Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations in the leaves and 1-year-old branches of three common tree species growing in a middle-sized city located in a moderate climate zone were estimated. For this purpose, PAH phytoaccumulation in Platanus × acerifolia, Celtis australis, and Tilia grandifolia species from highly urbanized, traffic congested, and highly PAH-contaminated streets was compared with trees from non-contaminated parks in the same urban core. The gathered data was used to define 17 PAH profiles, identify the main PAH pollution emission sources, and determine the organ and species specificity of PAHs accumulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAssociations of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) radial growth with satellite-based soil moisture (SM) during the intensive tree growth period over a 30-year time span (1980-2010) were analyzed. This study included tree-ring width (TRW) chronologies from 22 stands located in four southeastern (SE) European countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria), which were grouped into three wetness groups (WGs): dry (<650 mm), moderate (650-750 mm), and wet (>750 mm), following the annual sum of precipitation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTree mortality is a key driver of forest dynamics and its occurrence is projected to increase in the future due to climate change. Despite recent advances in our understanding of the physiological mechanisms leading to death, we still lack robust indicators of mortality risk that could be applied at the individual tree scale. Here, we build on a previous contribution exploring the differences in growth level between trees that died and survived a given mortality event to assess whether changes in temporal autocorrelation, variance, and synchrony in time-series of annual radial growth data can be used as early warning signals of mortality risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTree mortality is a key factor influencing forest functions and dynamics, but our understanding of the mechanisms leading to mortality and the associated changes in tree growth rates are still limited. We compiled a new pan-continental tree-ring width database from sites where both dead and living trees were sampled (2970 dead and 4224 living trees from 190 sites, including 36 species), and compared early and recent growth rates between trees that died and those that survived a given mortality event. We observed a decrease in radial growth before death in ca.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSrp Arh Celok Lek
December 2015
Introduction: Chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) has a variety of clinical presentations, with numerous neurological symptoms and signs. Hemiparesis is one of the leading signs that potentially indicates CSDH.
Objective: Purpose of this study was to determine the threshold (cut-off) value of midsagittal line (MSL) shift after which hemiparesis is likely to appear.
The retrospective study (2002-2007) for human leptospirosis in Vojvodina was undertaken in order to describe the distribution of the disease in relation with some environmental factors. Regarding the presented results, the major detected number of leptospirosis cases concurs with stagnant waters, wetlands, fish pond areas and protected regions, which comprised the basis for mapping of the region in three risk zones: very high risk (incidence rate higher than 5.0), high risk (2.
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