An evaluation of 14C age relationships between co-occurring foraminifera, alkenones, and total organic carbon in continental margin sediments

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography 20 (2005): PA1016, doi:10.1029/2004PA001103.Radiocarbon age relationships between co-occurring planktic foraminifera, alkenones and total organic carbon in sediments from the continental margins of Southern Chile, Northwest Africa and the South China Sea were compared with published results from the Namibian margin. Age relationships between the sediment components are site-specific and relatively constant over time. Similar to the Namibian slope, where alkenones have been reported to be 1000 to 4500 years older than co-occurring foraminifera, alkenones were significantly (~1000 yrs) older than co-occurring foraminifera in the Chilean margin sediments. In contrast, alkenones and foraminifera were of similar age (within 2σ error or better) in the NW African and South China Sea sediments. Total-organic-matter and alkenone ages were similar off Namibia (age difference TOC-alkenones: 200-700 years), Chile (100-450 years), and NW Africa (360-770 years), suggesting minor contributions of pre-aged terrigenous material. In the South China Sea total organic carbon is significantly (2000-3000 yrs) older due to greater inputs of pre-aged terrigenous material. Age offsets between alkenones and planktic foraminifera are attributed to lateral advection of organic matter. Physical characteristics of the depositional setting, such as sea-floor morphology, shelf width, and sediment composition, may control the age of co-occurring 2 sediment components. In particular, offsets between alkenones and foraminifera appear to be greatest in deposition centers in morphologic depressions. Aging of organic matter is promoted by transport. Age offsets are correlated with organic richness, suggesting that formation of organic aggregate is a key process.GM and MK acknowledge financial support from the WHOI postdoctoral scholarship program. This work was funded by NSF grant OCE-0327405

No longer locally extinct? Tracing the origins of a lion (Panthera leo) living in Gabon

Lions (Panthera leo) are of particular conservation concern due to evidence of recent, widespread population declines in what has hitherto been seen as a common species, robust to anthropogenic disturbance. Here we use non-invasive methods to recover complete mitochondrial genomes from single hair samples collected in the field in order to explore the identity of the Gabonese Plateaux Batéké lion. Comparison of the mitogenomes against a comprehensive dataset of African lion sequences that includes relevant geographically proximate lion populations from both contemporary and ancient sources, enabled us to identify the Plateaux Batéké lion as a close maternal relative to now extirpated populations found in Gabon and nearby Congo during the twentieth century, and to extant populations of Southern Africa. Our study demonstrates the relevance of ancient DNA methods to field conservation work, and the ability of trace field samples to provide copious genetic information about free-ranging animals.Acknowledgements We thank the laboratory technicians of the Centre for GeoGenetics and the staff of the Danish National High-Throughput DNA Sequencing Centre for technical assistance. This project received funding from the European Union�s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF-298820, and ERC Consolidator Grant 681396 � Extinction Genomics. Fieldwork in Gabon was funded by Panthera and The Aspinall Foundation. We thank the Staff at Projet Protection Gorilles Gabon and the Gabonese National Park Agency for their assistance in fieldwork. Thanks also to Tony King for helpful comments on the manuscript. Permission to collect and export the samples was granted by the respective Ministries of the Environment (Eaux et Forets) in Gabon and Congo, and by Gabon�s National Park Agency (ANPN).Scopu

Urban Sprawl in Europe. Joint EEA-FOEN report. No 11/2016.

Executive summary Urban sprawl is associated with a number of ecological, economic and social effects. Some of these relate to people's desires, for example, to live in single-family homes with gardens. However, urban sprawl has detrimental and long-lasting effects. For example, urban sprawl contributes significantly to the loss of fertile farmland, to soil sealing and to the loss of ecological soil functions. The increase in built-up areas reduces the size of wildlife habitats and increases landscape fragmentation and the spread of invasive species. Urban sprawl leads to higher greenhouse gas emissions, higher infrastructure costs for transport, water and electrical power, the loss of open landscapes, and the degradation of various ecosystem services. Despite various efforts to address this problem, urban sprawl has increased rapidly in Europe in recent decades. Thus, urban sprawl presents a major challenge with regard to sustainable land use, as the International Year of Soils 2015 highlighted. Sprawl is a result not only of population growth but also of lifestyles that take up more space. Accordingly, urban sprawl has increased even in regions with a declining human population. Many more urban development and transport infrastructure projects are planned for the future, in particular in the European Union (EU) Member States which joined after 2004. Consequently, further increases in urban sprawl in the future will be significant. Therefore, consistent data on the degree of urban sprawl are needed, particularly data that are suitable for the comparison of regions across Europe. This report investigates the degree of urban sprawl in 32 countries in Europe by considering two points in time (2006 and 2009) at three levels. The three levels include the country level, the NUTS-2 region level (based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS)) and the 1-km2 cell level (based on the Land and Ecosystem Accounting (LEAC) grid). The comparison of two points in time allowed an assessment of temporal changes in urban sprawl. This report applies the method of 'weighted urban proliferation' (WUP), which quantifies the degree of urban sprawl for any given landscape through a combination of three components: (1) the size of the built-up areas; (2) the spatial configuration (dispersion) of the built-up areas in the landscape; and (3) the uptake of built-up area per inhabitant or job. The report provides, for the first time, an assessment of urban sprawl in all EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries using the WUP method. The urban sprawl values obtained cover a large range, from low values for large parts of Scandinavia ( 4 UPU/m2) and very high values for large parts of western and central Europe (> 6 UPU/m2). The two largest clusters of high-sprawl values in Europe are located in (1) north-eastern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and part of western Germany; and (2) in the United Kingdom between London and the Midlands. The analysis of sprawl at the 1-km2-grid level shows that sprawl is most pronounced in wide rings around city centres, along large transport corridors, and along many coastlines (particularly in the Mediterranean countries). The lowest levels of sprawl are mainly associated with mountain ranges or remote areas. The level of sprawl, as measured by WUP, increased in all European countries between 2006 and 2009. The overall WUP value for Europe (all 32 countries combined) increased from 1.56 urban permeation units (UPU)/m2 in 2006 to 1.64 UPU/m2 in 2009, that is by 5 % in 3 years or by 1.7 % per year. In most countries, the increase was higher than 1 % per year, and in many countries WUP increased by more than 2 % per year. This was also the case for most NUTS-2 regions. Future studies using additional time-points will allow more detailed temporal comparisons. Base data for 2012 will be available in 2016 and these could be analysed in a follow-up project. Driving forces and predictive models of urban sprawl The level of urban sprawl is largely a function of socio-economic and demographic drivers, and the geophysical context. Current levels of urban sprawl need to be interpreted within the context of regional socio-economic and geophysical conditions. Therefore, the second part of this study investigated the potential factors that may contribute to an increase or decrease in the degree of urban sprawl, and determined their relative importance. The report applied a set of statistical models to determine which of these factors drive the process of urban sprawl in Europe. We analysed the statistical relationships between urban sprawl and a range of explanatory variables (14 variables at the country level and 12 at the NUTS-2 level). We also applied these relationships to predict the expected sprawl values for all regions in our study area and compared actual values with predicted values. Most of our hypotheses about the likely driving forces of urban sprawl were confirmed by the statistical analyses. The relevant variables identified as affecting urban sprawl are population density, road density, railway density, household size, governmental effectiveness, the number of cars per 1 000 inhabitants and two environmental factors (i.e. net primary production and relief energy). This result was consistent for both of the years (2006 and 2009) considered in the analysis. The results indicate that economic development has, largely, not been decoupled from increases in urban sprawl. A high amount of variation in the level of urban sprawl, as measured by WUP, was explained by the predictor variables: 72–80 % at the country level and 80–81 % at the NUTS-2 level. The variation explained for the three components of WUP ranged between 67 % and 94 % at the NUTS-2 level. Efforts to control urban sprawl should take these driving forces into account. Relevance for monitoring and policymaking The results provided by this study are intended to contribute to more sustainable political decision- making and planning throughout Europe. In the last 15 years (2000–2015), several projects and programmes at the European level have proposed a suite of concepts and measures to address urban sprawl and promote more sustainable land use. The most recent (2014), and perhaps most important, of these is the Seventh Environment Action Programme (7EAP), which calls for indicators of resource efficiency to be established in order to guide public and private decision-makers. Although the urgent challenge presented by urban sprawl has been recognised, there is still no monitoring in place for European urban sprawl. This report aims to help close this gap. The results confirm the conclusion of earlier reports (e.g. EEA, 2006a; EEA, 2006b) namely that there is an increasingly urgent need for action. Large discrepancies between the predicted and observed levels of urban sprawl provide a basis for identifying areas for prioritising management action. Our data also provide a basis for scenarios regarding the future development of urban sprawl in Europe. There is an increasing need and interest in including indicators of urban sprawl in systems for monitoring sustainable development, the state of the environment, biodiversity and landscape quality. The results presented in this report are intended for this purpose and can be updated on a regular basis in order to detect trends in urban sprawl. This report also demonstrates the usefulness of the WUP method as a tool for urban and regional planning and for performance review based on benchmarks, targets and limits. This study provides a comparable measurement of urban sprawl for most of the European continent using a consistent data set across Europe. The results will support managers and policymakers with the allocation of resources for the better protection of agricultural soils and landscape quality, and more sustainable political decision-making related to land use. The report also identifies the most immediate priorities and future research needs

Annexes 1-5: Urban Sprawl in Europe. Joint EEA-FOEN report. No 11/2016.

See main report "Urban Sprawl in Europe. Joint EEA-FOEN report"

Intermittent existence of a southern Californian upwelling cell during submillennial climate change of the last 60 kyr

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95021/1/palo1108.pd

Zersiedelung in Europa: Ländervergleich und treibende Kräfte. (Urban sprawl in Europe: Comparison of countries and driving forces.)

Steigende Zersiedelung steht im Widerspruch zu den Prinzipien und dem Geist von Nachhaltigkeit. Daten zur Zersiedelung werden benötigt, um die Wirksamkeit von Maßnahmen und Verordnungen zu überprüfen, welche die Zersiedelung begrenzen sollen. Die Autoren haben die Methode der „gewichteten Zersiedelung“ (Weighted Urban Proliferation, WUP) auf 32 Länder in Europa angewendet, um die Zersiedelung zu messen. Dazu wurden die europäischen HRL-Imperviousness-Daten von 2006 und 2009 verwendet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass große Teile Europas von Zersiedelung betroffen sind. Der Gesamtwert von WUP für Europa beträgt 1,64 Durchsiedlungseinheiten/m2 (2009). Er ist zwischen 2006 und 2009 deutlich angestiegen, aber die Werte der einzel- nen Länder unterscheiden sich stark voneinander. Außerdem wurde der Zusammenhang mit zwölf potenziellen Treibern der Zersiedelung statistisch untersucht. Dieses Projekt ist die erste Analyse der Zersiedelung und ihrer zeitlichen Veränderung für einen gesamten Kontinent mit WUP. Der Beitrag stellt erste Ergebnisse vor und weist auf die Veröffentlichungen hin, die derzeit in Vorbereitung sind

On the sedimentological origin of down-core variations of bulk sedimentary nitrogen isotope ratios

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography 20 (2005): PA2009, doi:10.1029/2004PA001081.The bulk sedimentary nitrogen isotopic composition of two cores from nearby sites on the northern slope of the South China Sea (Site 17940 and Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1144) differs by up to >2‰ during the last glacial period. Given their close proximity, both core sites are located in the same biogeographic zone and nutrient regime, and it is thus unlikely that this offset is due to a true gradient in surface ocean conditions. In an attempt to resolve this offset, we have investigated the possible effects of two sedimentological parameters that can affect bulk sedimentary δ15N, namely, the variable contribution of inorganic N to bulk N in the sediment and the grain-size dependence of bulk δ15N. We find that neither effect, singly or in combination, is sufficient to explain the significant δ15N offset between the two down-core records. By elimination the most likely explanation for the observed discrepancy is a different origin of both the organic and inorganic nitrogen at each site. This study adds to the growing body of evidence highlighting the complex nature and origin of the sedimentary components in sediment drifts, such as ODP Site 1144.Funding from NSERC Canada (to S.E.C. and M.K.) and NSF (OCE-0214365 and OCE-0318371 to M.J.H. and OCE-0327405 to T.I.E.) is gratefully acknowledged, as well as Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Postdoctoral Fellowships (M.K. and G.M.), the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Postdoctoral Program in Environmental Chemistry (M.J.H.), and a Geological Society of America student research grant (M.K.)

Timescales of lateral sediment transport in the Panama Basin as revealed by radiocarbon ages of alkenones, total organic carbon and foraminifera

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters 290 (2010): 340-350, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.12.030.Paired radiocarbon measurements on haptophyte biomarkers (alkenones) and on cooccurring tests of planktic foraminifera (Neogloboquadrina dutertrei and Globogerinoides sacculifer) from late glacial to Holocene sediments at core locations ME0005-24JC, Y69- 71P, and MC16 from the south-western and central Panama Basin indicate no significant addition of pre-aged alkenones by lateral advection. The strong temporal correspondence between alkenones, foraminifera and total organic carbon (TOC) also implies negligible contributions of aged terrigenous material. Considering controversial evidence for sediment redistribution in previous studies of these sites, our data imply that the laterally supplied material cannot stem from remobilization of substantially aged sediments. Transport, if any, requires syn-depositional nepheloid layer transport and redistribution of low-density or fine-grained components within decades of particle formation. Such rapid and local transport minimizes the potential for temporal decoupling of proxies residing in different grain size fractions and thus facilitates comparison of various proxies for paleoceanographic reconstructions in this study area. Anomalously old foraminiferal tests from a glacial depth interval of core Y69-71P may result from episodic spillover of fast bottom currents across the Carnegie Ridge transporting foraminiferal sands towards the north.This study was funded by the Helmholtz Young Investigators Group „Applications of molecular 14C analysis for the study of sedimentation processes and carbon cycling in marine sediments”. G.M. acknowledges financial support from WHOI postdoctoral scholarship program. T.I.E. was supported by NSF grant OCE-0526268. A.C.M. was supported by NSF grant ATM0602395

The Functional DRD3 Ser9Gly Polymorphism (rs6280) Is Pleiotropic, Affecting Reward as Well as Movement

Abnormalities of motivation and behavior in the context of reward are a fundamental component of addiction and mood disorders. Here we test the effect of a functional missense mutation in the dopamine 3 receptor (DRD3) gene (ser9gly, rs6280) on reward-associated dopamine (DA) release in the striatum. Twenty-six healthy controls (HCs) and 10 unmedicated subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD) completed two positron emission tomography (PET) scans with [11C]raclopride using the bolus plus constant infusion method. On one occasion subjects completed a sensorimotor task (control condition) and on another occasion subjects completed a gambling task (reward condition). A linear regression analysis controlling for age, sex, diagnosis, and self-reported anhedonia indicated that during receipt of unpredictable monetary reward the glycine allele was associated with a greater reduction in D2/3 receptor binding (i.e., increased reward-related DA release) in the middle (anterior) caudate (p<0.01) and the ventral striatum (p<0.05). The possible functional effect of the ser9gly polymorphism on DA release is consistent with previous work demonstrating that the glycine allele yields D3 autoreceptors that have a higher affinity for DA and display more robust intracellular signaling. Preclinical evidence indicates that chronic stress and aversive stimulation induce activation of the DA system, raising the possibility that the glycine allele, by virtue of its facilitatory effect on striatal DA release, increases susceptibility to hyperdopaminergic responses that have previously been associated with stress, addiction, and psychosis

Is pore water oxygen content decoupled from productivity on the California Margin? Trace element results from Ocean Drilling Program Hole 1017E, San Lucia slope, California

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95250/1/palo1223.pd