First Stable Isotope Analysis of Asiatic Wild Ass Tail Hair from the Mongolian Gobi

Stable isotope analysis has become a powerful tool to study feeding ecology, water use or movement pattern in contemporary, historic and ancient species. Certain hair and teeth grow continuously, and when sampled longitudinally can provide temporally explicit information on dietary regime and movement pattern. In an initial trial, we analysed a tail sample of an Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus) from the Mongolian Gobi. We found seasonal variations in H, C, and N isotope patterns, likely being the result of temporal variations in available feeds, water supply and possibly physiological status. Thus stable isotope analysis shows promise to study the comparative ecology of the three autochthonous equid species in the Mongolian Gobi

Potencialni vpliv načrtovanega odlagališča odpadkov na visokem krasu v jugozahodni Črni gori na bližnje kraške izvire

The potential threat of a landfill projected on a high karst plateau in southwest Montenegro is investigated with respect to the subjacent nearby springs. The locality is called Duboki do. As the springs are used for drinking water supply this investigation is urgently needed. For the springs exist two hypotheses concerning their catchment area: I) from the high karst plateau, or II) from a topographically lower area. The stable H- and O-isotope ratios of water samples from the springs are compared with precipitation isotope data, to reveal the catchment area of the springs. The isotope results indicate that the catchment area of the springs is at higher altitude fitting to, and in good agreement with, winter precipitation from the high karst plateau of the planned land-fill locality.Potencialna grožnja odlagališča odpadkov, načrtovanega na visokem krasu v jugozahodni Črni gori, je bila proučena glede na bližnje nižje ležeče izvire. Lokacija se imenuje Duboki do. Ker se izvirska voda uporablja za oskrbo s pitno vodo, je ta raziskava nujno potrebna. Za izvire obstajata dve hipotezi o njihovem zaledju: I) iz visokega krasa in II) iz topografsko nižjega območja. Razmerja stabilnih izotopov vodika in kisika v vzorcih vode iz izvirov smo primerjali s podatki o izotopski sestavi padavin, da bi razkrili zaledje izvirov. Rezultati izotopov kažejo, da je zaledje izvirov na višji nadmorski višini ter prilagojeno zimskim padavinam – in jih dobro prevaja – iz visokega krasa načrtovane lokacije odlagališča odpadkov

Multiple episodes of extensive marine anoxia linked to global warming and continental weathering following the latest Permian mass extinction

Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Explaining the ∼5-million-year delay in marine biotic recovery following the latest Permian mass extinction, the largest biotic crisis of the Phanerozoic, is a fundamental challenge for both geological and biological sciences. Ocean redox perturbations may have played a critical role in this delayed recovery. However, the lack of quantitative constraints on the details of Early Triassic oceanic anoxia (for example, time, duration, and extent) leaves the links between oceanic conditions and the delayed biotic recovery ambiguous. We report high-resolution U-isotope (δ238U) data from carbonates of the uppermost Permian to lowermost Middle Triassic Zal section (Iran) to characterize the timing and global extent of ocean redox variation during the Early Triassic. Our δ238U record reveals multiple negative shifts during the Early Triassic. Isotope mass-balance modeling suggests that the global area of anoxic seafloor expanded substantially in the Early Triassic, peaking during the latest Permian to mid-Griesbachian, the late Griesbachian to mid-Dienerian, the Smithian-Spathian transition, and the Early/Middle Triassic transition. Comparisons of the U-, C-, and Sr-isotope records with a modeled seawater PO43- concentration curve for the Early Triassic suggest that elevated marine productivity and enhanced oceanic stratification were likely the immediate causes of expanded oceanic anoxia. The patterns of redox variation documented by the U-isotope record show a good first-order correspondence to peaks in ammonoid extinctions during the Early Triassic. Our results indicate that multiple oscillations in oceanic anoxia modulated the recovery of marine ecosystems following the latest Permian mass extinction

Child-centered food systems: reorienting food systems towards healthy diets for children

Current food systems are failing to guide children towards healthy diets. This paper presents a tool to identify the actions needed to reorient food systems to become more child-centred from a nutrition perspective. To connect the dots between children's lives, their food environments and food supply systems, the tool takes a child-centred, food systems approach. Comprising six methodological steps, the tool starts by measuring and understanding children's realities and then working back up into the system to identify how food environments and supply systems could make relevant foods more or less available, affordable, appealing and aspirational in the contexts of children's lives. The paper spells out the mix of methods needed to make this assessment, gives examples of the data and studies already available and type of insights they provide, and discusses the methodological challenges and gaps. It presents a worked example that shows how following these steps in sequence enables the identification of a package of actions that can act coherently to reorient food systems in the way most likely to have impact on child malnutrition

The Need to Consider Geochemistry When Interpreting Sr-Isotopes. Comment on Gregorčič et al. The Provenance of Slovenian Milk Using 87Sr/86Sr Isotope Ratios. Foods 2021, 10, 1729

I was very interested in the investigation of the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of Slovenian milk by Gregorcic et al. [...

Differentiation of Geographic Origin of South African Wines from Austrian Wines by IRMS and SNIF-NMR

Geographic origin and terroir are very important parameters for wine and significantly impact price. Incorrect declarations are known to occur intentionally to increase profit, thus, measures for control are required. Accompanying paperwork has been shown to be unreliable, thus, control of the product itself is required. Here we investigate and compare the stable isotope pattern of South African (Western Cape Province) wine, and evaluate its potential for discrimination from Central European/Austrian wine. The results show that the isotope values of the investigated South African wine samples differ significantly from the values of average Austrian (Central European) wines. Thus, a differentiation of the products from these two regions by stable isotope analysis is generally straightforward. However, the data suggest that vintages from years with exceptionally hot and dry summer weather in Europe may reduce the differentiation between these regions. Therefore, this method is a potent tool for the discrimination of Austrian (Central European) and South African wines under current climatic conditions, although drier and hotter summer weather in Europe, which is likely to occur more frequently due to global climate change, may require further method adjustments in the future

Differentiation of Apricots of Different Geographic Origin in Central and Southern Europe by Applying 87Sr/86Sr Analysis: Potential and Limitations

Consumers prefer food commodities of certain origins over the same products of other provenances and are willing to pay higher prices for them. Thus, it is possible to increase profit simply by giving an incorrect geographic origin to a product. To effectively control the declared geographic origin of food, the product itself has to be investigated to discover whether it actually originates from the declared origin, or if it has been mislabeled. Conventionally, control of a geographic origin is conducted by stable isotope analysis of the main elements, which has proven to be successful in numerous cases, but often reference data have to be produced anew for every harvest to control, resulting in additional costs and delays. Applying entirely geogenic parameters for the control of provenance requires reference data to be produced only once. As they do not vary between years and harvests, they can often be used for different (food) commodities. Here, we investigate whether the geographic origin of apricot samples can be controlled by their 87Sr/86Sr ratios measured by TIMS. The results show that Slovak and Hungarian apricots can be differentiated from the Wachau apricots, a well-known regional Austrian brand, and those from other regions in Austria, even though the differentiation from the latter is only partial. 87Sr/86Sr investigations can be a very potent tool; however, its success depends on the exact question that needs to be answered

Investigation of the evolution of the global carbon cycle during the Permo-Triassic transition and the Lower Triassic by analyzing the carbon isotope pattern of marine sediments deposited during that period

Die Kohlenstoff-Isotopenkurve an marinen Permo-Triassischen und Untertriassischen Sedimenten vom Profil Chaohu (China) zeigt einen teilweise deutlich unterschiedlichen Kurvenverlauf zu anderen Kurven von Profilen aus anderen Regionen. Die Chaohu-Kurve zeigt stark negative Werte mit einem leichten Anstieg in der Untertrias zu einem kleinen Plateau knapp im positiven Bereich an der Diener-Smith-Grenze. Anschließend fällt die Kurve zu wieder stark negativen Werten ab, bevor sie zu deutlich positiven Werten an der Smith-Spath-Grenze ansteigt. Die anderen Profile (Italien, Iran, Südchina, etc.) zeigen an der Diener-Smith-Grenze eine sehr große positive Exkursion mit Werten bis über +8 promil. Da das Profil Chaohu in einer größeren Wassertiefe abgelagert wurde als die übrigen untersuchten Profile werden die ergebnisse als das resultat einer zeitweisen Stratifizierung des Ozeans interpretiert. dadurch entkoppeln sich die Isotopenwerte von Oberflächen- und Tiefenwasser und können daher unterschiedliche Trends anzeigen. Wahrscheinlicher Mechanismus für diesen episodischen Ereignisse ist eine Klimaänderung zu höheren Temperaturen, die ein Stratifizierung zur Folge hat. Der während dieser Zeit massiv auftretende Vulkanismus ist ein potentieller Verursacher für die Klimaänderungen.The carbon isotopes of Lower Triassic marine sediments in Chaohu, southern China, and isotope data derived from other Lower Triassic marine sections is compared to understand the environmental changes in the carbon cycle in the very eastern Tethys during the aftermath of the end-Permian extinction event. The Chaohu carbon isotope curve shows very negative 13C values at the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) with a slightly increasing trend in the lowermost Triassic. Approximately at the Griesbachian Dienerian boundary the values reach 0 and increase further towards the Dienerian Smithian boundary to a maximum of approximately +2.5. In the Smithian the 13C curve drops to negative values with a minimum significantly below 3. At the Smithian Spathian boundary the values jump to positive values as high as +4. This confirms a 13C curve previously measured on samples from a neighbouring section. However, investigated sections from other Tethyan sections, as for example from other sections in China, Italy and Iran, show some distinct differences in the Lower Triassic carbon isotope pattern. To explain this phenomenon we invoke changes in the ocean circulation from well mixed conditions to a stratified ocean. Thus a decoupling of surface and deeper water masses may lead to different isotope trends.Micha HoracekAbweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersZsfassung in engl. SpracheGraz, Univ., Diss., 2009OeBB(VLID)20681

Comment on Sinkovič et al. Isotope Fingerprints of Common and Tartary Buckwheat Grains and Milling Fractions: A Preliminary Study. Foods 2022, 11, 1414

We read with interest the publication by Sinkovic et al. [...

Siberian Trap volcanism, global warming and the Permian-Triassic mass extinction: New insights from Armenian Permian-Triassic sections: Comment

<jats:p>Joachimski et al. carried out geochemical investigations to study seawater temperature changes and their potential triggers across the Permian-Triassic Boundary (PTB). Unfortunately, in our opinion, an incorrect biochronology was applied to define the PTB, and the existing alternative was not considered, nor the reasoning explained. As a consequence, Joachimski et al. report diachronous temperature changes for the investigated Chanakhchi section with respect to the global stratotype section and point (GSSP) in Meishan, China. This discrepancy disappears when the, in our view, correct position of the PTB is adopted by using the proper biochronology.</jats:p&gt