Chapter 09: Vulnerability of mangroves and tidal wetlands of the Great Barrier Reef to climate change

Climate change will have an enormous influence on the intertidal wetlands of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and associated increases in air and sea temperatures, rising sea level, changes in oceanic circulation, rainfall patterns and frequency and intensity of storms are highly likely to affect the physiology, ecology and ultimately the stability of wetland habitats. The intertidal position of mangroves, salt marshes and salt flats makes them particularly vulnerable to changes in sea level, although other climate change factors will also exert a strong influence on wetland communities. Past rises in sea level have led to increases in the area of mangroves in northern Australia. However, past climate change has occurred with limited human modification of the coast compared to current levels of development. Human activities have resulted in loss of wetlands, disruption to connectivity, enhanced availability of nutrients, changed sediment dynamics and the creation of structures that will prevent landward migration of wetlands with sea level rise (eg roads, berms, bunds and sea walls). Many of these human impacts will reduce the resilience of intertidal wetlands to climate change. To conserve the intertidal wetlands of the GBR and the ecosystem services they provide, we will need to manage the coastal zone in a way that enhances the resilience of mangroves, salt marshes and salt flats during climate change.This is Chapter 9 of Climate change and the Great Barrier Reef: a vulnerability assessment. The entire book can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/11017/13

Chapter 19: Vulnerability of coastal and estuarine habitats in the Great Barrier Reef to climate change

This chapter attempts to address the vulnerability of the CEM in the Great Barrier Reef region to global climate change. It does not consider individual habitats (eg reefs or seagrasses) but goes beyond the individual species and habitat assessments, to consider impacts on the whole coastal marine community complex, and the ecological processes that support its functioning.This is Chapter 19 of Climate change and the Great Barrier Reef: a vulnerability assessment. The entire book can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/11017/13

Soil biochemistry and microbial activity in vineyards under conventional and organic management at Northeast Brazil.

The São Francisco Submedium Valley is located at the Brazilian semiarid region and is an important center for irrigated fruit growing. This region is responsible for 97% of the national exportation of table grapes, including seedless grapes. Based on the fact that orgThe São Francisco Submedium Valley is located at the Brazilian semiarid region and is an important center for irrigated fruit growing. This region is responsible for 97% of the national exportation of table grapes, including seedless grapes. Based on the fact that organic fertilization can improve soil quality, we compared the effects of conventional and organic soil management on microbial activity and mycorrhization of seedless grape crops. We measured glomerospores number, most probable number (MPN) of propagules, richness of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) species, AMF root colonization, EE-BRSP production, carbon microbial biomass (C-MB), microbial respiration, fluorescein diacetate hydrolytic activity (FDA) and metabolic coefficient (qCO2). The organic management led to an increase in all variables with the exception of EE-BRSP and qCO2. Mycorrhizal colonization increased from 4.7% in conventional crops to 15.9% in organic crops. Spore number ranged from 4.1 to 12.4 per 50 g-1 soil in both management systems. The most probable number of AMF propagules increased from 79 cm-3 soil in the conventional system to 110 cm-3 soil in the organic system. Microbial carbon, CO2 emission, and FDA activity were increased by 100 to 200% in the organic crop. Thirteen species of AMF were identified, the majority in the organic cultivation system. Acaulospora excavata, Entrophospora infrequens, Glomus sp.3 and Scutellospora sp. were found only in the organically managed crop. S. gregaria was found only in the conventional crop. Organically managed vineyards increased mycorrhization and general soil microbial activity

Chapter 7: Wetlands

Contains fulltext : 205862.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Role of carbonate burial in Blue Carbon budgets

Calcium carbonates (CaCO 3 ) often accumulate in mangrove and seagrass sediments. As CaCO 3 production emits CO 2 , there is concern that this may partially offset the role of Blue Carbon ecosystems as CO 2 sinks through the burial of organic carbon (C org ). A global collection of data on inorganic carbon burial rates (C inorg , 12% of CaCO 3 mass) revealed global rates of 0.8 TgC inorg yr −1 and 15–62 TgC inorg yr −1 in mangrove and seagrass ecosystems, respectively. In seagrass, CaCO 3 burial may correspond to an offset of 30% of the net CO 2 sequestration. However, a mass balance assessment highlights that the C inorg burial is mainly supported by inputs from adjacent ecosystems rather than by local calcification, and that Blue Carbon ecosystems are sites of net CaCO 3 dissolution. Hence, CaCO 3 burial in Blue Carbon ecosystems contribute to seabed elevation and therefore buffers sea-level rise, without undermining their role as CO 2 sinks. © 2019, The Author(s)

Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities

A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in 2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the $B$-factories and CLEO-c flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality, precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b}, and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K. Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D. Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A. Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair

Influence of solar radiation and leaf angle on leaf xanthophyll concentrations in mangroves

Mangroves have similar xanthophyll cycle components/chlorophyll ratios [i.e. (V+A+Z)/chl] to other plant species. (V+A+Z)/chl ratios were sensitive to the light environment in which leaves grew, decreasing as light levels decreased over a vertical transect through a forest canopy. The (V+A+Z)/chl ratio also varied among species. However, in sun leaves over all species, the (V+A+Z)/chl ratios correlate with the proportion of leaf area displayed on a horizontal plane, which is determined by leaf angle. Thus, leaf angle and the xanthophyll cycle may both be important in providing protection from high light levels in mangrove species. A canopy survey assessed whether (V+A+Z)/chl ratios could be correlated with species dominance of exposed positions in forest canopies. Rhizophora mangroves, with near-vertical leaf angles, and Bruguiera parviflora, with small, horizontal, xanthophyllrich leaves, dominated the canopy, while B. gymnorrhiza, a species with large, horizontally arranged leaves, was less abundant at the top of the canopy. Thus, two different strategies for adapting to high solar radiation levels may exist in these species. The first strategy is avoidance through near vertical leaf angles, and the second is a large capacity to dissipate energy through zeaxanthin. The (V+A+Z)/chl ratio was also negatively correlated with the epoxidation state of the xanthophyll cycle pool (the proportion present as violaxanthin and half that present as antheraxanthin) at midday. This suggested that the requirement for dissipation of excess light (represented by the midday epoxidation state) may influence the (V+A+Z)/chl ratio

Time trends in outcome of subarachnoid hemorrhage: Population-based study and systematic review(e–Pub ahead of print)

BACKGROUND: Treatment of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has changed substantially over the last 25 years but there is a lack of reliable population-based data on whether case-fatality or functional outcomes have improved. METHODS: We determined changes in the standardized incidence and outcome of SAH in the same population between 1981 and 1986 (Oxford Community Stroke Project) and 2002 and 2008 (Oxford Vascular Study). In a meta-analysis with other population-based studies, we used linear regression to determine time trends in outcome. RESULTS: There were no reductions in incidence of SAH (RR = 0.79, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.48-1.29, p = 0.34) and in 30-day case-fatality (RR = 0.67, 95% CI 0.39-1.13, p = 0.14) in the Oxford Vascular Study vs Oxford Community Stroke Project, but there was a decrease in overall mortality (RR = 0.47, 0.23-0.97, p = 0.04). Following adjustment for age and baseline SAH severity, patients surviving to hospital had reduced risk of death or dependency (modified Rankin score > 3) at 12 months in the Oxford Vascular Study (RR = 0.51, 0.29-0.88, p = 0.01). Among 32 studies covering 39 study periods from 1980 to 2005, 7 studied time trends within single populations. Unadjusted case-fatality fell by 0.9% per annum (0.3-1.5, p = 0.007) in a meta-analysis of data from all studies, and by 0.9% per annum (0.2-1.6%, p = 0.01) within the 7 population studies. CONCLUSION: Mortality due to subarachnoid hemorrhage fell by about 50% in our study population over the last 2 decades, due mainly to improved outcomes in cases surviving to reach hospital. This improvement is consistent with a significant decrease in case-fatality over the last 25 years in our pooled analysis of other similar population-based studies