Standorts- und ernaehrungskundliche Untersuchungen zur Nutzung landwirtschaftlicher Flaechen fuer die Erzeugung von Biomasse mit schnellwachsenden Baumarten Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse fuer die Jahre 1988 bis 1993. Abschlussbericht

An interdisciplinary field experiment with 4 fast growing poplar and willow clones was established in 1983 on land previously used agriculturally in order to investigate the influence of site, as well as the nutritional and growth aspects and the ecological consequences of this type of land use. At the end of the second rotation period (winter 1992) the height of the poplar clone Muhle Larsen amounted to 7 m, of the aspen Astria and the willow to about 5 m. Dry matter shoot biomass was 20 t/ha for Astria, 30 t/ha for the willow and 32 t/ha for Muhle Larsen. Production on soils subjected to high groundwater was lower than on moderately moist soils. Unfertilized poplars showed optimum nutrition even 10 years after planting. Nitrogen fertilization significantly enhanced shoot biomass only for Salix viminalis. Results of soil inventories in 1983, 1986 and 1992 showed a slight decrease of soil reaction by time. The organic matter and the total nitrogen concentration and the microbial biomass of the soils increased in layers near the soil surface and decreased in deeper layers of the former plough horizon, respectively. Species number of the ground vegetation increased at the afforested sites as compared with a control field. Some groups of the soil macrofauna (woodlice, earthworms, harvestmen) advanced in abundance and activity or showed an increase in biological diversity (carabid beetles). (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: F95B93+a / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekBundesministerium fuer Forschung und Technologie (BMFT), Bonn (Germany)DEGerman

Geographical adaptation prevails over species-specific determinism in trees' vulnerability to climate change at Mediterranean rear-edge forests

Climate change may reduce forest growth and increase forest mortality, which is connected to high carbon costs through reductions in gross primary production and net ecosystem exchange. Yet the spatiotemporal patterns of vulnerability to both short-term extreme events as well as gradual environmental changes are quite uncertain across the species' limits of tolerance to dryness. Such information is fundamental for defining ecologically relevant upper limits of species tolerance to drought and hence, to predict the risk of increased forest mortality and shifts in species composition. We investigate here to what extent the impact of short and long-term environmental changes determines vulnerability to climate change of three evergreen conifers (Scots pine, silver fir, Norway spruce) and two deciduous hardwoods (European beech, sessile oak) tree species at their southernmost limits of distribution in the Mediterranean Basin. Finally, we simulated future forest growth under RCP 2.6 and 8.5 emissions scenarios using a multispecies Generalized Linear Mixed Model. Our analysis provides four key insights into the patterns of species' vulnerability to climate change. First, site climatic marginality was significantly linked to the growth trends: increasing growth was related to less climatically-limited sites. Second, estimated species-specific vulnerability did not match their a priori rank in drought-tolerance: Scots pine and beech seem to be the most vulnerable species among those studied despite their contrasting physiologies. Third, adaptation to site conditions prevails over species-specific determinism in forest response to climate change. And fourth, regional differences in forests vulnerability to climate change across the Mediterranean Basin are linked to the influence of summer atmospheric circulation patterns, which are not correctly represented in global climate models. Thus, projections of forest performance should reconsider the traditional classification of tree species in functional types and critically evaluate the fine-scale limitations of the climate data generated by global climate models

Combined molecular and clinical prognostic index for relapse and survival in cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia.

PURPOSE: Cytogenetically normal (CN) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the largest and most heterogeneous cytogenetic AML subgroup. For the practicing clinician, it is difficult to summarize the prognostic information of the growing number of clinical and molecular markers. Our purpose was to develop a widely applicable prognostic model by combining well-established pretreatment patient and disease characteristics. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two prognostic indices for CN-AML (PINA), one regarding overall survival (OS; PINAOS) and the other regarding relapse-free survival (RFS; PINARFS), were derived from data of 572 patients with CN-AML treated within the AML Cooperative Group 99 study (www.aml-score.org. RESULTS: On the basis of age (median, 60 years; range, 17 to 85 years), performance status, WBC count, and mutation status of NPM1, CEBPA, and FLT3-internal tandem duplication, patients were classified into the following three risk groups according to PINAOS and PINARFS: 29% of all patients and 32% of 381 responding patients had low-risk disease (5-year OS, 74%; 5-year RFS, 55%); 56% of all patients and 39% of responding patients had intermediate-risk disease (5-year OS, 28%; 5-year RFS, 27%), and 15% of all patients and 29% of responding patients had high-risk disease (5-year OS, 3%; 5-year RFS, 5%), respectively. PINAOS and PINARFS stratified outcome within European LeukemiaNet genetic groups. Both indices were confirmed on independent data from Cancer and Leukemia Group B/Alliance trials. CONCLUSION: We have developed and validated, to our knowledge, the first prognostic indices specifically designed for adult patients of all ages with CN-AML that combine well-established molecular and clinical variables and that are easily applicable in routine clinical care. The integration of both clinical and molecular markers could provide a basis for individualized patient care through risk-adapted therapy of CN-AML