No Future Growth Enhancement Expected at the Northern Edge for European Beech due to Continued Water Limitation.

With ongoing global warming, increasing water deficits promote physiological stress on forest ecosystems with negative impacts on tree growth, vitality, and survival. How individual tree species will react to increased drought stress is therefore a key research question to address for carbon accounting and the development of climate change mitigation strategies. Recent tree-ring studies have shown that trees at higher latitudes will benefit from warmer temperatures, yet this is likely highly species-dependent and less well-known for more temperate tree species.

Winter and spring frost events delay leaf-out, hamper growth and increase mortality in European beech seedlings, with weaker effects of subsequent frosts.

The persistence of plant populations depends crucially on successful regeneration. Yet, little is known about the effects of consecutive winter and spring frost events on the regeneration stage of trees from different seed sources, although this will partly determine the success of climate warming-driven poleward range shifts. In a common garden experiment with European beech () seedlings from winter 2015/2016 to autumn 2017, we studied how simulated successive spring and winter frost events affect leaf-out dates, growth performance, and survival rates of 1- to 2-year-old seedlings from provenances differing in climate at origin.

A warmer climate impairs the growth performance of Central Europe's major timber species in lowland regions.

Recent hot droughts have caused tree vitality decline and increased mortality in many forest regions on earth. Most of Central Europe's important timber species have suffered from the extreme 2018/2019 hot drought, confronting foresters with difficult questions about the choice of more drought- and heat-resistant tree species. We compared the growth dynamics of European beech, sessile oak, Scots pine and Douglas fir in a warmer and a cooler lowland region of Germany to explore the adaptive potential of the four species to climate warming (24 forest stands).

A genome-wide genetic association study reveals SNPs significantly associated with environmental variables and specific leaf area in European beech.

European beech is negatively affected by climate change and a further growth decline is predicted for large parts of its distribution range. Despite the importance of this species, little is known about its genetic adaptation and especially the genetic basis of its physiological traits. Here, we used genotyping by sequencing to identify SNPs in 43 German European beech populations growing under different environmental conditions.

Warming nondormant tree roots advances aboveground spring phenology in temperate trees.

Climate warming advances the onset of tree growth in spring, but above- and belowground phenology are not always synchronized. These differences in growth responses may result from differences in root and bud dormancy dynamics, but root dormancy is largely unexplored. We measured dormancy in roots and leaf buds of Fagus sylvatica and Populus nigra by quantifying the warming sum required to initiate above- and belowground growth in October, January and February.

Mobile-BAT-A Novel Ultra-Low Power Wildlife Tracking System.

We introduce a novel ultra-low power system for tracking animal movements over long periods with an unprecedented high-temporal-resolution. The localization principle is based on the detection of cellular base stations using a miniaturized software-defined radio, weighing 2.0 g, including the battery, and having a size equivalent to two stacked 1-euro cent coins.

ForestClim-Bioclimatic variables for microclimate temperatures of European forests.

Microclimate research gained renewed interest over the last decade and its importance for many ecological processes is increasingly being recognized. Consequently, the call for high-resolution microclimatic temperature grids across broad spatial extents is becoming more pressing to improve ecological models. Here, we provide a new set of open-access bioclimatic variables for microclimate temperatures of European forests at 25 × 25 m resolution.

Warmer winters result in reshaping of the European beech forest soil microbiome (bacteria, archaea and fungi)-With potential implications for ecosystem functioning.

In temperate regions, climate warming alters temperature and precipitation regimes. During winter, a decline in insulating snow cover changes the soil environment, where especially frost exposure can have severe implications for soil microorganisms and subsequently for soil nutrient dynamics. Here, we investigated winter climate change responses in European beech forests soil microbiome.

Summer drought exposure, stand structure, and soil properties jointly control the growth of European beech along a steep precipitation gradient in northern Germany.

Increasing exposure to climate warming-related drought and heat threatens forest vitality in many regions on earth, with the trees' vulnerability likely depending on local climatic aridity, recent climate trends, edaphic conditions, and the drought acclimatization and adaptation of populations. Studies exploring tree species' vulnerability to climate change often have a local focus or model the species' entire distribution range, which hampers the separation of climatic and edaphic drivers of drought and heat vulnerability. We compared recent radial growth trends and the sensitivity of growth to drought and heat in central populations of a widespread and naturally dominant tree species in Europe, European beech (Fagus sylvatica), at 30 forest sites across a steep precipitation gradient (500-850 mm year ) of short length to assess the species' adaptive potential.

Jet stream position explains regional anomalies in European beech forest productivity and tree growth.

The mechanistic pathways connecting ocean-atmosphere variability and terrestrial productivity are well-established theoretically, but remain challenging to quantify empirically. Such quantification will greatly improve the assessment and prediction of changes in terrestrial carbon sequestration in response to dynamically induced climatic extremes. The jet stream latitude (JSL) over the North Atlantic-European domain provides a synthetic and robust physical framework that integrates climate variability not accounted for by atmospheric circulation patterns alone.

ForestTemp - Sub-canopy microclimate temperatures of European forests.

Ecological research heavily relies on coarse-gridded climate data based on standardized temperature measurements recorded at 2 m height in open landscapes. However, many organisms experience environmental conditions that differ substantially from those captured by these macroclimatic (i.e.

Miniaturized Hybrid Frequency Reader for Contactless Measurement Scenarios Using Resonant Surface Acoustic Wave Sensors.

Due to higher automation and predictive maintenance, it becomes more and more important to acquire as many data as possible during industrial processes. However, many scenarios require remote sensing since either moving parts would result in wear and tear of cables or harsh environments prevent a wired connection. In the last few years, resonant surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors have promised the possibility to be interrogable wirelessly which showed very good results in first studies.

Contactless analysis of heart rate variability during cold pressor test using radar interferometry and bidirectional LSTM networks.

Contactless measurement of heart rate variability (HRV), which reflects changes of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and provides crucial information on the health status of a person, would provide great benefits for both patients and doctors during prevention and aftercare. However, gold standard devices to record the HRV, such as the electrocardiograph, have the common disadvantage that they need permanent skin contact with the patient. Being connected to a monitoring device by cable reduces the mobility, comfort, and compliance by patients.

Continuous In-Bed Monitoring of Vital Signs Using a Multi Radar Setup for Freely Moving Patients.

In hospitals, continuous monitoring of vital parameters can provide valuable information about the course of a patient's illness and allows early warning of emergencies. To enable such monitoring without restricting the patient's freedom of movement and comfort, a radar system is attached under the mattress which consists of four individual radar modules to cover the entire width of the bed. Using radar, heartbeat and respiration can be measured without contact and through clothing.

A dataset of clinically recorded radar vital signs with synchronised reference sensor signals.

Using Radar it is possible to measure vital signs through clothing or a mattress from the distance. This allows for a very comfortable way of continuous monitoring in hospitals or home environments. The dataset presented in this article consists of 24 h of synchronised data from a radar and a reference device.

Electrothermal Modeling of Surface Acoustic Wave Resonators and Filters.

In this article, an electrothermal modeling approach of surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators and filters is presented. The starting point for the model is a preliminary design that has to be assessed for thermal aspects. Due to the high geometrical complexity of SAW components, simplifications are elaborated and qualified on resonator and filter levels to prepare the design for thermal simulation.

Species-specific effects of thermal stress on the expression of genetic variation across a diverse group of plant and animal taxa under experimental conditions.

Assessing the genetic adaptive potential of populations and species is essential for better understanding evolutionary processes. However, the expression of genetic variation may depend on environmental conditions, which may speed up or slow down evolutionary responses. Thus, the same selection pressure may lead to different responses.

SoilTemp: A global database of near-surface temperature.

Current analyses and predictions of spatially explicit patterns and processes in ecology most often rely on climate data interpolated from standardized weather stations. This interpolated climate data represents long-term average thermal conditions at coarse spatial resolutions only. Hence, many climate-forcing factors that operate at fine spatiotemporal resolutions are overlooked.

Thinking small: Next-generation sensor networks close the size gap in vertebrate biologging.

Recent advances in animal tracking technology have ushered in a new era in biologging. However, the considerable size of many sophisticated biologging devices restricts their application to larger animals, whereas older techniques often still represent the state-of-the-art for studying small vertebrates. In industrial applications, low-power wireless sensor networks (WSNs) fulfill requirements similar to those needed to monitor animal behavior at high resolution and at low tag mass.

A dataset of radar-recorded heart sounds and vital signs including synchronised reference sensor signals.

Radar systems allow for contactless measurements of vital signs such as heart sounds, the pulse signal, and respiration. This approach is able to tackle crucial disadvantages of state-of-the-art monitoring devices such as the need for permanent wiring and skin contact. Potential applications include the employment in a hospital environment but also in home care or passenger vehicles.

Segmentation of Radar-Recorded Heart Sound Signals Using Bidirectional LSTM Networks.

Sounds caused by the action of the heart reflect both its health as well as deficiencies and are examined by physicians since antiquity. Pathologies of the valves, e.g.

Respiration Extraction from Radar Heart Sound Measurements.

Radar-based respiration measurement is susceptible to upper body movement in addition to the respiratory motion of the chest. This parasitic movement can only be canceled using a dual radar system from the front and back. However, the larger hardware effort could be avoided if a physiological parameter is measured that is influenced by respiration only but not by the movement.