Entomological biometeorology

Summary I would appear to have given a rather pessimistic picture of the problems in entomological biometeorology as a result of emphasizing the areas of research that are most vitally concerned with a full understanding of the insect's relation to its environment. An important part of continuing scientific study is capacity to define problems for future investigation from past experience. In spite of the fact that many research results in border fields between meteorology and biology have accumulated without any serious organization toward unifying concepts, it is encouraging that we have achieved enough insight to define some of the basic problems. Future research is in a position in many ways to contribute to the organized approach that is required to make biometeorology a science.It should also be observed that the major limiting problem of handling large volumes of data in complicated ecological studies has been solved in principle to a large extent by the digital and the analogue electronic computers. Digital computer programming has already been incorporated in some population studies for insects. Eventual extension of analogue computer methods to behaviour problems may well facilitate an understanding of more complicated systems,especially those basic to the dispersal and migration of insects.     

Agricultural biometeorology

Summary A more scientific approach to agriculture generally, coupled with the interest of the emergent nations of the world in a planned rural development, has led to a boom in agricultural meteorology. Major developments include an improvement in interdisciplinary communication at both the national and international level, a move toward standardization with the publication of the WMO GUIDE TO AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGICAL PRACTICES, and the application of the principles of agroclimatic classification, in a pilot project, to the arid and semi-arid zones of the Near East. Other advances are recorded in such questions as the responses of crops and farm animals to weather conditions, the forecasting of agricultural diseases and pests, and the effect of environmental factors on the storage of agricultural products. An intensified research effort is being devoted to long-term weather forecasting for agriculture,and to questions of soil moisture balance.     

A glossary for biometeorology

Here we present, for the first time, a glossary of biometeorological terms. The glossary aims to address the need for a reliable source of biometeorological definitions, thereby facilitating communication and mutual understanding in this rapidly expanding field. A total of 171 terms are defined, with reference to 234 citations. It is anticipated that the glossary will be revisited in coming years, updating terms and adding new terms, as appropriate. The glossary is intended to provide a useful resource to the biometeorology community, and to this end, readers are encouraged to contact the lead author to suggest additional terms for inclusion in later versions of the glossary as a result of new and emerging developments in the field.     

The importance of air quality in human biometeorology

Often we encounter a misunderstanding based on the assertion that the criterion of air quality is excluded from studies into meteorology and climatology. In contrast to this, it must be stressed that the admixtures and pollutants pertaining to air quality criteria belong to the atmosphere and therefore, of course, to the field of meteorology, and due to their possible effects also to human biometeorology. A normal weather forecast should include data concerning the concentrations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and other substances. Biometeorological weather classifications should also include mention of air quality rather more than previously. For instance, the classification after Bucher used in Germany is referred to and supplemented with respect to air quality. Analogous relationships hold true for the global classification of climates. As an example, the well-known classification after Koeppen is supplemented according to air quality.     

New actions of melatonin and their relevance to biometeorology

 Melatonin is not only produced by the pineal gland, retina and parietal but also by various other tissues and cells from vertebrates, invertebrates, fungi, plants, multicellular algae and by unicells. In plants, many invertebrates and unicells, its concentration often exceeds that found in vertebrate blood by several orders of magnitude. The action of melatonin is highly pleiotropic. It involves firstly, direct effects, via specific binding sites in various peripheral tissues and cells of vertebrates, including immunomodulation; secondly, systemic influences on the cytoskeleton and nitric oxide formation, mediated by calmodulin; and thirdly, antioxidative protection, perhaps also in the context of photoprotection in plants and unicells. In some dinoflagellates, melatonin conveys temperature signals. On the basis of these comparisons, melatonin appears to mediate and modulate influences from several major environmental factors, such as the photoperiod, radiation intensity and temperature. Received: 18 March 1997 / Accepted: 16 July 1997     

An approach to the biometeorology of decomposer organisms

A search for surrogate variables of weather's control over rate of decay by decomposer organisms has revealed that Actual Evapotranspiration (AE), a water budget term, correlates well (r = 0.976) with measured values of litter decomposition rate. Using data from many biomes of the earth, a curve-fit of AE with measured decomposition rate has been formulated. This curve-fit has been used to prepare a map which displays the geography of predicted decay rate for North America. The physical properties of the litter also controls decomposition rates. Work is in progress to refine the AE to decomposer relationship by considering the lignin content of decomposing litter. Preliminary results suggest that control of decomposition rates by lignin increases with AE so that in high AE environments small changes in lignin concentration result in large changes in litter decay rates. This relationship perhaps explains the great variability in decay rates reported in tropical ecosystems.