BP and 17.4 cal. ka BP, respectively, demonstrate the suitability of REEs as indicators of weathering intensity and thus hydrological changes and moisture sources in the catchment. In Nam Co, high concentrations of light REEs between 14 and 13 cal. ka BP suggest an increased drainage from the glaciated Nyainqêngtanglha Mountains in the south, pointing to meltwater input. REEs in ostracod shells therefore provide additional information on water sources critical for the interpretation of stable isotope records. Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, and Ba/Ca ratios reflect salinity and thus changes in effective moisture. Asynchronous behavior of Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, and Ba/Ca ratios are controlled by changes in dominance of precipitating carbonate minerals in the lake. Synchronous behavior reflects calcite precipitation, indicating low-Mg/Ca warm-wet conditions. Constantly low Sr/Ca ratios reflect aragonite precipitation, indicating high-Mg dry conditions. Increased Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca relative to Mg/Ca ratios show monohydrocalcite precipitation, indicating high-Mg/Ca cold-dry conditions. Furthermore, Fe/Ca, Mn/Ca and U/Ca ratios in ostracods reflect changes in oxygen saturation in lake bottom waters controlled by lake level and microbial activity. The paleoclimate histories reconstructed from Nam Co and Tangra Yumco show high similarity throughout the late Quaternary. We identified two major dry periods, corresponding to Heinrich 1 and the Younger Dryas, followed by strengthening in Indian summer monsoon precipitation. The early Holocene is characterized by a moisture maximum, reflecting abundant water supply by a strong ISM. A time-delayed shift to dry conditions occurred at 2.6 cal. ka BP at Tangra Yumco, and at 2 cal. ka BP at Nam Co, resulting in decreasing lake levels, caused by weakened monsoon intensity due to a southeastward migration of the ISM-Westerly boundary with an estimated velocity of approximately 600 m per year

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

Finally! Insights into the ARCHES Lunar Planetary Exploration Analogue Campaign on Etna in summer 2022

This paper summarises the first outcomes of the space demonstration mission of the ARCHES project which could have been performed this year from 13 june until 10 july on Italy’s Mt. Etna in Sicily. After the second postponement related to COVID from the initially for 2020 planed campaign, we are now very happy to report, that the whole campaign with more than 65 participants for four weeks has been successfully conduced. In this short overview paper, we will refer to all other publication here on IAC22. This paper includes an overview of the performed 4-week campaign and the achieved mission goals and first results but also share our findings on the organisational and planning aspects

Addressing the climate challenge

In 2021, colleagues from across the University of Birmingham community were invited to write articles about topics relevant to the COP26 climate change summit. In this series of articles, experts from across many different disciplines provide new insight and evidence on how we might all understand and tackle climate change

Identification and validation of QTL for spike fertile floret and fruiting efficiencies in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

The spike fruiting efficiency (FE—grains per unit spike dry weight at anthesis, GN/SDW) is a promising trait to improve wheat yield potential. It depends on fertile floret efficiency (fertile florets per unit SDW—FFE, FF/SDW) and grain set (grains per fertile floret—GST). Given its difficult measurement, it is often estimated as the grains per unit of nongrain spike dry weight at maturity (FEm). In this study, quantitative trait loci (QTL) were mapped using a double haploid population (Baguette 19/BIOINTA 2002, with high and low FE, respectively) genotyped with the iSelect 90 K SNP array and evaluated in five environments. We identified 37 QTL, but two were major with an R2 > 10% and stable for being at least present in three environments: the QFEm.perg-3A (on Chr. 3A, 51.6 cM, 685.12 Mb) for FEm and the QFFE.perg-5A (on Chr. 5A, 42.1 cM, 461.49 Mb) for FFE, FE and FEm. Both QTL were validated using two independent F2 populations and KASP markers. For the most promising QTL, QFFE.perg-5A, the presence of the allele for high FFE resulted in + 4% FF, + 9% GN, + 13% GST, + 16% yield gSDW−1 and + 5% yield spike−1. QFEm.perg-3A and QFFE.perg-5A represent two new loci to use in MAS to improve wheat yield potential.EEA Marcos JuárezFil: Pretini, Nicole. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNNOBA). Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina.Fil: Vanzetti, Leonardo Sebastian. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Marcos Juárez; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Terrile, Ignacio Ismael. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Pergamino; Argentina.Fil: Börner, Andreas. Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research; AlemaniaFil: Plieske, Jörg. Trait Genetics GmbH; AlemaniaFil: Ganal, Martin. Trait Genetics GmbH; AlemaniaFil: Röder, Marion. Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research; AlemaniaFil: González, Fernanda Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNNOBA). Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Pergamino; Argentina