329 research outputs found
Hot moments in the Antarctic due to climate warming?
Climate warming is severely affecting maritime Antarctica, causing accelerated glacier retreat and thus leading to an ongoing exposure of once ice- covered land. This initiates a succession of plant and soil development. Nevertheless, the temporal dynamics and controlling factors of these processes, like C and N status of soils and the effect of root exudation are widely unknown under these harsh climatic conditions.
Topsoil samples from three different sites of a chronological soil sequence in the forefront of a retreating glacier of the Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, were collected and incubated at 2 °C for three weeks. To mimic the influence of C and N containing root exudates (primers) on the mineralization of soil C, we added 13C labeled glucose or alanine and compared CO2 evolution in comparison to samples without C and N addition.
Soil microbes covered up to 90% of their C demand for anabolic functions with the added C-sources in the case of late soil successions while it was only 50% for the young soils. These findings were independent of the form of primer. Both primers increased the mineralization of soil carbon in the young soils as compared to the control. For the later stages of soil development, we found negative priming which was strongest for the latest stage.
These results give evidence for a clear shift in the microbial community of the three investigated sites. While sites with initial soil formation seem to be dominated by k-strategists with low turnover rates that rather use complex C-sources, a significant number of r-strategists in the soils of the older sites uses simple C-substrates very efficiently. As this leads to a relative decrease in SOM mineralization for the late stages of soil development, it is questionable if higher plants can improve their nutrition by stimulating free living soil microbes with root exudates or if they rather have to rely on mycorrhiza
CoRoT light curves of RR Lyrae stars. CoRoT 101128793: long-term changes in the Blazhko effect and excitation of additional modes
The CoRoT (Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) space mission
provides a valuable opportunity to monitor stars with uninterrupted time
sampling for up to 150 days at a time. The study of RR Lyrae stars, performed
in the framework of the Additional Programmes belonging to the exoplanetary
field, will particularly benefit from such dense, long-duration monitoring. The
Blazhko effect in RR Lyrae stars is a long-standing, unsolved problem of
stellar astrophysics. We used the CoRoT data of the new RR Lyrae variable CoRoT
101128793 (f0=2.119 c/d, P=0.4719296 d) to provide us with more detailed
observational facts to understand the physical process behind the phenomenon.
The CoRoT data were corrected for one jump and the long-term drift. We applied
different period-finding techniques to the corrected timeseries to investigate
amplitude and phase modulation. We detected 79 frequencies in the light curve
of CoRoT 101128793. They have been identified as the main frequency f0, and its
harmonics, two independent terms, the terms related to the Blazhko frequency,
and several combination terms. A Blazhko frequency fB=0.056 c/d and a triplet
structure around the fundamental radial mode and harmonics were detected, as
well as a long-term variability of the Blazhko modulation. Indeed, the
amplitude of the main oscillation is decreasing along the CoRoT survey. The
Blazhko modulation is one of the smallest observed in RR Lyrae stars. Moreover,
the additional modes f1=3.630 and f2=3.159 c/d are detected. Taking its ratio
with the fundamental radial mode into account, the term f1 could be the
identified as the second radial overtone. Detecting of these modes in
horizontal branch stars is a new result obtained by CoRoT.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, 2 long tables. Accepted for publication in A&
Synthesizing efficacious genistein in conjugation with superparamagnetic Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> decorated with bio-compatible carboxymethylated chitosan against acute leukemia lymphoma
Kepler photometry of RRc stars: peculiar double-mode pulsations and period doubling
We present the analysis of four first overtone RR Lyrae stars observed with the Kepler space telescope, based on data obtained over nearly 2.5 yr. All four stars are found to be multiperiodic.
The strongest secondary mode with frequency f2 has an amplitude of a few mmag, 20â45 times lower than the main radial mode with frequency f1. The two oscillations have a period ratio of P2/P1 = 0.612â0.632 that cannot be reproduced by any two radial modes. Thus, the secondary mode is non-radial. Modes yielding similar period ratios have also recently been discovered in other variables of the RRc and RRd types. These objects form a homogenous group and constitute a new class of multimode RR Lyrae pulsators, analogous to a similar class of multimode classical Cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds. Because a secondary mode with P2/P1 ⌠0.61 is found in almost every RRc and RRd star observed from space, this form of multiperiodicity must be common. In all four Kepler RRc stars studied, we find subharmonics of f2 at âŒ1/2f2 and at âŒ3/2f2. This is a signature of period doubling of the secondary oscillation, and is the first detection of period doubling in RRc stars. The amplitudes and phases of f2 and its subharmonics are variable on a time-scale of 10â200 d. The dominant radial mode also shows variations on the same time-scale, but with much smaller amplitude. In three Kepler RRc stars we detect additional periodicities, with amplitudes below 1 mmag, that must correspond to non-radial g-modes. Such modes never before have been observed in RR Lyrae variables
Biogenic weathering bridges the nutrient gap in pristine ecosystems - a global comparison
In many pristine ecosystems there seems to be negative nutrient budget existent, meaning that export exceeds the input received by aeolian deposition and physico-chemical weathering. Such ecosystems should degrade rather quickly, but are often found surprisingly stable on the long run. Our hypothesis was that this nutrient gap is an artefact caused by not considering the contribution of photoassimilatory-mediated biogenic weathering to the overall nutrient input, which might constitute an additional, energetically directed and demand driven pathway. Here, we firstly evaluated the evolution of mutualistic biogenic weathering along an Antarctic chronosequence and secondly compared the biogenic weathering rates under mycorrhized ecosystems over a global gradient of contrasting states of soil development. We found the ability to perform biogenic weathering increasing along its evolutionary development in photoautotroph-symbiont interaction and furthermore a close relation between fungal biogenic weathering and available potassium across all 16 forested sites in the study, regardless of the dominant mycorrhiza type (AM or EM), climate, and plant-species composition. Our results point towards a general alleviation of nutrient limitation at ecosystem scale via directional, energy driven and on-demand biogenic weathering
Asteroseismology of red giants & galactic archaeology
Red-giant stars are low- to intermediate-mass (~M)
stars that have exhausted hydrogen in the core. These extended, cool and hence
red stars are key targets for stellar evolution studies as well as galactic
studies for several reasons: a) many stars go through a red-giant phase; b) red
giants are intrinsically bright; c) large stellar internal structure changes as
well as changes in surface chemical abundances take place over relatively short
time; d) red-giant stars exhibit global intrinsic oscillations. Due to their
large number and intrinsic brightness it is possible to observe many of these
stars up to large distances. Furthermore, the global intrinsic oscillations
provide a means to discern red-giant stars in the pre-helium core burning from
the ones in the helium core burning phase and provide an estimate of stellar
ages, a key ingredient for galactic studies. In this lecture I will first
discuss some physical phenomena that play a role in red-giant stars and several
phases of red-giant evolution. Then, I will provide some details about
asteroseismology -- the study of the internal structure of stars through their
intrinsic oscillations -- of red-giant stars. I will conclude by discussing
galactic archaeology -- the study of the formation and evolution of the Milky
Way by reconstructing its past from its current constituents -- and the role
red-giant stars can play in that.Comment: Lecture presented at the IVth Azores International Advanced School in
Space Sciences on "Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars
and Searching for New Worlds" (arXiv:1709.00645), which took place in Horta,
Azores Islands, Portugal in July 201
A photometric study of the southern Blazhko star SS For Unambiguous detection of quintuplet components
We present our analysis of photometric data in the Johnson B and V filter of
the southern Blazhko star SS For. In parallel, we analyzed the V observations
obtained with the ASAS-3 photometry of the star gathered between 2000 and 2008.
In the frequency spectra resulting from a Fourier analysis of our data, the
triplet structure is detectable up to high order, both in the B and V data.
Moreover, we find evidence for quintuplet components. We confirm from our data
that the modulation components decrease less steeply than the harmonics of the
main frequency. We derived the variations of the Fourier parameters quantifying
the light curve shape over the Blazhko cycle. There is good agreement between
the spectroscopic abundance and the metallicity determined from the Fourier
parameters of the average light curve. SS For is peculiar as a Blazhko star
because of its strong variations around minimum light.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Absent cervical spine pedicle and associated congenital spinal abnormalities - a diagnostic trap in a setting of acute trauma: case report
BACKGROUND: Congenital spinal abnormalities can easily be misdiagnosed on plain radiographs. Additional imaging is warranted in doubtful cases, especially in a setting of acute trauma. Case Presentation This patient presented at the emergency unit of our university hospital after a motor vehicle accident and was sent to our radiology department for imaging of the cervical spine. Initial clinical examination and plain radiographs of the cervical spine were performed but not conclusive. Additional CT of the neck helped establish the right diagnosis. CONCLUSION: CT as a three-dimensional imaging modality with the possibility of multiplanar reconstructions allows for the exact diagnosis and exclusion of acute traumatic lesions of the cervical spine, especially in cases of doubtful plain radiographs and when congenital spinal abnormalities like absent cervical spine pedicle with associated spina bifida may insinuate severe trauma
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