Biogeochemistry research needs: observations from the ecosystem studies program of The National Science Foundation

This comment presents current and emerging areas of research which the U.S. National Science Foundation believes have special promise for advancing ecosystem science. These areas are: (1) major element cycle interactions; (2) trace element and organic compound controls on ecosystem dynamics; (3) the role of consumers on ecosystem dynamics; (4) ecosystem dynamics in contrasting environments; (5) landscape ecology; and (6) enhancement of theory and methodology. The Ecosystem Studies Program of the National Science Foundation has identified these as areas to be emphasized in its long range planning program (revised March, 1985). Biogeochemical studies are emphasized in many of these research priority areas.     

International Helgoland Symposium: Convener's report on the Informal Session on marine ecosystem research and man's dependence on the sea

This report on an informal session held during the International Helgoland Symposium 1976, emphasizes basic perspectives of marine-ecosystem research and man's dependence on the sea. Particular reference is made regarding the difficulties to predict manmade changes in the marine environment.     

Air pollution and plant metabolism: Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Air Pollution and Plant Metabolism,Munich, 1987

Book reviews

Air pollution and plant metabolism: Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Air Pollution and Plant Metabolism, Munich, 1987S. Schulte-Hostede, N.M. Darrall, L.W. Blank and A.R. Wellburn (Eds.), London and New YorkL Elsevier Applied Science, 1988. xiv + 381 pages. £44.00. ISBN 1-85166-2830-8.     

Plant tissue culture and biotechnology: perspectives in the history and prospects of the International Association of Plant Biotechnology (IAPB)

The evolutionary route from plant tissue culture (IAPTC) to plant biotechnology (IAPB). Plant biotechnology is an evolutionary scientific process, formulated and maintained by our accumulated cultural-societal knowledge and the invention of new technologies (Altman and Mesoudi submitted). It emerged thousands of years ago when wheat, rice, chickpeas, potatoes, and coffee (and other plants) were first domesticated; when grains were fermented by yeasts to produce bread; and when grape juice, barley, and tubers fermentation resulted in wine, alcohol, and beer. The modern era of plant biotechnology started in the beginning of the twentieth century and is associated with the ability to grow plant cells and tissues in vitro, to regenerate and clone new plants and, later, to modify their genetic characteristics by molecular breeding, including molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS), genetic modification (GM), and, more recently, genome editing. Additional novel procedures will most probably follow in the future.

     

The future of the Amazon: new perspectives from climate, ecosystem and social sciences

The potential loss or large-scale degradation of the tropical rainforests has become one of the iconic images of the impacts of twenty-first century environmental change and may be one of our century's most profound legacies. In the Amazon region, the direct threat of deforestation and degradation is now strongly intertwined with an indirect challenge we are just beginning to understand: the possibility of substantial regional drought driven by global climate change. The Amazon region hosts more than half of the world's remaining tropical forests, and some parts have among the greatest concentrations of biodiversity found anywhere on Earth. Overall, the region is estimated to host about a quarter of all global biodiversity. It acts as one of the major 'flywheels' of global climate, transpiring water and generating clouds, affecting atmospheric circulation across continents and hemispheres, and storing substantial reserves of biomass and soil carbon. Hence, the ongoing degradation of Amazonia is a threat to local climate stability and a contributor to the global atmospheric climate change crisis. Conversely, the stabilization of Amazonian deforestation and degradation would be an opportunity for local adaptation to climate change, as well as a potential global contributor towards mitigation of climate change. However, addressing deforestation in the Amazon raises substantial challenges in policy, governance, sustainability and economic science. This paper introduces a theme issue dedicated to a multidisciplinary analysis of these challenges.     

Food-web studies in shallow eutrophic lakes by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology: Main results,knowledge gaps and new perspectives

For more than 20 years scientists of the ‘Food-chain studies’ Group of the former Limnological Institute have been studying interactions within the pelagic food web. Purpose of research was to explain the structure and dynamics of the zooplankton and fish communities in lakes and reservoirs in relation to biotic and abiotic environmental factors. A so-called multi-species approach was used, in which all common and abundant species within a specific ecosystem were studied on the individual and population level with the same degree of detail. The recent results and the scientific approach used are evaluated and the main gaps in knowledge about food-web dynamics in shallow eutrophic lakes are identified and discussed. It is concluded that instead of the purely functional approach used so far, future studies should also include evolutionary aspects which determine the success of an organism in a given environment and that more attention should be paid to central questions in ‘community ecology’. This paper is based on a lecture given by the first author for the Netherlands Society of Aquatic Ecology on May 12th, 1992, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.     

Cellular responses to DNA damage: current state of the field and review of the 52nd Benzon Symposium

The response of cells to DNA damage is critical for maintaining genomic integrity and for preventing cancer development. Current advances in our understanding of the response of cells to DNA double-strand breaks and to stalled DNA replication forks and the relationship of these responses to human disease were discussed at the 52nd Benzon Symposium in Denmark, Copenhagen. Here we review the novel findings that were presented at this Symposium and the current state of the field.