Geographic Separation of Domestic and Wild Strains of Toxoplasma gondii in French Guiana Correlates with a Monomorphic Version of Chromosome1a

PubMed Central

Khan, Asis; Ajzenberg, Daniel; Mercier, Aurélien; Demar, Magalie; Simon, Stéphane; Dardé, Marie Laure; Wang, Qiuling; Verma, Shiv Kumar; Rosenthal, Benjamin M.; Dubey, Jitender P.; Sibley, L. David

2014-01-01

Background Previous studies have stressed the genetic divergence and high pathogenicity of strains of T. gondii from French Guiana. Although strains from coastal, human adapted environments (so called anthropized) resemble those found in other regions of the Caribbean, strains collected from inland jungle environment are genetically quite diverse. To better understand the composition of these distinct strain types, we undertook a more in depth analysis of T. gondii strains from French Guiana including profiling of chromosome 1a (Chr1a), which is often shared as a single monomorphic haplotype among lineages that are otherwise genetically distinct. Methodology/Principal Findings Comparison of intron sequences from selectively neutral genes indicated that anthropized strains were most closely related to clonal type III strains from North America, although wider RFLP analysis revealed that they are natural hybrids. In contrast, strains isolated from the jungle were genetically very diverse. Remarkably, nearly all anthropized strains contained the monomorphic version of Chr1a while wild stains were extremely divergent. The presence of the monomorphic Chr1a strongly correlated with greater transmission in domestic cats, although there were several exceptions, indicating that other factors also contribute. Anthropized strains also varied in their virulence in laboratory mice, and this pattern could not be explained by the simple combination of previously identified virulence factors, indicating that other genetic determinants influence pathogenicity. Conclusions/Significance Our studies underscore the marked genetic separation of anthropized and wild strains of T. gondii in French Guiana and provide additional evidence that the presence of Chr1a is associated with successful expansion of widely different lineages within diverse geographic areas. The predominance of Chr1a among strains in the anthropized environment suggests that it may confer an advantage for transmission in this environment, and thus potentially contribute to the spread of pathogenecity determinants. PMID:25233228

The role of anthropic, ecological, and social factors in sleeping site choice by long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis).

PubMed

Brotcorne, Fany; Maslarov, Cindy; Wandia, I Nengah; Fuentes, Agustin; Beudels-Jamar, Roseline C; Huynen, Marie-Claude

2014-12-01

When choosing their sleeping sites, primates make adaptive trade-offs between various biotic and abiotic constraints. In human-modified environments, anthropic factors may play a role. We assessed the influence of ecological (predation), social (intergroup competition), and anthropic (proximity to human settlements) factors in sleeping site choice by long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) occupying a habitat at the interface of natural forests and human-modified zones in Bali Barat National Park, Indonesia. Over the course of 56 nights, we collected data relating to physical features of sleeping trees, patterns of the use of sleeping sites within the home range, pre-sleep behavior, diurnal ranging patterns and availability of natural and human food. Overall, the macaques used 17 sleeping sites with 37 sleeping trees. When the monkeys slept in forest zones, they selected sleeping trees that had larger trunks but were not significantly taller than surrounding trees. Though the macaques rarely re-used sleeping sites on consecutive nights, they frequently re-used four sites over the study period. The group favored sleeping within the core area of its home range, despite the occurrence of frequent agonistic intergroup encounters there. Macaques preferentially selected sleeping trees located within or near human-modified zones, especially when human food was abundant and natural food was scarce. These results partially support the hypothesis that long-tailed macaques choose their sleeping sites to avoid predation; proximity to human settlements appears to be the primary factor influencing sleeping site choice in this primate species. Our results reflect the strong influence that anthropic factors have on primates, which subsist in increasingly human-dominated landscapes. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

On anthropic solutions of the cosmological constant problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banks, Tom; Dine, Michael; Motl, Lubos

2001-01-01

Motivated by recent work of Bousso and Polchinski (BP), we study theories which explain the small value of the cosmological constant using the anthropic principle. We argue that simultaneous solution of the gauge hierarchy problem is a strong constraint on any such theory. We exhibit three classes of models which satisfy these constraints. The first is a version of the BP model with precisely two large dimensions. The second involves 6-branes and antibranes wrapped on supersymmetric 3-cycles of Calabi-Yau manifolds, and the third is a version of the irrational axion model. All of them have possible problems in explaining the size of microwave background fluctuations. We also find that most models of this type predict that all constants in the low energy lagrangian, as well as the gauge groups and representation content, are chosen from an ensemble and cannot be uniquely determined from the fundamental theory. In our opinion, this significantly reduces the appeal of this kind of solution of the cosmological constant problem. On the other hand, we argue that the vacuum selection problem of string theory might plausibly have an anthropic, cosmological solution.

Axions, inflation and the anthropic principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mack, Katherine J.

2011-07-01

The QCD axion is the leading solution to the strong-CP problem, a dark matter candidate, and a possible result of string theory compactifications. However, for axions produced before inflation, symmetry-breaking scales of fagtrsim1012 GeV (which are favored in string-theoretic axion models) are ruled out by cosmological constraints unless both the axion misalignment angle θ0 and the inflationary Hubble scale HI are extremely fine-tuned. We show that attempting to accommodate a high-fa axion in inflationary cosmology leads to a fine-tuning problem that is worse than the strong-CP problem the axion was originally invented to solve. We also show that this problem remains unresolved by anthropic selection arguments commonly applied to the high-fa axion scenario.

Human impact on genetic diversity of Toxoplasma gondii: example of the anthropized environment from French Guiana.

PubMed

Mercier, A; Ajzenberg, D; Devillard, S; Demar, M P; de Thoisy, B; Bonnabau, H; Collinet, F; Boukhari, R; Blanchet, D; Simon, S; Carme, B; Dardé, M-L

2011-08-01

In French Guiana, severe cases of toxoplasmosis in immunocompetent patients are associated with atypical strains of Toxoplasma gondii linked to a wild neotropical rainforest cycle and a higher genetic diversity than usually observed for T. gondii isolates from anthropized environment. This raises the question of the impact of anthropization of the natural environment, on genetic diversity and on the population structure of T. gondii. However, few data are available on strains circulating in the anthropized areas from French Guiana. Seropositive animals originating mainly from anthropized sub-urban areas and punctually from wild environment in French Guiana were analyzed for T. gondii isolation and genotyping. Thirty-three strains were obtained by bioassay in mice and compared with 18 previously reported isolates chiefly originating from the Amazon rainforest. The genotyping analysis performed with 15 microsatellite markers located on 12 different chromosomes revealed a lower genetic diversity in the anthropized environment. Results were analyzed in terms of population structure by clustering methods, Neighbor-joining trees reconstruction based on genetic distances, F(ST,) Mantel's tests and linkage disequilibrium. They clearly showed a genetic differentiation between strains associated to the anthropized environment and those associated to the wild, but with some inbreeding between them. The majority of strains from the anthropized environment were clustered into additional lineages of T. gondii that are common in the Caribbean. In conclusion the two environmental populations "wild" and "anthropized" were genetically well differentiated. The anthropization of the environment seems to be accompanied with a decreased diversity of T. gondii associated with a greater structure of the populations. We detected potential interpenetration and genetic exchanges between these two environmental populations. As a higher pathogenicity in human of "wild" genotypes has been described, the interpenetration of both environments leads to hybridization between strains that may be at risk for human health. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The influence of natural and anthropic environmental variables on the structure and spatial distribution along longitudinal gradient of macroinvertebrate communities in southern Brazilian streams

PubMed Central

Batalla Salvarrey, Andrea Vanessa; Kotzian, Carla Bender; Spies, Márcia Regina; Braun, Bruna

2014-01-01

Abstract Southern Brazilian rivers and streams have been intensively affected by human activities, especially agriculture and the release of untreated domestic sewage. However, data about the aquatic macroinvertebrates in these streams are scarce and limited to only certain groups. In addition, studies focusing on the structure and spatial distribution of these communities are lacking. This study analyzed the effects of natural and anthropic variables on the community structure of macroinvertebrates along a longitudinal gradient in three microbasins located in a region of landscape transition in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Sampling was conducted in the Vacacaí-Mirim River (August 2008) and in the Ibicuí-Mirim and Tororaipí rivers (August 2009) following an environmental gradient including 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , and 4 th order segments. Local natural factors that were analyzed include water temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, substrate granulometry, and the presence of aquatic vegetation. Anthropic variables that were analyzed include including bank erosion, land use, urbanization, riparian deforestation, and fine sediments input. A total of 42 families and 129 taxa were found, with predominance of environmentally tolerant taxa. Geological context (landscape transition and large hydrographic basins) tended to influence natural environmental factors along the rivers’ longitudinal gradients. However, changes in anthropic variables were not affected by these geological differences and therefore did not correlate with patterns of spatial distribution in macroinvertebrate communities. Only 1 st order stream segments showed a community composition with high richness of taxa intolerant to anthropic disturbance. Richness as a whole tended to be higher in 3 rd to 4 th order set of segments, but this trend was a result of local anthropic environmental disturbances. Future inventories conducted in similar landscape transition regions of Brazil, for conservation purposes, must consider stream segments of different orders, microbasins, and major basins in order to obtain data that faithfully reflect the regional diversity. Additionally, it is necessary to consider environmental gradients of land use and anthropic impacts in order to suggest appropriate strategies for conserving the environmental integrity of streams. PMID:25373160

Antibiotic resistance genes in surface water of eutrophic urban lakes are related to heavy metals, antibiotics, lake morphology and anthropic impact.

PubMed

Yang, Yuyi; Xu, Chen; Cao, Xinhua; Lin, Hui; Wang, Jun

2017-08-01

Urban lakes are impacted by heavy human activities and represent potential reservoirs for antibiotic resistance genes. In this study, six urban lakes in Wuhan, central China were selected to analyze the distribution of sulfonamide resistance (sul) genes, tetracycline resistance (tet) genes and quinolone resistance (qnr) genes and their relationship with heavy metals, antibiotics, lake morphology and anthropic impact. sul1 and sul2 were detected in all six lakes and dominated the types of antibiotic resistance genes, which accounted for 86.28-97.79% of the total antibiotic resistance gene abundance. For eight tested tet genes, antibiotic efflux pumps (tetA, tetB, tetC, and tetG) genes were all observed in six lakes and had higher relative abundance than ribosomal protection protein genes (tetM and tetQ). For 4 plasmid mediated quinolone resistance genes, only qnrD is found in all six lakes. The class I integron (intI1) is also found to be a very important media for antibiotic resistance gene propagation in urban lakes. The results of redundancy analysis and variation partitioning analysis showed that antibiotic and co-selection with heavy metals were the major factors driving the propagation of antibiotic resistance genes in six urban lakes. The heavily eutrophic Nanhu Lake and Shahu Lake which located in a high density building area with heavy human activities had the higher relative abundance of total antibiotic resistance genes. Our study could provide a useful reference for antibiotic resistance gene abundance in urban lakes with high anthropic impact.

Axions, inflation and the anthropic principle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mack, Katherine J., E-mail: mack@ast.cam.ac.uk

2011-07-01

The QCD axion is the leading solution to the strong-CP problem, a dark matter candidate, and a possible result of string theory compactifications. However, for axions produced before inflation, symmetry-breaking scales of f{sub a}∼>10{sup 12} GeV (which are favored in string-theoretic axion models) are ruled out by cosmological constraints unless both the axion misalignment angle θ{sub 0} and the inflationary Hubble scale H{sub I} are extremely fine-tuned. We show that attempting to accommodate a high-f{sub a} axion in inflationary cosmology leads to a fine-tuning problem that is worse than the strong-CP problem the axion was originally invented to solve. Wemore » also show that this problem remains unresolved by anthropic selection arguments commonly applied to the high-f{sub a} axion scenario.« less

Axionic landscape for Higgs coupling near-criticality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cline, James M.; Espinosa, José R.

2018-02-01

The measured value of the Higgs quartic coupling λ is peculiarly close to the critical value above which the Higgs potential becomes unstable, when extrapolated to high scales by renormalization group running. It is tempting to speculate that there is an anthropic reason behind this near-criticality. We show how an axionic field can provide a landscape of vacuum states in which λ scans. These states are populated during inflation to create a multiverse with different quartic couplings, with a probability distribution P that can be computed. If P is peaked in the anthropically forbidden region of Higgs instability, then the most probable universe compatible with observers would be close to the boundary, as observed. We discuss three scenarios depending on the Higgs vacuum selection mechanism: decay by quantum tunneling, by thermal fluctuations, or by inflationary fluctuations.

Temporal distribution of, and effect of anthropic modifications on, phlebotomine populations in the Chaco Bioregion, Argentina.

PubMed

Szelag, E A; Rosa, J R; Quintana, M G; Salomon, O D

2018-06-01

Migonemyia migonei is the predominant species in the dry ecoregion and Nyssomyia neivai in the humid region, although co-dominance in humid highly modified areas could be observed. Vector abundance seems to be modulated by environmental anthropization, as the abundance and predominance of Ny. neiviai and Mg. migonei increased in highly modified areas. In Humid Chaco, the risk of human-vector contact would be present throughout the year, being particularly high in spring/summer, and in Dry Chaco, the risk would be restricted to temperate and humid months. © 2017 The Royal Entomological Society.

Natural and anthropic effects on hydrochemistry and major and trace elements in the water mass of a Spanish Pyrenean glacial lake set.

PubMed

Santolaria, Zoe; Arruebo, Tomás; Pardo, Alfonso; Rodríguez-Casals, Carlos; Matesanz, José María; Lanaja, Francisco Javier; Urieta, José Santiago

2017-07-01

This study presents the key hydrochemical characteristics and concentration levels of major (Ca, Mg, Na, Si, K, Sr, Fe) and trace (Ba, Sc, Cr, Mn, Al, As, Li, Co, Cu, U, Pb, Hg, Au, Sn, Zn, Cd, Ag, Ni) elements in the water mass of four selected Pyrenean cirque glacial lakes (Sabocos, Baños, Truchas and Escalar tarns) with different catchment features, between 2010 and 2013. Resulting data set is statistically analyzed to discriminate between the natural or anthropic origin of the elements. Analyses indicate that in all cases, the main source of most major and trace elements is geological weathering, being thus individual bedrock composition the main driver of differences between lakes. Several anthropogenic sources of airborne Cu, Sc, Co, and Cr must be also considered. The shallowness of the lake is also a factor that may influence element cycling and concentration levels in its water mass. Concentrations of anthropogenic elements were low, comparable to those reported in other glacial lakes, way below the WHO, US EPA, EC, and Spanish legal limits for drinking water quality, indicating the absence of serious pollution. Toxic heavy metals Cd, Pb, Hg, and Zn were not detected in any of the tarns.

Radiative PQ breaking and the Higgs boson mass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Eramo, Francesco; Hall, Lawrence J.; Pappadopulo, Duccio

2015-06-01

The small and negative value of the Standard Model Higgs quartic coupling at high scales can be understood in terms of anthropic selection on a landscape where large and negative values are favored: most universes have a very short-lived electroweak vacuum and typical observers are in universes close to the corresponding metastability boundary. We provide a simple example of such a landscape with a Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking scale generated through dimensional transmutation and supersymmetry softly broken at an intermediate scale. Large and negative contributions to the Higgs quartic are typically generated on integrating out the saxion field. Cancellations among these contributions are forced by the anthropic requirement of a sufficiently long-lived electroweak vacuum, determining the multiverse distribution for the Higgs quartic in a similar way to that of the cosmological constant. This leads to a statistical prediction of the Higgs boson mass that, for a wide range of parameters, yields the observed value within the 1σ statistical uncertainty of ˜ 5 GeV originating from the multiverse distribution. The strong CP problem is solved and single-component axion dark matter is predicted, with an abundance that can be understood from environmental selection. A more general setting for the Higgs mass prediction is discussed.

Higgs and superparticle mass predictions from the landscape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baer, Howard; Barger, Vernon; Serce, Hasan; Sinha, Kuver

2018-03-01

Predictions for the scale of SUSY breaking from the string landscape go back at least a decade to the work of Denef and Douglas on the statistics of flux vacua. The assumption that an assortment of SUSY breaking F and D terms are present in the hidden sector, and their values are uniformly distributed in the landscape of D = 4, N = 1 effective supergravity models, leads to the expectation that the landscape pulls towards large values of soft terms favored by a power law behavior P( m soft) ˜ m soft n . On the other hand, similar to Weinberg's prediction of the cosmological constant, one can assume an anthropic selection of weak scales not too far from the measured value characterized by m W,Z,h ˜ 100 GeV. Working within a fertile patch of gravity-mediated low energy effective theories where the superpotential μ term is ≪ m 3/2, as occurs in models such as radiative breaking of Peccei-Quinn symmetry, this biases statistical distributions on the landscape by a cutoff on the parameter ΔEW, which measures fine-tuning in the m Z - μ mass relation. The combined effect of statistical and anthropic pulls turns out to favor low energy phenomenology that is more or less agnostic to UV physics. While a uniform selection n = 0 of soft terms produces too low a value for m h , taking n = 1 and 2 produce most probabilistically m h ˜ 125 GeV for negative trilinear terms. For n ≥ 1, there is a pull towards split generations with {m}_{\\tilde{q},\\tilde{ℓ}}(1,2)˜ 10-30 TeV whilst {m}_{{\\tilde{t}}_1}˜ 1-2 TeV . The most probable gluino mass comes in at ˜ 3 - 4 TeV — apparently beyond the reach of HL-LHC (although the required quasi-degenerate higgsinos should still be within reach). We comment on consequences for SUSY collider and dark matter searches.

Prediction and typicality in multiverse cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azhar, Feraz

2014-02-01

In the absence of a fundamental theory that precisely predicts values for observable parameters, anthropic reasoning attempts to constrain probability distributions over those parameters in order to facilitate the extraction of testable predictions. The utility of this approach has been vigorously debated of late, particularly in light of theories that claim we live in a multiverse, where parameters may take differing values in regions lying outside our observable horizon. Within this cosmological framework, we investigate the efficacy of top-down anthropic reasoning based on the weak anthropic principle. We argue contrary to recent claims that it is not clear one can either dispense with notions of typicality altogether or presume typicality, in comparing resulting probability distributions with observations. We show in a concrete, top-down setting related to dark matter, that assumptions about typicality can dramatically affect predictions, thereby providing a guide to how errors in reasoning regarding typicality translate to errors in the assessment of predictive power. We conjecture that this dependence on typicality is an integral feature of anthropic reasoning in broader cosmological contexts, and argue in favour of the explicit inclusion of measures of typicality in schemes invoking anthropic reasoning, with a view to extracting predictions from multiverse scenarios.

Testing anthropic reasoning for the cosmological constant with a realistic galaxy formation model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudoh, Takahiro; Totani, Tomonori; Makiya, Ryu; Nagashima, Masahiro

2017-01-01

The anthropic principle is one of the possible explanations for the cosmological constant (Λ) problem. In previous studies, a dark halo mass threshold comparable with our Galaxy must be assumed in galaxy formation to get a reasonably large probability of finding the observed small value, P(<Λobs), though stars are found in much smaller galaxies as well. Here we examine the anthropic argument by using a semi-analytic model of cosmological galaxy formation, which can reproduce many observations such as galaxy luminosity functions. We calculate the probability distribution of Λ by running the model code for a wide range of Λ, while other cosmological parameters and model parameters for baryonic processes of galaxy formation are kept constant. Assuming that the prior probability distribution is flat per unit Λ, and that the number of observers is proportional to stellar mass, we find P(<Λobs) = 6.7 per cent without introducing any galaxy mass threshold. We also investigate the effect of metallicity; we find P(<Λobs) = 9.0 per cent if observers exist only in galaxies whose metallicity is higher than the solar abundance. If the number of observers is proportional to metallicity, we find P(<Λobs) = 9.7 per cent. Since these probabilities are not extremely small, we conclude that the anthropic argument is a viable explanation, if the value of Λ observed in our Universe is determined by a probability distribution.

Can anthropic fires affect epigaeic and hypogaeic Cerrado ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) communities in the same way?

PubMed

Canedo-Júnior, Ernesto de Oliveira; Cuissi, Rafael Gonçalves; Nelson Henrique de Almeida, Curi; Demetrio, Guilherme Ramos; Lasmar, Chaim José; Malves, Kira

2016-03-01

Fire occurrences are a common perturbation in Cerrado ecosystems, and may differently impact the local biodiversity. Arthropods are one of the taxa affected by fires, and among them, ants are known as good bioindicators. We aimed to evaluate the effect of anthropic fires on epigaeic and hypogaeic ant communities (species richness and composition) in Cerrado areas with different post-fire event recovery periods. We conducted the study in four Cerrado areas during two weeks of 2012 dry season: one unburned and three at different post-fire times (one month, one and two years). We sampled ants with pitfall traps in epigaeic and hypogaeic microhabitats. We collected 71 ant morpho-species from 25 genera. In the epigaeic microhabitat we sampled 56 morpho-species and 42 in the hypogaeic microhabitat. The area with the shortest recovery time presented lower epigaeic ant species richness (4.3 ± 2.00) in comparison to the other areas (8.1 ± 2.68 species on one year area; 10.3 ± 2.66 species on two years area; 10.4 ± 2.31 species on control area), but recovery time did not affect hypogaeic ant species richness. Regarding ant species composition, fire did not directly affect hypogaeic ant species, which remained the same even one month after fire event. However, two years were not enough to reestablish ant species composition in both microhabitats in relation to our control group samples. Our study is the first to assess anthropic fire effects upon epigaeic and hypogaeic ants communities; highlighting the importance of evaluating different microhabitats, to more accurately detect the effects of anthropic disturbances in biological communities. We concluded that ant communities are just partially affected by fire occurrences, and epigaeic assemblages are the most affected ones in comparison to hypogaeic ants. Furthermore the study provides knowledge to aid in the creation of vegetation management programs that allow Cerrado conservation.

Anti-anthropic solutions to the cosmic coincidence problem

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fedrow, Joseph M.; Griest, Kim, E-mail: j.m.fedrow@gmail.com, E-mail: kgriest@ucsd.edu

2014-01-01

A cosmological constant fits all current dark energy data, but requires two extreme fine tunings, both of which are currently explained by anthropic arguments. Here we discuss anti-anthropic solutions to one of these problems: the cosmic coincidence problem- that today the dark energy density is nearly equal to the matter density. We replace the ensemble of Universes used in the anthropic solution with an ensemble of tracking scalar fields that do not require fine-tuning. This not only does away with the coincidence problem, but also allows for a Universe that has a very different future than the one currently predictedmore » by a cosmological constant. These models also allow for transient periods of significant scalar field energy (SSFE) over the history of the Universe that can give very different observational signatures as compared with a cosmological constant, and so can be confirmed or disproved in current and upcoming experiments.« less

Understanding shallow landslides in Campos do Jordão municipality - Brazil: disentangling the anthropic effects from natural causes in the disaster of 2000

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendes, Rodolfo M.; de Andrade, Márcio Roberto M.; Tomasella, Javier; de Moraes, Márcio Augusto E.; Scofield, Graziela B.

2018-01-01

Located in a mountainous area of south-eastern Brazil, the municipality of Campos do Jordão has been hit by several landslides in recent history. Among those events, the landslides of early 2000 were significant in terms of the number of deaths (10), the population affected and the destruction of infrastructure that was caused. The purpose of this study is to assess the relative contribution of natural and human factors to triggering the landslides of the 2000 event. To achieve this goal, a detailed geotechnical survey was conducted in three representative slopes of the area to obtain geotechnical parameters needed for slope stability analysis. Then, a set of numerical experiments with GEO-SLOPE software was designed, including separate natural and anthropic factors. Results showed that natural factors, that is, high-intensity rainfall and geotechnical conditions, were not severe enough to trigger landslides in the study area and that human disturbance was entirely responsible for the landslide events of 2000. Since the anthropic effects used in the simulations are typical of hazardous urban areas in Brazil, we concluded that the implementation of public policies that constrain the occupation of landslide susceptible areas are urgently needed.

An infrared divergence in the cosmological measure theory and the anthropic reasoning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yurov, A. V.; Yurov, V. A.; Astashenok, A. V.; Shpilevoi, A. A.

2011-10-01

An anthropic principle has made it possible to answer the difficult question of why the observable value of cosmological constant ( Λ˜10-47 GeV4) is so disconcertingly tiny compared to the predicted value of vacuum energy density ρ SUSY˜1012 GeV4. Unfortunately, there is a darker side to this argument; being combined with the cosmic heat death scenario, it consequently leads to another absurd prediction: the probability of randomly selected observer observing Λ=0 ends up being exactly equal to 1. We shall call this controversy an infrared divergence problem. It is shown that the IRD prediction can be avoided with the help of a singular runaway measure coupled with the calculation of relative Bayesian probabilities by the means of the doomsday argument. Moreover, it is shown that while the IRD problem occurs for the prediction stage of value of Λ, it disappears at the explanatory stage when Λ has already been measured by the observer.

The effect of ecosystem biodiversity on virus genetic diversity depends on virus species: A study of chiltepin-infecting begomoviruses in Mexico.

PubMed

Rodelo-Urrego, Manuel; García-Arenal, Fernando; Pagán, Israel

2015-01-01

Current declines in biodiversity put at risk ecosystem services that are fundamental for human welfare. Increasing evidence indicates that one such service is the ability to reduce virus emergence. It has been proposed that the reduction of virus emergence occurs at two levels: through a reduction of virus prevalence/transmission and, as a result of these epidemiological changes, through a limitation of virus genetic diversity. Although the former mechanism has been studied in a few host-virus interactions, very little is known about the association between ecosystem biodiversity and virus genetic diversity. To address this subject, we estimated genetic diversity, synonymous and non-synonymous nucleotide substitution rates, selection pressures, and frequency of recombinants and re-assortants in populations of Pepper golden mosaic virus (PepGMV) and Pepper huasteco yellow vein virus (PHYVV) that infect chiltepin plants in Mexico. We then analyzed how these parameters varied according to the level of habitat anthropization, which is the major cause of biodiversity loss. Our results indicated that genetic diversity of PepGMV (but not of PHYVV) populations increased with the loss of biodiversity at higher levels of habitat anthropization. This was mostly the consequence of higher rates of synonymous nucleotide substitutions, rather than of adaptive selection. The frequency of recombinants and re-assortants was higher in PepGMV populations infecting wild chiltepin than in those infecting cultivated ones, suggesting that genetic exchange is not the main mechanism for generating genetic diversity in PepGMV populations. These findings provide evidence that biodiversity may modulate the genetic diversity of plant viruses, but it may differentially affect even two closely related viruses. Our analyses may contribute to understanding the factors involved in virus emergence.

The Universe and Life: Deductions from the Weak Anthropic Principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoyle, Fred; Wickramasinghe, Chandra

The existence of life in the Universe is interpreted in terms of the "Weak Anthropic Principle". It is shown that cosmological models are constrained to a class that involves an open timescale and access to infinite quantities of carbonaceous material.

The impact of industrial anthropization on mosquito (Diptera, Culicidae) communities in mangrove areas of Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

PubMed

de Souza, A S; Couri, M S; Florindo, L

2012-02-01

The effects of industrial anthropization on species composition and community diversity of Culicidae (Diptera) were studied in a mangrove area impacted by industrial activities as compared to a preserved area, both around Guanabara Bay in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Diversity, equitability, and species richness in Culicidae community differed between the studied areas. Indicator species analysis and correspondence analysis were carried out and indicated that the Sabethini, especially Wyeomyia (Phoniomyia) theobaldi Lane, Wyeomyia (Phoniomyia) fuscipes (Edwards), and a non-identified species of Wyeomyia sp. were associated to the preserved area, whereas Aedes taeniorhynchus Wiedemann and Aedes scapularis (Rondani) to the impacted area.

Environmental analysis in the selection of alternative corridors in a long-distance linear project: a methodological proposal.

PubMed

Rescia, Alejandro J; Astrada, Elizabeth N; Bono, Julieta; Blasco, Carlos A; Meli, Paula; Adámoli, Jorge M

2006-08-01

A linear engineering project--i.e. a pipeline--has a potential long- and short-term impact on the environment and on the inhabitants therein. We must find better, less expensive, and less time-consuming ways to obtain information on the environment and on any modifications resulting from anthropic activity. We need scientifically sound, rapid and affordable assessment and monitoring methods. Construction companies, industries and the regulating government organisms lack the resources needed to conduct long-term basic studies of the environment. Thus there is a need to make the necessary adjustments and improvements in the environmental data considered useful for this development project. More effective and less costly methods are generally needed. We characterized the landscape of the study area, situated in the center and north-east of Argentina. Little is known of the ecology of this region and substantial research is required in order to develop sustainable uses and, at the same time, to develop methods for reducing impacts, both primary and secondary, resulting from anthropic activity in this area. Furthermore, we made an assessment of the environmental impact of the planned linear project, applying an ad hoc impact index, and we analyzed the different alternatives for a corridor, each one of these involving different sections of the territory. Among the alternative corridors considered, this study locates the most suitable ones in accordance with a selection criterion based on different environmental and conservation aspects. We selected the corridor that we considered to be the most compatible--i.e. with the least potential environmental impact--for the possible construction and operation of the linear project. This information, along with suitable measures for mitigating possible impacts, should be the basis of an environmental management plan for the design process and location of the project. We pointed out the objectivity and efficiency of this methodological approach, along with the possibility of integrating the information in order to allow for the application thereof in this type of study.

Copernicus, Kant, and the anthropic cosmological principles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roush, Sherrilyn

In the last three decades several cosmological principles and styles of reasoning termed 'anthropic' have been introduced into physics research and popular accounts of the universe and human beings' place in it. I discuss the circumstances of 'fine tuning' that have motivated this development, and what is common among the principles. I examine the two primary principles, and find a sharp difference between these 'Weak' and 'Strong' varieties: contrary to the view of the progenitors that all anthropic principles represent a departure from Copernicanism in cosmology, the Weak Anthropic Principle is an instance of Copernicanism. It has close affinities with the step of Copernicus that Immanuel Kant took himself to be imitating in the 'critical' turn that gave rise to the Critique of Pure Reason. I conclude that the fact that a way of going about natural science mentions human beings is not sufficient reason to think that it is a subjective approach; in fact, it may need to mention human beings in order to be objective.

[The anthropic principle in biology and radiobiology].

PubMed

Akif'ev, A P; Degtiarev, S V

1999-01-01

In accordance with the anthropic principle of the Universe the physical constants of fundamental particles of matter and the laws of their counteraction are those that an appearance of man and mind becomes possible and necessary. It is suggested to add some biological constants to the set of fundamental constants. With reparation of DNA as an example it was shown how a cell ran some parameters of Watson-Crick double helix. It was pointed that the concept of the anthropic principle of the Universe in its full body including biological constants is a key to developing of a unified theory of evolution of the Universe within the limits of scientific creationism.

THE EFFECT OF CHLORINE EMISSIONS ON TROPOSPHERIC OZONE IN THE UNITED STATES

EPA Science Inventory

The effect of chlorine emissions on atmospheric ozone in the continental United States was evaluated. Atmospheric chlorine chemistry was combined with the carbon bond mechanism and incorporated into the Community Multiscale Air Quality model. Sources of chlorine included anthrop...

Life on moduli space?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, Stephen D. H.

2009-10-01

While the number of metastable landscape vacua in string theory is vast, the number of supermoduli vacua which lead to distinct low-energy physics is even larger, perhaps infinitely so. From the anthropic perspective it is therefore important to understand whether complex life is possible on moduli space—i.e., in low-energy effective theories with (1) exact supersymmetry and (2) some massless multiplets (moduli). Unless life is essentially impossible on moduli space as a consequence of these characteristics, anthropic reasoning in string theory suggests that the overwhelming majority of sentient beings would observe 1-2. We investigate whether 1 and 2 are by themselves automatically inimical to life and conclude, tentatively, that they are not. In particular, we describe moduli scenarios in which complex life seems possible.

Distribution of POPs, pesticides and antibiotic residues in organic honeys from different production areas.

PubMed

Chiesa, Luca Maria; Panseri, Sara; Nobile, Maria; Ceriani, Federica; Arioli, Francesco

2018-06-22

Demand for honey is increasing, especially if it is organic and if its nutritional properties are linked to untreated environments in order to guarantee quality for health. Sources of contamination of honey can be divided into environmental and apicultural. Therefore, the distribution of persistent organic pollutants, pesticides and antibiotic residues from geographical areas with different contamination sources (high anthropic impact, intensive farming, husbandry and low anthropic impact) was investigated in order to confirm the potential transfer of xenobiotics into the supply chain and to give beekeepers tools for the selection of areas dedicated to organic production. The presence of polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ether and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was confirmed, not only in proximity to highly urbanised centres, where the concentrations were higher, but in all environment contexts, confirming their ubiquity. No antibiotics or neonicotinoids were detected in 95 organic honeys, demonstrating the absence of apicultural treatments and consequently the good quality of honey of different areas. These results are important due to the undefined regulatory European situation on honey antibiotic limits.[Figure: see text].

Anthropic signatures in alluvium of the Upper Little Tennessee River valley, Southern Blue Ridge Mountains, USA

Treesearch

Lixin Wang; David S. Leigh

2015-01-01

Human activities have become important influences on the fluvial systems of eastern North America since post-colonial settlement. This research identifies post-settlement anthropic signatures in alluvial sediments in the Upper Little Tennessee River, USA. Agricultural and mining activities were scattered and discontinuous in this relatively remote region of...

Life on moduli space?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hsu, Stephen D. H.

2009-10-15

While the number of metastable landscape vacua in string theory is vast, the number of supermoduli vacua which lead to distinct low-energy physics is even larger, perhaps infinitely so. From the anthropic perspective it is therefore important to understand whether complex life is possible on moduli space - i.e., in low-energy effective theories with (1) exact supersymmetry and (2) some massless multiplets (moduli). Unless life is essentially impossible on moduli space as a consequence of these characteristics, anthropic reasoning in string theory suggests that the overwhelming majority of sentient beings would observe 1-2. We investigate whether 1 and 2 aremore » by themselves automatically inimical to life and conclude, tentatively, that they are not. In particular, we describe moduli scenarios in which complex life seems possible.« less

Editorial note to: Brandon Carter, Large number coincidences and the anthropic principle in cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellis, George F. R.

2011-11-01

This is an editorial note to accompany reprinting as a Golden Oldie in the Journal of General Relativity and Gravitation of the famous paper by Brandon Carter on the anthropic principle in cosmology \\cite{Car74}. This paper was presented at IAU Symposium No. 63, entitled Confrontation of cosmological theories with observational data, in 1973.

Anthropic tuning of the weak scale and of m{sub u}/m{sub d} in two-Higgs-doublet models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barr, S. M.; Khan, Almas

2007-08-15

It is shown that, in a model in which up-type and down-type fermions acquire mass from different Higgs doublets, the anthropic tuning of the Higgs mass parameters can explain the fact that the observed masses of the d and u quarks are nearly the same with d slightly heavier. If Yukawa couplings are assumed not to scan (vary among domains), this would also help explain why t is much heavier than b. It is also pointed out that the existence of dark matter invalidates some earlier anthropic arguments against the viability of domains where the standard model Higgs has positivemore » {mu}{sup 2}, but makes other even stronger arguments possible.« less

[The beginning of the first principles: the anthropic principle].

PubMed

González de Posada, Francisco

2004-01-01

The nowadays classical Anthropic Principle is put both in the historical perspective of the traditional problem of "the place of man in the Universe', and in the confluence of several scientific "border" issues, some of which, due to their problematical nature, are also subject of philosophical analysis. On the one hand, the scientific uses of the Principle, related to the initial and constitutional conditions of "our Universe", are enumerated, as they are supposedly necessary for the appearance and consequent development of Life--up to Man--. On the other, an organized collection of the principles of today's Physics is synthetically exhibited. The object of this work is to determine the intrinsic scientific nature of the Anthropic Principle, and the role it plays in the global frame of the principles of Physics (Astrophysics, Astrobiology and Cosmology).

Tools for monitoring aquatic environments to identify anthropic effects.

PubMed

da Rocha, Monyque Palagano; Dourado, Priscila Leocadia Rosa; Cardoso, Claudia Andrea Lima; Cândido, Liliam Silva; Pereira, Joelson Gonçalves; de Oliveira, Kelly Mari Pires; Grisolia, Alexeia Barufatti

2018-01-05

Anthropic activities are directly related to the contamination of aquatic ecosystems owing to the release of numerous chemicals from agricultural and urban waste. These contaminants cause environmental degradation and a decrease in the availability of water quality. The objective of this search was to evaluate the efficiency of physicochemical, chemical, and microbiological tests; extraction of chlorophyll a; and genetic parameters to identify anthropic activities and weather condition effects on the stream water quality and the consequences of its use by the population. The physicochemical parameters were within the limits allowed by the Brazilian law. However, contamination by metals (Cd 0.510 mg L -1 , Co 0.405 mg L -1 , and Ni 0.316 mg L -1 ) has been found at various collection points to be more than the allowable values. The antibiotic oxytetracycline was detected in stream water in quantities of up to 89 μg L -1 . In relation to microbiological contamination, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas spp. have been isolated. The averages of chlorophyll a were up to 0.15558 mg cm -2 . Genetic tools identified greater number of micronuclei and DNA damage in periods that showed lower rainfall rates and lower amounts of metals. The analysis used for monitoring was efficient to verify the interference that animal breeding and planting of different cultures have caused on that stream. Thus, the continued use of this water for drinking, irrigation of vegetables, and recreational activities makes the population susceptible to contamination by bacteria and creates conditions for the development of genetic alterations in the long run.

Impact of human activities on the geomagnetic field of Antarctica: a high resolution aeromagnetic survey over Mario Zucchelli Station.

PubMed

Armadillo, E; Bozzo, E; Gambetta, M; Rizzello, D

2012-10-15

Environmental protection of Antarctica is a fundamental principle of the Antarctic Treaty. Impact assessment and significance evaluation are due for every human activity on the remote continent. While chemical and biological contaminations are widely studied, very little is known about the electromagnetic pollution levels. In this frame, we have evaluated the significance of the impact of Mario Zucchelli Antarctic Station (Northern Victoria Land) on the local geomagnetic field. We have flown a high resolution aeromagnetic survey in drape mode at 320m over the Station, covering an area of 2km(2). The regional and the local field have been separated by a third order polynomial fitting. After the identification of the anthropic magnetic anomaly due to the Station, we have estimated the magnetic field at the ground level by downward continuation with an original inversion scheme regularized by a minimum gradient support functional to avoid high frequency noise effects. The resulting anthropic static magnetic field at ground extends up to 650m far from the Station and reaches a maximum peak to peak value of about 2800nT. This anthropic magnetic anomaly may interact with biological systems, raising the necessity to evaluate the significance of the static magnetic impact of human installations in order to protect the electromagnetic environment and the biota of Antarctica. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vascular epiphytes and host trees of ant-gardens in an anthropic landscape in southeastern Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morales-Linares, Jonas; García-Franco, José G.; Flores-Palacios, Alejandro; Valenzuela-González, Jorge E.; Mata-Rosas, Martín; Díaz-Castelazo, Cecilia

2016-12-01

Ant-gardens (AGs) are considered one of the most complex mutualist systems between ants and plants, since interactions involving dispersal, protection, and nutrition occur simultaneously in them; however, little is known about the effects of the transformation of ecosystems on their diversity and interactions. In five environments with different land use within an anthropic landscape in southeastern Mexico, we investigated the diversity and composition of epiphytes and host trees of AGs built by Azteca gnava. A total of 10,871 individuals of 26 epiphytic species, associating with 859 AGs located in 161 host trees, were recorded. The diversity and composition of epiphytes tended to be different between environments; however, Aechmea tillandsioides and Codonanthe uleana were the most important species and considered true AG epiphytes, because they were the most frequent, abundant, and occurred exclusively in AGs. Other important species were the orchids Epidendrum flexuosum, Coryanthes picturata, and Epidendrum pachyrachis, and should also be considered true AG epiphytes, because they occurred almost exclusively in the AGs. The AG abundance in agroforestry plantations was similar or even greater than in riparian vegetation (natural habitat). The AGs were registered in 37 host species but were more frequent in Mangifera indica and Citrus sinensis. We conclude that true epiphytes of A. gnava AGs persist in different environments and host trees, and even these AGs could proliferate in agroforestry plantations of anthropic landscapes.

Vascular epiphytes and host trees of ant-gardens in an anthropic landscape in southeastern Mexico.

PubMed

Morales-Linares, Jonas; García-Franco, José G; Flores-Palacios, Alejandro; Valenzuela-González, Jorge E; Mata-Rosas, Martín; Díaz-Castelazo, Cecilia

2016-12-01

Ant-gardens (AGs) are considered one of the most complex mutualist systems between ants and plants, since interactions involving dispersal, protection, and nutrition occur simultaneously in them; however, little is known about the effects of the transformation of ecosystems on their diversity and interactions. In five environments with different land use within an anthropic landscape in southeastern Mexico, we investigated the diversity and composition of epiphytes and host trees of AGs built by Azteca gnava. A total of 10,871 individuals of 26 epiphytic species, associating with 859 AGs located in 161 host trees, were recorded. The diversity and composition of epiphytes tended to be different between environments; however, Aechmea tillandsioides and Codonanthe uleana were the most important species and considered true AG epiphytes, because they were the most frequent, abundant, and occurred exclusively in AGs. Other important species were the orchids Epidendrum flexuosum, Coryanthes picturata, and Epidendrum pachyrachis, and should also be considered true AG epiphytes, because they occurred almost exclusively in the AGs. The AG abundance in agroforestry plantations was similar or even greater than in riparian vegetation (natural habitat). The AGs were registered in 37 host species but were more frequent in Mangifera indica and Citrus sinensis. We conclude that true epiphytes of A. gnava AGs persist in different environments and host trees, and even these AGs could proliferate in agroforestry plantations of anthropic landscapes.

Vulnerability of sandy coasts to climate change and anthropic pressures: methodology and preliminary results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idier, D.; Poumadère, M.; Vinchon, C.; Romieu, E.; Oliveros, C.

2009-04-01

1-INTRODUCTION Climate change is considered in the latest reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC (2007) as unequivocal. Induced vulnerability of the system is defined as "the combination of sensitivity to climatic variations, probability of adverse effects, and adaptive capacity". Substantial methodological challenges remain, in particular estimating the risk of adverse climate change impacts and interpreting relative vulnerability across diverse situations. As stated by the IPCC, the "coastal systems should be considered vulnerable to changes in climate". In these areas, amongst the most serious impacts of sea-level rise (Nicholls, 1996) are erosion and marine inundation. Thus, the coast of metropolitan France, being composed of 31% sandy coasts, is potentially vulnerable, as it has been qualitatively assessed on the pilot coasts of Aquitaine and Languedoc-Roussillon in the RESPONSE project (Vinchon et al., 2008). Within the ANR VULSACO project (VULnerability of SAndy COast to climate change and anthropic pressure), the present day erosion tendencies as well as the potentially future erosion trends are investigated. The main objectives are to: (1) assess indicators of vulnerability to climate change for low-lying linear sandy coastal systems, from the shore to the hinterland, facing undergoing climate change and anthropic pressure until the 2030s; and (2) identify the aggravating or improving effect of human pressure on this vulnerability. This second issue is sometimes considered as a main driver of coastal risks. The methodology proposed in the project considers anthropic adaptation (or not) by putting decision makers in front of potential modifications of the physical system, to study the decision process and the choice of adaptation (or not). The coastal system is defined by its morphology, its physical characteristics and its land use. The time scales will range from short-term (days to weeks, e.g. time scale of extreme events) to medium-term (decades), whereas the space scales range from several tens of meters to several tens of kilometers. The project is based on the study of representative coastal units: 4 sites characterised by low-lying linear sandy beaches but different, representative, hydrodynamic and socio-economic environments. These sites are located in: Mediterranean Sea (Lido of Sète), Atlantic coast (Truc Vert beach and Noirmoutier island) and English channel coast (Est of Dunkerque). Each of these sites is studied following the same methodology, on both the physical and socio-economic dimensions, the aim being to identify vulnerability indicators regarding climate change and anthropic pressure. 2 - METHODOLOGY The work is based on the following methodology, for every site: 1) The compartments of the unit are defined: shoreface, coastline, backshore, hinterland, from a physical and socio-economical point of view. 2) The available data are analysed in order to provide some information on the present trend of the coastal unit, regarding climate change and anthropic pressure, but also to support the model validation. 3) The vulnerability is studied. On one hand, the socio-economic dimension is assessed and, in a risk governance perspective, stake holders are identified and involved. This part of the project combines the study of social perceptions of dangers along with a deliberative workshop. On the other hand, numerical models of the physical behaviour of shoreface and coastline are applied. The selected models cover a time scale from short-term (storm time scale) to long-term (decades). Then, vulnerability can be studied: the vulnerability of coast/beach is defined and studied based on in-situ observations and model results. Most of these models needs some forcing conditions (waves at the boundary of the computational domains for instance). The present day conditions can be potentially modified by climate change. However, the model and literature review on climate change show that the few prediction of wave conditions available for the future deal mainly with the significant wave height, and not so much with the wave direction or period. To compensate this lack of knowledge, a sensitivity study is done to get information on the possible changes within the next decades (2030). It consists in studying the influence of a modification in the characteristics of the present day forcing conditions(like waves) within a reasonable magnitude order. 4) The anthropic pressure is taken into account as a modulator of the physical vulnerability. In each context, participative techniques are used to involve representatives of the main stakeholder groups into decision-making simulations. The scenario of a storm in 2030 is adopted to provide structured interactions during the workshop. Along with socio-economic projections, this simulation relies upon a fictive journal article written on the basis of the model outputs. These methodological choices aim at better understanding how decisions are made by stake holders dealing with risks and scientific uncertainty. Some applied results on the study sites will be presented at the EGU. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The VULSACO project is financially supported by the ANR (French National Research Agency) within the Vulnérabilité-Milieux-Climat programm.

Anthropic versus cosmological solutions to the coincidence problem

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barreira, A.; Avelino, P. P.; Departamento de Fisica da Faculdade de Ciencias da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, 4169-007 Porto

2011-05-15

In this paper, we investigate possible solutions to the coincidence problem in flat phantom dark-energy models with a constant dark-energy equation of state and quintessence models with a linear scalar field potential. These models are representative of a broader class of cosmological scenarios in which the universe has a finite lifetime. We show that, in the absence of anthropic constraints, including a prior probability for the models inversely proportional to the total lifetime of the universe excludes models very close to the {Lambda} cold dark matter model. This relates a cosmological solution to the coincidence problem with a dynamical dark-energymore » component having an equation-of-state parameter not too close to -1 at the present time. We further show that anthropic constraints, if they are sufficiently stringent, may solve the coincidence problem without the need for dynamical dark energy.« less

Vacuum selection on axionic landscapes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Gaoyuan; Battefeld, Thorsten, E-mail: gaoyuan.wang@stud.uni-goettingen.de, E-mail: tbattefe@astro.physik.uni-goettingen.de

2016-04-01

We compute the distribution of minima that are reached dynamically on multi-field axionic landscapes, both numerically and analytically. Such landscapes are well suited for inflationary model building due to the presence of shift symmetries and possible alignment effects (the KNP mechanism). The resulting distribution of dynamically reached minima differs considerably from the naive expectation based on counting all vacua. These differences are more pronounced in the presence of many fields due to dynamical selection effects: while low lying minima are preferred as fields roll down the potential, trajectories are also more likely to get trapped by one of the manymore » nearby minima. We show that common analytic arguments based on random matrix theory in the large D-limit to estimate the distribution of minima are insufficient for quantitative arguments pertaining to the dynamically reached ones. This discrepancy is not restricted to axionic potentials. We provide an empirical expression for the expectation value of such dynamically reached minimas' height and argue that the cosmological constant problem is not alleviated in the absence of anthropic arguments. We further comment on the likelihood of inflation on axionic landscapes in the large D-limit.« less

Bayesian evidence for the prevalence of waterworlds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simpson, Fergus

2017-07-01

Should we expect most habitable planets to share the Earth's marbled appearance? For a planetary surface to boast extensive areas of both land and water, a delicate balance must be struck between the volume of water it retains and the capacity of its perturbations. These two quantities may show substantial variability across the full spectrum of water-bearing worlds. This would suggest that, barring strong feedback effects, most surfaces are heavily dominated by either water or land. Why is the Earth so finely poised? To address this question, we construct a simple model for the selection bias that would arise within an ensemble of surface conditions. Based on the Earth's ocean coverage of 71 per cent, we find substantial evidence (Bayes factor K ≃ 6) supporting the hypothesis that anthropic selection effects are at work. Furthermore, due to the Earth's proximity to the waterworld limit, this model predicts that most habitable planets are dominated by oceans spanning over 90 per cent of their surface area (95 per cent credible interval). This scenario, in which the Earth has a much greater land area than most habitable planets, is consistent with results from numerical simulations and could help explain the apparently low-mass transition in the mass-radius relation.

Pedogenetic processes in anthrosols with pretic horizon (Amazonian Dark Earth) in Central Amazon, Brazil.

PubMed

Macedo, Rodrigo S; Teixeira, Wenceslau G; Corrêa, Marcelo M; Martins, Gilvan C; Vidal-Torrado, Pablo

2017-01-01

Anthrosols known as Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE) have borne witness to the intensification of sedentary patterns and the demographic increase in Central Amazon. As a result, a recurring pattern has been observed of mounds with ADE arising from domestic activities and the disposal of waste. The objective of this research was to demonstrate the relationship of these anthropic activities with pedogenetic formation processes of ADE in the municipality of Iranduba, Brazil. Disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were taken from two areas of ADE (pretic horizon) and from a non-anthropic pedon. Physical, chemical, micromorphological and SEM-EDS analyses were performed. The coarse material of the pretic horizons consisted predominantly of quartz, iron nodules, ceramics and charcoal fragments, and the fine material is organo-mineral. There was a direct relationship between the color of pretic horizons and the number of charcoal fragments. The thickness of the ADE results from the redistribution of charcoal at depth through bioturbation, transforming subsurface horizons into anthropic horizons. ADE presents granular microaggregates of geochemical and zoogenetic origin. Degradation of iron nodules is intensified in pretic horizons, promoting a reverse pedogenic process contributing to the xanthization process. Surprisingly the anthropic activities also favor clay dispersion and argilluviation; clay coatings on the ceramic fragments and in the pores demonstrate that this is a current process. Processes identified as contributing to ADE genesis included: i) addition of organic residues and ceramic artifacts (cumulization) with the use of fire; ii) mechanical action of humans, roots and macrofauna (bioturbation); iii) melanization of deeper horizons as a result of bioturbation; iv) argilluviation and degradation of iron nodules. This study offers new support to archaeological research in respect to ADE formation processes in Central Amazon and confirmed the hypothesis that ancient anthropic activities may trigger and/or accelerate pedogenetic processes previously credited only to natural causes.

Pedogenetic processes in anthrosols with pretic horizon (Amazonian Dark Earth) in Central Amazon, Brazil

PubMed Central

Macedo, Rodrigo S.; Teixeira, Wenceslau G.; Corrêa, Marcelo M.; Martins, Gilvan C.

2017-01-01

Anthrosols known as Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE) have borne witness to the intensification of sedentary patterns and the demographic increase in Central Amazon. As a result, a recurring pattern has been observed of mounds with ADE arising from domestic activities and the disposal of waste. The objective of this research was to demonstrate the relationship of these anthropic activities with pedogenetic formation processes of ADE in the municipality of Iranduba, Brazil. Disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were taken from two areas of ADE (pretic horizon) and from a non-anthropic pedon. Physical, chemical, micromorphological and SEM-EDS analyses were performed. The coarse material of the pretic horizons consisted predominantly of quartz, iron nodules, ceramics and charcoal fragments, and the fine material is organo-mineral. There was a direct relationship between the color of pretic horizons and the number of charcoal fragments. The thickness of the ADE results from the redistribution of charcoal at depth through bioturbation, transforming subsurface horizons into anthropic horizons. ADE presents granular microaggregates of geochemical and zoogenetic origin. Degradation of iron nodules is intensified in pretic horizons, promoting a reverse pedogenic process contributing to the xanthization process. Surprisingly the anthropic activities also favor clay dispersion and argilluviation; clay coatings on the ceramic fragments and in the pores demonstrate that this is a current process. Processes identified as contributing to ADE genesis included: i) addition of organic residues and ceramic artifacts (cumulization) with the use of fire; ii) mechanical action of humans, roots and macrofauna (bioturbation); iii) melanization of deeper horizons as a result of bioturbation; iv) argilluviation and degradation of iron nodules. This study offers new support to archaeological research in respect to ADE formation processes in Central Amazon and confirmed the hypothesis that ancient anthropic activities may trigger and/or accelerate pedogenetic processes previously credited only to natural causes. PMID:28542442

No Evidence of Habitat Loss Affecting the Orchid Bees Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier and Eufriesea auriceps Friese (Apidae: Euglossini) in the Brazilian Cerrado Savanna.

PubMed

Silva, D P; De Marco, P

2014-12-01

Habitat loss, landscape fragmentation, and agriculture intensification constitute the main threats to bees. As the organisms responsible for almost one third of the food produced worldwide, there are growing concerns on bees' response to human-related disturbances. Among all bee groups, orchid bees (Apidae: Euglossini) compose an interesting group to test landscape-related hypotheses. In here, we tested the effect of landscape features (amount of anthropic areas and isolation) on the probability of occurrence and the abundances of both Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier and Eufriesea auriceps Friese in the Cerrado savanna. In general, we did not observe any effect of landscape features on the probability of occurrence and abundances of both species in our sampling sites. Given their potential high dispersal abilities, these bee species may be less sensitive to fragmented landscapes or even positively affected by the increase of anthropic habitats. Since we sampled many E. nigrita specimens in highly preserved Cerrado savanna areas, we believe that at least for this biome, this species may not be a good indicator of landscape disturbance.

Relaxion: A landscape without anthropics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, Ann; Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda

2017-12-01

The relaxion mechanism provides a potentially elegant solution to the hierarchy problem without resorting to anthropic or other fine-tuning arguments. This mechanism introduces an axion-like field, dubbed the relaxion, whose expectation value determines the electroweak hierarchy as well as the QCD strong C P -violating θ ¯ parameter. During an inflationary period, the Higgs mass squared is selected to be negative and hierarchically small in a theory which is consistent with 't Hooft's technical naturalness criteria. However, in the original model proposed by Graham, Kaplan, and Rajendran [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 221801 (2015), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.221801], the relaxion does not solve the strong C P problem, and in fact contributes to it, as the coupling of the relaxion to the Higgs field and the introduction of a linear potential for the relaxion produces large strong C P violation. We resolve this tension by considering inflation with a Hubble scale which is above the QCD scale but below the weak scale, and estimating the Hubble temperature dependence of the axion mass. The relaxion potential is thus very different during inflation than it is today. We find that provided the inflationary Hubble scale is between the weak scale and about 3 GeV, the relaxion resolves the hierarchy, strong C P , and dark matter problems in a way that is technically natural.

Integral assessment of pollution in the Suquía River (Córdoba, Argentina) as a contribution to lotic ecosystem restoration programs.

PubMed

Merlo, C; Abril, A; Amé, M V; Argüello, G A; Carreras, H A; Chiappero, M S; Hued, A C; Wannaz, E; Galanti, L N; Monferrán, M V; González, C M; Solís, V M

2011-11-01

The Suquía River lower-middle basin (Córdoba, Argentina) is subject to a strong anthropic impact because it receives pollutants from different sources (industries, wastewaters, heavy traffic, agricultural land use, etc.) We have assessed the degree of watershed degradation of Suquía River lower-middle sections through the analysis of different ecosystem compartments (air, water, riparian soil, sediments and biota), in order to provide useful data to be considered in future river restoration programs. Four study sites were selected along the river (La Calera city, Córdoba city, Corazón de María village and Río Primero city) which were sampled during the low- and high-water flow periods. We analyzed: a) chemical and physical characteristics of water, sediments, and riparian soil; b) heavy metal content of water and sediments, and c) semi-volatile organic compounds in air. Besides, pollutant bioindicators such as fish assemblages, lichens (Usnea amblyoclada), vascular plants (Tradescantia pallida), and microorganisms (fecal coliform and Escherichia coli) were used to further assess the status of the river. All analyzed ecological compartments were affected by water pollution, particularly, fish assemblages, sediments and riparian soils by heavy metal and coliform bacteria. Moreover, we detected a possible contribution of sulfur and a high pollutant content in air that merit further research about other air-water exchanges. Accordingly, we strongly suggest that an action to restore or remediate the anthropic effect on the Suquía River be extended to all possible compartments along the river. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gravitational vacuum energy in our recently accelerating universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bludman, Sidney

2009-04-01

We review current observations of the homogeneous cosmological expansion which, because they measure only kinematic variables, cannot determine the dynamics driving the recent accelerated expansion. The minimal fit to the data, the flat ACDM model, consisting of cold dark matter and a cosmological constant, interprets 4? geometrically as a classical spacetime curvature constant of nature, avoiding any reference to quantum vacuum energy. (The observed Uehling and Casimir effects measure forces due to QED vacuum polarization, but not any quantum material vacuum energies.) An Extended Anthropic Principle, that Dark Energy and Dark Gravity be indistinguishable, selects out flat ACDM. Prospective cosmic shear and galaxy clustering observations of the growth of fluctuations are intended to test whether the 'dark energy' driving the recent cosmological acceleration is static or moderately dynamic. Even if dynamic, observational differences between an additional negative-pressure material component within general relativity (Dark Energy) and low-curvature modifications of general relativity (Dark Gravity) will be extremely small.

How is the fitness landscaped upon which life evolves selected?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deem, Michael

2008-03-01

We investigate the selective forces that promote the emergence of modularity in nature. We demonstrate the spontaneous emergence of modularity in a population of individuals that evolve in a changing environment. We show that the level of modularity correlates with the rapidity and severity of environmental change. The modularity arises as a synergistic response to the noise in the environment in the presence of horizontal gene transfer. We suggest that the hierarchical structure observed in the natural world may be a broken symmetry state, which generically results from evolution in a changing environment. The existence of such structure, therefore, need not necessarily rest on intelligent design or the anthropic principle. 1) J. Sun and M. W. Deem, Phys. Rev. Lett., to appear., arXiv:0710.3436

Cosmic Perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biswas, S. K.; Mallik, D. C. V.; Vishveshwara, C. V.

2008-07-01

1. Astronomy in ancient and medieval China Joseph Needham; 2. Indian astronomy: an historical perspective B. V. Subbarayappa; 3. Making of astronomy in ancient India Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya; 4. The impact of astronomy on the development of western science Jean-Claude Pecker; 5. Man and the Universe Hubert Reeves; 6. Understanding the Universe - challenges and directions in modern observational astronomy Harlan Smith, Jr: 7. Frontiers in cosmology Fred Hoyle; 8. Did the Universe originate in a big bang? Jayant Narlikar; 9. The dark matter problem Bernard Carr; 10. Geometry and the Universe C. V. Vishveshwara; 11. The origin and evolution of life Cyril Ponnamperuma; 12. The anthropic principle: self selection as an adjunct to natural selection Brandon Carter; 13. Astrology and science: an examination of the evidence Ivan Kelly, Roger Culver and Peter Loptson; 14. Astronomy and science fiction Allen Janis.

[Ichthyofauna of karstic wetlands under anthropic impact: the "petenes" of Campeche, Mexico].

PubMed

Torres-Castro, Ivette Liliana; Vega-Cendejas, María Eugenia; Schmitter-Soto, Juan Jacobo; Palacio-Aponte, Gerardo; Rodiles-Hernández, Rocío

2009-01-01

"Petenes" are small springs and associated streams that drain into wetlands near the coast in karstic areas. We studied composition, distribution, and abundance of the ichthyofauna in Los Petenes region (northwest Campeche). Two petenes displaying different degrees and types of anthropic impact were selected, Hampolol and El Remate. Hampolol has a smaller area but a longer derived stream; it is located within a protected area, but has been invaded by tilapia. El Remate is a popular spa, with no tilapia; it has a larger area but a shorter derived stream. At each "petén", several sites in the main spring, the associated stream, and secondary (temporary) springs were sampled in the rainy and dry seasons. Fishing gear was variable (throw net, gill net, small and large seine nets), but effort was uniform. We recorded temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, and depth at each site and season; also, we noted the different types and intensities of anthropic impact (channelization, presence of exotic species, recreational use, etc.) at each petén. We compared the petenes in terms of their environmental quality and fish fauna (composition, distribution, abundance, biomass); we also tested for effects of season and site within each petén. The study found 27 species of fishes, included in 18 genera and eight families, 24 species in Hampolol and 20 in El Remate. The geographical range of 'Cichlasoma' salvini, Rivulus tenuis, Phallichthys fairweatheri, Xiphophorus hellerii, and X maculatus is extended. The dominant species in both seasons was Astyanax (probable hybrids A. aeneus x altior at Hampolol, pure A. altior at El Remate), which contributed most of the abundance and biomass, together with Vieja synspila and Poecilia velifera. A significantly greater overall diversity (H'n=3.31) was recorded in Hampolol compared to El Remate (H'n=2.10). Cluster analysis of sites by species presence allowed distinction of two groupings within each petén: permanent waters (i.e., main spring, stream) vs. temporary sites (secondary springs, which dry out in winter). Environmental parameters (except salinity) presented significant differences by site and season; a canonical correspondence analysis indicated that the distribution of fish assemblages was influenced by the environmental parameters in both seasons. In terms of composition, historical factors play a role in the differences between the fish assemblages of the two petenes, especially concerning the presence of Astyanax hybrids and Xiphophorus spp. in the southern petén (Hampolol) and Poecilia velifera in the northern petén (El Remate).

Landscape resistance to frog movements

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mazerolle, M.J.; Desrochers, A.

2005-01-01

An animal's capacity to recolonize a patch depends on at least two components: its ability to detect the patch and its ability to reach it. However, the disruption of such processes by anthropic disturbances could explain low animal abundance patterns observed by many investigators in certain landscapes. Through field experiments, we compared the orientation and homing success of northern green frogs (Rana clamitans melanota Rafinesque, 1820) and northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens Schreber, 1782) translocated across disturbed or undisturbed surfaces. We also monitored the path selected by individuals when presented with a choice between a short distance over a disturbed surface and a longer, undisturbed route. Finally, we measured the water loss and behaviour of frogs on substrates resulting from anthropogenic disturbances and a control. When presented with a choice, 72% of the frogs avoided disturbed surfaces. Although able to orient towards the pond of capture when translocated on disturbed surfaces, frogs had a lower probability of homing successfully to the pond than when translocated at a similar distance on an undisturbed surface. Frogs lost the most water on substrates associated with disturbance and in the absence of cover. Our data illustrate that anthropically disturbed areas devoid of cover, such as mined peatlands and agricultural fields, disrupt the ability of frogs to reach habitat patches and are likely explanations to their reduced abundance patterns in such environments. ?? 2005 NRC Canada.

New approach to flavor symmetry and an extended naturalness principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barr, S. M.

2010-09-01

A class of nonsupersymmetric extensions of the standard model is proposed in which there is a multiplicity of light scalar doublets in a multiplet of a nonabelian family group with the standard model Higgs doublet. Anthropic tuning makes the latter light, and consequently the other scalar doublets remain light because of the family symmetry. The family symmetry greatly constrains the pattern of flavor-changing neutral-current interactions (FCNC) and p decay operators coming from scalar-exchange. Such models show that useful constraints on model-building can come from an extended naturalness principle when the electroweak scale is anthropically tuned.

Mapping groundwater quality distinguishing geogenic and anthropogenic contribution using NBL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preziosi, Elisabetta; Ducci, Daniela; Condesso de Melo, Maria Teresa; Parrone, Daniele; Sellerino, Mariangela; Ghergo, Stefano; Oliveira, Joana; Ribeiro, Luis

2015-04-01

Groundwaters are threatened by anthropic activities and pollution is interesting a large number of aquifers worldwide. Qualitative and quantitative monitoring is required to assess the status and track its evolution in time and space especially where anthropic pressures are stronger. Up to now, groundwater quality mapping has been performed separately from the assessment of its natural status, i.e. the definition of the natural background level of a particular element in a particular area or groundwater body. The natural background level (NBL) of a substance or element allows to distinguish anthropogenic pollution from contamination of natural origin in a population of groundwater samples. NBLs are the result of different atmospheric, geological, chemical and biological interaction processes during groundwater infiltration and circulation. There is an increasing need for the water managers to have sound indications on good quality groundwater exploitation. Indeed the extension of a groundwater body is often very large, in the order of tens or hundreds of square km. How to select a proper location for good quality groundwater abstraction is often limited to a question of facility for drilling (access, roads, authorizations, etc.) or at the most related to quantitative aspects driven by geophysical exploration (the most promising from a transmissibility point of view). So how to give indications to the administrators and water managers about the exploitation of good quality drinking water? In the case of anthropic contamination, how to define which area is to be restored and to which threshold (e.g. background level) should the concentration be lowered through the restoration measures? In the framework of a common project between research institutions in Italy (funded by CNR) and Portugal (funded by FCT), our objective is to establish a methodology aiming at merging together 1) the evaluation of NBL and 2) the need to take into account the drinking water standards with a spatial analysis. We compare diverse case studies using geochemical maps built by kriging in which we interpolate the conditional probability of exceeding the reference value (i.e. the drinking water standard) OR the local natural background level. The resulting maps provide a useful reference for management purposes.

Validation of trophic and anthropic underwater noise as settlement trigger in blue mussels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jolivet, Aurélie; Tremblay, Rejean; Olivier, Fréderic; Gervaise, Cédric; Sonier, Rémi; Genard, Bertrand; Chauvaud, Laurent

2016-09-01

Like the majority of benthic invertebrates, the blue mussel Mytilus edulis has a bentho-pelagic cycle with its larval settlement being a complex phenomenon involving numerous factors. Among these factors, underwater noise and pelagic trophic conditions have been weakly studied in previous researches. Under laboratory conditions, we tested the hypothesis that picoplankton assimilation by the pediveliger blue mussel larvae acts as a food cue that interacts with anthropic underwater sound to stimulate settlement. We used 13C-labeling microalgae to validate the assimilation of different picoplankton species in the tissues of pediveliger larvae. Our results clearly confirm our hypothesis with a significant synergic effect of these two factors. However, only the picoeukaryotes strains assimilated by larvae stimulated the settlement, whereas the non-ingested picocyanobacteria did not. Similar positive responses were observed with underwater sound characterized by low frequency vessel noises. The combination of both factors (trophic and vessel noise) drastically increased the mussel settlement by an order of 4 compared to the control (without picoplankton and noise). Settlement levels ranged from 16.5 to 67% in 67 h.

Contingency & Agency in the Holocene Anthropization of Mountain Landscapes of the Western Pyrenees

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gragson, Theodore; Coughlan, Michael; Leigh, David

2017-04-01

Mounting evidence indicates that mixed forests of the humid-temperate western Pyrenees mountains were converted by human agency to managed grasslands by at least the late Neolithic. We first realized major ramifications of the conversation process from pronounced differences we observed between soil profiles of ancient pastures and old-growth forests in otherwise similar landscape positions. Subsequently through radiocarbon dating of colluvial deposits we established a chronology for anthropic manipulation of the biotic factor of pedogenesis resulting in the creation of new soil materials, processes and functions. Regional- and biome-scale paleoecological analyses and archaeological syntheses suggest that it was Neolithic agropastoral land use that initiated anthropization of mountain landscapes of the western Pyrenees. However, such macroscopic views of human behavior cannot reveal the contingency and agency on which human causality rests. We have thus followed a complementary place-based investigative strategy that couples geoarchaeological, biophysical and socio-ecological factors spatially and temporally to arrive at the coevolutionary processes of human-environment interactions and landscape history. The results often contrast sharply with conventional narratives about human landscape degradation in agropastoral systems. For the last 2000 years, the western Pyrenees mountains were spatially removed from regional centers such as Pamplona and Bordeaux, and economically and politically peripheral to continental social and governmental processes. This marginality favored a macroscopic and time-invariant interpretation of agropastoral production in the western Pyrenees as the result of unambiguously enforced social norms exacted by intense solidarities of kin and neighbors. However, anthropization of the western Pyrenees was a spatially and temporally heterogeneous process in which land transitions appear to precede intensification. Radiocarbon dating shows three temporal clusters for archaeological features that fall broadly within the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the late Medieval/Early Modern period. The first two clusters coincide with the onset and the culmination of the transition from forest to pasture (ca. 4000-2200 cal yr BP) while the latter relates to strategic colonization from the lowlands to the north and south of the Pyrenees mountains. By integrating high-resolution geoarchaeological, biophysical and socio-ecological data we are able to go beyond discovering the onset of anthropization to examine human causality and environmental resilience as they relate to sustainability of mountain landscapes of the western Pyrenees over medium to long time intervals.

Longitudinal changes in microbial planktonic communities of a French river in relation to pesticide and nutrient inputs.

PubMed

Pesce, Stéphane; Fajon, Céline; Bardot, Corinne; Bonnemoy, Frédérique; Portelli, Christophe; Bohatier, Jacques

2008-02-18

To determine the effects of anthropic activities on river planktonic microbial populations, monthly water samples were collected for 11 months from two sampling sites characterized by differing nutrient and pesticide levels. The difference in trophic level between the two stations was particularly pronounced from May to November. Total pesticide concentrations were notably higher at the downstream station from April to October with a clear predominance of herbicide residues, especially the glyphosate metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA). From spring, algal biomass and density were favored by the high orthophosphate concentrations recorded at the downstream location. However, isolated drops in algal biomass were recorded at this sampling station, suggesting an adverse effect of herbicides on algal communities. No major difference was observed in bacterial heterotrophic production, density, or activity (CTC reduction) between the two sampling stations. No major variation was detected using the fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) method, but shifts in bacterial community composition were recorded by PCR-TTGE analysis at the downstream station following high nutrient and pesticide inputs. However, outside the main anthropic pollution period, the water's chemical properties and planktonic microbial communities were very similar at the two sampling sites, suggesting a high recovery potential for this lotic system.

Neutrino Masses in the Landscape and Global-Local Dualities in Eternal Inflation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mainemer Katz, Dan

In this dissertation we study two topics in Theoretical Cosmology: one more formal, the other more phenomenological. We work in the context of eternally inflating cosmologies. These arise in any fundamental theory that contains at least one stable or metastable de Sitter vacuum. Each topic is presented in a different chapter: Chapter 1 deals with the measure problem in eternal inflation. Global-local duality is the equivalence of seemingly different regulators in eternal inflation. For example, the light- cone time cutoff (a global measure, which regulates time) makes the same predictions as the causal patch (a local measure that cuts off space). We show that global-local duality is far more general. It rests on a redundancy inherent in any global cutoff: at late times, an attractor regime is reached, characterized by the unlimited exponential self-reproduction of a certain fundamental region of spacetime. An equivalent local cutoff can be obtained by restricting to this fundamental region. We derive local duals to several global cutoffs of interest. The New Scale Factor Cutoff is dual to the Short Fat Geodesic, a geodesic of fixed infinitesimal proper width. Vilenkin's CAH Cutoff is equivalent to the Hubbletube, whose width is proportional to the local Hubble volume. The famous youngness problem of the Proper Time Cutoff can be readily understood by considering its local dual, the Incredible Shrinking Geodesic. The chapter closely follows our paper. Chapter 2 deals with the question of whether neutrino masses could be anthropically explained. The sum of active neutrino masses is well constrained, 58 meV ≤ mupsilon [is approximately less than] 0.23 eV, but the origin of this scale is not well understood. Here we investigate the possibility that it arises by environmental selection in a large landscape of vacua. Earlier work had noted the detrimental effects of neutrinos on large scale structure. However, using Boltzmann codes to compute the smoothed density contrast on Mpc scales, we find that dark matter halos form abundantly for mupsilon [is approximately greater than] 10eV. This finding rules out an anthropic origin of mupsilon, unless a different catastrophic boundary can be identified. Here we argue that galaxy formation becomes inefficient for mupsilon [is approximately greater than] 10 eV. We show that in this regime, structure forms late and is dominated by cluster scales, as in a top-down scenario. This is catastrophic: baryonic gas will cool too slowly to form stars in an abundance comparable to our universe. With this novel cooling boundary, we find that the anthropic prediction for mupsilon agrees at better than 2sigma with current observational bounds. A degenerate hierarchy is mildly preferred. The chapter closely follows our paper.

On the importance of shrub encroachment by sprouters, climate, species richness and anthropic factors for ecosystem multifunctionality in semi-arid Mediterranean ecosystems.

PubMed

Quero, José L; Maestre, Fernando T; Ochoa, Victoria; García-Gómez, Miguel; Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel

2013-11-01

One of the most important changes taking place in drylands worldwide is the increase of the cover and dominance of shrubs in areas formerly devoid of them (shrub encroachment). A large body of research has evaluated the causes and consequences of shrub encroachment for both ecosystem structure and functioning. However, there are virtually no studies evaluating how shrub encroachment affects the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple functions and services simultaneously (multifunctionality). We aimed to do so by gathering data from ten ecosystem functions linked to the maintenance of primary production and nutrient cycling and storage (organic C, activity of β-glucosidase, pentoses, hexoses, total N, total available N, amino acids, proteins, available inorganic P and phosphatase activity), and summarizing them in a multifunctionality index ( M ). We assessed how climate, species richness, anthropic factors (distance to the nearest town, sandy and asphalted road, and human population in the nearest town at several historical periods) and encroachment by sprouting shrubs impacted both the functions in isolation and M along a regional (ca. 350 km) gradient in Mediterranean grasslands and shrublands dominated by a non-sprouting shrub. Values of M were higher in those grasslands and shrublands containing sprouting shrubs (43% and 62%, respectively). A similar response was found when analyzing the different functions in isolation, as encroachment by sprouting shrubs increased functions by 2%-80% compared to unencroached areas. Encroachment was the main driver of changes in M along the regional gradient evaluated, followed by anthropic factors and species richness. Climate had little effects on M in comparison to the other factors studied. Similar responses were observed when evaluating the functions in isolation. Overall, our results showed that M was higher at sites with higher sprouting shrub cover, longer distance to roads and higher perennial plant species richness. Our study is the first documenting that ecosystem multifunctionality in shrublands is enhanced by encroaching shrubs differing in size and leaf attributes. Our findings reinforce the idea that encroachment effects on ecosystem functioning cannot be generalized, and that are largely dependent on the traits of the encroaching shrub relative to those of the species being replaced.

Measuring conflicts in the management of anthropized ecosystems: Evidence from a choice experiment in a human-created Mediterranean wetland.

PubMed

Perni, Ángel; Martínez-Paz, José Miguel

2017-12-01

Economic valuation of ecosystem services provides valuable information for the management of anthropized environments, where individual preferences can be heterogeneous and even opposed. Here, we discuss how these ecosystem services were approached in the literature and we address the main issues in relation to their economic valuation. We consider that avoiding misspecifications in economic valuation surveys requires considering the linkages between anthropized ecosystems and human intervention. To illustrate, we analyse the case study of a human-created Mediterranean wetland (El Hondo, SE Spain) using a Choice Experiment. Our findings suggest that management strategies in El Hondo should be oriented to improve the water ecological status, to enhance biodiversity and to develop ecotourism, whereas hunting should be strictly limited and controlled. Our measures of conflict (trade-off between ecosystem services and willingness to pay values) can help to find the optimal allocation of public and private goods and services and for the implementation of compensation schemes in the area. According to public preferences, a conservationist management strategy would generate 331,100 €/year in terms of environmental benefits, whereas a tourism-based management strategy would benefit society with 805,200 €/year. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spatiotemporal Distribution and Population Structure of Monokalliapseudes schubarti (Tanaidacea: Kalliapseudidae) in an Estuary in Southern Brazil

PubMed Central

Freitas-Júnior, Felipe; Christoffersen, Martin Lindsey; de Araújo, Joafrâncio Pereira; Branco, Joaquim Olinto

2013-01-01

Monokalliapseudes schubarti is an endemic tanaidacean microcrustacean from southeastern Brazil to Uruguay inhabiting low energy estuaries. Saco da Fazenda is located in the estuary of the Itajaí-Açú River, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It is exposed to strong anthropic impact and receives intensive flows of domestic wastewater, solid residues, and drainage activities. Specimens of M. schubarti were collected monthly, in the intertidal and subtidal regions of Saco da Fazenda, in four stations defined as a function of the physiography of the environment during the period of July 2003 to June 2004. Fecundity values were high, with continuous reproductive activity during the whole period of study. The greatest population densities were observed in the intertidal region, where they are nevertheless intensely consumed by birds, swimming crabs, and fish. This species represents a fundamental link in the food chain of Saco da Fazenda, transferring energy from the detritus level to higher trophic levels. Habitat disturbance and high organic matter may represent factors controlling the distribution of populations of M. schubarti. For this reason, the species may be used to monitor anthropic effects in estuarine areas. PMID:24298211

Wine microbiology is driven by vineyard and winery anthropogenic factors.

PubMed

Grangeteau, Cédric; Roullier-Gall, Chloé; Rousseaux, Sandrine; Gougeon, Régis D; Schmitt-Kopplin, Philippe; Alexandre, Hervé; Guilloux-Benatier, Michèle

2017-03-01

The effects of different anthropic activities (vineyard: phytosanitary protection; winery: pressing and sulfiting) on the fungal populations of grape berries were studied. The global diversity of fungal populations (moulds and yeasts) was performed by pyrosequencing. The anthropic activities studied modified fungal diversity. Thus, a decrease in biodiversity was measured for three successive vintages for the grapes of the plot cultivated with Organic protection compared to plots treated with Conventional and Ecophyto protections. The fungal populations were then considerably modified by the pressing-clarification step. The addition of sulfur dioxide also modified population dynamics and favoured the domination of the species Saccharomyces cerevisiae during fermentation. The non-targeted chemical analysis of musts and wines by FT-ICR-MS showed that the wines could be discriminated at the end of alcoholic fermentation as a function of adding SO 2 or not, but also and above all as a function of phytosanitary protection, regardless of whether these fermentations took place in the presence of SO 2 or not. Thus, the existence of signatures in wines of chemical diversity and microbiology linked to vineyard protection has been highlighted. © 2016 The Authors. Microbial Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Society for Applied Microbiology.

Quantum Gravity in Cyclic (ekpyrotic) and Multiple (anthropic) Universes with Strings And/or Loops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chung, T. J.

2008-09-01

This paper addresses a hypothetical extension of ekpyrotic and anthropic principles, implying cyclic and multiple universes, respectively. Under these hypotheses, from time immemorial (t = -∞), a universe undergoes a big bang from a singularity, initially expanding and eventually contracting to another singularity (big crunch). This is to prepare for the next big bang, repeating these cycles toward eternity (t = +∞), every 30 billion years apart. Infinity in time backward and forward (t = ±∞) is paralleled with infinity in space (Xi = ±∞), allowing multiple universes to prevail, each undergoing big bangs and big crunches similarly as our own universe. It is postulated that either string theory and /or loop quantum gravity might be able to substantiate these hypotheses.

Nontrivial Quantum Effects in Biology: A Skeptical Physicists' View

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiseman, Howard; Eisert, Jens

The following sections are included: * Introduction * A Quantum Life Principle * A quantum chemistry principle? * The anthropic principle * Quantum Computing in the Brain * Nature did everything first? * Decoherence as the make or break issue * Quantum error correction * Uselessness of quantum algorithms for organisms * Quantum Computing in Genetics * Quantum search * Teleological aspects and the fast-track to life * Quantum Consciousness * Computability and free will * Time scales * Quantum Free Will * Predictability and free will * Determinism and free will * Acknowledgements * References

Post conflict water management: learning from the past for recovery planning in the Orontes River basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saadé-Sbeih, Myriam; Zwahlen, François; Haj Asaad, Ahmed; Gonzalez, Raoul; Jaubert, Ronald

2016-10-01

Water management is a fundamental issue in post-conflict planning in Syria. Based on historical water balance assessment, this study identifies the drivers of the profound changes that took place in the Lebanese and Syrian parts of the Orontes River basin since the 1930s. Both drastic effects of the conflict on the hydro-system and the strong uncontrolled anthropization of the river basin prior to the crisis have to be considered in the design of recovery interventions.

Nature of the Physical Observer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osoroma, Drahcir S.

2010-12-01

The nature of the observer has long plagued physical science. Here we review the current status of cognitive science in the context of a cosmology of mind in an Anthropic Multiverse. The concept of an élan vital or life force has long been considered the elementary action principle driving the evolution of living-systems by theologically minded scientists and individuals. Sufficiently extending Einstein's original model of a Static Universe, to a Holographic Anthropic Multiverse (HAM), provides a context for solving this centuries old problem for introducing this type of teleological principle into Physics, Biology, Medicine and Psychology. This means the contemporary framework of biological mechanism should no longer be considered the formal philosophical basis for describing living systems and contemporary allopathic (scientific) medicine. The new noetic action principle has far reaching implications for medicine and transpersonal psychology.

PubMed Central

Valeriani, F.; Cianfanelli, C.; Gianfranceschi, G.; Santucci, S.; Romano Spica, V.

2017-01-01

Summary Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in libraries is influenced by the presence of specific factors which can impact on both paper storage as well as people health. Microclimatic conditions induce and support a biodiversity pattern involving environmental and anthropic microorganisms. We used a multidisciplinary monitoring model to characterize microflora biodiversity by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). Biodiversity indexes were adapted to evaluate anthropic vs environmental pollution by combining Shannon mean index (H), species representativeness (EH), human/environmental pollution ratio (SA) to better characterize the NGS output and acquire synthetic information on Indoor Air Microbial Biodiversity (IAMB). Results indicate a frequently low microbial load (IGCM/m3 < 1000) characterized by different species (n = 102), including several cellulose metabolizing bacteria. Workers and visitors appeared a relevant source of microbial contamination. Air biodiversity assayed by NGS seems a promising marker for studying IAQ. PMID:29123371

Distribution of {Omega}{sub k} from the scale-factor cutoff measure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

De Simone, Andrea; Salem, Michael P.

2010-04-15

Our Universe may be contained in one among a diverging number of bubbles that nucleate within an eternally inflating multiverse. A promising measure to regulate the diverging spacetime volume of such a multiverse is the scale-factor cutoff, one feature of which is bubbles are not rewarded for having a longer duration of slow-roll inflation. Thus, depending on the landscape distribution of the number of e-folds of inflation among bubbles like ours, we might hope to measure spatial curvature. We study a recently proposed cartoon model of inflation in the landscape and find a reasonable chance (about 10%) that the curvaturemore » in our Universe is well above the value expected from cosmic variance. Anthropic selection does not strongly select for curvature as small as is observed (relative somewhat larger values), meaning the observational bound on curvature can be used to rule out landscape models that typically give too little inflation.« less

Use of anticoagulant rodenticides in outdoor urban areas: considerations and proposals for the protection of public health and non-target species.

PubMed

Dutto, M; Di Domenico, D; Rubbiani, M

2018-01-01

Rodent control operations represent an important tool for the prevention and management of infestations, in outdoor environments, by synanthropic rodents (Rattus rattus and R. norvegicus), which are a source of economic and environmental damage with significant sanitary implications. Although the use of anticoagulants is safer to humans and pets compared to the use of acute poisoning substances, an intrinsic hazard of the active ingredients exists, i.e. the possible poisoning of non-target organisms (e.g., children, pets and wildlife) following exposure. The risks arising from the use of anticoagulants for rodent control operations in anthropic contexts can therefore only be mitigated by a proper selection of the active ingredient, bait formulation and administration techniques, since an active ingredient with selective action towards non-target species does not currently exist on the market. This document lists practical proposals aimed at reducing the possibility of toxic exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides and mitigate the toxicological risk of human baits and non-target species.

Hillslope degradation in small Mediterranean catchments along the Apennine chain in Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandolini, Pierluigi; Capolongo, Domenico; Cappadonia, Chiara; Cevasco, Andrea; Conoscenti, Christian; Del Monte, Maurizio; Pepe, Giacomo; Piccarreta, Marco; Vergari, Francesca

2017-04-01

In this research, the results coming from the investigation of some small catchments located along the Apennines (Italy) affected by hillslope degradation are presented. Four key study areas, particularly sensitive to climatic and anthropic changes, have been selected in Liguria (Cinque Terre), Tuscany (Val d'Orcia), Basilicata (Fossa Bradanica)) and Sicily (Scillato) regions. These areas are characterized by different climatic and geological conditions, orographic and tectonic settings, land use evolution and land management practices. All of them recorded very severe landscape changes in the last few centuries, because of unsustainable anthropogenic modification together with their increasing proneness to fast erosion by mass movements and runoff on slopes. Hence, degradation processes are widespread in the selected areas leading to loss and depletion of soil, economic damage, risk conditions and environmental changes. Interestingly, despite the small extent, the selected basins can be considered representative of the land degradation issues that occurred at the wider regional scale. The obtained results show that the maximum denudation effects occur during occasional but extreme rainfall events that can mobilize, in a few hours or days, the total annual sediment yield estimated for a single catchment and for a single slope. Furthermore, the case studies revealed that land mismanagement has a crucial impact in increasing the erosion rates, especially when crop-land are abandoned and/or land maintenance practices are no longer carried out. Since hillslope degradation, together with the recent changes in the rainfall regime and in land use, can lead to an increasing in both geomorphological hazard and risk, our findings can contribute: (i) to define a proper land management; (ii) to support the decision-making; (iii) to schedule an effective strategy for landscape conservation and its enhancement.

On the importance of shrub encroachment by sprouters, climate, species richness and anthropic factors for ecosystem multifunctionality in semi-arid Mediterranean ecosystems

PubMed Central

Quero, José L.; Maestre, Fernando T.; Ochoa, Victoria; García-Gómez, Miguel; Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel

2016-01-01

One of the most important changes taking place in drylands worldwide is the increase of the cover and dominance of shrubs in areas formerly devoid of them (shrub encroachment). A large body of research has evaluated the causes and consequences of shrub encroachment for both ecosystem structure and functioning. However, there are virtually no studies evaluating how shrub encroachment affects the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple functions and services simultaneously (multifunctionality). We aimed to do so by gathering data from ten ecosystem functions linked to the maintenance of primary production and nutrient cycling and storage (organic C, activity of β-glucosidase, pentoses, hexoses, total N, total available N, amino acids, proteins, available inorganic P and phosphatase activity), and summarizing them in a multifunctionality index (M). We assessed how climate, species richness, anthropic factors (distance to the nearest town, sandy and asphalted road, and human population in the nearest town at several historical periods) and encroachment by sprouting shrubs impacted both the functions in isolation and M along a regional (ca. 350 km) gradient in Mediterranean grasslands and shrublands dominated by a non-sprouting shrub. Values of M were higher in those grasslands and shrublands containing sprouting shrubs (43% and 62%, respectively). A similar response was found when analyzing the different functions in isolation, as encroachment by sprouting shrubs increased functions by 2%–80% compared to unencroached areas. Encroachment was the main driver of changes in M along the regional gradient evaluated, followed by anthropic factors and species richness. Climate had little effects on M in comparison to the other factors studied. Similar responses were observed when evaluating the functions in isolation. Overall, our results showed that M was higher at sites with higher sprouting shrub cover, longer distance to roads and higher perennial plant species richness. Our study is the first documenting that ecosystem multifunctionality in shrublands is enhanced by encroaching shrubs differing in size and leaf attributes. Our findings reinforce the idea that encroachment effects on ecosystem functioning cannot be generalized, and that are largely dependent on the traits of the encroaching shrub relative to those of the species being replaced. PMID:27330403

Biodiversity conservation in an anthropized landscape: Trees, not patch size drive, bird community composition in a low-input agro-ecosystem.

PubMed

Mellink, Eric; Riojas-López, Mónica E; Cárdenas-García, Melinda

2017-01-01

One of the most typical agro-ecosystems in the Llanos de Ojuelos, a semi-arid region of central Mexico, is that of fruit-production orchards of nopales (prickly pear cacti). This perennial habitat with complex vertical structure provides refuge and food for at least 112 species of birds throughout the year. Nopal orchards vary in their internal structure, size and shrub/tree composition, yet these factors have unknown effects on the animals that use them. To further understand the conservation potential of this agro-ecosystem, we evaluated the effects of patch-size and the presence of trees on bird community composition, as well as several habitat variables, through an information-theoretical modelling approach. Community composition was obtained through a year of census transects in 12 orchards. The presence of trees in the orchards was the major driver of bird communities followed by seasonality; bird communities are independent of patch size, except for small orchard patches that benefit black-chin sparrows, which are considered a sensitive species. At least 55 species of six trophic guilds (insectivores, granivores, carnivores, nectivores, omnivores, and frugivores) used the orchards. Orchards provide adequate habitat and food resources for several sensitive species of resident and migratory sparrows. The attributes that make orchards important for birds: trees, shrubs, herb seeds, and open patches can be managed to maintain native biodiversity in highly anthropized regions with an urgent need to find convergence between production and biological conservation.

Biodiversity conservation in an anthropized landscape: Trees, not patch size drive, bird community composition in a low-input agro-ecosystem

PubMed Central

Mellink, Eric; Cárdenas-García, Melinda

2017-01-01

One of the most typical agro-ecosystems in the Llanos de Ojuelos, a semi-arid region of central Mexico, is that of fruit-production orchards of nopales (prickly pear cacti). This perennial habitat with complex vertical structure provides refuge and food for at least 112 species of birds throughout the year. Nopal orchards vary in their internal structure, size and shrub/tree composition, yet these factors have unknown effects on the animals that use them. To further understand the conservation potential of this agro-ecosystem, we evaluated the effects of patch-size and the presence of trees on bird community composition, as well as several habitat variables, through an information-theoretical modelling approach. Community composition was obtained through a year of census transects in 12 orchards. The presence of trees in the orchards was the major driver of bird communities followed by seasonality; bird communities are independent of patch size, except for small orchard patches that benefit black-chin sparrows, which are considered a sensitive species. At least 55 species of six trophic guilds (insectivores, granivores, carnivores, nectivores, omnivores, and frugivores) used the orchards. Orchards provide adequate habitat and food resources for several sensitive species of resident and migratory sparrows. The attributes that make orchards important for birds: trees, shrubs, herb seeds, and open patches can be managed to maintain native biodiversity in highly anthropized regions with an urgent need to find convergence between production and biological conservation. PMID:28686608

High-scale SUSY from an R -invariant new inflation in the landscape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawasaki, Masahiro; Yamada, Masaki; Yanagida, Tsutomu T.; Yokozaki, Norimi

2016-03-01

We provide an anthropic reason for the supersymmetry breaking scale being much higher than the electroweak scale, as indicated by the null result of collider experiments and the observed 125 GeV Higgs boson. We focus on a new inflation model as a typical low-scale inflation model that may be expected in the string landscape. In this model, R symmetry is broken at the minimum of the inflaton potential, and its breaking scale is related to the reheating temperature. Once we admit that the anthropic principle requires thermal leptogenesis, we obtain a lower bound for the gravitino mass, which is related to the R symmetry breaking scale. This scenario and resulting gravitino mass predict the consistent amplitude of density perturbations. We also find that string axions and saxions are consistently implemented in this scenario.

Anthropics of aluminum-26 decay and biological homochirality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sandora, McCullen

2017-11-01

Results of recent experiment reinstate feasibility to the hypothesis that biomolecular homochirality originates from beta decay. Coupled with hints that this process occurred extraterrestrially suggests aluminum-26 as the most likely source. If true, then its appropriateness is highly dependent on the half-life and energy of this decay. Demanding that this mechanism hold places new constraints on the anthropically allowed range for multiple parameters, including the electron mass, difference between up and down quark masses, the fine structure constant, and the electroweak scale. These new constraints on particle masses are tighter than those previously found. However, one edge of the allowed region is nearly degenerate with an existing bound, which, using what is termed here as `the principle of noncoincident peril', is argued to be a strong indicator that the fine structure constant must be an environmental parameter in the multiverse.

Dimensionality in Supergravity Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Zhong Chao

2008-01-01

It is shown that in d = 11 supergravity, under a very reasonable ansatz, the observable spacetime must be 4-dimensional. The spacetime dimensionality, for the first time, is proven from the First Principle, instead of the Anthropic Principle.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sandora, McCullen, E-mail: sandora@cp3.dias.sdu.dk

We use the existence of habitable planets to impose anthropic requirements on the fine structure constant, α. To this effect, we present two considerations that restrict its value to be very near the one observed. The first, that the end product of stellar fusion is iron and not one of its neighboring elements, restricts α{sup -1} to be 145± 50. The second, that radiogenic heat in the Earth's interior remains adequately productive for billions of years, restricts it to be 145±9. A connection with the grand unified theory window is discussed, effectively providing a route to probe ultra-high energy physicsmore » with upcoming advances in planetary science.« less

Galactic punctuated equilibrium: how to undermine Carter's anthropic argument in astrobiology.

PubMed

Cirković, Milan M; Vukotić, Branislav; Dragićević, Ivana

2009-06-01

A new strategy by which to defeat Carter's "anthropic" argument against extraterrestrial life and intelligence is presented. Our approach is based on relaxing hidden uniformitarian assumptions and considering instead a dynamical succession of evolutionary regimes governed by both global (Galaxy-wide) and local (planet- or planetary system-limited) regulation mechanisms. Notably, our increased understanding of the nature of supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and strong coupling between the Solar System and the Galaxy, and the theories of "punctuated equilibria" and "macroevolutionary regimes" are in full accordance with the regulation-mechanism picture. The application of this particular strategy highlights the limits of application of Carter's argument and indicates that, in the real universe, its applicability conditions are not satisfied. We conclude that drawing far-reaching conclusions about the scarcity of extraterrestrial intelligence and the prospects of our efforts to detect it on the basis of this argument is unwarranted.

Isocurvature forecast in the anthropic axion window

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hamann, J.; Hannestad, S.; Raffelt, G.G.

2009-06-01

We explore the cosmological sensitivity to the amplitude of isocurvature fluctuations that would be caused by axions in the ''anthropic window'' where the axion decay constant f{sub a} >> 10{sup 12} GeV and the initial misalignment angle Θ{sub i} << 1. In a minimal ΛCDM cosmology extended with subdominant scale-invariant isocurvature fluctuations, existing data constrain the isocurvature fraction to α < 0.09 at 95% C.L. If no signal shows up, Planck can improve this constraint to 0.042 while an ultimate CMB probe limited only by cosmic variance in both temperature and E-polarisation can reach 0.017, about a factor of fivemore » better than the current limit. In the parameter space of f{sub a} and H{sub I} (Hubble parameter during inflation) we identify a small region where axion detection remains within the reach of realistic cosmological probes.« less

Monitoring biodiversity in libraries: a pilot study and perspectives for indoor air quality.

PubMed

Valeriani, F; Cianfanelli, C; Gianfranceschi, G; Santucci, S; Romano Spica, V; Mucci, N

2017-09-01

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in libraries is influenced by the presence of specific factors which can impact on both paper storage as well as people health. Microclimatic conditions induce and support a biodiversity pattern involving environmental and anthropic microorganisms. We used a multidisciplinary monitoring model to characterize microflora biodiversity by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). Biodiversity indexes were adapted to evaluate anthropic vs environmental pollution by combining Shannon mean index (H), species representativeness (E H ), human/environmental pollution ratio (SA) to better characterize the NGS output and acquire synthetic information on Indoor Air Microbial Biodiversity (IAMB). Results indicate a frequently low microbial load (IGCM/m 3 < 1000) characterized by different species (n = 102), including several cellulose metabolizing bacteria. Workers and visitors appeared a relevant source of microbial contamination. Air biodiversity assayed by NGS seems a promising marker for studying IAQ.

Predicting the Cosmological Constant from the CausalEntropic Principle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bousso, Raphael; Harnik, Roni; Kribs, Graham D.

2007-02-20

We compute the expected value of the cosmological constant in our universe from the Causal Entropic Principle. Since observers must obey the laws of thermodynamics and causality, it asserts that physical parameters are most likely to be found in the range of values for which the total entropy production within a causally connected region is maximized. Despite the absence of more explicit anthropic criteria, the resulting probability distribution turns out to be in excellent agreement with observation. In particular, we find that dust heated by stars dominates the entropy production, demonstrating the remarkable power of this thermodynamic selection criterion. Themore » alternative approach--weighting by the number of ''observers per baryon''--is less well-defined, requires problematic assumptions about the nature of observers, and yet prefers values larger than present experimental bounds.« less

Developing state-of-the-art Cosmology courses for undergraduate non-science students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopez-Aleman, Ramon

2007-04-01

All undergraduate students at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras are required to take a General Studies interdisciplinary science course as a requisite for graduation. We have successfully developed a new course for non-science majors that deal in current topics of interest including Big Bang cosmology, the uses and misuses of anthropic principle as a philosophical guide for scientists, dark energy and accelerated expansion, string theory and quantum gravity, and the current controversy of Intelligent Design vs Evolution by Natural Selection as explanations for the origins of life on Earth, intelligence and free will in sentient beings. The course was designed with help of philosophers, neuroscientists, biologists and physicists to present science as interesting, exciting, and socially useful sets of ``stories'' to people who usually dislike and misunderstand traditional science courses.

The influence of anthropic actions on the evolution of an urban beach: Case study of Marineta Cassiana beach, Spain.

PubMed

Pagán, J I; Aragonés, L; Tenza-Abril, A J; Pallarés, P

2016-07-15

Coastal areas have been historically characterized as being a source of wealth. Nowadays, beaches have become more relevant as a place for rest and leisure. This had led to a very high population pressure due to rapid urbanisation processes. The impacts associated with coastal tourism, demand the development of anthropic actions to protect the shoreline. This paper has studied the impacts of these actions on the Marineta Cassiana beach, in Denia, Spain. This particular Mediterranean beach has traditionally suffered a major shoreline regression, and the beach nourishments carried out in the 1980s would not have achieved the reliability desired. This research has analysed the historic evolution of the beach and its environment for a period of 65years (1950-2015). A Geographic Information System (GIS) has been used to integrate and perform a spatial analysis of urban development, soil erosion, stream flow, swell, longshore transport, submerged vegetation species and shoreline evolution. The results show how the anthropic actions have affected the shoreline. After the excessive urban development of the catchments, there is no natural sediment supply to the beach. The change in the typology of the sediment, from pebbles to sand, during the beach nourishments has led to a crucial imbalance in the studied area. Moreover, the beach area gained has disappeared, affecting the Posidonia oceanica meadow, and incrementing the erosion rates. The findings obtained are relevant, not only in the management and maintenance of the beaches, but also, in the decision-making for future nourishments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cosmology, life, and the anthropic principle.

PubMed

Barrow, J D

2001-12-01

We discuss some ways in which the age, size, and structure of the Universe, together with the values of its defining constants, satisfy the necessary conditions for life. The implications for teleology and the existence of other universes are also discussed.

Naturally Speaking: The Naturalness Criterion and Physics at the LHC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giudice, Gian Francesco

The following sections are included: * Naturalness in Scientific Thought * Drowning by Numbers * A Quantum Complication * The Naturalness Criterion as a Principle * An Account of Events * The Paths Chosen by Nature * Measuring Naturalness * Anthropic Reasoning * Naturalness versus Criticality * Conclusions * References

Topographic and depositional signature of old anthropic lakes in northern part of the Moldavian Plateau (NE Romania)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciprian Margarint, Mihai; Niculita, Mihai; Nemeth, Alexandra; Cristea, Ionut

2017-04-01

The role of humans and theirs social activities in reshaping earth surface is obvious in many places of the world. Anthropic fingerprints on Earth's surface morphology are recognizable by theirs topographic and depositional signatures that can cause considerable changes in geomorphological organization of the landscape, with direct consequences on Earth surface processes. Anthropic dams and their associated sediments represent recent archives that record environmental changes. They can provide substantial data to reconstruct general models in geomorphic evolution of hydrologic catchments and the identification of extreme meteorological events and sediment fluxes. Also, geochemical tracers provide us relevant indicators about climatic patterns and local condition of sedimentation processes. Until quite recently, the identification and counting the old lakes have been carried out mostly by studying different old maps and less by analyzing their fingerprints on the Earth surface. Considered a real revolution in geomorphology, the high-resolution LiDAR data allow us nowadays a more precise recognition of minor landforms, their extent and cross-relationships, as well as to discover surface features that have escaped the attention before. Furthermore, by using Electrical Resistivity Tomography techniques, the 3D extension of the sediments can be revealed. Anthropic lakes are one of the most particular hydrological anthropic features of the landscape in the northern part of the Moldavian Plateau (Eastern Carpathian lowland). The need for water supply, have forced the inhabitants to build dams of various sizes along the entire river network. Over the time, many dams were abandoned, while others have been relocated with an impressive dynamic at historical time scale. For more than 3000 sq km we have carried out an accurate inventory of abandoned dams using LIDAR imagery. Taking into consideration the last appearance of the lakes on the old maps, they were classified: pre-1895, 1895-1940, 1940-2000 and present active. In this research we have analyzed 2 small old lakes (pre-1895) and theirs sedimentary archives. Using LIDAR high resolution DEM and ERT scans we have reconstruct the maximum extension of the lake and the deepening of the sediments. The sediments consist of clay and plant remains with some light-coloured horizons. Bioturbation is abundant in the wall of horizontal tunnels with diameter between 3 and 5 cm. Thin sections were prepared from some samples, opaque, octahedral minerals being visible around the size of 10 μm. Their colour in reflected light was bluishgrey which suggests that these could be magnetite grains instead of pyrite. Authigenic magnetite is abundant in lake sediments, close to the oxic-anoxic transition zone, where the sediment is not sulphidic. It is commonly precipitated as a result of bacterial activity, however these minerals usually don't exceed the size of 100 nm therefore the authigenic origin of the magnetite in our samples is not proven yet. The study of this sedimentary archives, we believe that needs to be extended in order to have an image of the hydrological and climatological evolution of the study area in the last 500 years.

Origin of the Livelihood Dilemma for Local Fisherman in Poyang Lake Wetland: a Ramsar Site in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Dongming; Zhou, Guohong; Zhou, Yangming; Chen, Yayun; Jia, Junsong

2018-01-01

Poyang Lake is one of the first Ramsar sites in China; it has plenty of natural resources that support the survival of local residents. However, local fisherman have encountered a livelihood dilemma, as natural resources have declined, obviously because of the change in the ecological environment and anthropic disturbance. We seek to explain what lead to livelihood dilemma to the local fishermen, so semi-structured interviews, questionnaire surveys, Geographic information system (GIS), Remote sensing (RS), Global position system (GPS), and department data were used to analyze the internal and external factors for these dilemmas. The results explained the external factors including the exhaustion of natural resources, the drying up of wetlands, landscape fragmentation, water contamination, and disturbance through anthropic behavior; the internal factors included the ageing of fishermen, poor cultural quality, conservative ideas, and unreasonable fishing practices. Eco-compensation, industry transformation, and capacity innovation may help to resolve livelihood dilemmas for the local fisherman of the Poyang Lake wetlands.

Anthropic Correction of Information Estimates and Its Application to Neural Coding

PubMed Central

Gastpar, Michael C.; Gill, Patrick R.; Huth, Alexander G.; Theunissen, Frédéric E.

2015-01-01

Information theory has been used as an organizing principle in neuroscience for several decades. Estimates of the mutual information (MI) between signals acquired in neurophysiological experiments are believed to yield insights into the structure of the underlying information processing architectures. With the pervasive availability of recordings from many neurons, several information and redundancy measures have been proposed in the recent literature. A typical scenario is that only a small number of stimuli can be tested, while ample response data may be available for each of the tested stimuli. The resulting asymmetric information estimation problem is considered. It is shown that the direct plug-in information estimate has a negative bias. An anthropic correction is introduced that has a positive bias. These two complementary estimators and their combinations are natural candidates for information estimation in neuroscience. Tail and variance bounds are given for both estimates. The proposed information estimates are applied to the analysis of neural discrimination and redundancy in the avian auditory system. PMID:26900172

Anthropic Correction of Information Estimates and Its Application to Neural Coding.

PubMed

Gastpar, Michael C; Gill, Patrick R; Huth, Alexander G; Theunissen, Frédéric E

2010-02-01

Information theory has been used as an organizing principle in neuroscience for several decades. Estimates of the mutual information (MI) between signals acquired in neurophysiological experiments are believed to yield insights into the structure of the underlying information processing architectures. With the pervasive availability of recordings from many neurons, several information and redundancy measures have been proposed in the recent literature. A typical scenario is that only a small number of stimuli can be tested, while ample response data may be available for each of the tested stimuli. The resulting asymmetric information estimation problem is considered. It is shown that the direct plug-in information estimate has a negative bias. An anthropic correction is introduced that has a positive bias. These two complementary estimators and their combinations are natural candidates for information estimation in neuroscience. Tail and variance bounds are given for both estimates. The proposed information estimates are applied to the analysis of neural discrimination and redundancy in the avian auditory system.

Modern Cosmology and Anthropic Fine-Tuning: Three approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, Robin

The anthropic fine-tuning of the cosmos refers to the claim that the laws of nature, the constants of physics, and the initial conditions of the universe must be set to an enormous degree of precision for embodied conscious agents to exist. Three major responses have been offered to this fine-tuning: the multiverse explanation; theism; and the claim that it is just a brute fact that requires no further explanation. In this chapter, I will consider each explanation in turn, and provide some novel arguments for the superiority of a theistic or related explanation. In the last section, I will show how whether or not one adopts a theistic or related explanation can significantly influence what features of the universe one considers in need of further scientific explanation, and the type of scientific explanation that one should find satisfactory. In particular, I will argue that in some cases atheism, not theism, serves as a science stopper in discouraging a search for deeper scientific explanations of phenomena.

Trace Gas and Carbon Sequestration Dynamics in Temperate Croplands and Successional Ecosystems: A Full-Cost Accounting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robertson, G. P.; McSwiney, C. P.

2003-12-01

Agriculture is responsible for 21-25% of the global anthropic CO2 flux, 55-60% of the anthropic CH4 flux, and 65-80% of the anthopic flux of N2O. A number of CO2 stabilization strategies target agricultural production practices, and the potential for simultaneously abating fluxes of the non-CO2 greenhouse gases is substantial. But so is the potential for creating greenhouse gas (GHG) liabilities, the unintentional increase in one or more GHGs by activities that mitigate another. Whole-system accounting provides a means for including all GHG-contributing processes in the same cropping system analysis in order to illuminate major liabilities and synergies. We contrast a field crop system in the upper U.S. midwest with unmanaged successional ecosystems in the same landscape, and provide evidence that N2O flux - the major contributor to radiative forcing in row-crop systems - can be abated with little loss of crop productivity.

Inflatable Dark Matter

DOE PAGES

Davoudiasl, Hooman; Hooper, Dan; McDermott, Samuel D.

2016-01-22

We describe a general scenario, dubbed “Inflatable Dark Matter”, in which the density of dark matter particles can be reduced through a short period of late-time inflation in the early universe. The overproduction of dark matter that is predicted within many otherwise well-motivated models of new physics can be elegantly remedied within this context, without the need to tune underlying parameters or to appeal to anthropic considerations. Thermal relics that would otherwise be disfavored can easily be accommodated within this class of scenarios, including dark matter candidates that are very heavy or very light. Furthermore, the non-thermal abundance of GUTmore » or Planck scale axions can be brought to acceptable levels, without invoking anthropic tuning of initial conditions. Additionally, a period of late-time inflation could have occurred over a wide range of scales from ~ MeV to the weak scale or above, and could have been triggered by physics within a hidden sector, with small but not necessarily negligible couplings to the Standard Model.« less

Extraterrestrial life in light of recent planetary science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanley, Matthew

2016-03-01

Since at least the time of the Greeks, we have wondered whether the universe cares about us. Is the universe friendly to life, with fecund planets scattered through the heavens? Or is it indifferent, with our green globe a fluke among barren rocks? Modern scientists articulate this puzzle in the form of the anthropic principle, and try to quantify it with the Drake equation. Both seek to link the science we find in our corner of the universe to truly cosmological claims about life and the laws of nature. Until very recently, these questions have been accessible only to speculation. But the amazing progress in planetary science of the last two decades has finally given us an opportunity to begin to test these ideas. This paper will examine how our recent studies of planets within and beyond our solar system may help us grapple with the riddles of the anthropic principle and how life fits into a universe of natural laws.

Malaria ecotypes and stratification.

PubMed

Schapira, Allan; Boutsika, Konstantina

2012-01-01

To deal with the variability of malaria, control programmes need to stratify their malaria problem into a number of smaller units. Such stratification may be based on the epidemiology of malaria or on its determinants such as ecology. An ecotype classification was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) around 1990, and it is time to assess its usefulness for current malaria control as well as for malaria modelling on the basis of published research. Journal and grey literature was searched for articles on malaria or Anopheles combined with ecology or stratification. It was found that all malaria in the world today could be assigned to one or more of the following ecotypes: savanna, plains and valleys; forest and forest fringe; foothill; mountain fringe and northern and southern fringes; desert fringe; coastal and urban. However, some areas are in transitional or mixed zones; furthermore, the implications of any ecotype depend on the biogeographical region, sometimes subregion, and finally, the knowledge on physiography needs to be supplemented by local information on natural, anthropic and health system processes including malaria control. Ecotyping can therefore not be seen as a shortcut to determine control interventions, but rather as a framework to supplement available epidemiological and entomological data so as to assess malaria situations at the local level, think through the particular risks and opportunities and reinforce intersectoral action. With these caveats, it does however emerge that several ecotypic distinctions are well defined and have relatively constant implications for control within certain biogeographic regions. Forest environments in the Indo-malay and the Neotropics are, with a few exceptions, associated with much higher malaria risk than in adjacent areas; the vectors are difficult to control, and the anthropic factors also often converge to impose constraints. Urban malaria in Africa is associated with lower risk than savanna malaria; larval control may be considered though its role is not so far well established. In contrast, urban malaria in the Indian subcontinent is associated with higher risks than most adjacent rural areas, and larval control has a definite, though not exclusive, role. Simulation modelling of cost-effectiveness of malaria control strategies in different scenarios should prioritize ecotypes where malaria control encounters serious technical problems. Further field research on malaria and ecology should be interdisciplinary, especially with geography, and pay more attention to juxtapositions and to anthropic elements, especially migration. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adaptive 4d Psi-Based Change Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Chia-Hsiang; Soergel, Uwe

2018-04-01

In a previous work, we proposed a PSI-based 4D change detection to detect disappearing and emerging PS points (3D) along with their occurrence dates (1D). Such change points are usually caused by anthropic events, e.g., building constructions in cities. This method first divides an entire SAR image stack into several subsets by a set of break dates. The PS points, which are selected based on their temporal coherences before or after a break date, are regarded as change candidates. Change points are then extracted from these candidates according to their change indices, which are modelled from their temporal coherences of divided image subsets. Finally, we check the evolution of the change indices for each change point to detect the break date that this change occurred. The experiment validated both feasibility and applicability of our method. However, two questions still remain. First, selection of temporal coherence threshold associates with a trade-off between quality and quantity of PS points. This selection is also crucial for the amount of change points in a more complex way. Second, heuristic selection of change index thresholds brings vulnerability and causes loss of change points. In this study, we adapt our approach to identify change points based on statistical characteristics of change indices rather than thresholding. The experiment validates this adaptive approach and shows increase of change points compared with the old version. In addition, we also explore and discuss optimal selection of temporal coherence threshold.

Cross-boundary management between national parks and surrounding lands: A review and discussion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schonewald-Cox, Christine; Buechner, Marybeth; Sauvajot, Raymond; Wilcox, Bruce A.

1992-03-01

Protecting biodiversity on public lands is difficult, requiring the management of a complex array of factors. This is especially true when the ecosystems in question are affected by, or extend onto, lands outside the boundaries of the protected area. In this article we review recent developments in the cross-boundary management of protected natural resources, such as parks, wildlife reserves, and designated wilderness areas. Five ecological and 11 anthropic techniques have been suggested for use in cross-boundary management. The categories are not mutually exclusive, but each is a distinct and representative approach, suggested by various authors from academic, managerial, and legal professions. The ecological strategies stress the collection of basic data and documentation of trends. The anthropic techniques stress the usefulness of cooperative guidelines and the need to develop a local constituency which supports park goals. However, the situation is complex and the needed strategies are often difficult to implement. Diverse park resources are influenced by events in surrounding lands. The complexity and variability of sources, the ecological systems under protection, and the uncertainty of the effects combine to produce situations for which there are no simple answers. The solution to coexistence of the park and surrounding land depends upon creative techniques and recommendations, many still forthcoming. Ecological, sociological, legal, and economic disciplines as well as the managing agency should all contribute to these recommendations. Platforms for change include legislation, institutional policies, communication, education, management techniques, and ethics.

General laws of evolution and the problem of extraterrestrial civilizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaziutinskii, V. V.

The paper examines the possible relationship betweeen the integral properties of the evolving universe (i.e., the Metagalaxy) and the appearance of conditions making possible the existence of mankind. The possible existence of extraterrestial civilizations is discussed in the light of the anthropic principle.

Remote Sensing for Mapping Soybean Crop in the Brazilian Cerrado

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trabaquini, K.; Bernardes, T.; Mello, M. P.; Formaggio, A.; Rosa, V. G.

2011-12-01

The soybean expansion in the Brazilian Cerrado has been strongly affected by internal and external markets. The main factors driving that expansion are the climatic conditions, the development of technologies and genetic improvement. Recent studies have shown that the soybean expansion has become a major cause of reduction of native vegetation in Mato Grosso State - Brazil, responding for 17% of deforestation from 2000 to 2004. This work aims to map soybean areas in the Brazilian Cerrado in Mato Grosso State, using MODIS data. Thirteen MODIS images (MOD13 - 16 days composition), acquired from September, 2005 to March, 2006, were used to run principal component analysis (PCA) in order to reduce the dimensionality of the data. The first three components (PC1, PC2 and PC3), which contained about 90% of data variability were segmented and utilized as input for an unsupervised classification using the ISOSEG classifier, implemented in the SPRING software. Eighty field work points were randomly selected for the accuracy assessment. An intersection between the soybean map and a map generated by the "Project Monitoring Deforestation of Brazilian Biomes Satellite - PMDBBS", which aimed at identifying anthropic areas, was conducted in order to evaluate the distribution of soybeans within those areas. Moreover a soil map was used in order to evaluate the soybean distribution over the classes of soil. The classification result presented overall index of 83% and the kappa coefficient of 0.64 for the soybean map, which presented a total soybean area of about 42,317 square kilometers. Furthermore, it was verified that 27% of anthropic area was covered by soybean. In relation to the soil analysis, 87% of the total soybean area was planted in Oxisoils. Despite the economic gain related to the soybean production, an adequate management is needed to avoid soil acidification, soil erosion and pollution, aiming at providing a sustainable environment.

Geochemical background of zinc, cadmium and mercury in anthropically influenced soils in a semi-arid zone (SE, Spain)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Lorenzo, M. L.; Pérez-Sirvent, C.; Martínez-Sánchez, M. J.; Molina, J.; Tudela, M. L.; Hernández-Córdoba, M.

2009-04-01

This work seeks to establish the geochemical background for three potentially toxic trace elements (Zn, Cd and Hg) in a pilot zone included in the DesertNet project in the province of Murcia. The studied area, known as Campo de Cartagena, Murcia (SE Spain) is an area of intensive agriculture and has been much affected over the years by anthropic activity. The zone can be considered an experimental pilot zone for establishing background levels in agricultural soils. Sixty four samples were collected and corresponded to areas subjected to high and similar agricultural activity or soils with natural vegetation, which correspond to abandoned agricultural areas. The Zn content was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The Cd content was determined by electrothermal atomization atomic absorption spectrometry and mercury content was determined by atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Geostatistical analysis consisting of kriging and mapping was performed using the geostatistical analyst extension of ArcGIS 8.3. Zinc values ranged from 10 mg kg-1 to 151 mg kg-1, with an average value of 45 mg kg-1. Cadmium values ranged between 0.1 mg kg-1 and 0.9mg kg-1, with a mean value of 0.3 mg kg-1 and mercury values ranged from 0.1 mg kg-1 to 2.3 mg kg-1, with a mean value of 0.5 mg kg-1. At a national level, the Spanish Royal Decree 9/2005 proposes toxicological and statistical approaches to establish background values. According to the statistical approach, background values consist of the median value for the selected element. The background values for Zn, Cd and Hg in the studied area were 40 mg kg-1 for Zn, 0.3 mg kg-1 for Cd and 0.4 mg kg-1 for Hg.

Cosmology as Science: From Inflation to the Future

ScienceCinema

Krass, Lawrence

2018-01-11

Recent developments in cosmology bring to the forefront fundamental questions about our ability to falsify various fundamental assumptions about the universe.  I will discuss three issues that reflect different aspects of these questions:  (1) "Proving" Inflation (2) Anthropic "Explanations" (3) Cosmology of the far future.

Understanding the Fine Tuning in Our Universe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohen, Bernard L.

2008-01-01

It is often stated that the physical properties of our universe are "fine tuned"--that is, they must be almost exactly as they are to make the development of intelligent life possible. The implications of this statement, called the "anthropic principle," have been widely discussed in a philosophical context, but the scientific basis for the…

How many universes are necessary for an ice cream to melt?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cirkovic, Milan M.

We investigate a quantitative consequence of the Acausal-Anthropic approach to solving the long-standing puzzle of the thermodynamical arrow of time. Notably, the size of the required multiverse is estimated on the basis of the classical Boltzmann connection between entropy and probability, as well as the thermodynamic properties of black holes.

Relationships between Fat and Appearance Ratings of U.S. Soldiers

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-01-01

body fat content. In 1951, Dupertuis and coworkers found a correlation of -0.85 between ratings of endomorphy using Sheldon’s (1940) visual somatotyping ... somatotypes . Amer. J. Phys. Anthrop. 8:367-385. Dumin, J.V.G.A., and J. Womersely. (1974) Body fat assessed from total body density and its estimation from

Curvature Constraints from the Causal Entropic Principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozek, Brandon

2010-01-01

Current cosmological observations indicate a preference for a cosmological constant that is drastically smaller than what can be explained by conventional particle physics. The Causal Entropic Principle (Bousso, et al.) provides an alternative approach to anthropic attempts to predict our observed value of the cosmological constant by calculating the entropy created within a causal diamond. We have extended this work to use the Causal Entropic Principle to predict the preferred curvature within the "multiverse." We have found that values larger than ρk = 40*ρm are disfavored by more than 99.99% and a peak value at ρΛ = 7.9*10-123 and ρk =4.3*ρm for open universes. For universes that allow only positive curvature or both positive and negative curvature, we find a correlation between curvature and dark energy that leads to an extended region of preferred values. Our universe is found to be disfavored to an extent depending on the priors on curvature. We also provide a comparison to previous anthropic constraints on open universes and discuss future directions for this work.

Predictions of the causal entropic principle for environmental conditions of the universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cline, James M.; Frey, Andrew R.; Holder, Gilbert

2008-03-01

The causal entropic principle has been proposed as an alternative to the anthropic principle for understanding the magnitude of the cosmological constant. In this approach, the probability to create observers is assumed to be proportional to the entropy production ΔS in a maximal causally connected region—the causal diamond. We improve on the original treatment by better quantifying the entropy production due to stars, using an analytic model for the star formation history which accurately accounts for changes in cosmological parameters. We calculate the dependence of ΔS on the density contrast Q=δρ/ρ, and find that our universe is much closer to the most probable value of Q than in the usual anthropic approach and that probabilities are relatively weakly dependent on this amplitude. In addition, we make first estimates of the dependence of ΔS on the baryon fraction and overall matter abundance. Finally, we also explore the possibility that decays of dark matter, suggested by various observed gamma ray excesses, might produce a comparable amount of entropy to stars.

Curvature constraints from the causal entropic principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozek, Brandon; Albrecht, Andreas; Phillips, Daniel

2009-07-01

Current cosmological observations indicate a preference for a cosmological constant that is drastically smaller than what can be explained by conventional particle physics. The causal entropic principle (Bousso et al.) provides an alternative approach to anthropic attempts to predict our observed value of the cosmological constant by calculating the entropy created within a causal diamond. We have extended this work to use the causal entropic principle to predict the preferred curvature within the “multiverse.” We have found that values larger than ρk=40ρm are disfavored by more than 99.99% peak value at ρΛ=7.9×10-123 and ρk=4.3ρm for open universes. For universes that allow only positive curvature or both positive and negative curvature, we find a correlation between curvature and dark energy that leads to an extended region of preferred values. Our universe is found to be disfavored to an extent depending on the priors on curvature. We also provide a comparison to previous anthropic constraints on open universes and discuss future directions for this work.

Birth of the Universe from the Multiverse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mersini-Houghton, Laura

2015-01-01

Compactification of extra dimensions in string theory leads to a vast number of (3+1) dimensional worlds, (about 10500 so far), coined the landscape. At the time of the discovery of the landscape, the question which one of these worlds is our universe seemed hopeless. Many argued that the vastness of the landscape undermines the very foundations of string theory for two reasons: (i) the theory seemed unfalsifiable since for every observation we could find a matching world on the landscape; (ii) the method advocated at the time for making sense of this landscape was the anthropic principle. The former objection implied string theory can not be scientific. The latter concern is that anthropics do not help scientific inquiry and rigor but rather it may seem to push some version of creationism to the next level. For these reasons the whole field of string theory and also, of cosmology that relied on it for answers about fundamental questions such as the origins of the universe, seemed to be in deep crisis at the beginning of the millenia...

The evolution of Lachancea thermotolerans is driven by geographical determination, anthropisation and flux between different ecosystems

PubMed Central

Bely, Marina; Masneuf-Pomarede, Isabelle; Jiranek, Vladimir; Albertin, Warren

2017-01-01

The yeast Lachancea thermotolerans (formerly Kluyveromyces thermotolerans) is a species with remarkable, yet underexplored, biotechnological potential. This ubiquist occupies a range of natural and anthropic habitats covering a wide geographic span. To gain an insight into L. thermotolerans population diversity and structure, 172 isolates sourced from diverse habitats worldwide were analysed using a set of 14 microsatellite markers. The resultant clustering revealed that the evolution of L. thermotolerans has been driven by the geography and ecological niche of the isolation sources. Isolates originating from anthropic environments, in particular grapes and wine, were genetically close, thus suggesting domestication events within the species. The observed clustering was further validated by several means including, population structure analysis, F-statistics, Mantel’s test and the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA). Phenotypic performance of isolates was tested using several growth substrates and physicochemical conditions, providing added support for the clustering. Altogether, this study sheds light on the genotypic and phenotypic diversity of L. thermotolerans, contributing to a better understanding of the population structure, ecology and evolution of this non-Saccharomyces yeast. PMID:28910346

Exacerbating the Cosmological Constant Problem with Interacting Dark Energy Models.

PubMed

Marsh, M C David

2017-01-06

Future cosmological surveys will probe the expansion history of the Universe and constrain phenomenological models of dark energy. Such models do not address the fine-tuning problem of the vacuum energy, i.e., the cosmological constant problem (CCP), but can make it spectacularly worse. We show that this is the case for "interacting dark energy" models in which the masses of the dark matter states depend on the dark energy sector. If realized in nature, these models have far-reaching implications for proposed solutions to the CCP that require the number of vacua to exceed the fine-tuning of the vacuum energy density. We show that current estimates of the number of flux vacua in string theory, N_{vac}∼O(10^{272 000}), are far too small to realize certain simple models of interacting dark energy and solve the cosmological constant problem anthropically. These models admit distinctive observational signatures that can be targeted by future gamma-ray observatories, hence making it possible to observationally rule out the anthropic solution to the cosmological constant problem in theories with a finite number of vacua.

Curvature constraints from the causal entropic principle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bozek, Brandon; Albrecht, Andreas; Phillips, Daniel

2009-07-15

Current cosmological observations indicate a preference for a cosmological constant that is drastically smaller than what can be explained by conventional particle physics. The causal entropic principle (Bousso et al.) provides an alternative approach to anthropic attempts to predict our observed value of the cosmological constant by calculating the entropy created within a causal diamond. We have extended this work to use the causal entropic principle to predict the preferred curvature within the 'multiverse'. We have found that values larger than {rho}{sub k}=40{rho}{sub m} are disfavored by more than 99.99% peak value at {rho}{sub {lambda}}=7.9x10{sup -123} and {rho}{sub k}=4.3{rho}{sub m}more » for open universes. For universes that allow only positive curvature or both positive and negative curvature, we find a correlation between curvature and dark energy that leads to an extended region of preferred values. Our universe is found to be disfavored to an extent depending on the priors on curvature. We also provide a comparison to previous anthropic constraints on open universes and discuss future directions for this work.« less

Legal protection is not enough: Posidonia oceanica meadows in marine protected areas are not healthier than those in unprotected areas of the northwest Mediterranean Sea.

PubMed

Montefalcone, Monica; Albertelli, Giancarlo; Morri, Carla; Parravicini, Valeriano; Bianchi, Carlo Nike

2009-04-01

Using the Conservation Index, which measures the proportional amount of dead matte relative to live Posidonia oceanica, we assessed the health of 15 P. oceanica meadows at a regional scale along the coast of Liguria (NW Mediterranean). These areas were characterized by different degrees of anthropization, from highly urbanized sites to marine protected areas. Two different scenarios were identified according to depth: in shallow zones, the health of P. oceanica meadows was related to the degree of anthropization along the coastline. In contrast, in deep zones, most meadows exhibited poor health, independent of both the degree of disturbance and the legal measures protecting the area. Working synergistically with the regional impact of increased water turbidity, local impacts from the coast were recognized as the main causes of the severe regression of most Ligurian P. oceanica meadows. We conclude that marine protected areas alone are not sufficient to guarantee the protection of P. oceanica meadows. We emphasize the need for a management network involving the Sites of Community Interest (SCIs) containing P. oceanica meadows.

Impacts of climate change and anthropization on groundwater resources in the Nouakchott urban area (coastal Mauritania)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohamed, Ahmed-Salem; Leduc, Christian; Marlin, Christelle; Wagué, Oumar; Sidi Cheikh, Mohamed-Ahmed

2017-10-01

Declining groundwater resources in semi-arid areas are often cited because of anthropization and climate change. This is not the case in Nouakchott (Mauritania) where the water level has risen by 1 to 2 m over the last 40 years in parallel with urban expansion (+1 million inhabitants in 60 years). Using former and new data, primarily water table measurements and chemical indicators (major ions, bromide, 18O, 2H), we show that the groundwater level rise is mainly a consequence of the rapid population growth in the Nouakchott area, while the global sea level rise only has a limited impact. The increased supply of domestic water (currently 120,000 m3/day) and the lack of waste water networks have added large amounts of water to the Quaternary aquifer. In this metropolis where 60% of the total area is at an elevation of less than 1 m asl, the rise in the groundwater level has dramatic consequences, including the abandonment of flooded districts, and the emergence of new diseases.

Chemical and geochemical composition of spring-summer Arctic aerosol collected at Ny Alesund, Svalbard Islands.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Udisti, Roberto; Becagli, Silvia; Caiazzo, Laura; Cappelletti, David; Giardi, Fabio; Grotti, Marco; Lucarelli, Franco; Moroni, Beatrice; Nava, Silvia; Severi, Mirko; Traversi, Rita

2017-04-01

Since March 2010, spring-summer (usually March - September) campaigns were continuously carried out at the Italian Gruvebadet Observatory, Ny Alesund, Svalbard Island. Aerosol was sampled by PM10 (daily) and 4-stage (4-day resolution) collector devices and size distribution was evaluated at 10 min resolution in the range 10 nm - 20 um (106 size classes by a TSI SMPS-APS integrated system). Six-year (2010-2015) PM10 and size-segregated (>10, 10-2.5, 2.5-1, < 1 um) filters were analyzed for ion composition (inorganic anions and cations, and selected organic anions by Ion Chromatography), metal content (major and trace metals, including Rare Earth Elements - REEs, by PIXE and ICP-MS), Pb isotopic composition (by ICP-MS) and Elemental and Organic Carbon (EC-OC) concentrations. The data set was elaborated by multi-parametric statistical analysis (Positive Matrix Factorization - PMF), in order to identifying and quantifying the contribution of the main anthropic and natural aerosol sources. Particular attention was spent in evaluating the anthropic contribution of nss-sulphate, nitrate, EC and heavy metals during the Arctic Haze in spring. The isotopic composition of Pb was used in identifying the source areas (North America, Greenland, North Europe, Siberia, Iceland) of anthropic emissions as a function of seasonality (different atmospheric circulation pathway). Crustal metals and, especially, REEs anomalies (with respect to the Chondrite-normalized profile) allowed characterizing the dust emissions from their Potential Source Areas (PSA). Biogenic markers (especially methane sulfonic acid - MSA - and bio-nss-sulphate) was used to obtain relevant information about the relationship between marine biogenic activity (primary productivity) and sea ice coverage and atmospheric conditions (irradiance, temperature, circulation pathways). The seasonal pattern of the nitrate deposition was also investigated. Chemical and geochemical measurements were compared with high-resolution size distribution and back-trajectory cluster analysis in order to understand the seasonal pattern of the contributions of long-range transport (particles distributed in the accumulation mode, especially in spring) as well as the occurrence of nucleation events (in the nano-metric range, especially in late spring-summer). Bibliography R. Udisti et al., "Sulfate source apportionment in the Ny-Alesund (Svalbard Islands) Arctic aerosol". Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei, 2016, 27, S85-S94. doi: 10.1007/s12210-016-0517-7. B. Moroni et al., "Local vs. long range sources of aerosol particles upon Ny-Alesund (Svalbard Islands): mineral chemistry and geochemical records". Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei, 2016, 27, S115-S127. DOI 10.1007/s12210-016-0533-7. S. Becagli et al., "Relationships linking prymary production, sea ice melting, and biogenic aerosol in the Arctic". Atmos. Environ., 2016, 136, 1-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.04.002. A. Bazzano et al., "Long-range transport of atmospheric lead reaching Ny Alesund: inter-annual and seasonal variations of potential source areas". Atmos. Environ., 2016, 139, 11-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.05.026.

Anthropic influences on the sedimentation rates of lakes situated in different geographic areas.

PubMed

Simon, Hedvig; Kelemen, Szabolcs; Begy, Róbert-Csaba

2017-07-01

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of natural and anthropic events occurring in the last 30 years in the catchment areas of four Romanian lakes (St. Anna Lake, Red Lake, Vârşolţ Lake and Matiţa Lake) originating from four different geomorphologic areas. A total of eleven sediment cores have been processed for age and sedimentation rate determination using the 210 Pb dating method. Total 210 Pb was measured via alpha spectrometry by 210 Po using PIPS detectors, while supported 210 Pb was measured by 226 Ra using HPGe detectors. Ages and sedimentation rates were calculated using the CRS model. The values of the sedimentation rates have grown multiply in the last three decades: 2.66 times in case of the St. Anna Lake (from 0.06 ± 0.01 g/cm 2 y to 0.16 ± 0.02 g/cm 2 y), up to 6.72 times in case of Red Lake (0.36 ± 0.04 g/cm 2 y to 2.42 ± 0.36 g/cm 2 y), 4.02 times in case of Vârşolţ Lake (04 g/cm 2 y to 1.53 ± 0.18 g/cm 2 y) and up to 16.18 times in case of Matiţa Lake (0.27 ± 0.03 g/cm 2 y to 4.37 ± 0.32). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding Phlebotomus perniciosus abundance in south-east Spain: assessing the role of environmental and anthropic factors.

PubMed

Risueño, José; Muñoz, Clara; Pérez-Cutillas, Pedro; Goyena, Elena; Gonzálvez, Moisés; Ortuño, María; Bernal, Luis Jesús; Ortiz, Juana; Alten, Bulent; Berriatua, Eduardo

2017-04-19

Leishmaniosis is associated with Phlebotomus sand fly vector density, but our knowledge of the environmental framework that regulates highly overdispersed vector abundance distributions is limited. We used a standardized sampling procedure in the bioclimatically diverse Murcia Region in Spain and multilevel regression models for count data to estimate P. perniciosus abundance in relation to environmental and anthropic factors. Twenty-five dog and sheep premises were sampled for sand flies using adhesive and light-attraction traps, from late May to early October 2015. Temperature, relative humidity and other animal- and premise-related data recorded on site and other environmental data were extracted from digital databases using a geographical information system. The relationship between sand fly abundance and explanatory variables was analysed using binomial regression models. The total number of sand flies captured, mostly with light-attraction traps, was 3,644 specimens, including 80% P. perniciosus, the main L. infantum vector in Spain. Abundance varied between and within zones and was positively associated with increasing altitude from 0 to 900 m above sea level, except from 500 to 700 m where it was low. Populations peaked in July and especially during a 3-day heat wave when relative humidity and wind speed plummeted. Regression models indicated that climate and not land use or soil characteristics have the greatest impact on this species density on a large geographical scale. In contrast, micro-environmental factors such as animal building characteristics and husbandry practices affect sand fly population size on a smaller scale. A standardised sampling procedure and statistical analysis for highly overdispersed distributions allow reliable estimation of P. perniciosus abundance and identification of environmental drivers. While climatic variables have the greatest impact at macro-environmental scale, anthropic factors may be determinant at a micro-geographical scale. These finding may be used to elaborate predictive distribution maps useful for vector and pathogen control programs.

Wildfires and post-fire erosion risk in a coastal area under severe anthropic pressure associated with the touristic fluxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canu, Annalisa; Arca, Bachisio; Pellizzaro, Grazia; Valeriano Pintus, Gian; Ferrara, Roberto; Duce, Pierpaolo

2017-04-01

In the last decades a rapid and intense development of the tourism industry led to an increasing of anthropic pressure on several coastal areas of Sardinia. This fact not only modified the coastal aesthetics, but has also generated an increase of risk for the environment. This phenomenon affected also the ancient structure of the landscape with a negative impact mainly caused by the following factors: land abandonment, wildfire occurrence, post-fire erosion, urbanization. These regional changes can be analyzed in detail by considering the geo-diachronic dynamics. The main objectives of this work were i) to perform a diachronic analysis of land use and land cover dynamics, ii) to analyse the recent dynamics of wildfires, and iii) to predict the soil erosion risk in relation to land use change occurred between the 1950s and the 2000s. The study was realized in a coastal area located in North-East Sardinia where the geo-historical processes were summarized and organized in a geographic information system that has been employed to examine the landscape variations at three different time steps: 1954, 1977 and 2000. In addition, different scenarios of wildfire propagation were simulated by FlamMap in order to estimate the spatial pattern of fire danger factors in the study area. Afterwards, maps of post-fire soil erosion were produced to identify the temporal and spatial variations of the erosion risk. The results show how the changes in land use and the significant and rapid increase of the residential areas affect the risk of both wildfires and post-fire soil erosion. The study reveals the capabilities of this type of approach and can be used by management agencies and policy makers e in sustainable landscape management planning. This approach can be extended to other regions of the Mediterranean basin characterized by complex interactions among landscape and anthropic factors affecting the environmental risk.

Simulated worlds, physical eschatology, the finite nature hypothesis and the final anthropic principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prince, N. H. E.

2005-10-01

Meaning and purpose can be given to life, consciousness, the laws of physics, etc. If one assumes that the Universe is endowed with some form of (strong) anthropic principle. In particular, the final anthropic principle (FAP) of Barrow and Tipler postulates that intelligent life will continue in the Universe until the far future when the computational power of descendent civilizations will be sufficient to run simulations of enormous scale and power. Tipler has claimed that it will be possible to create simulations with rendered environments and inhabitants, i.e. intelligent software constructs, which are effectively ‘people’. Proponents of this FAP claim that if both substrate independence and the pattern identity postulate hold, then these simulations would be able to contain reanimated individuals that once lived. These claims have been heavily criticized but the growing study of physical eschatology, initiated by Freeman Dyson in a seminal work, and the developments in computational theory have made some progress in showing that simulations containing intelligent information processing software constructs, which may be conscious, are not only feasible but may be a reality within the next few centuries. In this work, arguments and conservative calculations are given which concur with these latter more minimal claims. FAP-type simulations inevitably rely on cosmology type, but current observations would seem to rule appropriate models out. However, it is argued that dark energy, described in the recent forms of ‘quintessence’ cosmological models may show the current conclusions from observations to be too presumptive. In this paper some relevant physical and cosmological aspects are reviewed in the light of the recent propositions regarding the plausibility of certain simulations given by Bostrom, and the longer held postulate of finite nature due to Fredkin which has grown in credibility, following advances in quantum mechanics and the computational theory of cellular automata. This latter postulate supports the conclusions of Bostrom, which, under certain plausible assumptions, can imply that our Universe is itself already a simulated entity. It is demonstrated in this paper how atemporal memory connections could make efficient ancestor simulations possible, solving many of the objections faced by the FAP of Barrow and Tipler. Also, if finite nature is true then it can offer a similar vindication to this FAP. Indeed the conclusions of this postulate can be realized more easily, but only if the existence of life within the simulation/Universe is not merely incidental to the (currently unknown) purpose for which it was generated to fulfil.

The Silence of the Universe as Challenge to our Knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Efremov, Yuri N.

SETI has much more implications than just search for extraterrestrial intelligence. This is the issue of ourselves, on what we are and if we are able to understand the Universe. Comparing the age of the Universe, some 15 Gyrs, with the time scale of the exponential growth of our science and technology, some 100 years, the greatest paradox of the contemporary Knowledge arises - this is just the absence of any evidence of activity of superpower civilizations. This was interpreted by Shklovsky (1984) as prove of our loneliness owing to the death of a civilization after the development of both science and military technology. Implicitly, only for this case of our solicitude in the Universe, all variations of anthropic principle were considered until now. This concerns the idea (Harrison 1995) that there is the natural selection of universes containing the intelligent life the clever enough to produce the universe of the next generation. The possibility of non-biological ETI opens other ways, however.

Riparian rehabilitation planning in an urban-rural gradient: Integrating social needs and ecological conditions.

PubMed

Guida-Johnson, Bárbara; Zuleta, Gustavo A

2017-09-01

In the present context of global change and search for sustainability, we detected a gap between restoration and society: local communities are usually only considered as threats or disturbances when planning for restoration. To bridge this gap, we propose a landscape design framework for planning riparian rehabilitation in an urban-rural gradient. A spatial multi-criteria analysis was used to assess the priority of riversides by considering two rehabilitation objectives simultaneously-socio-environmental and ecological-and two sets of criteria were designed according to these objectives. The assessment made it possible to identify 17 priority sites for riparian rehabilitation that were associated with different conditions along the gradient. The double goal setting enabled a dual consideration of citizens, both as beneficiaries and potential impacts to rehabilitation, and the criteria selected incorporated the multi-dimensional nature of the environment. This approach can potentially be adapted and implemented in any other anthropic-natural interface throughout the world.

Dark energy: A brief review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Miao; Li, Xiao-Dong; Wang, Shuang; Wang, Yi

2013-12-01

The problem of dark energy is briefly reviewed in both theoretical and observational aspects. In the theoretical aspect, dark energy scenarios are classified into symmetry, anthropic principle, tuning mechanism, modified gravity, quantum cosmology, holographic principle, back-reaction and phenomenological types. In the observational aspect, we introduce cosmic probes, dark energy related projects, observational constraints on theoretical models and model independent reconstructions.

A Screening-Level Approach for Comparing Risks Affecting Aquatic Ecosystem Services over Socio-Environmental Gradients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harmon, T. C.; Conde, D.; Villamizar, S. R.; Reid, B.; Escobar, J.; Rusak, J.; Hoyos, N.; Scordo, F.; Perillo, G. M.; Piccolo, M. C.; Zilio, M.; Velez, M.

2015-12-01

Assessing risks to aquatic ecosystems services (ES) is challenging and time-consuming, and effective strategies for prioritizing more detailed assessment efforts are needed. We propose a screening-level risk analysis (SRA) approach that scales ES risk using socioeconomic and environmental indices to capture anthropic and climatic pressures, as well as the capacity for institutional responses to those pressures. The method considers ES within a watershed context, and uses expert input to prioritize key services and the associated pressures that threaten them. The SRA approach focuses on estimating ES risk affect factors, which are the sum of the intensity factors for all hazards or pressures affecting the ES. We estimate the pressure intensity factors in a novel manner, basing them on the nation's (i) human development (proxied by Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, IHDI), (ii) environmental regulatory and monitoring state (Environmental Performance Index, EPI) and (iii) the current level of water stress in the watershed (baseline water stress, BWS). Anthropic intensity factors for future conditions are derived from the baseline values based on the nation's 10-year trend in IHDI and EPI; ES risks in nations with stronger records of change are rewarded more/penalized less in estimates for good/poor future management scenarios. Future climatic intensity factors are tied to water stress estimates based on two general circulation model (GCM) outcomes. We demonstrate the method for an international array of six sites representing a wide range of socio-environmental settings. The outcomes illustrate novel consequences of the scaling scheme. Risk affect factors may be greater in a highly developed region under intense climatic pressure, or in less well-developed regions due to human factors (e.g., poor environmental records). As a screening-level tool, the SRA approach offers considerable promise for ES risk comparisons among watersheds and regions so that detailed assessment, management and mitigation efforts can be effectively prioritized.

The Civitavecchia Coastal Environment Monitoring System (C-CEMS): a new tool to analyze the conflicts between coastal pressures and sensitivity areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonamano, S.; Piermattei, V.; Madonia, A.; Paladini de Mendoza, F.; Pierattini, A.; Martellucci, R.; Stefanì, C.; Zappalà, G.; Caruso, G.; Marcelli, M.

2016-01-01

The understanding of the coastal environment is fundamental for efficiently and effectively facing the pollution phenomena as expected by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and for limiting the conflicts between anthropic activities and sensitivity areas, as stated by Maritime Spatial Planning Directive. To address this, the Laboratory of Experimental Oceanology and Marine Ecology developed a multi-platform observing network that has been in operation since 2005 in the coastal marine area of Civitavecchia (Latium, Italy) where multiple uses and high ecological values closely coexist. The Civitavecchia Coastal Environment Monitoring System (C-CEMS), implemented in the current configuration, includes various components allowing one to analyze the coastal conflicts by an ecosystem-based approach. The long-term observations acquired by the fixed stations are integrated with in situ data collected for the analysis of the physical, chemical and biological parameters of the water column, sea bottom and pollution sources detected along the coast. The in situ data, integrated with satellite observations (e.g., temperature, chlorophyll a and TSM), are used to feed and validate the numerical models, which allow the analysis and forecasting of the dynamics of pollutant dispersion under different conditions. To test the potential capabilities of C-CEMS, two case studies are reported here: (1) the analysis of fecal bacteria dispersion for bathing water quality assessment, and (2) the evaluation of the effects of the dredged activities on Posidonia meadows, which make up most of the two sites of community importance located along the Civitavecchia coastal zone. The simulation outputs are overlapped by the thematic maps showing bathing areas and Posidonia oceanica distribution, thus giving a first practical tool that could improve the resolution of the conflicts between coastal uses (in terms of stress produced by anthropic activities) and sensitivity areas.

Indices for assessing coral reef fish biodiversity: the need for a change in habits.

PubMed

Loiseau, Nicolas; Gaertner, Jean-Claude

2015-09-01

We present the first representative and quantified overview of the indices used worldwide for assessing the biodiversity of coral reef fishes. On this basis, we discuss the suitability and drawbacks of the indices most widely used in the assessment of coral fish biodiversity. An extensive and systematic survey of the literature focused on coral reef fish biodiversity was conducted from 1990 up to the present. We found that the multicomponent aspect of biodiversity, which is considered as a key feature of biodiversity for numerous terrestrial and marine ecosystems, has been poorly taken into account in coral reef fish studies. Species richness is still strongly dominant while other diversity components, such as functional diversity, are underestimated even when functional information is available. We also demonstrate that the reason for choosing particular indices is often unclear, mainly based on empirical rationales and/or the reproduction of widespread habits, but generally with no clear relevance with regard to the aims of the studies. As a result, the most widely used indices (species richness, Shannon, etc.) would appear to be poorly suited to meeting the main challenges facing the monitoring of coral reef fish biodiversity in the future. Our results clearly show that coral reef scientists should rather take advantage of the multicomponent aspect of biodiversity. To facilitate this approach, we propose general guidelines to serve as a basis for the selection of indices that provide complementary and relevant information for monitoring the response of coral reef fish biodiversity in the face of structuring factors (natural or anthropic). The aim of these guidelines was to achieve a better match between the properties of the selected indices and the context of each study (e.g. expected effect of the main structuring factors, nature of data available).

Desert Pavement Studies

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-11-30

Desert Pavement: an Environmental Canary? P. K. Haff Journal of Geology, 109, 661-668, 2001. Neogeomorphology , Prediction , and the Anthropic ... Landscape P. K. Haff AGU special publication Prediction in Geomorphology, in press 2003. Neogeomorphology P. K. Haff EOS, 83, p310, p317, 2002... landscape (a fact that underlies their stability). The problem is to understand what pavements are likely to do when disturbed in certain ways, for

Dark energy and the anthropic principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Křížek, Michal

2012-01-01

The Hubble constant is split into two terms H = H1 + H2 , where H1 is a decreasing function due to the Big Bang and the subsequent gravitational interaction that slows the expansion of the Universe and H2 is an increasing function that corresponds to dark energy which accelerates this expansion. For T = 13.7 Gyr we prove that H2( T) > 5 m/(yr AU). This is a quite large number and thus the impact of dark energy, which is spread almost everywhere uniformly, should be observable not only on large scales, but also in our Solar system. In particular, we show that Earth, Mars and other planets were closer to the Sun 4.5 Gyr ago. The recession speed ≈5.3 m/yr of the Earth from the Sun seems to be just right for an almost constant influx of solar energy from the origin of life on Earth up to the present over which time the Sun's luminosity has increased approximately linearly. This presents further support for the Anthropic Principle. Namely, the existence of dark energy guarantees very stable conditions for the development of intelligent life on Earth over a period of 3.5 Gyr.

Anthropic Risk Assessment on Biodiversity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piragnolo, M.; Pirotti, F.; Vettore, A.; Salogni, G.

2013-01-01

This paper presents a methodology for risk assessment of anthropic activities on habitats and species. The method has been developed for Veneto Region, in order to simplify and improve the quality of EIA procedure (VINCA). Habitats and species, animals and plants, are protected by European Directive 92/43/EEC and 2009/147/EC but they are subject at hazard due to pollution produced by human activities. Biodiversity risks may conduct to deterioration and disturbance in ecological niches, with consequence of loss of biodiversity. Ecological risk assessment applied on Natura 2000 network, is needed to best practice of management and monitoring of environment and natural resources. Threats, pressure and activities, stress and indicators may be managed by geodatabase and analysed using GIS technology. The method used is the classic risk assessment in ecological context, and it defines the natural hazard as influence, element of risk as interference and vulnerability. Also it defines a new parameter called pressure. It uses risk matrix for the risk analysis on spatial and temporal scale. The methodology is qualitative and applies the precautionary principle in environmental assessment. The final product is a matrix which excludes the risk and could find application in the development of a territorial information system.

Microhabitats occupied by Loxosceles intermedia and Loxosceles laeta (Araneae: Sicariidae) in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.

PubMed

Fischer, Marta Luciane; Vasconcellos-Neto, João

2005-09-01

A survey was done of the environments and substrata occupied by Loxosceles intermedia Mello-Leitão, 1934 and Loxosceles laeta (Nicolet, 1849) (Araneae: Sicariidae) in urban woods and anthropic constructions in Curitiba. In total, 2,099 trees, 364 decaying logs as well as stones and roots, built-up areas, and wasteland in six urban parks and 60 residences were inspected. In total, 1,775 m2 of vegetation was inspected, but spiders and their vestiges were collected only in and around buildings in urban parks and residences. L. intermedia was more common than L. laeta and occurred both indoors and outdoors, whereas L. laeta was more common indoors in wooden houses. The two species did not occur in the same microhabitats, although both preferred paper, wood, and construction materials. Spiders collected in urban parks were heavier than those collected in residences, although only males collected in urban parks were larger than those from residences. The lack of vestiges indicative of a previous occupation in the urban parks suggested that both species occupied primarily the anthropic environment where they found numerous substrata that offered thermal isolation and suitable conditions for web fixation, ecdysis, and reproduction.

Binding the diproton in stars: anthropic limits on the strength of gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnes, Luke A.

2015-12-01

We calculate the properties and investigate the stability of stars that burn via strong (and electromagnetic) interactions, and compare their properties with those that, as in our Universe, include a rate-limiting weak interaction. It has been suggested that, if the diproton were bound, stars would burn ~1018 times brighter and faster via strong interactions, resulting in a universe that would fail to support life. By considering the representative case of a star in our Universe with initially equal numbers of protons and deuterons, we find that stable, "strong-burning" stars adjust their central densities and temperatures to have familiar surface temperatures, luminosities and lifetimes. There is no "diproton disaster". In addition, strong-burning stars are stable in a much larger region of the parameter space of fundamental constants, specifically the strength of electromagnetism and gravity. The strongest anthropic bound on stars in such universes is not their stability, as is the case for stars limited by the weak interaction, but rather their lifetime. Regardless of the strength of electromagnetism, all stars burn out in mere millions of years unless the gravitational coupling constant is extremely small, αGlesssim 10-30.

Study on temporal variation and spatial distribution for rural poverty in China based on GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Xianfeng; Xu, Xiuli; Wang, Yingjie; Cui, Jing; Mo, Hongyuan; Liu, Ling; Yan, Hong; Zhang, Yan; Han, Jiafu

2009-07-01

Poverty is one of the most serious challenges all over the world, is an obstacle to hinder economics and agriculture in poverty area. Research on poverty alleviation in China is very useful and important. In this paper, we will explore the comprehensive poverty characteristics in China, analyze the current poverty status, spatial distribution and temporal variations about rural poverty in China, and to category the different poverty types and their spatial distribution. First, we achieved the gathering and processing the relevant data. These data contain investigation data, research reports, statistical yearbook, censuses, social-economic data, physical and anthrop geographical data, etc. After deeply analysis of these data, we will get the distribution of poverty areas by spatial-temporal data model according to different poverty given standard in different stages in China to see the poverty variation and the regional difference in County-level. Then, the current poverty status, spatial pattern about poverty area in villages-level will be lucubrated; the relationship among poverty, environment (including physical and anthrop geographical factors) and economic development, etc. will be expanded. We hope our research will enhance the people knowledge of poverty in China and contribute to the poverty alleviation in China.

Chemometrics Methods for Specificity, Authenticity and Traceability Analysis of Olive Oils: Principles, Classifications and Applications.

PubMed

Messai, Habib; Farman, Muhammad; Sarraj-Laabidi, Abir; Hammami-Semmar, Asma; Semmar, Nabil

2016-11-17

Olive oils (OOs) show high chemical variability due to several factors of genetic, environmental and anthropic types. Genetic and environmental factors are responsible for natural compositions and polymorphic diversification resulting in different varietal patterns and phenotypes. Anthropic factors, however, are at the origin of different blends' preparation leading to normative, labelled or adulterated commercial products. Control of complex OO samples requires their (i) characterization by specific markers; (ii) authentication by fingerprint patterns; and (iii) monitoring by traceability analysis. These quality control and management aims require the use of several multivariate statistical tools: specificity highlighting requires ordination methods; authentication checking calls for classification and pattern recognition methods; traceability analysis implies the use of network-based approaches able to separate or extract mixed information and memorized signals from complex matrices. This chapter presents a review of different chemometrics methods applied for the control of OO variability from metabolic and physical-chemical measured characteristics. The different chemometrics methods are illustrated by different study cases on monovarietal and blended OO originated from different countries. Chemometrics tools offer multiple ways for quantitative evaluations and qualitative control of complex chemical variability of OO in relation to several intrinsic and extrinsic factors.

Quark mass variations of nuclear forces, BBN, and all that

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meissner, Ulf-G.

2014-03-01

In this talk, I discuss the modifications of the nuclear forces due to variations of the light quark masses and of the fine structure constant. This is based on the chiral nuclear effective field theory, that successfully describes a large body of data. The generation of the light elements in the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis provides important constraints on these modifications. In addition, I discuss the role of the anthropic principle in the triple-alpha process that underlies carbon and oxygen generation in hot stars. It appears that a fine-tuning of the quark masses and the fine structure constant within 2 to 3 per cent is required to make life on Earth viable. Supported in part by DFG, HGF and the BMBF.

A mathematical model of endovascular heat transfer for human brain cooling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salsac, Anne-Virginie; Lasheras, Juan Carlos; Yon, Steven; Magers, Mike; Dobak, John

2000-11-01

Selective cooling of the brain has been shown to exhibit protective effects in cerebral ischemia, trauma, and spinal injury/ischemia. A multi-compartment, unsteady thermal model of the response of the human brain to endovascular cooling is discussed and its results compared to recent experimental data conducted with sheep and other mammals. The model formulation is based on the extension of the bioheat equation, originally proposed by Pennes(1) and later modified by Wissler(2), Stolwijk(3) and Werner and Webb(4). The temporal response of the brain temperature and that of the various body compartments to the cooling of the blood flowing through the common carotid artery is calculated under various scenarios. The effect of the boundary conditions as well as the closure assumptions used in the model, i.e. perfusion rate, metabolism heat production, etc. on the cooling rate of the brain are systematically investigated. (1) Pennes H. H., “Analysis of tissue and arterial blood temperature in the resting forearm.” J. Appl. Physiol. 1: 93-122, 1948. (2) Wissler E. H., “Steady-state temperature distribution in man”, J. Appl. Physiol., 16: 764-740, 1961. (3) Stolwick J. A. J., “Mathematical model of thermoregulation” in “Physiological and behavioral temperature regulation”, edited by J. D. Hardy, A. P. Gagge and A. J. Stolwijk, Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Springfiels, Ill., 703-721, 1971. (4) Werner J., Webb P., “A six-cylinder model of human thermoregulation for general use on personal computers”, Ann. Physiol. Anthrop., 12(3): 123-134, 1993.

Chemometrics Methods for Specificity, Authenticity and Traceability Analysis of Olive Oils: Principles, Classifications and Applications

PubMed Central

Messai, Habib; Farman, Muhammad; Sarraj-Laabidi, Abir; Hammami-Semmar, Asma; Semmar, Nabil

2016-01-01

Background. Olive oils (OOs) show high chemical variability due to several factors of genetic, environmental and anthropic types. Genetic and environmental factors are responsible for natural compositions and polymorphic diversification resulting in different varietal patterns and phenotypes. Anthropic factors, however, are at the origin of different blends’ preparation leading to normative, labelled or adulterated commercial products. Control of complex OO samples requires their (i) characterization by specific markers; (ii) authentication by fingerprint patterns; and (iii) monitoring by traceability analysis. Methods. These quality control and management aims require the use of several multivariate statistical tools: specificity highlighting requires ordination methods; authentication checking calls for classification and pattern recognition methods; traceability analysis implies the use of network-based approaches able to separate or extract mixed information and memorized signals from complex matrices. Results. This chapter presents a review of different chemometrics methods applied for the control of OO variability from metabolic and physical-chemical measured characteristics. The different chemometrics methods are illustrated by different study cases on monovarietal and blended OO originated from different countries. Conclusion. Chemometrics tools offer multiple ways for quantitative evaluations and qualitative control of complex chemical variability of OO in relation to several intrinsic and extrinsic factors. PMID:28231172

Mobilisation processes responsible for iron and manganese contamination of groundwater in Central Adriatic Italy.

PubMed

Palmucci, William; Rusi, Sergio; Di Curzio, Diego

2016-06-01

Iron and manganese are two of the most common contaminants that exceed the threshold imposed by international and national legislation. When these contamination occurs in groundwater, the use of the water resource is forbidden for any purposes. Several studies investigated these two metals in groundwater, but research focused in the Central Adriatic area are still lacking. Thus, the objective of this study is to identify the origin of Fe and Mn contamination in groundwater and the hydrogeochemical processes that can enrich aquifers with these metals. This work is based on hydrogeochemical and multivariate statistical analysis of analytical results undertaken on soils and groundwater. Fe and Mn contamination are widespread in the alluvial aquifers, and their distribution is regulated by local conditions (i.e. long residence time, presence of peat or organic-rich fine sediments or anthropic pollution) that control redox processes in the aquifers and favour the mobilisation of these two metals in groundwater. The concentration of iron and manganese identified within soil indicates that the latter are a concrete source of the two metals. Anthropic impact on Fe and Mn contamination of groundwater is not related to agricultural activities, but on the contrary, the contribution of hydrocarbons (e.g. spills) is evident.

Binding the diproton in stars: anthropic limits on the strength of gravity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barnes, Luke A., E-mail: L.Barnes@physics.usyd.edu.au

2015-12-01

We calculate the properties and investigate the stability of stars that burn via strong (and electromagnetic) interactions, and compare their properties with those that, as in our Universe, include a rate-limiting weak interaction. It has been suggested that, if the diproton were bound, stars would burn ∼10{sup 18} times brighter and faster via strong interactions, resulting in a universe that would fail to support life. By considering the representative case of a star in our Universe with initially equal numbers of protons and deuterons, we find that stable, 'strong-burning' stars adjust their central densities and temperatures to have familiar surfacemore » temperatures, luminosities and lifetimes. There is no 'diproton disaster'. In addition, strong-burning stars are stable in a much larger region of the parameter space of fundamental constants, specifically the strength of electromagnetism and gravity. The strongest anthropic bound on stars in such universes is not their stability, as is the case for stars limited by the weak interaction, but rather their lifetime. Regardless of the strength of electromagnetism, all stars burn out in mere millions of years unless the gravitational coupling constant is extremely small, α{sub G}∼< 10{sup −30}.« less

The Colloquium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amoroso, Richard L.

HÉCTOR A.A brief introductory survey of Unified Field Mechanics (UFM) is given from the perspective of a Holographic Anthropic Multiverse cosmology in 12 `continuous-state' dimensions. The paradigm with many new parameters is cast in a scale-invariant conformal covariant Dirac polarized vacuum utilizing extended HD forms of the de Broglie-Bohm and Cramer interpretations of quantum theory. The model utilizes a unique form of M-Theory based in part on the original hadronic form of string theory that had a variable string tension, TS and included a tachyon. The model is experimentally testable, thus putatively able to demonstrate the existence of large-scale additional dimensionality (LSXD), test for QED violating tight-bound state spectral lines in hydrogen `below' the lowest Bohr orbit, and surmount the quantum uncertainty principle utilizing a hyperincursive Sagnac Effect resonance hierarchy.

Effects of landscape anthropization on mosquito community composition and abundance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferraguti, Martina; Martínez-de La Puente, Josué; Roiz, David; Ruiz, Santiago; Soriguer, Ramón; Figuerola, Jordi

2016-07-01

Anthropogenic landscape transformation has an important effect on vector-borne pathogen transmission. However, the effects of urbanization on mosquito communities are still only poorly known. Here, we evaluate how land-use characteristics are related to the abundance and community composition of mosquitoes in an area with endemic circulation of numerous mosquito-borne pathogens. We collected 340 829 female mosquitoes belonging to 13 species at 45 localities spatially grouped in 15 trios formed by 1 urban, 1 rural and 1 natural area. Mosquito abundance and species richness were greater in natural and rural areas than in urban areas. Environmental factors including land use, vegetation and hydrological characteristics were related to mosquito abundance and community composition. Given the differing competences of each species in pathogen transmission, these results provide valuable information on the transmission potential of mosquito-borne pathogens that will be of great use in public and animal health management by allowing, for instance, the identification of the priority areas for pathogen surveillance and vector control.

Effects of landscape anthropization on mosquito community composition and abundance

PubMed Central

Ferraguti, Martina; Martínez-de la Puente, Josué; Roiz, David; Ruiz, Santiago; Soriguer, Ramón; Figuerola, Jordi

2016-01-01

Anthropogenic landscape transformation has an important effect on vector-borne pathogen transmission. However, the effects of urbanization on mosquito communities are still only poorly known. Here, we evaluate how land-use characteristics are related to the abundance and community composition of mosquitoes in an area with endemic circulation of numerous mosquito-borne pathogens. We collected 340 829 female mosquitoes belonging to 13 species at 45 localities spatially grouped in 15 trios formed by 1 urban, 1 rural and 1 natural area. Mosquito abundance and species richness were greater in natural and rural areas than in urban areas. Environmental factors including land use, vegetation and hydrological characteristics were related to mosquito abundance and community composition. Given the differing competences of each species in pathogen transmission, these results provide valuable information on the transmission potential of mosquito-borne pathogens that will be of great use in public and animal health management by allowing, for instance, the identification of the priority areas for pathogen surveillance and vector control. PMID:27373794

Natural versus Urban dunes along the Emilia-Romagna coast, Northern Adriatic (Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corbau, Corinne; Simeoni, Umberto

2014-05-01

Beach-dune interaction models can be precious tools for land managers and policymakers. However, if the models are inaccurate, land use policies may be designed based on false pretences or assumptions leading to poor land management, long-term erosion and sustainability issues, and increased difficulties in maintaining the dynamic coastal systems. From the literature, it appears that even the most reliable beach-dunes interactions models are not applicable to all coastal systems (Short and Hesp, 1982; Psuty, 1988; Sherman and Bauer, 1993). The study aims to identify the morphological evolution of the Emilia-Romagna coastal dunes according to its natural and "human" characteristics and to classify groups of dunes with similar evolutionary patterns. The coastal area consists essentially of 130 km of low sandy coast, interrupted by vast lagoon areas, harbor jetties and numerous hard coastal defense structures that were built during the first half of the 20th century to protect the Emilia-Romagna coast against erosion. Today about 57% of the littoral is protected by hard defenses, which have modified the morphodynamic characteristics of the beach without inverting the negative coastal evolution's trend. From recent aerial photographs (2011), 62 coastal dunes have been identified and mapped. Furthermore, the dune analysis shows a variability of the "physical characteristics" of coastal-dune systems along the Emilia-Romagna coast. The dune height varies from 1 to 7 meters, the width of the beach and of the active dunes range respectively from 10 to 150 m and from 10 to 65 m. Three main factors may explain the variability of the "physical characteristics": 1- Firstly the frontal dunes may be of different states according to the classification of Hesp (2002) since they correspond to incipient foredunes, well-developed foredunes, blowouts, residual foredunes as well as reactivated relict foredunes, 2- This could also be related to a different orientation of the coastline and foredune's line to the dominant onshore winds and, 3- Human impacts may also explain this variability since most of the dune-beach systems of Emilia-Romagna are characterized by important anthropogenic features that do not adequately describe beach-foredune interactions. A factor analysis of the coastal dunes has allowed formulating hypotheses about their evolutionary trends according to the importance and interference of factors, both natural and anthropic, acting on the beach-dune system. Four groups of dunes have been identified corresponding to natural dunes, semi-anthropic dunes with major natural features, semi-anthropic dunes with major anthropic feature and "urban" dunes. Furthermore, while human activities impede the formation and development of new incipient dunes, other human activities favor the conservation and development of the human-altered foredunes. Hesp, P., 2002: Foredunes and blowouts: initiation, geomorphology and dynamics, Geomorphology, 245-268. Psuty, N. P. 1988. Sediment budget and dune/beach interaction. Journal of Coastal Research Special Issue 3: 1-4. Sherman, D. J., and B. O. Bauer. 1993. Dynamics of beach-dune systems. Progress in Physical Geography 17 (4): 413-447 Short, A. D., and P. A. Hesp. 1982. Wave, beach and dune interactions in South Eastern Australia. Marine Geology 48: 259-284.

Testing typicality in multiverse cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azhar, Feraz

2015-05-01

In extracting predictions from theories that describe a multiverse, we face the difficulty that we must assess probability distributions over possible observations prescribed not just by an underlying theory, but by a theory together with a conditionalization scheme that allows for (anthropic) selection effects. This means we usually need to compare distributions that are consistent with a broad range of possible observations with actual experimental data. One controversial means of making this comparison is by invoking the "principle of mediocrity": that is, the principle that we are typical of the reference class implicit in the conjunction of the theory and the conditionalization scheme. In this paper, we quantitatively assess the principle of mediocrity in a range of cosmological settings, employing "xerographic distributions" to impose a variety of assumptions regarding typicality. We find that for a fixed theory, the assumption that we are typical gives rise to higher likelihoods for our observations. If, however, one allows both the underlying theory and the assumption of typicality to vary, then the assumption of typicality does not always provide the highest likelihoods. Interpreted from a Bayesian perspective, these results support the claim that when one has the freedom to consider different combinations of theories and xerographic distributions (or different "frameworks"), one should favor the framework that has the highest posterior probability; and then from this framework one can infer, in particular, how typical we are. In this way, the invocation of the principle of mediocrity is more questionable than has been recently claimed.

Spatial distribution of metals in soils in Baltimore, Maryland: role of native parent material, proximity to major roads, housing age and screening guidelines

Treesearch

I.D. Yesilonis; R.V. Pouyat; N.K. Neerchal

2008-01-01

We investigated the spatial distribution of heavy metal above-background (anthropic) contents of Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Ti, V, and Zn in Baltimore City surface soils and related these levels to potential contaminating sources. Composite soil samples (0?10 cm depth) were digested using a nitric and hydrochloric extraction technique. Slightly more than 10% of...

Valorization of genetic variability for the qualitative improvement of autochthonous grape cultivars of Cirò's terroir through the self-fertilization.

PubMed

Meneghetti, Stefano; Gaiotti, Federica; Giust, Mirella; Belfiore, Nicola; Tomasi, Diego

2015-03-01

This study uses PCR-derived marker systems to investigate the genetic differences of 22 grapevine accessions obtained through a self-fertilization program using Gaglioppo and Magliocco dolce. The aim of the study was to improve some qualitative parameters, while preserving the adaptive characteristics of these two cultivars to the adverse environmental conditions of the Calabria region (southern Italy). These two Calabrian grapevines have been cultivated within a restricted area and have been placed under a strong anthropic pressure which has limited their phenotypical variability with no selection of higher performant biotypes. Therefore, to have accessions with improved qualitative traits, a program of genetic improvement based on the self-fertilization of Gaglioppo and Magliocco dolce cultivars was performed in 1998, producing 3,122 accessions. Selection cycles were performed in 14 years. A first selection cycle (1998-2000), based on visual inspection of vegetative traits, selected 1,320 accessions, planted in an experimental vineyard in 2000. A second selection cycle (2000-2008), based on phenotypic traits, sanitary aspects, and chemical composition of the grapes, selected 42 accessions, planted in a new experimental vineyard in 2008. A final selection cycle (2008-2012), produced 22 accessions (virus free), with the best agronomic, sanitary, and qualitative aspects: two accessions obtained from Gaglioppo have been selected by color characteristics (i.e., anthocyanin total content and stability); 20 genotypes obtained from Magliocco dolce had a better macro-composition of the grape (i.e., good sugar content with a balanced acidity). SSR analyses were performed to check the self-fertilization process. The study of genetic differences between accessions was performed by AFLPs, SAMPLs, and M-AFLPs. The application of the above-mentioned techniques allowed both to discriminate molecularly the 22 accessions grouped these accessions according to their genetic similarity. The self-fertilization approach has enabled improvement in the quality of the grapes, while preserving the high degree of adaptation to the environment of these two native Calabrian cultivars in southern Italy.

Holocene vegetation changes through Lac Ledro sediments (Trentino, Italy).

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joannin, Sebastien; Vannière, Boris; Galop, Didier; Magny, Michel; Gilli, Adrian; Chapron, Emmanuel; Wirth, Stéfanie; Anselmetti, Flavio; Desmet, Marc

2010-05-01

Lake Ledro is part of the French program ANR LAMA (coordinators: M. Magny and N. Combourieu Nebout) which aims to link Holocene paleoenvironmental changes along a north-south transect in Italy. Lake Ledro (652 m a.s.l.; Trentino, north-eastern Italy) is the northward component of the transect. It is located on the southern slope of the Alps and its catchment area covers 131 km2 with mountains culminating at 1500-2000 m. A multi-proxy approach based on biotic and abiotic indicators (lake-level, palynology, geochemistry and geophysic) was developed from deep and littoral cores, including sediment sequences in Early and Middle Bronze Age lake-shore archaeological sites. We aim reconstructing paleoenvironmental changes resulting from both climate and anthropic influences trough the entire Holocene. A deep master core was built after extracting twin cores from a non disturbed sediment zone recognised by seismic-reflexion investigations. The age-depth model is based on 13 AMS 14C ages measured on terrestrial plant macrofossils and the mean temporal resolution for analyses is ca 60 years. Palynological study shows the usual vegetation succession for the southern slope of the Alps. During the first part of the Holocene, abrupt changes are observed in pollen assemblages in relation to changes in other proxies (XRF and Magnetic Susceptibility) and correlate with cold events associated to the deglaciation in the North-Atlantic area. Cool episodes corresponding to the PreBoreal Oscillation (ca 11.3 ka cal BP) and 8.2 ka event are respectively characterized by stopping afforestation and a strong development of Abies in the local ecosystem. During the second part of the Holocene, two declines of arboreal pollen abundance are observed in relation with occurrences in both cereal and anthropic pollen indicators. These two phases are confirmed by increase in soil erosion as indicated by abiotic proxies. They give evidence of two successive steps for human settlement (Early-Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age) separated by forest development. In addition, XRF data allow two successive distinct palaeohydrological periods to be recognized into the Holocene. Finally, comparison between littoral and deep cores reinforces our interpretation and helps to disentangle climate and anthropic influences on the Holocene environment in the Central Mediterranean region.

Measurement of the Ecological Integrity of Cerrado Streams Using Biological Metrics and the Index of Habitat Integrity

PubMed Central

dos Reis, Deusiano Florêncio; Salazar, Ayala Eduardo; Machado, Mayana Mendes Dias; Couceiro, Sheyla Regina Marques; de Morais, Paula Benevides

2017-01-01

Generally, aquatic communities reflect the effects of anthropogenic changes such as deforestation or organic pollution. The Cerrado stands among the most threatened ecosystems by human activities in Brazil. In order to evaluate the ecological integrity of the streams in a preserved watershed in the Northern Cerrado biome corresponding to a mosaic of ecosystems in transition to the Amazonia biome in Brazil, biological metrics related to diversity, structure, and sensitivity of aquatic macroinvertebrates were calculated. Sampling included collections along stretches of 200 m of nine streams and measurements of abiotic variables (temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, and discharge) and the Index of Habitat Integrity (HII). The values of the abiotic variables and the HII indicated that most of the streams have good ecological integrity, due to high oxygen levels and low concentrations of dissolved solids and electric conductivity. Two streams showed altered HII scores mainly related to small dams for recreational and domestic use, use of Cerrado natural pasture for cattle raising, and spot deforestation in bathing areas. However, this finding is not reflected in the biological metrics that were used. Considering all nine streams, only two showed satisfactory ecological quality (measured by Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP), total richness, and EPT (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) richness), only one of which had a low HII score. These results indicate that punctual measures of abiotic parameters do not reveal the long-term impacts of anthropic activities in these streams, including related fire management of pasture that annually alters the vegetation matrix and may act as a disturbance for the macroinvertebrate communities. Due to this, biomonitoring of low order streams in Cerrado ecosystems of the Northern Central Brazil by different biotic metrics and also physical attributes of the riparian zone such as HII is recommended for the monitoring and control of anthropic impacts on aquatic communities. PMID:28085090

Effectiveness evaluation of flood defence structures in different geomorphological contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morelli, Stefano; Pazzi, Veronica; Fanti, Riccardo

2017-04-01

The flood risk in different geomorphological contexts of two less developed countries are investigated in order to evaluate the efficacy of the existing flood defence structures. In particular, a recent floodplain crossed by a wide meandering river and a narrow mountain valley flowed by creek with a torrential regime have been chosen for such analysis in North Albania and central Mexico, respectively. Both areas have been affected by disastrous floods in past years with considerable damages to properties and people. Some safety countermeasures have been performed over time, even if in a non-systematic way. For this reason, the current inclination to flood risk was assessed by means of a freeware software designed to perform one-dimensional (1D) hydraulic modelling for a full network of natural and anthropic channels (HEC-RAS software by Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System). This new analyses take into account: i) the natural morphological variability along the river path, ii) the anthropic interventions on the fluvial dynamics, iii) the landscape appearance after the soil exploitation in the past years, and iv) all the changes induced by an exceeded informal urbanization. The reconstruction of the river and bordering areas geometric data was carried out according to the physical characteristics of the local environment: a bathymetric survey and near-river DGPS acquisitions for the open spaces of the Albanian floodplain, and traditional topographic methods for the highly vegetated Mexican valley. In both cases, the results show that the existing works are, on their own, poorly efficient in containing the predictable floods. Albanians levees seem underdimensioned, while the channelling works are too narrow to contain large amounts of water and solid transport as typical of the Mexican study area. Evidently, a new territorial planning is required in these areas, and some projects are now in place. However, it would be desirable that local authorities were profitably inspired by the criticalities here mentioned.

Measurement of the Ecological Integrity of Cerrado Streams Using Biological Metrics and the Index of Habitat Integrity.

PubMed

Reis, Deusiano Florêncio Dos; Salazar, Ayala Eduardo; Machado, Mayana Mendes Dias; Couceiro, Sheyla Regina Marques; Morais, Paula Benevides de

2017-01-12

Generally, aquatic communities reflect the effects of anthropogenic changes such as deforestation or organic pollution. The Cerrado stands among the most threatened ecosystems by human activities in Brazil. In order to evaluate the ecological integrity of the streams in a preserved watershed in the Northern Cerrado biome corresponding to a mosaic of ecosystems in transition to the Amazonia biome in Brazil, biological metrics related to diversity, structure, and sensitivity of aquatic macroinvertebrates were calculated. Sampling included collections along stretches of 200 m of nine streams and measurements of abiotic variables (temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, and discharge) and the Index of Habitat Integrity (HII). The values of the abiotic variables and the HII indicated that most of the streams have good ecological integrity, due to high oxygen levels and low concentrations of dissolved solids and electric conductivity. Two streams showed altered HII scores mainly related to small dams for recreational and domestic use, use of Cerrado natural pasture for cattle raising, and spot deforestation in bathing areas. However, this finding is not reflected in the biological metrics that were used. Considering all nine streams, only two showed satisfactory ecological quality (measured by Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP), total richness, and EPT (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) richness), only one of which had a low HII score. These results indicate that punctual measures of abiotic parameters do not reveal the long-term impacts of anthropic activities in these streams, including related fire management of pasture that annually alters the vegetation matrix and may act as a disturbance for the macroinvertebrate communities. Due to this, biomonitoring of low order streams in Cerrado ecosystems of the Northern Central Brazil by different biotic metrics and also physical attributes of the riparian zone such as HII is recommended for the monitoring and control of anthropic impacts on aquatic communities.

Atmospheric concentrations and dry deposition fluxes of particulate trace metals in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de P. Pereira, Pedro A.; Lopes, Wilson A.; Carvalho, Luiz S.; da Rocha, Gisele O.; de Carvalho Bahia, Nei; Loyola, Josiane; Quiterio, Simone L.; Escaleira, Viviane; Arbilla, Graciela; de Andrade, Jailson B.

Respiratory system is the major route of entry for airborne particulates, being the effect on the human organism dependent on chemical composition of the particles, exposure time and individual susceptibility. Airborne particulate trace metals are considered to represent a health hazard since they may be absorbed into human lung tissues during breathing. Fossil fuel and wood combustion, as well as waste incineration and industrial processes, are the main anthropic sources of metals to the atmosphere. In urban areas, vehicular emissions—and dust resuspension associated to road traffic—become the most important manmade source. This work investigated the atmospheric concentrations of TSP, PM 10 and elements such as iron, manganese, copper and zinc, from three different sites around Salvador Region (Bahia, Brazil), namely: (i) Lapa Bus Station, strongly impacted by heavy-duty diesel vehicles; (ii) Aratu harbor, impacted by an intense movement of goods, including metal ores and concentrates and near industrial centers and; (iii) Bananeira Village located on Maré Island, a non-vehicle-influenced site, with activities such as handcraft work and fishery, although placed near the port. Results have pointed out that TSP concentrations ranged between 16.9 (Bananeira) and 354.0 μg m -3 (Aratu#1), while for PM 10 they ranged between 30.9 and 393.0 μg m -3, both in the Lapa Bus Station. Iron was the major element in both Lapa Station and Aratu (#1 and #2), with average concentrations in the PM 10 samples of 148.9, 79.6 and 205.0 ng m -3, respectively. Zinc, on the other hand, was predominant in samples from Bananeira, with an average concentration of 145.0 ng m -3 in TSP samples, since no PM 10 sample was taken from this site. The main sources of iron in the Lapa Station and Aratu harbor were, respectively, soil resuspension by buses and discharge of solid granaries, as fertilizers and metal ores. On the other hand, zinc and copper in the bus station were mainly from anthropic contributions, probably heavy-duty vehicle ageing and wearing actions releasing off Zn from tires and Cu from brake linings. In the Aratu harbor, the high copper concentrations found were probably due to the port's activities, as discharges of copper concentrate on its terminal, although other sources could be possible, as burning of diesel fuel on ships and heavy oil in heaters. Finally, the Bananeira site has been presented as a different profile, since this remote site has shown zinc as the most abundant element, demonstrating to have an unexpected anthropic contribution. On a mass-to-mass basis, both zinc and manganese were in high levels in the Bananeira site and their presence strongly suggest the impact of other sources, such as the Industrial Center of Aratu and/or a siderurgy plant, not far away from that location.

Dark Energy from Discrete Spacetime

PubMed Central

Trout, Aaron D.

2013-01-01

Dark energy accounts for most of the matter-energy content of our universe, yet current theories of its origin rely on radical physical assumptions such as the holographic principle or controversial anthropic arguments. We give a better motivated explanation for dark energy, claiming that it arises from a small negative scalar-curvature present even in empty spacetime. The vacuum has this curvature because spacetime is fundamentally discrete and there are more ways for a discrete geometry to have negative curvature than positive. We explicitly compute this effect using a variant of the well known dynamical-triangulations (DT) model for quantum gravity. Our model predicts a time-varying non-zero cosmological constant with a current value, in natural units, in agreement with observation. This calculation is made possible by a novel characterization of the possible DT action values combined with numerical evidence concerning their degeneracies. PMID:24312502

Quantum Computing since Democritus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aaronson, Scott

2013-03-01

1. Atoms and the void; 2. Sets; 3. Gödel, Turing, and friends; 4. Minds and machines; 5. Paleocomplexity; 6. P, NP, and friends; 7. Randomness; 8. Crypto; 9. Quantum; 10. Quantum computing; 11. Penrose; 12. Decoherence and hidden variables; 13. Proofs; 14. How big are quantum states?; 15. Skepticism of quantum computing; 16. Learning; 17. Interactive proofs and more; 18. Fun with the Anthropic Principle; 19. Free will; 20. Time travel; 21. Cosmology and complexity; 22. Ask me anything.

String cosmology and the landscape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bena, Iosif; Graña, Mariana

2017-03-01

String Theory is believed to have a landscape of 10500 vacua with properties that resemble those of our Universe. The existence of these vacua can be combined with anthropic reasoning to explain some of the hardest problems in cosmology and high-energy physics: the cosmological constant problem, the hierarchy problem, and the un-natural almost-flatness of the inflationary potential. We will explain the construction of these vacua, focusing on the challenges of obtaining vacua with a positive cosmological constant.

Archaeological Investigations at Lakeview Lake: 1979 and 1980.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-12-01

hnology Human ecology Soil chemical analysis * Terrace geology Archaeological Investigations at Lakeview Lake: * 1979 and 1980 Archaeological Monographs...Borrow Areas 47 5 Prehistoric Lithic Technology in the Lakeview Project 53 6 Chemical Analysis of Anthropic Soils 69 7 Prehistoric Human Ecology and...to Historical Site Analysis Bonnie C. Yates 287 Bibliography 293 ,’.: ’ : - . " : ’ "’" ".- - : ’ "" "’" ’ .’: : .- :,-"- * .:- i’ "c "-"’ b

[The synanthropic potential of Kerteszia and Culex mosquitoes (Diptera:Culicidae) in Southeastern Brazil].

PubMed

Forattini, O P; Kakitani, I; dos Santos, R C; Kobayashi, K M; Ueno, H M; Fernández, Z

2000-12-01

To determine the synanthropic potential of Anopheles bellator and An. cruzii in a village close to a wild environment. For comparative purposes, Culex quinquefasciatus and Cx. sacchettae populations were also investigated. From October 1996 to January 2000, vectors investigations were carried out in Pedrinhas village, Southeastern of S. Paulo State, Brazil, through systematic collections with human bait, air aspirations and Shannon traps. The synanthropic index was estimated using Nuorteva's indices plus the Mihályi's endophylic factor. Attraction principle was s=35.7 for both Kerteszia species at the peridomiciliary environment through human bait. Cx. sacchettae showed a sr ratio of 12.8 with a degree of synanthropy. However active search through the aspiration method yielded negative s values, such as -43.1 for An. bellator and -48.2 for An. cruzii. For Cx. sacchettae that value was -3.0. These values were calculated when +100.00 was given to Cx. quinquefasciatus, which showed the highest synanthropic habits, corresponding to s =+93.8. The present data allow to conclude that what was observed until now for isolated rural dwellings is valid for small villages at the same conditions. This means that female Kerteszia adults tend to be in anthropic environment for blood seeking. After that, they return to the surrounding natural environment of the village. Regarding Cx. Sacchettae, they seem to have an anthropic adaptation tendency.

Natural and anthropic processes controlling groundwater hydrogeochemistry in a tourist destination in northeastern Brazil.

PubMed

Mattos, Jonatas Batista; Cruz, Manoel Jerônimo Moreira; De Paula, Francisco Carlos Fernandes; Sales, Elinaldo Fonseca

2018-06-12

The objective of this study was to analyze spatial-seasonal changes to identify the natural and anthropic processes that control groundwater hydrogeochemistry in urban aquifers in municipality of Lençóis (Bahia). Tourism is the main activity of this municipality, which is an important tourist destination in northeastern Brazil and which maintains its tourism infrastructure by using groundwater. Two field campaigns were conducted (dry and rainy seasons) in order to collect groundwater samples extracted from 15 tubular wells distributed over the urban area of the municipality. The Piper diagram, multivariate statistical analyses, and artificial neural networks indicated that there are two types of water (Na-Cl and Na-[Formula: see text] - ), which were divided into five different clusters. Seasonal variation was observed to significantly alter groundwater hydrogeochemistry. According to the Gibbs diagram, groundwater within the urban area of Lençóis belonged to the rainfall dominance, demonstrating low water-rock interaction. Hydrogeochemical modeling results suggested hydrolysis as the main natural factors controlling process. However, mineral dissolution also occurred in one of the clusters. Human-originated trace contamination by nitrate, chloride, and sulfate occurred in a zone of the urban area. This contamination was observed regardless of climate seasonality, indicating that the main controlling process for groundwater hydrochemistry in this region is wastewater mobilization (indirect artificial recharge).

Predicting the cosmological constant with the scale-factor cutoff measure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

De Simone, Andrea; Guth, Alan H.; Salem, Michael P.

2008-09-15

It is well known that anthropic selection from a landscape with a flat prior distribution of cosmological constant {lambda} gives a reasonable fit to observation. However, a realistic model of the multiverse has a physical volume that diverges with time, and the predicted distribution of {lambda} depends on how the spacetime volume is regulated. A very promising method of regulation uses a scale-factor cutoff, which avoids a number of serious problems that arise in other approaches. In particular, the scale-factor cutoff avoids the 'youngness problem' (high probability of living in a much younger universe) and the 'Q and G catastrophes'more » (high probability for the primordial density contrast Q and gravitational constant G to have extremely large or small values). We apply the scale-factor cutoff measure to the probability distribution of {lambda}, considering both positive and negative values. The results are in good agreement with observation. In particular, the scale-factor cutoff strongly suppresses the probability for values of {lambda} that are more than about 10 times the observed value. We also discuss qualitatively the prediction for the density parameter {omega}, indicating that with this measure there is a possibility of detectable negative curvature.« less

Phenotypic features of the domestic pigs bred in the Roman settlements of Pompeii and Caralis.

PubMed

Manca, Paolo; Farina, Vittorio; Gadau, Sergio; Lepore, Gianluca; Genovese, Angelo; Zedda, Marco

2004-01-01

A reconstruction of the morphological features of domestic pigs from two Roman settlements is here suggested by means of the study of skeletal and dental remains, with the aim at evaluating their degree of selection in comparison with wild boars. Material was formed by 111 bone and tooth fragments and was uncovered during the excavations of Polybius' House in Pompeii and of Roman buildings in the neighbourhood of Caralis harbour (Sardinia). The remains underwent morphological examination. The eruption of permanent teeth and ossification of epiphyseal cartilages let us establish that most animals were over 18-20 months. When possible, the determination of sex was made by detecting tusk features. The presence of anthropic signs on the bone surface provides some information about slaughtering and cooking procedure in the Roman period and supports the hypothesis that the animal remnants were food remains. Osteometric analysis was carried out on long and short bones and teeth through suitable multiplicative parameters, leading to the assessment of the withers height and other main phenotypic features. Logarithmic deviation pointed out the significant osteometric differences between the domestic pigs from the two Roman settlements. These data were also compared with those from wild boars and modern crossbred wild boars X non-selected pigs. In conclusion, our data show that pigs from Caralis bear much resemblance to wild boars, whereas those from Pompeii appear to be improved, so sharing some phenotypic features of modem improved breeds.

Mediterranean dunes on the go: Evidence from a short term study on coastal herbaceous vegetation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prisco, Irene; Stanisci, Angela; Acosta, Alicia T. R.

2016-12-01

Detailed monitoring studies on permanent sites are a promising tool for an accurate evaluation of short, medium or long term vegetation dynamics. This work aims to evaluate short-term changes in coastal dune herbaceous plant species and EU Habitats through a multi-temporal analysis using permanent vegetation transects. In particular, (I) we analyze changes in species richness of coastal habitats; (II) we identify changes in plant cover of selected focal plants; and (III) we relate the changes to selected climatic variables and erosion/accretion processes. We selected one of the Italian's peninsula best preserved coastal dune areas (ca. 50 km along the Adriatic sea) with a relatively homogeneous coastal zonation and low anthropic pressure but with different erosion/accretion processes. We explored changes in richness over time using generalized linear models (GLMs). We identified different ecological guilds: focal, ruderal and alien plant species and investigated temporal trends in these guilds' species richness. We also applied GLMs to determine how plant cover of the most important focal species have changed over time. Overall, in this study we observed that the influence of climatic variables was relatively small. However, we found remarkable different trends in response to erosion/accretion processes both at community and at species level. Thus, our results highlight the importance of coastal dynamics in preserving not only coastal vegetation zonation, but also species richness and focal species cover. Moreover, we identified the dune grasslands as the most sensitive habitat for detecting the influence of climatic variables throughout a short term monitoring survey. Information from this study provides useful insights for detecting changes in vegetation, for establishing habitat protection priorities and for improving conservation efforts for these fragile ecosystems.

The Equivalence Principle and the Constants of Nature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Damour, Thibault

2009-12-01

We briefly review the various contexts within which one might address the issue of “why” the dimensionless constants of Nature have the particular values that they are observed to have. Both the general historical trend, in physics, of replacing a-priori-given, absolute structures by dynamical entities, and anthropic considerations, suggest that coupling “constants” have a dynamical nature. This hints at the existence of observable violations of the Equivalence Principle at some level, and motivates the need for improved tests of the Equivalence Principle.

Beaver lodge location on the upstream Loire River.

PubMed

Fustec, Joëlle; Cormier, Jean-Paul; Lodé, Thierry

2003-08-01

In the part of the Loire River recently colonized by Eurasian beavers, we compared habitat characteristics among sites with lodges, sites with cut trees and sites without beaver. The absence of sandbank and canopy cover (by 10-15-m tall trees, by tall Salicaceae, and by bushy Salicaceae) appeared as good predictors for lodge settling. Based on this model, the number of proper lodge sites was estimated for the next downstream 36 kilometers stretch. The number of favourable sites decreases as anthropization increases.

Cosmology as Science?: From Inflation to Eternity

ScienceCinema

Krauss, Lawrence M.

2018-05-23

The last decade or two have represented the golden age of observational cosmology, producing a revolution in our picture of the Universe on its largest scales, and perhaps also its smallest ones. I will argue that these recent development bring to the forefront some vexing questions about whether various fundamental assumptions about the universe are in fact falsifiable. I will focus on 3 issues: (1) "Proving" Inflation, (2) Dark Energy and Anthropic Arguments, and (3) Cosmology of the far future. Interview with Lawrence M. Krauss

Producing the deuteron in stars: anthropic limits on fundamental constants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barnes, Luke A.; Lewis, Geraint F., E-mail: luke.barnes@sydney.edu.au, E-mail: gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

2017-07-01

Stellar nucleosynthesis proceeds via the deuteron (D), but only a small change in the fundamental constants of nature is required to unbind it. Here, we investigate the effect of altering the binding energy of the deuteron on proton burning in stars. We find that the most definitive boundary in parameter space that divides probably life-permitting universes from probably life-prohibiting ones is between a bound and unbound deuteron. Due to neutrino losses, a ball of gas will undergo rapid cooling or stabilization by electron degeneracy pressure before it can form a stable, nuclear reaction-sustaining star. We also consider a less-bound deuteron,more » which changes the energetics of the pp and pep reactions. The transition to endothermic pp and pep reactions, and the resulting beta-decay instability of the deuteron, do not seem to present catastrophic problems for life.« less

Man made deltas

PubMed Central

Maselli, Vittorio; Trincardi, Fabio

2013-01-01

The review of geochronological and historical data documents that the largest southern European deltas formed almost synchronously during two short intervals of enhanced anthropic pressure on landscapes, respectively during the Roman Empire and the Little Ice Age. These growth phases, that occurred under contrasting climatic regimes, were both followed by generalized delta retreat, driven by two markedly different reasons: after the Romans, the fall of the population and new afforestation let soil erosion in river catchments return to natural background levels; since the industrial revolution, instead, flow regulation through river dams overkill a still increasing sediment production in catchment basins. In this second case, furthermore, the effect of a reduced sediment flux to the coasts is amplified by the sinking of modern deltas, due to land subsidence and sea level rise, that hampers delta outbuilding and increases the vulnerability of coastal zone to marine erosion and flooding. PMID:23722597

Dark energy from discrete spacetime.

PubMed

Trout, Aaron D

2013-01-01

Dark energy accounts for most of the matter-energy content of our universe, yet current theories of its origin rely on radical physical assumptions such as the holographic principle or controversial anthropic arguments. We give a better motivated explanation for dark energy, claiming that it arises from a small negative scalar-curvature present even in empty spacetime. The vacuum has this curvature because spacetime is fundamentally discrete and there are more ways for a discrete geometry to have negative curvature than positive. We explicitly compute this effect using a variant of the well known dynamical-triangulations (DT) model for quantum gravity. Our model predicts a time-varying non-zero cosmological constant with a current value, [Formula: see text] in natural units, in agreement with observation. This calculation is made possible by a novel characterization of the possible DT action values combined with numerical evidence concerning their degeneracies.

Benthic Archives Reveal Recurrence and Dominance of Toxigenic Cyanobacteria in a Eutrophic Lake over the Last 220 Years.

PubMed

Legrand, Benjamin; Lamarque, Amélie; Sabart, Marion; Latour, Delphine

2017-09-04

Akinetes are resistant cells which have the ability to persist in sediment for several decades. We have investigated the temporal distribution of akinetes of two species, Dolichospermum macrosporum and Dolichospermum flos-aquae , in a sediment core sampled in Lake Aydat (France), which covers 220 years. The upper part, from 1907 to 2016, the number of akinetes fluctuated but stayed at high concentrations, especially for D. macrosporum in surface sediment (with the maximal value close to 6.10⁵ akinetes g DW -1 of sediment), suggesting a recurrence of blooms of this species which was probably closely related to anthropic eutrophication since the 1960s. Before 1907, the abundance of akinetes of both species was very low, suggesting only a modest presence of these cyanobacteria. In addition, the percentage of intact akinetes was different for each species, suggesting different ecological processes in the water column. This percentage also decreased with depth, revealing a reduction in germination potential over time. In addition, biosynthetic genes of anatoxin-a ( anaC ) and microcystin ( mcyA ) were detected. First results show a high occurrence of mcyA all down the core. In contrast, anaC gene was mostly detected in the surface sediment (since the 1980s), revealing a potentially more recent occurrence of this cyanotoxin in Lake Aydat which may be associated with the recurrence of blooms of D. macrosporum and thus with anthropic activities.

Astronomy and Writing: A First-Year Cosmology Course for Nonmajors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, A. M.

2010-08-01

Astro 1109 (Spring 2009) is a first-year writing seminar offered through Cornell University's Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines. Every first-year student takes two of these seminars, each with fewer than 17 students; students are assigned to a course by ballot, creating opportunities for students to interact with a discipline other than their own. In Astro 1109, a non-mathematical course based on readings, discussion, and formal and informal writing assignments, students engaged with various forms of expository and persuasive writing focused on the topic of cosmology. The coursework covered fundamental questions of space, time, and relativity, black holes, the expansion of the Universe, dark matter and dark energy, and the anthropic principle. Assignments were developed to introduce students to a wide range of scientific writing for the lay audience. Throughout the course, an emphasis was placed on the importance of physical and textual evidence and observation, and the differences between a conjecture, a hypothesis, and a theory. Work for the course culminated in a four week research project, exploring the merits of the anthropic principle and the relationship between physics and philosophy, through which each student developed their own paper topic. Astro 1109 was designed as an outreach tool to improve scientific literacy by linking it to the traditional concepts of literacy and exposition. The assignments could be easily adaptable to students at different levels or with various levels of background on the topic.

Taphonomic analysis of the hominin remains from Swabian Jura and their implications for the mortuary practices during the Upper Paleolithic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sala, Nohemi; Conard, Nicholas

2016-10-01

The symbolic behavior of human beings usually is manifested in different ways such as figurative art, musical traditions, spoken language or complex funerary behavior. The Paleolithic sites of the Swabian Jura contain a rich archaeological record including the oldest evidence of musical instruments and figurative art which indicates complex cognitive abilities of the Paleolithic Homo sapiens that colonized Europe. Nevertheless, there is no evidence for burials in the Swabian caves during the Paleolithic. This raises questions regarding the kind of mortuary practices that existed in this region during the Paleolithic. In this paper, we address these questions from a taphonomic perspective by analyzing the hominin remains recovered in caves of the Swabian Jura. Whatever the funerary behavior was during the Early and Middle Upper Paleolithic, we have no evidence to document these practices. The Magdalenian hominin remains from Brillenhöhle, however, display anthropic modifications that have been hotly debated in the past. Our taphonomic analysis indicates that the assemblage displays traces of butchery similar to those recorded in the faunal remains. In addition to the cut marks, we have documented intentional breakage and human tooth marks, suggesting that the consumption of human corpses took place during the Magdalenian at Brillenhöhle. Similar anthropic modifications have also been documented in Magdalenian horizon at Hohle Fels. This suggests that the cannibalism practices during the Magdalenian were more common than previously expected during the Magdalenian in the Swabian Jura.

Anthropization of groundwater resources in the Mediterranean region: processes and challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leduc, Christian; Pulido-Bosch, Antonio; Remini, Boualem

2017-09-01

A comprehensive overview is provided of processes and challenges related to Mediterranean groundwater resources and associated changes in recent decades. While most studies are focused thematically and/or geographically, this paper addresses different stages of groundwater exploitation in the region and their consequences. Examples emphasize the complex interactions between the physical and social dimensions of uses and evolution of groundwater. In natural conditions, Mediterranean groundwater resources represent a wide range of hydrogeological contexts, recharge conditions and rates of exploitation. They have been actively exploited for millennia but their pseudo-natural regimes have been considerably modified in the last 50 years, especially to satisfy agricultural demand (80% of total water consumption in North Africa), as well as for tourism and coastal cities. Climate variability affects groundwater dynamics but the various forms of anthropization are more important drivers of hydrological change, including changes in land use and vegetation, hydraulic works, and intense pumpings. These changes affect both the quantity and quality of groundwater at different scales, and modify the nature of hydrogeological processes, their location, timing, and intensity. The frequent cases of drastic overexploitation illustrate the fragility of Mediterranean groundwater resources and the limits of present forms of management. There is no easy way to maintain or recover sustainability, which is often threatened by short-term interests. To achieve this goal, a significant improvement in hydrogeological knowledge and closer collaboration between the various disciplines of water sciences are indispensable.

A functional-oriented assessment of environmental criticality due to anthropic actions along the hillslopes of the Somma-Vesuvio volcano (Naples, Italy).

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romano, Nunzio; De Falco, Melania; Speranza, Giuseppe; Tarolli, Paolo

2015-04-01

Mediterranean environments are characterized by a climatic regime with a strong seasonal variability. More uniform precipitations usually occur during the winter season, whereas short and very intense rainfalls occur during the fall and early spring that, in turn, trigger surface runoff and severe soil erosion phenomena. When this typical seasonality interacts with a territory substantially altered by anthropic actions, conditions can easily arise for environmental imbalances with serious risks for flash floods and landslides. Many of the degradation dynamics recorded during the last decades in western countries are also the result of the socio-economic changes after the II world war which yielded land-use changes with the urban sprawl process and the increase in human settlements of the natural environments. We are also witnessing a change in the perception of the natural environment and the relevant values. This study benefits from the availability of historical maps and rainfall time series to analyze the profound landscape changes occurred during the last century along the hillsides of the Somma-Vesuvio volcano, in the renowned piedmont area located at east of Napoli city. We are specifically interested in the changes and disturbances made to the hydrographic network to evaluate the increasing potential risks for flood and landslides along these hillslopes characterized by the presence of highly vulnerable volcanic soils, the construction of roads, and other negative alterations of the natural overland flow patterns.

Pest Cockroaches May Overcome Environmental Restriction Due to Anthropization.

PubMed

Schapheer, Constanza; Sandoval, Gino; Villagra, Cristian A

2018-06-08

Our species have altered their surroundings since its early dispersion on Earth. Unfortunately, thanks to human-modified habitats, several pest organisms such as domiciliary insects have expanded their distributions. Moreover, pest-related microorganisms may also be aided by anthropization. Pest cockroaches are globally distributed and capable of carrying several diseases. We explored if urbanization may buffer environmental conditions allowing pest insects to expand their distribution. Specifically, we suggest that human settlements may generate suitable microhabitats for synanthropic cockroaches, helping them to survive and establish with disregard to overall climatic restrictions. To test this idea we studied the distribution of pest cockroaches spanning the length of Chilean territory. Chile, along its 4270 km length north to south extent, is a country offering a formidable sampling of Earth's climatic diversity accompanied by dense urbanizations. We studied entomological collections and spatially analyzed pest cockroach distribution found in Chile and discovered that synanthropic cockroach populations are consistently concentrated near most urban developed zones of the country and not limited by overall temperature. Furthermore, health-concern pest cockroach species were widely distributed in Chilean territory, found even in its most southern urban centers as well as Easter Island. Therefore, these disease vectors could exist even in isolated and extreme climatic zones as long as urbanization provides the adequate microhabitat. We discuss the need for further research in order to assess if these distributions can be extrapolated to the pathogenic strains these pest insects may be carrying as reported in other regions of the planet.

Climate change impact on water resources - Example of an anthropized basin (Llobregat, Spain)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Versini, P.-A.; Pouget, L.; Mc Ennis, S.; Guiu Carrio, R.; Sempere-Torres, D.; Escaler, I.

2012-04-01

The impact of climate change is one of the central topics of study by water agencies and companies. Indeed, the forecasted increase of atmospheric temperature may change the amount, frequency and intensity of precipitation and affect the hydrological cycle: runoff, infiltration, aquifer recharge, etc… Moreover, global change combining climate change but also land use and water demand changes, may cause very important impacts on water availability and quality. Global change scenarios in Spain describe a general trend towards increased temperature and water demand, and reduced precipitation as a result of its geographical situation and socio-economic characteristics. The European project WATER CHANGE (included in the LIFE + Environment Policy and Governance program) aims to develop a modeling system to assess the Global Change impacts, and their associated uncertainties, on water availability for water supply and water use. Its objective is to help river basin agencies and water companies in their long term planning and in the definition of adaptation measures. This work presents the results obtained by applying the modelling system to the Llobregat river basin (Spain). This is an anthropized catchment of about 5000 km2, where water resources are used for different purposes, such as drinking water production, agriculture irrigation, industry and hydroelectric energy production. Based on future global change scenarios, the water resources system has been assessed in terms of water deficit and supply. A cost-benefit analysis has also been conducted in order to evaluate every realistic measure that could optimize and improve the system.

Adaptive plasticity of Laguncularia racemosa in response to different environmental conditions: integrating chemical and biological data by chemometrics.

PubMed

da Souza, Iara; Bonomo, Marina Marques; Morozesk, Mariana; Rocha, Lívia Dorsch; Duarte, Ian Drumond; Furlan, Larissa Maria; Arrivabene, Hiulana Pereira; Monferrán, Magdalena Victoria; Matsumoto, Silvia Tamie; Milanez, Camilla Rozindo Dias; Wunderlin, Daniel Alberto; Fernandes, Marisa Narciso

2014-04-01

Mangroves are dynamic environments under constant influence of anthropic contaminants. The correlation between environmental contamination levels and possible changes in the morphology of plants, evaluated by multivariate statistics helps to highlight matching between these variables. This study aimed to evaluate the uptake and translocation of metals and metalloids in roots and leaves as well as the changes induced in both anatomy and histochemistry of roots of Laguncularia racemosa inhabiting two estuaries of Espírito Santo (Brazil) with different pollution degrees. The analysis of 14 elements in interstitial water, sediments and plants followed by multivariate statistics, allowed the differentiation of studied sites, showing good match between levels of elements in the environment with the corresponding in plants. L. racemosa showed variations in their root anatomy in different collection areas, with highest values of cortex/vascular cylinder ratio, periderm thickness and air gap area in Vitória Bay, the most polluted sampling area. These three parameters were also important to differentiate the mangrove areas by linear discriminant analysis. The development stage of aerenchyma in roots reflected the oxygen availability in the water, being found a negative correlation between these variables. The combined use of chemical and biological analyses responded quite well to different pollution scenarios, matching morphological responses to physical and chemical parameters, measured at different partitions within the estuary. Thus, L. racemosa can be confirmed as a reliable sentinel plant for biomonitoring of estuaries impacted by anthropic pollution.

The covariant entropy conjecture and concordance cosmological models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Song; Zhang, Hongbao

2008-10-01

Recently a covariant entropy conjecture has been proposed for dynamical horizons. We apply this conjecture to concordance cosmological models, namely, those cosmological models filled with perfect fluids, in the presence of a positive cosmological constant. As a result, we find that this conjecture has a severe constraint power. Not only does this conjecture rule out those cosmological models disfavored by the anthropic principle, but also it imposes an upper bound 10-60 on the cosmological constant for our own universe, which thus provides an alternative macroscopic perspective for understanding the long-standing cosmological constant problem.

Creation of the universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Li Zhi; Li, Shu Xian

Philosophical aspects of current cosmological theories are explored in an introduction for general readers. Chapters are devoted to the physical implications of an ancient Chinese story, expansion without a center, the age of the universe, the finiteness or infiniteness of space, visible and invisible matter, the birth of order from chaos, and the thermal history of the universe. Consideration is given to the synthesis of elements, the origin of asymmetry, the inflation of vacuum, the physics of the first move, and the anthropic principle and physical constants. Diagrams and drawings are provided.

From ought to is physics and the naturalistic fallacy.

PubMed

Stanley, Matthew

2014-09-01

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there were many attempts to justify political and social systems on the basis of physics and astronomy. By the early twentieth century such moves increasingly also integrated the life and social sciences. The physical sciences gradually became less appealing as a sole source for sociopolitical thought. The details of this transition help explain the contemporary reluctance to capitalize on an ostensibly rich opportunity for naturalistic social reasoning: the anthropic principle in cosmology, which deals with the apparent "fine-tuning" of the universe for life.

Flood hazards analysis based on changes of hydrodynamic processes in fluvial systems of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simas, Iury; Rodrigues, Cleide

2016-04-01

The metropolis of Sao Paulo, with its 7940 Km² and over 20 million inhabitants, is increasingly being consolidated with disregard for the dynamics of its fluvial systems and natural limitations imposed by fluvial terraces, floodplains and slopes. Events such as floods and flash floods became particularly persistent mainly in socially and environmentally vulnerable areas. The Aricanduva River basin was selected as the ideal area for the development of the flood hazard analysis since it presents the main geological and geomorphological features found in the urban site. According to studies carried out by Anthropic Geomorphology approach in São Paulo, to study this phenomenon is necessary to take into account the original hydromorphological systems and its functional conditions, as well as in which dimensions the Anthropic factor changes the balance between the main variables of surface processes. Considering those principles, an alternative model of geographical data was proposed and enabled to identify the role of different driving forces in terms of spatial conditioning of certain flood events. Spatial relationships between different variables, such as anthropogenic and original morphology, were analyzed for that purpose in addition to climate data. The surface hydrodynamic tendency spatial model conceived for this study takes as key variables: 1- The land use present at the observed date combined with the predominant lithological group, represented by a value ranging 0-100, based on indexes of the National Soil Conservation Service (NSCS-USA) and the Hydraulic Technology Center Foundation (FCTH-Brazil) to determine the resulting balance of runoff/infiltration. 2- The original slope, applying thresholds from which it's possible to determine greater tendency for runoff (in percents). 3- The minimal features of relief, combining the curvature of surface in plant and profile. Those three key variables were combined in a Geographic Information System in a series of tests to get weighted values, defining fuzzy limits in the resulting matrix. For comparison purposes, with this method it was possible to create surface hydrodynamic tendency charts of different periods of urban consolidation. Considerable changes of superficial hydrodynamic tendencies in our universe of study were identified, specially pointing to the expected positive tendency change for runoff, due to the current predominant urban land uses. Furthermore, the model enabled an associated analysis with interpolated pluvial values, pointing and quantifying, in terms of runoff volume increase, the influence of occupied areas to the occurrences of floods in areas previously not-known to be affected.

The Sensitivity of Earth's Climate History To Changes In The Rates of Biological And Geological Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waltham, D.

2014-12-01

The faint young Sun paradox (early Earth had surface liquid water despite solar luminosity 70% of the modern value) implies that our planet's albedo has increased through time and/or greenhouse warming has fallen. The obvious explanation is that negative feedback processes stabilized temperatures. However, the limited temperature data available does not exhibit the expected residual temperature rise and, at least for the Phanerozoic, estimates of climate sensitivity exceed the Planck sensitivity (the zero net-feedback value). The alternate explanation is that biological and geological evolution have tended to cool Earth through time hence countering solar-driven warming. The coincidence that Earth-evolution has roughly cancelled Solar-evolution can then be explained as an emergent property of a complex system (the Gaia hypothesis) or the result of the unavoidable observational bias that Earth's climate history must be compatible with our existence (the anthropic principle). Here, I use a simple climate model to investigate the sensitivity of Earth's climate to changes in the rate of Earth-evolution. Earth-evolution is represented by an effective emissivity which has an intrinsic variation through time (due to continental growth, the evolution of cyanobacteria, orbital fluctuations etc) plus a linear feedback term which enhances emissivity variations. An important feature of this model is a predicted maximum in the radiated-flux versus temperature function. If the increasing solar flux through time had exceeded this value then runaway warming would have occurred. For the best-guess temperature history and climate sensitivity, the Earth has always been within a few percent of this maximum. There is no obvious Gaian explanation for this flux-coincidence but the anthropic principle naturally explains it: If the rate of biological/geological evolution is naturally slow then Earth is a fortunate outlier which evolved just fast enough to avoid solar-induced over-heating. However, there are large uncertainties concerning the temperature history of our planet and concerning climate sensitivity in the Archean and Proterozoic. When these are included, the solar-flux through time might have been as little as 70-90 % of the maximum thus reducing the significance of the flux-coincidence.

Assessment of oxidative stress and bioaccumulation of the metals Cu, Fe, Zn, Pb, Cd in the polychaete Perinereis gualpensis from estuaries of central Chile.

PubMed

Gaete, Hernán; Álvarez, Manuel; Lobos, Gabriela; Soto, Eulogio; Jara-Gutiérrez, Carlos

2017-11-01

The estuaries of the Aconcagua and Maipo Rivers of central Chile are receptors of residues that contain metals from anthropic activities including agriculture, mining and smelters, which have different levels in the two basins. This study postulates that the exposition to metals is different in the two estuaries and that their sediments contain bioavailable chemical agents that produce oxidative stress. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of estuarine sediments on the polychaete Perinereis gualpensis using oxidative stress biomarkers and to determine the metal concentrations in sediments and their accumulation in P. gualpensis. Sediments and organisms were collected in December 2015 and January 2016 in the estuaries. The Catapilco estuary was used as control, since its basin has little anthropic activity. The metal concentrations of Fe Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd were determined in tissues of the organisms and in sediments. The granulometry, conductivity, redox potential, pH and organic matter in sediments were determined, as well as catalase activity and lipid peroxidation. The results show that the concentrations of metals in sediments were higher in the estuary of the Aconcagua River: Cu: 48 ± 2μgg -1 ; Fe: 154 ± 19mgg -1 , Pb: 20 ± 3μgg -1 and Zn: 143 ± 20μgg -1 . In tissues, Pb and Fe were higher in the estuary of the Maipo River, while Cd was detected only in the Catapilco River mouth. Catalase activity was greater in the estuary of the Aconcagua River and lipid peroxidation in the estuary of the Catapilco River. Significant regressions were found between biomarkers of oxidative stress and metal concentrations in tissues of P. gualpensis. In conclusion, the sediments of the studied estuaries contain bioavailable chemical agents that provoke oxidative stress in P. gualpensis, which may be a risk for the benthic communities of these ecosystems. This species is proposed to monitor metals bioavailability and oxidative stress in estuarine sediments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Natural Recovery and Planned Intervention in Coastal Wetlands: Venice Lagoon (Northern Adriatic Sea, Italy) as a Case Study

PubMed Central

Ceoldo, Sonia; Pellegrino, Nicola

2014-01-01

The goals of conservation and sustainable use of environmental ecosystems have increased the need for detailed knowledge of ecological evolution and responses to both anthropogenic pressures and recovery measures. The present study shows the effects of natural processes and planned intervention in terms of reducing nutrient inputs in a highly exploited coastal lagoon, describing its evolution over a 16-year period from the late 1980s (when eutrophication was at its peak) until 2003. Changes in nutrient and carbon concentrations in the top layer of sediments were investigated in parallel with macroalgal and seagrass biomass in the most anthropized basin of Venice Lagoon in four surveys conducted in accordance with the same protocols in 1987, 1993, 1998, and 2003. A pronounced reduction in trophic state (mainly total nitrogen, organic phosphorus, and organic carbon concentrations) and macroalgal biomass was recorded, together with the progressive expansion of seagrass meadows. General considerations are also made on the effects of Manila clam farming and the shift from illegal to managed clam farming. PMID:25126611

Natural recovery and planned intervention in coastal wetlands: Venice Lagoon (northern Adriatic Sea, Italy) as a case study.

PubMed

Facca, Chiara; Ceoldo, Sonia; Pellegrino, Nicola; Sfriso, Adriano

2014-01-01

The goals of conservation and sustainable use of environmental ecosystems have increased the need for detailed knowledge of ecological evolution and responses to both anthropogenic pressures and recovery measures. The present study shows the effects of natural processes and planned intervention in terms of reducing nutrient inputs in a highly exploited coastal lagoon, describing its evolution over a 16-year period from the late 1980s (when eutrophication was at its peak) until 2003. Changes in nutrient and carbon concentrations in the top layer of sediments were investigated in parallel with macroalgal and seagrass biomass in the most anthropized basin of Venice Lagoon in four surveys conducted in accordance with the same protocols in 1987, 1993, 1998, and 2003. A pronounced reduction in trophic state (mainly total nitrogen, organic phosphorus, and organic carbon concentrations) and macroalgal biomass was recorded, together with the progressive expansion of seagrass meadows. General considerations are also made on the effects of Manila clam farming and the shift from illegal to managed clam farming.

Variation of fundamental constants on sub- and super-Hubble scales: From the equivalence principle to the multiverse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uzan, Jean-Philippe

2013-02-01

Fundamental constants play a central role in many modern developments in gravitation and cosmology. Most extensions of general relativity lead to the conclusion that dimensionless constants are actually dynamical fields. Any detection of their variation on sub-Hubble scales would signal a violation of the Einstein equivalence principle and hence a lead to gravity beyond general relativity. On super-Hubble scales, or maybe should we say on super-universe scales, such variations are invoked as a solution to the fine-tuning problem, in connection with an anthropic approach.

'The Relation of Biology to Astronomy' and Theology: Panspermia and Panentheism; Revolutionary Convergences Advanced by Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, Theodore, Jr.

2012-06-01

In contrast to the Copernican revolution in astro-geometry, the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe contribution to the recent and continuing revolution in astrobiology - "cometary panspermia" - features astronomy and biology converging toward theology. They employed astro-biotic reasoning (often labeled "anthropic" reasoning) to demonstrate that life is made possible by the deliberate controlling influence of the living all-embracing "intelligent universe." This is consistent with panentheism [pan-en-theos-ism, not pantheism]. As advanced by Hoyle and Wickramasinghe, cometary panspermia is panentheistic. Also, neoclassical panentheism requires generic panspermia, and favors cometary panspermia.

Physical characterization of a watershed through GIS: a study in the Schmidt stream, Brazil.

PubMed

Reis, D R; Plangg, R; Tundisi, J G; Quevedo, D M

2015-12-01

Remote sensing and geoprocessing are essential tools for obtaining and maintaining records of human actions on space over the course of time; these tools offer the basis for diagnoses of land use, environmental interference and local development. The Schmidt stream watershed, located in the Sinos River basin, in southern Brazil, has an environmental situation similar to that of the majority of small streams draining rural and urban areas in southern Brazil: agricultural and urbanization practices do not recognize the riparian area and there is removal of original vegetation, disregarding the suitability of land use; removal of wetlands; intensive water use for various activities; and lack of control and monitoring in the discharge of wastewater, among other factors, deteriorate the quality of this important environment.This article aims to achieve a physical characterization of the Schmidt stream watershed (Sinos river basin) identifying elements such as land use and occupation, soil science, geology, climatology, extent and location of watershed, among others, so as to serve as the basis for a tool that helps in the integrated environmental management of watersheds. By applying geographic information system - GIS to the process of obtaining maps of land use and occupation, pedologicaland geological, and using climatological data from the Campo Bom meteorological station, field visit, review of literature and journals, and publicly available data, the physical characterization of the Schmidt stream watershed was performed, with a view to the integrated environmental management of this watershed. Out of the total area of the Schmidt stream watershed (23.92 km(2)), in terms of geology, it was observed that 23.7% consist of colluvial deposits, 22.6% consist of grass facies, and 53.7% consist of Botucatu formation. Major soil types of the watershed: 97.4% Argisols and only 2.6% Planosols. Land use and occupation is characterized by wetland (0.5%), Native Forest (12.83%), Native Forest + Rural Anthropic + Secondary Vegetation + Forestry (43.81%), Urban Anthropic/Urban Area (39.85%), and also Urban Anthropic/Expansion areas (3.01%). Mean annual rainfall is 1337 mm, maximum temperatures range from 10.5°C to 41.6°C and minimum temperatures range from -1.80°C and 26°C, weak winds, occasionally over 5 m/s. Conducting an environmental assessment in this watershed is essential for environmental and land management. However, these assessments are not conducted in all watersheds and, when they are, their frequency is not sufficiency to allow for continuous monitoring, in order to model and predict scenarios, with a view to adopt medium and long-term measures for environmental protection.

Characterization of the multi-component driving land subsidence using Persistent Scatterer Interferometry technique: the Ravenna case of study (Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonì, Roberta; Fiaschi, Simone; Calcaterra, Domenico; Di Martire, Diego; Ibrahim, Ahmed; Meisina, Claudia; Perini, Luisa; Ramondini, Massimo; Tessitore, Serena; Floris, Mario

2015-04-01

Land subsidence represents a kind of hazard, which affects an increasing number of worldwide regions, densely populated, causing damage to the environment and infrastructures. Settlements can be related to multiple processes both natural and anthropic (i.e. vadose zone processes, soil consolidation, aquifer compaction, solid and fluid extraction and load-induced compaction) which take place at different spatio-temporal scale. Over the last decades, advanced subsidence studies exploited Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR) data, a recent remote sensing tool, to investigate land subsidence phenomena around the world. In particular, Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) technique, allowing a quantitative estimation at high resolution of the surface deformations, has already been successfully applied to monitor the phenomenon evolution; PSI measurements represent the cumulative displacement, deriving from the contribution of natural and anthropic components, both superficial and deep. The overlapping of several causative factors makes more difficult to accurately interpret the resulting deformations; therefore, it is essential to implement a suitable methodology to distinguish the shallow and deep components of motion. The aim of our research is to introduce a PSI-based approach not only to monitoring but also to understand the land subsidence mechanism, in order to disentangle the natural and anthropic components of motion. The methodology consists of three main phases: 1) Post-processing elaborations (i.e. interpolation of the cumulated displacements and isokinetics map implementation); 2) Characterization of the subsidence areas (i.e. subsidence pattern recognition by means of automatic time series classification); 3) Mechanisms recognition (i.e. identification of the predisposing and triggering factors and comparison with lito-technical model of subsoil, and with earth measurements). In this work, the methodology has been applied to the Ravenna area, Italy, using images acquired by ERS-1/2 (1992-2000), ENVISAT (2003-2010) and TERRASAR-X (2012-2014) sensors. The test site is located in the south-eastern sector of the Po River plain, along the Adriatic Sea, where there are present around 1500-3000 m of Quaternary deposits, mainly constituted by sandy and silty-clay layers of alluvial and marine origin. These sediments lay on a pre-Quaternary substratum characterized by buried active thrusts, which are parallel to the Apennine alignment. The particular geological context deserves special attention, because it hosts several municipalities and relevant infrastructures, where a long-trend of subsidence rate has been recorded over the last decades, representing the result of superimposed phenomena: tectonic, depositional, climatic and man-induced processes. The definition of the multi-component contribution is intended as a crucial step towards a more reliable subsidence prediction model, which, in turn, will help to better calibrate the suitable remedial measures as to prevent further ground deformations of this important coastal lowland.

Holocene evolution of a montane lake catchment inferred from multiproxy sediment analysis : climatic and anthropic impacts in french prealps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bajard, Manon; Sabatier, Pierre; Poulenard, Jérôme; David, Fernand; Arnaud, Fabien; Develle, Anne-Lise; Reyss, Jean-Louis; Fanget, Bernard; Malet, Emmanuel; Crouzet, Christian

2015-04-01

Lake La Thuile in the Massif des Bauges (874 m a.s.l. French Alps) provides a 18 meters sedimentary sequence. Due to its mid-altitude position, this lake is one of the first to be formed through the glacial retreat and documents the evolution of its catchment since the Late Glacial Maximum. The first 6 meters of the core cover the last 12 000 years, and allowed to study human/climate/environment interactions in a carbonated environment. This study is the first one to investigate a mid-altitude lake in the French Alps for paleoenvironment reconstruction from lake sediment archive. Its altitudinal position presents the advantage to be very accessible to human activities and allows more developed agriculture than in higher altitude. This study aims to determined how and when is expressed the erosive response of such an environment to human settlement. High resolution multiproxy analysis of the first 6 meters including sedimentological, palynological and geochemical data associated to a well-constrained chronology over the Holocene period allows us to understand the respective impacts of both climate and human on the evolution of Lake La Thuile environment. Five major phases of evolution have been highlighted over this period. From 12 000 to 10 000 yr cal. BP, the vegetation is developing with the onset of hardwood species and the disappearance of Pinus. From 10 000 to 4500 yr cal. BP the warmer climatic conditions of the middle of the Holocene allows the forest to densify and the very low sedimentation rate indicates that the forest stabilizes slopes and prevents from the erosion on the watershed. The climate cooling of the Neoglacial period triggers a first erosive phase with a decreasing of the forest around 3300 cal. BP. Human settlements are suggested at La Thuile from 2500 yr cal. BP by palynological evidence of anthropic taxa. The triggered clearing is accompanied by a second erosive phase related to anthropic activities during the Roman period. Erosion intensified from 1600 cal. BP in a third erosive phase corresponding to agriculture intensification during the Middle Ages. At the end of the Middle Ages, human footprint seems to decrease but the reason of this change is not resolved between social determination or/and climate forcing. These three erosive phases may have completely changed the catchment behavior until the agricultural abandonment in the middle of the 20th century. Lake La Thuile sedimentary infill shows a landscape evolution first controlled by climate and progressively, since 2500 years ago, human activities came to superimpose. The role of human seems to be more important with abrupt and maybe irreversible modifications of the landscape.

Mediterranean Ocean Colour Chlorophyll trend

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

rinaldi, eleonora; colella, simone; santoleri, rosalia

2014-05-01

Monitoring chlorophyll (Chl) concentration, seen as a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, is an efficient tool in order to understand the response of marine ecosystem to human pressures. This is particularly important along the coastal regions, in which the strong anthropization and the irrational exploitation of resources represent a persistent threat to the biodiversity. The aim of this work is to assess the effectiveness and feasibility of using Ocean Color (OC) data to monitor the environmental changes in Mediterranean Sea and to develop a method for detecting trend from OC data that can constitute a new indicator of the water quality within the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive implementation. In this study the Mediterranean merged Case1-Case2 chlorophyll product, produced by CNR-ISAC and distributed in the framework of MyOcean, is analyzed. This product is obtained by using two different bio-optical algorithms for open ocean (Case1) and coastal turbid (Case2) waters; this improves the quality of the Chl satellite estimates, especially near the coast. In order to verify the real capability of the this product for estimating Chl trend and for selecting the most appropriated statistical test to detect trend in the Mediterranean Sea, a comparison between OC and in situ data are carried out. In-situ Chl data are part of the European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet) of the European Environmental Agency (EEA). Four different statistical approaches to estimate trend have been selected and used to compare trend values obtained with in-situ and OC data. Results show that the best agreement between in-situ and OC trend is achieved using the Mann- Kendall test. The Mediterranean trend map obtained applying this test to the de-seasonalized OC time series shows that, in accordance with the results of many authors, the case 1 waters of Mediterranean sea are characterized by a negative trend. However, the most intense trend signals, both negative and positive, are found in case 2 waters in correspondence of the river deltas. These trend signals are frequently linked to the implementation or non-implementation of the legislation introduced to control the nutrient discharge into the sea from European rivers.

Theoretical aspects of the equivalence principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Damour, Thibault

2012-09-01

We review several theoretical aspects of the equivalence principle (EP). We emphasize the unsatisfactory fact that the EP maintains the absolute character of the coupling constants of physics, while general relativity and its generalizations (Kaluza-Klein, …, string theory) suggest that all absolute structures should be replaced by dynamical entities. We discuss the EP-violation phenomenology of dilaton-like models, which is likely to be dominated by the linear superposition of two effects: a signal proportional to the nuclear Coulomb energy, related to the variation of the fine-structure constant, and a signal proportional to the surface nuclear binding energy, related to the variation of the light quark masses. We recall various theoretical arguments (including a recently proposed anthropic argument) suggesting that the EP be violated at a small, but not unmeasurably small level. This motivates the need for improved tests of the EP. These tests are probing new territories in physics that are related to deep, and mysterious, issues in fundamental physics.

Earth’s gravity and the cosmological constant: a worked example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pereira, J. A. M.

2016-03-01

The cosmological constant regained the attention of the scientific community following the recent discovery of the accelerated expansion of the Universe. Consequently, interest in the subject increased amongst the public such that it now often appears in the classroom and popular science publications. The purpose of this article is to use basic concepts of Newtonian mechanics, like dynamics, kinetic energy and potential energy diagrams, in a scenario where the cosmological constant’s action, considered as being an inertial force driven by the accelerated expansion of the Universe, could counteract Earth’s gravity. The effect that the cosmological constant might have near the Earth’s surface is discussed showing how everyday life would change. This is done in such a way that makes it accessible to students in their first year of college. Finally, the modern interpretation of the cosmological constant, associated with the existence of dark energy, is briefly discussed along with upper limit estimations for its value based on the anthropic principle.

Climatology and archaeoastronomy - Environmental anthropology, a multidisciplinary exact science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gregori, G. P.; Gregori, L. G.

2003-04-01

During the last few tens thousand years, a dominating unprecedented "virus" - the human kind - controlled climate. It widespread over the Earth's surface and implied both short- and long-range effects in space and time. Phenomena can be expressively investigated like cycles of climate and civilisation, by which the entire human history has to be reinterpreted in terms of environmental anthropology. This is just much like every classical and conventional exact science, based on experimental quantitative observations. Archaeoastronomy is the "instrumental" tool for exploiting such measurements (much like a particle accelerator is the instrument for high-energy subnuclear physics, or a telescope for astrophysics). Its comparative wealth of information is even much larger. The anthropic factor is one leader in climate control, and such understanding helps in facing present disquieting challenges of society. Deontologically, such multidisciplinary studies are a "must" for every savant in order to avoid (i) misunderstanding that can lead to false or non-sense concerns, and (ii) correct underestimating of the real severe challenges and hazards.

The cosmological model of eternal inflation and the transition from chance to biological evolution in the history of life

PubMed Central

Koonin, Eugene V

2007-01-01

Background Recent developments in cosmology radically change the conception of the universe as well as the very notions of "probable" and "possible". The model of eternal inflation implies that all macroscopic histories permitted by laws of physics are repeated an infinite number of times in the infinite multiverse. In contrast to the traditional cosmological models of a single, finite universe, this worldview provides for the origin of an infinite number of complex systems by chance, even as the probability of complexity emerging in any given region of the multiverse is extremely low. This change in perspective has profound implications for the history of any phenomenon, and life on earth cannot be an exception. Hypothesis Origin of life is a chicken and egg problem: for biological evolution that is governed, primarily, by natural selection, to take off, efficient systems for replication and translation are required, but even barebones cores of these systems appear to be products of extensive selection. The currently favored (partial) solution is an RNA world without proteins in which replication is catalyzed by ribozymes and which serves as the cradle for the translation system. However, the RNA world faces its own hard problems as ribozyme-catalyzed RNA replication remains a hypothesis and the selective pressures behind the origin of translation remain mysterious. Eternal inflation offers a viable alternative that is untenable in a finite universe, i.e., that a coupled system of translation and replication emerged by chance, and became the breakthrough stage from which biological evolution, centered around Darwinian selection, took off. A corollary of this hypothesis is that an RNA world, as a diverse population of replicating RNA molecules, might have never existed. In this model, the stage for Darwinian selection is set by anthropic selection of complex systems that rarely but inevitably emerge by chance in the infinite universe (multiverse). Conclusion The plausibility of different models for the origin of life on earth directly depends on the adopted cosmological scenario. In an infinite universe (multiverse), emergence of highly complex systems by chance is inevitable. Therefore, under this cosmology, an entity as complex as a coupled translation-replication system should be considered a viable breakthrough stage for the onset of biological evolution. Reviewers This article was reviewed by Eric Bapteste, David Krakauer, Sergei Maslov, and Itai Yanai. PMID:17540027

The cosmological model of eternal inflation and the transition from chance to biological evolution in the history of life.

PubMed

Koonin, Eugene V

2007-05-31

Recent developments in cosmology radically change the conception of the universe as well as the very notions of "probable" and "possible". The model of eternal inflation implies that all macroscopic histories permitted by laws of physics are repeated an infinite number of times in the infinite multiverse. In contrast to the traditional cosmological models of a single, finite universe, this worldview provides for the origin of an infinite number of complex systems by chance, even as the probability of complexity emerging in any given region of the multiverse is extremely low. This change in perspective has profound implications for the history of any phenomenon, and life on earth cannot be an exception. Origin of life is a chicken and egg problem: for biological evolution that is governed, primarily, by natural selection, to take off, efficient systems for replication and translation are required, but even barebones cores of these systems appear to be products of extensive selection. The currently favored (partial) solution is an RNA world without proteins in which replication is catalyzed by ribozymes and which serves as the cradle for the translation system. However, the RNA world faces its own hard problems as ribozyme-catalyzed RNA replication remains a hypothesis and the selective pressures behind the origin of translation remain mysterious. Eternal inflation offers a viable alternative that is untenable in a finite universe, i.e., that a coupled system of translation and replication emerged by chance, and became the breakthrough stage from which biological evolution, centered around Darwinian selection, took off. A corollary of this hypothesis is that an RNA world, as a diverse population of replicating RNA molecules, might have never existed. In this model, the stage for Darwinian selection is set by anthropic selection of complex systems that rarely but inevitably emerge by chance in the infinite universe (multiverse). The plausibility of different models for the origin of life on earth directly depends on the adopted cosmological scenario. In an infinite universe (multiverse), emergence of highly complex systems by chance is inevitable. Therefore, under this cosmology, an entity as complex as a coupled translation-replication system should be considered a viable breakthrough stage for the onset of biological evolution. This article was reviewed by Eric Bapteste, David Krakauer, Sergei Maslov, and Itai Yanai.

Multi-stage approach to estimate forest biomass in degraded area by fire and selective logging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, E. G.; Shimabukuro, Y. E.; Arai, E.; Duarte, V.; Jorge, A.; Gasparini, K.

2017-12-01

The Amazon forest has been the target of several threats throughout the years. Anthropogenic disturbances in the region can significantly alter this environment, affecting directly the dynamics and structure of tropical forests. Monitoring these threats of forest degradation across the Amazon is of paramount to understand the impacts of disturbances in the tropics. With the advance of new technologies such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) the quantification and development of methodologies to monitor forest degradation in the Amazon is possible and may bring considerable contributions to this topic. The objective of this study was to use remote sensing data to assess and estimate the aboveground biomass (AGB) across different levels of degradation (fire and selective logging) using multi-stage approach between airborne LiDAR and orbital image. The study area is in the northern part of the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. It is predominantly characterized by agricultural land and remnants of the Amazon Forest intact and degraded by either anthropic or natural reasons (selective logging and/or fire). More specifically, the study area corresponds to path/row 226/69 of OLI/Landsat 8 image. With a forest mask generated from the multi-resolution segmentation, agriculture and forest areas, forest biomass was calculated from LiDAR data and correlated with texture images, vegetation indices and fraction images by Linear Spectral Unmixing of OLI/Landsat 8 image and extrapolated to the entire scene 226/69 and validated with field inventories. The results showed that there is a moderate to strong correlation between forest biomass and texture data, vegetation indices and fraction images. With that, it is possible to extract biomass information and create maps using optical data, specifically by combining vegetation indices, which contain forest greening information with texture data that contains forest structure information. Then it was possible to extrapolate the biomass to the entire scene (226/69) from the optical data and to obtain an overview of the biomass distribution throughout the area.

Background element content of the lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea: A supra-national state of art implemented by novel field data from Italy.

PubMed

Cecconi, Elva; Incerti, Guido; Capozzi, Fiore; Adamo, Paola; Bargagli, Roberto; Benesperi, Renato; Candotto Carniel, Fabio; Favero-Longo, Sergio Enrico; Giordano, Simonetta; Puntillo, Domenico; Ravera, Sonia; Spagnuolo, Valeria; Tretiach, Mauro

2018-05-01

In biomonitoring, the knowledge of background element content (BEC) values is an essential pre-requisite for the correct assessment of pollution levels. Here, we estimated the BEC values of a highly performing biomonitor, the epiphytic lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea, by means of a careful review of literature data, integrated by an extensive field survey. Methodologically homogeneous element content datasets, reflecting different exposure conditions across European and extra-European countries, were compiled and comparatively analysed. Element content in samples collected in remote areas was compared to that of potentially enriched samples, testing differences between medians for 25 elements. This analysis confirmed that the former samples were substantially unaffected by anthropogenic contributions, and their metrics were therefore proposed as a first overview at supra-national background level. We also showed that bioaccumulation studies suffer a huge methodological variability. Limited to original field data, we investigated the background variability of 43 elements in 62 remote Italian sites, characterized in GIS environment for anthropization, land use, climate and lithology at different scale resolution. The relationships between selected environmental descriptors and BEC were tested using Principal Component Regression (PCR) modelling. Elemental composition resulted significantly dependent on land use, climate and lithology. In the case of lithogenic elements, regression models correctly reproduced the lichen content throughout the country at randomly selected sites. Further descriptors should be identified only for As, Co, and V. Through a multivariate approach we also identified three geographically homogeneous macro-regions for which specific BECs were provided for use as reference in biomonitoring applications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Community Composition in Carludovica palmata, Costus scaber and Euterpe precatoria from Weathered Oil Ponds in the Ecuadorian Amazon

PubMed Central

Garcés-Ruiz, Mónica; Senés-Guerrero, Carolina; Declerck, Stéphane; Cranenbrouck, Sylvie

2017-01-01

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitous to most natural and anthropized ecosystems, and are often found in polluted environments. However, their occurrence and community composition in highly weathered petroleum-polluted soils has been infrequently reported. In the present study, two ponds of weathered crude oil and their surrounding soil from the Charapa field in the Amazon region of Ecuador were selected and root colonization by AMF of their native plants investigated. The AMF community was further analyzed in three selected plant species (i.e., Carludovica palmata, Costus scaber and Euterpe precatoria) present in the two ponds and the surrounding soil. A fragment covering partial SSU, the whole ITS and partial LSU rDNA region was amplified (i.e., 1.5 kb), cloned and sequenced from the roots of each host species. AMF root colonization exceeded 56% in all plant species examined and no significant difference was observed between sites or plants. For AMF community analysis, a total of 138 AMF sequences were obtained and sorted into 32 OTUs based on clustering (threshold ≥97%) by OPTSIL. The found OTUs belonged to the genera Rhizophagus (22%), Glomus (31%), Acaulospora (25%) and Archaeospora (22%). Glomus and Archaeospora were always present regardless of the plant species or the site. Acaulospora was found in the three plant species and in the two ponds while Rhizophagus was revealed only in the surrounding soil in one plant species (Euterpe precatoria). Our study contributed to the molecular community composition of AMF and revealed an unexpected high presence of four AMF genera which have established a symbiosis with roots of native plants from the Amazon forest under high polluted soil conditions. PMID:29163421

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Community Composition in Carludovica palmata, Costus scaber and Euterpe precatoria from Weathered Oil Ponds in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

PubMed

Garcés-Ruiz, Mónica; Senés-Guerrero, Carolina; Declerck, Stéphane; Cranenbrouck, Sylvie

2017-01-01

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitous to most natural and anthropized ecosystems, and are often found in polluted environments. However, their occurrence and community composition in highly weathered petroleum-polluted soils has been infrequently reported. In the present study, two ponds of weathered crude oil and their surrounding soil from the Charapa field in the Amazon region of Ecuador were selected and root colonization by AMF of their native plants investigated. The AMF community was further analyzed in three selected plant species (i.e., Carludovica palmata, Costus scaber and Euterpe precatoria ) present in the two ponds and the surrounding soil. A fragment covering partial SSU, the whole ITS and partial LSU rDNA region was amplified (i.e., 1.5 kb), cloned and sequenced from the roots of each host species. AMF root colonization exceeded 56% in all plant species examined and no significant difference was observed between sites or plants. For AMF community analysis, a total of 138 AMF sequences were obtained and sorted into 32 OTUs based on clustering (threshold ≥97%) by OPTSIL. The found OTUs belonged to the genera Rhizophagus (22%), Glomus (31%), Acaulospora (25%) and Archaeospora (22%). Glomus and Archaeospora were always present regardless of the plant species or the site. Acaulospora was found in the three plant species and in the two ponds while Rhizophagus was revealed only in the surrounding soil in one plant species ( Euterpe precatoria ). Our study contributed to the molecular community composition of AMF and revealed an unexpected high presence of four AMF genera which have established a symbiosis with roots of native plants from the Amazon forest under high polluted soil conditions.

Water availability determines the richness and density of fig trees within Brazilian semideciduous forest landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coelho, Luís Francisco Mello; Ribeiro, Milton Cezar; Pereira, Rodrigo Augusto Santinelo

2014-05-01

The success of fig trees in tropical ecosystems is evidenced by the great diversity (+750 species) and wide geographic distribution of the genus. We assessed the contribution of environmental variables on the species richness and density of fig trees in fragments of seasonal semideciduous forest (SSF) in Brazil. We assessed 20 forest fragments in three regions in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Fig tree richness and density was estimated in rectangular plots, comprising 31.4 ha sampled. Both richness and fig tree density were linearly modeled as function of variables representing (1) fragment metrics, (2) forest structure, and (3) landscape metrics expressing water drainage in the fragments. Model selection was performed by comparing the AIC values (Akaike Information Criterion) and the relative weight of each model (wAIC). Both species richness and fig tree density were better explained by the water availability in the fragment (meter of streams/ha): wAICrichness = 0.45, wAICdensity = 0.96. The remaining variables related to anthropic perturbation and forest structure were of little weight in the models. The rainfall seasonality in SSF seems to select for both establishment strategies and morphological adaptations in the hemiepiphytic fig tree species. In the studied SSF, hemiepiphytes established at lower heights in their host trees than reported for fig trees in evergreen rainforests. Some hemiepiphytic fig species evolved superficial roots extending up to 100 m from their trunks, resulting in hectare-scale root zones that allow them to efficiently forage water and soil nutrients. The community of fig trees was robust to variation in forest structure and conservation level of SSF fragments, making this group of plants an important element for the functioning of seasonal tropical forests.

Metal Chemical and Isotope Characterisation in the Upper Loire River Basin, France

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widory, D.; Nigris, R.; Morard, A.; Gassama, N.; Poirier, A.; Bourrain, X.

2016-12-01

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) elaborated by the European Commission regulates water resources in the EC based on five years management plans. A new management plan that started in 2016 imposes strict water quality criteria to its member states, including good status thresholds for metallic contaminants. The Loire River, the most important river in France, flows through areas with lithologies naturally containing high metal concentrations in the upper part of its basin. Understanding these metal fluxes into the river is thus a prerequisite to understand their potential impact on the quality of its water in regards to the criteria defined by the WFD. The Massif Central, a residue of the Hercynian chain, is composed of granitic and volcanic rocks. Both its upstream position in the Loire basin and its numerous metal mineralizations made this region a good candidate for characterizing the natural metal geochemical background of its surface waters. To fulfill this objective we focused on the Pb, Cd and Zn chemical and isotope characteristics of selected non-anthropized small watersheds. The investigated small watersheds were selected for supposedly draining a single lithology and undergoing (as far as possible) negligible to no anthropogenic pressure. Results showed that although the high metal potential of the upper part of the Loire River basin has been highly exploited by humans for centuries, metal concentrations during the hydrological cycle are still under the guidelines defined by the WFD. Isotope compositions/ratios are strongly related to the corresponding lithologies along the rivers and help precisely define the local geochemical background that can then be used to identify and quantify any anthropogenic inputs downstream.

[Leishmaniasis in Ecuador. 5. Leishmaniasis and anthropization on the Pacific coast].

PubMed

Mouchet, J; Le Pont, F; Leon, R; Echeverria, R; Guderian, R H

1994-03-01

We have evaluated the impact of anthropization of the forest on the incidence of leishmaniasis, due to Leishmania panamensis, in three coastal study areas, Corriente Grande (primary forest), Paraiso Escondido and La Tablada (secondary forest). The situation of isolated dwellings, in deforested areas, has also been analysed in the last two stations. In each station, the study of the density of anthropophilic sand flies, specially Lutzomyia trapidoi, has been conducted in the domestic environment, coffee plantations and undergrowth. The incidence of leishmaniasis was nearly non existent in primary forest, though it ranged from 106 to 147% in the more or less cleared forest. At Corriente Grande, none Lu. trapidoi was caught in houses. In the undergrowth, catches were low (8% of the total). At Paraiso Escondido, Lu. trapidoi was the dominant species, with more than 83% of the catches in the undergrowth and in the coffee plantations (41 Man/hour), as well as in dwellings (10.6 M/h). At La Tablada, in the domestic environment, Lu. gomezi, was the dominant species: 2.8 M/h against 0.1 M/h for Lu. trapidoi. In the coffee plantations and in the undergrowth Lu. trapidoi was the main species, 21 M/h and 14 M/h. Thus in the primary rainforest, leishmaniasis transmission can be very low. In disturbed forest, coffee plantations near houses are good biotopes for Lu. trapidoi. The cycle of L. panamensis has been adapted to this new ecological situation, by being closer to the houses. The reservoirs live and circulate throughout coffee plantations. In deforested areas, neither aggressive sand flies have been observed, nor leishmaniasis transmission.

Sediment delivery and lake dynamics in a Mediterranean mountain watershed: Human-climate interactions during the last millennium (El Tobar Lake record, Iberian Range, Spain).

PubMed

Barreiro-Lostres, Fernando; Brown, Erik; Moreno, Ana; Morellón, Mario; Abbott, Mark; Hillman, Aubrey; Giralt, Santiago; Valero-Garcés, Blas

2015-11-15

Land degradation and soil erosion are key environmental problems in Mediterranean mountains characterized by a long history of human occupation and a strong variability of hydrological regimes. To assess recent trends and evaluate climatic and anthropogenic impacts in these highly human modified watersheds we apply an historical approach combining lake sediment core multi-proxy analyses and reconstructions of past land uses to El Tobar Lake watershed, located in the Iberian Range (Central Spain). Four main periods of increased sediment delivery have been identified in the 8m long sediment sequence by their depositional and geochemical signatures. They took place around 16th, late 18th, mid 19th and early 20th centuries as a result of large land uses changes such as forest clearing, farming and grazing during periods of increasing population. In this highly human-modified watershed, positive synergies between human impact and humid periods led to increased sediment delivery periods. During the last millennium, the lake depositional and geochemical cycles recovered quickly after each sediment delivery event, showing strong resilience of the lacustrine system to watershed disturbance. Recent changes are characterized by large hydrological affections since 1967 with the construction of a canal from a nearby reservoir and a decreased in anthropic pressure in the watershed as rural areas were abandoned. The increased fresh water influx to the lake has caused large biological changes, leading to stronger meromictic conditions and higher organic matter accumulation while terrigenous inputs have decreased. Degradation processes in Iberian Range watersheds are strongly controlled by anthropic activities (land use changes, soil erosion) but modulated by climate-related hydrological changes (water availability, flood and runoff frequency). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Potential For A Large Earthquake In Intraplate Europe: The Contribution Of Remote Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kervyn, F.; Ferry, M.; Peters, G.; Alasset, P.-J.; Jacques, E.; Meghraoui, M.

The use of SAR interferometry for the computation of high resolution Digital Eleva- tion Models for various applications in neotectonics and geomorphology is increasing dramatically. The approach merges map-DEM, interferometric-DEM, satellite radar and optical images (ERS, SPOT, ASTER), aerial photographs, geophysical data and field observations into a single representation. This representation enables greater constraint on the identification of active faults and therefore gives an improved un- derstanding of complex active zones. Recent studies of the Lower and Upper Rhine graben display evidence of active deformation. Despite the low slip rate~0.1 mm/yr, vegetation cover and anthropic activity, we demonstrate that the surface deformation, although extremely sublte is preserved. In comparison, the Rukwa rift (East Africa) is a region with negligable anthropic activity, has a semi-arid climate and a higher deformation rate (1 - 4 mm/yr). Both rifts exhibit similar characteristics, such as: (1) half graben structures, (2) fault lengths ranging from 20 to 40 km, (3) graben width~ 40 km, (4) seismic activity with M 6 - 6.5 (1910 Rukwa, M~7.3). The Basel-Reinach fault, southern Upper Rhine graben, has been identified and characterised as responsi- ble for the 1356 earthquake (M 6.2 - 6.5). Three paleoearthquakes were demonstrated to have occurred within the last 8500 years, yielding a mean uplift rate of 0.21 mm/yr. Assuming that the physical parameters, geometry, and fault behavior are comparable, rifting processes with high deformation rates may serve as analogs to active regions with slower deformation. An intraplate European event rupturing the whole of the fault may possibly reach M 7.

Effect of mineralogical, geochemical and biological properties on soils reflectance to assess temporal and spatial dynamics of BSCs in Sahelian ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bourguignon, A.; Cerdan, O.; Desprats, J. F.; Marin, B.; Malam Issa, O.; Valentin, C.; Rajot, J. L.

2012-04-01

Land degradation and desertification are among the major environmental problems, resulting in reduced productivity and development of bare surfaces in arid and semi-arid areas of the world. One important factor that acts to increase soil stability and nutrient content, and thus to prevent water and wind erosion and enhance soil productivity of arid environment, is the presence of biological soil crusts (BSCs). They are the dominant ground cover and a key component of arid environments built up mainly by cyanobacteria. They enhance degraded soil quality by providing a stable and water-retaining substratum and increasing fertility by N and C fixations. The BioCrust project, funded by ANR (VMCS 2008), focuses on BSCs in the Sahelian zone of West Africa (Niger), a highly vulnerable zone facing soil degradation due to the harsh climatic conditions, with variable rainfall, and high anthropic pressure on land use. Unlike arid areas of developed countries (USA, Australia and Israel) or China where BSCs have been extensively studied, studies from Sahelian zone (Africa) are limited (neither the inventory of their different form nor the estimation of their spatial extension has been carried out). The form, structure and composition of BSCs vary depending on characteristics related to soils and biological composition. This study focuses on the soils characterisation using ground-based spectroradiometry. An extensive database was built included spectral measurements on BSCs, bare soils and vegetation that occur in the same area, visual criteria, in situ and laboratory measurements on the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of BSCs and their substratum. The work is carried out on geo-statistical processing of data acquired in sites along a north-south climatic gradient and three types of representative land uses. The investigated areas are highly vulnerable zone facing soil degradation due to the harsh climatic conditions, with variable rainfall, and high anthropic pressure on land use Soil surface disturbances due to the intensification of human activities. Spectral field and laboratory data were acquired in 2009, 2010 and 2011 with the FieldSpec Pro®. The spectra of soils with respect to different parameters are studied in details and their separability from BSCs, vegetation and vegetation residue as well are be analysed. First, the effect of the mineralogy and the geochemical variables on the soil reflectance properties is studied and then the feasibility to resolve some of these effects with satellite imagery (e. g., ASTER) will be tested in order to define the potential capability for identifying the locations of sensitive areas affected by soil degradation and appearance of BSCs.

Meteorological determinants of air quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turoldo, F.; Del Frate, S.; Gallai, I.; Giaiotti, D. B.; Montanari, F.; Stel, F.; Goi, D.

2010-09-01

Air quality is the result of complex phenomena, among which the major role is played by human emissions of pollutants. Atmospheric processes act as determinants, e.g., modulating, dumping or amplifying the effects of emissions as an orchestra's director does with musical instruments. In this work, a series of small-scale and meso-scale meteorological determinants of air-quality are presented as they are observed in an area characterized by complex orography (Friuli Venezia Giulia, in the north-eastern side of Italy). In particular, attention is devoted to: i) meso-scale flows favouring the persistence of high concentrations of particulate matter; ii) meso-scale periodic flows (breezes) favouring high values of particulate matter; iii) local-scale thermodynamic behaviour favouring high atmospheric values of nitrogen oxides. The effects of these different classes of determinants are shown through comparisons between anthropic emissions (mainly traffic) and ground-based measurements. The relevance of complex orography (relatively steep relieves near to the sea) is shown for the meso-scale flows and, in particular, for local-scale periodic flows, which favour the increase of high pollutants concentrations mainly in summer, when the breezes regime is particularly relevant. Part of these results have been achieved through the ETS - Alpine Space EU project iMONITRAF!

Phase Transition to Exact Susy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clavelli, L.

2007-04-01

The anthropic principle is based on the observation that, within narrow bounds, the laws of physics are such as to have allowed the evolution of life. The string theoretic approach to understanding this observation is based on the expectation that the effective potential has an enormous number of local minima with different particle masses and perhaps totally different fundamental couplings and space time topology. The vast majority of these alternative universes are totally inhospitable to life, having, for example, vacuum energies near the natural (Planck) scale. The statistics, however, are assumed to be such that a few of these local minima (and not more) have a low enough vacuum energy and suitable other properties to support life. In the inflationary era, the "multiverse" made successive transitions between the available minima until arriving at our current state of low vacuum energy. String theory, however, also suggests that the absolute minimum of the effective potential is exactly supersymmetric. Questions then arise as to why the inflationary era did not end by a transition to one of these, when will the universe make the phase transition to the exactly supersymmetric ground state, and what will be the properties of this final state.

Impacts of visitors on soil and vegetation of the recreational area "Nacimiento del Río Mundo" (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain).

PubMed

Andrés-Abellán, Manuela; Del Alamo, Javier Benayas; Landete-Castillejos, Tomás; López-Serrano, Francisco R; García-Morote, Francisco A; Del Cerro-Barja, Antonio

2005-02-01

This study examines the effects of recreational use on the soil and vegetation at a site of ecological importance (Nacimiento del Río Mundo, Albacete, Spain). The most visited sites showed increased soil compaction of approximately 50%, bare ground increase to 61 +/- 10% and a decrease in richness (from 25 +/- 2 to 15 +/- 2 species), diversity (from 4.0 +/- 0.1 to 2.7 +/- 0.4) and stratification of plant species (from 80 +/- 11 to 21 +/- 4%). The most visited sites had 90% less plant species as compared to the least visited. Intense use was associated with the presence of nitrophilous plant and vegetal species with a morphology adapted to heavy trampling. The recreational areas showed a distribution pattern of impact radiating outwards from the most used and degraded point. At the most visited point, "Los Chorros" (the spring of the river), the impact radiated outwards for about 20 m. A pilot experiment examining the effects of one-year restriction to visitors for access to a formerly impacted area showed a plant cover increase by anthropic and not by native species of 57 percent units.

Biomonitoring of atmospheric pollution: a novel approach for the evaluation of natural and anthropogenic contribution to atmospheric aerosol particles.

PubMed

Caggiano, Rosa; Calamita, Giuseppe; Sabia, Serena; Trippetta, Serena

2017-03-01

The investigation of the potential natural and anthropogenic contribution to atmospheric aerosol particles by using lichen-bag technique was performed in the Agri Valley (Basilicata region, southern Italy). This is an area of international concern since it houses one of the largest European on-shore reservoirs and the biggest oil/gas pre-treatment plant (i.e., Centro Olio Val d'Agri (COVA)) within an anthropized context. In particular, the concentrations of 17 trace elements (Al, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Ti, and Zn) were measured in lichen bags exposed in 59 selected monitoring points over periods of 6 months (from October 2011 to April 2012) and 12 months (from October 2011 to October 2012). The general origin of the main air masses affecting the sampling site during the study period was assessed by the back trajectories clustering calculated using the HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. The results allowed the identification and characterization of the crustal material, smoke, sea salt, sulfate, and anthropogenic trace element contributions to the atmospheric aerosol particles in the study area. Finally, the application of the trend surface analysis (TSA) allowed the study of the spatial distribution of the considered contributions highlighting the existence of a continuous broad variation of these contributions in the area of interest.

Geomorphological hazards and environmental impact: Assessment and mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panizza, Mario

In five sections the author develops the methods for the integration of geomorphological concepts into Environmental Impact and Mapping. The first section introduces the concepts of Impact and Risk through the relationships between Geomorphological Environment and Anthropical Element. The second section proposes a methodology for the determination of Geomorphological Hazard and the identification of Geomorphological Risk. The third section synthesizes the procedure for the compilation of a Geomorphological Hazards Map. The fourth section outlines the concepts of Geomorphological Resource Assessment for the analysis of the Environmental Impact. The fifth section considers the contribution of geomorphological studies and mapping in the procedure for Environmental Impact Assessment.

Do we live in the best of all possible worlds? The fine-tuning of the constants of nature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naumann, Thomas

2017-12-01

Our existence depends on a variety of constants which appear to be extremely fine-tuned to allow for the existence of life. These include the number of spatial dimensions, the strengths of the forces, the masses of the particles, the composition of the Universe and others. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the death of G.W. Leibniz we discuss the question of whether we live in the "Best of all Worlds". The hypothesis of a multiverse could explain the mysterious fine tuning of so many fundamental quantities. Anthropic arguments are critically reviewed.

Rumors of transcendence in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pollard, William G.

1984-10-01

There are several hints in physics of a domain of external reality transcendent to three-dimensional space and time. This paper calls attention to several of these intimations of a real world beyond the natural order. Examples are the complex state functions in configuration space of quantum mechanics, the singularity at the birth of the universe, the anthropic principle, the role of chance in evolution, and the unaccountable fruitfulness of mathematics for physics. None of these examples touch on the existence or activity of God, but they do suggest that external reality may be much richer than the natural world which it is the task of physics to describe.

Land use change in the last century in the Veneto floodplain: effects on network drainage density, water storage, and related consequences on flood risk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prosdocimi, Massimo; Sofia, Giulia; Dalla Fontana, Giancarlo; Tarolli, Paolo

2013-04-01

In a high-density populated country such as Italy, the anthropic pressure plays a fundamental role in the alteration and the modification of the landscape. Among the most evident anthropic alterations, the most important are the urbanization processes that have been occurring since the end of the second world war. Agricultural activities, housing and other land uses have shifted due to the progressive spreading of urban areas. These modifications affect the hydrologic regimes, but municipalities often are not aware of the real impact of land cover changes on such processes and, consequently, an increase of the elements at risk of flooding is generally registered. The main objective of this work is to evaluate the impact of land cover changes in the Veneto region (north-east Italy), from 1954 to 2006, on the minor drainage network system and on its capacity to attenuate the direct runoff. The major flood event occurred between October and November 2010. The study is a typical agrarian landscape and it has been chosen considering its involvement inthe major flood of 2010 and considering also the availability of high-resolution topographic data (LiDAR-derived DTMs) and historical aerial photographs. Aerial photographs dated back to 1954 and 1981, in particular, have been used either to classify the land cover in five categories according to the first level of the CORINE land cover classification and to identify the minor drainage network. A semi-automatic approach based on the high-resolution DTM (Cazorzi et al., 2012), was also considered to identify the minor drainage network and estimate its water storage capacity. The results underline how land cover variation over the last 50 years has strongly increased the propension of the soil to produce direct runoff (increase of the Curve Number value) and it has also reduced the extent of the minor network system. As a consequence, the capacity of the agrarian minor network to attenuate and laminate a flood event is decreased as well. These analysis can be considered useful tools for a suitable land use planning in flood prone areas. References Cazorzi, F., Dalla Fontana, G., De Luca, A., Sofia, G., Tarolli, P. (2012). Drainage network detection and assessment of network storage capacity in agrarian landscape, Hydrological Processes, ISSN: 0885-6087, doi:10.1002/hyp.9224

Trace metal concentrations in Posidonia oceanica of North Corsica (northwestern Mediterranean Sea): use as a biological monitor?

PubMed Central

Gosselin, Marc; Bouquegneau, Jean-Marie; Lefèbvre, Frédéric; Lepoint, Gilles; Pergent, Gerard; Pergent-Martini, Christine; Gobert, Sylvie

2006-01-01

Background Within semi-closed areas like the Mediterranean Sea, anthropic wastes tend to concentrate in the environment. Metals, in particular, are known to persist in the environment and can affect human health due to accumulation in the food chain. The seagrass Posidonia oceanica, widely found in Mediterranean coastal waters, has been chosen as a "sentinel" to quantify the distribution of such pollutants within the marine environment. Using a technique similar to dendrochronology in trees, it can act as an indicator of pollutant levels over a timeframe of several months to years. In the present study, we measured and compared the levels of eight trace metals (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd, and Pb) in sheaths dated by lepidochronology and in leaves of shoots sampled from P. oceanica meadows collected from six offshore sites in northern Corsica between 1988 and 2004; in the aim to determine 1) the spatial and 2) temporal variations of these metals in these areas and 3) to compared these two types of tissues. Results We found low trace metal concentrations with no increase over the last decade, confirming the potential use of Corsican seagrass beds as reference sites for the Mediterranean Sea. Temporal trends of trace metal concentrations in sheaths were not significant for Cr, Ni, Cu, As or Se, but Zn, Cd, and Pb levels decreased, probably due to the reduced anthropic use of these metals. Similar temporal trends between Cu levels in leaves (living tissue) and in sheaths (dead tissue) demonstrated that lepidochronology linked with Cu monitoring is effective for surveying the temporal variability of this metal. Conclusion Leaves of P. oceanica can give an indication of the metal concentration in the environment over a short time period (months) with good accuracy. On the contrary, sheaths, which gave an indication of changes over long time periods (decades), seem to be less sensitive to variations in the metal concentration in the environment. Changes in human consumption of metals (e.g., the reduction of Pb in fuel) are clearly reflected in both organs. These results confirm that P. oceanica is a good bioindicator of metals and a good biomonitor species for assessing Cu in the environment. PMID:16965615

The effects of mulching on soil erosion by water. A review based on published data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prosdocimi, Massimo; Jordán, Antonio; Tarolli, Paolo; Cerdà, Artemi

2016-04-01

Among the soil conservation practices that have been recently implemented, mulching has been successfully applied in different contexts (Jordán et al., 2011), such as agricultural lands (García-Orenes et al. 2009; Prosdocimi et al., 2016), fire-affected areas (Prats et al., 2014; Robichaud et al., 2013) and anthropic sites (Hayes et al., 2005), to reduce water and soil losses rates. In these contexts, soil erosion by water is a serious problem, especially in semi-arid and semi-humid areas of the world (Cerdà et al., 2009; Cerdan et al., 2010; Sadeghi et al., 2015). Although soil erosion by water consists of physical processes that vary significantly in severity and frequency according to when and where they occur, they are also strongly influenced by anthropic factors such as unsustainable farming practices and land-use changes on large scales (Cerdà, 1994; Montgomery, 2007). Although the beneficial effects of mulching are known, their quantification needs further research, especially in those areas where soil erosion by water represents a severe threat. In literature, there are still some uncertainties about how to maximize the effectiveness of mulching in the reduction of soil and water loss rates. First, the type of choice of the vegetative residues is fundamental and drives the application rate, cost, and consequently, its effectiveness. Second, it is important to assess application rates suitable for site-specific soil and environment conditions. The percentage of area covered by mulch is another important aspect to take into account, because it has proven to influence the reduction of soil loss. And third, the role played by mulching at catchment scale, where it plays a key role as barrier for breaking sediment and runoff connectivity. Given the seriousness of soil erosion by water and the uncertainties that still concern the correct use of mulching, this work aims to evaluate the effects of mulching on soil erosion rates and water losses in agricultural lands, post-fire affected areas and anthropic sites. Data published in literature have been collected. The results proved the beneficial effects of mulching on soil erosion by water in all the contexts considered, with reduction rates in average sediment concentration, soil loss and runoff volume that, in some cases, exceeded 90%. Furthermore, in most cases, mulching confirmed to be a relatively inexpensive soil conservation practice that allowed to reduce soil erodibility and surface immediately after its application. References Cerdà, A., 1994. The response of abandoned terraces to simulated rain, in: Rickson, R.J., (Ed.), Conserving Soil Resources: European Perspective, CAB International, Wallingford, pp. 44-55. Cerdà, A., Flanagan, D.C., Le Bissonnais, Y., Boardman, J., 2009. Soil erosion and agriculture. Soil & Tillage Research 106, 107-108. Cerdan, O., Govers, G., Le Bissonnais, Y., Van Oost, K., Poesen, J., Saby, N., Gobin, A., Vacca, A., Quinton, J., Auerwald, K., Klik, A., Kwaad, F.J.P.M., Raclot, D., Ionita, I., Rejman, J., Rousseva, S., Muxart, T., Roxo, M.J., Dostal, T., 2010. Rates and spatial variations of soil erosion in Europe: A study based on erosion plot data. Geomorphology 122, 167-177. García-Orenes, F., Roldán A., Mataix-Solera, J, Cerdà, A., Campoy M, Arcenegui, V., Caravaca F. 2009. Soil structural stability and erosion rates influenced by agricultural management practices in a semi-arid Mediterranean agro-ecosystem. Soil Use and Management 28: 571-579. Hayes, S.A., McLaughlin, R.A., Osmond, D.L., 2005. Polyacrylamide use for erosion and turbidity control on construction sites. Journal of soil and water conservation 60(4):193-199. Jordán, A., Zavala, L.M., Muñoz-Rojas, M., 2011. Mulching, effects on soil physical properties. In: Gliński, J., Horabik, J., Lipiec, J. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Agrophysics. Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 492-496. Montgomery, D.R., 2007. Soil erosion and agricultural sustainability. PNAS 104, 13268-13272. Prats, S.A., dos Santons Martins MA, Malvar MC, Ben-Hur M, Keizer JJ. 2014. Polyacrylamide application versus forest residue mulching for reducing post-fire runoff and soil erosion. Science of the Total Environment 468: 464-474. Prosdocimi, M., Jordán, A., Tarolli, P., Keesstra, S., Novara, A., Cerdà A., 2016. The immediate effectiveness of barley Straw mulch in reducing soil erodibility and Surface runoff generation in Mediterranean vineyards. Science of the Total Environment 547: 323-330. Robichaud, P.R., Lewis, S.A., Wagenbrenner, J.W., Ashmun, L.E., Brown, R.E., 2013. Post-fire mulching for runoff and erosion mitigation. Part I: Effectiveness at reducing hillslope erosion rates. Catena 105: 75-92. Sadeghi, S.H.R., Gholami, L., Homaee, M., Khaledi Darvishan, A., 2015. Reducing sediment concetration and soil loss using organic and inorganic amendments at plot scale. Soild Earth 6: 1-8.

Microbial processes and organic priority substances in marine coastal sediments (Adriatic Sea, Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zoppini, Annamaria; Ademollo, Nicoletta; Amalfitano, Stefano; Dellisanti, Walter; Lungarini, Silvia; Miserocchi, Stefano; Patrolecco, Luisa; Langone, Leonardo

2015-04-01

PERSEUS EU FP7 Project aims to identify the interacting patterns of natural and human-derived pressures to assess their impact on marine ecosystems and, using the objectives and principles of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) as a vehicle, to design an effective and innovative research governance framework based on sound scientific knowledge. In the frame of this Project (subtask 1.3.3 ADREX: Adriatic and Ionian Seas Experiment), monitoring surveys were conducted in the Adriatic Sea (Italy) in order to study the variation of structural and functional characteristics of native bacterial communities and the occurrence of selected classes of organic priority substances in sediments. The study area represents a good natural laboratory sensitive to climate variability and human pressure, owing to the semi-enclosed nature of the Adriatic Sea and to the increasing trend of human activities in the coastal regions. During the cruise ADRI-13 (November 2013) and ADRI-14 (October 2014) we sampled several coastal sites from the mouth of the Po River to the Otranto strait. Surface sediments were collected in all areas, while sediment cores were sampled in selected sites. Microbes associated with marine sediments play an important role in the C-flux being responsible for the transformation of organic detritus (autochthonous and allochthonous) into biomass. The sediment bacterial abundance was determined by epifluorescence microscopy and the rate of bacterial carbon production by measuring the 3H-leucine uptake rates. The community respiration rate was estimated by the measurement of the electron transport system (ETS) activity. The sediment contamination level was determined by measuring the concentration of contaminants included in the list of organic priority substances: PAHs, bisphenol A (BPA), alkylphenols (APs). The extraction/clean-up of PAHs, BPA and APs was performed by ultrasonic bath with the appropriate solvents, followed by analytical determination with LC-MS or HPLC UV-fluorescence. The joint analysis of the microbial properties and the concentration of the organic pollutants reflects the impact of anthropic pressure on the selected coastal areas. At the surface layers, the microbial carbon assimilation and mineralization rates were affected by the increasing concentration of pollutants. The highest concentrations of organic pollutants were detected in the deeper sediment layers (20 cm) where a significant reduction of microbial metabolic activities was observed. The results of this study can contribute to acquire information to improve the MSFD and to reach the good environmental status.

The cosmological constant as an eigenvalue of a Sturm-Liouville problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Astashenok, Artyom V.; Elizalde, Emilio; Yurov, Artyom V.

2014-01-01

It is observed that one of Einstein-Friedmann's equations has formally the aspect of a Sturm-Liouville problem, and that the cosmological constant, Λ, plays thereby the role of spectral parameter (what hints to its connection with the Casimir effect). The subsequent formulation of appropriate boundary conditions leads to a set of admissible values for Λ, considered as eigenvalues of the corresponding linear operator. Simplest boundary conditions are assumed, namely that the eigenfunctions belong to L 2 space, with the result that, when all energy conditions are satisfied, they yield a discrete spectrum for Λ>0 and a continuous one for Λ<0. A very interesting situation is seen to occur when the discrete spectrum contains only one point: then, there is the possibility to obtain appropriate cosmological conditions without invoking the anthropic principle. This possibility is shown to be realized in cyclic cosmological models, provided the potential of the matter field is similar to the potential of the scalar field. The dynamics of the universe in this case contains a sudden future singularity.

Testing the reliability of δ13C of tree rings as climate tool in Pistacia khinjuk of Syrian desert

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caracuta, Valentina; Fiorentino, Girolamo

2010-05-01

High-resolution measures of past climate variations have been found to be of a critical importance for understanding anthropic resilience in drought-sensitive areas. The hills (Jebels) Abu-Rujmain and Abd al Aziz, with their 350 millimetre of rain and their steppe-forest spreading in the middle of the flat syrian desert, represent an unicum where analysing the effect of short term climate changes on pastoral communities. Thanks to a cooperation project in Syrian Arab republic with CIHEAM-Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari -Italy (Rationalization of Ras El Ain Irrigation systems), we were allowed to carry out dendroclimate and carbon isotope analyses on tree-rings of local Pistacia khinjuk, a long-lived wood taxon, in order to test their reliability as tool for determining annual and seasonal rainfall/temperature variations. Comparison between the last 25 year rainfall and temperature values of the nearby meteorological stations and dendro-isotopes values have been carried out to point out which factor mostly affect the growth pattern of the trees in that particular area.

Lead isotopes in soils and groundwaters as tracers of the impact of human activities on the surface environment: The Domizio-Flegreo Littoral (Italy) case study

USGS Publications Warehouse

Grezzi, G.; Ayuso, R.A.; de Vivo, B.; Lima, A.; Albanese, S.

2011-01-01

The isotopic signature of geogenic and anthropogenic materials, in combination with concentration data for pollutants, can help trace the origin and the extent of contamination in the environment. This approach is particularly effective if naturally occurring and anthropogenically introduced metals have different isotopic ratios. Lead isotope analysis on soils from 7 profiles (1. m depth) and on groundwaters from 8 wells have been used to determine the impact of human activities on the surface environment of Domizio-Flegreo Littoral. Result obtained show that in sub-rural areas the isotopic composition of the samples collected along the soil profiles of Domizio-Flegreo Littoral is likely mostly controlled by the nature of the parent geologic material (natural) while in more urbanized areas (Giugliano) Pb isotopic composition in superficial soils is mostly influenced by anthropic sources such as motor vehicles. Lead isotopic ratios in groundwaters also show that the use of pesticides and, probably, the influence of aerosols and the presence of illegal waste disposal can influence water quality. ?? 2010 Elsevier B.V.

Man made deltas?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maselli, V.; Trincardi, F.

2014-12-01

During the last few millennia, southern European fluvio-deltaic systems have evolved in response to changes in the hydrological cycle, mostly driven by high-frequency climate oscillations and increasing anthropic pressure on natural landscapes. The review of geochronological and historical data documents that the bulk of the four largest northern Mediterranean and Black Sea deltas (Ebro, Rhone, Po and Danube) formed during two short and synchronous intervals during which anthropogenic land cover change was the main driver for enhanced sediment production. These two major growth phases occurred under contrasting climatic regimes and were both followed by generalized delta retreat, supporting the hypothesis of human-driven delta progradation. Delta retreat, in particular, was the consequence of reduced soil erosion for renewed afforestation after the fall of the Roman Empire, and of river dams construction that overkilled the still increasing sediment production in catchment basins since the Industrial Era. In this second case, in particular, the effect of a reduced sediment flux to the coasts is amplified by the sinking of modern deltas, due to land subsidence and sea level rise, that hampers delta outbuilding and increases the vulnerability of coastal zone to marine erosion and flooding.

BOOK REVIEW: Universe or Multiverse?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trimble, Virginia

2008-11-01

More than 2000 years ago, Epicurus taught that there are an infinite number of other worlds, both like and unlike ours, and Aristotle taught that there are none. Neither hypothesis can currently be falsified, and this issue of potential for falsification (that is testability) goes to the heart of many of the chapters in Carr's book. All but one of the 27 chapters, provided by 27 pundits (almost but not quite a one-to-one mapping) are written versions of talks given at one of three meetings, held between 2001 and 2005 at Stanford and Cambridge Universities and partly sponsored by the Templeton Foundation. Every reader will surely find some chapters interesting and informative, some provocative, and some rather vacuous. These will not be the same chapters for all readers. Two 'conflict of interest' statements: first, I spoke at one of these meetings, but was not one of those asked to provide a chapter. And, second, the first time I suggested in a lecture for scientists that 'many universes, either in temporal succession or embedded in higher dimensional space' was a possible explanation of the habitability of ours was fall 1974, shortly after Brandon Carter's first paper on anthropic principles and explanations, but before Bernard Carr and Martin Rees's 1979 Nature paper, which presented all the anthropic arguments then known and divided them into numbers that required no additional physics beyond the four standard forces (like the number of particles in a star) and those that seemed essential for life but not calculable (like the ratio of the electromagnetic to nuclear force constant). My other three possibilities were 'G.d has been very careful' (now called intelligent design), additional physics to be learned, and shear complexity. The core multiverse concept is that our universe (the 4-dimensional spacetime with which we are or could be connected and all its contents) is one of many, perhaps infinitely many, probably with different values of the constants of nature and other physical differences, which cannot communicate with ours even in principle. Such ensembles are predicted by some versions of inflation, string and M-theory. The anthropic principle is the idea that our universe has (or even must have) the structure, physics, chemistry and all required for me to be writing this and you to be reading it (editors are optional). Both concepts have firm supporters and firm opponents among the 26 male and one female authors. The woman, M-theorist Renata Kallosh, is for, and provides hints of how one might calculate, at least, the likelihood of our universe within an ensemble (a sort of testability). Her chapter is fairly heavy going in isolation, and readers who don't normally think about antisymmetric tensor gauge fields might want to start with John Donaghue, who explains what a particle physicist means by 'naturalness' and suggests that the known spectrum of quark and lepton masses might be a signature of multiverse origins. Given the Templeton sponsorship, you might reasonably want to know the extent to which 'progress in spirituality' has conditioned the topics covered. The answer is 'somewhat', in that authors range from the avowedly atheist (Stephen Hawking) to evangelical Christian quantum cosmologist Don Page, with stop-overs among the Jesuits (William Stoeger), philosophers of religion (Robin Collins), and the (I think) teleologists Paul Davies and John Barrow. There is also among the authors strong divergence of opinion on whether Hugh Everett's version of many worlds is (just) a quantum multiverse (Tegmark), almost certainly correct and meaningful (Page), or almost certainly wrong or meaningless (Carter). And two chapters, by Smolin and Weinberg, suggest that even the classic fine-tuning required for carbon to be formed from three helium nuclei may not be anthropically essential for a habitable universe. The last word belongs to Steven Weinberg. On previous occasions, Martin Rees has said that he has enough confidence in the multiverse to bet his dog's life on it, while Andrei Linde said he would bet his own life. Weinberg concludes his contribution by saying that he has just enough confidence in the multiverse to bet the lives of both Andrei Linde and Martin Rees's dog.

Isidore of Seville: Cosmology and Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovacs, A.

2008-10-01

The cosmology of Isidore of Seville was for decades underestimated as poor science. In reality, the schoolmaster of the middle ages presented in his writings a coherent cosmology, of which atomism was a part. Although based on authorities, ideas were carefully evaluated and presented, often with alternatives. In his approach to cosmology one can perceive the beginnings of scientific systematization within the available framework. Compared to later writers (for example Rabanus Maurus), Isidore exhibits healthy scientific spirit and resorts to theological data only when other information is not available or the alternative explanation would involve superstition. Recent interest in the anthropic principle also justifies interest in older cosmologies, particularly that of Isidore of Seville.

Register of the last 1000 years of environmental, climatic and anthropogenic change in Isla Grande de Chiloé, inferred through a multi-proxy approach: Lake Pastahué, Chile-South Center (42°S)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Troncoso, Jose; Alvarez, Denisse; Díaz, Gustavo; Fierro, Pablo; Araneda, Alberto; Torrejón, Fernando; Rondanelli, Mauricio; Fagel, Nathalie; Urrutia, Roberto

2017-04-01

Knowledge of the past environmental and climatic conditions of the lake ecosystems of the Isla Grande de Chiloé and its relationship with the anthropic effect, on a high temporal resolution scale, is scarcely known. Specifically, multi-proxy studies provide a better understanding of the context in which changes occurred in the past. This insular region is particularly interesting because environmental conditions (pre and post-Hispanic) and knowledge about the impacts generated in the ecosystems during the Spanish colonization process have so far been little studied, compared to the rest of Chile continental. This research is a new contribution to the scarce information existing for the last millennium of the Isla Grande de Chiloé. The objective of this work was to reconstruct the environmental and climatic history of the last 1000 years, from the Lake Pastahué, in the Isla Grande de Chiloé through a multi-proxy analysis and compare them with other records for the region. The core sediment was sub-sampled to perform sedimentological analysis (organic matter, carbonates, magnetic susceptibility and granulometry) and biological indicators (pollen, chironomids). The age model was constructed from the activity of 210Pb,137Cs and 14C. The pollen results reveal a composition of nordpatagónico forest represented by Nothofagus, Weinmannia, Drimys, Tepualia, Myrtaceae, Poaceae and Pteridophyta, while the anthropic effect for the last cm of the profile is represented by Rumex and Pinus. The results show a significant increase in magnetic susceptibility since the middle of the 20th century, suggesting an increase in allochthonous material to the lake. The sedimentological parameters and the chironomid assembly show similar variations along the profile, which also shows changes in the trophic state of the lake. The changes recorded in lake Pastahue are directly related to past climatic phenomena occurring in the last millennium, such as the medieval climatic anomaly (MCA) and the Little Ice Age (LIA) manifested in increases and decreases in temperatures, these antecedents are in agreement with others records for the region. The variations observed for the last cm of the profile could be a result of the decrease of the forests due to the intensification of the agricultural and cattle activities generated by the chilotes from century XX to the present time. The data provided by this research are still insufficient to establish an extralocal climatic influence of MCA and LIA events in Chiloé; although certain trends are observed. Research Funded by the projects: CONICYT- Scholarship PhD National 2014, FONDECYT N°1120807 and CRHIAM / CONICYT / FONDAP / 15130015.

Radioactivity, radiological risk and metal pollution assessment in marine sediments from Calabrian selected areas, southern Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caridi, F.; Messina, M.; Faggio, G.; Santangelo, S.; Messina, G.; Belmusto, G.

2018-02-01

The two most significant categories of physical and chemical pollutants in sediments (radionuclides and metals) were investigated in this article, in order to evaluate pollution levels in marine sediments from eight different selected sites of the Calabria region, south of Italy. In particular samples were analyzed to determine natural and anthropic radioactivity and metal concentrations, in order to assess any possible radiological hazard, the level of contamination and the possible anthropogenic impact in the investigated area. Activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs were measured by High Purity Germanium (HPGe) gamma spectrometry. The obtained results show that, for radium (in secular equilibrium with uranium), the specific activity ranges from ( 14 ± 1) Bq/kg dry weight (d.w.) to ( 54 ± 9) Bq/kg d.w.; for thorium, from ( 12 ± 1) Bq/kg d.w. to ( 83 ± 8) Bq/kg d.w.; for potassium, from ( 470 ± 20) Bq/kg d.w. to ( 1000 ± 70) Bq/kg d.w. and for cesium it is lower than the minimum detectable activity value. The absorbed gamma dose rate in air (D), the annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE) outdoor and the external hazard index ( H_ex) were calculated to evaluate any possible radiological risk, mainly due to the use of marine sediments for the beach nourishment. The results show low levels of radioactivity, thus discarding any significant radiological risk. Some metals (As, Cd, Cr tot, Hg, Ni, Pb, Cu, Zn, Mn and Fe), that could be released into the environment by both natural and anthropogenic sources, were investigated through inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurements and compared with the limits set by the Italian Legislation, to assess any possible contamination. Experimental results show that they are much lower than the contamination threshold value, thus excluding their presence as pollutants. The degree of sediment contaminations were quantified using enrichment factor ( EF) and geoaccumulation index ( I geo) for some potential hazardous elements. Results show that EF and I geo values of As, Pb and Mn were the greatest among the studied metals. Data of this preliminary study could be helpful in the future to obtain background levels in marine sediments of the investigated region and to develop environmental regulatory frameworks.

A persistent organic pollutant related with unusual high frequency of hermaphroditism in the neotropical anuran Physalaemus cuvieri Fitzinger, 1826.

PubMed

Moresco, Rafaela M; Margarido, Vladimir P; de Oliveira, Classius

2014-07-01

Representing a reflection of anthropic activity, the level of xenobiotic compounds in aquatic ecosystems has increased in recent years, bringing severe damage to the environment. The present work reports the occurrence of malformation in gonads of Physalaemus cuvieri individuals from a population of Atlantic Forest in Southern Brazil. Twenty male specimens were collected, which had their testicles removed, immersed in Karnovsky fixative solution, included in historesin for 2 μm cuts and stained with Hematoxylin-eosin. Four specimens showed intersexual gonads condition along with the presence of sperm and oocytes. In order to test a possible contamination of water, 2L were collected from the water body to check organochlorine, organophosphate and carbamate compounds. The analysis of water showed the presence of agrotoxic Dieldrin in a concentration of 0.05 μg/L, representing a concentration above the recommended reference. This agrotoxic, in addition to acting as endocrine disrupter and commercially prohibited, has quite persistent residual effects, and may be responsible for the high frequency of P. cuvieri with intersexual gonads, which in the long term can represent a risk for this population due to the potential impact on its effective reproductive ability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Potential accumulation of contaminated sediments in a reservoir of a high-Andean watershed: Morphodynamic connections with geochemical processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Contreras, María. Teresa; Müllendorff, Daniel; Pastén, Pablo; Pizarro, Gonzalo E.; Paola, Chris; Escauriaza, Cristián.

2015-05-01

Rapid changes due to anthropic interventions in high-altitude environments, such as the Altiplano region in South America, require new approaches to understand the connections between physical and geochemical processes. Alterations of the water quality linked to the river morphology can affect the ecosystems and human development in the long term. The future construction of a reservoir in the Lluta River, located in northern Chile, will change the spatial distribution of arsenic-rich sediments, which can have significant effects on the lower parts of the watershed. In this investigation, we develop a coupled numerical model to predict and evaluate the interactions between morphodynamic changes in the Lluta reservoir, and conditions that can potentially desorb arsenic from the sediments. Assuming that contaminants are mobilized under anaerobic conditions, we calculate the oxygen concentration within the sediments to study the interactions of the delta progradation with the potential arsenic release. This work provides a framework for future studies aimed to analyze the complex connections between morphodynamics and water quality, when contaminant-rich sediments accumulate in a reservoir. The tool can also help to design effective risk management and remediation strategies in these extreme environments. This article was corrected on 15 JUNE 2015. See the end of the full text for details.

Grand Unification as a Bridge Between String Theory and Phenomenology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pati, Jogesh C.

2006-06-09

In the first part of the talk, I explain what empirical evidence points to the need for having an effective grand unification-like symmetry possessing the symmetry SU(4)-color in 4D. If one assumes the premises of a future predictive theory including gravity--be it string/M theory or a reincarnation--this evidence then suggests that such a theory should lead to an effective grand unification-like symmetry as above in 4D, near the string-GUT-scale, rather than the standard model symmetry. Advantages of an effective supersymmetric G(224) = SU(2){sub L} x SU(2){sub R} x SU(4){sup c} or SO(10) symmetry in 4D in explaining (1) observed neutrinomore » oscillations, (2) baryogenesis via leptogenesis, and (3) certain fermion mass-relations are noted. And certain distinguishing tests of a SUSY G(224) or SO(10)-framework involving CP and flavor violations (as in {mu} {yields} e{gamma}, {tau} {yields} {mu}{gamma}, edm's of the neutron and the electron) as well as proton decay are briefly mentioned. Recalling some of the successes we have had in our understanding of nature so far, and the current difficulties of string/M theory as regards the large multiplicity of string vacua, some comments are made on the traditional goal of understanding vis a vis the recently evolved view of landscape and anthropism.« less

Modeling soil organic carbon with Quantile Regression: Dissecting predictors' effects on carbon stocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lombardo, Luigi; Saia, Sergio; Schillaci, Calogero; Mai, P. Martin; Huser, Raphaël

2018-05-01

Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) estimation is crucial to manage both natural and anthropic ecosystems and has recently been put under the magnifying glass after the Paris agreement 2016 due to its relationship with greenhouse gas. Statistical applications have dominated the SOC stock mapping at regional scale so far. However, the community has hardly ever attempted to implement Quantile Regression (QR) to spatially predict the SOC distribution. In this contribution, we test QR to estimate SOC stock (0-30 $cm$ depth) in the agricultural areas of a highly variable semi-arid region (Sicily, Italy, around 25,000 $km2$) by using topographic and remotely sensed predictors. We also compare the results with those from available SOC stock measurement. The QR models produced robust performances and allowed to recognize dominant effects among the predictors with respect to the considered quantile. This information, currently lacking, suggests that QR can discern predictor influences on SOC stock at specific sub-domains of each predictors. In this work, the predictive map generated at the median shows lower errors than those of the Joint Research Centre and International Soil Reference, and Information Centre benchmarks. The results suggest the use of QR as a comprehensive and effective method to map SOC using legacy data in agro-ecosystems. The R code scripted in this study for QR is included.

Fostering sustainable feedstock production for advanced biofuels on underutilised land in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mergner, Rita; Janssen, Rainer; Rutz, Dominik; Knoche, Dirk; Köhler, Raul; Colangeli, Marco; Gyuris, Peter

2017-04-01

Background In context of growing competition between land uses, bioenergy development is often seen as one of possible contributors to such competition. However, the potential of underutilized land (contaminated, abandoned, marginal, fallow land etc.) which is not used or cannot be used for productive activities is not exhausted and offers an attractive alternative for sustainable production of different biomass feedstocks in Europe. Depending on biomass feedstocks, different remediation activities can be carried out in addition. Bioenergy crops have the potential to be grown profitably on underutilized land and can therefore offer an attractive source of income on the local level contributing to achieving the targets of the Renewable Energy Directive (EC/2009). The FORBIO project The FORBIO project demonstrates the viability of using underutilised land in EU Member States for sustainable bioenergy feedstock production that does not affect the supply of food, feed and land currently used for recreational or conservation purposes. Project activities will serve to build up and strengthen local bioenergy value chains that are competitive and that meet the highest sustainability standards, thus contributing to the market uptake of sustainable bioenergy in the EU. Presented results The FORBIO project will develop a methodology to assess the sustainable bioenergy production potential on available underutilized lands in Europe at local, site-specific level. Based on this methodology, the project will produce multiple feasibility studies in three selected case study locations: Germany (lignite mining and sewage irrigation fields in the metropolis region of Berlin and Brandenburg), Italy (contaminated land from industrial activities in Sulcis, Portoscuso) and Ukraine (underutilised marginal agricultural land in the North of Kiev). The focus of the presentation will be on the agronomic and techno-economic feasibility studies in Germany, Italy and Ukraine. Agronomic feasibility studies consider agronomic performances in different climatic zones, soil conditions, land morphology, availability of irrigation infrastructures and limitations due to anthropic soil contamination. The outcomes of the techno-economic feasibility studies for the biomasses selected as potentially feasible for underutilized lands in the selected case study locations will be presented.

Urbanization impact on sulfur content of groundwater revealed by the study of urban speleothem-like deposits: Case study in Paris, France.

PubMed

Pons-Branchu, E; Roy-Barman, M; Jean-Soro, L; Guillerme, A; Branchu, P; Fernandez, M; Dumont, E; Douville, E; Michelot, J L; Phillips, A M

2017-02-01

Speleothem-like deposits that develop underground in urban areas are an archive of the environmental impact of anthropic activities that has been little studied so far. In this paper, the sulfate content in shallow groundwater from northern Paris (France) is compared with the sulfur content in two 300-year-old urban carbonate deposits that grew in a historical underground aqueduct. The present-day waters of the aqueduct have very high sulfur and calcium contents, suggesting pollution from gypsum dissolution. However, geological gypsum levels are located below the water table. Sulfur content was measured by micro-X-ray fluorescence in these very S-rich carbonate deposits (0.5 to 1% of S). A twofold S increase during the second half of the 1800s was found in both samples. These dates correspond to two major periods of urbanization above the site. We discus three possible S sources: anthropic sources (industries, fertilizers…), volcanic eruptions and input within the water through gypsum brought for urbanization above the studied site (backfill with quarry waste) since the middle of the 19th century. For the younger second half of the studied section, S input from gypsum brought during urbanization was confirmed by the study of isotopic sulfur composition (δ 34 S=+15.2‰ at the top). For the oldest part, several sulfur peaks could be related to early industrial activity in Paris, that caused high local air pollution, as reported in historical archives but also to historical gypsum extraction. This study provides information on the origin and timing of the very high SO 4 2- levels measured nowadays within the shallow groundwater, thus demonstrating the interest in using carbonate deposits in urban areas as a proxy for the history of urbanization or human activities and their impact on water bodies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A modified SINTACS method for groundwater vulnerability and pollution risk assessment in highly anthropized regions based on NO3- and SO42- concentrations.

PubMed

Busico, Gianluigi; Kazakis, Nerantzis; Colombani, Nicolò; Mastrocicco, Micòl; Voudouris, Konstantinos; Tedesco, Dario

2017-12-31

Groundwater vulnerability and risk assessment are worldwide tools in supporting groundwater protection and land planning. In this study, we used three of these different methodologies applied to the Campanian Plain located in southern Italy: SINTACS, AVI and LOS. However, their capability to describe the observed chemical pollution of the area has resulted quite poor. For such a reason, a modified SINTACS method has been then implemented in the area in order to get a more reliable view of groundwater vulnerability. NO 3 - and SO 4 2- from more than 400 monitoring wells were used for specific vulnerability assessment. Land use was chosen as key parameter to infer the risk of groundwater pollution in our area. The new methodology seems to show a higher correlation with observed NO 3 - concentrations and a more reliable identification of aquifer's pollution hot spots. The main sources of NO 3 - were found in sub-urban areas, where vulnerability and risk are higher than in other areas. Otherwise due to reducing conditions triggered by the presence of elevated sedimentary organic matter and peat, concentrations below agricultural areas were lower than in sub-urban areas. The SO 4 2- specific vulnerability map showed a positive correlation with observed concentrations, due to geogenic and anthropogenic SO 4 2- sources present in the area. The combination of both NO 3 - and SO 4 2- derived risk maps becomes essential to improve the conceptual model of aquifer pollution in this severely anthropized area. The application of this new and original approach shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of each of the described previous methods and clearly showed how anthropogenic activities have to be taken into account in the assessment process. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel exploratory chemometric approach to environmental monitorring by combining block clustering with Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Given the serious threats posed to terrestrial ecosystems by industrial contamination, environmental monitoring is a standard procedure used for assessing the current status of an environment or trends in environmental parameters. Measurement of metal concentrations at different trophic levels followed by their statistical analysis using exploratory multivariate methods can provide meaningful information on the status of environmental quality. In this context, the present paper proposes a novel chemometric approach to standard statistical methods by combining the Block clustering with Partial least square (PLS) analysis to investigate the accumulation patterns of metals in anthropized terrestrial ecosystems. The present study focused on copper, zinc, manganese, iron, cobalt, cadmium, nickel, and lead transfer along a soil-plant-snai food chain, and the hepatopancreas of the Roman snail (Helix pomatia) was used as a biological end-point of metal accumulation. Results Block clustering deliniates between the areas exposed to industrial and vehicular contamination. The toxic metals have similar distributions in the nettle leaves and snail hepatopancreas. PLS analysis showed that (1) zinc and copper concentrations at the lower trophic levels are the most important latent factors that contribute to metal accumulation in land snails; (2) cadmium and lead are the main determinants of pollution pattern in areas exposed to industrial contamination; (3) at the sites located near roads lead is the most threatfull metal for terrestrial ecosystems. Conclusion There were three major benefits by applying block clustering with PLS for processing the obtained data: firstly, it helped in grouping sites depending on the type of contamination. Secondly, it was valuable for identifying the latent factors that contribute the most to metal accumulation in land snails. Finally, it optimized the number and type of data that are best for monitoring the status of metallic contamination in terrestrial ecosystems exposed to different kinds of anthropic polution. PMID:23987502

Free and Open Source Software for land degradation vulnerability assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imbrenda, Vito; Calamita, Giuseppe; Coluzzi, Rosa; D'Emilio, Mariagrazia; Lanfredi, Maria Teresa; Perrone, Angela; Ragosta, Maria; Simoniello, Tiziana

2013-04-01

Nowadays the role of FOSS software in scientific research is becoming increasingly important. Besides the important issues of reduced costs for licences, legality and security there are many other reasons that make FOSS software attractive. Firstly, making the code opened is a warranty of quality permitting to thousands of developers around the world to check the code and fix bugs rather than rely on vendors claims. FOSS communities are usually enthusiastic about helping other users for solving problems and expand or customize software (flexibility). Most important for this study, the interoperability allows to combine the user-friendly QGIS with the powerful GRASS-GIS and the richness of statistical methods of R in order to process remote sensing data and to perform geo-statistical analysis in one only environment. This study is focused on the land degradation (i.e. the reduction in the capacity of the land to provide ecosystem goods and services and assure its functions) and in particular on the estimation of the vulnerability levels in order to suggest appropriate policy actions to reduce/halt land degradation impacts, using the above mentioned software. The area investigated is the Basilicata Region (Southern Italy) where large natural areas are mixed with anthropized areas. To identify different levels of vulnerability we adopted the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) model, based on the combination of indicators related to soil, climate, vegetation and anthropic stress. Such indicators were estimated by using the following data-sources: - Basilicata Region Geoportal to assess soil vulnerability; - DESERTNET2 project to evaluate potential vegetation vulnerability and climate vulnerability; - NDVI-MODIS satellite time series (2000-2010) with 250m resolution, available as 16-day composite from the NASA LP DAAC to characterize the dynamic component of vegetation; - Agricultural Census data 2010, Corine Land Cover 2006 and morphological information to assess the vulnerability to anthropic factors mainly connected with agricultural and grazing management. To achieve the final ESAs Index depicting the overall vulnerability to degradation of the investigated area we applied the geometric mean to cross normalized indices related to each examined component. In this context QGIS was used to display data and to perform basic GIS calculations, whereas GRASS was used for map-algebra operations and image processing. Finally R was used for computing statistical analysis (Principal Component Analysis) aimed to determine the relative importance of each adopted indicator. Our results show that GRASS, QGIS and R software are suitable to map land degradation vulnerability and identify highly vulnerable areas in which rehabilitation/recovery interventions are urgent. In addition they allow us to put into evidence the most important drivers of degradation thus supplying basic information for the setting up of intervention strategies. Ultimately, Free Open Source Software deliver a fair chance for geoscientific investigations thanks to their high interoperability and flexibility enabling to preserve the accuracy of the data and to reduce processing time. Moreover, the presence of several communities that steadily support users allows for achieving high quality results, making free open source software a valuable and easy alternative to conventional commercial software.

Weakly Supervised Segmentation-Aided Classification of Urban Scenes from 3d LIDAR Point Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guinard, S.; Landrieu, L.

2017-05-01

We consider the problem of the semantic classification of 3D LiDAR point clouds obtained from urban scenes when the training set is limited. We propose a non-parametric segmentation model for urban scenes composed of anthropic objects of simple shapes, partionning the scene into geometrically-homogeneous segments which size is determined by the local complexity. This segmentation can be integrated into a conditional random field classifier (CRF) in order to capture the high-level structure of the scene. For each cluster, this allows us to aggregate the noisy predictions of a weakly-supervised classifier to produce a higher confidence data term. We demonstrate the improvement provided by our method over two publicly-available large-scale data sets.

Human expunction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klee, Robert

2017-10-01

Thomas Nagel in `The Absurd' (Nagel 1971) mentions the future expunction of the human species as a `metaphor' for our ability to see our lives from the outside, which he claims is one source of our sense of life's absurdity. I argue that the future expunction (not to be confused with extinction) of everything human - indeed of everything biological in a terran sense - is not a mere metaphor but a physical certainty under the laws of nature. The causal processes by which human expunction will take place are presented in some empirical detail, so that philosophers cannot dismiss it as merely speculative. I also argue that appeals to anthropic principles or to forms of mystical cosmology are of no plausible avail in the face of human expunction under the laws of physics.

Adaptations to different habitats in sexual and asexual populations of parasitoid wasps: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Amat, Isabelle; van Alphen, Jacques J M; Kacelnik, Alex; Desouhant, Emmanuel; Bernstein, Carlos

2017-01-01

Coexistence of sexual and asexual populations remains a key question in evolutionary ecology. We address the question how an asexual and a sexual form of the parasitoid Venturia canescens can coexist in southern Europe. We test the hypothesis that both forms are adapted to different habitats within their area of distribution. Sexuals inhabit natural environments that are highly unpredictable, and where density of wasps and their hosts is low and patchily distributed. Asexuals instead are common in anthropic environments (e.g., grain stores) where host outbreaks offer periods when egg-load is the main constraint on reproductive output. We present a meta-analysis of known adaptations to these habitats. Differences in behavior, physiology and life-history traits between sexual and asexual wasps were standardized in term of effect size (Cohen's d value; Cohen, 1988). Seeking consilience from the differences between multiple traits, we found that sexuals invest more in longevity at the expense of egg-load, are more mobile, and display higher plasticity in response to thermal variability than asexual counterparts. Thus, each form has consistent multiple adaptations to the ecological circumstances in the contrasting environments.

Adaptations to different habitats in sexual and asexual populations of parasitoid wasps: a meta-analysis

PubMed Central

van Alphen, Jacques J.M.; Kacelnik, Alex; Desouhant, Emmanuel

2017-01-01

Background Coexistence of sexual and asexual populations remains a key question in evolutionary ecology. We address the question how an asexual and a sexual form of the parasitoid Venturia canescens can coexist in southern Europe. We test the hypothesis that both forms are adapted to different habitats within their area of distribution. Sexuals inhabit natural environments that are highly unpredictable, and where density of wasps and their hosts is low and patchily distributed. Asexuals instead are common in anthropic environments (e.g., grain stores) where host outbreaks offer periods when egg-load is the main constraint on reproductive output. Methods We present a meta-analysis of known adaptations to these habitats. Differences in behavior, physiology and life-history traits between sexual and asexual wasps were standardized in term of effect size (Cohen’s d value; Cohen, 1988). Results Seeking consilience from the differences between multiple traits, we found that sexuals invest more in longevity at the expense of egg-load, are more mobile, and display higher plasticity in response to thermal variability than asexual counterparts. Discussion Thus, each form has consistent multiple adaptations to the ecological circumstances in the contrasting environments. PMID:28924495

Spatial prediction of water quality variables along a main river channel, in presence of pollution hotspots.

PubMed

Rizo-Decelis, L D; Pardo-Igúzquiza, E; Andreo, B

2017-12-15

In order to treat and evaluate the available data of water quality and fully exploit monitoring results (e.g. characterize regional patterns, optimize monitoring networks, infer conditions at unmonitored locations, etc.), it is crucial to develop improved and efficient methodologies. Accordingly, estimation of water quality along fluvial ecosystems is a frequent task in environment studies. In this work, a particular case of this problem is examined, namely, the estimation of water quality along a main stem of a large basin (where most anthropic activity takes place), from observational data measured along this river channel. We adapted topological kriging to this case, where each watershed contains all the watersheds of the upstream observed data ("nested support effect"). Data analysis was additionally extended by taking into account the upstream distance to the closest contamination hotspot as an external drift. We propose choosing the best estimation method by cross-validation. The methodological approach in spatial variability modeling may be used for optimizing the water quality monitoring of a given watercourse. The methodology presented is applied to 28 water quality variables measured along the Santiago River in Western Mexico. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of volcanic activity and anthropic impact in the trace element contents of fishes from the North Patagonia in a global context.

PubMed

Bubach, D F; Macchi, P J; Pérez Catán, S

2015-11-01

The elemental contents in salmonid muscle and liver tissues from different lakes around the world were investigated. Fish from pristine areas were compared with those fishes from impacted environments, both by volcanic and anthropogenic activities. Within the data, special attention was given to fishes from the Andean Patagonian lakes in two contexts: local and global. The local evaluation includes geological and limnological parameters and diet composition which were obtained through a data search from published works. The volcanic influence in Andean Patagonian lakes was mainly observed by an increase of cesium (Cs) and rubidium (Rb) concentrations in fishes, influenced by calcium (Ca) and potassium (K) water contents. Zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), iron (Fe), silver (Ag), and mercury (Hg) contents in fishes showed the effect of the geological substratum, and some limnological parameters. The diet composition was another factor which affects the elemental concentration in fishes. The analyzed data showed that the fishes from Andean Patagonian lakes had elemental content patterns corresponding to those of pristine regions with volcanic influence. Selenium and Ag contents from Andean Patagonian fishes were the highest reported.

Quark-mass dependence of two-nucleon observables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jiunn-Wei; Lee, Tze-Kei; Liu, C.-P.; Liu, Yu-Sheng

2012-11-01

We study the potential implications of lattice QCD determinations of the S-wave nucleon-nucleon scattering lengths with unphysical light quark masses. If the light quark masses are small enough such that nuclear effective field theory (NEFT) can be used to perform quark-mass extrapolations, then the leading quark-mass dependence of not only the effective range and the two-body current, but also all the low-energy deuteron matrix elements up to next-to-leading-order in NEFT can be obtained. As a proof of principle, we compute the quark-mass dependence of the deuteron charge radius, magnetic moment, polarizability, and the deuteron photodisintegration cross section using the lattice calculation of the scattering lengths at 354 MeV pion mass by the ``Nuclear Physics with Lattice QCD'' (NPLQCD) collaboration and the NEFT power counting scheme of Beane, Kaplan, and Vuorinen (BKV), even though it is not yet established that the 354 MeV pion mass is within the radius of convergence of the BKV scheme. Once the lattice result with quark mass within the NEFT radius of convergence is obtained, our observation can be used to constrain the time variation of isoscalar combination of u and d quark mass mq, to help the anthropic principle study to find the mq range that allows the existence of life, and to provide a weak test of the multiverse conjecture.

The impact of dark energy on galaxy formation. What does the future of our Universe hold?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salcido, Jaime; Bower, Richard G.; Barnes, Luke A.; Lewis, Geraint F.; Elahi, Pascal J.; Theuns, Tom; Schaller, Matthieu; Crain, Robert A.; Schaye, Joop

2018-04-01

We investigate the effect of the accelerated expansion of the Universe due to a cosmological constant, Λ, on the cosmic star formation rate. We utilise hydrodynamical simulations from the EAGLE suite, comparing a ΛCDM Universe to an Einstein-de Sitter model with Λ = 0. Despite the differences in the rate of growth of structure, we find that dark energy, at its observed value, has negligible impact on star formation in the Universe. We study these effects beyond the present day by allowing the simulations to run forward into the future (t > 13.8 Gyr). We show that the impact of Λ becomes significant only when the Universe has already produced most of its stellar mass, only decreasing the total co-moving density of stars ever formed by ≈15%. We develop a simple analytic model for the cosmic star formation rate that captures the suppression due to a cosmological constant. The main reason for the similarity between the models is that feedback from accreting black holes dramatically reduces the cosmic star formation at late times. Interestingly, simulations without feedback from accreting black holes predict an upturn in the cosmic star formation rate for t > 15 Gyr due to the rejuvenation of massive (>1011M⊙) galaxies. We briefly discuss the implication of the weak dependence of the cosmic star formation on Λ in the context of the anthropic principle.

Sustainability of massively anthropic deltas via dispersal of sediment to manage land building: results from two unique case studies, the Mississippi River (U.S.A.) and the Yellow River (China) deltas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nittrouer, Jeffrey

2016-04-01

Owing to their extraordinary natural resources and ecosystem services, deltaic coastlines host hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Societal sustainability on these coastal landscapes is far from certain, however, due to anthropogenic influences including sediment-supply reduction, accelerated subsidence from sub-surface fluid extraction, and leveeing of rivers. The crucial resource in building stable deltaic coastlines is sediment, and the key control on sediment delivery, whether natural or engineered, is by way river channel diversions. Two case studies, based on previous and ongoing research efforts, are presented here to describe the effects of engineered diversions for the removal of river water and associated sediment: the Mississippi River (U.S.A) and the Yellow River (China). Comparatively speaking, these two systems are end-members: Mississippi River water discharge is five times greater than the Yellow River, and yet historically, the Yellow River sediment discharges five times more sediment than the Mississippi system. As such, diversions for the two systems have contrasting goals. During flood events, the Mississippi water stage threatens major metropolitan regions with levee overtopping; spillways are therefore utilized to reduce water flux through the main channel. For the Yellow River, extremely high sediment loads result in significant sedimentation within the main channel, and so there is a concerted effort to divert and shorten the main channel, in order to enhance the water surface slope and increase sediment transport capacity. Interestingly, the net effect of these two projects has been to deposit a significant amount of sediment into the respective receiving basins, which in turn has led to the development of subaerial land. In essence, this represents two compelling case studies documenting how managed (engineered) land building practices can be implemented for other large fluvial-deltaic systems. Observational data collected from field studies of both the Mississippi and Yellow rivers have been used to inform and validate numerical modeling efforts that seek to replicate the morphodynamics of the two diversions. The aim is to evaluate best practices for building deltaic landscape. Based on these research efforts, there are key similarities found for the delta systems: 1) coarse (sandy) sediment is the primary contributor to subaerial delta development, despite the abundance of mud for both rivers; 2) the influx of freshwater into estuarine regions of deltas has tremendous impact on vegetation development, and therefore the cohesion of the deltaic sediment deposit; and 3) it is feasible to produce efficient diversions that maximize sediment delivery and still provide for continued use of the riverine resource (for example, navigation of the channel by vessels). These findings are critical when considering future plans that seek sustainable management practices of other large, anthropic fluvial deltaic systems.

Impact of anthropomorphic soil genesis on hydraulic properties: the case of cranberry production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Periard, Yann; José Gumiere, Silvio; Rousseau, Alain N.; Caron, Jean; Hallema, Dennis W.

2014-05-01

The construction of a cranberry field requires the installation of a drainage system which causes anthropic layering of the natural sequence of soil strata. Over the years, the soil hydraulic properties may change under the influence of irrigation and water table control. In fact, natural consolidation (drainage and recharge cycles), filtration and clogging soil pores by colloidal particle accelerated by water management will alter the hydrodynamic behavior of the soil (Gaillard et al., 2007; Wildenschild and Sheppard, 2013; Bodner et al., 2013). Today, advances in the field of tomography imagery allows the study a number of physicals processes of soils (Wildenschilds and Sheppard, 2013) especially for the transport of colloidal particles (Gaillard et al., 2007) and consolidation (Reed et al, 2006; Pires et al, 2007). Therefore, the main objective of this work is to analyze the temporal evolution of hydrodynamic properties of a sandy soil during repeated drainage and recharge cycles using a medical CT-scan. A soil columns laboratory experiment was setup in fall 2013, pressure head, input and output flow, tracer monitoring (KBr and ZrO2) and tomographic analyses have been used to quantify the temporal variation of the soil hydrodynamic properties of these soil columns. The results showed that the water management (irrigation and drainage) has strong effect on soil genesis and causes significant alteration of soil hydraulic properties, which may reduce soil drainage capacity. Knowledge about the mechanisms responsible of anthropic cranberry soil genesis will allow us to predict soil evolution according to several conditions (soil type, drainage system design, water management) to better anticipate and control their future negative effects on cranberry production. References: Bodner, G., P. Scholl and H.P. Kaul. 2013. Field quantification of wetting-drying cycles to predict temporal changes of soil pore size distribution. Soil and Tillage Research 133: 1-9. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2013.05.006. Gaillard, J.-F., C. Chen, S.H. Stonedahl, B.L.T. Lau, D.T. Keane and A.I. Packman. 2007. Imaging of colloidal deposits in granular porous media by X-ray difference micro-tomography. Geophysical Research Letters 34: L18404. doi:10.1029/2007GL030514. Pires, L.F., O.O.S. Bacchi and K. Reichardt. 2007. Assessment of soil structure repair due to wetting and drying cycles through 2D tomographic image analysis. Soil and Tillage Research 94: 537-545. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2006.10.008. Reed, A. H., Thompson, K. E., Zhang, W., Willson, C. S., & Briggs, K. B. (2006). Quantifying consolidation and reordering in natural granular media from computed tomography images. Advances in X-ray Tomography for Geomaterials, 263-268. Wildenschild, D. and A.P. Sheppard. 2013. X-ray imaging and analysis techniques for quantifying pore-scale structure and processes in subsurface porous medium systems. Advances in Water Resources 51: 217-246. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2012.07.018.

The use of bacterial bioremediation of metals in aquatic environments in the twenty-first century: a systematic review.

PubMed

de Alencar, Feliphe Lacerda Souza; Navoni, Julio Alejandro; do Amaral, Viviane Souza

2017-07-01

Metal pollution is a current environmental issue as a consequence of unregulated anthropic activiy. A wide range of bioremediation strategies have been successfully implemented to recover contaminated areas. Among them, bacterial bioremediation stands out as a promising tool to confront these types of concerns. This study aimed to compare and discuss worldwide scientific evolution of bacterial potential for metal bioremediation in aquatic ecosystems. The study consisted of a systematic review, elaborated through a conceptual hypothesis model, during the period from 2000 to 2016, using PubMed, MEDLINE, and SciELO databases as data resources. The countries with the largest number of reports included in this work were India and the USA. Industrial wastewater discharge was the main subject associated to metal contamination/pollution and where bacterial bioremediations have mostly been applied. Biosorption is the main bioremediation mechanism described. Bacterial adaptation to metal presence was discussed in all the selected studies, and chromium was the most researched bioremedied substrate. Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosas and the Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis bacteria were microorganisms with the greatest applicability for metal bioremediation. Most reports involved the study of genes and/or proteins related to metal metabolism and/or resistence, and Chromobacterium violaceum was the most studied. The present work shows the relevance of metal bacterial bioremediation through the high number of studies aimed at understanding the microbiological mechanisms involved. Moreover, the developed processes applied in removal and/or reducing the resulting environmental metal contaminant/pollutant load have become a current and increasingly biotechnological issue for recovering impacted areas.

Panel Discussion Vi: Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, E.; Dolgov, A.; Crothers, S.; Mitra, A.; Rubakov, V.; Zakharov, A.

2014-03-01

Questions to discuss: * To what extent are Dark Matter and Dark Energy necessary to explain the observed properties of the Universe? * Why are the Dark matter profiles so universal at the galactic scales? * Are there viable candidates of modified gravitational dynamics to exclude the dark components of Universe? * Do we have any perspectives to distinguish the Dark Energy from the cosmological constant? * Are there any certain indications for sterile neutrinos in the cosmos? * How does the Planck data change the view of inflation in the early Universe? What could be the origin of the inflaton plateau? So far, what else is interesting about the Planck data? * What are the nearest crucial points in cosmological observations? * Can we be more decisive discriminating between the anthropic principle, the superstringy landscape, fine tuning or dynamics as reasons for the cosmological coincidences?

Distribution of bat-borne viruses and environment patterns.

PubMed

Afelt, Aneta; Lacroix, Audrey; Zawadzka-Pawlewska, Urszula; Pokojski, Wojciech; Buchy, Philippe; Frutos, Roger

2018-03-01

Environmental modifications are leading to biodiversity changes, loss and habitat disturbance. This in turn increases contacts between wildlife and hence the risk of transmission and emergence of zoonotic diseases. We analyzed the environment and land use using remote spatial data around the sampling locations of bats positive for coronavirus (21 sites) and astrovirus (11 sites) collected in 43 sites. A clear association between viruses and hosts was observed. Viruses associated to synanthropic bat genera, such as Myotis or Scotophilus were associated to highly transformed habitats with human presence while viruses associated to fruit bat genera were correlated with natural environments with dense forest, grassland areas and regions of high elevation. In particular, group C betacoronavirus were associated with mosaic habitats found in anthropized environments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A brief history of the multiverse.

PubMed

Linde, Andrei

2017-02-01

The theory of the inflationary multiverse changes the way we think about our place in the world. According to its most popular version, our world may consist of infinitely many exponentially large parts, exhibiting different sets of low-energy laws of physics. Since these parts are extremely large, the interior of each of them behaves as if it were a separate universe, practically unaffected by the rest of the world. This picture, combined with the theory of eternal inflation and anthropic considerations, may help to solve many difficult problems of modern physics, including the cosmological constant problem. In this article I will briefly describe this theory and provide links to the some hard to find papers written during the first few years of the development of the inflationary multiverse scenario.

A brief history of the multiverse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linde, Andrei

2017-02-01

The theory of the inflationary multiverse changes the way we think about our place in the world. According to its most popular version, our world may consist of infinitely many exponentially large parts, exhibiting different sets of low-energy laws of physics. Since these parts are extremely large, the interior of each of them behaves as if it were a separate universe, practically unaffected by the rest of the world. This picture, combined with the theory of eternal inflation and anthropic considerations, may help to solve many difficult problems of modern physics, including the cosmological constant problem. In this article I will briefly describe this theory and provide links to the some hard to find papers written during the first few years of the development of the inflationary multiverse scenario.

Near surface geophysics techniques and geomorphological approach to reconstruct the hazard cave map in historical and urban areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazzari, M.; Loperte, A.; Perrone, A.

2010-03-01

This work, carried out with an integrated methodological approach, focuses on the use of near surface geophysics techniques, such as ground penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and geomorphological analysis, in order to reconstruct the cave distribution and geometry in a urban context and, in particular, in historical centres. The interaction during recent centuries between human activity (caves excavation, birth and growth of an urban area) and the characters of the natural environment were the reasons of a progressive increase in hazard and vulnerability levels of several sites. The reconstruction of a detailed cave map distribution is the first step to define the anthropic and geomorphological hazard in urban areas, fundamental basis for planning and assessing the risk.

[Updated inventory of mosquitoes (Dipbra: Culkidae) from the French islets of Europa, Juan-de-Nova and Grande-Glorieuse (Mozambique channel, Indian Ocean)].

PubMed

Girod, R; Le Goff, G

2006-05-01

The islets of Europa, Juan-de-Nova and Grande-Glorieuse are French territories isolated in the Mozambique Channel (Indian Ocean) which have remained relatively preserved from anthropization all along their history These three islets have been classified entire nature reserves from 1975 and are today inhabited only by a permanent military detachment of about fifteen men even if they occasionally greet technical and scientific staff. Sanitary and environmental issues brought about assessment of the present culicid fauna. The authors propose a synthesis of the culicid knowledge from the islets and make an inventory of new species. The role played by humans in importation of culicids is discussed as well as sanitary consequences of their adaptation to environment

Understanding the Fine Tuning in Our Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cohen, Bernard L.

2008-05-01

I It is often stated that the physical properties of our universe are ``fine tuned''-that is, they must be almost exactly as they are to make the development of intelligent life possible.1 The implications of this statement, called the ``anthropic principle,'' have been widely discussed in a philosophical context,2 but the scientific basis for the statement3 is not widely understood outside the community of experts. My purpose here is to explain how I have presented some parts of this scientific basis, albeit with some glossing over of difficult and/or less important details, to undergraduate students majoring in humanities and social sciences and to senior citizens in ``lifetime learning'' programs who have no professional scientific background. In this paper, I concentrate on the vital processes of hydrogen burning and helium burning.

Species composition of Bromeliaceae and their distribution at the Massambaba restinga in Arraial do Cabo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

PubMed

Rocha-Pessôa, T C; Nunes-Freitas, A F; Cogliatti-Carvalho, L; Rocha, C F D

2008-05-01

We studied some ecological parameters such as richness, abundance, density, biomass and variation in species composition in four vegetation zones and in a zone with anthropic disturbance in the Massambaba Restinga in Arraial do Cabo, Rio de Janeiro State. We sampled 100 plots of 100 m(2) (10 x 10 m) recording the bromeliad species and their abundance. We found a total of seven bromeliad species, with Vriesea neoglutinosa (5647 ramets) and Tillandsia stricta (1277 ramets) being the most abundant. The vegetation zone called Clusia shrubs had the highest richness (S = 5) and density (6360 ramets.ha(-1)) of bromeliads. The differences found in abundance and variation in species composition among vegetation zones seems to be related to the vegetation structure of each zone.

Erosion distribution in Central Nepal Himalaya from late Pleistocene to present : evidence for recent anthropic forcing of erosion of the Lesser Himalaya

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

France-Lanord, C.; Lave, J.; Morin, G. P.; Gajurel, A.; Galy, A.; Bosia, C.; Sinha, R.

2016-12-01

Evolution of the erosion of continental surfaces through geologic times provides key evidences to assess the interplay of controls exerted by tectonic, topography, climate, and lately, human activities. Mountains belts, and particularly the Himalaya, present intense tectonic activity, contrasted seasonality marked by the monsoon, steep topography and recent socio-economic development, which makes it a laboratory to assess main issues on these complex interactions.Taking advantage of the large Sr and Nd isotopic contrasts of the main geological and physiographic Himalayan units, this study explores the time variations of the spatial distribution of erosion in Central Nepal Himalaya. Compiling Sr and Nd isotopic compositions of rivers sediments from many tributaries within the Narayani Basin in central Nepal, we first define the mean Sr and Nd isotopic compositions of the three main Himalayan geological units in this region. Then, we present isotopic chronicles of river sediments sampled at the outlet of the Narayani Basin during 21 years, and 50-kyr-long sedimentary archives drilled in the foreland basin.Using Sr and Nd isotopic compositions to trace relative geological provenances and contributions, we show that erosion distribution in the Narayani Basin remained stable for 50 kyr until the end of the 20th century. Sediment fluxes were primarily derived from erosion of the High Himalayan regions (Tethys H. and HHC) ( 80 %), i.e. from the areas presenting high reliefs and steep slopes. Erosion distribution stability during the Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition provides new evidence for a primary control of erosion by tectonic forcing rather than climatic forcing in the Himalayas. Since 2000s, a shift of the sediment isotopic compositions reveals an intensification of erosion in the Lesser Himalaya (from 15-25% to 30-45% of the sediment budget) despite unchanged tectonic or climatic conditions. We propose that this strong increase by 2-3 fold of erosion of the Lesser Himalayan region is a consequence of recent human activities, and likely roads constructions in the Middle Hills of Nepal, highlighting the role of anthropic activities as erosion agents on sensitive environments such as can be mountain ranges.

Effect of biodiversity changes in disease risk: exploring disease emergence in a plant-virus system.

PubMed

Pagán, Israel; González-Jara, Pablo; Moreno-Letelier, Alejandra; Rodelo-Urrego, Manuel; Fraile, Aurora; Piñero, Daniel; García-Arenal, Fernando

2012-01-01

The effect of biodiversity on the ability of parasites to infect their host and cause disease (i.e. disease risk) is a major question in pathology, which is central to understand the emergence of infectious diseases, and to develop strategies for their management. Two hypotheses, which can be considered as extremes of a continuum, relate biodiversity to disease risk: One states that biodiversity is positively correlated with disease risk (Amplification Effect), and the second predicts a negative correlation between biodiversity and disease risk (Dilution Effect). Which of them applies better to different host-parasite systems is still a source of debate, due to limited experimental or empirical data. This is especially the case for viral diseases of plants. To address this subject, we have monitored for three years the prevalence of several viruses, and virus-associated symptoms, in populations of wild pepper (chiltepin) under different levels of human management. For each population, we also measured the habitat species diversity, host plant genetic diversity and host plant density. Results indicate that disease and infection risk increased with the level of human management, which was associated with decreased species diversity and host genetic diversity, and with increased host plant density. Importantly, species diversity of the habitat was the primary predictor of disease risk for wild chiltepin populations. This changed in managed populations where host genetic diversity was the primary predictor. Host density was generally a poorer predictor of disease and infection risk. These results support the dilution effect hypothesis, and underline the relevance of different ecological factors in determining disease/infection risk in host plant populations under different levels of anthropic influence. These results are relevant for managing plant diseases and for establishing conservation policies for endangered plant species.

Drought and water scarcity indicators: experience and operational applications in italian basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzanti, Bernardo; Checcucci, Gaia; Monacelli, Giuseppina; Puma, Francesco; Vezzani, Claudia

2013-04-01

In the framework of River Basin Managment Plans (RBMPs), according to the Water Framework Directive, prevention and mitigation of water scarcity and droughts are some of the most challenging tasks. In the last ten years Italy experienced the highest ever observed frequency of occurrence of drought/water scarcity events. As an example, the damages for the latest, country-wide drought event of summer 2012 exceeded one billion euros. On the other hand, according to the more recent reports on the risks of extreme events, there is evidence, providing a basis for medium confidence, that droughts will intensify over the coming century in southern Europe and in the Mediterranean region (IPCC 2012). Monitoring actions are necessary and extremely effective to "feel the pulse of the situation" about both natural availability and anthropic use of freshwater resources. In this context, referring to the Programmes of Measures of RBMPs, italian River Basin Authorities (RBA) are tackling the issue at different spatial scales, planning an operational use of different indicators, between theme the Water Exploitation Index (EEA, 2009) and some statistical indicators. In this context, Po and Arno River Basin authorities, with the support of ISPRA, are directly involved in the experimental application of some significant indicators combining climatic, hydrological and anthropic factors affecting water availability. Planning and operational experiences for the two main basins (Po and Arno) and for a list of smaller scale subbasins are presented, with a detailed description of data needs, range of application, spatial and temporal scale issues, and threshold definition. For each indicator, a critical analysis of strenghts and weaknesses (at data and response level) is reported, with particular regard to the feasibility of its use within water management and water planning actions at the river basin and district scale. Tests were carried out for the whole Po River and Northern Appennines districts, and for the basin of Arno, Trebbia and Oglio rivers, and included the following indicators: modified Water Exploitation Index (WEI+) calculated at annual and monthly scale (ETC/ICM, 2012); Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI); Standardized Runoff Index (SRI). The results confirmed the need for the analysis of the indicators different spatial and temporal scales to understand their meaning in the local regional context considered. It was clearly shown that sub-annual patterns of water availability and water use play a fundamental role in the indicators meaning, and should be considered in their operational application. References: IPCC, 2012 - Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation, 2012 ETC/ICM, 2012 - Vulnerability to Water Scarcity and Drought in Europe - Background thematic report for EEA water 2012 report, EEA/NSV/10/002

Functional and taxonomic plant diversity for riverbank protection works: bioengineering techniques close to natural banks and beyond hard engineering.

PubMed

Cavaillé, Paul; Ducasse, Léon; Breton, Vincent; Dommanget, Fanny; Tabacchi, Eric; Evette, André

2015-03-15

Erosion control is a major issue in the Prealps region since piedmont is subject to both intense flood hazards and anthropic pressure. Riverbank protections may have major impacts on local ecosystem functioning and ecological corridor continuity. This study aimed to estimate the effects of the types of riverbank protection technique (from pure riprap to pure bioengineering) on the taxonomic and ecological composition of plant communities in comparison with unmanaged riverbanks as the referential system. Thirty-eight embankments were sampled in the foothills of the French and Swiss Alps. Four distinct riverbank techniques were analyzed and natural young willow stands were chosen as the referential system. At each site, vegetation was sampled along three transects from the waterline to the top of the riverbank. Plant communities were characterized using biological group composition (growth forms and life history, life strategies and distribution in space and time) and functional diversity indices (MFAD, FDc and wFDc). We identified 177 distinct plant species on 38 sites. Higher species richness levels were observed on bioengineered banks (from an average of 12 species recorded on ripraps to 27 species recorded on bioengineered banks) strongly dominated by Salicaceae species, especially for fascine and cribwall banks. Functional analyses of plant communities highlighted significant differences among bank types (p-value: 0.001) for all selected biological groups. Competitive - ruderal strategy, rooting shoots, stems or leaves that lie down or break off, and unisexual - dioecious, as well as pioneer plants and low shrubs (<4 m tall) distinguished bioengineered bank types. Functional diversity indices confirmed these differences among bank types (MFAD: p-value: 0.002; FDc: p-value: 0.003; wFDc: p-value: 0.005). Riprap always showed the lowest levels on functional diversity indices, fascine and cribwall banks were at the medium level and finally mixed and natural banks the highest level. These results confirm the low ecological potential of purely hard engineering techniques and highlight the similarity of bioengineered techniques and unmanaged riverbanks. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evidence of the big fix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamada, Yuta; Kawai, Hikaru; Kawana, Kiyoharu

2014-06-01

We give an evidence of the Big Fix. The theory of wormholes and multiverse suggests that the parameters of the Standard Model are fixed in such a way that the total entropy at the late stage of the universe is maximized, which we call the maximum entropy principle. In this paper, we discuss how it can be confirmed by the experimental data, and we show that it is indeed true for the Higgs vacuum expectation value vh. We assume that the baryon number is produced by the sphaleron process, and that the current quark masses, the gauge couplings and the Higgs self-coupling are fixed when we vary vh. It turns out that the existence of the atomic nuclei plays a crucial role to maximize the entropy. This is reminiscent of the anthropic principle, however it is required by the fundamental law in our case.

Big bang nucleosynthesis: The strong nuclear force meets the weak anthropic principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacDonald, J.; Mullan, D. J.

2009-08-01

Contrary to a common argument that a small increase in the strength of the strong force would lead to destruction of all hydrogen in the big bang due to binding of the diproton and the dineutron with a catastrophic impact on life as we know it, we show that provided the increase in strong force coupling constant is less than about 50% substantial amounts of hydrogen remain. The reason is that an increase in strong force strength leads to tighter binding of the deuteron, permitting nucleosynthesis to occur earlier in the big bang at higher temperature than in the standard big bang. Photodestruction of the less tightly bound diproton and dineutron delays their production to after the bulk of nucleosynthesis is complete. The decay of the diproton can, however, lead to relatively large abundances of deuterium.

Dynamical approach to the cosmological constant.

PubMed

Mukohyama, Shinji; Randall, Lisa

2004-05-28

We consider a dynamical approach to the cosmological constant. There is a scalar field with a potential whose minimum occurs at a generic, but negative, value for the vacuum energy, and it has a nonstandard kinetic term whose coefficient diverges at zero curvature as well as the standard kinetic term. Because of the divergent coefficient of the kinetic term, the lowest energy state is never achieved. Instead, the cosmological constant automatically stalls at or near zero. The merit of this model is that it is stable under radiative corrections and leads to stable dynamics, despite the singular kinetic term. The model is not complete, however, in that some reheating is required. Nonetheless, our approach can at the very least reduce fine-tuning by 60 orders of magnitude or provide a new mechanism for sampling possible cosmological constants and implementing the anthropic principle.

Monitoring Earth Surface Dynamics With Optical Imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leprince, Sébastien; Berthier, Etienne; Ayoub, François; Delacourt, Christophe; Avouac, Jean-Philippe

2008-01-01

The increasing availability of high-quality optical satellite images should allow, in principle, continuous monitoring of Earth's surface changes due to geologic processes, climate change, or anthropic activity. For instance, sequential optical images have been used to measure displacements at Earth's surface due to coseismic ground deformation [e.g., Van Puymbroeck et al., 2000], ice flow [Scambos et al., 1992; Berthier et al., 2005], sand dune migration [Crippen, 1992], and landslides [Kääb, 2002; Delacourt et al., 2004]. Surface changes related to agriculture, deforestation, urbanization, and erosion-which do not involve ground displacement-might also be monitored, provided that the images can be registered with sufficient accuracy. Although the approach is simple in principle, its use is still limited, mainly because of geometric distortion of the images induced by the imaging system, biased correlation techniques, and implementation difficulties.

Spatial and temporal distribution of mercury and methylmercury in bivalves from the French coastline.

PubMed

Briant, N; Chouvelon, T; Martinez, L; Brach-Papa, C; Chiffoleau, J F; Savoye, N; Sonke, J; Knoery, J

2017-01-30

Marine mercury (Hg) concentrations have been monitored in the French coastline for the last half a century using bivalves. The analyses presented in this study concerned 192 samples of bivalves (mussels: Mytilus edulis and Mytilus galloprovincialis and oysters: Crassostrea gigas and Isognomon alatus) from 77 sampling stations along the French coast and in the French Antilles sea. The goals of this study were to assess MeHg levels in various common bivalves from French coastline, and to identify possible geographic, taxonomic or temporal variations of concentrations. We show that the evolution of methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations covary with total mercury (HgT) concentrations. Moreover, in most of the study sites, HgT concentrations have not decreased since 1987, despite regulations to decrease or ban mercury used for anthropic activities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multiverse Space-Antispace Dual Calabi-Yau `Exciplex-Zitterbewegung' Particle Creation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amoroso, Richard L.

Modeling the `creation/emergence' of matter from spacetime is as old as modern cosmology itself and not without controversy within each model such as Static, Steady-state, Big Bang or Multiverse Continuous-State. In this paper we present only a brief primitive introduction to a new form of `Exciplex-Zitterbewegung' dual space-antispace vacuum Particle Creation applicable especially to Big Bang alternatives which are well-known but ignored; Hubble discovered `Redshift' not a Doppler expansion of the universe which remains the currently popular interpretation. Holographic Anthropic Multiverse cosmology provides viable alternatives to all seemingly sacrosanct pillars of the Big Bang. A model for Multiverse Space-Antispace Dual Calabi-Yau `Exciplex-Zitterbewegung' particle creation has only become possible by incorporating the additional degrees of freedom provided by the capacity complex dimensional extended Yang-Mills Kaluza-Klein correspondence provides.

Pore Pressure Pulse Drove the 2012 Emilia (Italy) Series of Earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pezzo, Giuseppe; De Gori, Pasquale; Lucente, Francesco Pio; Chiarabba, Claudio

2018-01-01

The 2012 Emilia earthquakes sequence is the first debated case in Italy of destructive event possibly induced by anthropic activity. During this sequence, two main earthquakes occurred separated by 9 days on contiguous thrust faults. Scientific commissions engaged by the Italian government reported complementary scenarios on the potential trigger mechanism ascribable to exploitation of a nearby oil field. In this study, we combine a refined geodetic source model constrained by precise aftershock locations and an improved tomographic model of the area to define the geometrical relation between the activated faults and investigate possible triggering mechanisms. An aftershock decay rate that deviates from the classical Omori-like pattern and Vp/Vs changes along the fault system suggests that natural pore pressure pulse drove the space-time evolution of seismicity and the activation of the second main shock.

Ancient Cosmology, superfine structure of the Universe and Anthropological Principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arakelyan, Hrant; Vardanyan, Susan

2015-07-01

The modern cosmology by its spirit, conception of the Big Bang is closer to the ancient cosmology, than to the cosmological paradigm of the XIX century. Repeating the speculations of the ancients, but using at the same time subtle mathematical methods and relying on the steadily accumulating empirical material, the modern theory tends to a quantitative description of nature, in which increasing role are playing the numerical ratios between the physical constants. The detailed analysis of the influence of the numerical values -- of physical quantities on the physical state of the universe revealed amazing relations called fine and hyperfine tuning. In order to explain, why the observable universe comes to be a certain set of interrelated fundamental parameters, in fact a speculative anthropic principle was proposed, which focuses on the fact of the existence of sentient beings.

Genetic variability in five populations of Partamona helleri (Hymenoptera, Apidae) from Minas Gerais State, Brazil

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Partamona is a Neotropical genus of stingless bees that comprises 33 species distributed from Mexico to southern Brazil. These bees are well-adapted to anthropic environments and build their nests in several substrates. In this study, 66 colonies of Partamona helleri from five localities in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (São Miguel do Anta, Teixeiras, Porto Firme, Viçosa and Rio Vermelho) were analyzed using nine microsatellite loci in order to assess their genetic variability. Low levels of observed (Ho = 0.099-0.137) and expected (H e = 0.128-0.145) heterozygosity were encountered and revealed discrete genetic differentiation among the populations (F ST = 0.025). AMOVA further showed that most of the total genetic variation (94.24%) in P. helleri was explained by the variability within local populations. PMID:21637591

Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) equipment calibration for multielement analysis of soil and rock samples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Moraes, Alex Silva; Tech, Lohane; Melquíades, Fábio Luiz; Bastos, Rodrigo Oliveira

2014-11-01

Considering the importance to understand the behavior of the elements on different natural and/or anthropic processes, this study had as objective to verify the accuracy of a multielement analysis method for rocks characterization by using soil standards as calibration reference. An EDXRF equipment was used. The analyses were made on samples doped with known concentration of Mn, Zn, Rb, Sr and Zr, for the obtainment of the calibration curves, and on a certified rock sample to check the accuracy of the analytical curves. Then, a set of rock samples from Rio Bonito, located in Figueira city, Paraná State, Brazil, were analyzed. The concentration values obtained, in ppm, for Mn, Rb, Sr and Zr varied, respectively, from 175 to 1084, 7.4 to 268, 28 to 2247 and 15 to 761.

Uncertainties in shoreline position analysis: the role of run-up and tide in a gentle slope beach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manno, Giorgio; Lo Re, Carlo; Ciraolo, Giuseppe

2017-09-01

In recent decades in the Mediterranean Sea, high anthropic pressure from increasing economic and touristic development has affected several coastal areas. Today the erosion phenomena threaten human activities and existing structures, and interdisciplinary studies are needed to better understand actual coastal dynamics. Beach evolution analysis can be conducted using GIS methodologies, such as the well-known Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS), in which error assessment based on shoreline positioning plays a significant role. In this study, a new approach is proposed to estimate the positioning errors due to tide and wave run-up influence. To improve the assessment of the wave run-up uncertainty, a spectral numerical model was used to propagate waves from deep to intermediate water and a Boussinesq-type model for intermediate water up to the swash zone. Tide effects on the uncertainty of shoreline position were evaluated using data collected by a nearby tide gauge. The proposed methodology was applied to an unprotected, dissipative Sicilian beach far from harbors and subjected to intense human activities over the last 20 years. The results show wave run-up and tide errors ranging from 0.12 to 4.5 m and from 1.20 to 1.39 m, respectively.

A Programmable Cellular-Automata Polarized Dirac Vacuum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osoroma, Drahcir S.

2013-09-01

We explore properties of a `Least Cosmological Unit' (LCU) as an inherent spacetime raster tiling or tessellating the unique backcloth of Holographic Anthropic Multiverse (HAM) cosmology as an array of programmable cellular automata. The HAM vacuum is a scale-invariant HD extension of a covariant polarized Dirac vacuum with `bumps' and `holes' typically described by extended electromagnetic theory corresponding to an Einstein energy-dependent spacetime metric admitting a periodic photon mass. The new cosmology incorporates a unique form of M-Theoretic Calabi-Yau-Poincaré Dodecadedral-AdS5-DS5space (PDS) with mirror symmetry best described by an HD extension of Cramer's Transactional Interpretation when integrated also with an HD extension of the de Broglie-Bohm-Vigier causal interpretation of quantum theory. We incorporate a unique form of large-scale additional dimensionality (LSXD) bearing some similarity to that conceived by Randall and Sundrum; and extend the fundamental basis of our model to the Unified Field, UF. A Sagnac Effect rf-pulsed incursive resonance hierarchy is utilized to manipulate and ballistically program the geometric-topological properties of this putative LSXD space-spacetime network. The model is empirically testable; and it is proposed that a variety of new technologies will arise from ballistic programming of tessellated LCU vacuum cellular automata.

Quantifying structural modifications of gills of two fish species Astyanax altiparanae (Lambari) and Prochilodus lineatus (Curimbatá) after exposure to biodegradable detergents in urban lake water.

PubMed

Fiorelini Pereira, Bruno; Alves, Anderson Luis; Senhorini, José Augusto; Hakime Scalize, Priscilla; Tocchini De Figueiredo, Fellipe Augusto; Pitol, Dimítrius Leonardo; Caetano, Flávio Henrique

2017-01-01

Anthropic actions in rivers and urban lakes are a cause for concern to our ecosystem. The effects on fauna and flora of substances discharged into waterways have become a focus for investigations globally. Biodegradable detergents are widely used in residences and small industries, but little is known regarding the consequences on fish fauna. The objective of the present study was to identify modifications in gill structure in two fish species, Astyanax altiparanae and Prochilodus lineatus, after treatment with water obtained from an urban lake and an exposure to 1 ppm diluted biodegradable detergents (linear alkylbenzene sulfonate). Data demonstrated exposure to urban lake produced various alterations in gill functions such as lamellar fusions, aneurysms, mucous, and chlorine cell proliferation, which may be attributed to the presence of detergents in the water but may also be a consequence of synergetic actions of detergents with other pollutants. Results showed that the levels of NO - 2 , Na, F - , Cl - , and Fe were significantly higher in urban lake water but in the presence of detergents Ni was also detected. Evidence indicates that biodegradable detergents produce damage to gill functions, which subsequently alters the fish physiology and reduces the ability to cope with stress and survival.

Land-use change outweighs projected effects of changing rainfall on tree cover in sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Aleman, Julie C; Blarquez, Olivier; Staver, Carla A

2016-09-01

Global change will likely affect savanna and forest structure and distributions, with implications for diversity within both biomes. Few studies have examined the impacts of both expected precipitation and land use changes on vegetation structure in the future, despite their likely severity. Here, we modeled tree cover in sub-Saharan Africa, as a proxy for vegetation structure and land cover change, using climatic, edaphic, and anthropic data (R(2)  = 0.97). Projected tree cover for the year 2070, simulated using scenarios that include climate and land use projections, generally decreased, both in forest and savanna, although the directionality of changes varied locally. The main driver of tree cover changes was land use change; the effects of precipitation change were minor by comparison. Interestingly, carbon emissions mitigation via increasing biofuels production resulted in decreases in tree cover, more severe than scenarios with more intense precipitation change, especially within savannas. Evaluation of tree cover change against protected area extent at the WWF Ecoregion scale suggested areas of high biodiversity and ecosystem services concern. Those forests most vulnerable to large decreases in tree cover were also highly protected, potentially buffering the effects of global change. Meanwhile, savannas, especially where they immediately bordered forests (e.g. West and Central Africa), were characterized by a dearth of protected areas, making them highly vulnerable. Savanna must become an explicit policy priority in the face of climate and land use change if conservation and livelihoods are to remain viable into the next century. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The impact of dark energy on galaxy formation. What does the future of our Universe hold?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salcido, Jaime; Bower, Richard G.; Barnes, Luke A.; Lewis, Geraint F.; Elahi, Pascal J.; Theuns, Tom; Schaller, Matthieu; Crain, Robert A.; Schaye, Joop

2018-07-01

We investigate the effect of the accelerated expansion of the Universe due to a cosmological constant, Λ, on the cosmic star formation rate. We utilize hydrodynamical simulations from the EAGLE suite, comparing a ΛCDM (cold dark matter) Universe to an Einstein-de Sitter model with Λ = 0. Despite the differences in the rate of growth of structure, we find that dark energy, at its observed value, has negligible impact on star formation in the Universe. We study these effects beyond the present day by allowing the simulations to run forward into the future (t > 13.8 Gyr). We show that the impact of Λ becomes significant only when the Universe has already produced most of its stellar mass, only decreasing the total comoving density of stars ever formed by ≈ 15 per cent. We develop a simple analytic model for the cosmic star formation rate that captures the suppression due to a cosmological constant. The main reason for the similarity between the models is that feedback from accreting black holes dramatically reduces the cosmic star formation at late times. Interestingly, simulations without feedback from accreting black holes predict an upturn in the cosmic star formation rate for t > 15 Gyr due to the rejuvenation of massive (>1011 M⊙) galaxies. We briefly discuss the implication of the weak dependence of the cosmic star formation on Λ in the context of the anthropic principle.

Ecological Aspects of Phlebotomine Sand Flies (Diptera, Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) in Areas of American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, in the Municipality of Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I-Index of Abundance by Location and Type of Capture.

PubMed

Vieira, V R; Azevedo, A C R; Alves, J R C; Guimarães, A E; Aguiar, G M

2015-09-01

The description of the first and autochthonous case of diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis in the municipality of Paraty, State of Rio de Janeiro, brought the interest of this study. Sand flies were captured over a 3-yr period. Using manual suction tubes, sand flies were collected from the inner and outer walls of homes, in the living spaces of domestic animals, and in Shannon light traps, which were set up outside homes and in the forest. CDC light traps were installed inside homes, around the exterior of the houses, and along the divide and within the forest. A total of 102,937 sand flies were collected, representing 23 species--three from the genus Brumptomyia and 20 from the genus Lutzomyia. Of these, six species, Lutzomyia intermedia, Lutzomyia fischeri, Lutzomyia migonei, Lutzomyia whitmani, and Lutzomyia pessoai have already been recorded as being naturally infected by Leishmania braziliensis, and one species, Lutzomyia ayrozai, by Leishmania naiffi. Lu. intermedia is the vector of Le. braziliensis in the study area, particularly inside the homes and on the exterior of the houses. Lu. fischeri can also act as vector of Le. braziliensis in domestic environments and particularly in the wild. The third-ranked Lu. migonei was the most abundant in kennels, suggesting its canine affinity. Lu. whitmani, ranked fourth, still has characteristics indicative of the wild, but with a significant number located on the edge of the forest, suggesting a selection process of adaptation to the anthropic environment. © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Field evidence of reproduction impairment through sperm DNA damage in the fish nase (Chondrostoma nasus) in anthropized hydrosystems.

PubMed

Devaux, Alain; Bony, Sylvie; Plenet, Sandrine; Sagnes, Pierre; Segura, Samuel; Suaire, Rémi; Novak, Morgane; Gilles, André; Olivier, Jean-Michel

2015-12-01

This work aims to explore in the field the relationship between the integrity of sperm DNA and the quality of offspring as a possible cause of the decline of a feral fish population through reproduction impairment. Mature nase (Chondrostoma nasus) were caught during the breeding season in three locations (A-C) of the Rhône River basin and gametes collected by stripping. Sampling locations were chosen according to the following gradient of contamination due to human activities on the watershed: A≤B

The conservation status and anthropogenic impacts assessments of Mediterranean coastal dunes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinna, Maria Silvia; Cogoni, Donatella; Fenu, Giuseppe; Bacchetta, Gianluigi

2015-12-01

Mediterranean coastal dunes have been highly modified by human impacts and understanding their conservation status is crucial to preserve these extremely vulnerable habitats. In the present study three different diversity indices elaborated by Grunewald and Schubert (Hdune, a modified version of the Shannon diversity index, Edune, a modified Evenness index, and N, the Naturalness index) were applied in order to assess the conservation status and anthropogenic impacts on Is Arenas dune system (CW Sardinia), one of the widest and most important in the Western Mediterranean Basin. Within the system, two sites with different anthropic disturbance conditions were selected; 25 permanent plots were seasonally monitored and the cover of each vascular plant present was visually estimated. The Hdune values were similar between sites and differences were not significant; Edune showed higher value in the North than in the South site with relevant statistical differences. Moreover a seasonal variation in the indices values was recorded, which could be linked to presence of annual plants rather than the touristic pressure. Instead, the small variability of N index suggests that the application of this index may be an important tool to assess human impact on coastal dunes, but better discriminates between sites with different disturbance degrees. Our results highlight the usefulness of Hdune and Edune indices to assess the conservation status of a Mediterranean coastal dune system, while these indices are less influenced by the human trampling at finer scale (sites within the beach). Spring and summer are the best seasons when the main plant diversity of Mediterranean coastal dune can be captured. The diversity indices applied, although need to be developed through further researches, could be a quickly tool allowing to assess the integrity of the coastal dunes in order to plan management actions of these complex and threatened ecosystems.

A 2-year entomological study of potential malaria vectors in central Italy.

PubMed

Di Luca, Marco; Boccolini, Daniela; Severini, Francesco; Toma, Luciano; Barbieri, Francesca Mancini; Massa, Antonio; Romi, Roberto

2009-12-01

Europe was officially declared free from malaria in 1975; nevertheless, this disease remains a potential problem related to the presence of former vectors, belonging to the Anopheles maculipennis complex. Autochthonous-introduced malaria cases, recently reported in European countries, together with the predicted climatic and environmental changes, have increased the concern of health authorities over the possible resurgence of this disease in the Mediterranean Basin. In Italy, to study the distribution and bionomics of indigenous anopheline populations and to assess environmental parameters that could influence their dynamics, an entomological study was carried out in 2005-2006 in an at-risk study area. This model area is represented by the geographical region named the Maremma, a Tyrrhenian costal plain in Central Italy, where malaria was hyperendemic up to the 1950s. Fortnightly, entomological surveys (April-October) were carried out in four selected sites with different ecological features. Morphological and molecular characterization, blood meal identification, and parity rate assessment of the anophelines were performed. In total, 8274 mosquitoes were collected, 7691 of which were anophelines. Six Anopheles species were recorded, the most abundant of which were Anopheles labranchiae and An. maculipennis s.s. An. labranchiae is predominant in the coastal plain, where it is present in scattered foci. However, this species exhibits a wider than expected range: in fact it has been recorded, for the first time, inland where An. maculipennis s.s. is the most abundant species. Both species fed on a wide range of animal hosts, also showing a marked aggressiveness on humans, when available. Our findings demonstrated the high receptivity of the Maremma area, where the former malaria vector, An. labranchiae, occurs at different densities related to the kind of environment, climatic parameters, and anthropic activities.

Development of Triad approach based system for ecological risk assessment for contaminated areas of Kyrgyzstan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kydralieva, Kamilia; Uzbekov, Beksultan; Khudaibergenova, Bermet; Terekhova, Vera; Jorobekova, Sharipa

2014-05-01

This research is aimed to develop a high-effective system of an ecological risk assessment and risk-based decision making for anthropogenic ecosystems, with particular focus on the soils of the Kyrgyz Republic. The study is focused on the integration of Triad data including chemical, biological and ecotoxicological soil markers to estimate the potential risk from soils of highly anthropized areas impacted by deposition of different pollutants from mining operation. We focus on technogenic areas of Kyrgyzstan, the former uranium-producing province. Triad-based ecological risk assessment for technogenic sites are not currently used in Kyrgyzstan. However, the vitality of such research is self-evident. There are about 50 tailing dumps and more than 80 tips of radioactive waste which are formed as a result of uranium and complex ores (mercury, antimony, lead, cadmium and etc) mining around the unfavorable aforementioned places. According to the Mining Wastes' Tailings and Fills Rehabilitation Centre established in 1999 by a special Government's Resolution, one of the most ecologically dangerous uranium tailings resides in Kadzhi-Say. Although uranium processing is no longer practiced in Kadzhi-Say, a large number of open landfills and uranium ore storages still remain abandoned at the vicinity of this settlement. These neglected sites have enormous problems associated with soil erosion known as "technogenic deserts". The upper soil horizons are deprived of humus and vegetation, which favor the formation of low-buffer landscapes in the zones of maximum contamination. As a result, most of these areas are not re-cultivated and remain in critical environmental condition (Bykovchenko, et al., 2005; Tukhvatshin, 2005; Suranova, 2006). Triad data for assessing environmental risk and biological vulnerability at contaminated sites will be integrated. The following Triad-based parameters will be employed: 1) chemical soil analyses (revealing the presence of potentially dangerous substances), 2) ecological parameters (assessing changes in microorganism's community structure and functions, bioindication); and 3) toxicological bioassays (utilizing classical endpoints such as survival and reproduction rates, genotoxicity). The output will be consisted of 3 indexes: 1) Environmental Risk Index, quantifying the level of biological damage at population-community level, 2) Biological Vulnerability Index, assessing the potential threats to biological equilibria, and 3) Genotoxicity Index, screening genotoxic effects. Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) will be used to integrate a set of environmental Triad data to be obtained during the project, which will be carried out in order to estimate the potential risk from soil contamination of the highly anthropized areas of Kadzhi-Say, which have been impacted by deposition of heavy metals. The basis of the development under this research is studies with a particular focus concerning the biocenosis mapping of Kyrgyz soils (Mamytova et al., 2003, 2010), investigations on interaction of humic substances with soil contaminants (Jorobekova, Kydralieva, Khudaibergenova, 2004; Khudaibergenova, 2005, 2007), and in addition, technical approach for ecotoxicological assessment of soils (Terekhova, 2007, 2011). Soil ecotoxicological estimation has been studied with a battery of tests using test-organisms of many trophic levels. Currently, bioindication of soils with various humus states is under study (Senesi, Yakimenko 2007; Yakimenko, et al., 2008).

Responses and Clarifications Regarding Science and Worldviews

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gauch, Hugh G.

2009-06-01

This article responds to the other 10 papers in this thematic issue on science and worldviews and it clarifies some of the points in my lead article. The Bayesian framework provides helpful structure for worldview inquiries by recognizing and integrating both public and personal evidence. Drawing upon the other 10 papers, six kinds of potential evidence or considerations are identified: the problem of evil, evolution, miracles and prayer, the Anthropic Principle, religious experience, and natural theology. The thesis is defended that considerations informing worldview convictions include public evidence from the sciences and the humanities and personal evidence from individual experience. Additional topics addressed briefly include scientific realism, the tentativeness of scientific knowledge, science’s presuppositions, the relationship between natural science and natural theology, the nature of religious faith, and the importance of philosophy in science education. Seven questions are posed for which further leadership from the AAAS and NAS would benefit the scientific community.

[Trophic webs of reef fishes in northwestern Cuba. I. Stomach contents].

PubMed

Hernández, Ivet; Aguilar, Consuelo; González Sanón, Gaspar

2008-06-01

Trophic webs of reef fishes in northwestern Cuba. I. Stomach contents. Studies on the reef fishes of Cuba are not rare, but most have two basic limitations: small sample sizes and exclusion of small species. Our study sampled more species and larger samples in the sublitoral region of Havana city (23 degrees 7.587' N, 82 degrees 25.793' W), 2-18 m deep. We collected fish weekly from October 2004 through February 2006 with traps and harpoon. Overfishing has modified the fish communities. We used the relative importance index to describe the diets of carnivore and omnivore species, and a modification of the relative abundance method for the herbivores and sponge-eating species. The main food items are benthonic crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, copepods) and bony fish (mainly demersal species). Most species are eurifagous and thus, less affected by anthropic disturbance than specialist feeders.

Extrasolar worlds: We should contact aliens?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotov, V. A.

2013-06-01

More than 840 exoplanets have been discovered and many people believe that on some of these planets there may be extraterrestrial civilizations. Astronomers, however, warn against contacts with aliens because of the possible dangers to humankind… In this paper I show that the solar system is a unique phenomenon in the universe and there cannot be any extraterrestrial civilizations. Being the "anthropic center" of the world, the earth and the sun are "designed" for the development of humankind and the cosmos as a supercomputer. This conclusion follows from an analysis of exoplanet orbits that is based on a coherent cosmic oscillation with a period of P 0 ≈ 9600.6 s (discovered in the sun and some extragalactic sources). The non-Doppler nature of the P 0 phenomenon is emphasized; this phenomenon appears to be related to the absolute time of the universe in the Newtonian sense.

Axions, Inflation and String Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mack, Katherine J.; Steinhardt, P. J.

2009-01-01

The QCD axion is the leading contender to rid the standard model of the strong-CP problem. If the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking occurs before inflation, which is likely in string theory models, axions manifest themselves cosmologically as a form of cold dark matter with a density determined by the axion's initial conditions and by the energy scale of inflation. Constraints on the dark matter density and on the amplitude of CMB isocurvature perturbations currently demand an exponential degree of fine-tuning of both axion and inflationary parameters beyond what is required for particle physics. String theory models generally produce large numbers of axion-like fields; the prospect that any of these fields exist at scales close to that of the QCD axion makes the problem drastically worse. I will discuss the challenge of accommodating string-theoretic axions in standard inflationary cosmology and show that the fine-tuning problems cannot be fully addressed by anthropic principle arguments.

Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). The site.

PubMed

Arsuaga, J L; Martínez, I; Gracia, A; Carretero, J M; Lorenzo, C; García, N

1997-01-01

In this article a topographical description of the Cueva Mayor Cueva de Silo cave system is provided, including a more detailed topography of the Sala de los Ciclopes Sala de las Oseras-Sima de los Huesos sector. The history of the excavations and discoveries of human and carnivore fossils in Sima de los Huesos and adjacent passages is briefly reported, as well as the increase, throughout the succeeding field seasons, of the human collection and changes in the relative representation of the different skeletal elements and major biases. The carnivore assemblage structure is also considered. Examining the characteristics of the bone breccia, and the current and ancient karst topography, different alternative accesses are discussed for the accumulation of carnivores and humans in the Sima de los Huesos. Taking into account all the available information, an anthropic origin for the accumulation of human fossils seems to us to be the most likely explanation.

Cosmic design from a Buddhist perspective.

PubMed

Thuan, T X

2001-12-01

The Buddhist view of the origin of the universe is discussed. One of the basic tenets of Buddhism is the concept of interdependence which says that all things exist only in relationship to others, and that nothing can have an independent and autonomous existence. The world is a vast flow of events that are linked together and participate in one another. Thus there can be no First Cause, and no creation ex nihilo of the universe, as in the Big Bang theory. Since the universe has neither beginning nor end, the only universe compatible with Buddhism is a cyclic one. According to Buddhism, the exquisitely precise fine-tuning of the universe for the emergence of life and consciousness as expressed in the "anthropic principle" is not due to a Creative Principle, but to the interdependence of matter with flows of consciousness, the two having co-existed for all times.

Istoriko-Astronomicheskie Issledovaniya %t Studies in the History of Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idlis, G. M.

This collection of papers contains essays on a wide scope of problems in the history of astronomy, both domestic and worldwide. It includes the following basic subdivisions: Astronomy, cosmology and cosmogony of the 20th century; researches and findings; cosmology; philosophical problems; astronomy and society; publications and memoirs. Among the most interesting problems considered in the present issue: the life and achievements of the famous French astronomer C. Flammarion; theories of spiral structures of galaxies of the 1960s; a history of alternative trends in planetary cosmogony; Kant's philosophy and the anthropic principle; the development of star mapping in 16th century Europe; database preparation from the results of Russian space programs; the troublesome fates of Russian astronomers in memoirs and researches; and many others. The book is addressed to professional scientists, astronomy amateurs, teachers, and everybody interested in the history of science.

Ab initio estimates of the size of the observable universe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Page, Don N., E-mail: profdonpage@gmail.com

2011-09-01

When one combines multiverse predictions by Bousso, Hall, and Nomura for the observed age and size of the universe in terms of the proton and electron charge and masses with anthropic predictions of Carter, Carr, and Rees for these masses in terms of the charge, one gets that the age of the universe should be roughly the inverse 64th power, and the cosmological constant should be around the 128th power, of the proton charge. Combining these with a further renormalization group argument gives a single approximate equation for the proton charge, with no continuous adjustable or observed parameters, and withmore » a solution that is within 8% of the observed value. Using this solution gives large logarithms for the age and size of the universe and for the cosmological constant that agree with the observed values within 17%.« less

Wildlife strike risk assessment in several Italian airports: lessons from BRI and a new methodology implementation.

PubMed

Soldatini, Cecilia; Albores-Barajas, Yuri Vladimir; Lovato, Tomas; Andreon, Adriano; Torricelli, Patrizia; Montemaggiori, Alessandro; Corsa, Cosimo; Georgalas, Vyron

2011-01-01

The presence of wildlife in airport areas poses substantial hazards to aviation. Wildlife aircraft collisions (hereafter wildlife strikes) cause losses in terms of human lives and direct monetary losses for the aviation industry. In recent years, wildlife strikes have increased in parallel with air traffic increase and species habituation to anthropic areas. In this paper, we used an ecological approach to wildlife strike risk assessment to eight Italian international airports. The main achievement is a site-specific analysis that avoids flattening wildlife strike events on a large scale while maintaining comparable airport risk assessments. This second version of the Birdstrike Risk Index (BRI2) is a sensitive tool that provides different time scale results allowing appropriate management planning. The methodology applied has been developed in accordance with the Italian Civil Aviation Authority, which recognizes it as a national standard implemented in the advisory circular ENAC APT-01B.

Negative Entropy of Life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goradia, Shantilal

2015-10-01

We modify Newtonian gravity to probabilistic quantum mechanical gravity to derive strong coupling. If this approach is valid, we should be able to extend it to the physical body (life) as follows. Using Boltzmann equation, we get the entropy of the universe (137) as if its reciprocal, the fine structure constant (ALPHA), is the hidden candidate representing the negative entropy of the universe which is indicative of the binary information as its basis (http://www.arXiv.org/pdf/physics0210040v5). Since ALPHA relates to cosmology, it must relate to molecular biology too, with the binary system as the fundamental source of information for the nucleotides of the DNA as implicit in the book by the author: ``Quantum Consciousness - The Road to Reality.'' We debate claims of anthropic principle based on the negligible variation of ALPHA and throw light on thermodynamics. We question constancy of G in multiple ways.

Inflatable Dark Matter.

PubMed

Davoudiasl, Hooman; Hooper, Dan; McDermott, Samuel D

2016-01-22

We describe a general scenario, dubbed "inflatable dark matter," in which the density of dark matter particles can be reduced through a short period of late-time inflation in the early Universe. The overproduction of dark matter that is predicted within many, otherwise, well-motivated models of new physics can be elegantly remedied within this context. Thermal relics that would, otherwise, be disfavored can easily be accommodated within this class of scenarios, including dark matter candidates that are very heavy or very light. Furthermore, the nonthermal abundance of grand unified theory or Planck scale axions can be brought to acceptable levels without invoking anthropic tuning of initial conditions. A period of late-time inflation could have occurred over a wide range of scales from ∼MeV to the weak scale or above, and could have been triggered by physics within a hidden sector, with small but not necessarily negligible couplings to the standard model.

Evaluation of the sources of contamination in the suburban area of Koropi-Markopoulo, Athens, Greece.

PubMed

Kaitantzian, Agavni; Kelepertzis, Efstratios; Kelepertsis, Akindynos

2013-07-01

Heavy metal concentrations were monitored in agricultural soils and irrigation groundwaters of Koropi-Markopoulo area, a representative agricultural suburb in Athens, Greece, aiming at the identification of the sources of contaminants. Multivariate analyses of geochemical data demonstrated that agricultural practices and industrial activities considerably affected the quality of both environmental compartments. The levels of Ni, Cr, Co, Mn and Fe in agricultural soils were associated with geological parent materials whereas Pb, Zn and Cu mainly originated from anthropic activities. Referring to groundwaters, individual major anions and cations (K⁺, Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻, Cl⁻) were influenced by various natural and anthropogenic factors whereas Ni, Cr, Cu and Zn were controlled by industrial and agronomic activities. The identification of the sources of contaminants in soil and groundwater environments is a valuable basis for encouraging mitigation strategies preventing further quality degradation.

Wildlife Strike Risk Assessment in Several Italian Airports: Lessons from BRI and a New Methodology Implementation

PubMed Central

Soldatini, Cecilia; Albores-Barajas, Yuri Vladimir; Lovato, Tomas; Andreon, Adriano; Torricelli, Patrizia; Montemaggiori, Alessandro; Corsa, Cosimo; Georgalas, Vyron

2011-01-01

The presence of wildlife in airport areas poses substantial hazards to aviation. Wildlife aircraft collisions (hereafter wildlife strikes) cause losses in terms of human lives and direct monetary losses for the aviation industry. In recent years, wildlife strikes have increased in parallel with air traffic increase and species habituation to anthropic areas. In this paper, we used an ecological approach to wildlife strike risk assessment to eight Italian international airports. The main achievement is a site-specific analysis that avoids flattening wildlife strike events on a large scale while maintaining comparable airport risk assessments. This second version of the Birdstrike Risk Index (BRI2) is a sensitive tool that provides different time scale results allowing appropriate management planning. The methodology applied has been developed in accordance with the Italian Civil Aviation Authority, which recognizes it as a national standard implemented in the advisory circular ENAC APT-01B. PMID:22194950

Investigating precipitation changes of anthropic origin: data and methodological issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Lima, Isabel; Lovejoy, Shaun

2017-04-01

There is much concern about the social, environmental and economic impacts of climate change that could result directly from changes in temperature and precipitation. For temperature, the situation is better understood; but despite the many studies that have been already dedicated to precipitation, change in this process - that could be associated to the transition to the Anthropocene - has not yet been convincingly proven. A large fraction of those studies have been exploring temporal (linear) trends in local precipitation, sometimes using records over only a few decades; other fewer studies have been dedicated to investigating global precipitation change. Overall, precipitation change of anthropic origin has showed to be difficult to establish with high statistical significance and, moreover, different data and products have displayed important discrepancies; this is valid even for global precipitation. We argue that the inadequate resolution and length of the data commonly used, as well as methodological issues, are among the main factors limiting the ability to identify the signature of change in precipitation. We propose several ways in which one can hope to improve the situation - or at least - clarify the difficulties. From the point of view of statistical analysis, the problem is one of detecting a low frequency anthropogenic signal in the presence of "noise" - the natural variability (the latter includes both internal dynamics and responses to volcanic, solar or other natural forcings). A consequence is that as one moves to longer and longer time scales, fluctuations are increasingly averaged and at some point, the anthropogenic signal will stand out above the natural variability noise. This approach can be systematized using scaling fluctuation analysis to characterizing different precipitation scaling regimes: weather, macroweather, climate - from higher to lower frequencies; in the anthropocene, the macroweather regime covers the range of time scales from about a month to ≈30 years. We illustrate this using local gauge data and three qualitatively different global scale precipitation products (from gauges, reanalyses and a satellite and gauge hybrid) that allow to investigate precipitation from monthly to centennial scales and in space from planetary down to 5°x5° scales. By systematically characterizing precipitation variability across wide ranges of time and space scales, we show that the anthropogenic signal only exceeded the natural variability at time scales larger than ≈20 years, so that the disagreement in the trends can be traced to these low frequencies.

A semiarid fruit agroecosystem as a conservation-friendly option for small mammals in an anthropized landscape in Mexico.

PubMed

Riojas-López, Mónica E; Mellink, Eric; Luévano, Jaime

2018-03-01

Many studies have addressed the potential of low-input agroecosystems for biological conservation. However, most have been carried out on annual agroecosystems in temperate, developed countries. As agricultural surface will increase and natural protected areas alone will not warrant the conservation of biodiversity, it is crucial to include different types of agroecosystems in research and conservation efforts. In Mexico, perennial, low-input, fruit-oriented nopal orchards (Opuntia spp.), one of the few crops suitable for semiarid areas, are the 10th out of 61 most important fruit crops grown in the country. We assessed their value for conservation in an anthropized landscape by comparing their rodent assemblages with those in adjacent habitats and determined the influence of the latter on the rodent communities inside them. We live-trapped rodents in 12 orchards and adjacent natural xeric shrubland, grassland, and cropland. We captured 19 different species, of which 17 used the orchards. Four are Mexican endemics. Orchards have higher α diversity, species richness, and abundance than cropland and grassland and are not different from shrubland. The dominant rodent species are the same in orchards and shrubland, and where these two meet they integrate into one habitat. Within-habitat quality is a critical driver of the composition and diversity of rodent communities in the orchards studied, and the neighboring habitats do not modify them substantially. Increasing within-patch heterogeneity beyond a certain level is at the expense of habitat integrity and produces small-scale fragmentation reducing habitat quality. At a landscape scale, orchards contribute importantly to regional rodent diversity compared with other land use types, and appear to increase habitat connectivity between patches of shrubland. Orchards' higher α diversity would give them higher ecological resilience and make them better suited than grassland and cropland to contribute to the conservation of local biota. Nopal orchards should be considered conservation allies and incorporated in regional conservation plans. Regrettably, their future is unwarranted as producers face low revenues and lack of governmental support. Our confirmation that orchards have an important, positive impact on biodiversity can be used as a strong argument to lobby for incentives to safeguard this environmental friendly, low-input agroecosystem. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Tsetse flies, biodiversity and the control of sleeping sickness. Structure of a Glossina guild in southwest Côte d'Ivoire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gouteux, Jean-Paul; Jarry, Marc

1998-10-01

Tsetse fly guilds usually comprise two or three species. However, the presence of only one species often indicates that anthropic modifications have occurred in the habitat. On the other hand, more than three species are seldom observed in the same zone and the presence of five is extremely rare. Previous detailed studies have always focused on a single species, without taking into account interactions between species. The authors present the results of observations carried out in Côte d'Ivoire on a guild consisting of Glossina palpalis, G. pallicera, G. nigrofusca, G. longipalpis and G. fusca. Glossina have unusual physiological characteristics: both sexes feed exclusively on blood, they have a highly developed larviparity associated with a slow rhythm of reproduction (one larva about every ten days) and a long life expectancy (up to nine months). The authors report on the size of the flies, the hosts, feeding habits, ecodistribution, resting-places, flying heights, circadian activity and seasonal dynamics of tsetse fly populations in order to understand the organization of this guild. Each species feeds indiscriminately on a wide spectrum of hosts without a particular preference. Different species shared habitat (ecodistribution) and time (circadian and annual cycles). Thus, during an annual cycle, there is always a slight time-lag between the density peaks of G. palpalis and G. pallicera, the peak of the dominant species immediately preceding that of the dominated species. In a village area, 77% of the variations in density of G. pallicera were accounted for by the previous variations in density of the dominant species ( G. palpalis). Experiments show that G. pallicera and G. nigrofusca immediately invade anthropic areas from which G. palpalis has been partially removed by trapping. These species thus appear to confront each other in a global dynamic equilibrium. This suggests that there is a 'conflicting coexistence' between the cohabiting species. Whereas the reason for such a process is quite obvious, how it occurs still remains to be explained. Other observations may provide a clue. For example, the sex ratios of both the main species fluctuate in opposite phases during the annual cycle. This strongly suggests that interspecific interactions occur through sexual mediation. Finally, the authors discuss the consequences of dynamic cohabitation on disease systems (trypanosomes, tsetse flies, hosts) and on control possibilities.

[Pollen resource and seasonal cycle of Thygater aethiops (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in an urban environment (Bogotá-Colombia)].

PubMed

Pinilla-Gallego, Mario Simon; Nieto, Valentina; Nates-Parra, Guiomar

2016-09-01

Thygater aethiops is a native bee that can be found in parks and gardens in diverse urban areas such as those in the city of Bogotá (Colombia). However, little is known about its biology as well as ecological adaptations to urban areas. This study aimed to describe the seasonal cycle and daily foraging activities of T. aethiops, as well as identify the pollen resources used by this bee over a year in a population nesting in an aggregation in the “Parque Nacional Enrique Olaya Herrera” in Bogotá. Changes in the nest activity were monitored weekly by counting the number of active nests in the aggregation between December/2012 and February/2014. To determine the daily foraging activity, the numbers of bees entering their nests over a period of 10 minutes every hour between 8:00 and 14:00 h were recorded. Females with pollen loads entering to their nest were captured weekly, between September/2012 and August/2013, and their pollen loads analyzed. Three nesting peaks occurred after the precipitation peaks, but the number of active nests was not correlated with precipitation. The nesting activities stopped in a large number of the active nests (20-50 % of nests) after an anthropic disturbance was registered in the nesting area. Bees forage for nectar and pollen between 8:00 and 14:00 h, with a peak at 10:00 h. Daily foraging activity changed during the study period due to anthropic disturbance. There was not a significant relationship between air temperature and the number of females entering their nests. Foraging activities did not change between the dry and rainy seasons. A total of 26 pollen types were found in 169 pollen loads. Ulex europaeus (Fabaceae) and Solanum laxum (Solanaceae) were the most abundant plants represented on the pollen load across the study period. According to these results, T. aethiops would be considered a mesolectic species. The ability of T. aethiops to use different pollen resources both native and exotic, as well as to presumably recover its population after disturbances, are characteristics that may have allowed this bee to adapt to urban environments. Knowledge on the floral resources as well as other biological features of this bee species is important to promote its conservation in urban areas.

Influence of Traditional Management and Environmental Variables on Mediterranean Saproxylic Beetle Assemblages.

PubMed

Ramilo, P; Martínez-Falcón, A P; García-López, A; Brustel, H; Galante, E; Micó, E

2017-12-08

Mediterranean oak forests of the Iberian Peninsula host a great diversity of saproxylic beetles. For centuries, humans have carried out traditional management practices in this area, at both habitat and tree level, causing changes in forest structure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anthropic effect of these traditional practices on saproxylic beetle diversity by measuring a set of environmental variables related to forest structure at both plot and tree level. Fauna was collected using window traps over a period of 12 mo. Multiple regression procedures showed which variables significantly affected the diversity of the studied assemblage. Our results demonstrated that the different metrics used to assess the diversity of assemblages responded variably depending on the management strategies applied and the level at which they were carried out. Certain management practices that disrupted the landscape from its natural state, such as the introduction of livestock or the local removal of particular trees, maximized species richness but, nevertheless, had a negative effect on the rest of diversity metrics analyzed. However, other practices such as pollarding, which involves the suppression of the main branch of the tree, had a positive effect on all diversity metrics evaluated as it promoted the formation of potential microhabitats for saproxylic fauna. We concluded that not all types and degrees of traditional forest management favor saproxylic beetle diversity and that different diversity metrics should be taken into consideration in future strategies for the protection and conservation of this fauna. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Experimental determination of folding factor of benign breast cancer cell (MCF10A) and its effect on contact models and 3D manipulation of biological particles.

PubMed

Korayem, M H; Shahali, S; Rastegar, Z

2018-06-01

Plasma membrane of most cells is not smooth. The surfaces of both small and large micropermeable cells are folded and corrugated which makes mammalian cells to have a larger membrane surface than the supposed ideal mode, that is, the smooth sphere of the same volume. Since cancer is an anthropic disease, cancer cells tend to have a larger membrane area than normal cells. Therefore, cancer cells have higher folding factor and larger radius than normal and healthy cells. On the other hand, the prevalence of breast cancer has prompted researchers to improve the treatment options raised for the disease in the past. In this paper, the impact of folding factor of the cell surface has been investigated. Considering that AFM is one of the most effective tools in performing the tests at micro- and nanoscales, it was used to determine the topography of MCF10 cells and then the resulting images and results were used to experimentally extract the folding factor of cells. By applying this factor in the Hertz, DMT and JKR contact models in the elastic and viscoelastic states, these models have been modified and the simulation of the three models shows that the simulation results are closer to the experimental results by considering the folding in the calculations. Additionally, the simulation of 3D manipulation has been done in both elastic and viscoelastic states with and without consideration of folding. Finally, the results were compared to investigate the effects of folding of the cell surface to the critical force and critical time of sliding and rolling in contact with the substrate and AFM tip in the 3D manipulation model.

Nucleon Polarisabilities and Effective Field Theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Griesshammer, Harald W.

2017-09-01

Low-energy Compton scattering probes the nucleon's two-photon response to electric and magnetic fields at fixed photon frequency and multipolarity. It tests the symmetries and strengths of the interactions between constituents, and with photons. For convenience, this energy-dependent information is often compressed into the two scalar dipole polarisabilities αE 1 and βM 1 at zero photon energy. These are fundamental quantities, and important for the proton charge radius puzzle and the Lamb shift of muonic hydrogen. Combined with emerging lattice QCD computations, they provide stringent tests for our understanding of hadron structure. Extractions of the proton and neutron polarisabilities from all published elastic data below 300 MeV in Chiral Effective Field Theory with explicit Δ (1232) are now available. This talk emphasises χEFT as natural bridge between lattice QCD and ongoing or approved efforts at HI γS, MAMI and MAX-lab. Chiral lattice extrapolations from mπ > 200 MeV to the physical point compare well to lattice computations. Combining χEFT with high-intensity experiments with polarised targets and polarised beams will extract not only scalar polarisabilities, but in particular the four so-far poorly explored spin-polarisabilities. These parametrise the stiffness of the spin in external electro-magnetic fields (nucleonic bi-refringence/Faraday effect). New chiral predictions for proton, deuteron and 3He observables show intriguing sensitivities on spin and neutron polarisabilities. Data consistency and a model-independent quantification of residual theory uncertainties by Bayesian analysis are also discussed. Proton-neutron differences explore the interplay between chiral symmetry breaking and short-distance Physics. Finally, I address their impact on the neutron-proton mass difference, big-bang nucleosynthesis, and their relevance for anthropic arguments. Supported in part by DOE DE-SC0015393 and George Washington University.

Can human activities alter the drowning fate of barrier islands?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lorenzo-Trueba, J.; Ashton, A. D.; Jin, D.; Hoagland, P.; Kite-Powell, H.

2012-12-01

Low-lying coastal barriers face an uncertain future over the coming century and beyond as sea levels rise, with many projections suggesting end-of-century rates of sea-level rise as high or higher than 1 cm/yr. Geologically, such rates of sea-level rise have been experienced several thousand years ago and we can use our understanding of geological processes and sedimentary evidence to help unravel the dynamics of natural barriers experiencing sea-level rise. Along many modern coastal barriers, however, anthropic change, such as beach nourishment, dune construction, and emplacement of hard structures, plays a dominant role in coastline dynamics. A fundamental question to be addressed is whether human activities intended to preserve infrastructure and beach recreation may make wholesale collapse, or 'drowning,' of barrier systems more likely. Here we present a numerical modeling tool that couples natural processes and the human responses to these changes (and the subsequent of human responses on natural processes). Recent theoretical model development suggests that barriers are intrinsically morphodynamic features, responding to sea-level rise in complex ways through the interactions of marine processes and barrier overwash. Undeveloped coastal barriers would therefore respond to an accelerated sea-level rise in complex, less predictable manners than suggested by existing long-term models. We have developed a model that examines non-equilibrium cross-shore evolution of barrier systems at decadal to centennial temporal scales, focusing on the interactions between processes of shoreface evolution and overwash deposition. Model responses demonstrate two means of barrier collapse during sea-level rise: 'height drowning', which occurs when overwash fluxes are insufficient to maintain the landward migration rate required to keep in pace with sea-level rise, and 'width drowning', which occurs when the shoreface response is insufficient to maintain the barrier geometry during landward migration. The model also demonstrates the potential for discontinuous shoreline retreat, with alternating periods of barrier stability and rapid migration, even for constant rates of sea-level rise. Anthropic activities can strongly interact with these behaviors. In particular, considering only cross-shore processes, beach nourishment activities widen the beach and can affect shoreface fluxes, and dune building, which curtails the overwash process, can potentially enhance barrier drowning by reducing overwash fluxes. Furthermore, coastal protection activities of adjacent communities or even individual property holders can be uncoordinated or coordinated, with their effects coupled along the coast through coastal reorientation and gradients in alongshore sediment transport. In the coordinated framework, owners act in concert to alter the barrier based upon community benefits, whereas in the non-coordinated framework owners alter only their own property. Another important role in management is the perception of future sea-level-rise-associated losses—communities manage their coast differently depending on their adopted forecast for sea-level rise. We find that coordinated behavior coupled with natural processes can substantially affect the drowning scenarios from the individual decision-making process.

Mitochondrial control region haplotypes of the South American sea lion Otaria flavescens (Shaw, 1800).

PubMed

Artico, L O; Bianchini, A; Grubel, K S; Monteiro, D S; Estima, S C; Oliveira, L R de; Bonatto, S L; Marins, L F

2010-09-01

The South American sea lion, Otaria flavescens, is widely distributed along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of South America. However, along the Brazilian coast, there are only two nonbreeding sites for the species (Refúgio de Vida Silvestre da Ilha dos Lobos and Refúgio de Vida Silvestre do Molhe Leste da Barra do Rio Grande), both in Southern Brazil. In this region, the species is continuously under the effect of anthropic activities, mainly those related to environmental contamination with organic and inorganic chemicals and fishery interactions. This paper reports, for the first time, the genetic diversity of O. flavescens found along the Southern Brazilian coast. A 287-bp fragment of the mitochondrial DNA control region (D-loop) was analyzed. Seven novel haplotypes were found in 56 individuals (OFA1-OFA7), with OFA1 being the most frequent (47.54%). Nucleotide diversity was moderate (π = 0.62%) and haplotype diversity was relatively low (67%). Furthermore, the median joining network analysis indicated that Brazilian haplotypes formed a reciprocal monophyletic clade when compared to the haplotypes from the Peruvian population on the Pacific coast. These two populations do not share haplotypes and may have become isolated some time back. Further genetic studies covering the entire species distribution are necessary to better understand the biological implications of the results reported here for the management and conservation of South American sea lions.

Diversity of anopheline mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and classification based on the characteristics of the habitats where they were collected in Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina.

PubMed

Ramirez, P G; Stein, M; Etchepare, E G; Almiron, W R

2016-12-01

In order to extend the knowledge of anopheline diversity and their habitats in three environments with different degrees of anthropic intervention in Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, anopheline larvae were collected and classified on the basis of similarities of their habitats. Spatio-temporal abundance was determined and larval diversity and complementarity index were calculated. Rank-abundance curves were performed to compare the composition, abundance, and species evenness among environments. A total of 783 larvae, belonging to six species: Anopheles argyritarsis, An. fluminensis, An. mediopunctatus, An. punctimacula, An. strodei s.l., and An. triannulatus s.l., were collected. A cluster analysis and a principal component analysis detected two groups; exposure to sunlight and type of habitat were the characteristics that explained the grouping of species. Higher abundances of anopheline larvae were observed during autumn and spring. The greatest richness was recorded in wild and peri-urban environments and the effective number of species was greater in the wild. Anopheles punctimacula and An. triannulatus s.l. are secondary vectors of malaria in other South American countries and both species were found in the three environments, so that deforestation poses a potential risk for malaria transmission as it contributes to the proliferation of larval habitats for these mosquitoes. © 2016 The Society for Vector Ecology.

Metabolic modelling to support long term strategic decisions on water supply systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciriello, Valentina; Felisa, Giada; Lauriola, Ilaria; Pomanti, Flavio; Di Federico, Vittorio

2017-04-01

Water resources are essential for the economic development and sustenance of anthropic activities belonging to the civil, agricultural and industrial sectors. Nevertheless, availability of water resources is not uniformly distributed in space and time. Moreover, the increasing water demand, mainly due to population growth and expansion of agricultural crops, may cause increasing water stress conditions, if combined with the effects of climate change. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to improve the resilience of water supply systems both in terms of infrastructures and environmental compliance. Metabolic modelling approaches represent a flexible tool able to provide support to decision making in the long term, based on sustainability criteria. These approaches mimic the water supply network through a set of material and energy fluxes that interact and influence each other. By analyzing these fluxes, a suite of key performance indicators is evaluated in order to identify which kind of interventions may be applied to increase the sustainability of the system. Here, we adopt these concepts to analyze the water supply network of Reggio-Emilia (Italy) which is supported by water withdrawals from both surface water and groundwater bodies. We analyze different scenarios, including possible reduction of water withdrawals from one of the different sources as a consequence of a decrease in water availability under present and future scenarios. On these basis, we identify preventive strategies for a dynamic management of the water supply system.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae × Saccharomyces uvarum hybrids generated under different conditions share similar winemaking features.

PubMed

Origone, Andrea Cecilia; Rodríguez, María Eugenia; Oteiza, Juan Martín; Querol, Amparo; Lopes, Christian Ariel

2018-01-01

Interspecific hybrids among species in the Saccharomyces genus are frequently detected in anthropic habitats and can also be obtained easily in the laboratory. This occurs because the most important genetic barriers among Saccharomyces species are post-zygotic. Depending on several factors, including the involved strains, the hybridization mechanism and stabilization conditions, hybrids that bear differential genomic constitutions, and hence phenotypic variability, can be obtained. In the present study, Saccharomyces cerevisiae × Saccharomyces uvarum hybrids were constructed using genetically and physiologically different S. uvarum parents at distinct temperatures (13 and 20°C). The effect of those variables on the main oenological features of the wines obtained with these hybrids was evaluated. Hybrids were successfully obtained in all cases. However, genetic stabilization based on successive fermentations in white wine at 13°C was significantly longer than that at 20°C. Our results demonstrated that, irrespective of the S. uvarum parent and temperature used for hybrid generation and stabilization, similar physicochemical and aromatic features were found in wines. The hybrids generated herein were characterized by low ethanol production, high glycerol synthesis and the capacity to grow at low temperature and to produce malic acid with particular aroma profiles. These features make these hybrids useful for the new winemaking industry within the climate change era frame. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Spatial distribution of heavy hydrocarbons, PAHs and metals in polluted areas. The case of "Galicia", Spain.

PubMed

Monaco, D; Chianese, E; Riccio, A; Delgado-Sanchez, A; Lacorte, S

2017-08-15

The aim of this work is to verify the impact of anthropogenic activities and the effects of accidental events, e.g. oil spills, on the marine environment. For this reason, marine sediments and soil samples were collected in the inner part of Vigo and Pontevedra bays, in the Galicia region, northwest Spain, an area interested by many events of oil spills and also characterized by coastal areas with intense anthropic activities; also Cíes Islands, a natural protected area facing the Vigo bay, was investigated, as background site. PAHs, heavy hydrocarbons and metals were analyzed according to standard methods, in order to satisfy quality assurance and quality check constraints. Total PAHs concentration (Σ 16 compounds) were in the range of 25-4000ng/g, and 30-800ng/g for marine sediments and soil samples, respectively. Even some samples from the Cíes Islands, show a contamination with values achieving >200ng/g of PAHs. Although contamination levels have been shown to be strong at several locations in the study area, their ranges are those typical of other estuarine sites, with PAHs and hydrocarbons primarily of pyrolytic origin. This observation was further confirmed by enrichment factors of some metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) that match to those of harbor and shipyard zones of the main industrial and commercial maritime areas. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment of climate change impacts on groundwater resources: the case study of Veneto and Friuli plain in Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Critto, Andrea; Pasini, Sara; Torresan, Silvia; Rizzi, Jonathan; Zabeo, Alex; Marcomini, Antonio

2013-04-01

Climate change will have different impacts on water resources and water-dependent services worldwide. In particular, climate-related risks for groundwater and related ecosystems pose great concern to scientists and water authorities involved in the protection of these valuable resources. Research is needed to better understand how climate change will impact groundwater resources in specific regions and places and to develop predictive tools for their sustainable management, copying with the envisaged effects of global climate change and the key principles of EU water policy. Within the European project Life+ TRUST (Tool for Regional-scale assessment of groundwater Storage improvement in adaptation to climaTe change), a Regional Risk Assessment (RRA) methodology was developed in order to identify impacts from climate change on groundwater and associated ecosystems (e.g. surface waters, agricultural areas, natural environments) and to rank areas and receptors at risk in the high and middle Veneto and Friuli Plain (Italy). Based on an integrated analysis of impacts, vulnerability and risks linked to climate change at the regional scale, a RRA framework complying with the Sources-Pathway-Receptor-Consequence (SPRC) approach was defined. Relevant impacts on groundwater and surface waters (i.e. groundwater level variations, changes in nitrate infiltration processes, changes in water availability for irrigation) were selected and analyzed through hazard scenario, exposure, susceptibility and risk assessment. The RRA methodology used hazard scenarios constructed through global and high resolution models simulations for the 2071-2100 period, according with IPCC A1B emission scenario in order to produce useful indications for future risk prioritization and to support the addressing of adaptation measures, primarily Managed Artificial Recharge (MAR) techniques. Relevant outcomes from the described RRA application highlighted that potential climate change impacts will occur with different extension and magnitude in the case study area. Particularly, qualitative and quantitative impacts on groundwater will occur with more severe consequences in the wettest and in the driest scenario (respectively) and on natural and anthropic systems through the reduction in quality and quantity of water availability for agricultural and other uses (about 80% of agricultural areas and 27% of groundwater bodies at risk). While, such impacts will likely have little direct effects on related ecosystems - croplands, forests and natural environments - lying along the spring area (about 12% of croplands and 2% of natural environments at risk). The major outcomes of the described RRA application are here presented and discussed.

How accounting for transient catchment hydrology in the design of river engineering works ?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosso, R.; Bocchiola, D.; Rulli, M. C.

2009-04-01

Current engineering practice of hydrologic design is based on hazard estimates that are carried out under the steady state conjecture, i.e. stationarity. This occurs for both assessing averages and second order statistics, and predicting low frequency quantiles. Conversely, routing of hydrologic input variables via known boundary conditions of the systems, i.e. the hydrological basin, can produce non stationary behavior of derived variates, i.e. those required for design. Abrupt changes in the drainage basin can lead to unexpected and profound changes in the magnitude of design events, sometimes providing design loads higher than those expected for a stationary system. Modified connectivity between the constantly developing human mobility network, the drainage system, and the dendritic river topology may result in tremendously modified signature of the climate on hydrologic response. Anthropic footprint on soil use may lead to hugely increased hydrological feedback and floods therein. Transient effects of forest fires in arid or semiarid areas decrease vegetation dampening on runoff production and soil stability, with a dramatic fallout when heavy storms occur within the post event recovery time window. Sudden pulses of fine and coarse sediment occurring in the forest fire's wake, and in connection with rapid mass movements, such as landslides or avalanches in alpine areas, may decrease the effectiveness of engineering works even for unchanged hydrologic loads. New paradigms are necessary to provide enhanced design strategies of river engineering works. These should entail the heavily non linear effects of pulse events with transient effect in time on hydro-morphological dynamics of rivers and increased risk therein, particularly for those works aimed to bear extreme loads, i.e. coping with very high return periods. Major instances deal with dams, power plants, and all those schemes that are very sensitive because of potential consequences of hydrologic catastrophes. Here, examples are given of structures, works and events with transient effect in time affecting the expected hydrological risk, and some strategies sketched to deal with such issues henceforward.

Hydro-economic performances of streamflow withdrawal strategies: the case of small run-of-river power plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basso, Stefano; Lazzaro, Gianluca; Schirmer, Mario; Botter, Gianluca

2014-05-01

River flows withdrawals to supply small run-of-river hydropower plants have been increasing significantly in recent years - particularly in the Alpine area - as a consequence of public incentives aimed at enhancing energy production from renewable sources. This growth further raised the anthropic pressure in areas traditionally characterized by an intense exploitation of water resources, thereby triggering social conflicts among local communities, hydropower investors and public authorities. This brought to the attention of scientists and population the urgency for novel and quantitative tools for assessing the hydrologic impact of these type of plants, and trading between economic interests and ecologic concerns. In this contribution we propose an analytical framework that allows for the estimate of the streamflow availability for hydropower production and the selection of the run-of-river plant capacity, as well as the assessment of the related profitability and environmental impacts. The method highlights the key role of the streamflow variability in the design process, by showing the significance control of the coefficient of variation of daily flows on the duration of the optimal capacity of small run-of-river plants. Moreover, the analysis evidences a gap between energy and economic optimizations, which may result in the under-exploitation of the available hydropower potential at large scales. The disturbances to the natural flow regime produced between the intake and the outflow of run-of-river power plants are also estimated within the proposed framework. The altered hydrologic regime, described through the probability distribution and the correlation function of streamflows, is analytically expressed as a function of the natural regime for different management strategies. The deviations from pristine conditions of a set of hydrologic statistics are used, jointly with an economic index, to compare environmental and economic outcomes of alternative plant setups and management strategies. Benefits connected to ecosystem services provided by unimpaired riverine environments can be also included in the analysis, possibly accounting for the disruptive effect of multiple run-of-river power plants built in cascade along the same river. The application to case studies in the Alpine region shows the potential of the tool to assess different management strategies and design solution, and to evaluate local and catchment scale impacts of small run-of-river hydropower development.

Conservation and promotion of the geological heritage in the «Ile-de-France» region (France): Establishment of a decision support-tool based on inventory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Auberger, Elise; Gély, Jean-Pierre; De Wever, Patrick; Merle, Didier

2017-04-01

Based on an initiative by the "Regional Commission of Geological Patrimony" (CRPG), the French state and the regional government of Ile-de-France co-financed the setting up of an inventory with the aim of safeguarding geological sites of patrimonial interest. This project forms part of larger scale policies, at the national and European level. Geological studies in the Paris region began as early as the 18th century, in the fields of cartography and paleontology. Later on, prominent scientists like G. Cuvier, A. Brongniart and A. d'Orbigny established the first concepts in sedimentology and stratigraphy through the description of Cenozoic fossil sites that rank amongst the richest in the world and geological formations in the Paris Basin. Eventually, later on, five historical stratotypes were established in the Ile-de-France region. Yet, at present, this geological heritage is constantly threatened by expanding urbanisation. To conserve this diverse geological patrimony, we have set up a protocol composed of 4 main actions: i) The exhaustive and objective referencing of geological sites in Ile-de-France. This information is centralised in a database, which currently comprises 639 sites (mainly of anthropic nature such as quarries) ii) The pre-selection of sites (298 out of the initial 639) based on sufficient accessibility and potential geological interest. iii) The use of a method of description and hierarchisation - following the guidelines of the National Geological Heritage Inventory Program (INPG) - on the pre-selected sites. iv) Establishment of a schedule specifying actions of geo-conservation which will take into account the patrimonial value of the sites, but also their threats, their juridical status and the socio-economic context of the region. The purpose of this program is to conserve a collection of geological sites that reflect the totality of the regional geology in Ile-de-France. The results of this study will be released to the general public and thus serving as a decision support-tool for government members, territorial administrations and non-profit organisations in the creation of projects of protection and promotion of the geoheritage. This methodology will represent a reference for the management of the geological heritage in urban and peri-urban contexts.

Rainfall thresholds for the activation of shallow landslides in the Italian Alps: the role of environmental conditioning factors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palladino, M. R.; Viero, A.; Turconi, L.; Brunetti, M. T.; Peruccacci, S.; Melillo, M.; Luino, F.; Deganutti, A. M.; Guzzetti, F.

2018-02-01

The aim of the present work is to investigate the role exerted by selected environmental factors in the activation of rainfall-triggered shallow landslides and to identify site-specific rainfall thresholds. The study concerns the Italian Alps. The region is exposed to widespread slope instability phenomena due to its geological, morphological and climatic features. Furthermore, the high level of anthropization that characterizes wide portions of the territory increases the associated risk. Hence, the analysis of potential predisposing factors influencing landslides triggering is worthwhile to improve the current prediction skills and to enhance the preparedness and the response to these natural hazards. During the last years, the Italian National Research Council's Research Institute for Hydro-geological Protection (CNR-IRPI) has contributed to the analysis of triggering conditions for rainfall-induced landslides in the framework of a national project. The project, funded by the National Department for Civil Protection (DPC), focuses on the identification of the empirical rainfall thresholds for the activation of shallow landslides in Italy. The first outcomes of the project reveal a certain variability of the pluviometric conditions responsible for the mass movements activation, when different environmental settings are compared. This variability is probably related to the action of local environmental factors, such as lithology, climatic regime or soil characteristics. Based on this hypothesis, the present study aims to identify separated domains within the Italian Alps, where different triggering conditions exist and different countermeasures are needed for risk prevention. For this purpose, we collected information concerning 511 landslides activated in the period 2000-2012 and reconstructed 453 rainfall events supposed to be responsible for the activations. Then, we selected a set of thematic maps to represent the hypothesised landslide conditioning factors and to identify the supposed homogeneous domains within the study area. We employed an existing statistical method for the definition of the cumulated event rainfall vs. rainfall duration (ED) thresholds, for both the entire catalogue of rainfall events and for the events falling in the separated domains. The obtained results contribute to a better understanding of the role exerted by geological, pedological and climatic factors in landslides activation and help identifying separated domains where different risk managing strategies should be adopted. The proposed methodology can be a valid support for risk reduction strategies planning at regional scale.

Spatial variation of phytoplankton community structure in Daya Bay, China.

PubMed

Jiang, Zhao-Yu; Wang, You-Shao; Cheng, Hao; Zhang, Jian-Dong; Fei, Jiao

2015-10-01

Daya Bay is one of the largest and most important gulfs in the southern coast of China, in the northern part of the South China Sea. The phylogenetic diversity and spatial distribution of phytoplankton from the Daya Bay surface water and the relationship with the in situ water environment were investigated by the clone library of the large subunit of ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase (rbcL) gene. The dominant species of phytoplankton were diatoms and eustigmatophytes, which accounted for 81.9 % of all the clones of the rbcL genes. Prymnesiophytes were widely spread and wide varieties lived in Daya Bay, whereas the quantity was limited. The community structure of phytoplankton was shaped by pH and salinity and the concentration of silicate, phosphorus and nitrite. The phytoplankton biomass was significantly positively affected by phosphorus and nitrite but negatively by salinity and pH. Therefore, the phytoplankton distribution and biomass from Daya Bay were doubly affected by anthropic activities and natural factors.

Lethal Interpersonal Violence in the Middle Pleistocene

PubMed Central

Sala, Nohemi; Arsuaga, Juan Luis; Pantoja-Pérez, Ana; Pablos, Adrián; Martínez, Ignacio; Quam, Rolf M.; Gómez-Olivencia, Asier; Bermúdez de Castro, José María; Carbonell, Eudald

2015-01-01

Evidence of interpersonal violence has been documented previously in Pleistocene members of the genus Homo, but only very rarely has this been posited as the possible manner of death. Here we report the earliest evidence of lethal interpersonal violence in the hominin fossil record. Cranium 17 recovered from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site shows two clear perimortem depression fractures on the frontal bone, interpreted as being produced by two episodes of localized blunt force trauma. The type of injuries, their location, the strong similarity of the fractures in shape and size, and the different orientations and implied trajectories of the two fractures suggest they were produced with the same object in face-to-face interpersonal conflict. Given that either of the two traumatic events was likely lethal, the presence of multiple blows implies an intention to kill. This finding shows that the lethal interpersonal violence is an ancient human behavior and has important implications for the accumulation of bodies at the site, supporting an anthropic origin. PMID:26018668

Taming the runaway problem of inflationary landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, Lawrence J.; Watari, Taizan; Yanagida, T. T.

2006-05-01

A wide variety of vacua, and their cosmological realization, may provide an explanation for the apparently anthropic choices of some parameters of particle physics and cosmology. If the probability on various parameters is weighted by volume, a flat potential for slow-roll inflation is also naturally understood, since the flatter the potential the larger the volume of the subuniverse. However, such inflationary landscapes have a serious problem, predicting an environment that makes it exponentially hard for observers to exist and giving an exponentially small probability for a moderate universe like ours. A general solution to this problem is proposed, and is illustrated in the context of inflaton decay and leptogenesis, leading to an upper bound on the reheating temperature in our subuniverse. In a particular scenario of chaotic inflation and nonthermal leptogenesis, predictions can be made for the size of CP violating phases, the rate of neutrinoless double beta decay and, in the case of theories with gauge-mediated weak-scale supersymmetry, for the fundamental scale of supersymmetry breaking.

Statistical mechanics and thermodynamic limit of self-gravitating fermions in D dimensions.

PubMed

Chavanis, Pierre-Henri

2004-06-01

We discuss the statistical mechanics of a system of self-gravitating fermions in a space of dimension D. We plot the caloric curves of the self-gravitating Fermi gas giving the temperature as a function of energy and investigate the nature of phase transitions as a function of the dimension of space. We consider stable states (global entropy maxima) as well as metastable states (local entropy maxima). We show that for D> or =4, there exists a critical temperature (for sufficiently large systems) and a critical energy below which the system cannot be found in statistical equilibrium. Therefore, for D> or =4, quantum mechanics cannot stabilize matter against gravitational collapse. This is similar to a result found by Ehrenfest (1917) at the atomic level for Coulomb forces. This makes the dimension D=3 of our Universe very particular with possible implications regarding the anthropic principle. Our study joins a long tradition of scientific and philosophical papers that examined how the dimension of space affects the laws of physics.

Diversity and role of cave-dwelling hematophagous insects in pathogen transmission in the Afrotropical region.

PubMed

Obame-Nkoghe, Judicaël; Leroy, Eric-Maurice; Paupy, Christophe

2017-04-12

The progressive anthropization of caves for food resources or economic purposes increases human exposure to pathogens that naturally infect cave-dwelling animals. The presence of wild or domestic animals in the immediate surroundings of caves also may contribute to increasing the risk of emergence of such pathogens. Some zoonotic pathogens are transmitted through direct contact, but many others require arthropod vectors, such as blood-feeding insects. In Africa, hematophagous insects often play a key role in the epidemiology of many pathogens; however, their ecology in cave habitats remains poorly known. During the last decades, several investigations carried out in Afrotropical caves suggested the medical and veterinary importance particularly of insect taxa of the Diptera order. Therefore, the role of some of these insects as vectors of pathogens that infect cave-dwelling vertebrates has been studied. The present review summarizes these findings, brings insights into the diversity of cave-dwelling hematophagous Diptera and their involvement in pathogen transmission, and finally discusses new challenges and future research directions.

Microbial, physical and chemical properties of irrigation water in rice fields of Southern Brazil.

PubMed

Reche, Maria Helena L R; Machado, Vilmar; Saul, Danilo A; Macedo, Vera R M; Marcolin, Elio; Knaak, Neiva; Fiuza, Lidia M

2016-03-01

This paper presents the results of the statistical analysis of microbiological, physical and chemical parameters related to the quality of the water used in rice fields in Southern Brazil. Data were collected during three consecutive crop years, within structure of a comprehensive monitoring program. The indicators used were: potential hydrogen, electrical conductivity, turbidity, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, total and fecal coliforms. Principal Component and Discriminant Analysis showed consistent differences between the water irrigation and drainage, as the temporal variation demonstrated a clear reduction in the concentration of most of the variables analyzed. The pattern of this reduction is not the same in the two regions - that is, the importance of each of the different variables in the observed differentiation is modified in two locations. These results suggested that the variations in the water quality utilized for rice irrigation was influenced by certain specific aspects of each rice region in South Brazilian - such as anthropic action or soil/climate conditions in each hydrographic basin.

Absolute Summ

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phillips, Alfred, Jr.

Summ means the entirety of the multiverse. It seems clear, from the inflation theories of A. Guth and others, that the creation of many universes is plausible. We argue that Absolute cosmological ideas, not unlike those of I. Newton, may be consistent with dynamic multiverse creations. As suggested in W. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and with the Anthropic Principle defended by S. Hawking, et al., human consciousness, buttressed by findings of neuroscience, may have to be considered in our models. Predictability, as A. Einstein realized with Invariants and General Relativity, may be required for new ideas to be part of physics. We present here a two postulate model geared to an Absolute Summ. The seedbed of this work is part of Akhnaton's philosophy (see S. Freud, Moses and Monotheism). Most important, however, is that the structure of human consciousness, manifest in Kenya's Rift Valley 200,000 years ago as Homo sapiens, who were the culmination of the six million year co-creation process of Hominins and Nature in Africa, allows us to do the physics that we do. .

Metallic elements and isotope of Pb in wet precipitation in urban area, South America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Migliavacca, Daniela Montanari; Teixeira, Elba Calesso; Gervasoni, Fernanda; Conceição, Rommulo Vieira; Raya Rodriguez, Maria Teresa

2012-04-01

The atmosphere of urban areas has been the subject of many studies to show the atmospheric pollution in large urban centers. By quantifying wet precipitation through the analysis of metallic elements (ICP/AES) and Pb isotopes, the wet precipitation of the Metropolitan Area of the Porto Alegre (MAPA), Brazil, was characterized. The samples were collected between July 2005 and December 2007. Zn, Fe and Mn showed the highest concentration in studied sites. Sapucaia do Sul showed the highest average for Zn, due to influence by the steel plant located near the sampling site. The contribution of anthropogenic emissions from vehicular activity and steel plants in wet precipitation and suspended particulate matter in the MAPA was identified by the isotopic signatures of 208Pb/207Pb and 206Pb/207Pb. Moreover the analyses of the metallic elements allowed also to identify the contribution of other anthropic sources, such as steel plants and oil refinery.

Strong CP and SUZ2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albaid, Abdelhamid; Dine, Michael; Draper, Patrick

2015-12-01

Solutions to the strong CP problem typically introduce new scales associated with the spontaneous breaking of symmetries. Absent any anthropic argument for small overline{θ} , these scales require stabilization against ultraviolet corrections. Supersymmetry offers a tempting stabilization mechanism, since it can solve the "big" electroweak hierarchy problem at the same time. One family of solutions to strong CP, including generalized parity models, heavy axion models, and heavy η' models, introduces {Z}_2 copies of (part of) the Standard Model and an associated scale of {Z}_2 -breaking. We review why, without additional structure such as supersymmetry, the {Z}_2 -breaking scale is unacceptably tuned. We then study "SUZ2" models, supersymmetric theories with {Z}_2 copies of the MSSM. We find that the addition of SUSY typically destroys the {Z}_2 protection of overline{θ}=0 , even at tree level, once SUSY and {Z}_2 are broken. In theories like supersymmetric completions of the twin Higgs, where {Z}_2 addresses the little hierarchy problem but not strong CP, two axions can be used to relax overline{θ}.

Genotoxicological response of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) exposed to spring water in Tlaxcala, México.

PubMed

García-Nieto, Edelmira; Juárez-Santacruz, Libertad; García-Gallegos, Elizabeth; Tlalmis-Zempoalteca, Joselin; Romo-Gómez, Claudia; Torres-Dosal, Arturo

2014-10-01

This study evaluated the genotoxic impact of anthropic activities in Huactzinco Spring, using Cyprinus carpio as a biomonitor. In situ and in vivo experimental designs were compared by means of simultaneous 2-week exposures. The water from the spring generated mean micronuclei frequency values (108.6 ± 32 MN/1,000) and DNA fragmentation values (143.4 ± 35 au) which were statistically higher than those for the negative control (10.9 ± 6 MN/1,000 and 67.6 ± 23 au). The in situ and in vivo experiments supported one another. The comet assay proved to be the most sensitive test, with an EC50 value (11.4 % ± 3.4 %) being less than that determined for the micronuclei test (54.8 % ± 3.2 %). The results of this study confirm the usefulness of C. carpio as an environmental contamination biomonitor, and suggest that Huactzinco Spring water constitutes a latent risk to human health and the environment.

Data of first de-novo transcriptome assembly of a non-model species, hawksbill sea turtle, Eretmochelys imbricate, nesting of the Colombian Caribean.

PubMed

Hernández-Fernández, Javier

2017-12-01

The hawksbill sea turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, is an endangered species of the Caribbean Colombian coast due to anthropic and natural factors that have decreased their population levels. Little is known about the genes that are involved in their immune system, sex determination, aging and others important functions. The data generated represents RNA sequencing and the first de-novo assembly of transcripts expressed in the blood of the hawksbill sea turtle. The raw FASTQ files were deposited in the NCBI SRA database with accession number SRX2653641. A total of 5.7 Gb raw sequence data were obtained, corresponding to 47,555,108 raw reads. Trinity was used to perform a first de-novo assembly, and we were able to identify 47,586 transcripts of the female hawksbill turtle transcriptome with an N50 of 1100 bp. The obtained transcriptome data will be useful for further studies of the physiology, biochemistry and evolution in this species.

Distribution pattern of anthropogenic marine debris along the gastrointestinal tract of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) as implications for rehabilitation.

PubMed

Colferai, André S; Silva-Filho, Rodolfo Pinho; Martins, Aryse Moreira; Bugoni, Leandro

2017-06-15

Pollution from anthropogenic marine debris (AMD) is currently the most widely distributed and lasting anthropic impact in the marine environment, affecting hundreds of species, including all sea turtles. In this study, the patterns of AMD distribution along the gastrointestinal tract (GT) and their relationship with obstructions and faecalomas in 62 green turtles (Chelonia mydas) that died during rehabilitation in southern Brazil were determined. The GT was split in seven sections, corresponding to the natural organs and intestinal areas morphologically and physiologically distinct. Mean mass (4.24g) and area (146.74cm 2 ) of AMD in the stomach were higher than in other sections. The anterior portion of the rectum had the highest number of obstructions, followed by the stomach. AMD was associated with the obstructions, with positive correlation between faecalomas and AMD masses. Organs and subdivisions showed marked differences in susceptibility to obstructions caused by AMD, which deserves attention in clinical interventions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Antimicrobial Substances for Food Packaging Products: The Current Situation.

PubMed

Pellerito, Alessandra; Ameen, Sara M; Micali, Maria; Caruso, Giorgia

2018-04-04

Antimicrobial substances are widely used in many anthropic activities, including sanitary and military services for the human population. These compounds are also known to be used in food production, agricultural activities, and partially correlated industrial sectors. However, there are concerns regarding the link between the abuse of antimicrobial agents in these ambits and the possible detection of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. Modern food and beverage products are generally found on the market as prepackaged units, with several exceptions. Consequently, positive and negative features of a specific food or beverage should be considered as the result of the synergic action of different components, including the container (or the assembled sum of packaging materials). At present, the meaning of food container also includes the creation and development of new packaging materials that are potentially able to interact with the contained food. "Active" packaging systems can be realized with antimicrobial substances. On the other hand, a careful evaluation of risks and advantages correlated with antimicrobial agents is needed because of possible negative and/or unexpected failures.

Principal components technique analysis for vegetation and land use discrimination. [Brazilian cerrados

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parada, N. D. J. (Principal Investigator); Formaggio, A. R.; Dossantos, J. R.; Dias, L. A. V.

1984-01-01

Automatic pre-processing technique called Principal Components (PRINCO) in analyzing LANDSAT digitized data, for land use and vegetation cover, on the Brazilian cerrados was evaluated. The chosen pilot area, 223/67 of MSS/LANDSAT 3, was classified on a GE Image-100 System, through a maximum-likehood algorithm (MAXVER). The same procedure was applied to the PRINCO treated image. PRINCO consists of a linear transformation performed on the original bands, in order to eliminate the information redundancy of the LANDSAT channels. After PRINCO only two channels were used thus reducing computer effort. The original channels and the PRINCO channels grey levels for the five identified classes (grassland, "cerrado", burned areas, anthropic areas, and gallery forest) were obtained through the MAXVER algorithm. This algorithm also presented the average performance for both cases. In order to evaluate the results, the Jeffreys-Matusita distance (JM-distance) between classes was computed. The classification matrix, obtained through MAXVER, after a PRINCO pre-processing, showed approximately the same average performance in the classes separability.

Overview and challenges of molecular technologies in the veterinary microbiology laboratory.

PubMed

Cunha, Mónica V; Inácio, João

2015-01-01

Terrestrial, aquatic, and aerial animals, either domestic or wild, humans, and plants all face similar health threats caused by infectious agents. Multifaceted anthropic pressure caused by an increasingly growing and resource-demanding human population has affected biodiversity at all scales, from the DNA molecule to the pathogen, to the ecosystem level, leading to species declines and extinctions and, also, to host-pathogen coevolution processes. Technological developments over the last century have also led to quantic jumps in laboratorial testing that have highly impacted animal health and welfare, ameliorated animal management and animal trade, safeguarded public health, and ultimately helped to "secure" biodiversity. In particular, the field of molecular diagnostics experienced tremendous technical progresses over the last two decades that significantly have contributed to our ability to study microbial pathogens in the clinical and research laboratories. This chapter highlights the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (or challenges) of molecular technologies in the framework of a veterinary microbiology laboratory, in view of the latest advances.

Ecological interactions among phlebotomines (Diptera: Psychodidae) in an agroforestry environment of northeast Brazil.

PubMed

Pinheiro, Marcos Paulo Gomes; Silva, José Hilário Tavares; Cavalcanti, Katrine Bezerra; de Azevedo, Paulo Roberto Medeiros; de Melo Ximenes, Maria de Fátima Freire

2013-12-01

Phlebotomine vectors transmit parasites and can cause visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or cutaneous leishmaniasis (TL). Phlebotomine females are hematophagous but need to ingest carbohydrates, possibly promoting the development of protozoan parasites in their digestive tract. The present study evaluated the species composition and abundance across several habitats in a metropolitan landscape, as well as associations among phlebotomines, plants, and local climatic parameters. Three consecutive monthly collections were carried out in an Atlantic Forest fragment, using CDC light traps in peridomestic areas and cashew, coconut, and mango tree. plantations. Eight species of phlebotomine were captured: Evandromyia evandroi, Lutzomyia longipalpis, Psathyromyia shannoni, Sciopemyia sordellii, Evandromyia walkeri, Psychodopygus wellcomei, Nyssomyia whitmani, and Nyssomyia intermedia, primarily from the forest environment. L. longipalpis was confirmed as a species adapted to anthropic environments, while P. wellcomei was shown to be predominately forest-dwelling. Phlebotomines exhibited diversified food consumption patterns in relation to carbohydrate sources. They fed on both native and exotic species of arboreal and shrubby vegetables and gramineous plants. © 2013 The Society for Vector Ecology.

[Basic theory and research method of urban forest ecology].

PubMed

He, Xingyuan; Jin, Yingshan; Zhu, Wenquan; Xu, Wenduo; Chen, Wei

2002-12-01

With the development of world economy and the increment of urban population, the urban environment problem hinders the urban sustainable development. Now, more and more people realized the importance of urban forests in improving the quality of urban ecology. Therefore, a new subject, urban forest ecology, and correlative new concept frame in the field formed. The theoretic foundation of urban forest ecology derived from the mutual combination of theory relating to forest ecology, landscape ecology, landscape architecture ecology and anthrop-ecology. People survey the development of city from the view of ecosystem, and regard the environment, a colony of human, animals and plants, as main factors of the system. The paper introduces systematically the urban forest ecology as follows: 1) the basic concept of urban forest ecology; 2) the meaning of urban forest ecology; 3) the basic principle and theoretic base of urban forest ecology; 4) the research method of urban forest ecology; 5) the developmental expectation of urban forest ecology.

Shallow rocky nursery habitat for fish: Spatial variability of juvenile fishes among this poorly protected essential habitat.

PubMed

Cheminée, Adrien; Rider, Mary; Lenfant, Philippe; Zawadzki, Audrey; Mercière, Alexandre; Crec'hriou, Romain; Mercader, Manon; Saragoni, Gilles; Neveu, Reda; Ternon, Quentin; Pastor, Jérémy

2017-06-15

Coastal nursery habitats are essential for the renewal of adult fish populations. We quantified the availability of a coastal nursery habitat (shallow heterogeneous rocky bottoms) and the spatial variability of its juvenile fish populations along 250km of the Catalan coastline (France and Spain). Nurseries were present in 27% of the coastline, but only 2% of them benefited from strict protection status. For nine taxa characteristic of this habitat, total juvenile densities varied significantly between nursery sites along the coastline, with the highest densities being found on the northern sites. Recruitment level (i.e. a proxy of nursery value) was not explained by protection level, but it was moderately and positively correlated with an anthropization index. Patterns of spatial variations were taxa-specific. Exceptional observations of four juveniles of the protected grouper Epinephelus marginatus were recorded. Our data on habitat availability and recruitment levels provides important informations which help to focus MPA management efforts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Obtaining natural-like flow releases in diverted river reaches from simple riparian benefit economic models.

PubMed

Perona, Paolo; Dürrenmatt, David J; Characklis, Gregory W

2013-03-30

We propose a theoretical river modeling framework for generating variable flow patterns in diverted-streams (i.e., no reservoir). Using a simple economic model and the principle of equal marginal utility in an inverse fashion we first quantify the benefit of the water that goes to the environment in relation to that of the anthropic activity. Then, we obtain exact expressions for optimal water allocation rules between the two competing uses, as well as the related statistical distributions. These rules are applied using both synthetic and observed streamflow data, to demonstrate that this approach may be useful in 1) generating more natural flow patterns in the river reach downstream of the diversion, thus reducing the ecodeficit; 2) obtaining a more enlightened economic interpretation of Minimum Flow Release (MFR) strategies, and; 3) comparing the long-term costs and benefits of variable versus MFR policies and showing the greater ecological sustainability of this new approach. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Multi-Frequency Polarimetric SAR Sensors Analysis over the UNESCO Archaeological Site of Djebel Barkal (Sudan)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patruno, Jolanda; Dore, Nicole; Pottier, Eric; Crespi, Mattia

2013-08-01

Differences in vegetation growth and in soil moisture content generate ground anomalies which can be linked to subsurface anthropic structures. Such evidences have been studied by means of aerial photographs and of historical II World War acquisitions first, and of very high spatial resolution of optical satellites later. This work aims to exploit the technique of SAR Polarimetry for the detection of surface and subsurface archaeological structures, comparing ALOS P ALSAR L-band (central frequency 1.27 GHz), with RADARSAT-2 C-band sensor (central frequency 5.405 GHz). The great potential of the two polarimetric sensors with different frequency for the detection of archaeological remains has been demonstrated thanks to the sand penetration capability of both C-band and L- band sensors. The choice to analyze radar sensors is based on their 24-hour observations, independent from Sun illumination and meteorological conditions and on the electromagnetic properties of the target they could provide, information not derivable from optical images.

Quaternary history of an endemic passerine bird on Corsica Island: Glacial refugium and impact of recent forest regression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thibault, Jean-Claude; Cibois, Alice; Prodon, Roger; Pasquet, Eric

2016-03-01

Molecular studies support the hypothesis that Corsica Island was a glacial refugium for a number of forest birds during the Pleistocene. We focused on the Corsican nuthatch (Sitta whiteheadi), an endemic passerine strongly associated with the laricio pine (Pinus nigra laricio). The range of laricio pine has been impacted by the Pleistocene glacial periods and forest has been recently fragmented by cutting and fires. Using both molecular (mitochondrial and nuclear) and morphological characters, we assessed the variation within the nuthatch population. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the Corsican nuthatch endured through the late Pleistocene and Holocene climatic variations, and sustained the subsequent cycles of forests reduction/expansion. The results also suggest that the recent anthropization of the landscape resulted in the isolation of a cluster of populations in the northern part of the island. The fragmentation of the habitat of the nuthatch may impede the future of the bird by creating isolated population units between which the gene flow is reduced.

New insights in the chemical composition of benzoin balsams.

PubMed

Burger, Pauline; Casale, Alexandre; Kerdudo, Audrey; Michel, Thomas; Laville, Rémi; Chagnaud, Francis; Fernandez, Xavier

2016-11-01

Benzoin balsam is an anthropic exudate obtained from the bark of several species of Styrax trees that is mainly used as a perfume fixative as well as a flavouring agent. Benzoe tonkinensis Laos (also commercialized under the denomination Siam benzoin balsam) displaying characteristic vanilla notes and already being largely used to flavour all kinds of edible goods, was intended to be proposed by Agroforex Company to the Codex Committee on Food Additives for evaluation as a food additive. For this purpose, the present paper reports the phytochemical characterisation of both the volatile and non-volatile fractions of benzoin balsams and the quantitation of some of the major components by gas and liquid chromatography techniques. Four coniferyl and two morinol derivatives were characterised for the first time in Benzoe tonkinensis Laos. Finally, two liquid chromatographic methods used to easily discriminate Siam from Sumatra balsam (also known as Benzoe sumatranus Indonesia) were developed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spatio-temporal variability of faunal and floral assemblages in Mediterranean temporary wetlands.

PubMed

Rouissi, Maya; Boix, Dani; Muller, Serge D; Gascón, Stéphanie; Ruhí, Albert; Sala, Jordi; Bouattour, Ali; Ben Haj Jilani, Imtinen; Ghrabi-Gammar, Zeineb; Ben Saad-Limam, Samia; Daoud-Bouattour, Amina

2014-12-01

Six temporary wetlands in the region of Sejenane (Mogods, NW Tunisia) were studied in order to characterize the aquatic flora and fauna and to quantify their spatio-temporal variability. Samplings of aquatic fauna, phytosociological relevés, and measurements of the physicochemical parameters of water were taken during four different field visits carried out during the four seasons of the year (November 2009-July 2010). Despite the strong anthropic pressures on them, these temporary wetlands are home to rich and diversified biodiversity, including rare and endangered species. Spatial and temporal variations affect fauna and flora differently, as temporal variability influences the fauna rather more than the plants, which are relatively more dependent on spatial factors. These results demonstrate the interest of small water bodies for maintaining biodiversity at the regional level, and thus underscore the conservation issues of Mediterranean temporary wetlands that are declining on an ongoing basis currently. Copyright © 2014 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Global spatial indexing of the human impact on Al, Cu, Fe, and Zn mobilization.

PubMed

Rauch, Jason N

2010-08-01

With increasing consumption of material by human activity, the extent of human influence relative to nature in the mobilization of metals and other elements on Earth continues to grow. Recognizing people as modern geomorphic agents, I produced global data layers at 1 degreesx1 degrees of human-mediated mass flows (coal combustion, biomass burning, and mining) and nature-mediated mass flows (net primary productivity, sea salt aerosol emission, and denudation to the oceans) for the industrial metals of aluminum, iron, copper, and zinc for the year 2000. The major mobilization processes are denudation (natural) and mining (anthropic), though net primary productivity for Zn and Cu and coal combustion for Al are nearly as significant. All flows are subsequently combined into an index representing human versus nature flow dominance. As the first maps of mobilization flows of metals widely used by modern technology, they reveal that approximately 1-5% (depending upon the metal) of Earth's land surface now has metal flow dominated by human activity.

Lethal interpersonal violence in the Middle Pleistocene.

PubMed

Sala, Nohemi; Arsuaga, Juan Luis; Pantoja-Pérez, Ana; Pablos, Adrián; Martínez, Ignacio; Quam, Rolf M; Gómez-Olivencia, Asier; Bermúdez de Castro, José María; Carbonell, Eudald

2015-01-01

Evidence of interpersonal violence has been documented previously in Pleistocene members of the genus Homo, but only very rarely has this been posited as the possible manner of death. Here we report the earliest evidence of lethal interpersonal violence in the hominin fossil record. Cranium 17 recovered from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site shows two clear perimortem depression fractures on the frontal bone, interpreted as being produced by two episodes of localized blunt force trauma. The type of injuries, their location, the strong similarity of the fractures in shape and size, and the different orientations and implied trajectories of the two fractures suggest they were produced with the same object in face-to-face interpersonal conflict. Given that either of the two traumatic events was likely lethal, the presence of multiple blows implies an intention to kill. This finding shows that the lethal interpersonal violence is an ancient human behavior and has important implications for the accumulation of bodies at the site, supporting an anthropic origin.

Experimental analysis of refrigerants flow boiling inside small sized microfin tubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diani, Andrea; Rossetto, Luisa

2017-07-01

The refrigerant charge reduction is one of the most challenging issues that the scientific community has to cope to reduce the anthropic global warming. Recently, mini microfin tubes have been matter of research, since they can reach better thermal performance in small domains, leading to a further refrigerant charge reduction. This paper presents experimental results about R134a flow boiling inside a microfin tube having an internal diameter at the fin tip of 2.4 mm. The mass flux was varied between 375 and 940 kg m-2 s-1, heat flux from 10 to 50 kW m-2, vapor quality from 0.10 to 0.99. The saturation temperature at the inlet of the test section was kept constant and equal to 30 °C. R134a thermal and fluid dynamic performances are presented and compared against those obtained with R1234ze(E) and R1234yf and against values obtained during R134a flow boiling inside a 3.4 mm ID microfin tube.

Former charcoal kiln sites where forest was cleared for cultivation: a case study of old biochar in cropland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardy, Brieuc; Dufey, Joseph E.; Cornelis, Jean-Thomas

2014-05-01

The use of biochar as a soil amendment is being increasingly investigated as a win-win solution for mitigating the anthropic CO2 emissions and improving soil fertility. However, data on the long term impact of chars on soil properties are scarce, although they are crucial for better understanding the implications of large scale application of highly persistent biochars to soil. In Wallonia (Belgium), old charcoal kilns are found in most of the area that was forested in the late 18th century. Since then, a non-negligible part of the forest has been cleared for cultivation. Today, old charcoal-making platforms can be seen on bare soils as circular or elliptic black spots due to charcoal enrichment. In order to assess the long-term (>200 years) effects of biochar on soil chemical properties, seventeen kiln sites were chosen in several cropland areas of Wallonia on loessic luvisols (14) and loamy cambisols (3). Composite samples were taken in the ploughing layer (0 - 25 cm) and the underlying horizon (35 - 50 cm) in and out the kiln sites. The pH, total carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) contents, oxidizable carbon (CW&B), available phosphorus (Pav), cation exchange capacity at pH 7 (CEC), exchangeable cations content (Ca++, Mg++, K+, Na+) and loss on ignition at 550°C (LI550) were measured. In order to assess the impact of cultivation on charcoal aging, we also sampled four kiln sites on loessic luvisols under forest. Here, we show that charcoal, diluted laterally by successive tillage, acts as a carbon surplus in the topsoil layer of the black spots. The charcoal-enriched horizon is characterized by higher CEC, C/N and C/LI550 ratio compared to the reference soil. Cultivation of former forest soils accelerates charcoal aging, likely due to a combined effect of mechanical (tillage splits charcoal fragments in smaller pieces and increases soil aeration) and biological actions (promoted by improved trophic conditions due to application of amendments and fertilizers over many decades). This is supported by (i) a decrease of charcoal C/N and C/LI550 ratios, (ii) a sharp increase in the CEC value per carbon unit (485 cmolc/kgC) and (iii) a greater ability to be oxidized by a K2Cr2O7 treatment as compared to forest sites. Additionally, we observe identical Pav contents in and out the charcoal kiln sites which may indicate that Pav is governed only by the native humic substance content. Exchangeable Ca++ and, to a lesser extent Mg++ are higher than in the reference soil, whereas the content of K+ is comparable. Considering the percentage of these cations on the CEC, we propose that the exchange complex of charcoal has a higher selectivity for Ca++ and Mg++, and a lower selectivity for K+ relative to that of native humic substances. Our results provide new insights into the long-term impact of biochar on soil properties in cropland subject to intense cultivation in temperate climate.

Efficacy of nicarbazin (Ovistop®) in the containment and reduction of the populations of feral pigeons (Columba livia var. domestica) in the city of Genoa, Italy: a retrospective evaluation.

PubMed

Albonetti, Paolo; Marletta, Antonio; Repetto, Ivano; Sasso, Emanuela Assunta

2015-01-01

This study describes the results of a retrospective evaluation (8 years: 2005-2012) of the efficacy of the anti-fertility drug, Ovistop® nicarbazin (800 ppm) added to corn kernels used to feed non-migratory feral pigeon colonies, Columba livia var. domestica, in the city of Genoa, Italy. The observation interested 4 non-migratory feral pigeon colonies located into well‑defined areas of the city of Genoa, Italy. Three of these colonies were treated for 12 months, with 10 g of drug (Ovistop®) provided per bird per day for 5 days each week; the other colony was treated in the same way but with a placebo (control station). Each colony and the relative area where the colony was located were both monitored with the same daily examination. Statistical analysis techniques were applied to the findings recorded - both descriptive (indices of central and dispersion trends) and comparative (one-way variance analysis). In the colonies treated with the drug, following an initial increase in the population ('magnet effect'), a reduction was observed over the following 4 years (-35% >x> -45%) and a further decrease (-65% >x> -70%) was observed over the subsequent 4 years (statistically significant one-way ANOVA p<0.01). This phenomenon was recorded across the board in the 3 treated stations, compared to the overall unstable trend observed for the control station. As no external or exceptional anthropic or natural factors were observed, it can be stated that, given the results observed, the drug seemed effective in reducing the treated bird populations.

A "weight of evidence" approach for the integration of environmental "triad" data to assess ecological risk and biological vulnerability.

PubMed

Dagnino, Alessandro; Sforzini, Susanna; Dondero, Francesco; Fenoglio, Stefano; Bona, Elisa; Jensen, John; Viarengo, Aldo

2008-07-01

A new Expert Decision Support System (EDSS) that can integrate Triad data for assessing environmental risk and biological vulnerability at contaminated sites has been developed. Starting with ecosystem relevance, the EDSS assigns different weights to the results obtained from Triad disciplines. The following parameters have been employed: 1) chemical soil analyses (revealing the presence of potentially dangerous substances), 2) ecotoxicological bioassays (utilizing classical endpoints such as survival and reproduction rates), 3) biomarkers (showing sublethal pollutant effects), and 4) ecological parameters (assessing changes in community structure and functions). For each Triad discipline, the EDSS compares the data obtained at the studied field sites with reference values and calculates different 0-1 indexes (e.g., Chemical Risk Index, Ecotoxicological Risk Index, and Ecological Risk Index). The EDSS output consists of 3 indexes: 1) Environmental Risk index (EnvRI), quantifying the levels of biological damage at population-community level, 2) Biological Vulnerability Index (BVI), assessing the potential threats to biological equilibriums, and 3) Genotoxicity Index (GTI), screening genotoxicity effects. The EDSS has been applied in the integration of a battery of Triad data obtained during the European Union-funded Life Intervention in the Fraschetta Area (LINFA) project, which has been carried out in order to estimate the potential risk from soils of a highly anthropized area (Alessandria, Italy) mainly impacted by deposition of atmospheric pollutants. Results obtained during 4 seasonal sampling campaigns (2004-2005) show maximum values of EnvRI in sites A and B (characterized by industrial releases) and lower levels in site D (affected by vehicular traffic emissions). All 3 potentially polluted sites have shown high levels of BVI and GTI, suggesting a general change from reference conditions (site C).

Human-Mediated Marine Dispersal Influences the Population Structure of Aedes aegypti in the Philippine Archipelago

PubMed Central

Fonzi, Eugenio; Higa, Yukiko; Bertuso, Arlene G.; Futami, Kyoko; Minakawa, Noboru

2015-01-01

Background Dengue virus (DENV) is an extraordinary health burden on global scale, but still lacks effective vaccine. The Philippines is endemic for dengue fever, but massive employment of insecticides favored the development of resistance mutations in its major vector, Aedes aegypti. Alternative vector control strategies consist in releasing artificially modified mosquitos in the wild, but knowledge on their dispersal ability is necessary for a successful implementation. Despite being documented that Ae. aegypti can be passively transported for long distances, no study to date has been aimed at understanding whether human marine transportation can substantially shape the migration patterns of this mosquito. With thousands of islands connected by a dense network of ships, the Philippines is an ideal environment to fill this knowledge gap. Methodology/principal findings Larvae of Ae. aegypti from 15 seaports in seven major islands of central-western Philippines were collected and genotyped at seven microsatellite loci. Low genetic structure and considerable gene flow was found in the area. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses suggested that anthropic factors (specifically the amount of processed cargo and human population density) can explain the observed population structure, while geographical distance was not correlated. Interestingly, cargo shipments seem to be more efficient than passenger ships in transporting Ae. aegypti. Bayesian clustering confirmed that Ae. aegypti from busy ports are more genetically similar, while populations from idle ports are relatively structured, regardless of the geographical distance that separates them. Conclusions/significance The results confirmed the pivotal role of marine human-mediated long-range dispersal in determining the population structure of Ae. aegypti. Hopefully corroborated by further research, the present findings could assist the design of more effective vector control strategies. PMID:26039311

Presence of endocrine disruptors in freshwater in the northern Antarctic Peninsula region.

PubMed

Esteban, S; Moreno-Merino, L; Matellanes, R; Catalá, M; Gorga, M; Petrovic, M; López de Alda, M; Barceló, D; Silva, A; Durán, J J; López-Martínez, J; Valcárcel, Y

2016-05-01

The increasing human presence in Antarctica and the waste it generates is causing an impact on the environment at local and border scale. The main sources of anthropic pollution have a mainly local effect, and include the burning of fossil fuels, waste incineration, accidental spillage and wastewater effluents, even when treated. The aim of this work is to determine the presence and origin of 30 substances of anthropogenic origin considered to be, or suspected of being, endocrine disruptors in the continental waters of the Antarctic Peninsula region. We also studied a group of toxic metals, metalloids and other elements with possible endocrine activity. Ten water samples were analyzed from a wide range of sources, including streams, ponds, glacier drain, and an urban wastewater discharge into the sea. Surprisingly, the concentrations detected are generally similar to those found in other studies on continental waters in other parts of the world. The highest concentrations of micropollutants found correspond to the group of organophosphate flame retardants (19.60-9209ngL(-1)) and alkylphenols (1.14-7225ngL(-1)); and among toxic elements the presence of aluminum (a possible hormonal modifier) (1.7-127µgL(-1)) is significant. The concentrations detected are very low and insufficient to cause acute or subacute toxicity in aquatic organisms. However, little is known as yet of the potential sublethal and chronic effects of this type of pollutants and their capacity for bioaccumulation. These results point to the need for an ongoing system of environmental monitoring of these substances in Antarctic continental waters, and the advisability of regulating at least the most environmentally hazardous of these in the Antarctic legislation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Do we really use rainfall observations consistent with reality in hydrological modelling?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciampalini, Rossano; Follain, Stéphane; Raclot, Damien; Crabit, Armand; Pastor, Amandine; Moussa, Roger; Le Bissonnais, Yves

2017-04-01

Spatial and temporal patterns in rainfall control how water reaches soil surface and interacts with soil properties (i.e., soil wetting, infiltration, saturation). Once a hydrological event is defined by a rainfall with its spatiotemporal variability and by some environmental parameters such as soil properties (including land use, topographic and anthropic features), the evidence shows that each parameter variation produces different, specific outputs (e.g., runoff, flooding etc.). In this study, we focus on the effect of rainfall patterns because, due to the difficulty to dispose of detailed data, their influence in modelling is frequently underestimated or neglected. A rainfall event affects a catchment non uniformly, it is spatially localized and its pattern moves in space and time. The way and the time how the water reaches the soil and saturates it respect to the geometry of the catchment deeply influences soil saturation, runoff, and then sediment delivery. This research, approaching a hypothetical, simple case, aims to stimulate the debate on the reliability of the rainfall quality used in hydrological / soil erosion modelling. We test on a small catchment of the south of France (Roujan, Languedoc Roussillon) the influence of rainfall variability with the use of a HD hybrid hydrological - soil erosion model, combining a cinematic wave with the St. Venant equation and a simplified "bucket" conceptual model for ground water, able to quantify the effect of different spatiotemporal patterns of a very-high-definition synthetic rainfall. Results indicate that rainfall spatiotemporal patterns are crucial simulating an erosive event: differences between spatially uniform rainfalls, as frequently adopted in simulations, and some hypothetical rainfall patterns here applied, reveal that the outcome of a simulated event can be highly underestimated.

Disentangling natural and anthropogenic influences on Patagonian pond water quality.

PubMed

Epele, Luis B; Manzo, Luz M; Grech, Marta G; Macchi, Pablo; Claverie, Alfredo Ñ; Lagomarsino, Leonardo; Miserendino, M Laura

2018-02-01

The water quality of wetlands is governed not only by natural variability in hydrology and other factors, but also by anthropogenic activities. Patagonia is a vast sparsely-populated in which ponds are a key component of rural and urban landscapes because they provide several ecosystem services such as habitat for wildlife and watering for livestock. Integrating field-based and geospatial data of 109 ponds sampled across the region, we identified spatial trends and assessed the effects of anthropogenic and natural factors in pond water quality. The studied ponds were generally shallow, well oxygenated, with maximum nutrient values reported in sites used for livestock breeding. TN:TP ratio values were lower than 14 in >90% of the ponds, indicating nitrogen limitation. Water conductivity decreased from de east to the west, meanwhile pH and dissolved oxygen varied associated with the latitude. To assess Patagonian ponds water status we recommend the measure of total suspended solids and total nitrogen in the water, and evaluate the mallín (wetland vegetation) coverage in a 100m radius from the pond, since those features were significantly influenced by livestock land use. To evaluate the relative importance of natural variability and anthropogenic influences as driving factors of water quality we performed three generalized linear models (GLM) that encompassed the hydrology, hydroperiod and biome (to represent natural influences), and land use (to represent anthropogenic influences) as fixed effects. Our results revealed that at the Patagonian scale, ponds water quality would be strongly dependent on natural gradients. We synthetized spatial patterns of Patagonian pond water quality, and disentangled natural and anthropic factors finding that the dominant environmental influence is rainfall gradient. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of life history traits of Tanais dulongii (Tanaidacea: Tanaididae) in natural and artificial marine environments of the south-western Atlantic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rumbold, Carlos E.; Obenat, Sandra M.; Spivak, Eduardo D.

2015-06-01

Tanaidaceans are small benthic crustaceans with a strictly benthic life cycle and low dispersion rates, so they are good candidates to evaluate the effects of environment over life history strategies and reproductive biology. In this work, we studied two populations of Tanais dulongii (Audouin, 1826) that live in two contrasting habitats in order to determine whether they differ in life history traits. The animals were obtained by systematic sampling in a rocky shore with a lower anthropic impact (La Estafeta: LE) and a polluted area (Mar del Plata harbour: MdP) from March 2011 to March 2012. Seawater temperature and salinity did not differ between sites, but MdP showed more acid and hypoxic conditions than LE. Population density was homogeneous and lower in MdP (ca. 20 ind/100 gr) than that in LE where density varied between 250 and 800 ind/100 gr. Reproductive individuals and juveniles were always present, and both populations showed two main recruitment periods: the first in spring in both populations, and the second in summer in MdP but in autumn-winter in LE. In both populations, sex ratio was strongly female-biased. Juveniles, females and males from LE had larger sizes than that from MdP and reached their sexual differentiation at larger sizes. The estimated lifespan was about 9 and 12 months in MdP and LE, respectively. This study suggests that the differences observed between populations of T. dulongii in life history traits are intimately related to environmental differences in pH and dissolved oxygen between habitats, but should not be discarded a synergistic effect of temperature, organic pollution, food availability and predation pressure.

Geomorphology and anthropogenic impact including military constraints in a microtidal wave-dominated embayment in south western Sardinia (Porto Pino beach, SCI ITB040025, Mediterranean Sea). Implications for beach management.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Muro, Sandro; Buosi, Carla; Pusceddu, Nicola; Frongia, Paolo; Passarella, Marinella; Ibba, Angelo

2016-04-01

The coastal zones of the Mediterranean have undergone increasing pressure over the last century. The intensifying coastal development and the increasing tourist impact have led to an intense transformation of the coastlines and adjacent marine areas. The beach and the coastal dune play an important role in protecting the coastline. Thus, the study of its geomorphological evolution and of its anthropic modification is fundamental in order to adopt the best management practices. In this regard, the LIFE Project (LIFE13NAT/IT/001013) SOSS DUNES (Safeguard and management Of South-western Sardinian Dunes) aims to safeguard the dune habitats and the beach system in a site belonging to the Natura 2000 network, an EUwide network of nature protection areas established under the 1992 Habitats Directive. This project is focused on a microtidal wave-dominated embayment located in south western Sardinia (Italy, Mediterranean Sea) called Porto Pino beach comprised in the SCI (Site of Community Importance) "Promontory, dunes and wetland of Porto Pino (ITB040025)". This research aims to investigate the geomorphological processes, the evolution and the main human impacts on Porto Pino beach as an useful tool for both conservation and coastal management. The coastal area of Porto Pino is represented by sandy shorelines extending for a total length of 5 km characterized by a wide primary and secondary dune systems, a backshore wetland lagoon and marsh area arranged parallel to the coastline. This littoral area can be ideally divided into three parts: the first, about 600 m long, in the north-west part characterized by the highest human pressure due to touristic activity on the foredunes and deposition of beach wrack; the second part in the south-east, about 1100 m long, characterized by a complex dune system (primary and secondary foredunes); and the third southernmost part included in a military area, about 3300 m long, characterized by transgressive dune system with low human impact. The coastal dunes vulnerability status of this three parts was assessed using the Dune Vulnerability Index (DVI) based on 57 variables that described geomorphological condition, marine influence, aeolian influence, vegetation condition, and human effects. Results reveal the lowest vulnerability value in the area undergone military constraints. Blowouts, breaches in the coastal dune system and deflation areas are observed in the first and second part where there is the greatest human transit to allow users access of the beach. The main pressures and threats identified that determine significant impacts on dune habitats are: transit of vehicles in the dune with the subsequent degradation of vegetation and the triggering of deflation processes; setting of infrastructure on the dune; removal of seagrass banquettes. In particular, the impact of trucks used to remove banquettes is significant on subaerial beach morphology. This traffic flattens the berms, modifies sand permeability and reduces organic sediment input to the shore. This study has allowed to highlight the geomorphological processes, the anthropic pressure and the coastal dune vulnerability of this coastal area in order to mitigate the impacts.

Response of Benthic Foraminifera to Organic Matter Quantity and Quality and Bioavailable Concentrations of Metals in Aveiro Lagoon (Portugal)

PubMed Central

Martins, Maria Virgínia Alves; Silva, Frederico; Laut, Lazaro L. M.; Frontalini, Fabrizio; Clemente, Iara M. M. M.; Miranda, Paulo; Figueira, Rubens; Sousa, Silvia H. M.; Dias, João M. Alveirinho

2015-01-01

This work analyses the distribution of living benthic foraminiferal assemblages of surface sediments in different intertidal areas of Ria de Aveiro (Portugal), a polihaline and anthropized coastal lagoon. The relationships among foraminiferal assemblages in association with environmental parameters (temperature, salinity, Eh and pH), grain size, the quantity and quality of organic matter (enrichment in carbohydrates, proteins and lipids), pollution caused by metals, and mineralogical data are studied in an attempt to identify indicators of adaptability to environmental stress. In particular, concentrations of selected metals in the surficial sediment are investigated to assess environmental pollution levels that are further synthetically parameterised by the Pollution Load Index (PLI). The PLI variations allowed the identification of five main polluted areas. Concentrations of metals were also analysed in three extracted phases to evaluate their possible mobility, bioavailability and toxicity in the surficial sediment. Polluted sediment in the form of both organic matter and metals can be found in the most confined zones. Whereas enrichment in organic matter and related biopolymers causes an increase in foraminifera density, pollution by metals leads to a decline in foraminiferal abundance and diversity in those zones. The first situation may be justified by the existence of opportunistic species (with high reproduction rate) that can live in low oxic conditions. The second is explained by the sensitivity of some species to pressure caused by metals. The quality of the organic matter found in these places and the option of a different food source should also explain the tolerance of several species to pollution caused by metals, despite their low reproductive rate in the most polluted areas. In this study, species that are sensitive and tolerant to organic matter and metal enrichment are identified, as is the differential sensitivity/tolerance of some species to metals enrichment. PMID:25706860

Advancing Land-Sea Conservation Planning: Integrating Modelling of Catchments, Land-Use Change, and River Plumes to Prioritise Catchment Management and Protection.

PubMed

Álvarez-Romero, Jorge G; Pressey, Robert L; Ban, Natalie C; Brodie, Jon

2015-01-01

Human-induced changes to river loads of nutrients and sediments pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Ongoing land-use change can further increase these loads, and amplify the impacts of land-based threats on vulnerable marine ecosystems. Consequently, there is a need to assess these threats and prioritise actions to mitigate their impacts. A key question regarding prioritisation is whether actions in catchments to maintain coastal-marine water quality can be spatially congruent with actions for other management objectives, such as conserving terrestrial biodiversity. In selected catchments draining into the Gulf of California, Mexico, we employed Land Change Modeller to assess the vulnerability of areas with native vegetation to conversion into crops, pasture, and urban areas. We then used SedNet, a catchment modelling tool, to map the sources and estimate pollutant loads delivered to the Gulf by these catchments. Following these analyses, we used modelled river plumes to identify marine areas likely influenced by land-based pollutants. Finally, we prioritised areas for catchment management based on objectives for conservation of terrestrial biodiversity and objectives for water quality that recognised links between pollutant sources and affected marine areas. Our objectives for coastal-marine water quality were to reduce sediment and nutrient discharges from anthropic areas, and minimise future increases in coastal sedimentation and eutrophication. Our objectives for protection of terrestrial biodiversity covered species of vertebrates. We used Marxan, a conservation planning tool, to prioritise interventions and explore spatial differences in priorities for both objectives. Notable differences in the distributions of land values for terrestrial biodiversity and coastal-marine water quality indicated the likely need for trade-offs between catchment management objectives. However, there were priority areas that contributed to both sets of objectives. Our study demonstrates a practical approach to integrating models of catchments, land-use change, and river plumes with conservation planning software to inform prioritisation of catchment management.

Advancing Land-Sea Conservation Planning: Integrating Modelling of Catchments, Land-Use Change, and River Plumes to Prioritise Catchment Management and Protection

PubMed Central

Álvarez-Romero, Jorge G.; Pressey, Robert L.; Ban, Natalie C.; Brodie, Jon

2015-01-01

Human-induced changes to river loads of nutrients and sediments pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Ongoing land-use change can further increase these loads, and amplify the impacts of land-based threats on vulnerable marine ecosystems. Consequently, there is a need to assess these threats and prioritise actions to mitigate their impacts. A key question regarding prioritisation is whether actions in catchments to maintain coastal-marine water quality can be spatially congruent with actions for other management objectives, such as conserving terrestrial biodiversity. In selected catchments draining into the Gulf of California, Mexico, we employed Land Change Modeller to assess the vulnerability of areas with native vegetation to conversion into crops, pasture, and urban areas. We then used SedNet, a catchment modelling tool, to map the sources and estimate pollutant loads delivered to the Gulf by these catchments. Following these analyses, we used modelled river plumes to identify marine areas likely influenced by land-based pollutants. Finally, we prioritised areas for catchment management based on objectives for conservation of terrestrial biodiversity and objectives for water quality that recognised links between pollutant sources and affected marine areas. Our objectives for coastal-marine water quality were to reduce sediment and nutrient discharges from anthropic areas, and minimise future increases in coastal sedimentation and eutrophication. Our objectives for protection of terrestrial biodiversity covered species of vertebrates. We used Marxan, a conservation planning tool, to prioritise interventions and explore spatial differences in priorities for both objectives. Notable differences in the distributions of land values for terrestrial biodiversity and coastal-marine water quality indicated the likely need for trade-offs between catchment management objectives. However, there were priority areas that contributed to both sets of objectives. Our study demonstrates a practical approach to integrating models of catchments, land-use change, and river plumes with conservation planning software to inform prioritisation of catchment management. PMID:26714166

Functional traits of selected mangrove species in Brazil as biological indicators of different environmental conditions.

PubMed

Arrivabene, Hiulana Pereira; Souza, Iara; Có, Walter Luiz Oliveira; Rodella, Roberto Antônio; Wunderlin, Daniel Alberto; Milanez, Camilla Rozindo

2014-04-01

Ecological studies on phenotypic plasticity illustrate the relevance of this phenomenon in nature. Conditions of biota reflect environmental changes, highlighting the adaptability of resident species that can be used as bioindicators of such changes. We report the morpho-anatomical plasticity of leaves of Avicennia schaueriana Stapf & Leechm. ex Moldenke, Laguncularia racemosa (L.) C.F.Gaertn. and Rhizophora mangle L., evaluated in three estuaries (Vitória bay, Santa Cruz and Itaúnas River; state of Espírito Santo, Brazil), considering five areas of mangrove ecosystems with diverse environmental issues. Two sampling sites are part of the Ecological Station Lameirão Island in Vitória bay, close to a harbor. A third sampling site in Cariacica (Vitória bay) is inside the Vitória harbor and also is influenced by domestic sewage. The fourth studied area (Santa Cruz) is part of Piraquê Mangrove Ecological Reservation, while the fifth (Itaúnas River) is a small mangrove, with sandy sediment and greater photosynthetically active radiation, also not strongly influenced by anthropic activity. Results pointed out the morpho-anatomical plasticity in studied species, showing that A. schaueriana and L. racemosa might be considered the most appropriate bioindicators to indicate different settings and environmental conditions. Particularly, the dry mass per leaf area (LMA) of A. schaueriana was the main biomarker measured. In our study, LMA of A. schaueriana was positively correlated with salinity (Spearman 0.71), Mn content (0.81) and pH (0.82) but negatively correlated with phosphorus content (-0.63). Thus, the evaluation of modification in LMA of A. schaueriana pointed out changes among five studied sites, suggesting its use to reflect changes in the environment, which could be also useful in the future to evaluate the climate change. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Domination of hillslope denudation by tree uprooting in an old-growth forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phillips, Jonathan D.; Šamonil, Pavel; Pawlik, Łukasz; Trochta, Jan; Daněk, Pavel

2017-01-01

Razula forest preserve in the Carpathian Mountains of the Czech Republic is an unmanaged forest that has not been logged or otherwise anthropically disturbed for at least 83 years, preceded by only infrequent selective logging. We examined this 25 ha area to determine the dominant geomorphological processes on the hillslope. Tree uprooting displaces about 2.9 m3 of soil and regolith per year, representing about 1.5 uprooted trees ha- 1 yr- 1, based on forest inventory records dating back to 1972, and contemporary measurements of displaced soil and pit-mound topography resulting from uprooting. Pits and mounds occupy > 14% of the ground surface. Despite typical slope gradients of 0.05 mm- 1, and up to 0.41, little evidence of mass wasting (e.g., slump or flow scars or deposits, colluvial deposits) was noted in the field, except in association with pit-mound pairs. Small avalanche and ravel features are common on the upslope side of uproot pits. Surface runoff features were rare and poorly connected, but do include stemwash erosion associated with stemflow. No rills or channels were found above the valley bottom area, and only small, localized areas of erosion and forest litter debris indicating overland flow. Where these features occurred, they either disappeared a short distance downslope (indicating infiltration), or indicate flow into tree throw pits. Surface erosion is also inhibited by surface armoring of coarse rock fragments associated with uprooting, as well as by the nearly complete vegetation and litter cover. These results show that the combination of direct and indirect impacts of tree uprooting can dominate slope processes in old-growth, unmanaged forests. The greater observed expression of different hillslope processes in adjacent managed forests (where tree uprooting dynamics are blocked by management activities) suggests that human interventions can change the slope process regime in forest ecosystems.

Zoonoses As Ecological Entities: A Case Review of Plague

PubMed Central

de Almeida, Alzira Maria Paiva; Cordeiro-Estrela, Pedro

2016-01-01

As a zoonosis, Plague is also an ecological entity, a complex system of ecological interactions between the pathogen, the hosts, and the spatiotemporal variations of its ecosystems. Five reservoir system models have been proposed: (i) assemblages of small mammals with different levels of susceptibility and roles in the maintenance and amplification of the cycle; (ii) species-specific chronic infection models; (ii) flea vectors as the true reservoirs; (iii) Telluric Plague, and (iv) a metapopulation arrangement for species with a discrete spatial organization, following a source-sink dynamic of extinction and recolonization with naïve potential hosts. The diversity of the community that harbors the reservoir system affects the transmission cycle by predation, competition, and dilution effect. Plague has notable environmental constraints, depending on altitude (500+ meters), warm and dry climates, and conditions for high productivity events for expansion of the transmission cycle. Human impacts are altering Plague dynamics by altering landscape and the faunal composition of the foci and adjacent areas, usually increasing the presence and number of human cases and outbreaks. Climatic change is also affecting the range of its occurrence. In the current transitional state of zoonosis as a whole, Plague is at risk of becoming a public health problem in poor countries where ecosystem erosion, anthropic invasion of new areas, and climate change increase the contact of the population with reservoir systems, giving new urgency for ecologic research that further details its maintenance in the wild, the spillover events, and how it links to human cases. PMID:27711205

Zoonoses As Ecological Entities: A Case Review of Plague.

PubMed

Zeppelini, Caio Graco; de Almeida, Alzira Maria Paiva; Cordeiro-Estrela, Pedro

2016-10-01

As a zoonosis, Plague is also an ecological entity, a complex system of ecological interactions between the pathogen, the hosts, and the spatiotemporal variations of its ecosystems. Five reservoir system models have been proposed: (i) assemblages of small mammals with different levels of susceptibility and roles in the maintenance and amplification of the cycle; (ii) species-specific chronic infection models; (ii) flea vectors as the true reservoirs; (iii) Telluric Plague, and (iv) a metapopulation arrangement for species with a discrete spatial organization, following a source-sink dynamic of extinction and recolonization with naïve potential hosts. The diversity of the community that harbors the reservoir system affects the transmission cycle by predation, competition, and dilution effect. Plague has notable environmental constraints, depending on altitude (500+ meters), warm and dry climates, and conditions for high productivity events for expansion of the transmission cycle. Human impacts are altering Plague dynamics by altering landscape and the faunal composition of the foci and adjacent areas, usually increasing the presence and number of human cases and outbreaks. Climatic change is also affecting the range of its occurrence. In the current transitional state of zoonosis as a whole, Plague is at risk of becoming a public health problem in poor countries where ecosystem erosion, anthropic invasion of new areas, and climate change increase the contact of the population with reservoir systems, giving new urgency for ecologic research that further details its maintenance in the wild, the spillover events, and how it links to human cases.

Trichoderma koningii as a biomineralizing fungous agent of calcium oxalate crystals in typical Argiudolls of the Los Padres Lake natural reserve (Buenos Aires, Argentina).

PubMed

Oyarbide, F; Osterrieth, M L; Cabello, M

2001-01-01

The aim of the present study, performed on typical Argiudolls in a natural reserve with little or no anthropic impact, was to characterize the fungous biomineralizing process of calcium oxalate crystals in organic horizons of the soil. The chosen sites possessed different plant cover, identified as acacia woods and grassy meadows with particular micro environmental conditions that have differing effects in the process of biomineralization. The contribution of the plant material in the soil is a key factor since 1) it generates the particular composition of the organic horizons, 2) it determines the nature of decomposing organisms, and 3) it affects the presence, composition and development of biominerals. According to the results obtained, the acacia woods prove to be a site comparatively more favorable to the fungous biomineralizing process. This makes itself manifest in the greater abundance and development of crystals in the organic horizons of the soil, resulting in whewellite (CaC2O4.H2O) and weddellite (CaC2O4.(2+x) H2O) regarding biomineral species developed, the latter being the major component. The observation of both species of biominerals is noteworthy since it represents the first cited in the country. The isolated fungous organisms were Trichoderma koningii, and Absidia corymbifera. T. koningii was identified as the most active biomineralizing organism thus constituting the first reference to indicate this species as a biomineral producing agent.

Impacts of urbanization on groundwater hydrodynamics and hydrochemistry of the Toluca Valley aquifer (Mexico).

PubMed

Martín Del Campo, M A; Esteller, M V; Expósito, J L; Hirata, R

2014-05-01

The Toluca Valley is located on the high plains of Mexico, where there are significant industrial zones and large populations. Water needs are almost exclusively met by groundwater, which has brought about intense exploitation of the aquifer and indication of some contamination. The present study investigates the effect of urbanization, related to industrialization of the region, on groundwater in the central portion of the Toluca Valley aquifer--a zone with high population density and where the largest industrial park is located. A general decline in the groundwater level has been found over the years, at a rate of as much as 2.5 m/year. The appearance of a large drawdown cone was identified, indicating changes in the direction of groundwater flow. Also identified was the presence of several ground fissures, the location of which coincided with the drawdown cone. In hydrochemical terms, the water type is sodium-magnesium bicarbonate and this characteristic has not changed over time, although it has been possible to detect the presence of larger quantities of sulfates (up to 117 mg/L) and nitrates (up to 47 mg/L) in recent years, likely associated with contamination from industrial and urban wastewater. Factor analysis made it possible to identify ions that would characterize natural processes involving the acquisition of salts (HCO3 (-), Na(+), Mg(2+), and Si), as well as anthropic activities (SO4 (2-), NO3 (-), Cl(-), Ca(2+), and K(+)).

Local deposition of mercury in topsoils around coal-fired power plants: is it always true?

PubMed

Rodriguez Martin, José Antonio; Nanos, Nikos; Grigoratos, Theodoros; Carbonell, Gregoria; Samara, Constantini

2014-09-01

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic element that is emitted to the atmosphere through human activities, mainly fossil fuel combustion. Hg accumulations in soil are associated with atmospheric deposition, while coal-burning power plants remain the most important source of anthropogenic mercury emissions. In this study, we analyzed the Hg concentration in the topsoil of the Kozani-Ptolemais basin where four coal-fired power plants (4,065 MW) run to provide 50 % of electricity in Greece. The study aimed to investigate the extent of soil contamination by Hg using geostatistical techniques to evaluate the presumed Hg enrichment around the four power plants. Hg variability in agricultural soils was evaluated using 276 soil samples from 92 locations covering an area of 1,000 km(2). We were surprised to find a low Hg content in soil (range 1-59 μg kg(-1)) and 50 % of samples with a concentration lower than 6 μg kg(-1). The influence of mercury emissions from the four coal-fired power plants on soil was poor or virtually nil. We associate this effect with low Hg contents in the coal (1.5-24.5 μg kg(-1)) used in the combustion of these power plants (one of the most Hg-poor in the world). Despite anthropic activity in the area, we conclude that Hg content in the agricultural soils of the Kozani-Ptolemais basin is present in low concentrations.

Numerical results on the contribution of an earthworm hole to infiltration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pezzotti, Dario; Barontini, Stefano; Casali, Federico; Comincini, Mattia; Peli, Marco; Ranzi, Roberto; Rizzo, Gabriele; Tomirotti, Massimo; Vitale, Paolo

2017-04-01

On 9 March 2016 the WormEx I experiment was launched at the experimental site of Cividate Camuno (274ma.s.l., Oglio river basin, Central Italian Alps), aiming at contributing to understand how the soil-fauna digging activity affects soil-water flow. Particularly the experiment investigates the effects of earthworms holes on the soil-water constitutive laws, in the uppermost layers of a shallow anthropized soil. In this framework a set of simulations of the water flow in presence of an earthworm hole was preliminarily performed. The FV-FD numerical code AdHydra was used to solve the Richards equation in an axis-symmetric 2D domain around a vertical earthworm hole. The hole was represented both as a void cylinder and as a virtual porous domain with typical constitutive laws of a Δ-soil. The hypothesis of Poiseuille flow and the Jourin-Borelli law applied to determine its conductivity and soil-water retention relationship. Different scenarios of hole depth and infiltration rate were explored. As a result a meaningful change in the downflow condition was observed when burrows intersect a layered soil, both in saturated and partially unsaturated soils, in case a perched water table onsets at the interface between an upper and more conductive soil layer and a lower and less conductive one. These results may contribute to a better understanding of the streamflow generation processes and soil-water movement in shallow layered soils.

Multitemporal analysis of landscape metrics for monitoring forested patterns in coastal and mountainous areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carone, M. T.; Imbrenda, V.; Lanfredi, M.; Macchiato, M.; Simoniello, T.

2009-04-01

The role of forested areas for the maintaining of an acceptable landscape balance is crucial. As an example, they contribute to higher biodiversity levels directly and to cleaner fluvial waters indirectly, thus, the degradation of such ecosystems has strong repercussions on many ecological processes. In order to preserve their natural stability, monitoring forest temporal dynamics is very important for a correct management, particularly, in fragile Mediterranean environments that are highly vulnerable to both natural and human-induced perturbations. For analysing the evolution of forested patterns, especially in areas with a strong human presence, landscape metrics are a basilar tool since they allow for evaluating the structure of landscape patterns at different spatio-temporal scales and the relationship between natural environment and human environment. Starting from this premise, we selected a set of Landscape Metrics to evaluate the temporal dynamics of forested covers in two different environments (coastal and mountainous) located in Basilicata Region, Southern Italy. The first one (area A) is located along the Ionian coast and is largely characterized by evergreen forests; in such an area, even if many sites are protected by the European Community (SCI), forests are subjected to a strong incidence of human activities mainly linked to agriculture and tourism as well as to frequent fire events and coastal erosion processes that favour salt-water intrusion. The second one (area B) is a high heterogeneous mountainous area, which also comprehends alluvial planes. The particular configuration of the territory allows for the presence of a very rich faunal and vegetation biodiversity; thus, it is partially under the protection of a National Park, but there are also many critical anthropical activities (e.g. oil drilling, agriculture, etc.). The landscape ecology analyses were performed on multi temporal land cover maps, obtained from hybrid classifications of a time series of Landsat-TM subscenes: for area A, we used five images covering the period 1987-2006; and for area B, three images covering the period 1993-1998. The analysis of landscape structure and dynamics were performed by elaborating metrics based on patch number, size, shape and arrangements of different land cover types. At landscape level, area A provided quite low levels of Evenness (SHEI<0,70) and Diversity (SHDI~1.0) for the analyzed period. Metrics at patch and class levels, particularly for patch dimensions (MPS), complexity (FRACT) and Interdispersion (IJI) showed a little expansion of the urban sites and no important changes for the large agricultural areas. On the contrary, for natural areas a process of fragmentation has been revealed for coniferous forests in the period 1987-1998 when they show an alternation with a less structured and herbaceous vegetation. For area B, the landscape level shows, in the studied period, stable high values of Evenness (SHEI>0.80) and medium values of Diversity (SHDI~1.8). Metrics for patch and class levels reveal, instead, an increment in size and complexity for anthropical vegetation and a decrement for natural forested areas (mainly beeches) accompanied by a high variability of the transitional areas located along the edges of forested sites. On the whole, the combined interpretation of metrics at different levels of landscape structure and at different time steps revealed an increasing trend of forest isolation and fragmentation, which can enhance their sensitivity. The obtained results for both areas suggest that the institution of protected areas is not a complete solution for the maintaining of forest ecosystems balance without a correct management of the surrounding areas. In order to increase the connectivity among forested patches and, more in general, to improve the ecosystem functionality, the ecological analysis of satellite time series represents an operative tool for an efficient intervention planning, such as the location of the most suitable sites for ecological restoration activities.

Deriving the concentration of airborne ash with a CAS-DPOL instrument: assessing uncertainties introduced by the instrument design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spanu, Antonio; Weinzierl, Bernadett; Freudenthaler, Volker; Sauer, Daniel; Gasteiger, Josef

2016-04-01

Explosive volcanic eruptions inject large amounts of gas and particles into the atmosphere resulting in strong impacts on anthropic systems and climate. Fine ash particles in suspension, even if at low concentrations, are a serious aviation safety hazard. A key point to predict the dispersion and deposition of volcanic ash is the knowledge of emitted mass and its particle size distribution. Usually the deposit is used to characterize the source but a large uncertainty is present for fine and very fine ash particles which are usually not well preserved. Conversely, satellite observations provide only column-integrated information and are strongly sensitive to cloud conditions above the ash plumes. Consequently, in situ measurements are fundamental to extend our knowledge on ash clouds, their properties, and interactions over the vertical extent of the atmosphere. Different in-situ instruments are available covering different particle size ranges using a variety of measurement techniques. Depending on the measurement technique, artefacts due to instrument setup and ambient conditions can strongly modify the measured number concentration and size distribution of the airborne particles. It is fundamental to correct for those effects to quantify the uncertainty associated with the measurement. Here we evaluate the potential of our optical light-scattering spectrometer CAS-DPOL to detect airborne mineral dust and volcanic ash (in the size range between 0.7μm and 50μm) and to provide a reliable estimation of the mass concentration, investigating the associate uncertainty. The CAS-DPOL instrument sizes particles by detecting the light scattered off the particle into a defined angle. The associated uncertainty depends on the optical instrument design and on unknown particles characteristics such as shape and material. Indirect measurements of mass concentrations are statistically reconstructed using the air flow velocity. Therefore, the detected concentration is strongly sensitive to the sample flow and on the mechanical instrument design. Using a fluid dynamics model coupled with an optical model we analyze the effects of instrument design on the measurement, identify measurement uncertainties and recommend strategies to reduce the uncertainties. The two main results are that the optical design of the CAS-DPOL aerosol spectrometer can lead to an under-counting bias of up to 40% for larger particles and an over-counting bias of 20%-30% for smaller particles. Secondly, depending on how the instrument is mounted on the plane, the sampling can be subject to a significantly larger size selection bias than typically recognized, especially if the mounting leads to irregular sampling conditions. To correct both problems a new correction algorithm is described generalizing the results also to other optical particle counters. Finally, a comparison study is presented showing the effects on mass estimation and radiative forcing for uncorrected and corrected data also stating the resulting uncertainty.

Geophysics From Terrestrial Time-Variable Gravity Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Camp, Michel; de Viron, Olivier; Watlet, Arnaud; Meurers, Bruno; Francis, Olivier; Caudron, Corentin

2017-12-01

In a context of global change and increasing anthropic pressure on the environment, monitoring the Earth system and its evolution has become one of the key missions of geosciences. Geodesy is the geoscience that measures the geometric shape of the Earth, its orientation in space, and gravity field. Time-variable gravity, because of its high accuracy, can be used to build an enhanced picture and understanding of the changing Earth. Ground-based gravimetry can determine the change in gravity related to the Earth rotation fluctuation, to celestial body and Earth attractions, to the mass in the direct vicinity of the instruments, and to vertical displacement of the instrument itself on the ground. In this paper, we review the geophysical questions that can be addressed by ground gravimeters used to monitor time-variable gravity. This is done in relation to the instrumental characteristics, noise sources, and good practices. We also discuss the next challenges to be met by ground gravimetry, the place that terrestrial gravimetry should hold in the Earth observation system, and perspectives and recommendations about the future of ground gravity instrumentation.

A Solution to the Cosmic Conundrum including Cosmological Constant and Dark Energy Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, A.

2009-12-01

A comprehensive solution to the cosmic conundrum is presented that also resolves key paradoxes of quantum mechanics and relativity. A simple mathematical model, the Gravity Nullification model (GNM), is proposed that integrates the missing physics of the spontaneous relativistic conversion of mass to energy into the existing physics theories, specifically a simplified general theory of relativity. Mechanistic mathematical expressions are derived for a relativistic universe expansion, which predict both the observed linear Hubble expansion in the nearby universe and the accelerating expansion exhibited by the supernova observations. The integrated model addresses the key questions haunting physics and Big Bang cosmology. It also provides a fresh perspective on the misconceived birth and evolution of the universe, especially the creation and dissolution of matter. The proposed model eliminates singularities from existing models and the need for the incredible and unverifiable assumptions including the superluminous inflation scenario, multiple universes, multiple dimensions, Anthropic principle, and quantum gravity. GNM predicts the observed features of the universe without any explicit consideration of time as a governing parameter.

Under the Skin of a Lion: Unique Evidence of Upper Paleolithic Exploitation and Use of Cave Lion (Panthera spelaea) from the Lower Gallery of La Garma (Spain).

PubMed

Cueto, Marián; Camarós, Edgard; Castaños, Pedro; Ontañón, Roberto; Arias, Pablo

2016-01-01

Pleistocene skinning and exploitation of carnivore furs have been previously inferred from archaeological evidence. Nevertheless, the evidence of skinning and fur processing tends to be weak and the interpretations are not strongly sustained by the archaeological record. In the present paper, we analyze unique evidence of patterned anthropic modification and skeletal representation of fossil remains of cave lion (Panthera spelaea) from the Lower Gallery of La Garma (Cantabria, Spain). This site is one of the few that provides Pleistocene examples of lion exploitation by humans. Our archaeozoological study suggests that lion-specialized pelt exploitation and use might have been related to ritual activities during the Middle Magdalenian period (ca. 14800 cal BC). Moreover, the specimens also represent the southernmost European and the latest evidence of cave lion exploitation in Iberia. Therefore, the study seeks to provide alternative explanations for lion extinction in Eurasia and argues for a role of hunting as a factor to take into account.

Comparing vegetation types and anthropic disturbance levels in the Atlantic forest: how do Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) assemblages respond?

PubMed

Bianchi, F M; Mendonça, M S; Campos, L A

2014-12-01

The Atlantic Forest (AF) is considered the most fragmented and endangered Brazilian biome. The diversity of phytophagous insects increases after disturbances in forests, and it was hypothesized the Pentatomidae can furnish ecologically reliable information in terms of diversity in response to the changes occurring in AF. Our aim was to quantify the response of assemblages of Pentatomoidea to gradient of human disturbance in two vegetation types of the AF-dense ombrophilous forest (DOF) and mixed ombrophilous forest (MOF). Twelve transects were grouped into environmental classes, namely open, intermediate, and closed. Overall, 1,017 pentatomoids were sampled, representing 64 species. The open environment was more abundant than closed environment, though it is expected that Pentatomoidea respond with increasing abundance when under light or moderate disturbance. The MOF was more abundant than DOF, and the composition differed between both of them. Given the differences in composition between MOF and DOF, abiotic variables are important factors acting as environmental filters for Pentatomoidea, not just directly on the insects, but probably also on the nutritional support of their host plants.

Under the Skin of a Lion: Unique Evidence of Upper Paleolithic Exploitation and Use of Cave Lion (Panthera spelaea) from the Lower Gallery of La Garma (Spain)

PubMed Central

Camarós, Edgard; Castaños, Pedro; Ontañón, Roberto; Arias, Pablo

2016-01-01

Pleistocene skinning and exploitation of carnivore furs have been previously inferred from archaeological evidence. Nevertheless, the evidence of skinning and fur processing tends to be weak and the interpretations are not strongly sustained by the archaeological record. In the present paper, we analyze unique evidence of patterned anthropic modification and skeletal representation of fossil remains of cave lion (Panthera spelaea) from the Lower Gallery of La Garma (Cantabria, Spain). This site is one of the few that provides Pleistocene examples of lion exploitation by humans. Our archaeozoological study suggests that lion-specialized pelt exploitation and use might have been related to ritual activities during the Middle Magdalenian period (ca. 14800 cal BC). Moreover, the specimens also represent the southernmost European and the latest evidence of cave lion exploitation in Iberia. Therefore, the study seeks to provide alternative explanations for lion extinction in Eurasia and argues for a role of hunting as a factor to take into account. PMID:27783697

Volcanic and anthropogenic contribution to heavy metal content in lichens from Mt. Etna and Vulcano island (Sicily).

PubMed

Varrica, D; Aiuppa, A; Dongarrà, G

2000-05-01

Major and trace element concentrations were determined in two lichen species (Parmelia conspersa and Xanthoria calcicola) from the island of Vulcano and all around Mt. Etna. In both areas, the average concentrations of Al, Ca, Mg, Fe, Na, K, P and Ti are substantially greater than those of other elements. Several elements (Br, Pb, Sb, Au, Zn, Cu) resulted enriched with respect to the local substrates. The Br and Pb enrichment factors turned out to be the highest among those calculated in both areas. Data indicate that mixing between volcanic and automotive-produced particles clearly explains the range of Pb/Br shown by lichen samples. Sb is also enriched, revealing a geogenic origin at Vulcano and a prevailing anthropic origin at Mt. Etna. Distribution maps of the enrichment factors show a generalized enrichment of Au and Zn near Mt. Etna, whereas Cu appears to be enriched prevalently in the NE-SE area. The highest levels of Au and Cu at Vulcano occur E-SE from the craters, following the prevailing wind direction.

Multiverse dark matter: SUSY or axions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Eramo, Francesco; Hall, Lawrence J.; Pappadopulo, Duccio

2014-11-01

The observed values of the cosmological constant and the abundance of Dark Matter (DM) can be successfully understood, using certain measures, by imposing the anthropic requirement that density perturbations go non-linear and virialize to form halos. This requires a probability distribution favoring low amounts of DM, i.e. low values of the PQ scale f for the QCD axion and low values of the superpartner mass scale for LSP thermal relics. In theories with independent scanning of multiple DM components, there is a high probability for DM to be dominated by a single component. For example, with independent scanning of f and , TeV-scale LSP DM and an axion solution to the strong CP problem are unlikely to coexist. With thermal LSP DM, the scheme allows an understanding of a Little SUSY Hierarchy with multi-TeV superpartners. Alternatively, with axion DM, PQ breaking before (after) inflation leads to f typically below (below) the projected range of the current ADMX experiment of f = (3 - 30) × 1011 GeV, providing strong motivation to develop experimental techniques for probing lower f.

Multivariate-Statistical Assessment of Heavy Metals for Agricultural Soils in Northern China

PubMed Central

Yang, Pingguo; Yang, Miao; Mao, Renzhao; Shao, Hongbo

2014-01-01

The study evaluated eight heavy metals content and soil pollution from agricultural soils in northern China. Multivariate and geostatistical analysis approaches were used to determine the anthropogenic and natural contribution of soil heavy metal concentrations. Single pollution index and integrated pollution index could be used to evaluate soil heavy metal risk. The results show that the first factor explains 27.3% of the eight soil heavy metals with strong positive loadings on Cu, Zn, and Cd, which indicates that Cu, Zn, and Cd are associated with and controlled by anthropic activities. The average value of heavy metal is lower than the second grade standard values of soil environmental quality standards in China. Single pollution index is lower than 1, and the Nemerow integrated pollution index is 0.305, which means that study area has not been polluted. The semivariograms of soil heavy metal single pollution index fitted spherical and exponential models. The variable ratio of single pollution index showed moderately spatial dependence. Heavy metal contents showed relative safety in the study area. PMID:24892058

Variation of snail's abundance in two water bodies harboring strains of Pseudosuccinea columella resistant and susceptible to Fasciola hepatica miracidial infection, in Pinar del Río Province, Cuba.

PubMed

Gutiérrez, Alfredo; Hernandez, Dagmar F; Sánchez, Jorge

2005-11-01

The abundance of freshwater snails in two rural sites of Pinar del Río, Cuba, which harbor Pseudosuccinea columella susceptible and resistant to miracidia of Fasciola hepatica was followed for one year. Susceptible snails were found in the most anthropic site (IPA) whereas the resistant population inhabited the most preserved one (El Azufre). Only two snail species coexisted with P. columella at IPA site (Physa cubensis and Tarebia granifera) while five species were found at El Azufre, including an endemic from that province (Hemisinus cubanianus). Populations of both resistant and susceptible snails showed stable densities throughout the year, although the susceptible strain attained higher abundance. The highest densities were observed in April-May 2004 for the susceptible population whereas the resistant strain attained its highest abundance in January 2004. No record of Fossaria cubensis was made and the thiarid T. granifera occurred only at low densities. One of the sampled sites (IPA) meets all the conditions for the first report of P. columella naturally infected with larvae of F. hepatica.

Use of biomarkers in resident organisms as a tool for environmental monitoring in a cold coastal system, Tierra del Fuego Island.

PubMed

Comoglio, L; Amin, O; Botté, S; Marcovecchio, J

2011-03-01

Antioxidant status of Nacella (P) magellanica and Mytilus edulis related with heavy metal in sediment and tissues were analysed in five stations close to Ushuaia city in winter and spring. The principal component analysis produced a two-dimensional pattern of the degree of similarity between sites. The Industrial-Urban Contamination Index (IUCI) showed that the Industrial Zone (IZ) and Oil Marine Station (OMS) represent areas with anthropic inputs. Heavy metals have differential association with biomarkers depending on the species. In limpets, digestive gland presented major activities of enzyme defence in winter and gonads have shown higher values of Catalase (CAT) during spring while lipid peroxidation (LPO) presented higher values in IZ. For mussels CAT and LPO increased in spring time. For superoxide dismutase (SOD) peaks have been detected in IZ and NW stations for winter. Differences in biomarker responses due to seasons did not influence the grouping of the sites into references and contaminated groups. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hydrocarbons in surface sediments from the Sfax coastal zone, (Tunisia) Mediterranean Sea.

PubMed

Zaghden, Hatem; Kallel, Monem; Louati, Afifa; Elleuch, Boubaker; Oudot, Jean; Saliot, Alain

2005-11-01

The Semi-enclosed Mediterranean Sea records various signals of high anthropic pressures from surrounding countries and the industrialized European countries. This is particularly true for oil pollution. Although accounting for 1% of the world's ocean surface, it receives about 25% of the petroleum inputs to the ocean. To achieve a global budget we need to collect information from different parts of the Mediterranean. Particularly, we focus in this paper on the Southern Mediterranean, where data are presently very scarce. In this context, the University of Sfax has undertaken an estimation of hydrocarbon pollution along the coasts of Sfax and Gabès Gulf. Non-aromatic hydrocarbons were analysed in 8 surface sediments by FT/IR and GC/MS. Non-aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations vary in the range 310-1406 microg g(-1) sediments dry weight, which is high, compared to other Mediterranean sites. GC/MS data indicate a large group of unresolved compounds suggesting a petroleum contamination, confirmed by the identification of hopanes with predominant C29 and C30alpha,beta compounds and steranes with predominance of C27 over C28) and C29 compounds.

Geochemical behavior, environmental availability, and reconstruction of historical trends of Cu, Pb, and Zn in sediment cores of the Cananéia-Iguape coastal system, Southeastern Brazil.

PubMed

Tramonte, Keila Modesto; Figueira, Rubens Cesar Lopes; Majer, Alessandra Pereira; de Lima Ferreira, Paulo Alves; Batista, Miriam Fernanda; Ribeiro, Andreza Portella; de Mahiques, Michel Michaelovitch

2018-02-01

The Cananéia-Iguape system is located in a coastal region of southeastern Brazil, recognized by UNESCO as an Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve. This system has suffered substantial environmental impacts due to the opening of an artificial channel and by past intensive mining activities. In this paper was performed the sequential chemical extraction of Cu, Pb, and Zn, on previously described sediment cores, and the statistical treatment of the data, allowing to estimate the remobilization geochemical behavior, the available content and the trend of accumulation between 1926 and 2008. The maximum available level (sum of all mobile fraction) were, in mgkg -1 , 18.74 for Cu, 177.55 for Pb and 123.03 for Zn. Considering its environmental availability, Pb remains a concern in the system. It was possible to recognize the anthropic contribution of Pb, being the mining activities considered the only potential source of this metal in the region. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monitoring vegetation cover in the postfire in Tavira - São Brás de Alportel (southern Portugal)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramos-Simões, Nuno A.; Granja-Martins, Fernando M.; Neto-Paixão, Helena M.; Jordán, Antonio; Zavala, Lorena M.

2014-05-01

1. INTRODUCTION Often, restoration of areas affected by fire faces lack of knowledge of how ecosystems respond to the action of fire. Depending on environmental conditions, structure and diversity of the vegetation or the severity of the fire, burnt systems can provide responses ranging from spontaneous recovery in a relatively short time to onset of severe degradation processes. For this reason, it is necessary to monitor the evolution of post-burned in the fire, in order to plan effective strategies for restoring systems and soil erosion control. In order to assess soil erosion risk, this research aims to is to analyse the evolution of vegetation cover in a Mediterranean burnt forest soil, using vegetation indexes derived from Landsat-7 (Thematic Mapper sensor-TM) and Landsat-8 (Operation Land Imager sensor, OLI). 2. METHODS This study was carried out in a forest area affected by a wildfire by 18-22 July 2012. The study area is located within the coordinates 37o 9' - 37o 21' N and 7o 40' - 7o 53' W, including part of the municipalities of Tavira and São Brás de Alportel (southern Portugal). The relief in the studied area has an irregular topography. Soils are shallow and develop mainly metamorphic rocks (as slates or quartzite) and igneous rocks, which produce acidic and nutrient-poor soils, poorly developed in depth. The wildfire was one of the most important fires in Portugal during the recent years, and affected more than 24000 ha. Vegetation is dominated by cork oak (Quercus suber) ,holm oaks (Quercus ilex), strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) and sclerophyllous vegetation (mostly formed by Quercus coccifera and Rosmarinus officinalis). These species are adapted to acidic-poor soils and show a great capability of resprouting and germination after fire. The study area is poorly developed, with cork and timber harvesting and other forest products or tourism as main economic activities. The area shows a highly fragmented urban fabric with the sparse infrastructures. In recent years, migration processes have further aggravated the economic situation in this region. Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 images were used for this study (April 2012, December 2012, March 2013 and November 2013). Images were corrected for the scattering effect by extraction of black objects for near infrared bands and correction by linear regression for the red bands. Several vegetation indexes were used, such as, vegetation ratio, NDVI, the perpendicular vegetation index with assessment of distance to soil, PVI, WDVI, PVI3, and vegetation indexes based on orthogonal transformation of bands (Tasselled Cap) and principal component analysis (PCA). After studying the correlations between indexes by PCA, the Tasselled Cap-green index was selected as the most accurate one. Presence/absence of vegetation and land use were monitored to select the best parameter to study the evolution of vegetation. The evolution of the vegetation was compared with the CORINE Land Cover map (2006) and validated in field visits in January 2014. 3. RESULTS For the study area, results show a positive evolution of vegetation in the burned area during the months following to burning. Recovery of natural-native vegetation is more intense than anthropic vegetation types, with sclerophyllous vegetation showing the most intense evolution after burning.

Detecting the signature of intelligent life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elliott, John R.

2010-12-01

The detection of a communication from another planet would be one of the greatest events in human history, so we need to be ready for such an eventuality. How to solve messages from other worlds and to contemplate all possibilities is an extremely complex challenge; however, we have to begin somewhere. So, the problem goal is therefore to separate intelligent from non-intelligent content without dialogue, and learn something about the structure of the content in the passing. These structural phenomena range over a multi-layered hierarchical system that can not only indicate the core syntactic devices but also the cognition [intellectual power] of the author. In identifying whether a signal has been detected from an ET source and that it fulfils the criteria for being a bona fide signature from another planet, SETI has well established methods in place. However, for CETI and deciphering whether this signal has an intelligent author, work is still in its initial stages. To commence developing a system that tackles this ultimate phase of contact, strategies have been developed to enable classification and partial decipherment of such a signal, given declared assumptions and initial constraints based on cosmological anthropic principles. A set of assumptions based on the Sparseness principle that postulates that certain complex systems like mathematics and language must have underlying structural truths to enable their systems to work effectively and efficiently; any other variation lessens this significantly: a premise supported for language by comparing over 50 terrestrial languages. This paper looks back at what has been achieved to-date and what is planned for the future.

Losing ground - scenarios of land loss as consequence of shifting sediment budgets in the Mekong Delta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmitt, R. J. P.; Rubin, Z.; Kondolf, G. M.

2017-10-01

With changing climate and rising seas, proliferation of hydroelectric dams, instream sand mining, dyking of floodplains, accelerated subsidence from groundwater pumping, accelerated sea-level rise, and other anthropic impacts, it is certain that the Mekong Delta will undergo large changes in the coming decades. These changes will threaten the very existence of the landform itself. The multiplicity of compounding drivers and lack of reliable data lead to large uncertainties in forecasting changes in the sediment budget of the Mekong Delta, its morphology, and the ecosystems and human livelihoods it supports. We compile information on key drivers affecting the sediment budget of the Mekong Delta and compare them to quantify the magnitude of effects from different drivers. We develop a set of likely scenarios for the future development of these drivers and quantify implications for the future of the Mekong Delta using a simplified model of the delta's geometry. If sediment supply to the delta is nearly completely cut off, as would be the case with full buildout of planned dams and current rates of sediment mining, and with continued groundwater pumping at current rates, our model forecasts that the delta will almost completely disappear by the end of this century due to increased rates of delta subsidence and rising sea levels. While local management cannot prevent global sea level rise, model results suggest that there are important management steps that could prolong the persistence of the delta ecosystem and the livelihoods it supports, including a reduction in ground water pumping and maintaining sediment connectivity between the basin and the delta.

Chronic genetic damages in Geophagus brasiliensis exposed to anthropic impact in estuarine lakes at Santa Catarina coast--southern of Brazil.

PubMed

Benincá, Cristiane; Ramsdorf, Wanessa; Vicari, Taynah; de Oliveira Ribeiro, Ciro A; de Almeida, Marina I; Silva de Assis, Helena C; Cestari, Marta Margarete

2012-04-01

Biological monitoring through animals exposed to pollutants using biomarkers provides a promising tool for the identification of pollutants that may cause damage to human health and/or to sustainability of ecosystems. The effects of pollutants in fish tissues are important tools to understand the impact of human activities in natural ecosystems. The aim of this work was to study the water quality of two estuarine lakes in Santa Catarina, Brazil (Camacho Lake and Santa Marta Lake). Geophagus brasiliensis is a species widely distributed in Brazil and was used in this work. Comet assays in peripheral red blood and kidney cells, micronucleus tests in peripheral red blood cells, measurements of acetylcholinesterase activity in axial muscle and histopathological analysis of liver were used as biomarkers. Three sampling campaigns were undertaken in November 2004, June 2005 and November 2005. Thirty adult animals were sampled from each of three different sites (P1--Santa Marta Lake, P2 and P3--Camacho Lake). A negative control was sampled in a non-polluted site at Costa Ecological Park, Paraná. The positive control for genotoxicity was obtained by treating animals with copper sulphate. The results showed that both studied lakes are impacted by potential genotoxic substances. Severe lesions in liver of G. brasiliensis were also observed. The inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity suggests the presence of pesticides or metals in the studied sites. This work shows that the water quality of Santa Marta and Camacho Lakes have been compromised and further control source of pollutants into these ecosystems is required.

Diversity and Phenology of Wild Bees in a Highly Disturbed Tropical Dry Forest "Desierto de la Tatacoa", Huila-Colombia.

PubMed

Poveda-Coronel, C A; Riaño-Jiménez, D; Cure, J R

2018-01-12

Colombian tropical dry forest is considered the most endangered tropical biome due to anthropic activities. Desierto de la Tatacoa (DsT) is an example of high disturbed tropical dry forest which still maintains a high biodiversity. The objective of the study was to record the diversity and phenology of wild bees in this place by monthly sampling between December 2014 and December 2016 in a 9-km 2 area. During the study, there was a prolonged El Niño-Southern Oscillation period. Bees were collected by entomological nets, malaise traps, eugenol scent trapping, and nest traps. Shannon index was calculated to estimate diversity and Simpson index to determine dominance of a species. The effect of environmental conditions (wet and dry season) in richness and abundance was analyzed by paired T tests. A total of 3004 bee specimens were collected, belonging to 80 species from Apidae, Megachilidae, Halictidae, and Colletidae. Apidae was the most diverse. Shannon index value was 2.973 (discarding Apis mellifera Linnaeus 1758 data); thus, DsT can be considered as a zone of high wild bee diversity. Dry and rainy season showed differences in diversity (p < 0.05). Rainy season showed larger blooming periods and higher bee diversity than dry season. In both seasons, social species were dominant (e.g., A. mellifera or Trigona fulviventris Guérin 1844). Although DsT is a highly disturbed ecosystem, this study found it has the second highest number of genera and the fourth highest number of species reported in Colombia.

Climate change impact assessment in Veneto and Friuli Plain groundwater. Part II: a spatially resolved regional risk assessment.

PubMed

Pasini, S; Torresan, S; Rizzi, J; Zabeo, A; Critto, A; Marcomini, A

2012-12-01

Climate change impact assessment on water resources has received high international attention over the last two decades, due to the observed global warming and its consequences at the global to local scale. In particular, climate-related risks for groundwater and related ecosystems pose a great concern to scientists and water authorities involved in the protection of these valuable resources. The close link of global warming with water cycle alterations encourages research to deepen current knowledge on relationships between climate trends and status of water systems, and to develop predictive tools for their sustainable management, copying with key principles of EU water policy. Within the European project Life+ TRUST (Tool for Regional-scale assessment of groundwater Storage improvement in adaptation to climaTe change), a Regional Risk Assessment (RRA) methodology was developed in order to identify impacts from climate change on groundwater and associated ecosystems (e.g. surface waters, agricultural areas, natural environments) and to rank areas and receptors at risk in the high and middle Veneto and Friuli Plain (Italy). Based on an integrated analysis of impacts, vulnerability and risks linked to climate change at the regional scale, a RRA framework complying with the Sources-Pathway-Receptor-Consequence (SPRC) approach was defined. Relevant impacts on groundwater and surface waters (i.e. groundwater level variations, changes in nitrate infiltration processes, changes in water availability for irrigation) were selected and analyzed through hazard scenario, exposure, susceptibility and risk assessment. The RRA methodology used hazard scenarios constructed through global and high resolution model simulations for the 2071-2100 period, according to IPCC A1B emission scenario in order to produce useful indications for future risk prioritization and to support the addressing of adaptation measures, primarily Managed Artificial Recharge (MAR) techniques. Relevant outcomes from the described RRA application highlighted that potential climate change impacts will occur with different extension and magnitude in the case study area. Particularly, qualitative and quantitative impacts on groundwater will occur with more severe consequences in the wettest and in the driest scenario (respectively). Moreover, such impacts will likely have little direct effects on related ecosystems - croplands, forests and natural environments - lying along the spring area (about 12% of croplands and 2% of natural environments at risk) while more severe consequences will indirectly occur on natural and anthropic systems through the reduction in quality and quantity of water availability for agricultural and other uses (about 80% of agricultural areas and 27% of groundwater bodies at risk). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Streamflow predictions in Alpine Catchments by using artificial neural networks. Application in the Alto Genil Basin (South Spain)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jimeno-Saez, Patricia; Pegalajar-Cuellar, Manuel; Pulido-Velazquez, David

2017-04-01

This study explores techniques of modeling water inflow series, focusing on techniques of short-term steamflow prediction. An appropriate estimation of streamflow in advance is necessary to anticipate measures to mitigate the impacts and risks related to drought conditions. This study analyzes the prediction of future streamflow of nineteen subbasins in the Alto-Genil basin in Granada (Southeast of Spain). Some of these basin streamflow have an important component of snowmelt due to part of the system is located in Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, the highest mountain of continental Spain. Streamflow prediction models have been calibrated using time series of historical natural streamflows. The available streamflow measurements have been downloaded from several public data sources. These original data have been preprocessed to turn them to the original natural regime, removing the anthropic effects. The missing values in the adopted horizon period to calibrate the prediction models have been estimated by using a Temez hydrological balance model, approaching the snowmelt processes with a hybrid degree day method. In the experimentation, ARIMA models are used as baseline method, and recurrent neural networks ELMAN and nonlinear autoregressive neural network (NAR) to test if the prediction accuracy can be improved. After performing the multiple experiments with these models, non-parametric statistical tests are applied to select the best of these techniques. In the experiments carried out with ARIMA, it is concluded that ARIMA models are not adequate in this case study due to the existence of a nonlinear component that cannot be modeled. Secondly, ELMAN and NAR neural networks with multi-start training is performed with each network structure to deal with the local optimum problem, since in neural network training there is a very strong dependence on the initial weights of the network. The obtained results suggest that both neural networks are efficient for the short term prediction, surpassing the limitations of the ARIMA models and, in general, the experiments showed that NAR networks are the ones with the greatest generalization capability. Therefore, NAR networks are chosen as the starting point for other works, in which we study the streamflow predictions incorporating exogenous variables (as the Snow Cover Area), the sensitivity of the prediction to the initial conditions, multivariate streamflow predictions considering the spatial correlation between the sub-basins streamflow and the synthetic generations to assess droughts statistic. This research has been partially supported by the CGL2013-48424-C2-2-R (MINECO) and the PMAFI/06/14 (UCAM) projects.

[Edge effect on lichen's distribution and chlorophyll content, in fragments of Polylepis quadrijuga (Rosaceae) in Páramo de la Rusia (Boyacá-Colombia)].

PubMed

Pulido Herrera, Karen; Ramos Montaño, Carolina

2016-12-01

The ecosystems fragmentation is one of the anthropic phenomena with highest impact at global level and the edge effect causes that only the fragments interior conserve their original biotic and abiotic characteristics. Lichens are organisms especially susceptible to environmental variability, what could be useful for bio-indication of edge effect. In this work, we evaluated the edge effect in two fragments of Polylepis quadrijuga in the Páramo de la Rusia (Boyacá-Colombia) to determine if there is an edge effect on distribution of lichens associated to P. quadrijuga and their chlorophyll content. We used three transects of 70 m across the matrix-edge-interior gradient in each fragment. We chose nine phorophytes per transect to measure the environmental variables: photosynthetically active radiation, relative humidity and air temperature, and the biological variables: richness and cover per species. Besides, we employed the species that were present in all the three zones of the gradient to quantify the content of chlorophylls a and b, and determine if there are changes in the ratio of chlorophylls a/b that could suggest physiological plasticity as a response to the edge effect. Our results showed that fragment 2 had a higher edge exposition because of its high relation perimeter/area, allowing to an environmental homogenization and lose of biodiversity in relation with fragment 1. Overall, we found 55 differentially distributed species in relation with the fragments and the matrix-edge-interior gradient. The interior of fragment 1 was the most conserved zone, harboring a composition different in more than 40 % to the composition of any other zone. We classified the lichens according with their habits: gelatinous, fruticose, crusty or foliose, but we did not find any relationship between the habit distribution and the edge effect. Six species of wide distribution showed changes in the chlorophyll content along the matrix-edge-interior gradient, what is an evidence of physiological plasticity to edge effect. It was also possible to distinguish between species with preference to warmer environment and species with preference to more humid and sufficiently irradiated places. We concluded that some species of lichens could have an important potential as bio-indicators of fragmentation in the páramo.

Geomorphological change detection of fluvial processes of lower Siret channel using LIDAR data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niculita, Mihai; Obreja, Florin; Boca, Bogdan

2015-04-01

Geomorphological change detection is a relatively new method risen from the availability of high resolution multitemporal DEMs (James et. al., 2011; Brodu & Lague, 2012; Barnhart & Crosby, 2013). The main issue in regard with this method is the identification of real change, given by geomorphologic processes, and not by the noise, method artefacts, vegetation or various other errors (Wheaton et. al., 2009). We present the results of geomorphological change detection applied to a part of the lower Siret river channel (from 60 to 140 km above the Siret-Dunăre confluence, between Adjud and Namoloasa). The data sources used were LIDAR DEMs provided by the Siret and Prut-Barlad Water Administrations, one version for 2008, at 2 m resolution, and the other at 0.5 m resolution for 2012. The geomorphological change detection was performed at a resolution of 2 m using the methodology of Wheaton et. al., 2009, on 4 sites with a cumulated length of 47 km, with 41.6 km covering meandering channels and 5.4 km Movileni anthropic lake shore. In the studied period (2008-2012), two major flood events were registered, one in 2008 and the other in 2010 (Olariu et. al., 2009, Serbu et. al., 2009, Nedelcu et. al., 2011). The geomorphological change detection approach managed to outline the presence and the rate of process (expressed as volumetric change) for: channel erosion, channel aggradation, lateral migration of river bank, meander migration, lake bank erosion, alluvial fan deposition and anthropic excavation of channel and river bank. Barnhart T.B., Crosby B.T., 2013. Comparing Two Methods of Surface Change Detection on an Evolving Thermokarst Using High-Temporal-Frequency Terrestrial Laser Scanning, Selawik River, Alaska. Remote Sensing, 5:2813-23937. Brodu N, Lague D. 2012. 3D Terrestrial LiDAR data classification of complex natural scenes using a multi-scale dimensionality criterion: applications in geomorphology, ISPRS journal of Photogrammmetry and Remote Sensing, 68:121-134. Lague D., Brodu N., Leroux J., 2013. Accurate 3D comparison of complex topography with terrestrial laser scanner: application to the Rangitikei canyon (N-Z), ISPRS journal of Photogrammmetry and Remote Sensing, 80:10-26. James L.A., Hodgson M.E., Ghoshal S., Latiolais M.M., 2012. Geomorphic change detection using historic maps and DEM differencing: the temporal dimension of geospatial analysis. Geomorphology, 137:181-198. Nedelcu G., Borcan M., Branescu E., Petre C., Teleanu B., Preda A., Murafa R., 2011. Exceptional floods from the years 2008 and 2010 in Siret river basin, Proceedings of the Annual Scientific Conference of National Romanian Institute of Hydrology and Water Administration, 1-3 November 2011. (in Romanian) Olariu P., Obreja F., Obreja I., 2009. Some aspects regarding the sediment transit from Trotus catchment and lower sector of Siret river during the exceptional floods from 1991 and 2005, Annals of Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, XVIII:93-104.(in Romanian) Serbu M., Obreja F., Olariu P., 2009. The 2008 floods from upper Siret catchment. Causes, effects, evaluation, Hidrotechnics, 54(12):1-38. (in Romanian) Wheaton J.M., Brasington J., Darby S., Sear D., 2009. Accounting for uncertainty in DEMs from repeat topographic surveys: improved sediment budgets. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 35(2):136-156.

A simulation method for the stability analysis of landscape scenarios by using a NetLogo application in GIS environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gobattoni, Federica; Lauro, Giuliana; Leone, Antonio; Monaco, Roberto; Pelorosso, Raffaele

2010-05-01

Landscape continually evolves under the influence of a complex and broad range of natural processes, directly or indirectly determined by land use, but also under the impact of anthropic actions of planning and territorial management. While processes such as earthquakes, landslides, and so on, are manifestations of this evolutionary process, human decisions concerning land government (cropping, urbanization etc.) may affect dramatically the landscape evolution in a complex mechanism of cause-and-effect leading to accelerated erosion phenomena, hydro-geological instability and flood events. To better understand landscape evolution and change in time, several numerical and empirical models have been developed and implemented with the aim to explore and explain such complex processes; reproducing landscape evolution through models and schematic representation of reality could be a powerful and reliable tool for natural resources planning and decision making in land management. Even understanding interactions and relations between the involved variables, predicting how the system will react to external inputs such as political, social or economic constraints, could be strongly difficult. Decision support systems could help in choosing among possible alternatives by integrating different sources of information and "What if" scenarios could be developed as possible future states of the world that represent alternative plausible conditions under different assumptions (Mahmoud M. wt al., 2009). Modelling approaches can be successfully applied to describe and assess both the natural spatial environmental variability and the anthropic impacts at different temporal and spatial scales even if they usually takes into account each aspect of the environmental system separately and without looking directly at landscape as a unique system and without understanding its intrinsic evolution mechanisms (H. Siegrist, 2002, S. Demberel, 2003, A. Brenner, 2005). GIS-based models which could be able to predict the response of the landscape working as a unique system, are expected to advance through a development of sustainable planning strategies and to evaluate the equilibrium-non equilibrium status of landscape evolution and the availability of vital resources in space and time. In this context mathematical models adapted in GIS environment may really give an heavy contribution in such a complex problem- solving, providing a real and concrete Decision System Support. An integrated GIS (Geographic Information System)-based approach was developed (G. Lauro, R. Monaco, 2008) combining an ecological graph model for the analysis of the relationship between spatial pattern and ecological flows and a mathematical model, based on a system of two nonlinear differential equations, that studies meta-stability and bifurcation phenomena. These equations are mainly based on a balance law between a logistic growth of bio-energy and its reduction due to limiting factors coming from environmental constraints. The energy exchange among them will be more or less strong depending on the degree of permeability of the barriers which can obstruct the energy passage from each "landscape unit" to the other. Through NetLogo, a cross-platform multi-agent programmable modelling environment, a completely automatic GIS-based mathematical model, based on the ecological graph and on the cited two differential equations, is presented and discussed here. A study case in Central Italy is analysed to better underline the importance of such a user friendly model in GIS environment.

Comparison of different methods to assess natural backgrond levels in groundwater bodies in southern Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preziosi, Elisabetta; Parrone, Daniele; Ghergo, Stefano; Ducci, Daniela; Sellerino, Mariangela; Condesso de Melo, Maria Teresa; Oliveira, Juana; Ribeiro, Luis

2014-05-01

The assessment of the natural background levels (NBLs) of a substance or element is important to distinguish anthropogenic pollution from contamination of natural origin in groundwater bodies. NBLs are the result of different atmospheric, geological, chemical and biological interaction processes during groundwater infiltration and circulation. Rainfall composition, water-rock interactions in both vadose and saturated zone, exchanges with other water bodies and residence time also contribute to determine the groundwater natural composition. Nowadays there are different methods to assess NBLs but the main concern is that they may provide different results. In the European legislative context, the Groundwater Directive (2006/118/EC) requests to EU Member States to derive appropriate threshold values (TV) for several potentially harmful substances, taking into account NBLs when necessary, in order to assess the chemical status of groundwater bodies. In the framework of a common project between Italy (CNR) and Portugal (FCT), several groundwater bodies were taken into account in different regions of Italy (Latium and Campania) and Portugal. The general objective is the definition of a sound comprehensive methodology for NBL assessment at groundwater body scale, suitable to different hydrogeological settings through comparing diverse case studies and different approaches. The Italian case studies are located in volcanic or volcano-sedimentary geological contexts, where high concentrations of substances such as As, F, Fe, Mn among others in groundwater are well known. The Portuguese case studies are located in carbonate and porous media aquifers. Several data sets were explored with the use of statistical as well as mathematical procedures in order to determine a threshold between natural and anthropogenic concentration. Today essentially two groups of methods are proposed, the first ascribed to the probability plots (PP method), the second based on the selection of the uninfluenced water samples corresponding the natural population (Pre-Selection method, 'PS'). PPs are grounded on the principle that different sources generate different data populations which can be separated by statistical procedures. Aligned points indicate samples belonging to a single population that originated from a unique process, while changes in slope of the curves may indicate passages between different populations. The PS method proposes to select only those samples which are not, or very little, influenced by human activities, e.g. removing those with high nitrate or other markers of anthropic contamination. In the residual data set one value, usually one percentile is chosen as representative of the NBL, meaning that all concentrations exceeding that level should be ascribed to anthropogenic sources. NBLs for several substances including As, F, Fe and Mn have been determined using both PS methods and probability plots in linear and logarithmic scale. The comparison of results shows, even for the same case study, a large range of values depending on the method used, on the pre-selection criteria, on the chosen percentile especially in case of strongly skewed distribution. The need for a sound methodology, to establish a formal value of the NBLs, is perceived especially from a legal point of view both at the national and European level.

Explorations in dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozek, Brandon

This dissertation describes three research projects on the topic of dark energy. The first project is an analysis of a scalar field model of dark energy with an exponential potential using the Dark Energy Task Force (DETF) simulated data models. Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling techniques we examine the ability of each simulated data set to constrain the parameter space of the exponential potential for data sets based on a cosmological constant and a specific exponential scalar field model. We compare our results with the constraining power calculated by the DETF using their "w 0--wa" parameterization of the dark energy. We find that respective increases in constraining power from one stage to the next produced by our analysis give results consistent with DETF results. To further investigate the potential impact of future experiments, we also generate simulated data for an exponential model background cosmology which can not be distinguished from a cosmological constant at DETF Stage 2, and show that for this cosmology good DETF Stage 4 data would exclude a cosmological constant by better than 3sigma. The second project details this analysis on a Inverse Power Law (IPL) or "Ratra-Peebles" (RP) model. This model is a member of a popular subset of scalar field quintessence models that exhibit "tracking" behavior that make this model particularly theoretically interesting. We find that the relative increase in constraining power on the parameter space of this model is consistent to what was found in the first project and the DETF report. We also show, using a background cosmology based on an IPL scalar field model that is consistent with a cosmological constant with Stage 2 data, that good DETF Stage 4 data would exclude a cosmological constant by better than 3sigma. The third project extends the Causal Entropic Principle to predict the preferred curvature within the "multiverse". The Causal Entropic Principle (Bousso, et al.) provides an alternative approach to anthropic attempts to predict our observed value of the cosmological constant by calculating the entropy created within a causal diamond. We have found that values larger than rhok = 40rho m are disfavored by more than 99.99% and a peak value at rho Λ = 7.9 x 10-123 and rho k = 4.3rhom for open universes. For universes that allow only positive curvature or both positive and negative curvature, we find a correlation between curvature and dark energy that leads to an extended region of preferred values. Our universe is found to be disfavored to an extent depending the priors on curvature. We also provide a comparison to previous anthropic constraints on open universes and discuss future directions for this work.

Understanding Older Adult's Technology Adoption and Withdrawal for Elderly Care and Education: Mixed Method Analysis from National Survey.

PubMed

Chiu, Ching-Ju; Liu, Chia-Wen

2017-11-03

Elderly adults have comprised the fastest growing population adopting the Internet and computer technology over the past decade. However, how their experiences can shed light on elderly learning theory has not been examined much in the literature. This study investigated the factors and reasons associated with Internet adoption and withdrawal among older adults in Taiwan, and if any gender differences exist in this context. Data on participants aged 50 years and older from the nationally representative "Digital Opportunity Survey on Individuals and Households in Taiwan," who did not use the Internet in 2005 but adopted it in 2007 (n=1548), and those who reported using Internet in 2011 but then withdrew (n=1575), were analyzed. Factors and reasons associated with Internet adoption and withdrawal were examined using both quantitative and qualitative data. Education level independently predicted Internet adoption behavior. With regard to the reasons for adoption, 66% (62/94) of participants indicated they started using the Internet to meet certain "needs"; for example, "keeping up with the world" (40.4%, 38/94) was listed as the most critical reason, followed by "job needs" (25.5%, 24/94). Older adults with a positive attitude toward the Internet with regard to increasing employment opportunities (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.0-3.9, P=.04) and the amount of information obtained (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.9, P=.01), as well as enriching recreation and entertainment (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4-0.9, P=.02), were less likely to withdraw from the Internet. The most common reason for Internet withdrawal was "psychological barriers" (eg, no available time, no meaningful use, or nothing worth reading/watching; 66.3%, 193/291), followed by "health barriers" (eg, eyes or body deteriorate with Internet use; 21.0%, 61/291). Although psychological barriers were the most important factor for Internet withdrawal for both men (72.5%, 100/138) and women (62%, 93/150), women were more likely than men to be affected by health barriers (26.0%, 39/150 vs 15.9%, 22/138; P=.004) and anthropic factors or accidental barriers (7.3%, 11/150 vs 2.9%, 4/138; P=.02). Our findings that the need to keep up with the world associated with Internet adoption, and gender differences in reasons behind Internet withdrawal, such that women reported more health and anthropic factors or accidental barriers than man, may provide a new perspective that help health educators understand strategies that encourage older adults to keep learning, an important component of active aging. ©Ching-Ju Chiu, Chia-Wen Liu. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 03.11.2017.

Anthropic changes to the biotic factor of soil formation from forests to managed grasslands along summits of the western Pyrenees Mountains, France

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leigh, David; Gragson, Theodore

2017-04-01

Mounting evidence indicates that highland pastures of the humid-temperate western Pyrenees were converted from mixed forests to managed grasslands thousands of years ago, as early as during the late Neolithic and Bronze age by human actions including use of fire. We observe pronounced differences between soil profiles of ancient pastures and old-growth forests in otherwise similar landscape positions. In order to test physical and chemical differences, we collected paired samples of forest versus grassland soils at four separate hillslope sites where there was a clear boundary between the two vegetation types. Animal trails were excluded from sampling. Factors of climate, topography, parent material, and time of soil formation were essentially identical in the forests and pastures of each site, but the time of soil under grassland vegetation may have varied. Each paired hillslope site included five core samples (7.6 cm diameter) from the upper 7.6 cm of the mineral soil within each vegetation type, and the A horizon thickness was recorded at each core hole site. In addition, one complete soil profile was sampled in each vegetation type at each site, making a total of 20 core samples and 4 complete profiles from each respective vegetation type. In addition, we measured the magnetic susceptibility of the mineral soil surface on two transects crossing the vegetation boundary. Core samples have been measured for bulk density, pH, plant-available nutrients, and organic matter; and tests for total carbon and nitrogen, amorphous silica, charcoal, and other forms of black carbon are ongoing. Preliminary results indicate pastured A horizons are about three times as thick as forested soils, contain more organic matter, have lower soil bulk densities, have much finer and stronger structural development of soil aggregates. These traits favor much greater infiltration and water holding capacities of the pastured soils, which we have validated with saturated hydraulic conductivity tests. Pedogenically, the pastured soils indicate that melanization processes have been much more pronounced than in the forested soils. Distinct changes in soil materials result from conversion to pasture. Significantly more black carbon (including macro-charcoal) appears to be present in the pastured soils, indicating that it plays an important role in melanization, in addition to long-term sequestration of carbon. Pastured soils contain greater contents of amorphous silica due to more rapid phytolith production from grasses as opposed to trees. Pastures register significantly higher soil magnetic susceptibility than forests, presumably from past use of fire. In essence, anthropic manipulation of the biotic factor of pedogenesis has created new soil materials, processes, and functions. Our current research involves radiocarbon and chronostratigraphy to establish rates of this anthropisation of the biotic factor.

Understanding Older Adult's Technology Adoption and Withdrawal for Elderly Care and Education: Mixed Method Analysis from National Survey

PubMed Central

Liu, Chia-Wen

2017-01-01

Background Elderly adults have comprised the fastest growing population adopting the Internet and computer technology over the past decade. However, how their experiences can shed light on elderly learning theory has not been examined much in the literature. Objective This study investigated the factors and reasons associated with Internet adoption and withdrawal among older adults in Taiwan, and if any gender differences exist in this context. Methods Data on participants aged 50 years and older from the nationally representative “Digital Opportunity Survey on Individuals and Households in Taiwan,” who did not use the Internet in 2005 but adopted it in 2007 (n=1548), and those who reported using Internet in 2011 but then withdrew (n=1575), were analyzed. Factors and reasons associated with Internet adoption and withdrawal were examined using both quantitative and qualitative data. Results Education level independently predicted Internet adoption behavior. With regard to the reasons for adoption, 66% (62/94) of participants indicated they started using the Internet to meet certain “needs”; for example, “keeping up with the world” (40.4%, 38/94) was listed as the most critical reason, followed by “job needs” (25.5%, 24/94). Older adults with a positive attitude toward the Internet with regard to increasing employment opportunities (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.0-3.9, P=.04) and the amount of information obtained (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.9, P=.01), as well as enriching recreation and entertainment (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4-0.9, P=.02), were less likely to withdraw from the Internet. The most common reason for Internet withdrawal was “psychological barriers” (eg, no available time, no meaningful use, or nothing worth reading/watching; 66.3%, 193/291), followed by “health barriers” (eg, eyes or body deteriorate with Internet use; 21.0%, 61/291). Although psychological barriers were the most important factor for Internet withdrawal for both men (72.5%, 100/138) and women (62%, 93/150), women were more likely than men to be affected by health barriers (26.0%, 39/150 vs 15.9%, 22/138; P=.004) and anthropic factors or accidental barriers (7.3%, 11/150 vs 2.9%, 4/138; P=.02). Conclusions Our findings that the need to keep up with the world associated with Internet adoption, and gender differences in reasons behind Internet withdrawal, such that women reported more health and anthropic factors or accidental barriers than man, may provide a new perspective that help health educators understand strategies that encourage older adults to keep learning, an important component of active aging. PMID:29101093

Environmental magnetism and effective radium concentration: the case study of the painted cave of Pech Merle, France

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isambert, Aude; Girault, Frédéric; Perrier, Frédéric; Bouquerel, Hélène; Bourges, François

2017-04-01

Painted caves, showing testimony of prehistoric art, are nowadays subject to intense attention to understand the conditions of stability and avoid degradation. The preservation of cultural sequences and archaeological artefacts represents especially a crucial issue in the case of caves opened to visitors. For this purpose, a better knowledge of these preserved environments that imprint paleoenvironmental conditions at the time of deposition is needed. In this context, different environmental parameters of the Pech Merle cave, in France, are currently actively monitored including temperature, hygrometry, and gas measurements such as CO2 and radon-222 (decay product of radium-226). This temporal monitoring needs to be complemented by a detailed characterisation of the site, including petrophysical and mineralogical properties. To better constrain the environmental and paleoenvironmental context, more than 100 samples including soils, sediments, rocks and speleothems were collected inside and outside the cave area. We report here magnetic properties of powdered samples (low-field susceptibility, hysteresis parameters, and saturation magnetization) coupled with effective radium concentration (ECRa) measurements. We observe that magnetic susceptibility, which ranges over 5 orders of magnitude from calcareous rocks to topsoils and argillaceous filling deposits, correlates well with ECRa values. This correlation, previously observed (Girault et al., 2016) in very different geological contexts, could be interpreted as a common concentration of sources, also indicating a signature of natural samples to the contrary of anthropic environments disturbed by human activities, in which case the association is blurred. This study demonstrates the general interest of combining two different parameters - here low-field magnetic susceptibility and effective radium concentration determined using non-destructive techniques in the field and in the laboratory - to physically characterize geosystems and to propose a novel approach to discriminate naturally preserved and human-impacted or polluted sites. Girault, F., Perrier, F., Poitou, C., Isambert, A., Théveniaut, H., Laperche, V., ... & Douay, F. (2016). Effective radium concentration in topsoils contaminated by lead and zinc smelters. Science of The Total Environment, 566, 865-876.

Reducing urban heat island effects to improve urban comfort and balance energy consumption in Bucharest (Romania)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Constantinescu, Dan; Ochinciuc, Cristina Victoria; Cheval, Sorin; Comşa, Ionuţ; Sîrodoev, Igor; Andone, Radu; Caracaş, Gabriela; Crăciun, Cerasella; Dumitrescu, Alexandru; Georgescu, Mihaela; Ianoş, Ioan; Merciu, Cristina; Moraru, Dan; Opriş, Ana; Paraschiv, Mirela; Raeţchi, Sonia; Saghin, Irina; Schvab, Andrei; Tătui-Văidianu, Nataşa

2017-04-01

In the recent decades, extreme temperature events and derived hazards are frequent and trigger noteworthy impacts in Romania, especially over the large urban areas. The cities produce significant disturbances of many elements of the regional climate, and generates adverse effects such as Urban Heat Islands (UHI). This presentation condenses the outputs of an ongoing research project (REDBHI) developed through (2013-2017) focused on developing a methodology for monitoring and forecasting indoor climate and energy challenges related to the intensity of UHI of Bucharest (Romania), based on relevant urban climate zones (UCZs). Multi-criteria correlations between the UHI and architectural, urban and landscape variables were determined, and the vulnerability of buildings expressed in the form of transfer function between indoor micro-climate and outdoor urban environment. The vulnerability of civil buildings was determined in relation with the potential for amplifying the thermal hazards intensity through the anthropogenic influence. The project REDBHI aims at developing innovative and original products, with direct applicability, which can be used in any urban settlement and have market potential with regards to energy design and consulting. The concrete innovative outcomes consist of a) localization of the Bucharest UCZs according to the UHI intensity, identifying reference buildings and sub-zones according to urban anthropic factors and landscape pattern; b) typology of representative buildings with regards to energy consumption and CO2 emitted as a result of building exploitation; c) 3D modelling of the reference buildings and of the thermal/energy reaction to severe climatic conditions d) empirical validation of the dynamic thermal/energy analysis; d) development of an pilot virtual studio capable to simulate climate alerts, analyse scenarios and suggest measures to mitigate the UHI effects, and disseminate the outcomes for educational purposes; e) compendium of technical solutions for mitigating the UHI impacts and sustainable reconfiguration of urban settlements, comprising packages of architectural and urban and landscape planning solutions. This study was funded by the Romanian Programme Partnership in Priority Domains, PN - II - PCCA - 2013 - 4 - 0509 - Reducing UHI effects to improve urban comfort and balance energy consumption in Bucharest (REDBHI).

Long term effect of a modified hydrodynamic at a lagoon inlet on the salt marsh ability to keep pace with sea level rise.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carniello, L.; Nordio, G.; D'Alpaos, A.; Silvestri, S.

2016-12-01

In a context of global increase of mean sea level, the fate of salt marshes relates to their ability of keeping pace with relative sea level rise (SLR) and depends on the external sediment supply and organic soil production. Detecting the vertical sinking of salt marshes is a difficult task being the process characterized by time scales of tens to hundreds of years. Thanks to the availability of historical maps of the Venice lagoon, we reconstructed the reduction of salt mash areas that occurred in the northern part of the lagoon in the last two centuries. In this period, anthropic interventions played a crucial role in promoting the disappearance of vast marsh surfaces in the inner lagoon, while the marshes closer to the inlet remained fairly stable. Using a 2D numerical model we investigated the hydrodynamic behavior of different ancient lagoon configurations analyzing the effect of i) the construction of the jetties at the Lido inlet in 1882-1892 and ii) the removal of reed barriers that protected a fish farm area in the same period. Our results show that the deepening of the inlet induced by the construction of the jetties had a positive feedback on the vertical accretion of the salt marshes close to the inlet by lowering the local mean sea level and increasing the tidal amplitude. This effect contrasted the eustatic SLR for more than 30 years, allowing these marshes to increase their height with respect to the local mean sea level. On the contrary, the salt marshes far from the inlet could not take the same rapid advantage of this effect due to tidal wave dissipation characterizing tide propagation in shallow basins. Elevation of inner marshes is low due to the small tidal excursion, making these marshes extremely vulnerable to changes in sediment supply and SLR. We show that the removal of reed barriers used by ancient Venetians to create fish farms in the inner lagoon may have reduced the sediments available to the marshes thus contributing to their drowning.

Innovative method for optimizing Side-Scan Sonar mapping: The blind band unveiled

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pergent, Gérard; Monnier, Briac; Clabaut, Philippe; Gascon, Gilles; Pergent-Martini, Christine; Valette-Sansevin, Audrey

2017-07-01

Over the past few years, the mapping of Mediterranean marine habitats has become a priority for scientists, environment managers and stakeholders, in particular in order to comply with European directives (Water Framework Directive and Marine Strategy Framework Directive) and to implement legislation to ensure their conservation. Side-scan sonar (SSS) is recognised as one of the most effective tool for underwater mapping. However, interpretation of acoustic data (sonograms) requires extensive field calibration and the ground-truthing process remains essential. Several techniques are commonly used, with sampling methods involving grabs, scuba diving observations or Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) underwater video recordings. All these techniques are time consuming, expensive and only provide sporadic informations. In the present study, the possibility of coupling a camera with a SSS and acquiring underwater videos in a continuous way has been tested. During the 'PosidCorse' oceanographic survey carried out along the eastern coast of Corsica, optical and acoustic data were respectively obtained using a GoPro™ camera and a Klein 3000™ SSS. Thereby, five profiles were performed between 10 and 50 m depth, corresponding to more than 20 km of data acquisition. The vertical images recorded with the camera fixed under the SSS and positioned facing downwards provided photo mosaics of very good quality corresponding to the entire sonograms's blind band. From the photo mosaics, 94% of the different bottom types and main habitats have been identified; specific structures linked to hydrodynamics conditions, anthropic and biological activities have also been observed as well as the substrate on which the Posidonia oceanica meadow grows. The association between acoustic data and underwater videos has proved to be a non-destructive and cost-effective method for ground-truthing in marine habitats mapping. Nevertheless, in order to optimize the results over the next surveys, certain limitations will need to be remedied.

Contribution of physical modelling to climate-driven landslide hazard mapping: an alpine test site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vandromme, R.; Desramaut, N.; Baills, A.; Hohmann, A.; Grandjean, G.; Sedan, O.; Mallet, J. P.

2012-04-01

The aim of this work is to develop a methodology for integrating climate change scenarios into quantitative hazard assessment and especially their precipitation component. The effects of climate change will be different depending on both the location of the site and the type of landslide considered. Indeed, mass movements can be triggered by different factors. This paper describes a methodology to address this issue and shows an application on an alpine test site. Mechanical approaches represent a solution for quantitative landslide susceptibility and hazard modeling. However, as the quantity and the quality of data are generally very heterogeneous at a regional scale, it is necessary to take into account the uncertainty in the analysis. In this perspective, a new hazard modeling method is developed and integrated in a program named ALICE. This program integrates mechanical stability analysis through a GIS software taking into account data uncertainty. This method proposes a quantitative classification of landslide hazard and offers a useful tool to gain time and efficiency in hazard mapping. However, an expertise approach is still necessary to finalize the maps. Indeed it is the only way to take into account some influent factors in slope stability such as heterogeneity of the geological formations or effects of anthropic interventions. To go further, the alpine test site (Barcelonnette area, France) is being used to integrate climate change scenarios into ALICE program, and especially their precipitation component with the help of a hydrological model (GARDENIA) and the regional climate model REMO (Jacob, 2001). From a DEM, land-cover map, geology, geotechnical data and so forth the program classifies hazard zones depending on geotechnics and different hydrological contexts varying in time. This communication, realized within the framework of Safeland project, is supported by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, Area "Environment", Activity 1.3.3.1 "Prediction of triggering and risk assessment for landslides".

Soil carbon stocks in Sarawak, Malaysia.

PubMed

Padmanabhan, E; Eswaran, H; Reich, P F

2013-11-01

The relationship between greenhouse gas emission and climate change has led to research to identify and manage the natural sources and sinks of the gases. CO2, CH4, and N2O have an anthropic source and of these CO2 is the least effective in trapping long wave radiation. Soil carbon sequestration can best be described as a process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and relocating into soils in a form that is not readily released back into the atmosphere. The purpose of this study is to estimate carbon stocks available under current conditions in Sarawak, Malaysia. SOC estimates are made for a standard depth of 100 cm unless the soil by definition is less than this depth, as in the case of lithic subgroups. Among the mineral soils, Inceptisols tend to generally have the highest carbon contents (about 25 kg m(-2) m(-1)), while Oxisols and Ultisols rate second (about 10-15 kg m(-2) m(-1)). The Oxisols store a good amount of carbon because of an appreciable time-frame to sequester carbon and possibly lower decomposition rates for the organic carbon that is found at 1m depths. Wet soils such as peatlands tend to store significant amounts of carbon. The highest values estimated for such soils are about 114 kg m(-2) m(-1). Such appreciable amounts can also be found in the Aquepts. In conclusion, it is pertinent to recognize that degradation of the carbon pool, just like desertification, is a real process and that this irreversible process must be addressed immediately. Therefore, appropriate soil management practices should be instituted to sequester large masses of soil carbon on an annual basis. This knowledge can be used effectively to formulate strategies to prevent forest fires and clearing: two processes that can quickly release sequestered carbon to the atmosphere in an almost irreversible manner. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Shaking Table Tests Validating Two Strengthening Interventions on Masonry Buildings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Canio, Gerardo; Muscolino, Giuseppe; Palmeri, Alessandro; Poggi, Massimo; Clemente, Paolo

2008-07-01

Masonry buildings constitute quite often a precious cultural heritage for our cities. In order to future generations can enjoy this heritage, thence, effective projects of protection should be developed against all the anthropical and natural actions which may irreparably damage old masonry buildings. However, the strengthening interventions on these constructions have to respect their authenticity, without altering the original conception, not only functionally and aesthetically of course, but also statically. These issues are of central interests in the Messina area, where the seismic protection of new and existing constructions is a primary demand. It is well known, in fact, that the city of Messina lies in a highly seismic zone, and has been subjected to two destructive earthquakes in slightly more than one century, the 1783 Calabria earthquake and the more famous 1908 Messina-Reggio Calabria earthquake. It follows that the retrofitting projects on buildings which survived these two events should be designed with the aim to save the life of occupants operating with "light" techniques, i.e. respecting the original structural scheme. On the other hand, recent earthquakes, and in particular the 1997 Umbria-Marche sequence, unequivocally demonstrated that some of the most popular retrofitting interventions adopted in the second half the last century are absolutely ineffective, or even unsafe. Over these years, in fact, a number of "heavy" techniques proliferated, and therefore old masonry buildings suffered, among others, the substitution of existing timber slabs with more ponderous concrete slabs and/or the insertion of RC and steel members coupled with the original masonry elements (walls, arches, vaults). As a result, these buildings have been transformed by unwise engineers into hybrid structures, having a mixed behaviour (which frequently proved to be also unpredictable) between those of historic masonry and new members. Starting from these considerations, a numerical and experimental research has been carried out, aimed at validating two different strengthening interventions on masonry buildings: (i) the substitution of the existing roof with timber-concrete composite slabs, which are able to improve the dynamic behaviour of the structure without excessively increase the mass, and (ii) the reinforcement of masonry walls with FRP materials, which allow increasing both stiffness and strength of the construction. The experimental tests have been performed on a 1:2 scale model of a masonry building resembling a special type, the so-called "tipo misto messinese", which is proper to the reconstruction of the city of Messina after the 1783 Calabria earthquake. The model, incorporating a novel timber-concrete composite slab, has been tested on the main shaking table available at the ENEA Research Centre "Casaccia," both before and after the reinforcement with FRP materials. Some aspects related to the definition of the model and to the selection of an appropriate seismic input will be discussed, and numerical results confirming the effectiveness of the interventions mentioned above will be presented.

Shaking Table Tests Validating Two Strengthening Interventions on Masonry Buildings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

De Canio, Gerardo; Poggi, Massimo; Clemente, Paolo

2008-07-08

Masonry buildings constitute quite often a precious cultural heritage for our cities. In order to future generations can enjoy this heritage, thence, effective projects of protection should be developed against all the anthropical and natural actions which may irreparably damage old masonry buildings. However, the strengthening interventions on these constructions have to respect their authenticity, without altering the original conception, not only functionally and aesthetically of course, but also statically. These issues are of central interests in the Messina area, where the seismic protection of new and existing constructions is a primary demand. It is well known, in fact, thatmore » the city of Messina lies in a highly seismic zone, and has been subjected to two destructive earthquakes in slightly more than one century, the 1783 Calabria earthquake and the more famous 1908 Messina-Reggio Calabria earthquake. It follows that the retrofitting projects on buildings which survived these two events should be designed with the aim to save the life of occupants operating with 'light' techniques, i.e. respecting the original structural scheme. On the other hand, recent earthquakes, and in particular the 1997 Umbria-Marche sequence, unequivocally demonstrated that some of the most popular retrofitting interventions adopted in the second half the last century are absolutely ineffective, or even unsafe. Over these years, in fact, a number of 'heavy' techniques proliferated, and therefore old masonry buildings suffered, among others, the substitution of existing timber slabs with more ponderous concrete slabs and/or the insertion of RC and steel members coupled with the original masonry elements (walls, arches, vaults). As a result, these buildings have been transformed by unwise engineers into hybrid structures, having a mixed behaviour (which frequently proved to be also unpredictable) between those of historic masonry and new members. Starting from these considerations, a numerical and experimental research has been carried out, aimed at validating two different strengthening interventions on masonry buildings: (i) the substitution of the existing roof with timber-concrete composite slabs, which are able to improve the dynamic behaviour of the structure without excessively increase the mass, and (ii) the reinforcement of masonry walls with FRP materials, which allow increasing both stiffness and strength of the construction. The experimental tests have been performed on a 1:2 scale model of a masonry building resembling a special type, the so-called 'tipo misto messinese', which is proper to the reconstruction of the city of Messina after the 1783 Calabria earthquake. The model, incorporating a novel timber-concrete composite slab, has been tested on the main shaking table available at the ENEA Research Centre 'Casaccia', both before and after the reinforcement with FRP materials. Some aspects related to the definition of the model and to the selection of an appropriate seismic input will be discussed, and numerical results confirming the effectiveness of the interventions mentioned above will be presented.« less

Experimental infrared measurements for hydrocarbon pollutant determination in subterranean waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lay-Ekuakille, A.; Palamara, I.; Caratelli, D.; Morabito, F. C.

2013-01-01

Subterranean waters are often polluted by industrial and anthropic effluents that are drained in subsoil. To prevent and control pollution, legislations of different developed countries require an online monitoring measurement, especially for detecting organic solvents (chlorinated and unchlorinated ones). Online measurements include both real-time and no real-time measurements. In general, it is difficult to implement real-time measurements in stricto sensu for online acquisitions on aqueous effluents since they need to be processed by a modeling. This research presents an experimental measurement system based on infrared (IR) spectroscopy for aqueous effluents containing hydrocarbons and capable of displaying excellent values of pollutant concentrations even in instable conditions; the system is able to detect pollutants either in laminar or turbulent flow. The results show the possibility of avoiding the use of "Pitot tube" that is employed to create a stagnation point in order to convert kinetic energy into potential one. This conversion allows the transformation of a turbulent flow in a laminar flow making easy measurement of pollutants included in an aqueous effluent. Obviously, "Pitot tube" is also used for other fluid effluents. The obtained results have been compared with those produced by means of sophisticated IR instrumentation for laboratory applications.

Experimental infrared measurements for hydrocarbon pollutant determination in subterranean waters.

PubMed

Lay-Ekuakille, A; Palamara, I; Caratelli, D; Morabito, F C

2013-01-01

Subterranean waters are often polluted by industrial and anthropic effluents that are drained in subsoil. To prevent and control pollution, legislations of different developed countries require an online monitoring measurement, especially for detecting organic solvents (chlorinated and unchlorinated ones). Online measurements include both real-time and no real-time measurements. In general, it is difficult to implement real-time measurements in stricto sensu for online acquisitions on aqueous effluents since they need to be processed by a modeling. This research presents an experimental measurement system based on infrared (IR) spectroscopy for aqueous effluents containing hydrocarbons and capable of displaying excellent values of pollutant concentrations even in instable conditions; the system is able to detect pollutants either in laminar or turbulent flow. The results show the possibility of avoiding the use of "Pitot tube" that is employed to create a stagnation point in order to convert kinetic energy into potential one. This conversion allows the transformation of a turbulent flow in a laminar flow making easy measurement of pollutants included in an aqueous effluent. Obviously, "Pitot tube" is also used for other fluid effluents. The obtained results have been compared with those produced by means of sophisticated IR instrumentation for laboratory applications.

Moduli Dark Matter and the Search for Its Decay Line using Suzaku X-Ray Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kusenko, Alexander; Loewenstein, Michael; Yanagida, Tsutomu T.

2013-01-01

Light scalar fields called moduli arise from a variety of different models involving supersymmetry and/or string theory; thus their existence is a generic prediction of leading theories for physics beyond the standard model. They also present a formidable, long-standing problem for cosmology. We argue that an anthropic solution to the moduli problem exists in the case of small moduli masses and that it automatically leads to dark matter in the form of moduli. The recent discovery of the 125 GeV Higgs boson implies a lower bound on the moduli mass of about a keV. This form of dark matter is consistent with the observed properties of structure formation, and it is amenable to detection with the help of x-ray telescopes. We present the results of a search for such dark matter particles using spectra extracted from the first deep x-ray observations of the Draco and Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxies, which are darkmatter- dominated systems with extreme mass-to-light ratios and low intrinsic backgrounds. No emission line is positively detected, and we set new constraints on the relevant new physics.

Immune failure reveals vulnerability of populations exposed to pollution in the bioindicator species Hediste diversicolor.

PubMed

Cuvillier-Hot, Virginie; Gaudron, Sylvie Marylène; Massol, François; Boidin-Wichlacz, Céline; Pennel, Timothée; Lesven, Ludovic; Net, Sopheak; Papot, Claire; Ravaux, Juliette; Vekemans, Xavier; Billon, Gabriel; Tasiemski, Aurélie

2018-02-01

Human activities on the shoreline generate a growing pollution, creating deleterious habitats in coastal zones. Some species nevertheless succeed in such harsh milieus, raising the question of their tolerance to environmental stress. The annelid Hediste diversicolor lives buried in the sediments, directly exposed to contaminants trapped in the mud. After verifying the similarity of their genetic contexts, we compared reproductive output and individual immune resistance measures of populations living in polluted vs. 'clean' sediments, and related these assessments with measures of phthalates and metal pollution, and associated toxicity indices. Chemical analyses predicted no toxicity to the local infauna, and phenological studies evidenced no direct cost of living in noxious habitats. However, populations exposed to pollutants showed a significantly reduced survival upon infection with a local pathogen. Surprisingly, physiological studies evidenced a basal overinflammatory state in the most exposed populations. This over-activated baseline immune phenotype likely generates self-damage leading to enhanced immune cell death rate and immune failure. Monitoring the immune status of individual worms living in anthropic areas could thus be used as a reliable source of information regarding the actual health of wild populations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Biogenic volatile organic compound emissions from vegetation fires

PubMed Central

CICCIOLI, PAOLO; CENTRITTO, MAURO; LORETO, FRANCESCO

2014-01-01

The aim of this paper was to provide an overview of the current state of the art on research into the emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) from vegetation fires. Significant amounts of VOCs are emitted from vegetation fires, including several reactive compounds, the majority belonging to the isoprenoid family, which rapidly disappear in the plume to yield pollutants such as secondary organic aerosol and ozone. This makes determination of fire-induced BVOC emission difficult, particularly in areas where the ratio between VOCs and anthropogenic NOx is favourable to the production of ozone, such as Mediterranean areas and highly anthropic temperate (and fire-prone) regions of the Earth. Fire emissions affecting relatively pristine areas, such as the Amazon and the African savannah, are representative of emissions of undisturbed plant communities. We also examined expected BVOC emissions at different stages of fire development and combustion, from drying to flaming, and from heatwaves coming into contact with unburned vegetation at the edge of fires. We conclude that forest fires may dramatically change emission factors and the profile of emitted BVOCs, thereby influencing the chemistry and physics of the atmosphere, the physiology of plants and the evolution of plant communities within the ecosystem. PMID:24689733

Special course for Masters and PhD students: phase transitions, Landau theory, 1D Ising model, the dimension of the space and Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Udodov, Vladimir; Katanov Khakas State Univ Team

2014-03-01

Symmetry breaking transitions. The phenomenological (L.D.Landau, USSR, 1937) way to describe phase transitions (PT's). Order parameter and loss of the symmetry. The second derivative of the free energy changes jump wise at the transition, i.e. we have a mathematical singularity and second order PT (TC>0). Extremes of free energy. A point of loss of stability of the symmetrical phase. The eigenfrequency of PT and soft mode behavior. The conditions of applicability of the Landau theory (A.Levanyuk, 1959, V.Ginzburg, 1960). 1D Ising model and exact solution by a transfer matrix method. Critical exponents in the L.Landau PT's theory and for 1D Ising model. Scaling hypothesis (1965) for 1D Ising model with zero critical temperature. The order of PT in 1D Ising model in the framework of the R.Baxter approach. The anthropic principle and the dimension of the space. Why do we have a three-dimensional space? Big bang, the cosmic vacuum, inflation and PT's. Higgs boson and symmetry breaking transitions. Author acknowledges the support of Katanov Khakas State University.

[Water quality evaluation in rural areas of Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 1999-2000].

PubMed

Rocha, Christiane Maria Barcellos Magalhães da; Rodrigues, Luciano Dos Santos; Costa, Claudionor C; de Oliveira, Paulo Roberto; da Silva, Israel José; de Jesus, Eder Ferreira Moraes; Rolim, Renata G

2006-09-01

In addition to personal interviews, laboratory analyses were performed using 80 water samples from 45 rural areas that are crossed by the Agua Limpa and Santa Cruz streams close to the city of Lavras, southern Minas Gerais State. The results allowed comparing the quality of water used for agriculture and the identification of determinant factors. The Agua Limpa stream mostly crosses an area used primarily for housing and characterized by low schooling. Many houses are supplied by shallow water wells and have ordinary cesspits for human waste disposal. All springs are polluted. The Santa Cruz stream displays a different scenario. The land is used mostly for agricultural purposes. Most owners live in town, with widely varied levels of school, from none to university. The houses are supplied by surface water. Most of the springs are polluted. The perception by both home and land owners concerning quality of the drinking water is determined solely by the water's physical and organoleptic characteristics. Sanitary parameters are not taken into account. Moreover, there is no relationship between fecal contamination and the type of spring. Land use and anthropic activity are far more important than the type of spring for water quality.

Ecological characterization of a tick community across a landscape gradient exhibiting differential anthropogenic disturbance in the Atlantic Forest ecoregion in Argentina.

PubMed

Lamattina, D; Venzal, J M; Costa, S A; Arrabal, J P; Flores, S; Berrozpe, P E; González-Acuña, D; Guglielmone, A A; Nava, S

2018-01-25

An ecological analysis of a tick (Ixodida: Ixodidae) community across a landscape gradient presenting differential anthropogenic disturbance in the Atlantic Forest ecoregion in Argentina was performed. Ticks were collected from vegetation and hosts between September 2014 and August 2016. A total of 12 697 free-living ticks and 3347 specimens from hosts were collected, including 317 ticks infesting humans. The values obtained show considerable species diversity in the forest environment accompanied by low equitability. The similarity index derived from a comparison of forest and agricultural environments was higher than that calculated by comparing forest and urban environments. The data suggest that although a cycle of one generation per year is apparent in some species, more than one cohort may co-exist within the populations of some of these species. Well-marked patterns of the seasonal distribution of free-living tick species emerged in environments with no anthropic modification. The results indicate that forest environments are more suitable habitats than agricultural and urban environments for many species of native tick, but are unsuitable for exotic species that have successfully established in environments that have been modified by man. © 2018 The Royal Entomological Society.

Inflation-Theory Implications for Extraterrestrial Visitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deardoff, J.; Haisch, B.; Maccabee, B.; Puthoff, H. E.

It has recently been argued that anthropic reasoning applied to inflation theory reinforces the prediction that we should find ourselves part of a large, galaxy-sized civilisation, thus strengthening Fermi's paradox concerning `Where are they?' Furthermore, superstring and M-brane theory allow for the possibility of parallel universes, some of which in principle could be habitable. In addition, discussion of such exotic transport concepts as `traversable wormholes' now appears in the rigorous physics literature. As a result, the `We are alone' solution to Fermi's paradox, based on the constraints of earlier 20th century viewpoints, appears today to be inconsistent with new developments in our best current physics and astrophysics theories. Therefore we reexamine and reevaluate the present assumption that extraterrestrials or their probes are not in the vicinity of Earth, and argue instead that some evidence of their presence might be found in certain high-quality UFO reports. This study follows up on previous arguments that (1) interstellar travel for advanced civilizations is not a priori ruled out by physical principles and therefore may be practicable, and (2) such advanced civilisations may value the search for knowledge from uncontaminated species more than direct, interspecies communication, thereby accounting for apparent covertness regarding their presence.

Earliest evidence of pollution by heavy metals in archaeological sites.

PubMed

Monge, Guadalupe; Jimenez-Espejo, Francisco J; García-Alix, Antonio; Martínez-Ruiz, Francisca; Mattielli, Nadine; Finlayson, Clive; Ohkouchi, Naohiko; Sánchez, Miguel Cortés; de Castro, Jose María Bermúdez; Blasco, Ruth; Rosell, Jordi; Carrión, José; Rodríguez-Vidal, Joaquín; Finlayson, Geraldine

2015-09-21

Homo species were exposed to a new biogeochemical environment when they began to occupy caves. Here we report the first evidence of palaeopollution through geochemical analyses of heavy metals in four renowned archaeological caves of the Iberian Peninsula spanning the last million years of human evolution. Heavy metal contents reached high values due to natural (guano deposition) and anthropogenic factors (e.g. combustion) in restricted cave environments. The earliest anthropogenic pollution evidence is related to Neanderthal hearths from Gorham's Cave (Gibraltar), being one of the first milestones in the so-called "Anthropocene". According to its heavy metal concentration, these sediments meet the present-day standards of "contaminated soil". Together with the former, the Gibraltar Vanguard Cave, shows Zn and Cu pollution ubiquitous across highly anthropic levels pointing to these elements as potential proxies for human activities. Pb concentrations in Magdalenian and Bronze age levels at El Pirulejo site can be similarly interpreted. Despite these high pollution levels, the contaminated soils might not have posed a major threat to Homo populations. Altogether, the data presented here indicate a long-term exposure of Homo to these elements, via fires, fumes and their ashes, which could have played certain role in environmental-pollution tolerance, a hitherto neglected influence.

Gas Chromatography Analysis with Olfactometric Detection (GC-O) as a Useful Methodology for Chemical Characterization of Odorous Compounds

PubMed Central

Brattoli, Magda; Cisternino, Ezia; Dambruoso, Paolo Rosario; de Gennaro, Gianluigi; Giungato, Pasquale; Mazzone, Antonio; Palmisani, Jolanda; Tutino, Maria

2013-01-01

The gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) technique couples traditional gas chromatographic analysis with sensory detection in order to study complex mixtures of odorous substances and to identify odor active compounds. The GC-O technique is already widely used for the evaluation of food aromas and its application in environmental fields is increasing, thus moving the odor emission assessment from the solely olfactometric evaluations to the characterization of the volatile components responsible for odor nuisance. The aim of this paper is to describe the state of the art of gas chromatography-olfactometry methodology, considering the different approaches regarding the operational conditions and the different methods for evaluating the olfactometric detection of odor compounds. The potentials of GC-O are described highlighting the improvements in this methodology relative to other conventional approaches used for odor detection, such as sensoristic, sensorial and the traditional gas chromatographic methods. The paper also provides an examination of the different fields of application of the GC-O, principally related to fragrances and food aromas, odor nuisance produced by anthropic activities and odorous compounds emitted by materials and medical applications. PMID:24316571

Starry Messages - Searching for Signatures of Interstellar Archaeology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carrigan, R. A., Jr.

Searching for signatures of cosmic-scale archaeological artefacts such as Dyson spheres or Kardashev civilizations is an interesting alternative to conventional SETI. Uncovering such an artifact does not require the intentional transmission of a signal on the part of the originating civilization. This type of search is called interstellar archaeology or sometimes cosmic archaeology . The detection of intelligence elsewhere in the Universe with interstellar archaeology or SETI would have broad implications for science. For example, the constraints of the anthropic principle would have to be loosened if a different type of intelligence was discovered elsewhere. A variety of interstellar archaeology signatures are discussed including non-natural planetary atmospheric constituents, stellar doping with isotopes of nuclear wastes, Dyson spheres, as well as signatures of stellar and galactic-scale engineering. The concept of a Fermi bubble due to interstellar migration is introduced in the discussion of galactic signatures. These potential interstellar archaeological signatures are classified using the Kardashev scale. A modified Drake equation is used to evaluate the relative challenges of finding various sources. With few exceptions interstellar archaeological signatures are clouded and beyond current technological capabilities. However SETI for so-called cultural transmissions and planetary atmosphere signatures are within reach.

Development of urban green space monitoring technique with remote sensing and its application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gradinaru, Cristian; Herban, Ioan Sorin; Gabor, Cristian

2016-06-01

City is the important area of earth's surface material, energy, and information exchanging; also it is the centre of national, regional political, economic, scientific and cultural aspects. A mere 10% of the global population were urban dwellers in 1900, but that percentage exceeds 50% now (Grimm et al. 2008). With the rapid economic development, city is suffering from a series of serious problems such as air pollution, solid waste pollution, vegetation reduction, deterioration of water quality and living environment. Threats to our environment represent a clear danger in the context of climate change, which is part of the "Global Change", and it is obvious that action is needed right now to protect our quality of life, particularly for those most vulnerable to health threats from environmental and technological disasters. Therefore, our top priority should be to avoid human and material losses. The security area is not only defined by disaster management, but by a wide variety of events that could affect the environment and the population's health. Following the rapid development of urban areas, a present tendency is represented by the study of those factors that place some areas in categories with high risk for natural and anthropic hazard.

Are there general spatial patterns of mangrove structure and composition along estuarine salinity gradients in Todos os Santos Bay?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costa, Patrícia; Dórea, Antônio; Mariano-Neto, Eduardo; Barros, Francisco

2015-12-01

Species distribution and structural patterns of mangrove fringe forests along three tropical estuaries were evaluated in northeast of Brazil. Interstitial water salinity, percentage of fine sediments and organic matter content were investigated as explanatory variables. In all estuaries (Jaguaripe, Paraguaçu and Subaé estuaries), it was observed similar distribution patterns of four mangrove species and these patterns were mostly related with interstitial water salinity. Rhizophora mangle and Avicennia schaueriana tended to dominate sites under greater marine influence (lower estuary), while Avicennia germinans and Laguncularia racemosa dominated areas under greater freshwater influence (upper estuary), although the latter showed a wider distribution over these tropical estuarine gradients. Organic matter best explained canopy height and mean height. At higher salinities, there was practically no correlation between organic matter and density, but at lower salinity, organic matter was related to decreases in abundances. The described patterns can be related to interspecific differences in salt tolerance and competitive abilities and they are likely to be found at other tropical Atlantic estuaries. Future studies should investigate anthropic influences and causal processes in order to further improve the design of monitoring and restoration projects.

Sociodemographic and environmental analysis for the occurrence of anti-Leptospira antibodies in dogs of Teresina, Piauí, Brazil.

PubMed

Silva, Elís Rosélia Dutra de Freitas Siqueira; Castro, Vanessa; Mineiro, Ana Lys Bezerra Barradas; Prianti, Maria das Graças; Martins, Gustavo Henrique Chaves; Santana, Misael das Virgens; Brito, Lucas Moreira; Silva, Silvana Maria Medeiros de Sousa

2018-05-01

Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis whose transmission is interlinked by multiple factors in the man-animal-ecosystem interface. This study aimed to evaluate the risk factors for the occurrence of anti-Leptospira antibodies in dogs in the capital Teresina (PI), and to determine their spatial distribution. Five hundred fifty-eight dog blood samples were submitted to the Microscopic Serum Agglutination (MSA) test. We applied semi-structured questionnaires to dog owners and obtained the area of residence for projection in geographical maps. Serum prevalence was 13.8%, in which the most common serovar was icterohaemorrhagiae, with 49.2%. Dogs with street access, failure to collect food bowl and low income of owners were risk factors. There was a higher number of seropositive dogs in the rainy season, with 87.1%, which is a probable risk factor for the occurrence of cases. The distribution of seropositive dogs was widely spread in the city, with predominance of cases in anthropized areas. These risk factors favor the occurrence of anti-Leptospira antibodies in dogs that are agent maintenance sources in the city and reinforce the need for epidemiological and environmental surveillance to prevent leptospirosis.

Starry messages: Searching for signatures of interstellar archaeology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carrigan, Richard A., Jr.; /Fermilab

2009-12-01

Searching for signatures of cosmic-scale archaeological artifacts such as Dyson spheres or Kardashev civilizations is an interesting alternative to conventional SETI. Uncovering such an artifact does not require the intentional transmission of a signal on the part of the original civilization. This type of search is called interstellar archaeology or sometimes cosmic archaeology. The detection of intelligence elsewhere in the Universe with interstellar archaeology or SETI would have broad implications for science. For example, the constraints of the anthropic principle would have to be loosened if a different type of intelligence was discovered elsewhere. A variety of interstellar archaeology signaturesmore » are discussed including non-natural planetary atmospheric constituents, stellar doping with isotopes of nuclear wastes, Dyson spheres, as well as signatures of stellar and galactic-scale engineering. The concept of a Fermi bubble due to interstellar migration is introduced in the discussion of galactic signatures. These potential interstellar archaeological signatures are classified using the Kardashev scale. A modified Drake equation is used to evaluate the relative challenges of finding various sources. With few exceptions interstellar archaeological signatures are clouded and beyond current technological capabilities. However SETI for so-called cultural transmissions and planetary atmosphere signatures are within reach.« less

Soil organic carbon sequestration and tillage systems in Mediterranean environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Francaviglia, Rosa; Di Bene, Claudia; Marchetti, Alessandro; Farina, Roberta

2016-04-01

Soil carbon sequestration is of special interest in Mediterranean areas, where rainfed cropping systems are prevalent, inputs of organic matter to soils are low and mostly rely on crop residues, while losses are high due to climatic and anthropic factors such as intensive and non-conservative farming practices. The adoption of reduced or no tillage systems, characterized by a lower soil disturbance in comparison with conventional tillage, has proved to be positively effective on soil organic carbon (SOC) conservation and other physical and chemical processes, parameters or functions, e.g. erosion, compaction, ion retention and exchange, buffering capacity, water retention and aggregate stability. Moreover, soil biological and biochemical processes are usually improved by the reduction of tillage intensity. The work deals with some results available in the scientific literature, and related to field experiment on arable crops performed in Italy, Greece, Morocco and Spain. Data were organized in a dataset containing the main environmental parameters (altitude, temperature, rainfall), soil tillage system information (conventional, minimum and no-tillage), soil parameters (bulk density, pH, particle size distribution and texture), crop type, rotation, management and length of the experiment in years, initial SOCi and final SOCf stocks. Sampling sites are located between 33° 00' and 43° 32' latitude N, 2-860 m a.s.l., with mean annual temperature and rainfall in the range 10.9-19.6° C and 355-900 mm. SOC data, expressed in t C ha-1, have been evaluated both in terms of Carbon Sequestration Rate, given by [(SOCf-SOCi)/length in years], and as percentage change in comparison with the initial value [(SOCf-SOCi)/SOCi*100]. Data variability due to the different environmental, soil and crop management conditions that influence SOC sequestration and losses will be examined.

Herbicides induce change in metabolic and genetic diversity of bacterial community from a cold oligotrophic lake.

PubMed

Aguayo, P; González, C; Barra, R; Becerra, J; Martínez, M

2014-03-01

Pristine cold oligotrophic lakes show unique physical and chemical characteristics with permanent fluctuation in temperature and carbon source availability. Incorporation of organic toxic matters to these ecosystems could alter the bacterial community composition. Our goal was to assess the effects of simazine (Sz) and 2,4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) upon the metabolic and genetic diversity of the bacterial community in sediment samples from a pristine cold oligotrophic lake. Sediment samples were collected in winter and summer season, and microcosms were prepared using a ration 1:10 (sediments:water). The microcosms were supplemented with 0.1 mM 2,4-D or 0.5 mM Sz and incubated for 20 days at 10 °C. Metabolic diversity was evaluated by using the Biolog Ecoplate™ system and genetic diversity by 16S rDNA amplification followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis. Total bacterial counts and live/dead ratio were determined by epifluorescence microscopy. The control microcosms showed no significant differences (P > 0.05) in both metabolic and genetic diversity between summer and winter samples. On the other hand, the addition of 2,4-D or Sz to microcosms induces statistical significant differences (P < 0.05) in metabolic and genetic diversity showing the prevalence of Actinobacteria group which are usually not detected in the sediments of these non-contaminated lacustrine systems. The obtained results suggest that contaminations of cold pristine lakes with organic toxic compounds of anthropic origin alter their homeostasis by inhibiting specific susceptible bacterial groups. The concomitant increase of usually low representative bacterial groups modifies the bacterial composition commonly found in this pristine lake.

Bark and Ambrosia Beetle (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) Diversity Found in Agricultural and Fragmented Forests in Piracicaba-SP, Brazil.

PubMed

Sandoval Rodríguez, Carla; Cognato, Anthony I; Righi, Ciro Abbud

2017-12-08

Land use changes and forest fragmentation result in biodiversity loss and displacement, with insects among the most affected groups. Among these, bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) occupy a prominent position due to their close ties to food resources, i.e., trees, and importance as primary decomposers in forest ecosystems. Therefore, our study aimed to document scolytine biodiversity associated with landscape components that vary based on their physical or botanical composition. Bark beetle diversity was sampled monthly for 12 mo in an Atlantic forest remnant and five adjacent vegetation plots (mixed Agroforestry System-AFS, of native trees and fruit species; AFS of rubber trees and coffee plants; coffee monoculture; rubber monoculture; and pasture). In total, 1,833 individuals were sampled from 38 species of which 24 (63%) were detected in very low abundance. The remaining 14 species were more abundant and widespread almost in all areas. Hypothenemus hampei (Westwood), Premnobius cavipennis (Eichhoff), Hypothenemus sp1., and Xyleborus volvulus (Fabricius) were the most abundant. The greatest abundance and richness of bark beetles were found in the dry and cold season. The varied microclimatic conditions of the vegetation plots greatly affected the diversity of the Scolytinae. Solar radiation presented a significant negative effect on abundance in almost all the studied areas. The greatest scolytine diversity was found in anthropic areas with tree canopy structure. Open areas (pasture and coffee monocrop) had a lower species diversity. Similarly, a lower abundance and species richness were found for the Atlantic forest remnant. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Size But not the Symmetry of the Wings of Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier (Apidae: Euglossini) is Affected by Human-Disturbed Landscapes in the Brazilian Cerrado Savanna.

PubMed

Pinto, N S; Silva, D P; Rodrigues, J G; De Marco, P

2015-10-01

Among other human-related activities, habitat loss and fragmentation are currently ranked as the most important environmental features affecting the persistence of animal and plant populations in landscapes, as well as the maintenance of ecological processes and services. Since these processes are also capable of affecting the ontogenetic development of species inhabiting those landscapes, here we measured the wing veins of male Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier (Apidae: Euglossini) bees in order to evaluate whether the bees sampled in agriculture (AG) areas suffer higher fluctuating asymmetry (FA) than those sampled in Cerrado (CE) areas in the Brazilian state of Goiás. We believe that individuals sampled in CE areas would be less asymmetric than those sampled in AG areas, given a potential higher exposure of these specimens to environmental stresses (mostly pesticides). However, we did not observe a significant trend in the FA measures we obtained, although three wing measures were bigger for bees from CE areas. The lack of significant effects of FA may be related to inherent bionomic features of E. nigrita. For instance, given their high individual dispersal abilities, the individuals we analyzed may have developed in different areas than those where they were sampled. Their generalist feeding behavior may also have given them a higher resistance to environmental perturbations, buffering the normal development of immatures even in areas with local high environmental stress. Nonetheless, higher death rates of individuals from anthropic areas may also have killed the developing immatures of E. nigrita before they reached adulthood consequently equalizing our sampled estimates.

Contamination of woody habitat soils around a former lead smelter in the North of France.

PubMed

Douay, F; Pruvot, C; Waterlot, C; Fritsch, C; Fourrier, H; Loriette, A; Bidar, G; Grand, C; de Vaufleury, A; Scheifler, R

2009-10-15

The contamination of the topsoil of 262 woody habitats around a former lead smelter in the North of France was assessed. In this urbanized and industrialized area, these kinds of habitats comprise of hedges, groves, small woods, anthropogenic creations and one large forest. Except for the latter, which is 3 km away, these woody habitat soils often present a high anthropization degree (a significant amount of pebbles and stones related to human activities) with a high metal contamination. In the studied woody habitat topsoils, Cd, Pb and Zn concentrations largely exceeded those of agricultural topsoils located in the same environmental context. Therefore, atmospheric emissions from the smelter are not the only cause of the high contamination of the woody habitat soils. This last one is related to the nature and the contamination level of deposit in relation with human activities (rubbles, slag, soils, etc). With regard to the results obtained with chemical extractions, the mobility of Cd, Pb and Zn in these soils is also greater than in agricultural soils. In the forest, pollutant solubility is increased by soil acidic pH. The variability of the physico-chemical parameters and the high metal contamination of the topsoils are the main characteristics of the woody habitats located around the former smelter. Although never taken into account during risk assessment, the disturbance of these environmental components could have important biogeochemical impacts (nutrients and metal cycles). Moreover, any modification of the soils' use could potentially cause mobilization and transfer of the pollutants to the biosphere. Six years after the closure of the smelter, and as social and economic pressures considerably increase in this area, the study of these peculiar ecosystems is necessary to understand and predict the bioavailability, transfer, bioaccumulation and effects of pollutants in food chains.

Integrating Sediment Connectivity into Water Resources Management Trough a Graph Theoretic, Stochastic Modeling Framework.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmitt, R. J. P.; Castelletti, A.; Bizzi, S.

2014-12-01

Understanding sediment transport processes at the river basin scale, their temporal spectra and spatial patterns is key to identify and minimize morphologic risks associated to channel adjustments processes. This work contributes a stochastic framework for modeling bed-load connectivity based on recent advances in the field (e.g., Bizzi & Lerner, 2013; Czubas & Foufoulas-Georgiu, 2014). It presents river managers with novel indicators from reach scale vulnerability to channel adjustment in large river networks with sparse hydrologic and sediment observations. The framework comprises three steps. First, based on a distributed hydrological model and remotely sensed information, the framework identifies a representative grain size class for each reach. Second, sediment residence time distributions are calculated for each reach in a Monte-Carlo approach applying standard sediment transport equations driven by local hydraulic conditions. Third, a network analysis defines the up- and downstream connectivity for various travel times resulting in characteristic up/downstream connectivity signatures for each reach. Channel vulnerability indicators quantify the imbalance between up/downstream connectivity for each travel time domain, representing process dependent latency of morphologic response. Last, based on the stochastic core of the model, a sensitivity analysis identifies drivers of change and major sources of uncertainty in order to target key detrimental processes and to guide effective gathering of additional data. The application, limitation and integration into a decision analytic framework is demonstrated for a major part of the Red River Basin in Northern Vietnam (179.000 km2). Here, a plethora of anthropic alterations ranging from large reservoir construction to land-use changes results in major downstream deterioration and calls for deriving concerted sediment management strategies to mitigate current and limit future morphologic alterations.

Near surface geophysics techniques and geomorphological approach to reconstruct the hazard cave map in historical and urban areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazzari, M.; Loperte, A.; Perrone, A.

2009-04-01

This work, carried out with an integrated methodological approach, focuses on the use of near surface geophysics techniques, such as ground penetrating radar GPR and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and geomorphological analysis, in order to reconstruct the cave distribution and geometry in a urban context and, in particular, in historical centres. In fact, there are a lot of historical Mediterranean sites born on an original rupestrian settlement, of which often the new generations forgot the memory and new urban areas built on them burying any marks. The interaction during recent centuries between human activity (caves excavation, birth and growth of an urban area) and the characters of the natural environment were the reasons of a progressive increase in hazard and vulnerability levels of several sites. The reconstruction of a detailed cave map distribution is the first step to define the anthropic and geomorphological hazard in urban areas, fundamental basis for planning and assessing the risk. The integrated near surface geophysics and geomorphological techniques have been applied to the case study of Tursi hilltop town and its older nucleus called Rabatana, located in the south-western sector of the Basilicata (southern Italy), representing an interesting example of the deep bond between natural and man-made environments such as precious cultural heritage. The history of this settlement has always been deeply connected with the characteristics of the neighbouring environment and it seems possible that the first settlement was built by excavating the slopes of the sandy relief. It was a typical rupestrian settlement, where meteoric water was stored inside some cisterns excavated on the slopes. During recent centuries, the increase in territory development by humans produced an increase in cave excavation in the Tursi-Rabatana urban area. To reconstruct the extremely complex near-surface hypogeal environment excavated in the sandy layers, a geophysical investigation has been carried out, integrating the method of ERT (a multielectrode system with a Wenner-Schlumberger array layout) with the GPR (profiles were obtained using a SIR 2000-GSSI system equipped with two antennas of 400 and 200 MHz, connected by fiber-optic cables to the control unit) profiling. During the field survey, four ERT measurements and eight GPR profiles were carried out along the road network of Rabatana. The field survey permitted to evidence, for the Rabatana historical site, about 100 caves for which it is possible to see clear entrances, while at least 300 other caves are located in Tursi urban area and surroundings. This survey excludes all the caves and cisterns not directly ispectionable, but well showed in geophysical data. Since 1973, this site was subjected to the evacuation of its inhabitants in a new urban site due to catastrophic landslides caused by intense rainfalls that occurred on January 1972. Starting from 1974, the Rabatana has been almost completely deserted. Recently, a renewed interest for this site has been developed to recover the historical center, removing the current constraint of total evacuation. However at present, the site is still characterized by a particular morphological history and environmental factors that generate widespread risk conditions for the inhabitants and built-up areas. Morphological evolution of the sandy hillslopes on which Tursi town rises is characterized by very intense erosive phenomena such as landslides, deep gullies, rills, and piping, which affect the whole perimeter of urban settlements and threaten the conservation of these sites. From the point of view of the process of physical degradation, the sandy facies are characterized by desiccation cracks to which the piping erosion and detachment blocks along the slopes are closely linked. In some cases large voids do not develop, but seepage erosion and running sand cause morphologically similar surface collapse phenomena (sinkholes). Outlets spreading can cause landslide phenomena (rockfall and toppling) along the steep sandy-clayey slopes. The secular multilevel cave excavation, developed along several fronts beneath the urban area, accelerated the pre-existing morphological processes acting on this site, favouring the water infiltration and subsurface erosional phenomena, characterized by widespread surface piping erosion of sandy bodies. Moreover, climate analysis carried out for the last century showed an increasing trend in rainfall intensity over short durations, which also induced an increase in hazard conditions of the slopes. All the natural and anthropic conditions described above show as a deep knowledge of cave distribution and their geometry is the basis for a good urban planning to apply in historical site particularly vulnerable; it shows also as the integrated near surface geophysics techniques can powerfully contribute to acquire useful information to mitigate the anthropic risk and preserve the historical-monumental heritage.

Effects on the shore line modifications of illegal dumping of demolition material: the case of Palermo gulf

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferruzza, G.; Fallo, L.; Vaccaro, F.

2009-04-01

Most coastal habitat now exhibits stress from human activities and thus a linkage between adverse environmental impacts and coastal development is now apparent. This linkage is complex, often not well understood, yet it is expected to increase in strength as coastal population expands. New and recent human agglomerations in the coastal zone have brought about unprecedented changes that would have been unexpected only few years ago and whose effects are now rising. The Gulf of Palermo (north Sicily) is an excellent example to observe this kind of recent coastal modifications since, especially in the last forty years, this area has suffered an extremely high human pressure. Expansion of new chaotic anthropized areas, sometimes without any city planning and without the connected black water discharge in the sea (only rarely purified), have radically changed the shoreline and the nearshore. The quality of the column water and the shore line have been mostly affected by the discharge of black water and by the direct and indirect human pressure. This paper is focused on this second aspect. Our goal was to reconstruct the recent history of the evolution of this area. This was done by using georeferenced maps and aerial photographs of the last forty years as well as sedimentological and morphological data collected on the field. We have found substantial variations mostly in the back of the shore line. They have been caused by the uncontrolled building of new houses that have covered an enormous area only few metres far from the coast.Other kind of variations are found on the shore line and are connected with the demolitions of entire quarters of Palermo during the last big war or in the sixty, seventy and eighty years, to substitute houses with buildings. The material produced by those demolitions was illegally discharged in fours big areas along the coast. The consequential effect was the creation of small hills of artificial blocs and sands that, during the last years, the waves have distributed along the coast thus changing the morphology of the shore line and creating many new beaches.

Naturalness in the Standard Model and beyond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papaioannou, Anastasios Yiannaki

After an introduction to the Standard Model of particle physics and the unresolved question of naturalness posed by its treatment of electroweak symmetry breaking, we consider several different theoretical approaches that attempt to answer this question. First, we present work in which we consider the possibility that the Higgs boson, the long-sought hypothetical particle intimately associated with electroweak symmetry breaking, has a much larger mass than is usually assumed. Absent direct experimental evidence for a light Higgs boson (m ˜ O (100 GeV)), and precision electroweak data consistent with a light Higgs notwithstanding, we propose a heavier (m ˜ O (500 GeV)), thus more natural, Higgs boson. This heavy Higgs can be made consistent with the precision electroweak data if we also extend the Standard Model via the inclusion of new fermionic states near the weak energy scale. These new states, in addition to bringing the heavy Higgs boson in line with the precision data, also serve as a candidate for the elusive dark matter that pervades the universe. From there we go on to consider the problem of naturalness from the perspective of supersymmetry, one of the most popular candidates for physics beyond the Standard Model. In particular, the theory of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) has found favor in its ability to solve the problem of naturalness posed by the Standard Model, in its hints at unification of the strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions at high energies, and in its ability to provide supersymmetric particles as dark matter candidates. The NMSSM, however, requires rather large superpartner masses in order to accommodate a Higgs boson heavier than current experimental bounds while still maintaining gauge unification at high energies. We explore the possibility of new supersymmetric states at intermediate energies between the weak scale and the unification scale, which preserve gauge unification and allow a heavier Higgs, with only moderately heavy superpartners. Finally, we explore the possibility that previous attempts to resolve the naturalness problem may be too limited in scope. Perhaps the anthropic principle can instead provide a new way to answer such questions. We consider the intriguing scenario in which our observed universe is but one region of a much larger multi-verse, and the "constants" of nature are not constant after all, but take on a range of values. The anthropic principle's unique answer to the problem of naturalness is that only those regions of the multiverse with unnatural or "fine-tuned" parameters can give rise to the physical processes and structures that are necessary for our very existence; those regions with more natural values are dead universes where life is impossible. In particular, we examine an implementation of a unified physical theory, the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), within this multi-verse framework, and its consequences for the naturalness of electroweak symmetry breaking.

Geoarchaelogical documentation of a series of destructive events at Montegibbio Roman villa site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borgatti, Lisa; Cervi, Federico; Corsini, Alessandro; Castagnetti, Cristina; Cremonini, Stefano; Guandalini, Francesca; Labate, Donato; Pellegrini, Maurizio; Ronchetti, Francesco

2010-05-01

The Italian territory is rich in archaeological heritage, located in hilly, plain or coastal areas. Frequently, it is possible to find only the remains of ancient cultures, villages and sparse houses dating back many centuries. Therefore, no other documentation but the remains themselves can give information about both the existence and the events that eventually determined the end of historical sites, caused either by abandonment or destruction. The causes that can determine the abandonment or the destruction can be various, and may be due to anthropic and/or natural causes, and only in very few cases documents or pictures of these events are preserved. Anthropic causes can be diverse: wrong design and/or building schemes of the structure or of the foundation, wars etc. Natural causes could be variuos as well, and can be related to the environmental context of the site. For example, in mountainous areas the main causes can be landslides, snow avalanches, soil creep affecting the foundations. In plain areas floods are the main process leading to the disruption of hamlets. Along the coast tsunamis are to be considered. Other natural causes could be earthquakes or climate changes. In the Emilian Apennines, near Sassuolo (Modena, Italy), a Roman villa dated from the I century B.C. to the VI century A.D. has been excavated along a gentle slope. The villa can be divided in four different buildings from successive periods. During the first period of life of the villa (I century B.C.-I century A.D.) a destructive event caused the abandonment of this building, whose walls and mosaic floors have been destroyed in a odd way. Which was the cause of this destruction? An earthquake, a human error in construction or a landslide? What makes this question even more interesting is the probable relation of this event with an ancient source (Pliny the Older, Naturalis Historia II, 199) who remembers how in the Modena area a "portentum terrarum" (earthquake) and the collision of two mountains destroyed buildings and properties. Historically, the Sassuolo hills are identified as the location of this event, where similar destructive events have been attested also later on, also in correlation with the presence of mud volcanoes nearby the area. The research is aimed at defining the causes that determined the destruction of the Roman villa located along the Montegibbio slope. The study was carried out with a multidisciplinary approach, integrating several experts, including archaeologists, geologists and engineers. At present, no document or picture referring the causes of the destruction have been found. Therefore, in order to draw some hypotheses on the nature of the events, the analysis of the deformation of the remains, of the foundation of the buildings and the reconstruction of the slope evolution have been carried out. The results obtained so far highlight the fact that integration of geological records and archaeological evidence is the key point to unravel the evolution of this historical site.

The influences of the AMO and NAO on an Iberian alpine lake during the Late Holocene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández, Armand; Leira, Manel; Trigo, Ricardo; Vázquez-Loureiro, David; Carballeira, Rafael; Sáez, Alberto

2017-04-01

High mountain lakes, usually oligotrophic, in the Iberian Peninsula are particularly sensitive to the influence of North Atlantic large-scale modes of climate variability due to their geographical position and the reduced direct anthropic disturbances. In this context, Serra da Estrela (Portugal), in the westernmost of the Sistema Central Range, constitutes a physical barrier to air masses coming from the Atlantic Ocean. However, long-term climate reconstructions have not yet been conducted. We present a climate reconstruction in terms of precipitation and temperature changes of this setting based on facies analysis, X-ray fluorescence core scanning, elemental and isotope geochemistry on bulk organic matter and a preliminary study of diatom assemblages from the sedimentary record of Lake Peixão (1677 m a.s.l.; Serra da Estrela) for the last ca. 3500 years. A multivariate statistical analysis has been performed to recognize the main environmental factors controlling the lake sedimentation. Our results reveal that two main processes explain 70% of the total variance, with PC1 (accumulation of siliciclastic material vs organic matter), and PC2 (variations in lacustrine productivity, related to nutrient inputs from the catchment), explaining 53% and 17% respectively. In mountain lakes, siliciclastic and/or external organic matter accumulation tend to be governed by the snowmelt which, in turn, are frequently controlled by winter and spring temperatures. On the other hand, lake productivity, usually limited by phosphorus and nitrogen, is dependent of internal recycling and/or external inputs, mainly by catchment leaching (climatically driven by summer precipitation) and atmospheric deposition (anthropic influence). The results from Lake Peixão have been compared to other Western Iberia and Northeastern Atlantic records, as well as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) indices. Thus, a tentative Late Holocene climate reconstruction from Western Iberia has been performed. Two relative colder phases (ca. 2500-2000 and 550-100 cal yrs BP) and two relative colder events (ca. 1380 and 1200 cal yrs BP) have been identified. These cold periods are likely influenced by negative NAO and AMO phases, whereas relative warmer conditions would be related periods in which NAO and AMO phases are both in positive phase. Additionally, five relative wetter phases (ca. 3600-2850; 2750-2500; 2200-2100; 1500-1400 and 400-150 cal yrs BP) have also been recognised. These relative wetter periods were usually linked to NAO and AMO both in negative phase, whereas background and relative drier conditions would be concurrent with NAO and AMO in positive phase. Hence, our results highlight that although the climate regime in this area is clearly influenced by the NAO, the slow-varying AMO also plays a key role at long-term time-scales. Publication supported by FCTproject UID/GEO/50019/2013 - Instituto Dom Luiz and Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness project RapidNAO (CGL2013-661 40608-R)

Preliminary tests for Salix sp. tolerance to heavy metals (Cd, Ni, Pb)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corneanu, Mihaela; Hernea, Cornelia; Butnariu, Monica; Corneanu, Gabriel; Sărac, Ioan; Hollerbach, Wilhelm; Neţoiu, Constantin; Petcov, Andreea Adriana

2014-05-01

The species of Salix genus constitute potential sources of germplasm in the prevention of the environment degradation, and offer remedy for about two third from the all degradation types. The majority of the willow species, present a good adaptation to hypoxic conditions, feature which suggest that they manifest a preference for mineral nutrition in comparison with organic one. Thus, many of willow species can be developed on soils with a big amount of minerals and/or radionuclides, being both phytoremediatory species, as well as pioneer ones, contributing to the restoration of soil. Thus, the willow species, posses the capacity for development in degraded areas, natural or anthropic, as swamps, abandoning crops areas, sandy dune, riparian sandy areas, gravels, a.o. In this paper are present some laboratory comparative tests of heavy metals tolerance on four Salix sp. genotypes: clone 202 (Salix alba), hybrid 892 (Salix alba), Inger (Salix viminalis) and Gudrun (Salix viminalis). The genotypes of Salix alba are native from Romania, produced in the Forest Research and Management Institute Bucharest, while the genotypes of Salix viminalis are native from Sweden, but the plant material was produced under license in Romania by REBINA Agrar SRL. As plant material were used one-year-old cuttings (5-10 cm long), with 2-6 buds each. Per genotype, per heavy metal and each of three concentration five replication were used. There were ten experimental variants for each genotype: three concentrations for each of the heavy metals; concentrations selected, in the accordance SR ISO 11269-2/March 1999 and Control (tap water). The cuttings were maintained in metalic solutions for 15 days. In the days 7th and 15th, were performed biometrical observations on: the roots number and length, the shoots number and length, the leaves number/shoot, viability of the shoots. At the end of the experiment the content in heavy metals was determined in roots and shoots (by atomic absorption spectrometry). The analysis of variance proved the significant role of the genotype in all analyzed features. The percent of shooting was significant higher in Salix alba (81.90 - 96.26%) in comparison with Salix viminalis (50.43 - 62.67%). The best results for all treatment variants were registered in hybrid 892. Clone 202, hybrid 892 and Inger are sensitive to highest concentration of lead (450.0 ppm) and tolerant to all other treatment variants, while Gudrun is sensitive to Ni, but all the concentrations of Cd and Pb presented a stimulative effect on shoots development. The content of heavy metals in plant was also dependent by the organ (root or shoot) and by the genotype.

Investigating future climate change impacts on drougt patterns over the Euro-Mediterranean area based on a probabilistic approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonaccorso, Brunella; Peres, David Johnny; Cancelliere, Antonino

2017-04-01

As extensively documented by the IPCC assessment reports, impacts from recent climate-related extremes, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones and wildfires, reveal significant vulnerability of many environmental and anthropic systems to climate change. Compared to other extreme weather events, droughts evolve slowly in time. Based on this feature, effective drought preparedness and mitigation strategies could be implemented by decision makers, if appropriate tools, able to anticipate drought evolution in time and space, were available. Climate models' projections combined with probabilistic tools for drought characterization could help in understanding the time evolution of drought hazard in the future. Within the delineated context, the aim of the present study is to investigate potential scenarios of space-time variability of drought occurrences over Europe, by comparing the return periods of design drought events for different future time intervals. More specifically, annual precipitation data from Regional Climate Models (RCMs) of the Med-CORDEX initiative, covering the Euro-Mediterranean area (Northern Africa and Southern and Central Europe) at a grid resolution of about 50 km, are used to assess drought characteristics for three future periods (i.e. 2011-2040, 2041-2070 and 2071-2100), and compared to those in the baseline period (1971-2000). Specifically, three precipitation RCM datasets - produced by the CMMC (Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, IT), the LMD (Laboratorie del Météorologie Dynamique, FR) and the GUF (Goethe University Frankfurt, DE) - for two Representative Concentration Pathways, RCP 4.5 (intermediate) and RCP8.5 (high emissions), are considered for multi-year drought identification and characterization. First, the goodness of fit of several probability distributions to the considered precipitation gridded dataset is examined cell by cell by the Lilliefors test, and the best distribution is chosen for each cell based on the lowest value of the test statistic. Then, the marginal and multivariate probability distributions of drought characteristics (duration and accumulated deficit) are derived as functions of the parameters of the probability distribution of precipitation and the threshold level selected to identify droughts as negative runs. Finally, the return periods of design drought events are computed as the expected value of the interarrival time between consecutive critical droughts, and the possible spatial patterns are investigated. In general, results confirm an increasing occurrence of severe drought episodes in several regions of the investigated area in the future, although some discordances arise with respect to the different projections over the considered future periods. Apparently, Central Eastern regions of the Mediterranean are likely to become more drought prone, as low values of return periods are obtained.

Multiresistant opportunistic pathogenic bacteria isolated from polluted rivers and first detection of nontuberculous mycobacteria in the Algerian aquatic environment.

PubMed

Djouadi, Lydia Neïla; Selama, Okba; Abderrahmani, Ahmed; Bouanane-Darenfed, Amel; Abdellaziz, Lamia; Amziane, Meriam; Fardeau, Marie-Laure; Nateche, Farida

2017-08-01

Opportunistic infections constitute a major challenge for modern medicine mainly because the involved bacteria are usually multiresistant to antibiotics. Most of these bacteria possess remarkable ability to adapt to various ecosystems, including those exposed to anthropogenic activities. This study isolated and identified 21 multiresistant opportunistic bacteria from two polluted rivers, located in Algiers. Cadmium, lead, and copper concentrations were determined for both water samples to evaluate heavy metal pollution. High prevalence of Enterobacteria and non-fermentative Gram-negative rods was found and a nontuberculous Mycobacterium (NTM) strain was isolated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first detection of NTM in the Algerian environment. The strains were tested for their resistance against 34 antibiotics and 8 heavy metals. Multiple antibiotics and heavy metals resistance was observed in all isolates. The two most resistant strains, identified as Acinetobacter sp. and Citrobacter freundii, were submitted to plasmid curing to determine if resistance genes were plasmid or chromosome encoded. Citrobacter freundii strain P18 showed a high molecular weight plasmid which seems to code for resistance to zinc, lead, and tetracycline, at the same time. These findings strongly suggest that anthropized environments constitute a reservoir for multiresistant opportunistic bacteria and for circulating resistance genes.

Quality of stormwater runoff from paved surfaces of two production sites.

PubMed

Gnecco, I; Berretta, C; Lanza, L G; La Barbera, P

2006-01-01

In order to investigate stormwater pollutant loads associated with different anthropic activities and the related pollutant build-up and wash-off processes, two pilot sites have been equipped in the Liguria Region (Italy) for monitoring first flush water quality in a gas station and an auto dismantler facility. TSS, COD, HCtot and heavy metals in dissolved form (Zn, Pb, Cu, Ni, Cd, Cr) have been analyzed during the monitoring campaign (started in February 2004). Stormwater flow and quality data collected in both production sites confirm that EMC values are significantly higher than those observed in an urban site. In the auto dismantler site, the EMC values for TSS, COD and HC largely exceed the standard values (EC 91/271). Contrary to urban surface runoff, scarce correlation between TSS and COD concentrations is observed in runoff from both production sites. The occurrence and nature of the pollutant load connected to first flush flows is discussed by inspection of the M(V)-curves that are provided for all monitored water quality parameters. Significant first flush phenomenon is evidenced for TSS and HC, while such clear behavior doesn't emerge for heavy metals. Hydrologic and climatic characteristics (ADWP, rainfall intensity/depth) appear to scarcely affect the build-up and wash-off processes.

When citizens and scientists work together : a french collaborative science network on earthworms communities distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guernion, Muriel; Hoeffner, Kevin; Guillocheau, Sarah; Hotte, Hoël; Cylly, Daniel; Piron, Denis; Cluzeau, Daniel; Hervé, Morgane; Nicolai, Annegret; Pérès, Guénola

2017-04-01

Scientists have become more and more interested in earthworms because of their impact on soil functioning and their importance in provision of many ecosystem services. To improve the knowledge on soil biodiversity and integrate earthworms in soil quality diagnostics, it appeared necessary to gain a large amount of data on their distribution. The University of Rennes 1 developed since 2011 a collaborative science project called Observatoire Participatif des Vers de Terre (OPVT, participative earthworm observatory). It has several purposes : i) to offer a simple tool for soil biodiversity evaluation in natural and anthropic soils through earthworm assessment, ii) to offer trainings to farmers, territory managers, gardeners, pupils on soil ecology, iii) to build a database of reference values on earthworms in different habitats, iv) to propose a website (https://ecobiosoil.univ-rennes1.fr/OPVT_accueil.php) providing for example general scientific background (earthworm ecology and impacts of soil management), sampling protocols and online visualization of results (data processing and earthworms mapping). Up to now, more than 5000 plots have been prospected since the opening of the project in 2011., Initially available to anyone on a voluntary basis, this project is also used by the French Ministry of Agriculture to carry out a scientific survey throughout the French territory.

On the evolution of the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kondratenko, P. O.

2014-12-01

In this paper a model of creation and evolution of the universe in which the laws of physics are performed. The model implies that our Universe is a part of a Super-Universe as a separate layer in the fiber space, and the information communication exists between adjacent layers through the single point. During the formation of Super-Universe it was filled first a one-dimensional World of Field-time, then a two-dimensional (1+1) World was filled with energy and Planck's particles which carry the electric and magnetic charges. Completion of two-dimensional world filling leads to a "transfusion" of energy into the neighboring three-dimensional World which presents a world of known quarks which have the fractional electric charges, color charges, and spins. The next step is a "transfusion" of energy into the four-dimensional (3+1) World and the birth of the particles of this World. Evolution of this World has a completion by the brane creation of five-dimensional World. This evolution is accompanying by the birth of the entire set of stable and unstable heavy nuclei and atoms. A filling of each new layer at the fiber space does not bring the entropy into this space (i.e. cold and completely deterministic start of evolution). The proposed model supports the anthropic principle in the Universe.

Editorial: Special issue “Planetary evolution and life”

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spohn, Tilman

2014-08-01

Given the enormous number of stars in the universe and the number of confirmed and postulated planets in our galaxy, it is generally agreed that our home planet Earth is not likely to be unique (e.g., Sagan, 1980; Bignami et al., 2005; Hawking and Mlodinow, 2010). But is it? Although the number of known extrasolar planets grows almost by the day, observational bias caused by the technological challenges of finding Earth-size, rocky extrasolar planets and determining their masses and sizes have thus far prohibited the detection of a second Earth. But even if a second Earth were to be found-located in what is termed the habitable zone (e.g., Kasting et al., 1993)-can we expect that life would have originated there and have evolved beyond the most primitive forms? Is the universe "bio-friendly" as Paul Davies said (cited after Sullivan and Baross, 2007) using the Anthropic Principle (Barrow and Tipler, 1986) or is the origin of life so complex and our home planet so peculiar (Ward and Brownlee, 2000) that we are the unlikely product of a chain of unlikely events (Gould, 1989)? And if life existed on a second Earth or on many other planets, would we be able to detect it? Would life have shaped these planets such as life has shaped the Earth?

Current Issues in Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pecker, Jean-Claude; Narlikar, Jayant

2011-09-01

Part I. Observational Facts Relating to Discrete Sources: 1. The state of cosmology G. Burbidge; 2. The redshifts of galaxies and QSOs E. M. Burbidge and G. Burbidge; 3. Accretion discs in quasars J. Sulentic; Part II. Observational Facts Relating to Background Radiation: 4. CMB observations and consequences F. Bouchet; 5. Abundances of light nuclei K. Olive; 6. Evidence for an accelerating universe or lack of A. Blanchard; Part III. Standard Cosmology: 7. Cosmology, an overview of the standard model F. Bernardeau; 8. What are the building blocks of our universe? K. C. Wali; Part IV. Large-Scale Structure: 9. Observations of large-scale structure V. de Lapparent; 10. Reconstruction of large-scale peculiar velocity fields R. Mohayaee, B. Tully and U. Frisch; Part V. Alternative Cosmologies: 11. The quasi-steady state cosmology J. V. Narlikar; 12. Evidence for iron whiskers in the universe N. C. Wickramasinghe; 13. Alternatives to dark matter: MOND + Mach D. Roscoe; 14. Anthropic principle in cosmology B. Carter; Part VI. Evidence for Anomalous Redshifts: 15. Anomalous redshifts H. C. Arp; 16. Redshifts of galaxies and QSOs: the problem of redshift periodicities G. Burbidge; 17. Statistics of redshift periodicities W. Napier; 18. Local abnormal redshifts J.-C. Pecker; 19. Gravitational lensing and anomalous redshifts J. Surdej, J.-F. Claeskens and D. Sluse; Panel discussion; General discussion; Concluding remarks.

Accelerating universe with time variation of G and Λ

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darabi, F.

2012-03-01

We study a gravitational model in which scale transformations play the key role in obtaining dynamical G and Λ. We take a non-scale invariant gravitational action with a cosmological constant and a gravitational coupling constant. Then, by a scale transformation, through a dilaton field, we obtain a new action containing cosmological and gravitational coupling terms which are dynamically dependent on the dilaton field with Higgs type potential. The vacuum expectation value of this dilaton field, through spontaneous symmetry breaking on the basis of anthropic principle, determines the time variations of G and Λ. The relevance of these time variations to the current acceleration of the universe, coincidence problem, Mach's cosmological coincidence and those problems of standard cosmology addressed by inflationary models, are discussed. The current acceleration of the universe is shown to be a result of phase transition from radiation toward matter dominated eras. No real coincidence problem between matter and vacuum energy densities exists in this model and this apparent coincidence together with Mach's cosmological coincidence are shown to be simple consequences of a new kind of scale factor dependence of the energy momentum density as ρ˜ a -4. This model also provides the possibility for a super fast expansion of the scale factor at very early universe by introducing exotic type matter like cosmic strings.

Why do we find ourselves around a yellow star instead of a red star?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haqq-Misra, Jacob; Kopparapu, Ravi Kumar; Wolf, Eric T.

2018-01-01

M-dwarf stars are more abundant than G-dwarf stars, so our position as observers on a planet orbiting a G-dwarf raises questions about the suitability of other stellar types for supporting life. If we consider ourselves as typical, in the anthropic sense that our environment is probably a typical one for conscious observers, then we are led to the conclusion that planets orbiting in the habitable zone of G-dwarf stars should be the best place for conscious life to develop. But such a conclusion neglects the possibility that K-dwarfs or M-dwarfs could provide more numerous sites for life to develop, both now and in the future. In this paper we analyse this problem through Bayesian inference to demonstrate that our occurrence around a G-dwarf might be a slight statistical anomaly, but only the sort of chance event that we expect to occur regularly. Even if M-dwarfs provide more numerous habitable planets today and in the future, we still expect mid G- to early K-dwarfs stars to be the most likely place for observers like ourselves. This suggests that observers with similar cognitive capabilities as us are most likely to be found at the present time and place, rather than in the future or around much smaller stars.

Tactile Perception of Roughness and Hardness to Discriminate Materials by Friction-Induced Vibration

PubMed Central

Zhao, Xuezeng

2017-01-01

The human fingertip is an exquisitely powerful bio-tactile sensor in perceiving different materials based on various highly-sensitive mechanoreceptors distributed all over the skin. The tactile perception of surface roughness and material hardness can be estimated by skin vibrations generated during a fingertip stroking of a surface instead of being maintained in a static position. Moreover, reciprocating sliding with increasing velocities and pressures are two common behaviors in humans to discriminate different materials, but the question remains as to what the correlation of the sliding velocity and normal load on the tactile perceptions of surface roughness and hardness is for material discrimination. In order to investigate this correlation, a finger-inspired crossed-I beam structure tactile tester has been designed to mimic the anthropic tactile discrimination behaviors. A novel method of characterizing the fast Fourier transform integral (FFT) slope of the vibration acceleration signal generated from fingertip rubbing on surfaces at increasing sliding velocity and normal load, respectively, are defined as kv and kw, and is proposed to discriminate the surface roughness and hardness of different materials. Over eight types of materials were tested, and they proved the capability and advantages of this high tactile-discriminating method. Our study may find applications in investigating humanoid robot perceptual abilities. PMID:29182538

A Universe without Weak Interactions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harnik, Roni; Kribs, Graham D.; Perez, Gilad

2006-04-07

A universe without weak interactions is constructed that undergoes big-bang nucleosynthesis, matter domination, structure formation, and star formation. The stars in this universe are able to burn for billions of years, synthesize elements up to iron, and undergo supernova explosions, dispersing heavy elements into the interstellar medium. These definitive claims are supported by a detailed analysis where this hypothetical ''Weakless Universe'' is matched to our Universe by simultaneously adjusting Standard Model and cosmological parameters. For instance, chemistry and nuclear physics are essentially unchanged. The apparent habitability of the Weakless Universe suggests that the anthropic principle does not determine the scalemore » of electroweak breaking, or even require that it be smaller than the Planck scale, so long as technically natural parameters may be suitably adjusted. Whether the multi-parameter adjustment is realized or probable is dependent on the ultraviolet completion, such as the string landscape. Considering a similar analysis for the cosmological constant, however, we argue that no adjustments of other parameters are able to allow the cosmological constant to raise up even remotely close to the Planck scale while obtaining macroscopic structure. The fine-tuning problems associated with the electroweak breaking scale and the cosmological constant therefore appear to be qualitatively different from the perspective of obtaining a habitable universe.« less

Geophysical techniques applied to urban planning in complex near surface environments. Examples of Zaragoza, NE Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pueyo-Anchuela, Ó.; Casas-Sainz, A. M.; Soriano, M. A.; Pocoví-Juan, A.

Complex geological shallow subsurface environments represent an important handicap in urban and building projects. The geological features of the Central Ebro Basin, with sharp lateral changes in Quaternary deposits, alluvial karst phenomena and anthropic activity can preclude the characterization of future urban areas only from isolated geomechanical tests or from non-correctly dimensioned geophysical techniques. This complexity is here analyzed in two different test fields, (i) one of them linked to flat-bottomed valleys with irregular distribution of Quaternary deposits related to sharp lateral facies changes and irregular preconsolidated substratum position and (ii) a second one with similar complexities in the alluvial deposits and karst activity linked to solution of the underlying evaporite substratum. The results show that different geophysical techniques allow for similar geological models to be obtained in the first case (flat-bottomed valleys), whereas only the application of several geophysical techniques can permit to correctly evaluate the geological model complexities in the second case (alluvial karst). In this second case, the geological and superficial information permit to refine the sensitivity of the applied geophysical techniques to different indicators of karst activity. In both cases 3D models are needed to correctly distinguish alluvial lateral sedimentary changes from superimposed karstic activity.

Sedimentation rates in Atibaia River basin, São Paulo State, Brazil, using 210Pb as geochronometer.

PubMed

Sabaris, T P P; Bonotto, D M

2011-01-01

The constant initial concentration (CIC) of unsupported/excess (210)Pb model was successfully used to assess (210)Pb data of nine sediment cores from Atibaia River basin, São Paulo State, Brazil. The (210)Pb-based apparent sediment mass accumulation rates ranged from 47.7 to 782.4 mg/cm(2)yr, whereas the average linear sedimentation rates between 0.16 and 1.32 cm/yr, which are compatible with the calculated sediment mass fluxes, i.e. a higher sediment mass accumulation rate yielded a higher linear sedimentation rate. The higher long-term based accumulation rate tended to be found in topographically softer regions. This occurs because the sediments are preferentially transported in topographically steeper regions instead of being deposited. Anthropic activities like deforestation possibly interfered with the natural/normal sedimentation processes, which increased in accordance with modifications on the channel drainage. The radionuclide geochronology as described in this paper allows determination of sedimentation rates that are compatible with values estimated elsewhere. The adoption of an appropriate factor generated from previous laboratory experiments resulted in a successful correction for the (222)Rn-loss from the sediments, bringing the estimate of the parent-supported (in-situ produced) (210)Pb to reliable values required by the CIC model. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Extraction of sandy bedforms features through geodesic morphometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Debese, Nathalie; Jacq, Jean-José; Garlan, Thierry

2016-09-01

State-of-art echosounders reveal fine-scale details of mobile sandy bedforms, which are commonly found on continental shelfs. At present, their dynamics are still far from being completely understood. These bedforms are a serious threat to navigation security, anthropic structures and activities, placing emphasis on research breakthroughs. Bedform geometries and their dynamics are closely linked; therefore, one approach is to develop semi-automatic tools aiming at extracting their structural features from bathymetric datasets. Current approaches mimic manual processes or rely on morphological simplification of bedforms. The 1D and 2D approaches cannot address the wide ranges of both types and complexities of bedforms. In contrast, this work attempts to follow a 3D global semi-automatic approach based on a bathymetric TIN. The currently extracted primitives are the salient ridge and valley lines of the sand structures, i.e., waves and mega-ripples. The main difficulty is eliminating the ripples that are found to heavily overprint any observations. To this end, an anisotropic filter that is able to discard these structures while still enhancing the wave ridges is proposed. The second part of the work addresses the semi-automatic interactive extraction and 3D augmented display of the main lines structures. The proposed protocol also allows geoscientists to interactively insert topological constraints.

Brettanomyces bruxellensis population survey reveals a diploid-triploid complex structured according to substrate of isolation and geographical distribution.

PubMed

Avramova, Marta; Cibrario, Alice; Peltier, Emilien; Coton, Monika; Coton, Emmanuel; Schacherer, Joseph; Spano, Giuseppe; Capozzi, Vittorio; Blaiotta, Giuseppe; Salin, Franck; Dols-Lafargue, Marguerite; Grbin, Paul; Curtin, Chris; Albertin, Warren; Masneuf-Pomarede, Isabelle

2018-03-07

Brettanomyces bruxellensis is a unicellular fungus of increasing industrial and scientific interest over the past 15 years. Previous studies revealed high genotypic diversity amongst B. bruxellensis strains as well as strain-dependent phenotypic characteristics. Genomic assemblies revealed that some strains harbour triploid genomes and based upon prior genotyping it was inferred that a triploid population was widely dispersed across Australian wine regions. We performed an intraspecific diversity genotypic survey of 1488 B. bruxellensis isolates from 29 countries, 5 continents and 9 different fermentation niches. Using microsatellite analysis in combination with different statistical approaches, we demonstrate that the studied population is structured according to ploidy level, substrate of isolation and geographical origin of the strains, underlying the relative importance of each factor. We found that geographical origin has a different contribution to the population structure according to the substrate of origin, suggesting an anthropic influence on the spatial biodiversity of this microorganism of industrial interest. The observed clustering was correlated to variable stress response, as strains from different groups displayed variation in tolerance to the wine preservative sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ). The potential contribution of the triploid state for adaptation to industrial fermentations and dissemination of the species B. bruxellensis is discussed.

Earliest evidence of pollution by heavy metals in archaeological sites

PubMed Central

Monge, Guadalupe; Jimenez-Espejo, Francisco J.; García-Alix, Antonio; Martínez-Ruiz, Francisca; Mattielli, Nadine; Finlayson, Clive; Ohkouchi, Naohiko; Sánchez, Miguel Cortés; de Castro, Jose María Bermúdez; Blasco, Ruth; Rosell, Jordi; Carrión, José; Rodríguez-Vidal, Joaquín; Finlayson, Geraldine

2015-01-01

Homo species were exposed to a new biogeochemical environment when they began to occupy caves. Here we report the first evidence of palaeopollution through geochemical analyses of heavy metals in four renowned archaeological caves of the Iberian Peninsula spanning the last million years of human evolution. Heavy metal contents reached high values due to natural (guano deposition) and anthropogenic factors (e.g. combustion) in restricted cave environments. The earliest anthropogenic pollution evidence is related to Neanderthal hearths from Gorham's Cave (Gibraltar), being one of the first milestones in the so-called “Anthropocene”. According to its heavy metal concentration, these sediments meet the present-day standards of “contaminated soil”. Together with the former, the Gibraltar Vanguard Cave, shows Zn and Cu pollution ubiquitous across highly anthropic levels pointing to these elements as potential proxies for human activities. Pb concentrations in Magdalenian and Bronze age levels at El Pirulejo site can be similarly interpreted. Despite these high pollution levels, the contaminated soils might not have posed a major threat to Homo populations. Altogether, the data presented here indicate a long-term exposure of Homo to these elements, via fires, fumes and their ashes, which could have played certain role in environmental-pollution tolerance, a hitherto neglected influence. PMID:26388184

Natural infection by endoparasites among free-living wild animals.

PubMed

Holsback, Luciane; Cardoso, Mauro José Lahm; Fagnani, Rafael; Patelli, Thaís Helena Constantino

2013-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the frequency of occurrence and variety of intestinal parasites among free-living wild animals. Fecal samples from wild mammals and birds at rehabilitation centers in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo were analyzed by sedimentation and flotation-centrifugation methods. Parasite eggs, oocysts, cysts and/or trophozoites were found in 71% of the samples. Cryptosporidium sp. oocysts were detected in fecal samples from oncillas (Leopardus tigrinus) and scaly-headed parrots (Pionus maximiliani). Giardia cysts were identified in the feces of a gray brocket (Mazama gouazoubira). Among the most common parasites found, there were eggs from Toxocara cati, Toxascaris leonina and Ancylostoma tubaeforme, and from Cestoda. Several Enterobius sp. eggs were found in the feces of red howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus). It can be concluded from this study that despite the small number of samples, the diversity of parasites found was noteworthy. Additional information about parasite endofauna in wild animals is needed, since their presence might suggest that there could be proximity to and interactions with domestic animals and/or humans. In addition, further studies on parasites from free-living wild animals are of prime importance for understanding the intensity of anthropic changes in wild environments.

Rethinking stratigraphy and site formation of the Pleistocene deposit at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Spain)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angelucci, Diego E.; Anesin, Daniela; López Martínez, Mariano; Haber Uriarte, María; Rodríguez Estrella, Tomás; Walker, Michael J.

2013-11-01

Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, Spain), hereinafter Cueva Negra, is a key-site for understanding the early peopling of Europe. Since 1990, systematic excavation has revealed an intriguing assemblage of lithic and faunal remains, and hominin teeth. It was deposited 0.99-0.78 Ma according to palaeomagnetic and biostratigraphical data; pollen data indicate warm moist conditions. Recently, possible evidence of thermal alteration was detected in a deep part of the deposit. We report here on our revision of the Cueva Negra stratigraphy, and offer information on site formation processes, based on new field observations and preliminary data from soil micromorphology. The Cueva Negra succession comprises three main stratigraphical complexes. Complex 1 is late Holocene. Complexes 2 and 3 are Pleistocene and are formed mainly of alluvial sediment, with subordinate inputs from the cave walls. Complexes 2 and 3 were accumulated almost without interruption, being separated by an erosive surface truncating a thin alluvial soil developed at the top of Complex 3. Our initial micromorphological findings indicate that anthropic inputs are mostly in derived positions, very likely having undergone inward displacement from the mouth of the rock-shelter.

The sun and exoplanets: The solitude of man

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotov, V. A.

2012-06-01

Solar pulsations with a period of P 0 = 9600.606(12) were discovered in 1974. A more recent discovery is that planetary distances in the solar system are subject to spatial resonance with the parameter L 0 ≡ cP 0 ≈ 9600 ls and that the P 0 pulsation itself has cosmological significance (coherent cosmic oscillation, or the pace of absolute time of the universe; c is the speed of light). As of June 2011, 552 extrasolar planets have been discovered. Statistical analysis shows that the distribution of the semimajor axes of alien planets does not have L 0 resonance. Moreover, it appears to have no resonance at all. This frustrates the 20th-century hopes for the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and possible contact with them. They are simply not there. This explanation of the Fermi paradox, or the Great Silence, appears to rest on the triumph of the anthropic principle, which has been successfully implemented by nature within our planetary system. This leads to a vision whereby the cosmos seems to be created specially for us. The scale L 0 indicates that the sun is a special quantum object, where L 0 is a wave function parameter that is not subject to the rational principles of the classical world, but rather follows a peculiar, quantum logic.

Contribution of collagen stable isotope biogeochemistry to the paleobiology of extinct endemic vertebrates from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain).

PubMed

Bocherens, H; Michaux, J; Billiou, D; Castanet, J; Garcìa-Talavera, F

2003-09-01

The paleodiet and paleoenvironmental context of two extinct species from Tenerife island, one giant rat Canariomys bravoi and one giant lizard Gallotia goliath, have been investigated using carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of fossil bone collagen. Preliminary to this study, a calibration of the isotopic variations of bone collagen from modern Rat Rattus rattus, Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus and Lizard Gallotia galotti relative to environmental conditions on Tenerife Islands has been attempted. No clear relationship could be found between collagen delta13C and delta15N values and aridity; the only relevant factors seem to be seashore proximity for rat, and the relative amount of C3 and CAM plants. It seems that anthropic activities have interfered with the expected relationships between collagen isotopic compositions and environmental conditions. Most fossil specimens yielded well preserved collagen. The isotopic composition of giant rat and giant lizard collagen suggest a purely C3 environment, possibly more humid than today on Tenerife. Large ranges of nitrogen isotopic compositions, especially within giant rats, may be due to local environmental conditions. Further work is needed in order to provide more valuable paleobiological information in order to better understand the role of environmental factors in the evolution and extinction of insular endemic species on Tenerife.

Distribution of Cr and Pb in artificial sea water and their sorption in marine sediments: an example from experimental mesocosms.

PubMed

Maccotta, A; Cosentino, Claudia; Coccioni, R; Frontalini, F; Scopelliti, G; Caruso, A

2016-12-01

The uptake of two heavy metals (chromium and lead) in sediments in experimental mesocosms under exposure to different metal concentrations was evaluated by monitoring their concentrations over time both in seawater and in sediment. Two separate experiments under laboratory-controlled conditions were carried out for the two metals. Sediments were collected from a protected natural area characterized by low anthropic influence and were placed in mesocosms that were housed in aquaria each with seawater at a different metal concentration. At pre-established time intervals, seawater and sediment samples were collected from each mesocosm for chemical analyses. Quantification of chromium and lead concentration in seawater and sediment samples was carried out by atomic absorption spectrometer with graphite furnace. Low doses of chromium and lead (<1 mg L -1 ) do not entail an uptake in sediments and waters. At doses ≥1 mg L -1 , evolution of concentrations over time shows significant differences between these two metals: (i) chromium absorption from seawater is twice faster than lead; (ii) lead accumulates in considerable amount in sediments. The different behaviour of the two investigated heavy metals could be ascribed to different interactions existing between metal ions and different components of sediment.

Six thousand years of coastline evolution in the Guadalfeo deltaic system (southern Iberian Peninsula)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jabaloy-Sánchez, Antonio; Lobo, Francisco José; Azor, Antonio; Martín-Rosales, Wenceslao; Pérez-Peña, José Vicente; Bárcenas, Patricia; Macías, Jorge; Fernández-Salas, Luis Miguel; Vázquez-Vílchez, Mercedes

2014-02-01

The 4000 BC to present-day coastal and shallow-marine changes of the Guadalfeo River deltaic system (southeast Spain) are studied using historic maps, aerial photographs, diverse submarine data, and hydrodynamic models. The deltaic system evolved with little anthropic influence until the 1940s, when the river mouth was diverted to the west. During the pre-diversion stage, the system evolved from an estuary to a delta due to the enormous sediment yield in the catchment, induced both by anomalously wet climate conditions and by deforestation practices. Accordingly, the coastline advanced significantly (up to 3.3 m year- 1) during this period, particularly during the 1500 to 1873 interval. The estimate for volumetric changes in the deltaic system shows very high specific sediment yield values (around 60-65 t ha- 1 year- 1) in the catchment. The deltaic system mainly evolved by cannibalization of the older, lobate outlet depocentre after the river diversion and the generation of a more elongated depocentre coincident with the current outlet due to enhanced lateral redistribution of sediments (from east to west). The construction of two major dams in the trunk river in the last 30 years has severely blocked sediment supply to the system, although expected coastline erosion has been partially mitigated by longshore sediment redistribution.

Star Masses and Star-Planet Distances for Earth-like Habitability.

PubMed

Waltham, David

2017-01-01

This paper presents statistical estimates for the location and duration of habitable zones (HZs) around stars of different mass. The approach is based upon the assumption that Earth's location, and the Sun's mass, should not be highly atypical of inhabited planets. The results support climate-model-based estimates for the location of the Sun's HZ except models giving a present-day outer-edge beyond 1.64 AU. The statistical approach also demonstrates that there is a habitability issue for stars smaller than 0.65 solar masses since, otherwise, Earth would be an extremely atypical inhabited world. It is difficult to remove this anomaly using the assumption that poor habitability of planets orbiting low-mass stars results from unfavorable radiation regimes either before, or after, their stars enter the main sequence. However, the anomaly is well explained if poor habitability results from tidal locking of planets in the HZs of small stars. The expected host-star mass for planets with intelligent life then has a 95% confidence range of 0.78 M ⊙ < M < 1.04 M ⊙ , and the range for planets with at least simple life is 0.57 M ⊙  < M < 1.64 M ⊙ . Key Words: Habitability-Habitable zone-Anthropic-Red dwarfs-Initial mass function. Astrobiology 17, 61-77.

STS-Astro: Astronomy in focus of science, technology and society and analysis about the International Year of Astronomy 2009-Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, Orlando Rodrigues; Voelzke, Marcos Rincon

2012-10-01

This paper focuses on Science, Technology and Society around Astronomy an approach which authors call STS-Astro. It is considered that Astronomy is beyond the limits of Science itself, since it forwards to profound reflections on the own existence, predicated on the philosophical foundation of the Universe which is based on the anthropic principle. Subsequently, it discuss about the International Year of Astronomy 2009 in Brazil and their results. In 2003, Brazil, Italy and France sent a petition to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-UNESCO to consider 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy, on the occasion of 400 years of the first telescopic observations made in 1609 by Galileo Galilei (1568-1742). The International Year of Astronomy 2009 involved more than 148 countries and 815 million people, causing an unprecedented integration in the History between areas scientific, technological and humanities. Brazil had an outstanding performance, but even after a few years, numerous data in the country are still subject to studies and analyzes. The positive impacts on various sectors of the society have become permanent and aggregate actions in many institutions as schools, Universities, Observatories, Planetariums, Science Museums and the Astronomy Club, among others.

Beyond Inflation:. A Cyclic Universe Scenario

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turok, Neil; Steinhardt, Paul J.

2005-08-01

Inflation has been the leading early universe scenario for two decades, and has become an accepted element of the successful 'cosmic concordance' model. However, there are many puzzling features of the resulting theory. It requires both high energy and low energy inflation, with energy densities differing by a hundred orders of magnitude. The questions of why the universe started out undergoing high energy inflation, and why it will end up in low energy inflation, are unanswered. Rather than resort to anthropic arguments, we have developed an alternative cosmology, the cyclic universe [1], in which the universe exists in a very long-lived attractor state determined by the laws of physics. The model shares inflation's phenomenological successes without requiring an epoch of high energy inflation. Instead, the universe is made homogeneous and flat, and scale-invariant adiabatic perturbations are generated during an epoch of low energy acceleration like that seen today, but preceding the last big bang. Unlike inflation, the model requires low energy acceleration in order for a periodic attractor state to exist. The key challenge facing the scenario is that of passing through the cosmic singularity at t = 0. Substantial progress has been made at the level of linearised gravity, which is reviewed here. The challenge of extending this to nonlinear gravity and string theory remains.

Beyond Inflation: A Cyclic Universe Scenario

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turok, Neil; Steinhardt, Paul J.

2005-01-01

Inflation has been the leading early universe scenario for two decades, and has become an accepted element of the successful `cosmic concordance' model. However, there are many puzzling features of the resulting theory. It requires both high energy and low energy inflation, with energy densities differing by a hundred orders of magnitude. The questions of why the universe started out undergoing high energy inflation, and why it will end up in low energy inflation, are unanswered. Rather than resort to anthropic arguments, we have developed an alternative cosmology, the cyclic universe, in which the universe exists in a very long-lived attractor state determined by the laws of physics. The model shares inflation's phenomenological successes without requiring an epoch of high energy inflation. Instead, the universe is made homogeneous and flat, and scale-invariant adiabatic perturbations are generated during an epoch of low energy acceleration like that seen today, but preceding the last big bang. Unlike inflation, the model requires low energy acceleration in order for a periodic attractor state to exist. The key challenge facing the scenario is that of passing through the cosmic singularity at t = 0. Substantial progress has been made at the level of linearised gravity, which is reviewed here. The challenge of extending this to nonlinear gravity and string theory remains.

Biogenic volatile organic compound emissions from vegetation fires.

PubMed

Ciccioli, Paolo; Centritto, Mauro; Loreto, Francesco

2014-08-01

The aim of this paper was to provide an overview of the current state of the art on research into the emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) from vegetation fires. Significant amounts of VOCs are emitted from vegetation fires, including several reactive compounds, the majority belonging to the isoprenoid family, which rapidly disappear in the plume to yield pollutants such as secondary organic aerosol and ozone. This makes determination of fire-induced BVOC emission difficult, particularly in areas where the ratio between VOCs and anthropogenic NOx is favourable to the production of ozone, such as Mediterranean areas and highly anthropic temperate (and fire-prone) regions of the Earth. Fire emissions affecting relatively pristine areas, such as the Amazon and the African savannah, are representative of emissions of undisturbed plant communities. We also examined expected BVOC emissions at different stages of fire development and combustion, from drying to flaming, and from heatwaves coming into contact with unburned vegetation at the edge of fires. We conclude that forest fires may dramatically change emission factors and the profile of emitted BVOCs, thereby influencing the chemistry and physics of the atmosphere, the physiology of plants and the evolution of plant communities within the ecosystem. © 2014 The Authors. Plant, Cell & Environment published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A satellite-based analysis of the Val d'Agri Oil Center (southern Italy) gas flaring emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faruolo, M.; Coviello, I.; Filizzola, C.; Lacava, T.; Pergola, N.; Tramutoli, V.

2014-10-01

In this paper, the robust satellite techniques (RST), a multi-temporal scheme of satellite data analysis, was implemented to analyze the flaring activity of the Val d'Agri Oil Center (COVA), the largest Italian gas and oil pre-treatment plant, owned by Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI). For this site, located in an anthropized area characterized by a large environmental complexity, flaring emissions are mainly related to emergency conditions (i.e., waste flaring), as industrial processes are regulated by strict regional laws. While regarding the peculiar characteristics of COVA flaring, the main aim of this work was to assess the performances of RST in terms of sensitivity and reliability in providing independent estimations of gas flaring volumes in such conditions. In detail, RST was implemented for 13 years of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) medium and thermal infrared data in order to identify the highly radiant records associated with the COVA flare emergency discharges. Then, using data provided by ENI about gas flaring volumes in the period 2003-2009, a MODIS-based regression model was developed and tested. The results achieved indicate that the such a model is able to estimate, with a good level of accuracy (R2 of 0.83), emitted gas flaring volumes at COVA.

A satellite-based analysis of the Val d'Agri (South of Italy) Oil Center gas flaring emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faruolo, M.; Coviello, I.; Filizzola, C.; Lacava, T.; Pergola, N.; Tramutoli, V.

2014-06-01

In this paper the Robust Satellite Techniques (RST), a multi-temporal scheme of satellite data analysis, was implemented to analyze the flaring activity of the largest Italian gas and oil pre-treatment plant (i.e. the Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi - ENI - Val d'Agri Oil Center - COVA). For this site, located in an anthropized area characterized by a~large environmental complexity, flaring emissions are mainly related to emergency conditions (i.e. waste flaring), being the industrial process regulated by strict regional laws. With reference to the peculiar characteristics of COVA flaring, the main aim of this work was to assess the performances of RST in terms of sensitivity and reliability in providing independent estimations of gas flaring volumes in such conditions. In detail, RST was implemented on thirteen years of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) medium and thermal infrared data in order to identify the highly radiant records associated to the COVA flare emergency discharges. Then, exploiting data provided by ENI about gas flaring volumes in the period 2003-2009, a MODIS-based regression model was developed and tested. Achieved results indicate that such a model is able to estimate, with a good level of accuracy (R2 of 0.83), emitted gas flaring volumes at COVA.

First record of a Late Holocene fauna associated with an ephemeral fluvial sequence in La Pampa Province, Argentina. Taphonomy and paleoenvironment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montalvo, Claudia I.; Fernández, Fernando J.; Bargo, M. Susana; Tomassini, Rodrigo L.; Mehl, Adriana

2017-07-01

The first Late Holocene mammal assemblage (mainly micromammals) of La Pampa Province was found in Quehué paleontological site, associated with an ephemeral fluvial sequence. Taphonomical features of the collected materials were evaluated in order to increase the knowledge of the ancient vertebrate communities of this area and to interpret the origin of the assemblages. Field data and taphonomic analysis of the specimens, suggested the recognition of three assemblages with different taphonomic histories: 1) large to medium sized mammals; 2) micromammals found inside burrows or associated with them; and 3) discrete accumulations of micromammals and other microvertebrates (amphibians, reptiles and birds). Additionally, the paleoenvironmental analysis based mainly on the record of small mammals reflected the predominance of semi-arid conditions associated with a mosaic of open shrub steppe, grasslands and xerophytic forests of Espinal, similar to the present one in the Quehué valley area. However, the presence of Lestodelphys halli in the Quehué site during the Late Holocene (∼1.2 ky BP), suggests a more heterogeneous environment and perhaps relative colder and drier than current times, which are featured by more mesic conditions and anthropic activities, mainly agriculture and livestock during the last centuries.

Earliest evidence of pollution by heavy metals in archaeological sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monge, Guadalupe; Jimenez-Espejo, Francisco J.; García-Alix, Antonio; Martínez-Ruiz, Francisca; Mattielli, Nadine; Finlayson, Clive; Ohkouchi, Naohiko; Sánchez, Miguel Cortés; de Castro, Jose María Bermúdez; Blasco, Ruth; Rosell, Jordi; Carrión, José; Rodríguez-Vidal, Joaquín; Finlayson, Geraldine

2015-09-01

Homo species were exposed to a new biogeochemical environment when they began to occupy caves. Here we report the first evidence of palaeopollution through geochemical analyses of heavy metals in four renowned archaeological caves of the Iberian Peninsula spanning the last million years of human evolution. Heavy metal contents reached high values due to natural (guano deposition) and anthropogenic factors (e.g. combustion) in restricted cave environments. The earliest anthropogenic pollution evidence is related to Neanderthal hearths from Gorham's Cave (Gibraltar), being one of the first milestones in the so-called “Anthropocene”. According to its heavy metal concentration, these sediments meet the present-day standards of “contaminated soil”. Together with the former, the Gibraltar Vanguard Cave, shows Zn and Cu pollution ubiquitous across highly anthropic levels pointing to these elements as potential proxies for human activities. Pb concentrations in Magdalenian and Bronze age levels at El Pirulejo site can be similarly interpreted. Despite these high pollution levels, the contaminated soils might not have posed a major threat to Homo populations. Altogether, the data presented here indicate a long-term exposure of Homo to these elements, via fires, fumes and their ashes, which could have played certain role in environmental-pollution tolerance, a hitherto neglected influence.

Are physicians aware enough of patient radiation protection? Results from a survey among physicians of Pavia District- Italy.

PubMed

Campanella, Francesca; Rossi, Laura; Giroletti, Elio; Micheletti, Piero; Buzzi, Fabio; Villani, Simona

2017-06-14

Radiological practices are the first anthropic sources of ionizing radiation exposure of the population. However, a review of recent publications underlines inadequate doctors' knowledge about doses imparted in medical practices and about patient protection that might explain unnecessary radiological prescriptions. We investigated the knowledge of the physicians of Pavia District (Italy) on the risk of radiation exposure. A cross sectional study was performed involving the Medical Association of Pavia District. Data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire, available on-line with private login and password. Four hundred nineteen physicians fulfilled the questionnaire; 48% of participants reported training about radiation protection. The average percentage of correct answers on the knowledge on ionizing radiation was 62.29%, with a significantly higher result between radiologist. Around 5 and 13% of the responders do not know that, respectively, ultrasonography and magnetic resonance do not expose patients to ionizing radiations. Only 5% of the physicians properly identified the cancer risk rate associated to abdomen computed tomography. The findings show a quite good level of the general knowledge about ionizing radiations, higher that reported in literature. Nevertheless, we believe the usefulness of training on the risk linked to radiation exposure in medicine for physicians employed in every area.

Soil slips and debris flows on terraced slopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crosta, G. B.; Dal Negro, P.; Frattini, P.

Terraces cover large areas along the flanks of many alpine and prealpine valleys. Soil slips and soil slips-debris flows are recurrent phenomena along terraced slopes. These landslides cause damages to people, settlements and cultivations. This study investigates the processes related to the triggering of soil slip-debris flows in these settings, analysing those occurred in Valtellina (Central Alps, Italy) on November 2000 after heavy prolonged rainfalls. 260 landslides have been recognised, mostly along the northern valley flank. About 200 soil slips and slumps occurred in terraced areas and a third of them evolved into debris flows. Field work allowed to recognise the settings at soil slip-debris flow source areas. Landslides affected up to 2.5 m of glacial, fluvioglacial and anthropically reworked deposits overlying metamorphic basement. Laboratory and in situ tests allowed to characterise the geotechnical and hydraulic properties of the terrains involved in the initial failure. Several stratigraphic and hydrogeologic factors have been individuated as significant in determining instabilities on terraced slopes. They are the vertical changes of physical soil properties, the presence of buried hollows where groundwater convergence occurs, the rising up of perched groundwater tables, the overflow and lateral infiltration from superficial drainage network, the runoff concentration by means of pathways and the insufficient drainage of retaining walls.

Phylogeny and biogeography of the imperial pigeons (Aves: Columbidae) in the Pacific Ocean.

PubMed

Cibois, Alice; Thibault, Jean-Claude; Bonillo, Céline; Filardi, Christopher E; Pasquet, Eric

2017-05-01

We reconstruct the phylogeny of imperial pigeons (genus Ducula) using mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data. We evaluate the most likely biogeographic scenario for the evolution of this group that colonized many islands of the Pacific Ocean. The divergence time analysis suggests that the basal divergences within Ducula occurred more recently than in the fruit doves (genus Ptilinopus), a group that is also well diversified in Oceania. The imperial pigeons colonized the Melanesian region several times independently, and the diversification within this region led to several species in sympatry, in particular in the Bismarck archipelago. Central Polynesia was also colonized several times, first by a lineage during the Miocene that led to the large D. latrans, sister to the New Caledonian endemic D. goliath, then more recently by the widespread D. pacifica, during the Pleistocene. The phylogenetic pattern obtained with the extant Ducula species showed that the Eastern Polynesian endemics do not form a monophyletic group, with the Pacific Imperial Pigeon D. pacifica sister species with good support to the Polynesian Imperial Pigeon D. aurorae. However, the impact of recent anthropic extinctions has been important for the imperial pigeons, more than for the smaller fruit doves, suggesting that several Ducula lineages might be missing today. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Testability and epistemic shifts in modern cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kragh, Helge

2014-05-01

During the last decade new developments in theoretical and speculative cosmology have reopened the old discussion of cosmology's scientific status and the more general question of the demarcation between science and non-science. The multiverse hypothesis, in particular, is central to this discussion and controversial because it seems to disagree with methodological and epistemic standards traditionally accepted in the physical sciences. But what are these standards and how sacrosanct are they? Does anthropic multiverse cosmology rest on evaluation criteria that conflict with and go beyond those ordinarily accepted, so that it constitutes an "epistemic shift" in fundamental physics? The paper offers a brief characterization of the modern multiverse and also refers to a few earlier attempts to introduce epistemic shifts in the science of the universe. It further discusses the several meanings of testability, addresses the question of falsifiability as a sine qua non for a theory being scientific, and briefly compares the situation in cosmology with the one in systematic biology. Multiverse theory is not generally falsifiable, which has led to proposals from some physicists to overrule not only Popperian standards but also other evaluation criteria of a philosophical nature. However, this is hardly possible and nor is it possible to get rid of explicit philosophical considerations in some other aspects of cosmological research, however advanced it becomes.

Geomorphological and sedimentological analysis of flash-flood deposits: The case of the 1997 Rivillas flood (Spain)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ortega, Jose A.; Garzón Heydt, Guillermina

2009-11-01

On the basis of the description of the 1997 Rivillas flood deposits, a morphosedimentary feature classification is proposed. Mapping of the main morphosedimentary deposits in seven reaches along the basin has provided abundant data for each defined typology and for a better adjustment of their stability fields. Because of their unstable preservation environment, immediate post-flood field surveys with descriptions of erosive and depositional features were undertaken. Up to 18 features were classified as either sedimentary or erosive and mapped according to their genetic environments. Anthropic interference such as land use changes produce modification of sediment supply and in channel and floodplain erosive processes causing flash-floods to be more catastrophic. Erosive features are dominant over sedimentary ones, as the sedimentary budget in the river is negative. By means of HEC-RAS (Hydrologic Engineering Center) modelling, we were able to obtain mean values of the main variables limiting feature stability (velocity, depth, stream powers and shear stress). These provide information regarding maximum stability threshold and peak flood discharge. The ephemeral nature of riverine flash-flood deposits in this type of setting does not mean that they are not significant, and their interpretation after recent floods can significantly improve interpretation of the event dynamics and its flood hydrology and also be useful for flood risk mapping.

Sandflies in an urban area of transmission of visceral leishmaniasis in midwest Brazil

PubMed Central

Dorval, Maria Elizabeth Cavalheiros; Oshiro, Elisa Teruya; Brilhante, Andreia Fernandes; Nunes, Vânia Lúcia Brandão; Cristaldo, Geucira; Lima Júnior, Manoel Sebastião Costa; Galati, Eunice Aparecida Bianchi

2016-01-01

The phlebotomine fauna of Campo Grande city, capital of Mato Grosso do Sul state in Brazil, an endemic area for visceral leishmaniasis, has been thoroughly investigated, but all the insect collections were undertaken with automatic light traps. The present study sought to investigate the fauna in this city using Shannon and Disney traps, having human beings and hamsters, respectively, as bait. Both types of traps were installed in forest fragment and peridomiciliary areas in the period from 2007 to 2009. The phlebotomine females were analyzed by PCR for Leishmania identification. Lutzomyia longipalpis was the only species collected in the peridomiciles and rendered a total of 574 specimens with a 5.2:1 male:female ratio. A total of eight species were attracted to the two traps (one of each type) installed in the forest fragment, including: Bichromomyia flaviscutellata, Evandromyia bourrouli, Evandromyia lenti, Lutzomyia longipalpis, Nyssomyia whitmani, Pintomyia christenseni, Psathyromyia bigeniculata, and Sciopemyia sordellii. A total of 143 specimens were collected, Bi. flaviscutellata accounting for 81% and Lu. longipalpis for 1.4% of them. In one female of Lu. longipalpis collected in a Disney trap installed in a peridomicile, Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum DNA was found, thus strengthening the hypothesis that the transmission of leishmaniasis is in fact occurring in the anthropic environment. PMID:27593433

Socio-economic impacts of major floods in Italy from 1951 to 2003

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lastoria, B.; Simonetti, M. R.; Casaioli, M.; Mariani, S.; Monacelli, G.

2006-03-01

Meteorological and hydrological monitoring and modeling, with particular regard for extreme hydrological events, represent important activities carried out by the Hydrological and Inland Waters Service of the Italian Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services (APAT). Recently, a study on the socio-economic effects of floods was published in the Italian Environmental Data Yearbook by APAT. It is based on processed data related to the major floods (i.e., events with at least a casualty or that have generated economic damages higher than 0.001% of the Gross Domestic Product) striking Italy between 1951 and 2003. Information was gathered from technical reports and/or databases belonging to APAT, Italian Regional Environmental Agencies (ARPAs), central and local authorities, research institutions and newspaper reports. These data are collected in tables reporting the number of flood events and of casualties and the amount of financial resources required for environmental restoration and/or for risk mitigation purposes. For year 2003, when APAT has begun a systematic monitoring of flood events in Italy, data concerning rainfall, number of persons involved, evacuation and urgent measures introduced to face the event (laws and acts) are also included. In this way, it was possible to realize a new database, in which flood events that caused the declaration of the state of emergency have been collected. Because of the difficulties in finding sufficiently reliable data for the period before the II World War, the collection of historical data started from 1951. During this period, about 50% of the flood events examined have caused at least 5 victims each, and about 10% more than 100; these data highlight the considerable social impact of flood events and suggest the importance of creating an integrated database to collect information about flood events involving all Europe. These two databases (the historical and updating archives) could be useful for taking into account the different anthropic impacts during the time, the real effectiveness of protection measures already realized and could represent a valid reference for further interventions.

Origins of The Paleolandslide of Tarapaca (north Chile, Andean Belt)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darrozes, J.; Pinto, L.; Ingles, J.; Soula, J.-C.; Maire, E.; Courjault-Radé, P.; Hérail, G.

Landslides are an important and potentially rate-limiting process in the topographic evolution of active orogens like the Andean Belt. Various processes are responsi- ble for triggering landslides, including hillslope baselevel lowering, seismic events (Keefer, 1999); climate changes (Coriminas and Moya, 1999), anthropic effects (Sah and Mazari, 1998) and each of these triggers may be spatially heterogeneous in strength and effectiveness. Present work seeks to identify and constrain the domi- nant mechanism of a Tarapaca PaleoLandslide in order to determine the influence of the overall tectonic uplift of the Andean belt, and the seismicity of the area. The zone of interest is located near Iquique, along the Atacama Desert in the Tarapaca (N. Chile) domain (1955S, 6935W). The climate of the region became dry at 15 Ma (Gregory-Wodzicki, 2000) and remain today one of driest in the world. One of the most significant characteristic of the Atacama Desert landslides is to be located on the western limb of N-S trending flexures. At Tarapaca, the studied landslide is located on the front limb of a fault propagation anticline, the Moquella flexure, of Cenozoic age. The slope in this part increases weakly to reach a value close to 10 degrees. The main scarp of Tarapaca landslide has a length of ≈ 7 km and an elevation close to 200 m. This corresponds to the thickness of an ignimbritic formation which constitutes the load of the landslide. As in most of the Atacama desert, the lateral boundaries of the landslide are two antecedent paleorivers (Suca &Lataguella) which created free edges to the landslide and thus greatly facilitating landsliding. A smaller secondary landslide formed in the foot zone because of the local increase in the slope, which was responsible for the instability of the overlapping mass. The analysis of the safety factor and morphologic features shows that weathering, uplift, water pressure and load are not enough important for creating the slide. It is necessary to add one an important horizontal seismic acceleration and only in this case the landslide occurs.

Effect of the physiognomy of Attalea butyracea (Arecoideae) on population density and age distribution of Rhodnius prolixus (Triatominae).

PubMed

Urbano, Plutarco; Poveda, Cristina; Molina, Jorge

2015-04-01

Rhodnius prolixus Stål, 1859 is one of the main vectors of Trypanosoma (Schyzotrypanum) cruzi Chagas, 1909. In its natural forest environment, this triatomine is mainly found in palm tree crowns, where it easily establishes and develops dense populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the physiognomy and reproductive status of Attalea butyracea on the population relative density and age structure of R. prolixus and to determine the vector's population stratification according to the vertical and horizontal profile of an A. butyracea forest. Using live bait traps, 150 individuals of A. butyracea with different physiognomy and 40 individuals with similar physiognomy (crown size, number of leaves, palm tree height, diameter at breast height, reproductive status) were sampled for triatomines in Yopal, Casanare-Colombia. Temperature and relative humidity were measured in the crown of the palm tree. Entomological indices and natural infection rates were also determined. The relative population density of R. prolixus on natural A. butyracea groves is associated with the palm's height, number of leaves and crown volume. The young immature stages were present mostly at the crown's base and the advanced immature stages and adults were present mostly at the crown of the palm tree. This distribution correlates with the temperature stability and relative humidity in the base and the fluctuation of both environmental variables in the palm's crown. A higher density of R. prolixus was found as the palm tree height increased and as the distance of the palm with respect to the forest border decreased, especially towards anthropically intervened areas. A density index of 12.6 individuals per palm tree with an infestation index of 88.9% and a colonization index of 98.7% was observed. 85.2% was the infection index with T. cruzi. The physiognomy of palm trees affects the relative population density and the distribution of developmental stages of R. prolixus. Therefore, they constitute a risk factor for the potential migration of infected insects from wild environments towards residential environments and the subsequent epidemiological risk of transmission of T. cruzi to people.

Sedimentary profile of polychlorinated biphenyls in the East China Sea: implications for the recent rising emissions from the unintentionally industrial productions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, T.; Guo, Z.

2017-12-01

As industrially synthesized chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with their predominant anthropogenic origins are effective proxies for the processes of industrialization and urbanization. In this study, sedimentary profiles extracted from locations in the coastal and offshore area of the East China Sea (core C0803: 27°38'N, 121°39'E; core FFJ103: 31°40'N, 125°52'E) were chosen to indicate the chronological distribution of PCB pollutions in China. The concentrations of total PCBs (ΣPCBs) were 0.17-1.21 ng g-1 and 0.19-0.71 ng g-1 respectively in core 0803 and FFj103, the range of which was in the low end of that detected in regions with long PCB application history. The timeline of PCB residues in sediments coincides with the production and use of PCB products in China. PCB concentrations leveled off at the bottoms of the both core sediments and exhibited an obvious peak in periods of 60s-70s. This period corresponds to approximately the time PCBs were first manufactured commercially since 1965 in China. A small dip of ΣPCBs was followed in the early 1980s reflecting the effect of banning on PCB usage in China, after which an exponential escalation at the surface layers was found in these cores. The time-dependent PCB input flux resembles that of PCB concentrations, suggesting a relatively stable depositional environment. As compared to the other studies at most locations, a noticeable increase of ΣPCBs fluxes was consistent with the fact that the significantly rising contributions of unintentionally produced PCBs (UP-PCB) over that made by intentionally produced emissions. Based on the compilation of UP-PCB emissions in China, the UP-PCB emissions started to increase quickly in the early 90s due to the fast and continuously developing cement and steel industries in China. This discrepancy of time pattern in PCB sedimentary profiles is a result of difference in evolution of anthropic activity pressure and economic development.

Coastal inundation risk assessment due to subsidence and sea level rise in a Mediterranean alluvial plain (Volturno coastal plain - southern Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciro Aucelli, Pietro Patrizio; Di Paola, Gianluigi; Incontri, Pietro; Rizzo, Angela; Vilardo, Giuseppe; Benassai, Guido; Buonocore, Berardino; Pappone, Gerardo

2017-11-01

Interdisciplinary studies of the last years highlight that the Italian coasts are significantly subject to retreat and to inundation by sea ingression due to natural and anthropic causes. In this study, the effects of future relative sea level have been evaluated for the Volturno River Plain, one of the widest coastal plain in southern Italy. The plain is characterized by high economical and ecological value, for the presence of farm activities, tourist structures and wetland protected zones. The study area is potentially prone to coastal flooding due to its very low topography and because it is affected by a severe subsidence, which emphasize the local effect of sea level rise due to the ongoing climate changes. In accordance with the guidelines of the MEDFLOOD project, the areas prone to inundation in the years 2065 and 2100 have been evaluated by comparing the future topographical information and expected relative sea level scenarios. The local Vertical Ground Displacements have been derived by PS-InSAR processing data whilst the mean values of the scenarios RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5 provided by the IPCC (2014) have been used as future sea level projections in 2065 and 2100. The PS-InSar data elaboration shows that the area affected by subsidence corresponds to 35% of the Volturno plain and that the annual rate of the phenomenon ranges between -1 and -25 mm/yr. The inundation analysis, based on the classification of the areas in four hazard classes, indicates that in 2065 the zones located below the sea level will increase approximately of 50% respect to the present conditions, while between 2065 and 2100 the increase can be at least of 60% (IPCC, RCP 8.5 scenarios). Considering the socio-economical and ecological exposure, evaluated following the EUROSION project guidelines, the coastal flooding risk maps have been produced. Almost 8.2 km2 and 14.4 km2 of the investigated area has to be considered subject to very high marine inundation risk in 2065 and 2100, respectively.

Joint effects of pleiotropic selection and stabilizing selection on the maintenance of quantitative genetic variation at mutation-selection balance.

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xu-Sheng; Hill, William G

2002-01-01

In quantitative genetics, there are two basic "conflicting" observations: abundant polygenic variation and strong stabilizing selection that should rapidly deplete that variation. This conflict, although having attracted much theoretical attention, still stands open. Two classes of model have been proposed: real stabilizing selection directly on the metric trait under study and apparent stabilizing selection caused solely by the deleterious pleiotropic side effects of mutations on fitness. Here these models are combined and the total stabilizing selection observed is assumed to derive simultaneously through these two different mechanisms. Mutations have effects on a metric trait and on fitness, and both effects vary continuously. The genetic variance (V(G)) and the observed strength of total stabilizing selection (V(s,t)) are analyzed with a rare-alleles model. Both kinds of selection reduce V(G) but their roles in depleting it are not independent: The magnitude of pleiotropic selection depends on real stabilizing selection and such dependence is subject to the shape of the distributions of mutational effects. The genetic variation maintained thus depends on the kurtosis as well as the variance of mutational effects: All else being equal, V(G) increases with increasing leptokurtosis of mutational effects on fitness, while for a given distribution of mutational effects on fitness, V(G) decreases with increasing leptokurtosis of mutational effects on the trait. The V(G) and V(s,t) are determined primarily by real stabilizing selection while pleiotropic effects, which can be large, have only a limited impact. This finding provides some promise that a high heritability can be explained under strong total stabilizing selection for what are regarded as typical values of mutation and selection parameters. PMID:12242254

Analysis of metal(loid)s contamination and their continuous input in soils around a zinc smelter: Development of methodology and a case study in South Korea.

PubMed

Yun, Sung-Wook; Baveye, Philippe C; Kim, Dong-Hyeon; Kang, Dong-Hyeon; Lee, Si-Young; Kong, Min-Jae; Park, Chan-Gi; Kim, Hae-Do; Son, Jinkwan; Yu, Chan

2018-07-01

Soil contamination due to atmospheric deposition of metals originating from smelters is a global environmental problem. A common problem associated with this contamination is the discrimination between anthropic and natural contributions to soil metal concentrations: In this context, we investigated the characteristics of soil contamination in the surrounding area of a world class smelter. We attempted to combine several approaches in order to identify sources of metals in soils and to examine contamination characteristics, such as pollution level, range, and spatial distribution. Soil samples were collected at 100 sites during a field survey and total concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn were analyzed. We conducted a multivariate statistical analysis, and also examined the spatial distribution by 1) identifying the horizontal variation of metals according to particular wind directions and distance from the smelter and 2) drawing a distribution map by means of a GIS tool. As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn in the soil were found to originate from smelter emissions, and As also originated from other sources such as abandoned mines and waste landfill. Among anthropogenic metals, the horizontal distribution of Cd, Hg, Pb, and Zn according to the downwind direction and distance from the smelter showed a typical feature of atmospheric deposition (regression model: y = y 0  + αe -βx ). Lithogenic Fe was used as an indicator, and it revealed the continuous input and accumulation of these four elements in the surrounding soils. Our approach was effective in clearly identifying the sources of metals and analyzing their contamination characteristics. We believe this study will provide useful information to future studies on soil pollution by metals around smelters. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus changes under sugarcane expansion in Brazil.

PubMed

Franco, André L C; Cherubin, Maurício R; Pavinato, Paulo S; Cerri, Carlos E P; Six, Johan; Davies, Christian A; Cerri, Carlos C

2015-05-15

Historical data of land use change (LUC) indicated that the sugarcane expansion has mainly displaced pasture areas in Central-Southern Brazil, globally the largest producer, and that those pastures were prior established over native forests in the Cerrado biome. We sampled 3 chronosequences of land use comprising native vegetation (NV), pasture (PA), and sugarcane crop (SC) in the sugarcane expansion region to assess the effects of LUC on soil carbon, nitrogen, and labile phosphorus pools. Thirty years after conversion of NV to PA, we found significant losses of original soil organic matter (SOM) from NV, while insufficient new organic matter was introduced from tropical grasses into soil to offset the losses, reflecting in a net C emission of 0.4 Mg ha(-1)yr(-1). These findings added to decreases in (15)N signal indicated that labile portions of SOM are preserved under PA. Afterwards, in the firsts five years after LUC from PA to SC, sparse variations were found in SOM levels. After more than 20 years of sugarcane crop, however, there were losses of 40 and 35% of C and N stocks, respectively, resulting in a rate of C emission of 1.3 Mg ha(-1)yr(-1) totally caused by the respiration of SOM from C4-cycle plants. In addition, conversion of pastures to sugarcane mostly increased (15)N signal, indicating an accumulation of more recalcitrant SOM under sugarcane. The microbe- and plant-available P showed site-specific responses to LUC as a function of different P-input managements, with the biological pool mostly accounting for more than 50% of the labile P in both anthropic land uses. With the projections of 6.4 Mha of land required by 2021 for sugarcane expansion in Brazil to achieve ethanol's demand, this explanatory approach to the responses of SOM to LUC will contribute for an accurate assessment of the CO₂ balance of sugarcane ethanol. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessment of hydrodynamics, biochemical parameters and eddy diffusivity in a semi-enclosed Ionian basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Serio, Francesca; Mossa, Michele

2016-11-01

In the framework of the Italian flagship Project RITMARE, during December 2013 a meteo-oceanographic station was installed in the Mar Grande basin, a semi-enclosed bay in Southern Italy, connected to the Ionian Sea. Due to the presence of coastal heavy industry and anthropic pressure, this marine system has experienced environmental degradation over the last decades. Therefore, much monitoring of hydrodynamics and water quality indicators is required. In fact, this monitoring makes it possible to check the real-time biochemical status of the basin and therefore promptly intervene when accidental spills occur, and to create a dataset necessary to calibrate and validate modelling systems providing forecasts. The present paper aims to analyze and discuss the long term and continuous recordings of hydrodynamic and biochemical data collected by this station, available for the period from January 2014 up to December 2014. In detail, hourly measurements of wind, waves, current velocity, water temperature, salinity, chlorophyll and turbidity concentrations were archived in monthly time-series and processed in frequency domain, using the FFT (Fast Fourier Transform), to both delineate the reciprocal effects of drivers and deduce some correlations between parameters (De Serio and Mossa, 2013). Following this, monthly surface current data were processed in order to obtain time-averaged values of the turbulent velocity components, turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent time scales. Based on these calculated turbulent parameters, the horizontal eddy diffusivity was computed with the hypothesis of homogeneous turbulence using two methods, which provided results with the same order of magnitude. These results are of interest for numerical dispersion models. Finally, only referring to the month of December 2014, the time series of the crude oil concentration was available at the station and was examined in depth. The field data enabled us to conclude that the crude oil dispersion process is influenced by the sea turbulence.

Integration of satellite data and in situ measurements to improve coastal water quality monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lacava, Teodosio

2015-04-01

Coastal areas are "sensitive" zones exposed to different natural hazards and anthropic risks. The increasing level of urbanization, the even more irrational exploitation of those areas and, more generally, climate changes are some of the most relevant phenomena able to strongly change such sites. For these reasons, it is necessary to implement an adequate water quality monitoring system able to give a reliable description of water status for reducing the negative effects which coastal marine waters are exposed to. Remote sensing data offer a relevant contribution in this framework, providing, with a quite good level of accuracy, information about the spatial distribution of sea water constituents over large areas with high temporal rates and at relatively low costs. On the other hand, in situ measurements allow to analyze the history of these elements at a very small scale, both in terms of investigated area and period. The integration of these two kind of information may improve the monitoring in the space-time domain of a specific area, allowing also for a calibration, at local scale, of the satellite data/products. In this paper results achieved in such a context while carrying out two projects on Mediterranean Sea water quality will be described. More than 15 years of MODIS Ocean Colour data have been analyzed and compared with different specific in-situ and airborne data concerning different areas of Mediterranean Sea collected in the framework of the following projects: IOSMOS (IOnian Sea water quality MOnitoring by Satellite data, OP ERDF Basilicata) and MOMEDAS (MOnitoraggio delle acque del mar MEditerraneo mediante DAti Satellitari, OP Basilicata ESF). Specifically, preliminary achievements regarding the analysis of Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm (Kd 490) products as well as suspended sediment material (SSM) transport phenomena and the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) variations occurring in the analyzed areas will be described.

Normal Mode Analysis of Ambient-Noise Induced Free Oscillations of a Slender Medieval Masonry Tower in Bologna (Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morelli, A.; Azzara, R. M.; Cavaliere, A.; Zaccarelli, L.

2014-12-01

Analysis of the oscillations of buildings — either excited by earthquakes or by ambient noise — has become an effective tool to evaluate the response of such structures to strong ground motion, and hence to assess their seismic vulnerability. Response to small-amplitude ground motion may also provide crucial information on the elastic and anelastic properties of a structure — essential in the case of historical buildings — and constrain numerical full dynamic structural analyses. We report about an analysis carried out for a tall medieval monumental building in the urban center of the Norther Italian city of Bologna. Seismic monitoring, carried on for six months using field seismic instrumentation, has revealed the response to ambient noise, and has allowed to reconstruct, with high detail, the free oscillation modes of the tower. At 97 meters, the XII-century tower of the Asinelli is the tallest masonry building in Europe, and the most slender. We measured the fundamental, and several higher-order, flexural normal modes of oscillation, as well as the fundamental torsional mode. Asymmetry due to non-coincidence of centers of mass and of stiffness produces slightly different modal frequencies of oscillation in two orthogonal directions, consistently with dynamical modeling. Horizontal particle-motion polarization plots show the cyclic energy transfer between two degrees of freedom of the system. The Asinelli spectral signature can also be easily recognized in the motion recorded at the base of nearby Garisenda. We verify that there is correlation of spectral amplitudes with time of the day — in agreement with expected time-variance of anthropic disturbance —- but also with wind velocity and, intriguingly, with temperature variations inside the buidings. We are using these data to adjust the numerical dynamical models of the buildings, to examine time variations of behavior, and to identify the origin of anthropogenic sources of vibration in view of their possible mitigation.

Environmental pollution affects molecular and biochemical responses during gonadal maturation of Astyanax fasciatus (Teleostei: Characiformes: Characidae).

PubMed

Tolussi, Carlos E; Gomes, Aline D Olio; Kumar, Anupama; Ribeiro, Cristiele S; Nostro, Fabiana L Lo; Bain, Peter A; de Souza, Gabriela B; Cuña, Rodrigo Da; Honji, Renato M; Moreira, Renata G

2018-01-01

Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) have the potential to alter fish reproduction at various levels of organization. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a natural environment with heavily anthropogenic influence on the physiological processes involved in reproduction in the freshwater fish lambari (Astyanax fasciatus) using different biomarkers. Adult males and females were collected in different seasons from two distinct sites in the same watershed: Ponte Nova Reservoir (PN) considered a pristine or small anthropogenic influence reference point; and Billings Reservoir (Bil), subjected to a large anthropogenic impact. Biological indices, such as hepatosomatic index and gonadosomatic index (GSI), gonadal histomorphology, fecundity, and biomarkers such as plasma levels of estradiol (E2) as well as hepatic gene expression of its alfa nuclear receptor (ERα), were analyzed. Hepatic vitellogenin (VTG) gene expression was evaluated in both sexes, as an indicator of xenoestrogen exposure. Females collected at PN presented a typical annual variation reflected in GSI, whereas for those sampled at Bil the index did not change through the seasons. The higher concentration of E2 in males collected at Bil during spring/2013, together with the detection of VTG gene expression, suggest the presence of EDCs in the water. These EDCs may have also influenced fecundity of females from Bil, which was higher during winter and spring/2013. Gene expression of ERα and ovarian morphology did not differ between fish from both sites. Water conditions from Bil reservoir impacted by anthropic activity clearly interfered mainly with biomarkers of biological effect such as plasma E2 levels and absolute and relative fecundity, but also altered biomarkers of exposure as VTG gene expression. These facts support the notion that waterborne EDCs are capable of causing estrogenic activity in A. fasciatus. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modelling white-water rafting suitability in a hydropower regulated Alpine River.

PubMed

Carolli, Mauro; Zolezzi, Guido; Geneletti, Davide; Siviglia, Annunziato; Carolli, Fabiano; Cainelli, Oscar

2017-02-01

Cultural and recreational river ecosystem services and their relations with the flow regime are still poorly investigated. We develop a modelling-based approach to assess recreational flow requirements and the spatially distributed river suitability for white-water rafting, a typical service offered by mountain streams, with potential conflicts of interest with hydropower regulation. The approach is based on the principles of habitat suitability modelling using water depth as the main attribute, with preference curves defined through interviews with local rafting guides. The methodology allows to compute streamflow thresholds for conditions of suitability and optimality of a river reach in relation to rafting. Rafting suitability response to past, present and future flow management scenarios can be predicted on the basis of a hydrological model, which is incorporated in the methodology and is able to account for anthropic effects. Rafting suitability is expressed through a novel metric, the "Rafting hydro-suitability index" (RHSI) which quantifies the cumulative duration of suitable and optimal conditions for rafting. The approach is applied on the Noce River (NE Italy), an Alpine River regulated by hydropower production and affected by hydropeaking, which influences suitability at a sub-daily scale. A dedicated algorithm is developed within the hydrological model to resemble hydropeaking conditions with daily flow data. In the Noce River, peak flows associated with hydropeaking support rafting activities in late summer, highlighting the dual nature of hydropeaking in regulated rivers. Rafting suitability is slightly reduced under present, hydropower-regulated flow conditions compared to an idealized flow regime characterised by no water abstractions. Localized water abstractions for small, run-of-the-river hydropower plants are predicted to negatively affect rafting suitability. The proposed methodology can be extended to support decision making for flow management in hydropower regulated streams, as it has the potential to quantify the response of different ecosystem services to flow regulation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Isotopic composition of continental and marine waters in Costa Chica, Guerrero, Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonzalez, T.; Durazo, J.; Morales, P.; Cienfuegos, E.

2007-05-01

The region interesting to the present hydrologically-oriented study is part of the Costa Chica, between the state line of Guerrero and Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, which includes the warm and subhumid lowlands of the 6136 km2 watershed of the Ometepec river. This perennial, although highly seasonal river, drains the southern flank of Sierra Madre del Sur, an elevated mountain range parallel to the Pacific Ocean shoreline, with peaks up to 3000 m asl, and at 98º 43' W; 16º 30' N, discharges into this ocean around 3 × 109 m3 of pristine water per year. So far, anthropic alterations of the whole environment are not immediately obvious. Its coastal wetlands have become a new international Ramsar Site. Our region of interest is a large scale unperturbed natural laboratory, waiting to be studied. The present study shows a several years ongoing survey of 64 paired measurements, (δ 18O, δ 2H) in permil versus Vienna SMOW, of the oxygen-18 and deuterium concentrations of the continental and marine waters of the study region. Rain water was not sampled. The objective is to show and personally discuss the sole "isotopic picture" in a threefold way: i) To test locally the meteoric line, the fractionation coefficients, and the altitude effect, all of them documented for central Mexico through other studies, and, also, to compare the isotope data available for other locations nearby; ii) To display the regularities we found in surface and ground waters, potentially useful studying its catchment isotope hydrology; and iii) To show marine water features that could be indicative of local continental discharges inside the sea, the ones that should be taken into account in future hydrological and ecological balances [in: Zektser IS, RG Dzhamalov, LG Everett (2007). Submarine Groundwater. CRC Press, Boca Raton. 446 pp.

Technology and human purpose: the problem of solids transport on the Earth's surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haff, P. K.

2012-11-01

Displacement of mass of limited deformability ("solids") on the Earth's surface is opposed by friction and (the analog of) form resistance - impediments relaxed by rotational motion, self-powering of mass units, and transport infrastructure. These features of solids transport first evolved in the biosphere prior to the emergence of technology, allowing slope-independent, diffusion-like motion of discrete objects as massive as several tons, as illustrated by animal foraging and movement along game trails. However, high-energy-consumption technology powered by fossil fuels required a mechanism that could support fast advective transport of solids, i.e., long-distance, high-volume, high-speed, unidirectional, slope-independent transport across the land surface of materials like coal, containerized fluids, minerals, and economic goods. Pre-technology nature was able to sustain regional- and global-scale advection only in the limited form of piggybacking on geophysical flows of water (river sediment) and air (dust). The appearance of a mechanism for sustained advection of solids independent of fluid flows and gravity appeared only upon the emergence of human purpose. Purpose enables solids advection by, in effect, simulating a continuous potential gradient, otherwise lacking, between discrete and widely separated fossil-fuel energy sources and sinks. Invoking purpose as a mechanism in solids advection is an example of the need to import anthropic principles and concepts into the language and methodology of modern Earth system dynamics. As part of the emergence of a generalized solids advection mechanism, several additional transport requirements necessary to the function of modern large-scale technological systems were also satisfied. These include spatially accurate delivery of advected payload, targetability to essentially arbitrarily located destinations (such as cities), and independence of structure of advected payload from transport mechanism. The latter property enables the transport of an onboard power supply and delivery of persistent-memory, high-information-content payload, such as technological artifacts ("parts").

Technology and human purpose: the problem of solids transport on the earth's surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haff, P. K.

2012-05-01

Displacement of mass of limited deformability ("solids") on the Earth's surface is opposed by friction and (the analog of) form resistance - impediments relaxed by rotational motion, self-powering of mass units, and transport infrastructure. These features of solids transport first evolved in the biosphere prior to the emergence of technology, allowing slope-independent, diffusion-like motion of discrete objects as massive as several tons, as illustrated by animal foraging and movement along game trails. However, high-energy-consumption technology powered by fossil fuels required a mechanism that could support advective transport of solids, i.e., long-distance, high-volume, high-speed, unidirectional, slope independent transport across the land surface of materials like coal, containerized fluids, and minerals. Pre-technology nature was able to sustain large-scale, long-distance solids advection only in the limited form of piggybacking on geophysical flows of water (river sediment) and air (dust). The appearance of a generalized mechanism for advection of solids independent of fluid flows and gravity appeared only upon the emergence of human purpose. Purpose enables solids advection by, in effect, enabling a simulated continuous potential gradient, otherwise lacking, between discrete and widely separated fossil-fuel energy sources and sinks. Invoking purpose as a mechanism in solids advection is an example of the need to import anthropic principles and concepts into the language and methodology of modern Earth system dynamics. As part of the emergence of a generalized solids advection mechanism, several additional transport requirements necessary to the function of modern large-scale technological systems were also satisfied. These include spatially accurate delivery of advected payload, targetability to essentially arbitrarily located destinations (such as cities), and independence of structure of advected payload from transport mechanism. The latter property enables the transport of an onboard power supply and delivery of persistent-memory, high-information-content payload, such as technological artifacts ("parts").

Interactions of Marine Hydrokinetic Devices in Complex Bathymetries: Numerical Simulations in the Chacao Channel in Southern Chile.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soto, K. A.; Escauriaza, C. R.; Richter, D. H.

2015-12-01

Many coastal areas in the South Pacific Ocean can provide significant marine energy resources in the near future. The installation of marine hydrokinetic (MHK) devices in these regions will require new approaches to understand physical and environmental processes that are relevant for the installation of turbine arrays, which are also specific of each site. The coastal morphology of the Chacao channel in southern Chile, which separates the Chiloé island from the main continent (41º47'S, 73º31'W) stands out as an important energy resource that can potentially contribute a significant power capacity. This coastal area not only sustains delicate ecosystems with limited anthropic intervention, but it is characterized by a complex bathymetry that can have important effects on the performance of MHK devices and their local impacts. To understand the interactions of the local bathymetry and ambient turbulence with turbine arrays, we carry out a series of numerical simulations with a coherent-structure resolving turbulence model using the actuator disk parameterization. The main objective of this study is to further our understanding on the physical processes associated with the installation of the turbine arrays. We perform simulations with different geometries and inlet boundary conditions, from simple cases in a rectangular channel, to more complex cases that include the high-resolution bathymetry of an extensive area of the Chacao channel. The results show how the interactions between the MHK devices, the local flow, and the bed can affect the energy flux and potential generation in specific sites. The results also provide new insights of local impacts of MHK devices and they can also help to optimize turbine arrays in natural environments. This work has been supported by Fondecyt project 1130940, and the Marine Energy Research & Innovation Center (MERIC) financed by Corfo and based in Santiago, Chile.

Modeling the Emergent Impacts of Harvesting Acadian Forests over 100+ Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luus, K. A.; Plug, L. J.

2007-12-01

Harvesting strategies and policies for Acadian forest in Nova Scotia, Canada, presently are set using Decision Support Models (DSMs) that aim to maximize the long-term (>100y) value of forests through decisions implemented over short time horizons (5-80 years). However, DSMs typically are aspatial, lack ecological processes and do not treat erosion, so the long-term (>100y) emergent impacts of the prescribed forestry decisions on erosion and vegetation in Acadian forests remain poorly known. To better understand these impacts, we created an equation-based model that simulates the evolution of a ≥4 km2 forest in time steps of 1 y and at a spatial resolution of 3 m2, the footprint of a single mature tree. The model combines 1) ecological processes of recruitment, competition, and mortality; 2) geomorphic processes of hillslope erosion; 3) anthropic processes of tree harvesting, replanting, and road construction under constraints imposed by regulations and cost/benefit ratio. The model uses digital elevation models, parameters (where available), and calibration (where measurements are not available) for conditions presently found in central Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The model is unique because it 1) deals with the impacts of harvesting on an Acadian forest; and 2) vegetation and erosion are coupled. The model was tested by comparing the species-specific biomass of long-term (40 y) forest plot data to simulated results. At the spatial scale of individual 1 ha plots, model predictions presently account for approximately 50% of observed biomass changes through time, but predictions are hampered by the effects of serendipitous "random" events such as single tree windfall. Harvesting increases the cumulative erosion over 3000 years by 240% when compared to an old growth forest and significantly suppresses the growth of Balsam Fir and Sugar Maple. We discuss further tests of the model, and how it might be used to investigate the long-term sustainability of the recommendations made by DSMs and to better understand the relationship between vegetation, erosion, and forest management strategies.

A Multidisciplinary Approach for Monitoring Flood and Landslide Hazards: Application to The Quebrada de Ramón Watershed in Central Chile.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Contreras Vargas, M. T.; Oberli, C.; Castro, L. M.; Ledezma, C., Sr.; Gironas, J. A.; Escauriaza, C. R.

2016-12-01

Floods and landslides produced by heavy rainfall in the Andes have acquired new relevance due to recent large-scale events, which have had devastating consequences. The complexity of the geomorphology and the climate that characterizes this region promote the occurrence of flash floods with high sediment concentrations. In addition, cities are expanding in the Andean foothills, occupying the floodplains, and increasing the exposure of the population and infrastructure to floods and landslides. Performing a hazard assessment of extreme events in these regions is a very complex task, due to the great uncertainty associated to the factors controlling the dynamics of floods and landslides, and the lack of historical records of hydrometeorological variables. The analysis is further complicated by anthropic activities that can amplify the effects of these events, and by the influence of climate change and the ENSO phenomenon. To provide a better understanding of these events in Andean regions, we integrate knowledge from different disciplines to study various aspects associated to floods and landslides in the Quebrada de Ramón, an Andean watershed located in central Chile. We combine two methodologies to collect the information in the field: 1) We use traditional methods, including sediment samples, weather stations, and topographic data from aerial photography and LIDAR; and 2) We also implement innovative methods based on a wireless network of sensors for monitoring hydrometeorological variables in real-time. We employ this information to develop and couple weather forecast, hydrological and hydrodynamic models, which are used to predict the propagation of floods in the river channel and the urban area, as well as the occurrence of landslides on specific sections of the watershed. This work is expected to provide more reliable information to citizens, city planners, emergency managers and other decision makers to enhance the preparedness, response, and resilience of cities near mountain regions. Work supported by Fondecyt grants 1130940 and 1161439, and CONICYT/FONDAP grants 15110017 and 15110020.

Coalescence with Background and Balancing Selection in Systems with Bi- and Uniparental Reproduction: Contrasting Partial Asexuality and Selfing

PubMed Central

Agrawal, Aneil F.; Hartfield, Matthew

2016-01-01

Uniparental reproduction in diploids, via asexual reproduction or selfing, reduces the independence with which separate loci are transmitted across generations. This is expected to increase the extent to which a neutral marker is affected by selection elsewhere in the genome. Such effects have previously been quantified in coalescent models involving selfing. Here we examine the effects of background selection and balancing selection in diploids capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction (i.e., partial asexuality). We find that the effect of background selection on reducing coalescent time (and effective population size) can be orders of magnitude greater when rates of sex are low than when sex is common. This is because asexuality enhances the effects of background selection through both a recombination effect and a segregation effect. We show that there are several reasons that the strength of background selection differs between systems with partial asexuality and those with comparable levels of uniparental reproduction via selfing. Expectations for reductions in Ne via background selection have been verified using stochastic simulations. In contrast to background selection, balancing selection increases the coalescence time for a linked neutral site. With partial asexuality, the effect of balancing selection is somewhat dependent upon the mode of selection (e.g., heterozygote advantage vs. negative frequency-dependent selection) in a manner that does not apply to selfing. This is because the frequency of heterozygotes, which are required for recombination onto alternative genetic backgrounds, is more dependent on the pattern of selection with partial asexuality than with selfing. PMID:26584901

Coalescence with Background and Balancing Selection in Systems with Bi- and Uniparental Reproduction: Contrasting Partial Asexuality and Selfing.

PubMed

Agrawal, Aneil F; Hartfield, Matthew

2016-01-01

Uniparental reproduction in diploids, via asexual reproduction or selfing, reduces the independence with which separate loci are transmitted across generations. This is expected to increase the extent to which a neutral marker is affected by selection elsewhere in the genome. Such effects have previously been quantified in coalescent models involving selfing. Here we examine the effects of background selection and balancing selection in diploids capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction (i.e., partial asexuality). We find that the effect of background selection on reducing coalescent time (and effective population size) can be orders of magnitude greater when rates of sex are low than when sex is common. This is because asexuality enhances the effects of background selection through both a recombination effect and a segregation effect. We show that there are several reasons that the strength of background selection differs between systems with partial asexuality and those with comparable levels of uniparental reproduction via selfing. Expectations for reductions in Ne via background selection have been verified using stochastic simulations. In contrast to background selection, balancing selection increases the coalescence time for a linked neutral site. With partial asexuality, the effect of balancing selection is somewhat dependent upon the mode of selection (e.g., heterozygote advantage vs. negative frequency-dependent selection) in a manner that does not apply to selfing. This is because the frequency of heterozygotes, which are required for recombination onto alternative genetic backgrounds, is more dependent on the pattern of selection with partial asexuality than with selfing. Copyright © 2016 by the Genetics Society of America.

Effects of Mode of Target Task Selection on Learning about Plants in a Mobile Learning Environment: Effortful Manual Selection versus Effortless QR-Code Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gao, Yuan; Liu, Tzu-Chien; Paas, Fred

2016-01-01

This study compared the effects of effortless selection of target plants using quick respond (QR) code technology to effortful manual search and selection of target plants on learning about plants in a mobile device supported learning environment. In addition, it was investigated whether the effectiveness of the 2 selection methods was…

Model study of meteorology and photochemical air pollution over un urban area in south-eastern France (ESCOMPTE campaign).

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taghavi, M.; Cautenet, S.

2003-04-01

The ESCOMPTE Campaign has been conducted over Southern France (Provence region including the Marseille, Aix and Toulon cities and the Fos-Berre industrial center) in June and July of 2001. In order to study the redistribution of the pollutants emitted by anthropic and biogenic emissions and their impact on the atmospheric chemistry, we used meso-scale modeling (RAMS model, paralleled version 4.3, coupled on line with chemical modules : MOCA2.2 (Poulet et al, 2002) including 29 gaseous species). The hourly high resolution emissions were obtained from ESCOMPTE database (Ponche et al, 2002). The model was coupled with the dry deposition scheme (Walmsley and Weseley,1996). In this particular case of complex circulation (sea breeze associated with topography), the processes involving peaks of pollution were strongly non linear, and the meso scale modeling coupled on line with chemistry module was an essential step for a realistic redistribution of chemical species. Two nested grids satisfactorily describe the synoptic dynamics and the sea breeze circulations. The ECMWF meteorological fields provide the initial and boundary conditions. Different events characterized by various meteorological situations were simulated. Meteorological fields retrieved by modeling, also Modeled ozone, NOx, CO and SO2 concentrations, were compared with balloons, lidars, aircrafts and surface stations measurements. The chemistry regimes were explained according to the distribution of plumes. The stratified layers were examined.

Hindu Responses to Darwinism: Assimilation and Rejection in a Colonial and Post-Colonial Context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacKenzie Brown, C.

2010-06-01

Hindu responses to Darwinism, like Christian, have run the gamut from outright rejection to fairly robust but limited accommodations of the Darwinian perspective. Despite certain features of Hindu thought such as the enormous time-scales of traditional cosmogonies that may suggest considerable affinity with modern notions of organic evolution, more often than not traditional assumptions have worked against deep engagement with Darwinism, allowing only for superficial assimilation at best. Three fundamental factors have affected Hindu responses to Darwinism: the great diversity within the tradition spanning evolutionist and creationist perspectives, the encounter with Darwinism in the late nineteenth century as part of an alien culture, and the fact that this encounter occurred within a colonial context. This essay explores the complex interactions of these three factors, beginning with the diversity within the ancient and classical cosmological traditions, followed by consideration of colonial developments and the emergence of four representative Hindu approaches to Darwinism: Modern Vedic Evolutionism, Anthropic Vedic Evolutionism, Reactionary Vedic Evolutionism, and Modern Vedic Creationism. The essay concludes by discussing various epistemological issues in the attempts of modern Hindu apologists to legitimize Vedic world views. These issues include the appeal to modern science to confirm traditional ideals and values, while simultaneously subordinating scientific method to spiritual means of knowledge, or rejecting scientific methodology with its inbuilt skepticism entirely.

Assessment of the water balance over France using regionalized Turc-Pike formula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Lay, Matthieu; Garçon, Rémy; Gailhard, Joël; Garavaglia, Federico

2016-04-01

With extensive use of hydrological models over a wide range of hydro-climatic contexts, bias in hydro-climatic data may lead to unreliable models and thus hydrological forecasts and projections. This issue is particularly pregnant when considering mountainous areas with great uncertainties on precipitations, or when considering complex unconservative catchments (e.g. karstic systems). The Turc-Pike water balance formula, analogous to the classical Budyko formula, is a simple and efficient mathematical formulation relating long-term average streamflow to long-term average precipitation and potential evaporation. In this study, we propose to apply this framework to assess and eventually adjust the water-balance before calibrating an operational hydrologic model (MORDOR model). Considering a large set of 350 french catchments, the Turc-Pike formula is regionalized based on ecohydrologic criterions to handle various hydro-climatic contexts. This interannual regional model is then applied to assess the water-balance over numerous catchments and various conditions, such as karstic, snow-driven or glaciarized and even anthropized catchments. Results show that it is possible to obtain pretty realistic corrections of meteorological inputs (precipitations, temperature or potential evaporation) or hydrologic surface (or runoff). These corrections can often be confirmed a posteriori by exogenous information. Positive impacts on hydrologic model's calibration are also demonstrated. This methodology is now operational for hydrologic applications at EDF (Electricité de France, French electric utility company), and therefore applied on hundreds of catchments.

Microbiota and anthropic interference on antimicrobial resistance profile of bacteria isolated from Brazilian Maned-wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus).

PubMed

Vieira-da-Motta, Olney; Eckhardt-de-Pontes, Luiz Antonio; Petrucci, Melissa Paes; dos Santos, Israel Pereira; da Cunha, Isabel Candia Nunes; Morato, Ronaldo Gonçalves

2013-12-01

Both the study of Brazilian wild mammal fauna and the conditions that foster the preservation of endangered species, such as Brazilian Maned-wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), in wild life are of extreme importance. In order to study the resistance profile of microbiota bacterial colonizing Brazilian Maned-wolf, this work investigated samples from eight male captive and free roaming animals originating from different Brazilian geographical regions. Samples for microbiological purposes were collected with swabs and kept in appropriate transport medium. Using routine microbiological techniques, the isolated bacteria were tested toward antimicrobial drugs by the agar disk diffusion method. Results showed that all samples from wild animals were sensitive toward all drugs tested. Conversely, the resistance profile of bacteria isolated from captive animals varied among strains and animal body site location. Escherichia coli samples from prepuce, anus and ear showed multi-resistance toward at least four drugs, especially against erythromycin and tetracycline, followed by Proteus mirabilis and P. vulgaris strains isolated from anus and ear. Among Gram-positive bacteria, strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci showed multi-resistance mainly toward erythromycin and amoxicillin. The work discusses these findings and suggests that profile of multi-resistance bacteria from captive subjects may be attributed to direct contact with human or through lifestyle factors such as feeding, predation or contact of animals with urban animals such as birds, rodents, and insects from surrounding environments.

Microbiota and anthropic interference on antimicrobial resistance profile of bacteria isolated from Brazilian maned-wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus)

PubMed Central

Vieira-da-Motta, Olney; Eckhardt-de-Pontes, Luiz Antonio; Petrucci, Melissa Paes; dos Santos, Israel Pereira; da Cunha, Isabel Candia Nunes; Morato, Ronaldo Gonçalves

2013-01-01

Both the study of Brazilian wild mammal fauna and the conditions that foster the preservation of endangered species, such as Brazilian Maned-wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), in wild life are of extreme importance. In order to study the resistance profile of microbiota bacterial colonizing Brazilian Maned-wolf, this work investigated samples from eight male captive and free roaming animals originating from different Brazilian geographical regions. Samples for microbiological purposes were collected with swabs and kept in appropriate transport medium. Using routine microbiological techniques, the isolated bacteria were tested toward antimicrobial drugs by the agar disk diffusion method. Results showed that all samples from wild animals were sensitive toward all drugs tested. Conversely, the resistance profile of bacteria isolated from captive animals varied among strains and animal body site location. Escherichia coli samples from prepuce, anus and ear showed multi-resistance toward at least four drugs, especially against erythromycin and tetracycline, followed by Proteus mirabilis and P. vulgaris strains isolated from anus and ear. Among Gram-positive bacteria, strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci showed multi-resistance mainly toward erythromycin and amoxicillin. The work discusses these findings and suggests that profile of multi-resistance bacteria from captive subjects may be attributed to direct contact with human or through lifestyle factors such as feeding, predation or contact of animals with urban animals such as birds, rodents, and insects from surrounding environments. PMID:24688529

Magnetic Multi-Scale Mapping to Characterize Anthropogenic Targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Maire, P.; Munschy, M.

2017-12-01

The discovery of buried anthropic objects on construction sites can cause delays and/or dangers for workers and for the public. Indeed, every year 500 tons of Unexploded-ordnance are discovered in France. Magnetic measurements are useful to localize magnetized objects. Moreover, it is the cheapest geophysical method which does not impact environment and which is relatively fast to perform. Fluxgate magnetometers (three components) are used to measure magnetic properties bellow the ground. These magnetic sensors are not absolute, so they need to be calibrated before the onset of the measurements. The advantage is that they allow magnetic compensation of the equipment attached to the sensor. So the choice of this kind sensor gives the opportunity to install the equipment aboard different magnetized supports: boat, quad bike, unmanned aerial vehicle, aircraft,... Indeed, this methodology permits to perform magnetic mapping with different scale and different elevation above ground level. An old French aerial military plant was chosen to perform this multi-scale approach. The advantage of the site is that it contains a lot of different targets with variable sizes and depth, e.g. buildings, unexploded-ordnances of the two world wars, trenches, pipes,… By comparison between the different magnetic anomaly maps at different elevations some of the geometric parameters of the magnetic sources can be characterized. The comparison between measured maps at different elevations and the prolonged map highlights the maximum distance for the target's detection (figure).

A population genomics insight into the Mediterranean origins of wine yeast domestication.

PubMed

Almeida, Pedro; Barbosa, Raquel; Zalar, Polona; Imanishi, Yumi; Shimizu, Kiminori; Turchetti, Benedetta; Legras, Jean-Luc; Serra, Marta; Dequin, Sylvie; Couloux, Arnaud; Guy, Julie; Bensasson, Douda; Gonçalves, Paula; Sampaio, José Paulo

2015-11-01

The domestication of the wine yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is thought to be contemporary with the development and expansion of viticulture along the Mediterranean basin. Until now, the unavailability of wild lineages prevented the identification of the closest wild relatives of wine yeasts. Here, we enlarge the collection of natural lineages and employ whole-genome data of oak-associated wild isolates to study a balanced number of anthropic and natural S. cerevisiae strains. We identified industrial variants and new geographically delimited populations, including a novel Mediterranean oak population. This population is the closest relative of the wine lineage as shown by a weak population structure and further supported by genomewide population analyses. A coalescent model considering partial isolation with asymmetrical migration, mostly from the wild group into the Wine group, and population growth, was found to be best supported by the data. Importantly, divergence time estimates between the two populations agree with historical evidence for winemaking. We show that three horizontally transmitted regions, previously described to contain genes relevant to wine fermentation, are present in the Wine group but not in the Mediterranean oak group. This represents a major discontinuity between the two populations and is likely to denote a domestication fingerprint in wine yeasts. Taken together, these results indicate that Mediterranean oaks harbour the wild genetic stock of domesticated wine yeasts. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Benthic biodiversity and ecological gradients in the Seno Magdalena (Puyuhuapi Fjord, Chile)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Betti, F.; Bavestrello, G.; Bo, M.; Enrichetti, F.; Loi, A.; Wanderlingh, A.; Pérez-Santos, I.; Daneri, G.

2017-11-01

Due to its complex hydrological, geomorphological and climatic features, the Chilean fjords region is considered among the most productive areas of the world. The benthic fauna of this region accounts for more than 1600 species showing marked latitudinal biogeographic differences characterizing this as one of the most important hotspot of biodiversity of cold-temperate environments. Despite numerous studies have been conducted to depict the biological characteristics of the fjords, the present situation is strongly unbalanced towards specific taxa. Hence, this study takes into consideration a community approach, highlighting the distribution of six benthic assemblages thriving on vertical walls along the Seno Magdalena fjord (Aysen region). Underwater pictures were used to characterize the trends in abundance and diversity of the main taxa showing distinct responses to salinity and turbidity. Among the less tolerant taxa to high fresh water inputs there are encrusting algae, mainly found in the most external sites lashed by outer currents, far from the estuarine plume. The bathymetric zonation of the assemblages, instead, is characterized by a dense mussel belt in the first 10 m, within a thick layer of low-salinity, nutrient-enriched waters. Rich assemblages of sponges, brachiopods, gorgonians and scleractinians thrive in deeper, marine, clear waters. The evaluation of the ecological role of benthic species leads both to the definition of potential bioindicator taxa responding to anthropic disturbances and to the promotion of protected areas.

Winemaking and Bioprocesses Strongly Shaped the Genetic Diversity of the Ubiquitous Yeast Torulaspora delbrueckii

PubMed Central

Comte, Guillaume; Panfili, Aurélie; Delcamp, Adline; Salin, Franck; Marullo, Philippe; Bely, Marina

2014-01-01

The yeast Torulaspora delbrueckii is associated with several human activities including oenology, bakery, distillery, dairy industry, etc. In addition to its biotechnological applications, T. delbrueckii is frequently isolated in natural environments (plant, soil, insect). T. delbrueckii is thus a remarkable ubiquitous yeast species with both wild and anthropic habitats, and appears to be a perfect yeast model to search for evidence of human domestication. For that purpose, we developed eight microsatellite markers that were used for the genotyping of 110 strains from various substrates and geographical origins. Microsatellite analysis showed four genetic clusters: two groups contained most nature strains from Old World and Americas respectively, and two clusters were associated with winemaking and other bioprocesses. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) confirmed that human activities significantly shaped the genetic variability of T. delbrueckii species. Natural isolates are differentiated on the basis of geographical localisation, as expected for wild population. The domestication of T. delbrueckii probably dates back to the Roman Empire for winemaking (∼1900 years ago), and to the Neolithic era for bioprocesses (∼4000 years ago). Microsatellite analysis also provided valuable data regarding the life-cycle of the species, suggesting a mostly diploid homothallic life. In addition to population genetics and ecological studies, the microsatellite tool will be particularly useful for further biotechnological development of T. delbrueckii strains for winemaking and other bioprocesses. PMID:24718638

Disturbances, organisms and ecosystems: a global change perspective

PubMed Central

Ponge, Jean-François

2013-01-01

The present text exposes a theory of the role of disturbances in the assemblage and evolution of species within ecosystems, based principally, but not exclusively, on terrestrial ecosystems. Two groups of organisms, doted of contrasted strategies when faced with environmental disturbances, are presented, based on the classical r-K dichotomy, but enriched with more modern concepts from community and evolutionary ecology. Both groups participate in the assembly of known animal, plant, and microbial communities, but with different requirements about environmental fluctuations. The so-called “civilized” organisms are doted with efficient anticipatory mechanisms, allowing them to optimize from an energetic point of view their performances in a predictable environment (stable or fluctuating cyclically at the scale of life expectancy), and they developed advanced specializations in the course of evolutionary time. On the opposite side, the so-called “barbarians” are weakly efficient in a stable environment because they waste energy for foraging, growth, and reproduction, but they are well adapted to unpredictably changing conditions, in particular during major ecological crises. Both groups of organisms succeed or alternate each other in the course of spontaneous or geared successional processes, as well as in the course of evolution. The balance of “barbarians” against “civilized” strategies within communities is predicted to shift in favor of the first type under present-day anthropic pressure, exemplified among others by climate warming, land use change, pollution, and biological invasions. PMID:23610648