Warming shortens flowering seasons of tundra plant communities

Advancing phenology is one of the most visible effects of climate change on plant communities, and has been especially pronounced in temperature-limited tundra ecosystems. However, phenological responses have been shown to differ greatly between species, with some species shifting phenology more than others. We analysed a database of 42,689 tundra plant phenological observations to show that warmer temperatures are leading to a contraction of community-level flowering seasons in tundra ecosystems due to a greater advancement in the flowering times of late-flowering species than early-flowering species. Shorter flowering seasons with a changing climate have the potential to alter trophic interactions in tundra ecosystems. Interestingly, these findings differ from those of warmer ecosystems, where early-flowering species have been found to be more sensitive to temperature change, suggesting that community-level phenological responses to warming can vary greatly between biomes

Meteorological expressions in Latvian

Bakalaura darba Meteoroloģisko parādību atspoguļojums latviešu valodā mērķis ir skatīt meteoroloģiskas parādības gan no semantiska, gan sintaktiska viedokļa – izpētīt, kādās sintaktiskās konstrukcijās tiek atspoguļotas meteoroloģiskas parādības un noteikt šo parādību nosaukumu tipisko apkaimi. Darbs sastāv no ievada, apzīmējumu saraksta, četrām nodaļām, secinājumiem un izmantotās literatūras saraksta. Pirmajā nodaļā ir dots ieskats funkcionālo stilu sistēmā, jo meteoroloģiskās parādības dažādos stilos tiek raksturotas atšķirīgi. Otrajā nodaļa uzmanība vērsta uz vienkārša teikuma sintakses raksturošanu. Trešajā nodaļā teorētiski un praktiski tiek skatītas divkomponentu teikumu shēmas. Ceturtajā nodaļā tiek pētīts, ar kādiem skaņu verbiem var apzīmēt meteoroloģiskas parādības un kādus apzīmētājus piesaista lietvārdi, kas nosauc meteoroloģiskas parādības.The aim of the bachelor’s thesis “Meteorological expressions in Latvian” is to view meteorological expressions from a semantic and syntactic point of view – to see in what kind of syntactic constructions meteorological phenomena are reflected and to determine which sound verbs and what kind of attributes are used in these constructions. The work consists of introduction, a list of terms, four chapters, conclusions and of the list of literature. The first chapter gives an insight into the study of functional styles. The second chapter focuses on describing the syntax of a simple sentence. In the third chapter bipartite sentence schemes are exemined in theory and in practice. The fourth chapter examines adjectives and sound verbs used in meteorological expressions. Key words: meteorological expressions, simple sentence pattern, adjective semantics, sound verbs

The peatland map of Europe

Based on the ‘European Mires Book’ of the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG), this article provides a composite map of national datasets as the first comprehensive peatland map for the whole of Europe. We also present estimates of the extent of peatlands and mires in each European country individually and for the entire continent. A minimum peat thickness criterion has not been strictly applied, to allow for (often historically determined) country-specific definitions. Our ‘peatland’ concept includes all ‘mires’, which are peatlands where peat is being formed. The map was constructed by merging national datasets in GIS while maintaining the mapping scales of the original input data. This ‘bottom-up’ approach indicates that the overall area of peatland in Europe is 593,727 km2. Mires were found to cover more than 320,000 km2 (around 54 % of the total peatland area). If shallow-peat lands (< 30 cm peat) in European Russia are also taken into account, the total peatland area in Europe is more than 1,000,000 km2 which is almost 10 % of the total surface area. Composite inventories of national peatland information, as presented here for Europe, may serve to identify gaps and priority areas for field survey, and help to cross-check and calibrate remote sensing based mapping approaches. © 2017 International Mire Conservation Group and International Peatland Society