Electron diffraction and electron microscopy studies on the crystalline component of enamel of theOdontaspis (selachii)

Résumé L'auteur constate que dans la dent du Requin du genreOdontaspis l'ultrastucture de la substance qui recouvre la dentine est morphologiquement très semblable à celle de l'émail de la dent humaine. Par diffraction électronique le composant cristallin de l'émail du Requin a été déterminé comme étant del'apatite. Ces résultats montrent que le revêtement externe de la dent d'Odontaspis peut être considéré comme un véritable émail.     

Electrophoretic variation in esterases and phosphatases in eleven wild-type strains ofMetarrhizium anisopliae

Summary 11 wild-type strains ofMetarrhizium anisopliae were electrophoretically tested for phosphatases and esterases. Phosphatase was homogeneous for all strains. For esterase it was possible to distinguish 5 different patterns with which it is possible to characterize the strains analyzed.Acknowledgment. The authors are thankful to the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and to the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EM-BRAPA) for financial assistance.     

Activation of old carbon by erosion of coastal and subsea permafrost in Arctic Siberia

The future trajectory of greenhouse gas concentrations depends on interactions between climate and the biogeosphere. Thawing of Arctic permafrost could release significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere in this century. Ancient Ice Complex deposits outcropping along the ~7,000-kilometre-long coastline of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS), and associated shallow subsea permafrost, are two large pools of permafrost carbon, yet their vulnerabilities towards thawing and decomposition are largely unknown. Recent Arctic warming is stronger than has been predicted by several degrees, and is particularly pronounced over the coastal ESAS region. There is thus a pressing need to improve our understanding of the links between permafrost carbon and climate in this relatively inaccessible region. Here we show that extensive release of carbon from these Ice Complex deposits dominates (57?±?2 per cent) the sedimentary carbon budget of the ESAS, the world’s largest continental shelf, overwhelming the marine and topsoil terrestrial components. Inverse modelling of the dual-carbon isotope composition of organic carbon accumulating in ESAS surface sediments, using Monte Carlo simulations to account for uncertainties, suggests that 44?±?10 teragrams of old carbon is activated annually from Ice Complex permafrost, an order of magnitude more than has been suggested by previous studies. We estimate that about two-thirds (66?±?16 per cent) of this old carbon escapes to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, with the remainder being re-buried in shelf sediments. Thermal collapse and erosion of these carbon-rich Pleistocene coastline and seafloor deposits may accelerate with Arctic amplification of climate warming.     

The Amazon basin in transition

Agricultural expansion and climate variability have become important agents of disturbance in the Amazon basin. Recent studies have demonstrated considerable resilience of Amazonian forests to moderate annual drought, but they also show that interactions between deforestation, fire and drought potentially lead to losses of carbon storage and changes in regional precipitation patterns and river discharge. Although the basin-wide impacts of land use and drought may not yet surpass the magnitude of natural variability of hydrologic and biogeochemical cycles, there are some signs of a transition to a disturbance-dominated regime. These signs include changing energy and water cycles in the southern and eastern portions of the Amazon basin.