Economic consequences of insect pests outbreaks in boreal forests: a literature review

Вспышки насекомых-вредителей считаются одним из наиболее разрушительных видов естественных лесных нарушений. Серьезность таких вспышек в последние годы быстро возрастает из-за процесса глобального потепления, который влияет на скорость размножения вредителей и диапазон их естественного распространения. Особое значение имеют экономические последствия данных видов нарушений. Несмотря на обширные исследования экологии древесных фитофагов, вопросы оценки экономического ущерба и формирования механизмов его минимизации изучены слабо. В данной статье представлен обзор исследований, посвященных проблеме вредных воздействий насекомых – вредителей леса, классифицированных по их локализации. Область исследования включает в себя в основном бореальные леса, расположенные в ряде европейских стран, США, Канаде и России. В исследовании обсуждаются инструменты, применяемые для предотвращения упомянутых выше нарушений и смягчения соответствующих негативных последствий. Несмотря на то, что существуют теоретические подходы к анализу экономических последствий поражения лесов вредителями, они пока не могут найти практического применени

Influence of the season on the salicylate and phenolic glycoside contents in the bark of Salix daphnoides, Salix pentandra, and Salix purpurea

Due to the benefits of herbal medicine and their wide range of application for human health, the usage of natural drug products, such as willow bark extract, has increased in the last few years. The principle active compounds of the drugs comprised primarily of willow bark are phenolic glycosides like salicylates. Phenolic glycoside profiles of bark vary among species and between the seasons. To identify and preserve willow clones with high salicylate content for possible commercial usage at a later stage, we have screened three Salix sp. in respect to their chemical profiles. The willow species analysed were: Salix daphnoides, Salix pentandra, and Salix purpurea. These species had distinct phenolic glycoside profiles. The major salicylate of S. daphnoides and S. purpurea clones was salicortin, whereas the main compound of S. pentandra was 2’- O-acetylsalicortin. According to the chemical profiles of 140 clones, seven independent clones of S. daphnoides and S. purpurea as well as four clones of S. pentandra with high phenolic glycoside contents were picked to study seasonal changes in bark chemistry. Overall, the clones of S. daphnoides showed the highest mean salicylate and phenolic glycoside contents, followed by S. pupurea and S. pentandra. The secondary metabolite content of willow bark clones decreased during the vegetative season from March to June 2007 and further from June to July 2007. Our study revealed that for optimum yield of phenolic glycosides the species, the clone, and the time of harvest during the season have to be taken in consideration

Анализ государственной лесной политики России

The aim of the paper is to give the overview of current state forest policy in Russia. First of all, we considered the history of institutional environment of Russian forest complex since ancient times and stated that the branch always suffered from a bad quality of state management. Then we investigated the acting forest legislation based on the Forest Code of the Russian Federation and the main reforms performed by the Government during 2000s. Last chapter of our study is dedicated to the role of Kyoto process in the long-run development of the Russian forest complex. Our conclusion is that we expect an improvement of governmental perception of forest branch as an important sector of the national economy within next decadesЦелью настоящей работы является анализ государственной лесной политики России. Мы рассмотрели историю институциональной среды российского лесного комплекса с XII века по настоящее время и установили, что отрасль испытывала существенные трудности, связанные с невысоким качеством государственного управления в течение всей истории своего развития. Затем была дана характеристика современному лесному законодательству России, основанному на Лесном кодексе, а также проанализированы результаты реформ комплекса, предпринятых Правительством в 2000-х гг. Последний параграф настоящей статьи посвящен роли Киотского процесса в долгосрочном развитии российского лесного комплекса. Можно ожидать, что в течение ближайших десятилетий лесная отрасль сможет стать важным сектором национальной экономики, что улучшит ее восприятие представителями органов власти и, в конечном итоге, повысит качество государственной лесной политик

Constraints on regional drivers of relative sea-level change around Cordova, Alaska

New records of paleoenvironmental change from two lakes near Cordova, south central Alaska, combined with analysis of previously reported sediment sequences from the adjacent Copper River Delta, provide quantitative constraints on a range of Earth system processes through their expression in relative sea-level change. Basal sediment ages from Upper Whitshed Lake indicate ice-free conditions by at least 14,140 – 15,040 cal yr BP. While Upper and Lower Whitshed Lakes provide only upper limits to relative sea-level change, interbedded layers of freshwater peat and intertidal silt extending more than 11 m below present sea level in Copper River Delta indicate net submergence over the last 6000 years and multiple earthquake deformation cycles. In contrast, Lower Whitshed Lake, situated just above present high tide level, records only one episode of marine sedimentation, commencing AD 1120 – 1500, that we interpret as the result of isostatic subsidence due to Little Ice Age mass accumulation of the Chugach Mountain glaciers. Lower Whitshed Lake also records isostatic uplift at the end of the Little Ice Age before the end of marine sedimentation caused by ~1.5 m coseismic uplift in the great Alaska earthquake of AD 1964. We successfully explain the records of relative sea-level change from both Copper River Delta and the Whitshed Lakes by integrating the effects of eustatic sea-level rise, glacial isostasy, earthquake deformation cycles, sediment loading, sediment compaction and late Holocene changes in glacier mass into a single model. This approach provides initial quantitative constraints on the individual contributions of these processes. Taking reasonable estimates of eustasy, post-Last Glacial Maximum and Neoglacial glacial isostatic adjustment and a simple earthquake deformation cycle, we demonstrate that sediment loading and sediment compaction are both contributors to relative sea-level rise at Copper River Delta, together producing subsidence averaging approximately 1.2 mm yr-1 over the mid to late Holocene. Further isolation basin studies have the potential to greatly improve our understanding of the individual contributions of these processes in this highly dynamic region

Multi-Qubit Systems: Highly Entangled States and Entanglement Distribution

A comparison is made of various searching procedures, based upon different entanglement measures or entanglement indicators, for highly entangled multi-qubits states. In particular, our present results are compared with those recently reported by Brown et al. [J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 38 (2005) 1119]. The statistical distribution of entanglement values for the aforementioned multi-qubit systems is also explored.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure

An essential role of acetylcholine-glutamate synergy at habenular synapses in nicotine dependence

A great deal of interest has been focused recently on the habenula and its critical role in aversion, negative-reward and drug dependence. Using a conditional mouse model of the ACh-synthesizing enzyme choline acetyltransferase (Chat), we report that local elimination of acetylcholine (ACh) in medial habenula (MHb) neurons alters glutamate corelease and presynaptic facilitation. Electron microscopy and immuno-isolation analyses revealed colocalization of ACh and glutamate vesicular transporters in synaptic vesicles (SVs) in the central IPN. Glutamate reuptake in SVs prepared from the IPN was increased by ACh, indicating vesicular synergy. Mice lacking CHAT in habenular neurons were insensitive to nicotine-conditioned reward and withdrawal. These data demonstrate that ACh controls the quantal size and release frequency of glutamate at habenular synapses, and suggest that the synergistic functions of ACh and glutamate may be generally important for modulation of cholinergic circuit function and behavior

Устойчивое развитие Красноярского края: новые оценки

In this paper we introduce the updated estimates of Genuine Savings and Green GRP and give an overview of complex estimation of sustainable development level of Krasnoyarsk Krai. For indicators specifying environmental damage we considered depletion of natural resources and the damage caused by emission of pollutants into the environment. Dynamics of both indicators has been found negative: the tendency of Krasnoyarsk Krai development is still unsustainable. This trend is kept since the mid of 2000s, when the previous estimation of the Genuine Savings and Green GRP was made. The above-stated results correspond to the estimation of Genuine Progress Indicator in 2005–2011 accurate within the accounting of social sphere indicators of sustainable development. The publication was prepared within the framework of the project no. 14-12-24003 sup-ported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities and Krasnoyarsk Krai Foundation for Support of Scientific and Technical ActivityВ статье даются новые оценки индикаторов Истинные сбережения и «Зеленый» ВРП для Красноярского края в 2013 году. Рассмотрены все основные виды природных ресурсов, подвергающихся промышленному освоению на территории региона, а также ключевые разновидности парниковых газов, выбрасываемых в атмосферу. Результаты расчетов подтвердили сохранение антиустойчивых тенденций развития Красноярского края, которые наблюдались начиная с прошлого исследования в 2000-х гг. Динамика Истинных сбережений в целом совпадает с динамикой Истинного показателя прогресса с точностью до включения в рассмотрение социальных факторо

Experimental demonstration of Luneburg waveguides

Transformation optics gives rise to numerous unusual optical devices, such as novel metamaterial lenses and invisibility cloaks. Very recently Mattheakis et al. have suggested theoretical design of an optical waveguide based on a network of Luneburg lenses, which may be useful in sensing and nonlinear optics applications. Here we report the first experimental realization of such Luneburg waveguides. We have studied wavelength and polarization dependent performance of the waveguides.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1208.317

The response of four calcium hydroxides on monkey pulps

. Dentinal bridge formation and pulpal responses of four calcium hydroxide materials, pulp capping medicaments, MFC®, Experimental MFC-12, Dycal® and Pulpdent®, were evaluated in primary and permanent monkey teeth. A total of 60 primary and 60 permanent teeth were used with each material placed in a Class V cavity exposure in Rhesus monkey teeth. The materials were placed on the exposed pulp tissue and were histologically evaluated at 3 days, 5 weeks and 8 weeks. After perfusion the teeth were processed using routine histological procedures. The 3-day pulpal responses in both primary and permanent teeth were moderate, characterized by disruption of the pulpal tissue directly beneath the exposure site and a zone of acute inflammation and hemorrhage in the underlying pulp. The 5-week response showed histological differences between the four medicaments, with Dycal producing the least amount of pulpal irritation with reparative dentin bridges occurring in 50% of the permanent teeth. Experimental MFC-12 stimulated one reparative dentin bridge, while Pulpdent and MFC showed no evidence of bridge formation. Pulpal responses to Dycal were moderate and moderate to severe for the other calcium hydroxide compounds. No reparative dentin bridges were seen in the primary teeth at 5 weeks with any of the materials, and the pulpal responses were of a moderate degree at that time. Eight-week responses were similar to the 5-week responses. Dycal provoked a slight to moderate pulpal response with 50% success at bridging. Experimental MFC-12 initiated pulpal responses in the moderate to severe range with some bridging evident. Pulpdent incited moderate to severe histological responses with three teeth demonstrating bridge formation, and MFC provoked severe pulpal responses with no bridging. Primary teeth showed some bridging for all compounds except those treated with MFC, in which no evidence of bridging occurred, and moderate to severe pulpal responses were present.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72823/1/j.1600-0714.1980.tb00393.x.pd

Miniature radiocarbon measurements (< 150 μg C) from sediments of Lake Żabińskie, Poland: effect of precision and dating density on age-depth models

The recent development of the MIni CArbon DAting System (MICADAS) allows researchers to obtain radiocarbon (14C) ages from a variety of samples with miniature amounts of carbon (<150 µg C) by using a gas ion source input that bypasses the graphitization step used for conventional 14C dating with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The ability to measure smaller samples, at reduced cost compared with graphitized samples, allows for greater dating density of sediments with low macrofossil concentrations. In this study, we use a section of varved sediments from Lake Żabińskie, NE Poland, as a case study to assess the usefulness of miniature samples from terrestrial plant macrofossils for dating lake sediments. Radiocarbon samples analyzed using gas-source techniques were measured from the same depths as larger graphitized samples to compare the reliability and precision of the two techniques directly. We find that the analytical precision of gas-source measurements decreases as sample mass decreases but is comparable with graphitized samples of a similar size (approximately 150 µg C). For samples larger than 40 µg C and younger than 6000 BP, the uncalibrated 1σ age uncertainty is consistently less than 150 years (±0.010 F14C). The reliability of 14C ages from both techniques is assessed via comparison with a best-age estimate for the sediment sequence, which is the result of an OxCal V sequence that integrates varve counts with 14C ages. No bias is evident in the ages produced by either gas-source input or graphitization. None of the 14C ages in our dataset are clear outliers; the 95 % confidence intervals of all 48 calibrated 14C ages overlap with the median best-age estimate. The effects of sample mass (which defines the expected analytical age uncertainty) and dating density on age–depth models are evaluated via simulated sets of 14C ages that are used as inputs for OxCal P-sequence age–depth models. Nine different sampling scenarios were simulated in which the mass of 14C samples and the number of samples were manipulated. The simulated age–depth models suggest that the lower analytical precision associated with miniature samples can be compensated for by increased dating density. The data presented in this paper can improve sampling strategies and can inform expectations of age uncertainty from miniature radiocarbon samples as well as age–depth model outcomes for lacustrine sediments