Ecological and conceptual consequences of Arctic pollution

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordAlthough the effect of pollution on forest health and decline received much attention in the 1980s, it has not been considered to explain the ‘Divergence Problem’ in dendroclimatology; a decoupling of tree growth from rising air temperatures since the 1970s. Here we use physical and biogeochemical measurements of hundreds of living and dead conifers to reconstruct the impact of heavy industrialisation around Norilsk in northern Siberia. Moreover, we develop a forward model with surface irradiance forcing to quantify long‐distance effects of anthropogenic emissions on the functioning and productivity of Siberia’s taiga. Downwind from the world’s most polluted Arctic region, tree mortality rates of up to 100% have destroyed 24,000 km2 boreal forest since the 1960s, coincident with dramatic increases in atmospheric sulphur, copper, and nickel concentrations. In addition to regional ecosystem devastation, we demonstrate how ‘Arctic Dimming’ can explain the circumpolar ‘Divergence Problem’, and discuss implications on the terrestrial carbon cycle.Forest ServiceMinistry of Science and Higher EducationRussian Science Foundatio

A photoreactive ruthenium(II) complex tethered to a guanine-containing oligonucleotide: a biomolecular tool that behaves as a "Seppuku Molecule"

(Figure Presented) Self-destruction: Attachment of a photoreactive Ru II complex to a guanine-containing oligonucleotide has led to an innovative biomolecular tool for gene silencing studies. This conjugate can be selectively photo-cross-linked with its complementary strand but undergoes a self-inhibition (or "seppuku") process in the presence of a noncomplementary target (see picture), which is an attractive strategy to avoid undesired secondary photoeffects. © 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tFLWINSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe