How drought events during the last century have impacted biomass carbon in Amazonian rainforests

During the last two decades, inventory data show that droughts have reduced biomass carbon sink of the Amazon forest by causing mortality to exceed growth. However, process-based models have struggled to include drought-induced responses of growth and mortality and have not been evaluated against plot data. A process-based model, ORCHIDEE-CAN-NHA, including forest demography with tree cohorts, plant hydraulic architecture and drought-induced tree mortality, was applied over Amazonia rainforests forced by gridded climate fields and rising CO₂ from 1901 to 2019. The model reproduced the decelerating signal of net carbon sink and drought sensitivity of aboveground biomass (AGB) growth and mortality observed at forest plots across selected Amazon intact forests for 2005 and 2010. We predicted a larger mortality rate and a more negative sensitivity of the net carbon sink during the 2015/16 El Niño compared with the former droughts. 2015/16 was indeed the most severe drought since 1901 regarding both AGB loss and area experiencing a severe carbon loss. We found that even if climate change did increase mortality, elevated CO₂ contributed to balance the biomass mortality, since CO₂-induced stomatal closure reduces transpiration, thus, offsets increased transpiration from CO₂-induced higher foliage area.     

Temporal pattern of resource use and variation in diets of individual grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Patterns of resource fidelity, switching, and variation in individual diet were examined in the polyphagous grasshopper Taeniopoda equesforaging in experimental cages over an 11-day period. Ten novel dicots were provided in the cages, but grasshoppers fed primarily on kale (Brassica oleraceavar. acephala),lobelia (Lobelia erinus),pansy (Viola x wittrockiana),and dry bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon).Grasshoppers showed significant fidelity to a single plant within a meal but tended to eat less of the same plant in the next meal and, in the case of pansy, on the next day. Grasshoppers switched nonrandomly, suggesting that compensatory feeding on complementary resources may have occurred. There was no evidence that behavioral interactions among individuals increased switching rate or lowered fidelity. Overall patterns of resource use varied significantly among grasshoppers during the study, despite frequent switching among resources and a significant tendency to aggregate while feeding. All individuals were polyphagous but differed in relative consumption of available plants. The results suggest that individual grasshoppers express different feeding patterns that are consistent over time and that variation in diet among individual observed in the field may be more than simple sampling error.     

Metabolic diversity of aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria from a petroleum-contaminated aquifer

We characterized bacteria from contaminated aquifers for their ability to utilize aromatic hydrocarbons under hypoxic (oxygen-limiting) conditions (initial dissolved oxygen concentration about 2 mg/l) with nitrate as an alternate electron acceptor. This is relevant to current intense efforts to establish favorable conditions forin situ bioremediation. Using samples of granular activated carbon slurries from an operating groundwater treatment system, we isolated bacteria that are able to use benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, orp-xylene as their sole source of carbon under aerobic or hypoxic-denitrifying conditions. Direct isolation on solid medium incubated aerobically or hypoxically with the substrate supplied as vapor yielded 10³ to 10⁵ bacteria ml^–1 of slurry supernatant, with numbers varying little with respect to isolation substrate or conditions. More than sixty bacterial isolates that varied in colony morphology were purified and characterized according to substrate utilization profiles and growth condition (i.e., aerobic vs. hypoxic) specificity. Strains with distinct characteristics were obtained using benzene compared with those isolated on toluene or ethylbenzene. In general, isolates obtained from direct selection on benzene minimal medium grew well under aerobic conditions but poorly under hypoxic conditions, whereas many ethylbenzene isolates grew well under both incubation conditions. We conclude that the conditions of isolation, rather than the substrate used, will influence the apparent characteristic substrate utilization range of the isolates obtained. Also, using an enrichment culture technique, we isolated a strain ofPseudomonas fluorescens, designated CFS215, which exhibited nitrate dependent degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons under hypoxic conditions.Abbreviations BTEX benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, andp-xylene - HPLC high performance liquid chromatography - GAC granular activated carbon     

Impact of Atta colombica Colonies on Understory Vegetation and Light Availability in a Neotropical Forest1

We quantified patterns of vegetation removal and light availability above Atta colombica nests on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Ants cleared vegetation less than 1 cm in diameter from an area of 77 m², and up to 3 m above ground level. Overall light availability 1.5 m above ground level was 49 percent greater at ant nest sites than at sites in undisturbed understory. These higher light levels fell within the range known to enhance growth of both shade tolerant and pioneer species.     

Identification of a chemotactic epitope in human transforming growth factor-β1 spanning amino acid residues 368–374

TGF-b?1 plays a critical role in inflammatory and repair processes due in part to its ability to provide a potent chemotactic stimulus for inflammatory cells such as neutrophils and monocytes and for fibroblasts which initiate the fibrogenic response. In the present study, we have used synthetic oligopeptides representing the amino acid sequence of the 12.1 kDa monomer of human TGF-b?1 in an effort to identify a chemotactic epitope on the molecule. A seven residue peptide containing residues 368-374, Val Tyr Tyr Val Gly Arg Lys, was demonstrated to be capable of inducing chemotactic migration of human peripheral blood neutrophils, monocytes, monocyte leukemia cell line THP-1, and infant foreskin fibroblasts. Furthermore, larger peptides from the carboxy-terminal portion of TGF-b?1 that contained residues 368–374 also induced migration of these cell types. None of the peptides representing the complete amino acid of TGF-b?1 monomer were able to compete with [¹²⁵I]hrTGF-b?1 for binding to TGF-b? cell surface receptors or fibroblasts or THP-1 cells. Implications of these observations are discussed. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Differential pulse polarographic determination of plasma menadione

A differential pulse polarographic assay for plasma vitamin K₃ (menadione) has been developed. Details of the assay are (i) lipid-soluble material is extracted from plasma into ether by the method of Bjornsson et al. [(1978) Thromb. Haemostas.2, 466–473]; (ii) ether is evaporated under nitrogen and the residue is dissolved in the supporting electrolyte, methanol: 0.2 m borate buffer (9:1), pH 6.8; (iii) current height is measured at ?0.32 V vs SCE on the differential pulse polarogram. The lower sensitivity limit of this technique after addition of standard vitamin K₃ to plasma is 0.3 μm; the calibration curve is linear from 0.6 through 10 μm. Two patients treated with a single dose of menadiol sodium diphosphate, 20 mg/M² i.m., achieved measurable plasma vitamin K₃ levels at 0.5 to 1.0 h ranging between 0.5 (0.08 μg/ml) and 2 μm (0.3 μg/ml).     

Influence of Aging on Nuclear DNA in Corn Leaves

Leaves of Zea mays L. were selected at a young stage when theyhad accumulated about two-thirds of their maximum chlorophyll,at a mature stage when approximately full dimensions and maximumchlorophyll levels were attained, and following pollen shedwhen lower leaves were dying from the tip. Data show a lossof one-fourth of the nuclear DNA, no effect of aging on eu-and heterochromatin levels and a marked decline in the guanine(G) and cytosine (C) percentages. Although DNA levels mightbe under hormonal control, it is not clear that the loss detectedwould be physiologically influential in aging sequences. Yetthis decline preceded those of leaf nitrogen and chlorophyll. (Received July 7, 1983; Accepted November 23, 1983)     

USE OF A PROGRAMMABLE CALCULATOR IN CARDIOPULMONARY PERFUSION

This study describes a hand-held, battery-powered, programmable instrument (Calculator Model SR-52) that can be taken directly into the operating room by cardiopulmonary perfusionists. Three programs are described in detail: 1) Cardiopulmonary perfusion parameters and estimated blood volume; 2) blood gas parameters and saturations, with temperature corrections; and 3) cardiopulmonary oxygen transfer and oxygenator efficiency. This inexpensive calculator allows perfusion personnel to manipulate easily-derived data into values which heretofore have required elaborate nomograms or special slide rules-or were not available within a reasonable computational time.     

Origin of mitochondrial enzymes. V. The polypeptide character and the biosynthesis of rat liver cytochromec oxidase polypeptides by mitochondria

Isolated rat liver mitochondria were labeled in vitro withl-[¹⁴C]leucine. Sixty percent of the incorporated radioactivity was found to reside in subunits 1, 2, and 3 of cytochromec oxidase with apparent molecular weights of approximately 33,000, 25,000, and 20,000, respectively. The results indicate that these are the predominant products of protein synthesis under the conditions employed. The enzyme complex, as derived by immunoprecipitation, was found to contain four additional polypeptides with apparent molecular weights of 17,000, 12,500, 7000, and 3500. A comparison of electrophoretic profiles of the rat liver and beef heart enzyme reveals that the apparent molecular weights of all polypeptides are remarkably similar.To be submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree of this institution.