A Temporally Explicit Production Efficiency Model for Fuel Load Allocation in Southern Africa

Abstract We present a regional fuel load model (1 km² spatial resolution) applied in the southern African savanna region. The model is based on a patch-scale production efficiency model (PEM) scaled up to the regional level using empirical relationships between patch-scale behavior and multi-source remote sensing data (spatio-temporal variability of vegetation and climatic variables). The model requires the spatial distribution of woody vegetation cover, which is used to determine separate respiration rates for tree and grass. Net primary production, grass and tree leaf death, and herbivory are also taken into account in this mechanistic modeling approach. The fuel load model has been calibrated and validated from independent measurements taken from savanna vegetation in Africa southward from the equator. A sensitivity analysis on the effect of climate variables (incoming radiation, air temperature, and precipitation) has been conducted to demonstrate the strong role that water availability has in determining productivity and subsequent fuel load over the southern African region. The model performance has been tested in four different areas representative of a regional increasing rainfall gradient—Etosha National Park, Namibia, Mongu and Kasama, Zambia, as well as in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Within each area, we analyze model output from three different magnitudes of canopy coverage (<5, 30, and 50%). We find that fuel load ranges predicted by the model are globally in agreement with field measurements for the same year. High rainfall sustains green herbaceous production late in the dry season and delays tree leaf litter production. Effect of water on production varies across the rainfall gradient with delayed start of green material production in more arid regions.     

Über die Untersuchungen von A. H. Blaauw,betreffend die Beziehung zwischen Lichtintensität und Beleuchtungsdauer bei der phototropischen Krümmung von Keimlingen vonAvena sativa

Ohne ZusammenfassungProceedings of the Meetings of Saturday September 26, 1908.Die vorliegende Übersetzung, zu der Herr Prof. Went mich gütigst autorisierte, rechtfertigt sich durch die in theoretischer, ganz besonders aber in methodologischer Hinsicht überaus wichtigen Ergebnisse Blaauws. Die Untersuchung bestätigt zunächst ein Gesetz, das der Übersetzer für die Abhängigkeit der Präsentationszeit von der Lichtintensität festgestellt hat (die diesbezügliche Abhandlung war Herrn Prof. Went zur Zeit, als er dieses Referat schrieb, noch nicht zu Gesicht gekommen), verfolgt aber diese Gesetzmäßigkeit innerhalb wesentlich weiterer Grenzen. Die Feststellung ganz besonders, daß bei entsprechend intensiver Beleuchtung die Präsentationszeit bis auf 1/1000 Sekunde sinkt, zusammengehalten mit den Tatsachen der feinen Unterschiedsempfind-lichkeit der Pflanzen (Wiesner) und der außerordentlich kurzen Perzeptions-zeit (Fitting), muß die reizphysiologische Methodik reformieren und sie zu ebenso exaktem Arbeiten anspornen, wie es bei psychophysischen Experimenten längst der Fall ist.     

Isoforms of myosin and actin in human, monkey and rat myometrium. Comparison of pregnant and non-pregnant uterus proteins

Using several electrophoretic procedures, we have compared the forms of myosin and actin in pregnant and non-pregnant uterus of woman, monkey (Macaca fascicularis) and rat. On non-dissociating gels, native myosin of the three species migrates as a single band, of identical mobility independently of the physiological state. Remigration of this band in dissociating conditions shows that it is constituted of two heavy chains of respectively 201 kDa and 205 kDa; the relative proportions of these two bands are different for the three animal species but do not vary during pregnancy. Using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, we found that the 17-kDa light chain of purified uterus myosin exists under two isoelectric forms, the more acidic one becoming progressively predominant at the end of pregnancy in the human as in the monkey uterus, while we observed no changes in the rat. In two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, actin of human, monkey and rat uterus is present under three isoforms, the most basic one (the gamma form) increasing early in pregnancy in the two primate species but being always the most abundant form in the rat. The ATPase activity of human uterus myosin was found to be similar for the protein extracted from both pregnant and non-pregnant uterus. The changes observed in the 17-kDa light chain and in the actin isoforms might nevertheless participate in the modifications of contractility of the uterus during pregnancy of the primates.     

Quantitative analysis of the temporal pattern of somite formation in the mouse and rat. A simple and accurate method for age determination

The relation between the logarithm of the volume of the embryo and the number of somites was studied in the mouse and rat in the period of about 0-43 somites, a period characterized by a very rapid volume increase. A linear relation was found, and the variability of the individual observations around the straight line was rather small. Using a previously defined age estimate, i.e. the 'developmental age' based on the embryonic volume, we also found a linear relation between this age estimate and the number of somites. With the help of this straight line, the developmental age can be estimated from the number of somites with an accuracy of less than 0.1 day. Therefore, the developmental age can be considered a better age estimate than those based on the usual methods. The time needed to form a new somite was found to be constant in both species during the period studied. The length of the period differed, and was 1.68 h in the mouse and 2.24 h in the rat. However, the volume of the embryo at the time when a specific somite was formed (for instance the 25th) appeared to be the same in both species. Comparison of the volume of embryos, embedded in paraffin and Epon and sectioned, enabled us to estimate the shrinkage in Epon embryos. The volume after processing was approximately 62% of the original volume.     

Environmental regulation of surface conductance for evaporation from vegetation

We examine conductances for evaporation from both vegetation and soil in response to environmental variables. Data from a vertically-structured pristine forest of Nothofagus are presented as an example of the effects of biodiversity on the scaling of conductances between tiers of plant organisation. Available data sets of maximum leaf stomatal conductances (g _lmax ) and bulk vegetation surface conductances (G _smax ) are compared. Overall, the ratio G _smax /g _lmax is consistently close to 3 for seven major vegetation types of diverse structure. An analytical model accounts for this close relationship, and in particular how G _smax is conservative against changes in leaf area index because of the compensating decrease in plant canopy transpiration and increase in soil evaporation as leaf area index diminishes. The model is also successfully tested by comparison with canopy conductances of emergent trees measured in the Nothofagus forest. The constraint of vegetation surface conductance and evaporation via environmental regulation by irradiance, air saturation deficit and root zone water supply are discussed.     

Isomeric lipid signatures reveal compartmentalized fatty acid metabolism in cancer

The cellular energy and biomass demands of cancer drive a complex dynamic between uptake of extracellular FAs and their de novo synthesis. Given that oxidation of de novo synthesized FAs for energy would result in net-energy loss, there is an implication that FAs from these two sources must have distinct metabolic fates; however, hitherto, all FAs have been considered part of a common pool. To probe potential metabolic partitioning of cellular FAs, cancer cells were supplemented with stable isotope-labeled FAs. Structural analysis of the resulting glycerophospholipids revealed that labeled FAs from uptake were largely incorporated to canonical (sn-) positions on the glycerol backbone. Surprisingly, labeled FA uptake also disrupted canonical isomer patterns of the unlabeled lipidome and induced repartitioning of n-3 and n-6 PUFAs into glycerophospholipid classes. These structural changes support the existence of differences in the metabolic fates of FAs derived from uptake or de novo sources and demonstrate unique signaling and remodeling behaviors usually hidden from conventional lipidomics.