Global Atmospheric Aerosol Modeling

Global aerosol models are used to study the distribution and properties of atmospheric aerosol particles as well as their effects on clouds, atmospheric chemistry, radiation, and climate. The present article provides an overview of the basic concepts of global atmospheric aerosol modeling and shows some examples from a global aerosol simulation. Particular emphasis is placed on the simulation of aerosol particles and their effects within global climate models

Mechanisms of diurnal precipitation over the US Great Plains: a cloud resolving model perspective

The mechanisms of summertime diurnal precipitation in the US Great Plains were examined with the two-dimensional (2D) Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) cloud-resolving model (CRM). The model was constrained by the observed large-scale background state and surface flux derived from the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program's Intensive Observing Period (IOP) data at the Southern Great Plains (SGP). The model, when continuously-forced by realistic surface flux and large-scale advection, simulates reasonably well the temporal evolution of the observed rainfall episodes, particularly for the strongly forced precipitation events. However, the model exhibits a deficiency for the weakly forced events driven by diurnal convection. Additional tests were run with the GCE model in order to discriminate between the mechanisms that determine daytime and nighttime convection. In these tests, the model was constrained with the same repeating diurnal variation in the large-scale advection and/or surface flux. The results indicate that it is primarily the surface heat and moisture flux that is responsible for the development of deep convection in the afternoon, whereas the large-scale upward motion and associated moisture advection play an important role in preconditioning nocturnal convection. In the nighttime, high clouds are continuously built up through their interaction and feedback with long-wave radiation, eventually initiating deep convection from the boundary layer. Without these upper-level destabilization processes, the model tends to produce only daytime convection in response to boundary layer heating. This study suggests that the correct simulation of the diurnal variation in precipitation requires that the free-atmospheric destabilization mechanisms resolved in the CRM simulation must be adequately parameterized in current general circulation models (GCMs) many of which are overly sensitive to the parameterized boundary layer heating.close7

Status and prospects of systems biology in grapevine research

The cultivated grapevine, Vitis vinifera L., has gathered a vast amount of omics data throughout the last two decades, driving the imperative use of computational resources for its analysis and integration. Molecular systems biology arises from this need allowing to model and predict the emergence of phenotypes or responses in biological systems. Beyond single omics networks, integrative approaches associate the molecular components of an organism and combine them into higher order networks to model dynamic behaviors. Application of network-based methods in multi-omics data is providing additional resources to address important questions regarding grapevine fruit quality and composition. Here, we review the recent history of systems biology in this species. We highlight the most relevant aspects of the discipline and describe important integrative studies that have helped in the global understanding of how this species responds to the environment and how it triggers the fruit ripening developmental program. We also highlight the latest resources that are available for the grapevine community to exploit and take advantage of all the omics data that is being generated.This work was supported by Grant PGC2018-099449-A-I00 and by the Ramón y Cajal program grant RYC-2017-23645, both awarded to J.T.M. from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MCIU, Spain), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, Spain), and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, European Union).Peer reviewe

The foraging ecology of larval and juvenile fishes

Knowledge of the foraging ecology of fishes is fundamental both to understanding the processes that function at the individual, population and community levels, and for the management and conservation of their populations and habitats. Furthermore, the factors that influence the acquisition and assimilation of food can have significant consequences for the condition, growth, survival and recruitment of fishes. The majority of marine and freshwater fish species are planktivorous at the onset of exogenous nutrition and have a limited ability to detect, capture, ingest and digest prey. Improvements in vision, development of fins and associated improvements in swimming performance, increases in gape size and development of the alimentary tract during ontogeny often lead to shifts in diet composition. Prey size, morphology, behaviour and abundance can all influence the prey selection of larval and juvenile fishes. Differences in feeding behaviour between fish species, individuals or during ontogeny can also be important, as can inter- and intraspecific interactions (competition, predation risk). Temporal (diel, seasonal, annual) and spatial (microhabitat, mesohabitat, macrohabitat, regional) variations in prey availability can have important implications for the prey selection, diet composition, growth, survival, condition and, ultimately, recruitment success of fishes. For fish populations to persist, habitat must be available in sufficient quality and quantity for the range of activities undertaken during all periods of development. Habitats that enhance the diversity, size ranges and abundance of zooplankton should ensure that sufficient food resources are available to larval and juvenile fishes