148 research outputs found
Blue carbon stocks in Baltic Sea eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows
Although seagrasses cover only a minor fraction of the ocean seafloor, their
carbon sink capacity accounts for nearly one-fifth of the total oceanic
carbon burial and thus play a critical structural and functional role in
many coastal ecosystems. We sampled 10 eelgrass (<i>Zostera marina</i>) meadows in Finland and 10
in Denmark to explore seagrass carbon stocks (C<sub>org</sub> stock) and carbon
accumulation rates (C<sub>org</sub> accumulation) in the Baltic Sea area. The study
sites represent a gradient from sheltered to exposed locations in both
regions to reflect expected minimum and maximum stocks and accumulation. The
C<sub>org</sub> stock integrated over the top 25 cm of the sediment averaged 627 g C m<sup>−2</sup> in Finland, while in Denmark the average C<sub>org</sub> stock was over
6 times higher (4324 g C m<sup>−2</sup>). A conservative estimate of the total
organic carbon pool in the regions ranged between 6.98 and 44.9 t C ha<sup>−1</sup>.
Our results suggest that the Finnish eelgrass meadows are minor carbon sinks
compared to the Danish meadows, and that majority of the C<sub>org</sub> produced in
the Finnish meadows is exported. Our analysis further showed that
> 40 % of the variation in the C<sub>org</sub> stocks was explained by
sediment characteristics, i.e. dry density, porosity and silt content. In
addition, our analysis show that the root : shoot ratio of <i>Z. marina</i> explained
> 12 % and the contribution of <i>Z. marina</i> detritus to the sediment surface
C<sub>org</sub> pool explained > 10 % of the variation in the C<sub>org</sub> stocks.
The mean monetary value for the present carbon storage and carbon sink
capacity of eelgrass meadows in Finland and Denmark, were 281 and 1809 EUR ha<sup>−1</sup>, respectively. For a more comprehensive picture of
seagrass carbon storage capacity, we conclude that future blue carbon
studies should, in a more integrative way, investigate the interactions
between sediment biogeochemistry, seascape structure, plant species
architecture and the hydrodynamic regime
Dynamics of Bianchi type I elastic spacetimes
We study the global dynamical behavior of spatially homogeneous solutions of
the Einstein equations in Bianchi type I symmetry, where we use non-tilted
elastic matter as an anisotropic matter model that naturally generalizes
perfect fluids. Based on our dynamical systems formulation of the equations we
are able to prove that (i) toward the future all solutions isotropize; (ii)
toward the initial singularity all solutions display oscillatory behavior;
solutions do not converge to Kasner solutions but oscillate between different
Kasner states. This behavior is associated with energy condition violation as
the singularity is approached.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure
Laser-induced fluorescence of free diamondoid molecules
Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.We observe the fluorescence of pristine diamondoids in the gas phase, excited using narrow band ultraviolet laser light. The emission spectra show well- defined features, which can be attributed to transitions from the excited electronic state into different vibrational modes of the electronic ground state. We assign the normal modes responsible for the vibrational bands, and determine the geometry of the excited states. Calculations indicate that for large diamondoids, the spectral bands do not result from progressions of single modes, but rather from combination bands composed of a large number of Delta v = 1 transitions. The vibrational modes determining the spectral envelope can mainly be assigned to wagging and twisting modes of the surface atoms. We conclude that our theoretical approach accurately describes the photophysics in diamondoids and possibly other hydrocarbons in general.DFG, FOR 1282, Controlling the electronic structure of semiconductor nanoparticles by doping and hybrid formatio
Metabolic model integration of the bibliome, genome, metabolome and reactome of Aspergillus niger
The release of the genome sequences of two strains of Aspergillus niger has allowed systems-level investigations of this important microbial cell factory. To this end, tools for doing data integration of multi-ome data are necessary, and especially interesting in the context of metabolism. On the basis of an A. niger bibliome survey, we present the largest model reconstruction of a metabolic network reported for a fungal species. The reconstructed gapless metabolic network is based on the reportings of 371 articles and comprises 1190 biochemically unique reactions and 871 ORFs. Inclusion of isoenzymes increases the total number of reactions to 2240. A graphical map of the metabolic network is presented. All levels of the reconstruction process were based on manual curation. From the reconstructed metabolic network, a mathematical model was constructed and validated with data on yields, fluxes and transcription. The presented metabolic network and map are useful tools for examining systemwide data in a metabolic context. Results from the validated model show a great potential for expanding the use of A. niger as a high-yield production platform
Alterations in rhythmic and non-rhythmic resting-state EEG activity and their link to cognition in older age
While many structural and biochemical changes in the brain have been previously associated with aging, the findings concerning electrophysiological signatures, reflecting functional properties of neuronal networks, remain rather controversial. To try resolve this issue, we took advantage of a large population study (N=1703) and comprehensively investigated the association of multiple EEG biomarkers (power of alpha and theta oscillations, individual alpha peak frequency (IAF), the slope of 1/f power spectral decay), aging, and aging and cognitive performance. Cognitive performance was captured with three factors representing processing speed, episodic memory, and interference resolution. Our results show that not only did IAF decline with age but it was also associated with interference resolution over multiple cortical areas. To a weaker extent, 1/f slope of the PSD showed age-related reductions, mostly in frontal brain regions. Finally, alpha power was negatively associated with the speed of processing in the right frontal lobe, despite the absence of age-related alterations. Our results thus demonstrate that multiple electrophysiological features, as well as their interplay, should be considered when investigating the association between age, neuronal activity, and cognitive performance
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