107 results match your criteria: "Institute of Geoecology[Affiliation]"

Aggregation of TiO and Ag nanoparticles in soil solution - Effects of primary nanoparticle size and dissolved organic matter characteristics.

Sci Total Environ

October 2019

Berlin University of Technology, Institute of Ecology, Department of Soil Science, Ernst-Reuter Platz 1, 10587 Berlin, Germany; German Environment Agency, Section Drinking Water Treatment and Resource Protection, Schichauweg 58, 12307 Berlin, Germany; Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Chair of Soil Ecology, Bertoldstraße 17, 79098 Freiburg i. Br., Germany.

The colloidal stability of nanoparticles NP in soil solution is important to assess their potential effects on ecosystems. The aim of this work was to elucidate the interactions between initial particle size d, particle number concentration (N) as well as the characteristics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) for stabilizing Ag NP and TiO NP. In batch experiments using time-resolved dynamic light scattering (DLS), we investigated the aggregation of TiO NP (79 nm, 164 nm) and citrate-stabilised Ag NP (73 nm, 180 nm) in Ca solution (2 mM) and two soil solutions, one extracted from a farmland and one from a floodplain soil (each containing 2 mM Ca).

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Aim: Plant functional groups are widely used in community ecology and earth system modelling to describe trait variation within and across plant communities. However, this approach rests on the assumption that functional groups explain a large proportion of trait variation among species. We test whether four commonly used plant functional groups represent variation in six ecologically important plant traits.

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Meta-communities of habitat islands may be essential to maintain biodiversity in anthropogenic landscapes allowing rescue effects in local habitat patches. To understand the species-assembly mechanisms and dynamics of such ecosystems, it is important to test how local plant-community diversity and composition is affected by spatial isolation and hence by dispersal limitation and local environmental conditions acting as filters for local species sorting.We used a system of 46 small wetlands (kettle holes)-natural small-scale freshwater habitats rarely considered in nature conservation policies-embedded in an intensively managed agricultural matrix in northern Germany.

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Airborne Alternaria and Cladosporium fungal spores in Europe: Forecasting possibilities and relationships with meteorological parameters.

Sci Total Environ

February 2019

Department of Ecology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki GR-54124, Greece; Chair and Institute of Environmental Medicine, UNIKA-T, Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neusaesser Str. 47, DE-86156 Augsburg, Germany. Electronic address:

Airborne fungal spores are prevalent components of bioaerosols with a large impact on ecology, economy and health. Their major socioeconomic effects could be reduced by accurate and timely prediction of airborne spore concentrations. The main aim of this study was to create and evaluate models of Alternaria and Cladosporium spore concentrations based on data on a continental scale.

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Temperature sensitivity of willow dwarf shrub growth from two distinct High Arctic sites.

Int J Biometeorol

February 2019

Center for Permafrost (CENPERM), Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark.

The High Arctic region has experienced marked climate fluctuations within the past decades strongly affecting tundra shrub growth. However, the spatial variability in dwarf shrub growth responses in this remote region remains largely unknown. This study characterizes temperature sensitivity of radial growth of two willow dwarf shrub species from two distinct High Arctic sites.

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Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) methods are the most commonly used spectroscopic techniques for differentiation of fungi species, however reflectance spectroscopy as a non-invasive technique can also be used. The aim of the study was to develop a method to rapidly differentiate fungi by means of reflectance spectroscopy using visible-infrared spectrum. Spectral measurements were conducted on six entomopathogenic fungi: Beauveria bassiana, Isaria fumosorosea, I.

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The tundra is warming more rapidly than any other biome on Earth, and the potential ramifications are far-reaching because of global feedback effects between vegetation and climate. A better understanding of how environmental factors shape plant structure and function is crucial for predicting the consequences of environmental change for ecosystem functioning. Here we explore the biome-wide relationships between temperature, moisture and seven key plant functional traits both across space and over three decades of warming at 117 tundra locations.

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Wild rodents are important hosts for tick larvae but co-infestations with other mites and insects are largely neglected. Small rodents were trapped at four study sites in Berlin, Germany, to quantify their ectoparasite diversity. Host-specific, spatial and temporal occurrence of ectoparasites was determined to assess their influence on direct and indirect zoonotic risk due to mice and voles in an urban agglomeration.

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Novel model coupling approach for resilience analysis of coastal plant communities.

Ecol Appl

September 2018

Landscape Ecology and Environmental Systems Analysis, Institute of Geoecology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Langer Kamp 19c, D-38106, Braunschweig, Germany.

Resilience is a major research focus covering a wide range of topics from biodiversity conservation to ecosystem (service) management. Model simulations can assess the resilience of, for example, plant species, measured as the return time to conditions prior to a disturbance. This requires process-based models (PBM) that implement relevant processes such as regeneration and reproduction and thus successfully reproduce transient dynamics after disturbances.

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Background: The quantification and spatially explicit mapping of carbon stocks in terrestrial ecosystems is important to better understand the global carbon cycle and to monitor and report change processes, especially in the context of international policy mechanisms such as REDD+ or the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Especially in heterogeneous ecosystems, such as Savannas, accurate carbon quantifications are still lacking, where highly variable vegetation densities occur and a strong seasonality hinders consistent data acquisition. In order to account for these challenges we analyzed the potential of land surface phenological metrics derived from gap-filled 8-day Landsat time series for carbon mapping.

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Origin and fate of nanoparticles in marine water - Preliminary results.

Chemosphere

September 2018

Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Department of Solid State Physics, ul. Narutowicza 11/12 80-233 Gdansk, Poland. Electronic address:

The number, morphology and elemental composition of nanoparticles (<100 nm) in marine water was investigated using Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscopy (VP-SEM) and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Preliminary research conducted in the Baltic Sea showed that the number of nanoparticles in seawater varied from undetectable to 380 (x10) cm. Wind mixing and density barriers (thermocline) had a significant impact on the abundance and distribution of nanoparticles in water.

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One of the most striking features of modern chemosynthesis-based ecosystems surrounding methane seeps is the presence of abundant chemosymbiotic bivalves. However, such accumulations have rarely been reported from Palaeozoic to mid-Mesozoic seeps, and it is widely thought that general trends in the evolution of chemosynthetic communities paralleled those typifying most marine environments, with the bivalve prevalence starting in the Mesozoic and with Palaeozoic seeps being dominated by brachiopods. Here, we report a discovery of bivalve clusters in the oldest-known methane seep that hosted metazoan fauna, dated to the late Silurian.

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The protection of sandy shores - Can we afford to ignore the contribution of seagrass?

Mar Pollut Bull

September 2018

Landscape Ecology and Environmental Systems Analysis, Institute of Geoecology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Langer Kamp 19c, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany. Electronic address:

Shore nourishment is considered an effective soft coastal protection measure for sandy shorelines. However, sand demand and costs are high, especially as nourishment has to be repeated regularly due to ongoing erosion. Seagrass meadows are able to trap and stabilise sediment by reducing bed shear stress.

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Accumulation of soil organic carbon (SOC) may play a key role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. In particular, subsoil provides a great potential for additional SOC storage due to the assumed higher stability of subsoil SOC. The fastest way in which SOC reaches the subsoil is via burial, e.

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Extensive green roof CO exchange and its seasonal variation quantified by eddy covariance measurements.

Sci Total Environ

December 2017

Climatology and Environmental Meteorology, Institute of Geoecology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Langer Kamp 19c, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany.

The CO surface-atmosphere exchange of an unirrigated, extensive green roof in Berlin, Germany was measured by means of the eddy covariance method over a full annual cycle. The present analysis focusses on the cumulative green roof net ecosystem exchange of CO (NEE), on its seasonal variation and on green roof physiological characteristics by applying a canopy (A-g) model. The green roof was a carbon sink with an annual cumulative NEE of -313gCOmyear, equivalent to -85gCmyear.

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High Arctic summer warming tracked by increased Cassiope tetragona growth in the world's northernmost polar desert.

Glob Chang Biol

November 2017

Center for Permafrost (CENPERM), Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Rapid climate warming has resulted in shrub expansion, mainly of erect deciduous shrubs in the Low Arctic, but the more extreme, sparsely vegetated, cold and dry High Arctic is generally considered to remain resistant to such shrub expansion in the next decades. Dwarf shrub dendrochronology may reveal climatological causes of past changes in growth, but is hindered at many High Arctic sites by short and fragmented instrumental climate records. Moreover, only few High Arctic shrub chronologies cover the recent decade of substantial warming.

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Influence of meteorological parameters during the preceding fall and winter on the questing activity of nymphal Ixodes ricinus ticks.

Int J Biometeorol

October 2017

Landscape Ecology & Environmental Systems Analysis, Institute of Geoecology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Langer Kamp 19c, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany.

Article Synopsis
  • Wood ticks (Ixodes ricinus) are common in Central Europe and are known to spread various pathogens; their survival is influenced by environmental factors like humidity, temperature, and snow depth.
  • The study analyzed tick questing activity in relation to meteorological data collected hourly over six years in Berlin, finding significant annual variations in tick activity.
  • Key findings indicated that lower humidity and extreme cold temperatures during the winter months impacted the number of active ticks in spring, while snow cover played a protective role against harsh weather conditions.
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Mechanisms behind expansion of an invasive cyanobacterium Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii have not been fully resolved, and different hypotheses, such as global warming, are suggested. In the East-Central Europe, it is widely occurring in western part of Poland but only in single locations in the East due to some limiting factors. Therefore, broad-scale phytoplankton survey including 117 randomly selected lakes in Poland and Lithuania was conducted.

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In this commentary, we respond to a report of the EFSA GMO Panel (EFSA EFSA Supp Publ, 1) that criticises the outcomes of two studies published in this journal (Hofmann et al. Environ Sci Eur 26: 24, 2; Environ Sci Eur 28: 14, 3). Both publications relate to the environmental risk assessment and management of Bt-maize, including maize events MON810, Bt11 and maize 1507.

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A new urease-inhibiting formulation decreases ammonia volatilization and improves maize nitrogen utilization in North China Plain.

Sci Rep

March 2017

College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Center for Resources, Environment and Food Security, Key Lab of Plant-Soil Interaction of MOE, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.

Overuse of urea, low nitrogen (N) utilization, and large N losses are common in maize production in North China Plain (NCP). To solve these problems, we conducted two field experiments at Shangzhuang and Quzhou in NCP to test the ability of a newly developed urease inhibitor product Limus to decrease NH volatilization from urea applied to maize. Grain yield, apparent N recovery efficiency (RE) and N balance when using urea applied with or without Limus were also measured over two maize growing seasons.

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The extensive spatial and temporal coverage of many citizen science datasets (CSD) makes them appealing for use in species distribution modeling and forecasting. However, a frequent limitation is the inability to validate results. Here, we aim to assess the reliability of CSD for forecasting species occurrence in response to national forest management projections (representing 160,366 km) by comparison against forecasts from a model based on systematically collected colonization-extinction data.

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Surface energy balance of an extensive green roof as quantified by full year eddy-covariance measurements.

Sci Total Environ

January 2017

Climatology and Environmental Meteorology, Institute of Geoecology, TU Braunschweig, Langer Kamp 19c, Braunschweig, Germany.

Green roofs are discussed as a promising type of green infrastructure to lower heat stress in cities. In order to enhance evaporative cooling, green roofs should ideally have similar Bowen ratio (β=sensible heat flux/latent heat flux) characteristics such as rural sites, especially during summer periods with high air temperatures. We use the eddy-covariance (EC) method to quantify the energy balance of an 8600m extensive, non-irrigated green roof at the Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Germany over a full annual cycle.

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Objectives: The aim of this study was to map the current spatial distribution of Anopheles plumbeus in Germany, a potential vector of malaria parasites and West Nile virus. Reports of mass occurrence and nuisance connected with artificial breeding site usage by this species were analysed.

Methods: Distribution data were collected from 2011 to 2014 mainly through trapping and submissions of adult mosquito specimens to a citizen science project.

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Background: Risk assessment for GMOs such as maize requires detailed data concerning pollen deposition onto non-target host-plant leaves. A field study of pollen on lepidopteran host-plant leaves was therefore undertaken in 2009-2012 in Germany. During the maize flowering period, we used in situ microscopy at a spatial resolution adequate to monitor the feeding behaviour of butterfly larvae.

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