Signatures of natural selection in a foundation tree along Mediterranean climatic gradients

Temperature and precipitation regimes are rapidly changing, resulting in forest dieback and extinction events, particularly in Mediterranean-type climates (MTC). Forest management that enhance forests’ resilience is urgently required, however adaptation to climates in heterogeneous landscapes with multiple selection pressures is complex. For widespread trees in MTC we hypothesized that: patterns of local adaptation are associated with climate; precipitation is a stronger factor of adaptation than temperature; functionally related genes show similar signatures of adaptation; and adaptive variants are independently sorting across the landscape. We sampled 28 populations across the geographic distribution of Eucalyptus marginata (jarrah), in South-west Western Australia, and obtained 13,534 independent single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) markers across the genome. Three genotype-association analyses that employ different ways of correcting population structure were used to identify putatively adapted SNPs associated with independent climate variables. While overall levels of population differentiation were low (FST = 0.04), environmental association analyses found a total of 2336 unique SNPs associated with temperature and precipitation variables, with 1440 SNPs annotated to genic regions. Considerable allelic turnover was identified for SNPs associated with temperature seasonality and mean precipitation of the warmest quarter, suggesting that both temperature and precipitation are important factors in adaptation. SNPs with similar gene functions had analogous allelic turnover along climate gradients, while SNPs among temperature and precipitation variables had uncorrelated patterns of adaptation. These contrasting patterns provide evidence that there may be standing genomic variation adapted to current climate gradients, providing the basis for adaptive management strategies to bolster forest resilience in the future

Titan's cold case files - Outstanding questions after Cassini-Huygens

The entry of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft into orbit around Saturn in July 2004 marked the start of a golden era in the exploration of Titan, Saturn's giant moon. During the Prime Mission (2004–2008), ground-breaking discoveries were made by the Cassini orbiter including the equatorial dune fields (flyby T3, 2005), northern lakes and seas (T16, 2006), and the large positive and negative ions (T16 & T18, 2006), to name a few. In 2005 the Huygens probe descended through Titan's atmosphere, taking the first close-up pictures of the surface, including large networks of dendritic channels leading to a dried-up seabed, and also obtaining detailed profiles of temperature and gas composition during the atmospheric descent. The discoveries continued through the Equinox Mission (2008–2010) and Solstice Mission (2010–2017) totaling 127 targeted flybys of Titan in all. Now at the end of the mission, we are able to look back on the high-level scientific questions from the start of the mission, and assess the progress that has been made towards answering these. At the same time, new scientific questions regarding Titan have emerged from the discoveries that have been made. In this paper we review a cross-section of important scientific questions that remain partially or completely unanswered, ranging from Titan's deep interior to the exosphere. Our intention is to help formulate the science goals for the next generation of planetary missions to Titan, and to stimulate new experimental, observational and theoretical investigations in the interim

Subsurface Geometry of the San Andreas Fault in Southern California: Results from the Salton Seismic Imaging Project (SSIP) and Strong Ground Motion Expectations

The San Andreas fault (SAF) is one of the most studied strike‐slip faults in the world; yet its subsurface geometry is still uncertain in most locations. The Salton Seismic Imaging Project (SSIP) was undertaken to image the structure surrounding the SAF and also its subsurface geometry. We present SSIP studies at two locations in the Coachella Valley of the northern Salton trough. On our line 4, a fault‐crossing profile just north of the Salton Sea, sedimentary basin depth reaches 4 km southwest of the SAF. On our line 6, a fault‐crossing profile at the north end of the Coachella Valley, sedimentary basin depth is ∼2–3  km and centered on the central, most active trace of the SAF. Subsurface geometry of the SAF and nearby faults along these two lines is determined using a new method of seismic‐reflection imaging, combined with potential‐field studies and earthquakes. Below a 6–9 km depth range, the SAF dips ∼50°–60° NE, and above this depth range it dips more steeply. Nearby faults are also imaged in the upper 10 km, many of which dip steeply and project to mapped surface fault traces. These secondary faults may join the SAF at depths below about 10 km to form a flower‐like structure. In Appendix D, we show that rupture on a northeast‐dipping SAF, using a single plane that approximates the two dips seen in our study, produces shaking that differs from shaking calculated for the Great California ShakeOut, for which the southern SAF was modeled as vertical in most places: shorter‐period (T<1  s) shaking is increased locally by up to a factor of 2 on the hanging wall and is decreased locally by up to a factor of 2 on the footwall, compared to shaking calculated for a vertical fault

Global Consensus Position Statement on the Use of Testosterone Therapy for Women

The only evidence-based indication for testosterone for women is for HSDD. There are insufficient data for using testosterone for any other symptom/condition or for disease prevention

Surface Faulting and Ground Deformation: Considerations on Their Lower Detectable Limit and on FDHA for Nuclear Installations

We performed a review of a representative data set on coseismic surface deformation, derived from both interferometric synthetic aperture radar imaging and from a traditional field survey of surface faulting. This analysis indicates a minimum threshold value of Mw 5.4\u20135.5 for earthquake-induced ground deformation and faulting, with an inherently lower limit of detection that makes it hard to recognize surface deformation caused by Mw &lt; 4.5\u20135.0 events. Significant exceptions are represented by shallow (i.e., less than circa 5 km) events that occur in volcano-tectonic settings, where surface deformation and dislocation are also clearly detectable for Mw circa 4.0. Furthermore, a statistically significant regression between the areal extent of surface deformation and maximum slip at surface is proposed. This correlation is discussed in relation to fault displacement hazard analysis for nuclear power plants. In particular, the deformation area is used to find a potential solution for the second and third criterion for defining a capable fault

Jupiter's X-ray Emission During Solar Minimum

The 2007–2009 solar minimum was the longest of the space age. We present the first of two companion papers on Chandra and XMM‐Newton X‐ray campaigns of Jupiter through February–March 2007. We find that low solar X‐ray flux during solar minimum causes Jupiter's equatorial regions to be exceptionally X‐ray dim (0.21 GW at minimum; 0.76 GW at maximum). While the Jovian equatorial emission varies with solar cycle, the aurorae have comparably bright intervals at solar minimum and maximum. We apply atomic charge exchange models to auroral spectra and find that iogenic plasma of sulphur and oxygen ions provides excellent fits for XMM‐Newton observations. The fitted spectral S:O ratios of 0.4–1.3 are in good agreement with in situ magnetospheric S:O measurements of 0.3–1.5, suggesting that the ions that produce Jupiter's X‐ray aurora predominantly originate inside the magnetosphere. The aurorae were particularly bright on 24–25 February and 8–9 March, but these two observations exhibit very different spatial, spectral, and temporal behavior; 24–25 February was the only observation in this campaign with significant hard X‐ray bremsstrahlung from precipitating electrons, suggesting this may be rare. For 8–9 March, a bremsstrahlung component was absent, but bright oxygen O6+ lines and best‐fit models containing carbon, point to contributions from solar wind ions. This contribution is absent in the other observations. Comparing simultaneous Chandra ACIS and XMM‐Newton EPIC spectra showed that ACIS systematically underreported 0.45‐ to 0.6‐keV Jovian emission, suggesting quenching may be less important for Jupiter's atmosphere than previously thought. We therefore recommend XMM‐Newton for spectral analyses and quantifying opacity/quenching effects

Interchange Injections at Saturn: Statistical Survey of Energetic H+ Sudden Flux Intensifications

We present a statistical study of interchange injections in Saturn’s inner and middle magnetosphere focusing on the dependence of occurrence rate and properties on radial distance, partial pressure, and local time distribution. Events are evaluated from over the entirety of the Cassini mission’s equatorial orbits between 2005 and 2016. We identified interchange events from CHarge Energy Mass Spectrometer (CHEMS) H+ data using a trained and tested automated algorithm, which has been compared with manual event identification for optimization. We provide estimates of interchange based on intensity, which we use to investigate current inconsistencies in local time occurrence rates. This represents the first automated detection method of interchange, estimation of injection event intensity, and comparison between interchange injection survey results. We find that the peak rates of interchange occur between 7 and 9 Saturn radii and that this range coincides with the most intense events as defined by H+ partial particle pressure. We determine that nightside occurrence dominates as compared to the dayside injection rate, supporting the hypothesis of an inversely dependent instability growth rate on local Pedersen ionospheric conductivity. Additionally, we observe a slight preference for intense events on the dawnside, supporting a triggering mechanism related to large‐scale injections from downtail reconnection. Our observed local time dependence paints a dynamic picture of interchange triggering due to both the large‐scale injection‐driven process and ionospheric conductivity.Plain Language SummaryStudying high‐energy particles around magnetized planets is essential to understanding processes behind mass transport in planetary systems. Saturn’s magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, is sourced from a large amount of low‐energy water particles from Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. Saturn’s magnetosphere also undergoes large rotational forces from Saturn’s short day and massive size. The rotational forces and dense internal mass source drive interchange injections, or the injection of high‐energy particles closer to the planet as low‐energy water particles from the inner magnetosphere are transported outward. There have been many strides toward understanding the occurrence rates of interchange injections, but it is still unknown how interchange events are triggered. We present a computational method to identify and rank interchange injections using high‐energy particle fluxes from the Cassini mission to Saturn. These events have never been identified computationally, and the resulting database is now publically available. We find that the peak rates of interchange occur between 7 and 9 Saturn radii and that this range coincides with the highest intensity events. We also find that interchange occurrence rates peak on the nightside of Saturn. Through this study, we identify the potential mechanisms behind interchange events and advance our understanding of mass transport around planets.Key PointsWe developed a novel classification and identification algorithm for interchange injection based on Cassini CHEMS 3–220 keV H+ energetic ionsRadial occurrence rates and maximum partial H+ pressure in interchange peaked between 7 and 9 Saturn radii for all intensity categoriesOccurrence rates peak on the nightside (1800–0600 LT) as compared to the dayside (0600–1800 LT)Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145315/1/jgra54283.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145315/2/jgra54283_am.pd