Variation in the reproductive performance of the Trollius–Chiastocheta mutualism at the edge of its range in north-east Germany

Empirical studies into obligate pollination mutualisms which elucidate the variation in reproductive performance of shrinking populations within human-altered environments are rare. This study focuses on the obligate pollination mutualism between Trollius europaeus (Ranunculaceae) and fly species of the genus Chiastocheta which act both as the plant’s main pollinators and as predators in that their larvae eat a fraction of the developing seeds. The study area is situated in the lowlands of north-east Germany. Many populations of T. europaeus have become comparatively small and scattered in this region as a consequence of agricultural land use intensification. We studied the plant’s reproductive fitness in populations ranging in size from 7 to 12,000 flowers. In a field experiment, we applied four pollination treatments and also recorded fly density in 28 natural T. europaeus populations. The fitness of the offspring from 19 populations was studied in a common garden experiment. In both approaches, a reduction in the fitness of small host plant populations could be demonstrated. Fitness loss can be put down to the quantitative and qualitative limitation of pollen caused by inbreeding and the negative feedback on relative seed set caused by the reduced ability of small plant populations to support a sufficiently large fly population. Although increases in fly density are associated with rising predation costs, the plant species’ net benefit is a positive function of its population size. Our study highlights the reproductive variability of the Trollius–Chiastocheta interaction along a population size gradient in a marginal region of its range, thus contributing to the understanding of the overall variability of this mutualism.     

Ethnicizatlon and racialization of welfare‐state politics in Germany and the USA

Welfare‐state retrenchment, transnational migration and the integration of immigrants have been accompanied by a growing ethnicization and racialization of welfare‐state politics in the United States and Germany. Although ethnicization and racialization may have other, deeper causes, immigration and its effects on social policies and provisions has become one of the main targets of dissent in the politics of West European and North American welfare states. While in the United States these developments have reinforced race‐class cleavages that have existed since the emergence of her welfare state, German welfare‐state politics has evolved from being primarily class‐based to class‐ethnicity divides in recent years. These cleavages have disadvan‐taged social democratic positions that tried to bridge protection of native workers and humanitarian obligations towards refugees but have supported nationalist‐populist trends. Cosmopolitan‐liberal positions face the formidable task of developing institutional mechanisms for handling conflicts in ethnically pluralist'welfare states.     

An atypical fauna in the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate of Germany

The Hunsrück Slate is a world renowned conservation lagerstätte, stretching SW-NE in a narrow band between the villages of Bundenbach and Gemünden, Hunsrück region, Germany. A great variety of complete Lower Devonian fossils is preserved with their soft parts pyritised due to rapid burial by sediment. The fossils of the Hunsrück Slate outside the narrow band are scarcely known. They represent the normal Situation: quiet low energy Sedimentation. This paper describes this overall “Rhenish” neritic fauna under the heading “atypical”, in contrast to the famous fossils of the conservation lagerstätte. The fauna described here lacks starfishes, mitrates and chelicerates. The paper begins with an overview of the recent relevant literature (stratigraphic position of the Hunsrück Slate, palaeoecology). The slate fossils were collected in two quarries WNW and NE of Bundenbach (Lingenbach and Karschheck, respectively) and most closely resemble that of the Wisper Valley in the Taunus region. Their geologic age is Lower Devonian, early Emsian, Ulmen Substage. Special interest is given to Community structures, rugose corals, bivalves, gastropods, trilobites, conulariids, brachiopods and crinoids. In the systematic part, the crinoidOrthocrinus simplex is redescribed. Also, two new species are introduced: the rugose coralVolgerophyllum karschheckensis n. gen., n. sp., and the crinoidAcanthocrinus spinosus n. sp.     

Time variations in the transmissibility of pandemic influenza in Prussia, Germany, from 1918–19

Background

Since its 1999 emergence in New York City, West Nile virus (WNV) has become the most important and widespread cause of mosquito-transmitted disease in North America. Its sweeping spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast was accompanied by widespread mortality among wild birds, especially corvids. Only sporadic avian mortality had previously been associated with this infection in the Old World. Here, we examine the possibility that reservoir host mortality may intensify transmission, both by concentrating vector mosquitoes on remaining hosts and by preventing the accumulation of "herd immunity".

Results

Inspection of the Ross-Macdonald expression of the basic reproductive number (R ₀) suggests that this quantity may increase with reservoir host mortality. Computer simulation confirms this finding and indicates that the level of virulence is positively associated with the numbers of infectious mosquitoes by the end of the epizootic. The presence of reservoir incompetent hosts in even moderate numbers largely eliminated the transmission-enhancing effect of host mortality. Local host die-off may prevent mosquitoes to "waste" infectious blood meals on immune host and may thus facilitate perpetuation and spread of transmission.

Conclusion

Under certain conditions, host mortality may enhance transmission of WNV and similarly maintained arboviruses and thus facilitate their emergence and spread. The validity of the assumptions upon which this argument is built need to be empirically examined.     

Climate-driven tree growth and mortality in the Black Forest,Germany—Long-term observations

Episodic tree mortality can be caused by various reasons. This study describes climate-driven tree mortality and tree growth in the Black Forest mountain range in Germany. It is based on a 68-year consistent data series describing the annual mortality of all trees growing in a forest area of almost 250 thousand ha. The study excludes mortality caused by storm, snow and ice, and fire. The sequence of the remaining mortality, the so-called “desiccated trees,” is analyzed and compared with the sequence of the climatic water balance during the growing season and the annual radial growth of Norway spruce in the Black Forest. The annual radial growth series covers 121 years and the climatic water balance series 140 years. These unique time series enable a quantitative assessment of multidecadal drought and heat impacts on growth and mortality of forest trees on a regional spatial scale. Data compiled here suggest that the mortality of desiccated trees in the Black Forest during the last 68 years is driven by the climatic water balance. Decreasing climatic water balance coincided with an increase in tree mortality and growth decline. Consecutive hot and dry summers enhance mortality and growth decline as a consequence of drought legacies lasting several years. The sensitivity of tree growth and mortality to changes in the climatic water balance increases with the decreasing trend of the climatic water balance. The findings identify the climatic water balance as the main driver of mortality and growth variation during the 68-year observation period on a landscape-scale including a variety of different sites. They suggest that bark beetle population dynamics modify mortality rates. They as well provide evidence that the mortality during the last 140 years never was as high as in the most recent years.     

Hammer or crescent wrench? Stone-tool form and function in the Aurignacian of southwest Germany

The early Upper Paleolithic of Europe is associated with the appearance of blade/bladelet technology (e.g., Aurignacian). These industries include a wider range of formal tool types than seen in the Middle Paleolithic. Greater diversity in tool types is often interpreted as specialized tools created for specific tasks. This, in turn, is said to reflect dramatic behavioral shifts between Neandertals and modern humans. In order to test previous interpretations, it is necessary to have a detailed understanding of early Upper Paleolithic stone-tool function. Toward this end, analyses of microscopic residue and use-wear were undertaken on 109 stone tools from three Aurignacian sites in southwest Germany (Hohle Fels, Geissenkl?sterle, and Vogelherd). These cave sites evidenced remarkable residue preservation, with approximately 82% of the sample showing some form of functional evidence. Residues observed included hair, feathers, bone/antler, wood, plant tissue, phytoliths, starch grains, and resin. The results suggest that tool typology is not strongly linked to the processing of specific materials. For example, endscrapers from the sample show evidence of processing wood, charred wood, plants, starchy plants, birds, bone/antler, and animals (hair). Hairs are found on tools typologically classified as blades, flakes, borers, pointed blades, and combination tools (nosed endscraper-borer, burin-laterally-retouched blade). In the early Upper Paleolithic of southwest Germany, a wide range of tool types appears to have been used to process a diverse array of materials. These results suggest that the interpretation of behavioral patterns from stone tools must consider more than tool typology.     

Sphenothallus »Vermes« in the Early Devonian Hunsrück Slate,West Germany

Five specimens ofSphenothallus have been observed in Early Devonian slates from West Germany which have been studied bv radiographs. This genus has been assumed by several authors to be a “worm tube” or that it may belong to the Conulata. Some individuals show soft parts extending from the aperture. All preserve a bilaterally symmetrical tentacular apparatus.Sphenothallus could be related to the Annelida, but cannot be placed in that phylum since no evidence of segmentation is preserved. In specimens from other localities,Sphenothallus has been observed to have a chitinophosphatic tube, unlike the calcareous tube of living tube-dwelling annelids. What can be observed of the apertural soft parts indicates a mode of life similar to that of members of the modern-day annelid order Sabellida.     

Influences of the lowland river Spree on phytoplankton dynamics in the flow-through Lake Müggelsee (Germany)

The influences of imports of nutrients and planktonic algae from the River Spree on the dynamics of phytoplankton were examined in the shallow, eutrophic Müggelsee, which has a retention time of only 42 days. Phytoplankton biomass and nutrient concentrations were measured in both the lake and its inflow from 1980–1990. On a long-term average, mean biomass as well as vitality of most dominant phytoplankton populations in the lake were not significantly different from those in the river. Nevertheless, during distinct periods the external rates of biomass change of single lake populations (due to dilution or enrichment) were as high as the lake internal ones. The import of inocula populations from the river probably induced the formation of the typical community structure in the lake. Growth and decay of phytoplankton populations in the river strongly influenced the load of dissolved nutrients and thus indirectly the dynamics of planktonic algae in the downstream lake. For example, intensive assimilation of phosphorus by riverine algae in spring intensified the P-shortage and supported possible P-limitation of algal growth in the lake at that time. In years with high vernal biomass of centric diatoms in the river, and thus diminished import of dissolved silicon, the growth of diatoms was suppressed and that of cyanobacteria was favoured in the lake during summer.     

Long-term development of the crustacean plankton in the Saidenbach Reservoir (Germany) – changes,causes, consequences

The rates of development and food intake of the copepod Temora longicornis (Müller) were studied using artificial blooms of Phaeocystis globosa Scherffel under different conditions of nutrient limitation. Mesocosms with 800 l of natural seawater were manipulated by inoculation with cultured P. globosa and by addition of nitrogen and/or phosphorus, to obtain N- or P-limited blooms of P. globosa. During development and ageing of these blooms, water from the mesocosms was used as medium for incubation of nauplii of T. longicornis. Only moderate rates of naupliar development as well as high rates of mortality were observed, irrespective of major differences of nutrient conditions and density of P. globosa. Grazing by the nauplii on P. globosa seemed to be low, suggesting a low food quality of this alga at all physiological conditions studied. The results of this study indicate a low capability of T. longicornis nauplii for control of nuisance algal blooms caused by P. globosa.     

Basin-scale internal waves in the bottom boundary layer of ice-covered Lake Müggelsee, Germany

We performed high-resolution temperature measurements under ice cover in Lake Müggelsee, Germany, during the winter of 2005–2006. Intense seiche-like temperature oscillations developing after the ice-on have been encountered in a thin water layer above the sediments. The oscillations were initiated immediately after lake freezing by the release of the potential energy of the thermocline slope and existed for several weeks without appreciable external forcing. The oscillations were associated with a basin-scale internal waves existing in the lower stratified part of the water column. The weakness of the density stratification under ice ensured the long wave periods, exceeding the period of geostrophic inertial oscillations at the lake’s latitude. As a result, two frequency peaks were present in the oscillations corresponding to two rotational waves, one of Kelvin-wave type and another of Poincaré type wave. The rotational character provided long dissipation times of the waves and allowed the oscillations to persist in lake several weeks. Temperature measurements in the upper several centimeters of the sediment demonstrated that oscillations of the near-bottom temperature produced vertical density instability and pore-water convection in the upper sediments.     

Realizing responsibility. Institutional routines,critical intervention,and the “big” questions in the controversy over non-invasive prenatal testing in Germany

NIPT has become a matter of controversy in Germany over the past years, there is now a widespread concern that it raises fundamental social and ethical questions. Starting from the assumption that responsible governance requires governance actors to address these questions, the article examines how the main governance actors realized their responsibility in the sense of conceiving and performing it. Building on the pragmatic sociology of critique, we study how actors are doing responsibility within a given institutional and political context. We show that critical interventions disrupted institutional routines and caused governance actors to struggle with conflicting commitments of complying with institutional rules and exercising responsibility by taking social and ethical considerations into account. Whereas these conflicting commitments posed a predicament for political decision-makers, who solved it through shifting responsibility for social and ethical issues elsewhere, there was no such predicament for the producers; for them, routine and responsibility converged.     

Climate during the Eemian in north-central Europe — a critical review of the palaeobotanical and stable isotope data from central Germany

This paper reviews the evidence from terrestrial palaeoenvironmental records in north-central Europe and, in particular, central Germany, which relates to the controversial proposition that there were strong climate oscillations during the last interglacial (oxygen isotope substage 5e). In contrast to the evidence from the GRIP ice core at Summit, Greenland, and a recent palaeoclimate reconstruction based on the pollen profile from Bispingen, Germany, the evaluation of the palaeobotanical and the stable isotope data presented here strongly suggests relatively stable temperature for most of the Eemian and with instability confined to the beginning and end of the interglacial. High amplitude temperature variations can be seen in both the Early Weichselian pollen and isotope records. It is argued that this pattern of climate development is applicable to most of continental north-central Europe.     

Changes in the Prevalence,Treatment and Control of Hypertension in Germany? A Clinical-Epidemiological Study of 50.000 Primary Care Patients

Introduction

Medical societies have developed guidelines for the detection, treatment and control of hypertension (HTN). Our analysis assessed the extent to which such guidelines were implemented in Germany in 2003 and 2001.

Methods

Using standardized clinical diagnostic and treatment appraisal forms, blood pressure levels and patient questionnaires for 55,518 participants from the cross-sectional Targets and Essential Data for Commitment of Treatment (DETECT) study (2003) were analyzed. Physician’s diagnosis of hypertension (HTN_doc) was defined as coding hypertension in the clinical appraisal questionnaire. Alternative definitions used were physician’s diagnosis or the patient’s self-reported diagnosis of hypertension (HTN_doc,pat), physician’s or patient’s self-reported diagnosis or a BP measurement with a systolic BP≥140 mmHg and/or a diastolic BP≥90 (HTN_doc,pat,bp) and diagnosis according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HTN_NHANES). The results were compared with the similar German HYDRA study to examine whether changes had occurred in diagnosis, treatment and adequate blood pressure control (BP below 140/90 mmHg) since 2001. Factors associated with pharmacotherapy and control were determined.

Results

The overall prevalence rate for hypertension was 35.5% according to HTN_doc and 56.0% according to NHANES criteria. Among those defined by NHANES criteria, treatment and control rates were 56.0% and 20.3% in 2003, and these rates had improved from 55.3% and 18.0% in 2001. Significant predictors of receiving antihypertensive medication were: increasing age, female sex, obesity, previous myocardial infarction and the prevalence of comorbid conditions such as coronary heart disease (CHD), hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus (DM). Significant positive predictors of adequate blood pressure control were CHD and antihypertensive medication. Inadequate control was associated with increasing age, male sex and obesity.

Conclusions

Rates of treated and controlled hypertension according to NHANES criteria in DETECT remained low between 2001 and 2003, although there was some minor improvement.     

Hydraulic sorting of microbiota in calciturbidites— A dinantian case study from the rheinische schiefergebirge,Germany

Summary A calciturbidite bed from the lower part of the Kieselkalk Formation (late cd II) at Wallau, eastern Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, displays ideal grading of reworked calcareous shallow-water microbiota, ranging from plurimillimetric agglutinated foraminifers and fragments of calcareous algae (Koninckopora sp.) to plurimicronic calcispheres, radiolarians and sponge spicules. Microbiota derived from all levels of the platform. Correspondingly, several carbonate microfacies types could be discerned. The early diagenetic micrite base of the turbidite preserved the anoxic basinal facies. The turbidite bed belongs to Foraminiferal Zone 15 (V3bα), theAlbaillella cartalla Zone (radiolarian chronology), and is the Lower and part of the Uppertexanus Zone (standard conodont zonation). From the few published data on foraminifers, the Kieselkalk is thought to range from Mid Viséan V2b to Late Viséan V3b gamma.     

Missing the target? A critical view on butterfly conservation efforts on calcareous grasslands in south-western Germany

Butterflies are strongly declining on grassland habitats of Central Europe. Therefore, the success of conservation measures on high quality grassland habitats is controversially discussed. We compared the changes in butterfly diversity and community structure on six managed calcareous grasslands with eight unmanaged vineyard fallows. We obtained strong losses of species diversity and remarkable shifts of community compositions on both habitat types. However, the changes on vineyard fallows were only slightly more severe but more stochastic than on the calcareous grasslands. The shifts in community composition with respect to functional species traits were rather similar between the two different grassland types so that complex butterfly communities evolved into generalist-dominated ones. Connectivity was higher among vineyard fallows than among calcareous grasslands. Consequently, conservation measures on calcareous grasslands only partly achieved their goal to maintain the high species diversity and functional complexity still observed in the 1970s. The negative impacts of eutrophication and monotonisation of the landscape as well as climate change are affecting all habitats, independently from management concepts. Therefore, management on conservation sites can buffer against these effects, but is not sufficient for a full compensation.     

The Cenomanian Gastropoda of the Kassenberg quarry in Mülheim (Germany,Late Cretaceous)

Forty-six gastropod species are described from the Cenomanian of the Kassenberg quarry in Mülheim a. d. Ruhr, Germany, twelve of them are new. They are assigned to 33 known genera and two new genera.Deikella n. gen. is introduced for threeTurbo-like species which have strong axial ribs in contrast to the smooth RecentTurbo. Frydatinus n. gen. is introduced for a loosely coiled archaeogastropod with a round aperture and spine-like extensions on its outer side. A new species ofDelpeya is introduced, and it is suggested that this genus derived from the JurassicNummocalcar. The high number of pleurotomariids indicates that these gastropods still lived on rocky shores during the Cenomanian, in contrast to modern times, where they are restricted to hardgrounds in deep-water. The new species are:Bathrotomaria harasewychi, Deikella spinicostata, Deikella ruhrensis, Deikella? muelheimensis, Trochus rauenorum, Margarella (Promargarita) spiraloides, Margarella (Promargarita) trochoides, Semisolarium boehmi, Onkospira perrilliatae, Delpeya hilperti, Neritopsis kasei, andOtostoma kassenbergensis.     

Integration of the saprobic system into the European Union Water Framework Directive – Case studies in Austria,Germany and Czech Republic

The use of saprobic systems has long traditions in the water management in Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany. Within the context of water quality assessment they are applied to indicate the effects of anthropogenic caused organic impact leading to a decrease in the dissolved oxygen content of running waters. In December 2000 the European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) came into force. It demands homogeneous procedures and methods for assessing inland surface waters as well as groundwater, coastal and transitional waters. The WFD focuses on the assessment of biotic elements and the ecological status has to be defined based on type specific approaches and reference conditions. To incorporate the saprobic approach into the new integrative methodology of the European assessment of the ecological status of water bodies, the national saprobic systems need to be adjusted. This paper describes the according methodological developments and adaptations of Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany required to harmonise the traditional procedure with the guidelines of the WFD. In the three countries national databases were established to provide species lists from largely undisturbed stream sites. Such reference sites build the basis for calculating stream type specific reference values. The calculation has been done in slightly different ways dependent on the country. In addition to that boundaries were defined to characterise the 5 saprobic quality classes.     

Macroinvertebrate fauna and depositional environment of the lower Upper Cenomanian Oberhäslich Formation in the Saxonian Cretaceous Basin (Germany)

In Saxony (southeast Germany), the global early Late Cretaceous transgression is reflected by the onlap of shallow-marine siliciclastics of the lower Upper Cenomanian Oberhäslich Formation (Calycoceras naviculare Zone) onto the eastern Erzgebirge, the central part of the emergent Mid-European Island. Based on detailed logging of sections south of Dresden and the study of extensive collection material, the depositional environment and macroinvertebrate assemblages of the Oberhäslich Formation have been reconstructed. This unit, with a mean thickness of 10–15 m, usually shows a fining-upward trend that may become reversed towards the top, was laid down in a single 3rd-order sea-level cycle and is capped by an unconformity at the base of the overlying upper Upper Cenomanian Dölzschen Formation (sequence boundary Cenomanian 5; junction of the Calycoceras naviculare and Metoicoceras geslinianum zones). The macroinvertebrate assemblage of the Oberhäslich Formation, collected mainly from bioturbated, fine- or rarely medium-grained, quartz-rich sandstones, is fairly diverse, comprising nearly 50 taxa, predominantly bivalves (94.3%). Most conspicuous and abundant are relatively large forms such as Rhynchostreon (R.) suborbiculatum (25%) and Inoceramus pictus spp. (21%), eponymous taxa of the Rhynchostreon suborbiculatum/Inoceramus pictus assemblage. Non-bivalve benthic invertebrates are rare and represented by rather poorly preserved irregular and regular echinoids, siliceous sponges, a few gastropods, crustacean remains and a single starfish. Common Thalassinoides and Ophiomorpha burrows indicate that crustaceans were an important part of the infauna. Pervasive bioturbation resulted in a post-depositional homogenization of the sediments while all body fossils are preserved as (composite) internal moulds. The guild structure of the Rhynchostreon suborbiculatum/Inoceramus pictus assemblage shows a predominance of epifaunal and semi-infaunal suspension feeders (95.3%), suggesting eutrophic and unstable “green-water conditions” of an inner-shelf setting. Deposit-feeding biota are rare. The common occurrence of articulated bivalves and storm-induced shell beds indicate episodic rapid burial, most probably by tempestites. A current-influenced, well-oxygenated and nutrient-rich environment slightly below fair-weather base is inferred for the fine-grained sandy, fossiliferous sediments of the Oberhäslich Formation.