The role of integrated information acquisition and management in the analysis of coastal ecosystem change

This book chapter represents a synthesis of the work which started in my PhD and which has been the conceptual basis for all of my research since 1993. The chapter presents a method for scientists and managers to use for selecting the type of remotely sensed data to use to meet their information needs associated with a mapping, monitoring or modelling application. The work draws on results from several of my ARC projects, CRC Rainforest and Coastal projects and theses of P.Scarth , K.Joyce and C.Roelfsema

Impacts of good practice policies on regional and global greenhouse gas emissions

The report looks at the impact of "good practice"emission reduction policies in nine different areas globally and across six countries: China, Brazil, India, the US, Russia and Japan. These include renewable energy, a variety of energy efficiency standards (buildings, car fuel efficiecy, appliances and lighting, industry), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC.s), emissions from fossil fuel production, electric cars and forestry. The authors looked at the most ambitious "good practice" policies around the world that are being implemented now, and calculated the difference these would make if everybody were to apply them. If all governments follow those governments that currently adopt the best climate policies in just nin different areas, they could reduce emissions close to the levels needed to stay on track to hold global warming below 2 degrees C. The implementation of good practice policies is projected to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions at 49-50 GtCO2e by 2020, and decrease to 44- 47 GtCO2e by 2030- close to the 2 degrees C emissions range (30-44 GtCO2e) by 2030. Direct replication of good practice policies is projected to halt emissions growth in most regions sinificantly before 2030. In contrast, current policies are expected to see emissions to increase to around 54 GtCO2e by 2020 and 59-60 GtCO2e by 2030

ISO spectroscopy of compact HII regions in the Galaxy. II Ionization and elemental abundances

Based on the ISO spectral catalogue of compact HII regions by Peeters et al. (2001), we present a first analysis of the hydrogen recombination and atomic fine-structure lines originated in the ionized gas. The sample consists of 34 HII regions located at galactocentric distances between Rgal = 0 and 15 kpc. The SWS HI recombination lines between 2 and 8 mum are used to estimate the extinction law at these wavelengths for 14 HII regions. An extinction in the K band between 0 and $\sim$ 3 mag. has been derived. The fine-structure lines of N, O, Ne, S and Ar are detected in most of the sources. Most of these elements are observed in two different ionization stages probing a range in ionization potential up to 41 eV. The ISO data, by itself or combined with radio data taken from the literature, is used to derive the elemental abundances relative to hydrogen. The present data thus allow us to describe for each source its elemental abundance, its state of ionization and to constrain the properties of the ionizing star(s).Comment: Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 22 pages, 20 figures, 9 table

Supplementary report to the final report of the coral reef expert group: S6. Novel technologies in coral reef monitoring

[Extract] This report summarises a review of current technological advances applicable to coral reef monitoring, with a focus on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (the Marine Park). The potential of novel technologies to support coral reef monitoring within the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program (RIMReP) framework was evaluated based on their performance, operational maturity and compatibility with traditional methods. Given the complexity of this evaluation, this exercise was systematically structured to address the capabilities of technologies in terms of spatial scales and ecological indicators, using a ranking system to classify expert recommendations.An accessible copy of this report is not yet available from this repository, please contact [email protected] for more information

3-He in the Milky Way Interstellar Medium: Ionization Structure

The cosmic abundance of the 3-He isotope has important implications for many fields of astrophysics. We are using the 8.665 GHz hyperfine transition of 3-He+ to determine the 3-He/H abundance in Milky Way HII regions and planetary nebulae. This is one in a series of papers in which we discuss issues involved in deriving accurate 3-He/H abundance ratios from the available measurements. Here we describe the ionization correction we use to convert the 3-He+/H+ abundance, y3+, to the 3-He/H abundance, y3. In principle the nebular ionization structure can significantly influence the y3 derived for individual sources. We find that in general there is insufficient information available to make a detailed ionization correction. Here we make a simple correction and assess its validity. The correction is based on radio recombination line measurements of H+ and 4-He+, together with simple core-halo source models. We use these models to establish criteria that allow us to identify sources that can be accurately corrected for ionization and those that cannot. We argue that this effect cannot be very large for most of the sources in our observational sample. For a wide range of models of nebular ionization structure we find that the ionization correction factor varies from 1 to 1.8. Although large corrections are possible, there would have to be a conspiracy between the density and ionization structure for us to underestimate the ionization correction by a substantial amount.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figures To appear Astrophysical Journal, 20 August 2007, vol 665, no

Quantification of Cre-mediated recombination by a novel strategy reveals a stable extra-chromosomal deletion-circle in mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Inducible conditional knockout animals are widely used to get insight in the function of genes and the pathogenesis of human diseases. These models frequently rely on Cre-mediated recombination of sequences flanked by Lox-P sites. To understand the consequences of gene disruption, it is essential to know the efficiency of the recombination process.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we describe a modification of the multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), called extension-MLPA (eMLPA), which enables quantification of relatively small differences in DNA that are a consequence of Cre-mediated recombination. eMLPA, here applied on an inducible <it>Pkd1 </it>conditional deletion mouse model, simultaneously measures both the reduction of the floxed allele and the increase of the deletion allele in a single reaction thereby minimizing any type of experimental variation. Interestingly, with this method we were also able to observe the presence of the excised DNA fragment. This extra-chromosomal deletion-circle was detectable up to 5 months after activation of Cre.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>eMLPA is a novel strategy which easily can be applied to measure the Cre-mediated recombination efficiency in each experimental case with high accuracy. In addition the fate of the deletion-circle can be followed simultaneously.</p

The Arabidopsis PHYTOCHROME KINASE SUBSTRATE2 protein is a phototropin signaling element that regulates leaf flattening and leaf positioning.

In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), the blue light photoreceptor phototropins (phot1 and phot2) fine-tune the photosynthetic status of the plant by controlling several important adaptive processes in response to environmental light variations. These processes include stem and petiole phototropism (leaf positioning), leaf flattening, stomatal opening, and chloroplast movements. The PHYTOCHROME KINASE SUBSTRATE (PKS) protein family comprises four members in Arabidopsis (PKS1-PKS4). PKS1 is a novel phot1 signaling element during phototropism, as it interacts with phot1 and the important signaling element NONPHOTOTROPIC HYPOCOTYL3 (NPH3) and is required for normal phot1-mediated phototropism. In this study, we have analyzed more globally the role of three PKS members (PKS1, PKS2, and PKS4). Systematic analysis of mutants reveals that PKS2 (and to a lesser extent PKS1) act in the same subset of phototropin-controlled responses as NPH3, namely leaf flattening and positioning. PKS1, PKS2, and NPH3 coimmunoprecipitate with both phot1-green fluorescent protein and phot2-green fluorescent protein in leaf extracts. Genetic experiments position PKS2 within phot1 and phot2 pathways controlling leaf positioning and leaf flattening, respectively. NPH3 can act in both phot1 and phot2 pathways, and synergistic interactions observed between pks2 and nph3 mutants suggest complementary roles of PKS2 and NPH3 during phototropin signaling. Finally, several observations further suggest that PKS2 may regulate leaf flattening and positioning by controlling auxin homeostasis. Together with previous findings, our results indicate that the PKS proteins represent an important family of phototropin signaling proteins