Ecohydrology and ecosystem services of a natural and an artificial bofedal wetland in the central Andes

High-altitude wetlands of the Central Andes, locally known as bofedales, provide important ecosystem services, particularly carbon storage, forage provisioning, and water regulation. Local communities have artificially expanded bofedales by irrigating surrounding grasslands to maximise areas for alpaca grazing. Despite their importance, biophysical processes of both natural and artificial bofedales are still poorly studied, which hinders the development of adequate management and conservation strategies. We analyse and compare the vegetation composition, hydrological variables, groundwater chemistry, and soil characteristics of a natural and an artificial bofedal of at least 10 years old in southern Peru, to understand their interrelations and the consequences for ecosystem service provisioning. We do not find statistically significant differences in the soil, water, and vegetation characteristics. Soil organic carbon (SOC) content, which we use as a proxy for carbon storage, is negatively correlated to dissolved oxygen, pH, and soil water temperature. In addition, Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling analysis shows a positive relation between plant community composition, SOC content, and water electric conductivity. Our results suggest a three-way interaction between hydrological, soil, and vegetation characteristics in the natural bofedal, which also holds for the artificial bofedal. Vegetation cover of two of the most highly nutritious species for alpaca, Lachemilla diplophylla and Lilaeopsis macloviana with 19-22% of crude protein, are weakly or not correlated to environmental variables, suggesting grazing might be obscuring these potential relationships. Given the high economic importance of alpaca breeding for local communities, expanding bofedales artificially appears an effective strategy to enhance their ecosystem services with minimal impact on the ecohydrological properties of bofedales

A limit model for thermoelectric equations

We analyze the asymptotic behavior corresponding to the arbitrary high conductivity of the heat in the thermoelectric devices. This work deals with a steady-state multidimensional thermistor problem, considering the Joule effect and both spatial and temperature dependent transport coefficients under some real boundary conditions in accordance with the Seebeck-Peltier-Thomson cross-effects. Our first purpose is that the existence of a weak solution holds true under minimal assumptions on the data, as in particular nonsmooth domains. Two existence results are studied under different assumptions on the electrical conductivity. Their proofs are based on a fixed point argument, compactness methods, and existence and regularity theory for elliptic scalar equations. The second purpose is to show the existence of a limit model illustrating the asymptotic situation.Comment: 20 page

Homogeneity and plane-wave limits

We explore the plane-wave limit of homogeneous spacetimes. For plane-wave limits along homogeneous geodesics the limit is known to be homogeneous and we exhibit the limiting metric in terms of Lie algebraic data. This simplifies many calculations and we illustrate this with several examples. We also investigate the behaviour of (reductive) homogeneous structures under the plane-wave limit.Comment: In memory of Stanley Hobert, 33 pages. Minor corrections and some simplification of Section 4.3.

Geometric properties and continuity of the pre-duality mapping in Banach space

We use the preduality mapping in proving characterizations of some geometric properties of Banach spaces. In particular, those include nearly strongly convexity, nearly uniform convexity-a property introduced by K. Goebel and T. Sekowski-, and nearly very convexity.We thank a referee for the careful reading of the manuscript. His/her observations substantially improved the overall aspect of the present work, detected several misprints and made some convenient changes. This work was supported by: (1) The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 11271248). (2) Specific Academic Discipline Project of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (Grant no. B-8932-13-0136). (3) Project MTM2011-22417, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spain (V. Montesinos).Zhang, ZH.; Montesinos Santalucia, V.; Liu, CY.; Gong, WZ. (2015). Geometric properties and continuity of the pre-duality mapping in Banach space. Revista de la Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales. Serie A. Matematicas. 109(2):407-416. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13398-014-0190-6S4074161092Bandyopadhyay, P., Huang, D., Lin, B.L., Troyanski, S.L.: Some generalizations of local uniform rotundity. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 252, 906–916 (2000)Bandyopadhyay, P., Li, Y., Lin, B., Narayana, D.: Proximinality in Banach spaces. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 341, 309–317 (2008)Diestel, J.: Geometry of Banach Spaces. Selected Topics, LNM, vol. 485. Springer, Berlin (1975)Fabian, M., Habala, P., Hájek, P., Montesinos, V., Zizler, V.: Banach Space Theory. The Basis for Linear and Nonlinear Analysis, CMS Books in Mathematics. Springer, Berlin (2011)Giles, J.R., Gregory, D.A., Sims, B.: Geometrical implications of upper semi-continuity of the duality mapping on a Banach space. Pacific J. Math. 79(1), 99–109 (1978)Goebel, K., Sekowski, T.: The modulus of non-compact convexity. Ann. Univ. M. Curie-Sklodowska, Sect. A 38, 41–48 (1984)Guirao, A.J., Montesinos, V.: A note in approximative compactness and continuity of metric projections in Banach spaces. J. Convex Anal. 18, 397–401 (2011)Huff, R.: Banach spaces which are nearly uniformly convex. Rocky Mountain J. Math. 10(4), 743–749 (1980)Kutzarova, D., Rolewicz, S.: On nearly uniformly convex sets. Arch. Math. 57, 385–394 (1991)Kutzarova, D., Lin, B.L., Zhang, W.: Some geometrical properties of Banach spaces related to nearly uniform convexity. Contemp. Math. 144, 165–171 (1993)Kutzarova, D., Prus, S.: Operators which factor through nearly uniformly convex spaces. Boll. Un. Mat. Ital. B (7) 9, 2, 479–494 (1995)Montesinos, V.: Drop property equals reflexivity. Studia Math. 87, 93–100 (1987)Phelps, R.R.: Convex Functions, Monotone Operators and Differentiability, LNM, vol. 1364, 2nd edn. Springer, Berlin (1993)Rolewicz, S.: On drop property. Studia Math. 85, 27–37 (1986)Rolewicz, S.: On $$\Delta$$ Δ -uniform convexity and drop property. Studia Math. 87, 181–191 (1987)Wu, C.X., Li, Y.J.: Strong convexity in Banach spaces. J. Math. Wuhan Univ. 13(1), 105–108 (1993)Wang, J.H., Nan, C.X.: The continuity of subdifferential mapping. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 210, 206–214 (1997)Wang, J.H., Zhang, Z.H.: Characterization of the property (C-K). Acta Math. Sci. Ser. A Chin. Ed. 17(A)(3), 280–284 (1997)Zhang, Z.H., Liu, C.Y.: Some generalization of locally and weakly locally uniformly convex space. Nonlinear Anal. 74(12), 3896–3902 (2011)Zhang, Z.H., Liu, C.Y.: Convexity and proximinality in Banach spaces. J. Funct. Spaces Appl. 2012, 11 (2012). doi: 10.1155/2012/724120 . Article ID 724120Zhang, Z.H., Liu, C.Y.: Convexity and existence of the farthest point. Abstract Appl. Anal. 2011, 9 (2011). doi: 10.1155/2011/139597 . Article ID 139597Zhang, Z.H., Shi, Z.R.: Convexities and approximative compactness and continuity of the metric projection in Banach spaces. J. Approx. Theory 161(2), 802–812 (2009)Zhang, Z.H., Zhang, C.J.: On very rotund Banach spaces. Appl. Math. Mech. (English Ed.) 21(8), 965–970 (2000

Modeling the Subsurface Structure of Sunspots

While sunspots are easily observed at the solar surface, determining their subsurface structure is not trivial. There are two main hypotheses for the subsurface structure of sunspots: the monolithic model and the cluster model. Local helioseismology is the only means by which we can investigate subphotospheric structure. However, as current linear inversion techniques do not yet allow helioseismology to probe the internal structure with sufficient confidence to distinguish between the monolith and cluster models, the development of physically realistic sunspot models are a priority for helioseismologists. This is because they are not only important indicators of the variety of physical effects that may influence helioseismic inferences in active regions, but they also enable detailed assessments of the validity of helioseismic interpretations through numerical forward modeling. In this paper, we provide a critical review of the existing sunspot models and an overview of numerical methods employed to model wave propagation through model sunspots. We then carry out an helioseismic analysis of the sunspot in Active Region 9787 and address the serious inconsistencies uncovered by \citeauthor{gizonetal2009}~(\citeyear{gizonetal2009,gizonetal2009a}). We find that this sunspot is most probably associated with a shallow, positive wave-speed perturbation (unlike the traditional two-layer model) and that travel-time measurements are consistent with a horizontal outflow in the surrounding moat.Comment: 73 pages, 19 figures, accepted by Solar Physic

Demographic and Genetic Patterns of Variation among Populations of Arabidopsis thaliana from Contrasting Native Environments

Background: Understanding the relationship between environment and genetics requires the integration of knowledge on the demographic behavior of natural populations. However, the demographic performance and genetic composition of Arabidopsis thaliana populations in the species' native environments remain largely uncharacterized. This information, in combination with the advances on the study of gene function, will improve our understanding on the genetic mechanisms underlying adaptive evolution in A. thaliana. Methodology/Principal Findings: We report the extent of environmental, demographic, and genetic variation among 10 A. thaliana populations from Mediterranean (coastal) and Pyrenean (montane) native environments in northeast Spain. Geographic, climatic, landscape, and soil data were compared. Demographic traits, including the dynamics of the soil seed bank and the attributes of aboveground individuals followed over a complete season, were also analyzed. Genetic data based on genome-wide SNP markers were used to describe genetic diversity, differentiation, and structure. Coastal and montane populations significantly differed in terms of environmental, demographic, and genetic characteristics. Montane populations, at higher altitude and farther from the sea, are exposed to colder winters and prolonged spring moisture compared to coastal populations. Montane populations showed stronger secondary seed dormancy, higher seedling/juvenile mortality in winter, and initiated flowering later than coastal populations. Montane and coastal regions were genetically differentiated, montane populations bearing lower genetic diversity than coastal ones. No significant isolation-by-distance pattern and no shared multilocus genotypes among populations were detected. Conclusions/Significance: Between-region variation in climatic patterns can account for differences in demographic traits, such as secondary seed dormancy, plant mortality, and recruitment, between coastal and montane A. thaliana populations. In addition, differences in plant mortality can partly account for differences in the genetic composition of coastal and montane populations. This study shows how the interplay between variation in environmental, demographic, and genetic parameters may operate in natural A. thaliana populations. © 2009 Montesinos et al

The In Vivo Role of the RP-Mdm2-p53 Pathway in Signaling Oncogenic Stress Induced by pRb Inactivation and Ras Overexpression

The Mdm2-p53 tumor suppression pathway plays a vital role in regulating cellular homeostasis by integrating a variety of stressors and eliciting effects on cell growth and proliferation. Recent studies have demonstrated an in vivo signaling pathway mediated by ribosomal protein (RP)-Mdm2 interaction that responds to ribosome biogenesis stress and evokes a protective p53 reaction. It has been shown that mice harboring a Cys-to-Phe mutation in the zinc finger of Mdm2 that specifically disrupts RP L11-Mdm2 binding are prone to accelerated lymphomagenesis in an oncogenic c-Myc driven mouse model of Burkitt's lymphoma. Because most oncogenes when upregulated simultaneously promote both cellular growth and proliferation, it therefore stands to reason that the RP-Mdm2-p53 pathway might also be essential in response to oncogenes other than c-Myc. Using genetically engineered mice, we now show that disruption of the RP-Mdm2-p53 pathway by an Mdm2C305F mutation does not accelerate prostatic tumorigenesis induced by inactivation of the pRb family proteins (pRb/p107/p130). In contrast, loss of p19Arf greatly accelerates the progression of prostate cancer induced by inhibition of pRb family proteins. Moreover, using ectopically expressed oncogenic H-Ras we demonstrate that p53 response remains intact in the Mdm2C305F mutant MEF cells. Thus, unlike the p19Arf-Mdm2-p53 pathway, which is considered a general oncogenic response pathway, the RP-Mdm2-p53 pathway appears to specifically suppress tumorigenesis induced by oncogenic c-Myc

Evolution and networks in ancient and widespread symbioses between Mucoromycotina and liverworts

Like the majority of land plants, liverworts regularly form intimate symbioses with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomeromycotina). Recent phylogenetic and physiological studies report that they also form intimate symbioses with Mucoromycotina fungi and that some of these, like those involving Glomeromycotina, represent nutritional mutualisms. To compare these symbioses, we carried out a global analysis of Mucoromycotina fungi in liverworts and other plants using species delimitation, ancestral reconstruction, and network analyses. We found that Mucoromycotina are more common and diverse symbionts of liverworts than previously thought, globally distributed, ancestral, and often co-occur with Glomeromycotina within plants. However, our results also suggest that the associations formed by Mucoromycotina fungi are fundamentally different because, unlike Glomeromycotina, they may have evolved multiple times and their symbiotic networks are un-nested (i.e., not forming nested subsets of species). We infer that the global Mucoromycotina symbiosis is evolutionarily and ecologically distinctive