Afforestation for climate change mitigation: Potentials,risks and trade‐offs

Afforestation is considered a cost‐effective and readily available climate change mitigation option. In recent studies afforestation is presented as a major solution to limit climate change. However, estimates of afforestation potential vary widely. Moreover, the risks in global mitigation policy and the negative trade‐offs with food security are often not considered. Here we present a new approach to assess the economic potential of afforestation with the IMAGE 3.0 integrated assessment model framework. In addition, we discuss the role of afforestation in mitigation pathways and the effects of afforestation on the food system under increasingly ambitious climate targets. We show that afforestation has a mitigation potential of 4.9 GtCO₂/year at 200 US$/tCO₂ in 2050 leading to large‐scale application in an SSP2 scenario aiming for 2°C (410 GtCO₂ cumulative up to 2100). Afforestation reduces the overall costs of mitigation policy. However, it may lead to lower mitigation ambition and lock‐in situations in other sectors. Moreover, it bears risks to implementation and permanence as the negative emissions are increasingly located in regions with high investment risks and weak governance, for example in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Afforestation also requires large amounts of land (up to 1,100 Mha) leading to large reductions in agricultural land. The increased competition for land could lead to higher food prices and an increased population at risk of hunger. Our results confirm that afforestation has substantial potential for mitigation. At the same time, we highlight that major risks and trade‐offs are involved. Pathways aiming to limit climate change to 2°C or even 1.5°C need to minimize these risks and trade‐offs in order to achieve mitigation sustainably.     

Evolutionary significance of the variation in acoustic communication of a cryptic nocturnal primate radiation (Microcebus spp.)

Acoustic phenotypic variation is of major importance for speciation and the evolution of species diversity. Whereas selective and stochastic forces shaping the acoustic divergence of signaling systems are well studied in insects, frogs, and birds, knowledge on the processes driving acoustic phenotypic evolution in mammals is limited. We quantified the acoustic variation of a call type exchanged during agonistic encounters across eight distinct species of the smallest‐bodied nocturnal primate radiation, the Malagasy mouse lemurs. The species live in two different habitats (dry forest vs. humid forest), differ in geographic distance to each other, and belong to four distinct phylogenetic clades within the genus. Genetically defined species were discriminated reliably on the phenotypic level based on their acoustic distinctiveness in a discriminant function analysis. Acoustic variation was explained by genetic distance, whereas differences in morphology, forest type, or geographic distance had no effect. The strong impact of genetics was supported by a correlation between acoustic and genetic distance and the high agreement in branching pattern between the acoustic and molecular phylogenetic trees. In sum, stochastic factors such as genetic drift best explained acoustic diversification in a social communication call of mouse lemurs.     

Micro‐dose placement of phosphorus induces deep rooting of upland rice

Plant and Soil - Upland rice production is often constrained by phosphorus deficiency (P) and drought events. Methods are needed to maximize P use efficiency, while promoting deep root development...     

MyD88 oligomer size functions as a physical threshold to trigger IL1R Myddosome signaling

A recurring feature of innate immune receptor signaling is the self-assembly of signaling proteins into oligomeric complexes. The Myddosome is an oligomeric complex that is required to transmit inflammatory signals from TLR/IL1Rs and consists of MyD88 and IRAK family kinases. However, the molecular basis for how Myddosome proteins self-assemble and regulate intracellular signaling remains poorly understood. Here, we developed a novel assay to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of IL1R and Myddosome signaling in live cells. We found that MyD88 oligomerization is inducible and initially reversible. Moreover, the formation of larger, stable oligomers consisting of more than four MyD88s triggers the sequential recruitment of IRAK4 and IRAK1. Notably, genetic knockout of IRAK4 enhanced MyD88 oligomerization, indicating that IRAK4 controls MyD88 oligomer size and growth. MyD88 oligomer size thus functions as a physical threshold to trigger downstream signaling. These results provide a mechanistic basis for how protein oligomerization might function in cell signaling pathways.     

High Variation of Fluorescence Protein Maturation Times in Closely Related Escherichia coli Strains

Fluorescent proteins (FPs) are widely used in biochemistry, biology and biophysics. For quantitative analysis of gene expression FPs are often used as marking molecules. Therefore, sufficient knowledge of maturation times and their affecting factors is of high interest. Here, we investigate the maturation process of the FPs GFP and mCherry expressed by the three closely related Escherichia coli strains of the Colicin E2 system, a model system for colicinogenic interaction. One strain, the C strain produces Colicin, a toxin to which the S strain is sensitive, and against which the R strain is resistant. Under the growth conditions used in this study, the S and R strain have similar growth rates, as opposed to the C strain whose growth rate is significantly reduced due to the toxin production. In combination with theoretical modelling we studied the maturation kinetics of the two FPs in these strains and could confirm an exponential and sigmoidal maturation kinetic for GFP and mCherry, respectively. Our subsequent quantitative experimental analysis revealed a high variance in maturation times independent of the strain studied. In addition, we determined strain dependent maturation times and maturation behaviour. Firstly, FPs expressed by the S and R strain mature on similar average time-scales as opposed to FPs expressed by the C strain. Secondly, dependencies of maturation time with growth conditions are most pronounced in the GFP expressing C strain: Doubling the growth rate of this C strain results in an increased maturation time by a factor of 1.4. As maturation times can vary even between closely related strains, our data emphasize the importance of profound knowledge of individual strains'' maturation times for accurate interpretation of gene expression data.     

High-Field Open versus Short-Bore Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Spine: A Randomized Controlled Comparison of Image Quality

Background

The purpose of the present study was to compare the image quality of spinal magnetic resonance (MR) imaging performed on a high-field horizontal open versus a short-bore MR scanner in a randomized controlled study setup.

Methods

Altogether, 93 (80% women, mean age 53) consecutive patients underwent spine imaging after random assignement to a 1-T horizontal open MR scanner with a vertical magnetic field or a 1.5-T short-bore MR scanner. This patient subset was part of a larger cohort. Image quality was assessed by determining qualitative parameters, signal-to-noise (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR), and quantitative contour sharpness.

Results

The image quality parameters were higher for short-bore MR imaging. Regarding all sequences, the relative differences were 39% for the mean overall qualitative image quality, 53% for the mean SNR values, and 34–37% for the quantitative contour sharpness (P<0.0001). The CNR values were also higher for images obtained with the short-bore MR scanner. No sequence was of very poor (nondiagnostic) image quality. Scanning times were significantly longer for examinations performed on the open MR scanner (mean: 32±22 min versus 20±9 min; P<0.0001).

Conclusions

In this randomized controlled comparison of spinal MR imaging with an open versus a short-bore scanner, short-bore MR imaging revealed considerably higher image quality with shorter scanning times.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00715806","term_id":"NCT00715806"}}NCT00715806