Satellite Lidar Measurements as a Critical New Global Ocean Climate Record

The year 2023 marked the tenth anniversary of the first published description of global ocean plankton stocks based on measurements from a satellite lidar. Diverse studies have since been conducted to further refine and validate the lidar retrievals and use them to discover new characteristics of plankton seasonal dynamics and marine animal migrations, as well as evaluate geophysical products from traditional passive ocean color sensors. Surprisingly, all of these developments have been achieved with lidar instruments not designed for ocean applications. Over this same decade, we have witnessed unprecedented changes in ocean ecosystems at unexpected rates and driven by a multitude of environmental stressors, with a dominant factor being climate warming. Understanding, predicting, and responding to these ecosystem changes requires a global ocean observing network linking satellite, in situ, and modeling approaches. Inspired by recent successes, we promote here the creation of a lidar global ocean climate record as a key element in this envisioned advanced observing system. Contributing to this record, we announce the development of a new satellite lidar mission with ocean-observing capabilities and then discuss additional technological advances that can be envisioned for subsequent missions. Finally, we discuss how a potential near-term gap in global ocean lidar data might, at least partially, be filled using on-orbit or soon-to-be-launched lidars designed for other disciplinary purposes, and we identify upcoming needs for in situ support systems and science community development

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 12, No. 3

• Antiques in Dutchland • Antique or Folk Art: Which? • Pennsylvania Dutch • Amish Barn Raisings • Building a Pennsylvania Barn • Water Witching • Amish Family Life: A Sociologist\u27s Analysis • Straw Hat Making Among the Old Order Amish • Bread and Apple-Butter Day • Schnitz in the Pennsylvania Folk-Culture • Dutch Country Scarecrows • The Man Who Was Buried Standing Up • Living Occult Practices in Dutch Pennsylvania • Farewell to Olliehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/1011/thumbnail.jp

Genome sequence of the necrotrophic plant pathogen Pythium ultimum reveals original pathogenicity mechanisms and effector repertoire

Background: Pythium ultimum (P. ultimum) is a ubiquitous oomycete plant pathogen responsible for a variety of diseases on a broad range of crop and ornamental species. Results: The P. ultimum genome (42.8 Mb) encodes 15,290 genes and has extensive sequence similarity and synteny with related Phytophthora species, including the potato blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans. Whole transcriptome sequencing revealed expression of 86% of genes, with detectable differential expression of suites of genes under abiotic stress and in the presence of a host. The predicted proteome includes a large repertoire of proteins involved in plant pathogen interactions although surprisingly, the P. ultimum genome does not encode any classical RXLR effectors and relatively few Crinkler genes in comparison to related phytopathogenic oomycetes. A lower number of enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism were present compared to Phytophthora species, with the notable absence of cutinases, suggesting a significant difference in virulence mechanisms between P. ultimum and more host specific oomycete species. Although we observed a high degree of orthology with Phytophthora genomes, there were novel features of the P. ultimum proteome including an expansion of genes involved in proteolysis and genes unique to Pythium. We identified a small gene family of cadherins, proteins involved in cell adhesion, the first report in a genome outside the metazoans. Conclusions: Access to the P. ultimum genome has revealed not only core pathogenic mechanisms within the oomycetes but also lineage specific genes associated with the alternative virulence and lifestyles found within the pythiaceous lineages compared to the Peronosporaceae

Chinese ethnography in the eighteenth century: Miao albums of Guizhou Province

This dissertation explores the collection and categorization of knowledge exemplified in illustrated ethnographic texts on eighteenth-century China\u27s southwestern frontier populations. These documents, known as Miao albums, were initially designed to educate officialdom as to the habits and customs of different minority ethnic groups, thereby allowing them to govern more effectively. The dissertation contextualizes these Chinese ethnographic documents in the historical, political, and social milieu in which they were created; explores their genesis and development over time; compares them with other, imperially commissioned representations of the Qing (1644-1911) empire; and finally considers them in light of scholarship on the development of ethnographic representation in the West. Altogether I have examined eighty-two albums housed in museums and libraries in Asia, the United States, and Europe. Sixty-five of these albums concerned peoples living in Guizhou province. Albums also exist for Yunnan, Guangdong, Hunan, and Taiwan. An appendix contains full bibliographical information on each. Although the Miao albums are a product of the eighteenth century, they have roots in earlier pictorial and textual representations including imperially commissioned illustrations of tributary peoples and relevant sections of the standard histories of China\u27s dynasties. Yet, the Miao albums and contemporaneous textual accounts differ in quality and substance from earlier accounts in their emphasis on direct observation, increasingly complex system of categorization and naming, and level of detail regarding social customs and geographic location. I propose there is a link between the Qing Dynasty\u27s visualization of minority peoples on paper, and the will to understand, define, and control its subjects and territory. In their manner of collecting, organizing, and conveying information, the albums suggest a degree of familiarity with political technologies that harness the acquisition of scientific knowledge to the goals of the state. In the epilogue I raise the question of whether a shift in epistemology may have accounted for the development of eighteenth-century Chinese ethnography, and whether this shift may have been catalyzed by the presence of European Jesuit missionaries at the Qing court

Chinese ethnography in the eighteenth century: Miao albums of Guizhou Province

This dissertation explores the collection and categorization of knowledge exemplified in illustrated ethnographic texts on eighteenth-century China\u27s southwestern frontier populations. These documents, known as Miao albums, were initially designed to educate officialdom as to the habits and customs of different minority ethnic groups, thereby allowing them to govern more effectively. The dissertation contextualizes these Chinese ethnographic documents in the historical, political, and social milieu in which they were created; explores their genesis and development over time; compares them with other, imperially commissioned representations of the Qing (1644-1911) empire; and finally considers them in light of scholarship on the development of ethnographic representation in the West. Altogether I have examined eighty-two albums housed in museums and libraries in Asia, the United States, and Europe. Sixty-five of these albums concerned peoples living in Guizhou province. Albums also exist for Yunnan, Guangdong, Hunan, and Taiwan. An appendix contains full bibliographical information on each. Although the Miao albums are a product of the eighteenth century, they have roots in earlier pictorial and textual representations including imperially commissioned illustrations of tributary peoples and relevant sections of the standard histories of China\u27s dynasties. Yet, the Miao albums and contemporaneous textual accounts differ in quality and substance from earlier accounts in their emphasis on direct observation, increasingly complex system of categorization and naming, and level of detail regarding social customs and geographic location. I propose there is a link between the Qing Dynasty\u27s visualization of minority peoples on paper, and the will to understand, define, and control its subjects and territory. In their manner of collecting, organizing, and conveying information, the albums suggest a degree of familiarity with political technologies that harness the acquisition of scientific knowledge to the goals of the state. In the epilogue I raise the question of whether a shift in epistemology may have accounted for the development of eighteenth-century Chinese ethnography, and whether this shift may have been catalyzed by the presence of European Jesuit missionaries at the Qing court