Invasion of winter moth in New England: Effects of defoliation and site quality on tree mortality.

Abstract Widespread and prolonged defoliation by the European winter moth, Operophtera brumata L., has occurred in forests of eastern Massachusetts for more than a decade and populations of winter moth continue to invade new areas of New England. This study characterized the forests of eastern Massachusetts invaded by winter moth and related the duration of winter moth defoliation estimated using dendrochronology to observed levels of tree mortality and understory woody plant density. Quercus basal area mortality in mixed Quercus and mixed Quercus-Pinus strobus forests in eastern Massachusetts ranged from 0-30%; mortality of Quercus in these forests was related to site quality and the number of winter moth defoliation events. In addition, winter moth defoliation events lead to a subsequent increase in understory woody plant density. Our results indicate that winter moth defoliation has been an important disturbance in New England forests that may have lasting impacts

Analysis of fluorescently labeled substance P analogs: binding, imaging and receptor activation

BACKGROUND: Substance P (SP) is a peptide neurotransmitter found in central and peripheral nerves. SP is involved in the control of smooth muscle, inflammation and nociception. The amino acid sequence of SP is Arg-Pro-Lys-Pro-Gln-Gln-Phe-Phe-Gly-Leu-Met-NH(2). Five different forms of fluorescently labeled SP have recently been synthesized, in which Alexa 488, BODIPY Fl, fluorescein, Oregon Green 488 or tetramethylrhodamine has been covalently linked to SP at Lys(3). Here, these novel analogs are characterized as to their ligand binding, receptor activation and fluorescence labeling properties. RESULTS: Competition binding studies, using radiolabeled [(125)I] SP, revealed that all of the labeled forms of SP, except for Alexa 488-SP, effectively competed with radiolabeled SP for binding at the rat SP receptor. With the exception of Alexa 488-SP, all of the SP analogs produced Ca(++) elevations and fluorescence labeling of the SP receptor expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells. In SP-responsive neurons, BODIPY Fl-SP and Oregon Green 488-SP were as effective as unlabeled SP in producing a reduction of the M-type K(+) current. Fluorescein-SP produced variable results, while tetramethylrhodamine-SP was less potent and Alexa 488-SP was less effective on intact neurons. CONCLUSIONS: The above results show that fluorescent labeling of SP altered the biological activity and the binding properties of the parent peptide. Oregon Green 488 and BODIPY FL-SP are the most useful fluorophores for labeling SP without affecting its biological activity. Given these results, these probes can now be utilized in further investigations of the mechanisms of SPR function, including receptor localization, internalization and recycling

The Santee Canal Sanctuary - Part I

A proposed recreational and environment and historical interpretive park has been planned by the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (PRT) jointly with the Santee Cooper Public Service Authority for the land along the west side of the Tailrace Canal extending between US Route 52 and Stoney Landing in Berkeley County, South Carolina. The Santee Canal Sanctuary, as it has been named, encompasses the southernmost ca. 2.0km (1.25mi) of the abandoned Santee Canal and Biggin Creek which essentially bisect the property longitudinally. Development of the park and related construction activities dictated that archaeological investigations be executed. A terrestrial archaeological survey was conducted in August 1986 and the results published the following year in a thorough report produced by Tommy Charles and James O. Mills (1987) of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA). Dredging operations planned for that portion of the Santee Canal on sanctuary property necessitated a comprehensive archaeological survey within this structure. The entire 32.6km (20.4mi) length of the Santee Canal was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in May 1982 and is listed in the State of South Carolina Site Files as 38BKI02. In addition, two areas of Biggin Creek were singled out for investigation: the remains of an apparently ship-built vessel (38BK877) eligible for inclusion on the NRHP; and an area of scattered artifacts associated with a domestic site (38BK876) at Stoney Landing. PRT and Santee Cooper contracted with SCIAA\u27s Underwater Antiquities Management Program to perform this survey. The archaeological survey conducted as a result of this contract was performed over a 20-day period during November and December 1987

Phylogeny of the Celastreae (Celastraceae) inferred using chloroplast and nuclear loci

The phylogenetic inference presented of the Celastreae (Celastraceae) is based on four loci: matK and trnL-F from the chloroplast genome and ITS and 26S rDNA from the nuclear genome. The species sampled are combined with taxa sampled from previous studies to better test the monophyly of the genera along with the intergeneric relationships within this tribe. The main purpose is to give an overview of the laboratory procedures used and the results from the sampling. The procedures include DNA isolation, DNA amplification, DNA purification, construction of contiguous sequences, sequence alignment, and lastly phylogenetic inference.High Honors

Wood Anatomy of \u3ci\u3eAmanoa\u3c/i\u3e (Euphorbiaceae)

Wood anatomy of 29 specimens of seven species of Amanoa from tropical Africa, South America, and the Caribbean is described. The wood is diffuse-porous with most vessels in short radical multiples. Vessel elements are notably long, have simple perforation plates and small, alternative intervessel pits; tyloses are present in heartwood. Libriform wood fibres bear thick walls. Axial parenchyma distribution is diffuse and diffuse-in-aggregates. Chambered crystalliferous axial parenchyma is common. Rays are heterocellular, narrow, and very tall. The species examined, all from moist lowland forests, have similar wood structure. Wood of Amanoa resembles that of other primitive Euphorbiaceae

An improved estimate of daily precipitation from the ERA5 reanalysis

Precipitation is an essential climate variable and a fundamental part of theglobal water cycle. Given its importance to society, precipitation is oftenassessed in climate monitoring activities, such as in those led by the Coperni-cus Climate Change Service (C3S). To undertake these activities, C3S predomi-nantly uses ERA5 reanalysis precipitation. Research has shown that short-range forecasts for precipitation made from this reanalysis can provide valu-able estimates of the actual (observed) precipitation in extratropical regionsbut can be less useful in the tropics. While some of these limitations will bereduced with future reanalyses because of the latest advancements, there ispotentially a more immediate way to improve the precipitation estimate.This is to use the precipitation modelled in the Four-Dimensional Variational(4D-Var) data assimilation window of the reanalysis, and it is the aim of thisstudy to evaluate this approach. Using observed 24-h precipitation accumula-tions at 5637 stations from 2001 to 2020, results show that smaller root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) and mean absolute errors are generally foundby using the ERA5 4D-Var precipitation. For example, for all available daysfrom 2001 to 2020, 87.5% of stations have smaller RMSEs. These improvementsare driven by reduced random errors in the 4D-Var precipitation because it isbetter constrained by observations, which are themselves sensitive to orinfluence precipitation. However, there are regions (e.g., Europe) where largerbiases occur, and via the decomposition of the Stable Equitable Error inProbability Space score, this is shown to be because the 4D-Var precipitationhas a wetter bias on ‘dry’ days than the standard ERA5 short-range forecasts.The findings also highlight that the 4D-Var precipitation does improve thediscrimination of ‘heavy’ observed events. In conclusion, an improved ERA5precipitation estimate is largely obtainable, and these results could proveuseful for C3S activities and for future reanalyses, including ERA

Identifying single electron charge sensor events using wavelet edge detection

The operation of solid-state qubits often relies on single-shot readout using a nanoelectronic charge sensor, and the detection of events in a noisy sensor signal is crucial for high fidelity readout of such qubits. The most common detection scheme, comparing the signal to a threshold value, is accurate at low noise levels but is not robust to low-frequency noise and signal drift. We describe an alternative method for identifying charge sensor events using wavelet edge detection. The technique is convenient to use and we show that, with realistic signals and a single tunable parameter, wavelet detection can outperform thresholding and is significantly more tolerant to 1/f and low-frequency noise.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Effective mass theory of monolayer \delta-doping in the high-density limit

Monolayer \delta-doped structures in silicon have attracted renewed interest with their recent incorporation into atomic-scale device fabrication strategies as source and drain electrodes and in-plane gates. Modeling the physics of \delta-doping at this scale proves challenging, however, due to the large computational overhead associated with ab initio and atomistic methods. Here, we develop an analytical theory based on an effective mass approximation. We specifically consider the Si:P materials system, and the limit of high donor density, which has been the subject of recent experiments. In this case, metallic behavior including screening tends to smooth out the local disorder potential associated with random dopant placement. While smooth potentials may be difficult to incorporate into microscopic, single-electron analyses, the problem is easily treated in the effective mass theory by means of a jellium approximation for the ionic charge. We then go beyond the analytic model, incorporating exchange and correlation effects within a simple numerical model. We argue that such an approach is appropriate for describing realistic, high-density, highly disordered devices, providing results comparable to density functional theory, but with greater intuitive appeal, and lower computational effort. We investigate valley coupling in these structures, finding that valley splitting in the low-lying \Gamma band grows much more quickly than the \Gamma-\Delta band splitting at high densities. We also find that many-body exchange and correlation corrections affect the valley splitting more strongly than they affect the band splitting

Superspreading on hydrophobic substrates:effect of glycerol additive

The spreading of solutions of three trisiloxane surfactants on two hydrophobic substrates, polyethylene and polyvinylidenefluoride, was studied with the addition of 0–40 mass % of glycerol. It was found that all the surfactant solutions spread faster than silicone oil of the same viscosity, confirming the existence of a mechanism which accelerates the spreading of the surfactant solutions. For the non-superspreading surfactant, BT-233, addition of glycerol improved the spreading performance on polyvinylidenefluoride and resulted in a transition from partial to complete wetting on polyethylene. The fastest spreading was observed for BT-233 at a concentration of 2.5 g/L, independent of glycerol content. For the superspreading surfactants, BT-240 and BT-278, the concentration at which the fastest spreading occurs systematically increased with concentration of glycerol on both substrates from 1.25 g/L for solutions in water to 10 g/L for solutions in 40% glycerol/water mixture. Thus, the surfactant equilibration rate (and therefore formation of surface tension gradients) and Marangoni flow are important components of a superspreading mechanism. De-wetting of the solutions containing glycerol, once spread on the substrates, resulted in the formation of circular drop patterns. This is in contrast to the solely aqueous solutions where the spread film shrank due to evaporation, without any visible traces being left behind