Towards integration of research and monitoring at forest ecosystems in Europe

Aim of study: The main aim of the work was to summarize availability, quality and comparability of on-going European Research and Monitoring Networks (ERMN), based on the results of a COST FP0903 Action questionnaire carried out in September 2010 and May 2012. Area of study: The COST Action FP0903 involves 29 European countries and 4 non-COST institutions from USA, Morocco and Tunisia. In this study, the total of 22 replies to the questionnaire from 18 countries were included. Materials and methods: Based on the feedback from the Action FP0903 countries, the most popular European Networks were identified. Thereafter, the access to the network database, available quality assurance/quality control procedures and publication were described. Finally, the so-called “Supersites” concept, defined as a “highly instrumented research infrastructure, for both research and monitoring of soil-plant-atmosphere interactions” was discussed. Main results: The result of the survey indicate that the vast majority of the Action FP0903 countries participate in the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forest (ICP Forest). The multi-disciplinary International Cooperative Programme on Integrated Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Ecosystems (ICPIM) is the second most widespread forest programme. Research highlights: To fully understand biochemical cycles in forest ecosystems, long-term monitoring is needed. Hence, a network of “Supersites”, is proposed. The application of the above infrastructure can be an effective way to attain a better integration of research and monitoring networks at forest sites in Europ

Ultrasonic in vivo measurement of ocular surface expansion

Our aim was to ascertain whether the ultrasonic measurement of longitudinal corneal apex displacements carried out in a proper headrest is a credible method of ocular pulse (OP) detection. To distinguish between longitudinal movements of the eye globe treated as a rigid body and ocular surface expansion caused by the variations of the eye-globe volume, two ultrasound distance sensors were applied to noninvasively measure displacements of cornea and sclera. The same sensors were used to examine the influence of the anterio–posterior movements of a fixed head on the registration of corneal apex pulsation. In both experiments, ECG signals were synchronically recorded. Time, spectral, and coherence analyses obtained for four healthy subjects showed that the ocular surface expansion due to pulsatile ocular blood flow (POBF) is the main component of longitudinal corneal displacement. Ocular surface pulsation is always affected by the head movement. However, there exist some unique properties of signals, which help to distinguish between head and eye movements. A rigid headrest and a bite bar are required to stabilize the head during OP measurement. Ultrasonic technique enables noninvasive and accurate in vivo measurement of corneal pulsation, which could be of interest for indirectly estimating intraocular pressure propagation and POBF component.This work was supported in part by the Polish Ministry of Education under Grant N N518 423336 and in part by the Spanish Ministry of Education under Grant PR2009-0377

The influence of accommodation on corneal pulse signal

Oko jest wysoce wyspecjalizowanym narządem o znacznej dynamice. Jednym z przejawów tej dynamiki jest zjawisko pulsu rogówki, będące wynikiem pulsacyjnego przepływu krwi w oku i fluktuacji ciśnienia wewnątrzgałkowego. Dotychczasowe badania wykazały związek parametrów pulsu rogówki z wiekiem i rozwojem chorób. Poniższa praca jako pierwsza ma na celu ocenę wpływu poziomu akomodacji na charakterystykę pulsu rogówki. W pracy przedstawiono wyniki nieinwazyjnego pomiaru sygnału pulsu rogówki rejestrowanego synchronicznie z sygnałami niosącymi informację o aktywności sercowo naczyniowej w grupie 8 zdrowych, młodych ochotników dla trzech wartości akomodacji: 0,2 D, 3 D i 6 D. Analiza objęła wartość średniokwadratową sygnału pulsu rogówki, parametry częstotliwościowe jego wybranych składowych harmonicznych oraz koherencję tych składowych z odpowiadającymi im harmonicznymi sygnałów pulsu krwi i EKG. Analiza statystyczna pokazała, że na poziomie akomodacji 3 D występują istotne różnice w parametrach składowej niskoczęstotliwościowej (poniżej 0,5 Hz) oraz w wartości średniokwadratowej sygnału pulsu rogówki, co sugeruje wpływ poziomu akomodacji na charakterystykę pulsu rogówki.The eye is a highly-specialized organ that exhibits a wide range of dynamic behavior. One example of the eye’s dynamic behavior is corneal pulsation, a phenomenon related to pulsatile blood flow in the eye and fluctuations of intraocular pressure. Studies showed that morphology of corneal pulse signal changes with age and eye diseases. This work aims, for the first time, to assess the influence of eye accommodation on corneal pulse characteristic. Results of noninvasive measurement of corneal pulse recorded synchronically with cardiovascular signals in a group of 8 young, healthy volunteers at three accommodation levels, are presented. Analysis included the signal’s root mean square value, spectral characteristics of selected harmonic components of the signal, and coherence between corneal pulse components and those of blood pulse and ECG signals. Statistical analysis showed significant differences between parameters of the low-frequency component (below 0.5 Hz) and the root mean square value at 3 D accommodation level, which suggests that accommodation influences corneal pulsation

Growing season length as a key factor of cumulative net ecosystem exchange over the pine forest ecosystems in Europe

The Scots pine is one of the most important species in European and Asian forests. Due to a widespread occurrence of pine forests, their significance in the energy and mass exchange between the Earth surface and the atmosphere is also important, particularly in the context of climate change and greenhouse gases balance. The aim of this work is to present the relationship between the average annual net ecosystem productivity and growing season length, latitude and air temperature (tay) over Europe. Therefore, CO2 flux measurement data from eight European pine dominated forests were used. The observations suggest that there is a correlation between the intensity of CO2 uptake or emission by a forest stand and the above mentioned parameters. Based on the obtained results, all of the selected pine forest stands were CO2 sinks, except a site in northern Finland. The carbon dioxide uptake increased proportionally with the increase of growing season length (9.212 g C m-2 y-1 per day of growing season, R2 = 0.53, p = 0.0399). This dependency showed stronger correlation and higher statistical significance than both relationships between annual net ecosystem productivity and air temperature (R2 = 0.39, p = 0.096) and annual net ecosystem productivity and latitude (R2 = 0.47, p = 0.058). The CO2 emission surpassed assimilation in winter, early spring and late autumn. Moreover, the appearance of late, cold spring and early winter, reduced annual net ecosystem productivity. Therefore, the growing season length can be considered as one of the main factor affecting the annual carbon budget of pine forests

Measurement of carbon dioxide exchange and biomass in forest ecosystems - measuring station in Tuczno

Badania ekosystemów leśnych są niezbędne do oceny ich wpływu na globalny bilans CO2. Prowadzone są już w wielu krajach europejskich takich, jak Niemcy, Finlandia czy Czechy. Również w Polsce uruchamiana jest pierwsza stacja pomiarowa, na której prowadzone są pomiary wymiany gazów i ciepła między atmosferą i lasem oraz pomiary biomasy. Ulokowana jest ona na terenie nadleśnictwa Tuczno. Do oceny wielkości strumienia netto dwutlenku węgla ekosystemów leśnych stosowana jest powszechnie metoda kowariancji wirów. Wymaga ona zastosowania skomplikowanych i wyrafinowanych urządzeń pomiarowych. Pomiar wielkości biomasy nadziemnej, a tym samym ilości ulokowanego w lesie CO2 może być uzupełnieniem wyników uzyskanych dzięki zastosowaniu metody kowariancji wirów. Oszacowanie biomasy leśnej może być wykonywane zarówno metodami tradycyjnymi, jak i przy pomocy nowoczesnych technik teledetekcyjnych. Badania te wykonywane są m.in. przy pomocy nowatorskiej techniki naziemnego skaningu laserowego, uzupełnionej laserowym skaningiem lotniczym, wysokorozdzielczą cyfrową ortofotomapą i zdjęciami hemisferycznymi.Studies of forest ecosystems are essential to assess their impact on the global balance of CO2. They are already held in many European countries such as Germany, Finland and Czech Republic. Also in Poland, the first measuring station started, where they carry out measurements of gas and heat exchange between the atmosphere and the forest and biomass measurements. It is located in Tuczno Forest District. To assess the magnitude of net carbon flux of forest ecosystems the eddy covariance method is commonly used. It requires quite complicated and sophisticated measuring equipment. Measurement of aboveground biomass, and thus the quantity of CO2 deposited under the forest can be complementary to the results obtained by the eddy covariance method. Estimation of forest biomass may be carried out both traditional and modern techniques using remote sensing. These tests are carried out, inter alia, using innovative techniques of terrestrial laser scanning, supplemented by airborne laser scanning, high resolution digital photos and orthophotomap and hemispherical photos

A meta-database comparison from various European research networks dedicated to forests sites

Of a wide variety of international forest research and monitoring networks, several networks are dedicated to the effects of climate change on forests, while the effects of anthropogenic pollutants on forests have been a major area for both monitoring and research for decades. The large amounts of data already obtained within existing monitoring programmes and large-scale international projects can be used to increase understanding of the state and potential of forest mitigation and adaptation to climate change in a polluted environment, and a major challenge now is to evaluate and integrate the presently available databases. We present a meta-database with the main goal to highlight available data and integrate the information about research and monitoring of selected European Research and Monitoring Networks (ERMNs). Depending on the selected ERMNs, the list of variables and the measurement units differ widely in the databases. As a result, activities related to the identification, evaluation and integration of the presently available databases are important for the scientific community. Furthermore, and equally important, the recognition of current knowledge gaps and future needed research is made easier. This analysis suggests that: ground-level ozone is under-investigated, although it is one of the pollutants of greatest concern to forests; in addition to CO2, long-term other greenhouse gasses (GHG) flux measurements should be carried out; there is still a need of improving links between monitoring of atmospheric changes and impacts on forests; research-oriented manipulative experiments in the forests are missing