Early human disturbance of the natural environment recorded in annually laminated sediments of Lake Gosciaz,central Poland

Palynological records from the annually laminated sediments of Lake Gosciaz are presented for the period ca. 7600–3900 conventional B.P. Indications in percentage and influx diagrams of Mesolithic and Early Neolithic human impact on the natural environment around the lake are discussed and compared with the archaeological evidence. The first indications of human disturbance start at ca. 6700 B.P. and in the following period four disturbance phases with interruptions are distinguished. A relationship between the Elm Decline and an increasing thickness of annual sediment layers as a consequence of increased soil erosion is suggested. Some hitherto unrecognized or incompletely known microfossils are identified and figured, and their palaeoecological significance is discussed. The records of akinetes of Aphanizomenon probably indicate increasing eutrophication of the lake. Charred fragments of grass epidermis are possibly indicative of openings in the forest.     

End-to-end versus end-to-side microvascular anastomosis patency in experimental venous repairs

In this experimental study, venous end-to-end and end-to-side microvascular anastomoses in similar and diameter-discrepant vessels were compared. In 50 rats, end-to-end microvascular repair of the divided epigastric vein and end-to-side repair of the epigastric vein into the femoral vein showed 5-day patency rates of 75 and 88 percent, respectively. These data are not statistically different. In 20 rats, microvascular repair of end epigastric to end femoral veins (size discrepant) and end epigastric to side femoral veins showed 5-day patency rates of 50 and 85 percent, respectively. These data are statistically different (p less than 0.05). We conclude from these experimental data that end-to-side venous repairs may be useful in lowering the anastomosis thrombosis rate seen when size-discrepant veins are repaired.     

Determinants of peak muscle power: effects of age and physical conditioning

The relationships between absolute peak muscle power (W _peak), muscle cross sectional area (CSA_tot, i.e. the sum of both thigh and calf CSA) and muscle high energy phosphate concentration (adenosine 5-triphosphate [ATP] and phosphocreatine concentrations [PC]) were studied in 47 subjects classified into five groups: A, 10 sedentary (S) subjects aged 20–35 years; B, 9 S aged 35–50 years; C, 9 S aged more than 50 years; D, 13 children aged 8–13 years; and E, 6 athletes (top level volleyball players) aged 24 (SD 3) years. The W _peak was measured during a maximal vertical high jump off both feet on a force platform. The CSA_tot was measured anthropometrically. The [ATP] and [PC] were determined by ³¹Phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The W _peak decreased with age, was 65% lower in D than in A, and 43% higher in E than in A. The CSA_tot did not vary with age, was 45% smaller in D than in A, and 15% greater in E than in A. The [ATP] and [PC] were essentially the same in all groups. The changes observed in W _peak were only partially accounted for by changes in CSA_tot. Therefore, in addition to the variables investigated, other factors appear to have been involved in the determination of W _peak with increasing age and training. An important role may be played by hormonal, particularly at puberty, and neural factors.     

HomeRange: A global database of mammalian home ranges

Motivation

Home range is a common measure of use of space by animals because it provides ecological information that is useful for conservation applications. In macroecological studies, values are typically aggregated to species means to examine general patterns of use of space by animals. However, this ignores the environmental context in which the home range was estimated and does not account for intraspecific variation in home range size. In addition, the focus of macroecological studies on home ranges has historically been biased towards terrestrial mammals. The use of aggregated numbers and the terrestrial focus limit our ability to examine home-range patterns across different environments, their variation in time and variation between different levels of organization. Here, we introduce HomeRange, a global database with 75,611 home-range values across 960 different species of mammals, including terrestrial, aquatic and aerial species.

Main types of variables contained

The dataset contains estimates of home ranges of mammals, species names, methodological information on data collection, method of home-range estimation, period of data collection, study coordinates and name of location, in addition to species traits derived from the studies, such as body mass, life stage, reproductive status and locomotor habit.

Spatial location and grain

The collected data are distributed globally. Across studies, the spatial accuracy varies, with the coarsest resolution being 1°.

Time period and grain

The data represent information published between 1939 and 2022. Across studies, the temporal accuracy varies; some studies report start and end dates specific to the day, whereas for other studies only the month or year is reported.

Major taxa and level of measurement

Mammalian species from 24 of the 27 different taxonomic orders. Home-range estimates range from individual-level values to population-level averages.

Software format

Data are supplied as a comma-delimited text file (.csv) and can be loaded directly into R using the “HomeRange” R package ( https://github.com/SHoeks/HomeRange ).     

Reduction in animal abundance and oxygen availability during and after the end-Triassic mass extinction

The end-Triassic biodiversity crisis was one of the most severe mass extinctions in the history of animal life. However, the extent to which the loss of taxonomic diversity was coupled with a reduction in organismal abundance remains to be quantified. Further, the temporal relationship between organismal abundance and local marine redox conditions is lacking in carbonate sections. To address these questions, we measured skeletal grain abundance in shallow-marine limestones by point counting 293 thin sections from four stratigraphic sections across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in the Lombardy Basin and Apennine Platform of western Tethys. Skeletal abundance decreased abruptly across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in all stratigraphic sections. The abundance of skeletal organisms remained low throughout the lower-middle Hettangian strata and began to rebound during the late Hettangian and early Sinemurian. A two-way ANOVA indicates that sample age (p < .01, η² = 0.30) explains more of the variation in skeletal abundance than the depositional environment or paleobathymetry (p < .01, η² = 0.15). Measured I/Ca ratios, a proxy for local shallow-marine redox conditions, show this same pattern with the lowest I/Ca ratios occurring in the early Hettangian. The close correspondence between oceanic water column oxygen levels and skeletal abundance indicates a connection between redox conditions and benthic organismal abundance across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. These findings indicate that the end-Triassic mass extinction reduced not only the biodiversity but also the carrying capacity for skeletal organisms in early Hettangian ecosystems, adding to evidence that mass extinction of species generally leads to mass rarity among survivors.     

Modulation of beta-oxidation and proton conductance pathway of brown adipose tissue in hypo- and hyperinsulinemic states

The metabolic capacity of interscapular brown adipose tissue of hypoinsulinemic (diabetic) rats is decreased and a reduced beta-oxidative capacity contributes to this metabolic alteration. It was thus of interest to compare, in diabetic and in chronically (8 days) insulin-infused rats, the beta-oxidative capacity and indices of the thermogenic state (GDP-binding and 32 000 Mr protein) in this tissue. Mitochondrial GDP-binding and 32 000 Mr protein were both decreased in diabetic rats compared to appropriate controls and markedly increased as was also the beta-oxidative capacity in hyperinsulinemic rats.     

Freeze-fracturing in ultrahigh vacuum at -196 degrees C

Conventional freeze-etching is carried out in a vacuum of approximately 10(-6) torr and at a specimen temperature of -100 degrees C. The relatively poor topographic resolution of most freeze-etch replicas, and the lack of complementarity of morphological details in double replicas have been thought to be caused by structural distortions during fracturing, and radiation damage during replication. Both phenomena can be reduced by lowering the specimen temperature. To prevent condensation of residual gases (especially H2O) on the fracture faces at lower specimen temperature, an improved vacuum is required. Therefore, an ultrahigh vacuum freeze-fracture apparatus has been developed which allows fracturing and Pt/C-shadowing of specimens at -196 degrees C while maintaining a vacuum of 10(-9) torr. It consists of a modified Balzers BA 350 ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) unit, equipped with an airlock which enables the input of nonhoar-frosted specimens directly into the evacuated bell jar. A comparison of the paracrystalline plasmalemma structure in yeast cells portrayed by the conventional technique and by UHV-freeze-fracturing at -196 degrees C shows the improved topographic resolution which has been achieved with the new technique. The improvement is explained by less structural distortions during fracturing at lower temperatures. The particles of the paracrystalline regions on the P face are more regularly arranged and exhibit a craterlike substructure which corresponds with a ringlike depression in the E face. The optical diffraction patterns of these paracrystalline regions demonstrate the improvement of the structural record by showing well-defined third- and fourth-order spots.     

Purification and properties of staphylocoagulase.

Staphylocoagulase, an exoprotein of coagulase-positive Staphylococci, has been purified to a state in which only trace amounts of contaminating proteins are detectable. Aspartic acid was found as a single N-terminal amino acid in this preparation. The molecular weight is 61 000; the isoelectric point lies as pH 4.53. The amino acid composition was determined.     

The Blue Water Footprint of Primary Copper Production in Northern Chile

Water consumption related to the life cycle of metals is seldom reported, even though mines are often situated in very dry regions. In this study we quantified the life cycle consumption of groundwater and fresh surface water (blue water footprint [WF_blue]) for the extraction and production of high‐grade copper refined from both a copper sulfide ore and a copper oxide ore in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Where possible, we used company‐specific data. The processes for extracting copper from the two types of ore are quite different from each other, and the WF_blue of the sulfide ore refining process is 2.4 times higher than that of the oxide ore refining process (i.e., 96 cubic meters per metric ton [tonne] of copper versus 40 cubic meters per tonne of copper). Most of the water consumption (59% of WF_blue) in the sulfide ore process occurred at the concentrator plant, via seepage, accumulation, and also by evaporation. In the oxide ore process, the main user of water is the heap‐leaching process, with 45% of WF_blue. The crushing and agglomeration operations, electrowinning cells, and solution pools are also significant contributors to the total consumption of water in the oxide ore process. Most of the water consumed in the oxide ore process was lost to evaporation. The WF_blue of the oxide ore process can be reduced by preventing water evaporation and using more sophisticated devices during irrigation of the leaching heaps. The WF_blue of the sulfide ore refining process can be reduced by improving water recovery (i.e., reducing seepage, accumulation, and evaporation) from the tailings dam at the concentrator plant. Using seawater in the production of copper is also a promising option to reduce the WF_blue by up to 62%.