The amounts and properties of transported air at two norwegian stations as functions of wind direction and weather type

Based on monthly means of climatic variables during the period 1937–65, the climate at two Norwegian meteorological stations in January and July was classified by principal component analysis. The new variables were interpreted as pairs of alternating weather types, or airmasses. Four airmasses were identified, covering 20–30% of the transported air at each station. The significance, properties and amounts of air transported by each airmass was calculated and distributed according to wind direction. Differences between air circulation pattern and airmass distribution and properties during the summer and winter season were pointed out. One of the major differences is the tendency to form high pressure over inland areas in winter vs. low pressure in the summer season.     

Perception of temperature and wind by users of public outdoor spaces: relationships with weather parameters and personal characteristics

We aim to understand the relationship between people’s declared bioclimatic comfort, their personal characteristics (age, origin, clothing, activity and motivation, etc.) and the atmospheric conditions. To attain this goal, questionnaire surveys were made concurrently with weather measurements (air temperature, relative humidity, solar and long-wave radiation and wind speed) in two open leisure areas of Lisbon (Portugal), during the years 2006 and 2007. We analysed the desire expressed by the interviewees to decrease, maintain or increase the values of air temperature and wind speed, in order to improve their level of comfort. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyse the quantitative relation between preference votes and environmental and personal parameters. The preference for a different temperature depends on the season and is strongly associated with wind speed. Furthermore, a general decrease of discomfort with increasing age was also found. Most people declared a preference for lower wind speed in all seasons; the perception of wind shows significant differences depending on gender, with women declaring a lower level of comfort with higher wind speed. It was also found that the tolerance of warmer conditions is higher than of cooler conditions, and that adaptive strategies are undertaken by people to improve their level of comfort outdoors.     

Nice weather for bettongs: using weather events,not climate means,in species distribution models

Current applications of species distribution models (SDM) are typically static, in that they are based on correlations between where a species has been observed (ignoring the date of the observation) and environmental features, such as long‐term climate means, that are assumed to be constant for each site. Because of this SDMs do not account for temporal variation in the distribution of suitable habitat across the range of a species. Here, we demonstrate the temporal variability in the potential geographic distributions of an endangered marsupial, the northern bettong Bettongia tropica as a case study. Models of the species distribution using temporally matched observations of the species with weather data (including extreme weather events) at the time of species observations, were better able to define habitat suitability, identify range edges and uncover competitive interactions than models based on static long‐term climate means. Droughts and variable temperature are implicated in low densities and local extinctions of northern bettong populations close to range edges. Further, we show how variable weather can influence the results of competition with the common rufous bettong Aepyprymnus rufescens. Because traditional SDMs do not account for temporal variability of suitable habitat, static SDMs may underestimate the impacts of climate change particularly as the incidence of extreme weather events is likely to rise.     

Flowering plant phenology and weather in Alberta,Canada

Plant phenology can be used for biomonitoring climate change. The flowering of certain temperate zone plant species occurs in response to accumulated heat. Networks of observers presently provide data on the timing of the growth of native and crop plants to Agro-meteorological Departments in Europe and the United States. In Alberta, a phenological survey which began in 1987 records flowering times for 15 native plants, with about 200 volunteers contributing observations annually. Six years of data have been summarized and correlated with temperature measurements. The Alberta phenological data can provide a key to sound decision-making in two ways: by providing proxy data on key variables to which vegetation responds, and by providing a model for transforming simple weather data into biologically meaningful zones.     

Reindeer parasites, weather and warming of the Arctic

The protostrongylid nematode Elaphostrongylus rangiferi parasitizes reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and may cause severe disease and death. A relationship between particularly warm summers and the occurrence of the parasite has been suggested. The hypotheses of a positive relationship between the abundance of the parasite and summer warmth were tested by yearly examination of the density of larvae of E. rangiferi in faeces of reindeer in northern Norway. In addition to summer temperature, summer precipitation and reindeer density were included. The abundance of the parasite increased with increasing summer temperature. It is predicted that warming of the Arctic will increase the abundance of E. rangiferi and cause more disease and death in reindeer.     

Flying Drosophila orient to sky polarization

Insects maintain a constant bearing across a wide range of spatial scales. Monarch butterflies and locusts traverse continents [1, 2], and foraging bees and ants travel hundreds of meters to return to their nests [1, 3, 4], whereas many other insects fly straight for only a few centimeters before changing direction. Despite this variation in spatial scale, the brain region thought to underlie long-distance navigation is remarkably conserved [5, 6], suggesting that the use of a celestial compass is a general and perhaps ancient capability of insects. Laboratory studies of Drosophila have identified a local search mode in which short, straight segments are interspersed with rapid turns [7, 8]. However, this flight mode is inconsistent with measured gene flow between geographically separated populations [9-11], and individual Drosophila can travel 10 km across desert terrain in a single night [9, 12, 13]-a feat that would be impossible without prolonged periods of straight flight. To directly examine orientation behavior under outdoor conditions, we built a portable flight arena in which a fly viewed the natural sky through a liquid crystal device that could experimentally rotate the polarization angle. Our findings indicate that Drosophila actively orient using the sky's natural polarization pattern.     

Symbiogenesis,natural selection,and the dynamic Earth

One century ago, Constantin S. Mereschkowsky introduced the symbiogenesis theory for the origin of chloroplasts from ancient cyanobacteria which was later supplemented by Ivan E. Wallin’s proposal that mitochondria evolved from once free-living bacteria. Today, this Mereschkowsky–Wallin principle of symbiogenesis, which is also known as the serial primary endosymbiosis theory, explains the evolutionary origin of eukaryotic cells and hence the emergence of all eukaryotes (protists, fungi, animals and plants). In 1858, the concept of natural selection was described independently by Charles Darwin and Alfred R. Wallace. In the same year, Antonio Snider-Pellegrini proposed the idea of shifting continents, which was later expanded by Alfred Wegener, who published his theory of continental drift eight decades ago. Today, directional selection is accepted as the major cause of adaptive evolution within natural populations of micro- and macro-organisms and the theory of the dynamic Earth (plate tectonics) is well supported. In this article, I combine the processes and principles of symbiogenesis, natural selection and the dynamic Earth and propose an integrative ‘synade-model’ of macroevolution which takes into account organisms from all five Kingdoms of life.     

Advances,shortcomings, and recommendations for wind chill estimation

This article discusses briefly the advances made and the remaining short-comings in the "new" wind chill charts adopted in the US and Canada in 2001. A number of indicated refinements are proposed, including the use of whole body models in the computations, verification of heat exchange coefficients by human experiments, reconsideration of "calm" wind conditions, reconsideration of frostbite threshold levels, the inclusion of cold-related pain and numbness in the charts, etc. A dynamic numerical model is applied to compare the effects of wind speeds, on the one hand, and air temperatures, on the other, on the steady-state exposed facial and bare finger temperatures. An apparent asymmetry is demonstrated, favoring the effects of wind speeds over those of air temperatures for an identical final facial temperature. This asymmetry is reversed, however, when SI unit changes in these quantities are considered.     

Effects of weather,season, and daylight on female wild boar movement

Animals often modify their behavior to reduce the effects of adverse weather conditions. By studying wild boar equipped with the Global Positioning System (GPS) collars, we explored the effects of weather conditions on movement and activity patterns across seasons. We found that the most prevailing strategy for wild boar exposed to stressful weather conditions is to reduce movement. Wild boar thus decreased movement at low temperatures and in precipitation during winter. We also found that wild boar increased movement in late summer, and with precipitation during late summer, despite higher food availability and facilitated foraging by the rain. We also confirm previous results that snow depth reduces movement of wild boar, likely by making movements more energetically costly.