Soil fertility limits carbon sequestration by forest ecosystems in a CO2-enriched atmosphere

Northern mid-latitude forests are a large terrestrial carbon sink. Ignoring nutrient limitations, large increases in carbon sequestration from carbon dioxide (CO2) fertilization are expected in these forests. Yet, forests are usually relegated to sites of moderate to poor fertility, where tree growth is often limited by nutrient supply, in particular nitrogen. Here we present evidence that estimates of increases in carbon sequestration of forests, which is expected to partially compensate for increasing CO2 in the atmosphere, are unduly optimistic. In two forest experiments on maturing pines exposed to elevated atmospheric CO2, the CO2-induced biomass carbon increment without added nutrients was undetectable at a nutritionally poor site, and the stimulation at a nutritionally moderate site was transient, stabilizing at a marginal gain after three years. However, a large synergistic gain from higher CO2 and nutrients was detected with nutrients added. This gain was even larger at the poor site (threefold higher than the expected additive effect) than at the moderate site (twofold higher). Thus, fertility can restrain the response of wood carbon sequestration to increased atmospheric CO2. Assessment of future carbon sequestration should consider the limitations imposed by soil fertility, as well as interactions with nitrogen deposition.     

Demography of the Yarrow's spiny lizard, Sceloporus jarrovii , from the central Chihuahuan Desert

The demography of a population of Yarrow's spiny lizard, Sceloporus jarrovii , was examined from 2004 to 2006 in the canyon Las Piedras Encimadas, located in Gomez Palacio, Durango, México. Lizards were studied using a mark-recapture technique. Reproduction in females occurred between November and May, coinciding with dry conditions. Reproductive activity was highest (percent of females with vitellogenic follicles or embryos) in the middle of the dry season (November and December). Thirteen percent of females reached sexual maturity at an average age of 8.5 months. The population structure was similar in spring and fall, but not in summer. A notable feature of summer, coinciding with the wet season, was the greater number of hatchlings and juveniles. The overall sex ratio did not differ from 1:1. The density of adults varied from 12 to 62 animals ? 0.5 ha –1 . Temperate and arid-adapted populations of S. jarrovii exhibited broad similarity in timing of the reproductive season, whereas factors such as density, growth, age at sexual maturity, and survivorship differed.     

Extraction of a weak climatic signal by an ecosystem

The complexity of ecosystems can cause subtle and chaotic responses to changes in external forcing. Although ecosystems may not normally behave chaotically, sensitivity to external influences associated with nonlinearity can lead to amplification of climatic signals. Strong correlations between an El Ni?o index and rainfall and maize yield in Zimbabwe have been demonstrated; the correlation with maize yield was stronger than that with rainfall. A second example is the 100,000-year ice-age cycle, which may arise from a weak cycle in radiation through its influence on the concentration of atmospheric CO2 (ref. 5). Such integration of a weak climatic signal has yet to be demonstrated in a realistic theoretical system. Here we use a particular climatic phenomenon-the observed association between plankton populations around the UK and the position of the Gulf Stream-as a probe to demonstrate how a detailed marine ecosystem model extracts a weak signal that is spread across different meteorological variables. Biological systems may therefore respond to climatic signals other than those that dominate the driving variables.     

Simulated and reconstructed winter temperature in the eastern China during the last millennium

Since the 1990s, under the auspicious impetus of two international research programs, the “Past Global Changes” (PAGES) and the “Climate Variability and Pre- dictability” (CLIVAR), massive research work has been carried out on climate and environment changes over the past 2000 years[1-3]. But majority of the studies has been centered on obtaining various kinds of climatic proxy data (such as historical documents, tree rings, ice cores, lake cores) and focused on the reconstruction of…     

Algae acquire vitamin B12 through a symbiotic relationship with bacteria

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) was identified nearly 80 years ago as the anti-pernicious anaemia factor in liver, and its importance in human health and disease has resulted in much work on its uptake, cellular transport and utilization. Plants do not contain cobalamin because they have no cobalamin-dependent enzymes. Deficiencies are therefore common in strict vegetarians, and in the elderly, who are susceptible to an autoimmune disorder that prevents its efficient uptake. In contrast, many algae are rich in vitamin B12, with some species, such as Porphyra yezoensis (Nori), containing as much cobalamin as liver. Despite this, the role of the cofactor in algal metabolism remains unknown, as does the source of the vitamin for these organisms. A survey of 326 algal species revealed that 171 species require exogenous vitamin B12 for growth, implying that more than half of the algal kingdom are cobalamin auxotrophs. Here we show that the role of vitamin B12 in algal metabolism is primarily as a cofactor for vitamin B12-dependent methionine synthase, and that cobalamin auxotrophy has arisen numerous times throughout evolution, probably owing to the loss of the vitamin B12-independent form of the enzyme. The source of cobalamin seems to be bacteria, indicating an important and unsuspected symbiosis.     

甲（乙）基在甲（乙）苯亲电取代反应中的定位作用和定位能力讨论

在有机化学的亲电取代反应定位法则教学中,甲基代表烷基,作为芳烃亲电取代反应定位效应的典型例子,但甲基不同于乙基等烷基,具有不同的定位能力,烷基是如何影响芳环的结构从而影响取代基定位,教材和教学中描述较简单,不便于学生领会和比较。该文就此问题进行探讨,结果表明,烷基苯RAr（R—Me、Et）的R在空间的位置影响烷基苯的能量和原子电荷密度,从而影响烷苯的亲电取代反应。（1）烷苯的R—Ar键旋转形成不同构象,其中的最大与最小体系能量值之差△E,△E（Me）〈△E（Et）,{△E（Me）=0．0000084a．u,△E（Et）=0．0068029a．u},甲苯比乙苯的R—Ar单键更容易自由旋转。在EtAr,C8-C7-C1平面与苯环垂直时,体系能量[E（90）=-308．661166a．u．]最低,为较稳定的优势构象。（2）甲基和乙基均向苯环供电子,虽甲（乙）苯环的碳原子所带电荷之和都不及苯,但甲苯比乙苯的环碳上电子密度大,∑Q（Me,30）=-1．02794〈∑Q（Et,90）=-1．010487。（3）甲（乙）苯化合物中,均为邻、对位碳原子电子密度大于苯环碳{甲基：邻位qc2（30）=qc6（30）=-0．212118,对位-0．20724～-0．20728;乙基：邻位qc2（90）=qc6（90）=-0．209509,对位q（90）（-0．20695）},间位碳原子的电子密度小于苯环碳[甲基间位-0．19153～-0．19228;乙基间位q（90）=-0．192171],甲、乙苯的邻、对位有利于亲电取代反应,且甲基大于乙基的定位能力。（4）亲电试剂Me^＋与苯环反应形成邻、对位的碳正离子中间体比闯位碳正离子中间体稳定,有利于生成邻、对位取代产物,因此,甲、乙基均为邻、对位定位基。     

Male development of chromosomally female mice transgenic for Sry

The initiation of male development in mammals requires one or more genes on the Y chromosome. A recently isolated gene, termed SRY in humans and Sry in mouse, has many of the genetic and biological properties expected of a Y-located testis-determining gene. It is now shown that Sry on a 14-kilobase genomic DNA fragment is sufficient to induce testis differentiation and subsequent male development when introduced into chromosomally female mouse embryos.     

Climate-driven trends in contemporary ocean productivity

Contributing roughly half of the biosphere's net primary production (NPP), photosynthesis by oceanic phytoplankton is a vital link in the cycling of carbon between living and inorganic stocks. Each day, more than a hundred million tons of carbon in the form of CO2 are fixed into organic material by these ubiquitous, microscopic plants of the upper ocean, and each day a similar amount of organic carbon is transferred into marine ecosystems by sinking and grazing. The distribution of phytoplankton biomass and NPP is defined by the availability of light and nutrients (nitrogen, phosphate, iron). These growth-limiting factors are in turn regulated by physical processes of ocean circulation, mixed-layer dynamics, upwelling, atmospheric dust deposition, and the solar cycle. Satellite measurements of ocean colour provide a means of quantifying ocean productivity on a global scale and linking its variability to environmental factors. Here we describe global ocean NPP changes detected from space over the past decade. The period is dominated by an initial increase in NPP of 1,930 teragrams of carbon a year (Tg C yr(-1)), followed by a prolonged decrease averaging 190 Tg C yr(-1). These trends are driven by changes occurring in the expansive stratified low-latitude oceans and are tightly coupled to coincident climate variability. This link between the physical environment and ocean biology functions through changes in upper-ocean temperature and stratification, which influence the availability of nutrients for phytoplankton growth. The observed reductions in ocean productivity during the recent post-1999 warming period provide insight on how future climate change can alter marine food webs.     

Aerosols implicated as a prime driver of twentieth-century North Atlantic climate variability

Systematic climate shifts have been linked to multidecadal variability in observed sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean. These links are extensive, influencing a range of climate processes such as hurricane activity and African Sahel and Amazonian droughts. The variability is distinct from historical global-mean temperature changes and is commonly attributed to natural ocean oscillations. A number of studies have provided evidence that aerosols can influence long-term changes in sea surface temperatures, but climate models have so far failed to reproduce these interactions and the role of aerosols in decadal variability remains unclear. Here we use a state-of-the-art Earth system climate model to show that aerosol emissions and periods of volcanic activity explain 76 per cent of the simulated multidecadal variance in detrended 1860-2005 North Atlantic sea surface temperatures. After 1950, simulated variability is within observational estimates; our estimates for 1910-1940 capture twice the warming of previous generation models but do not explain the entire observed trend. Other processes, such as ocean circulation, may also have contributed to variability in the early twentieth century. Mechanistically, we find that inclusion of aerosol-cloud microphysical effects, which were included in few previous multimodel ensembles, dominates the magnitude (80 per cent) and the spatial pattern of the total surface aerosol forcing in the North Atlantic. Our findings suggest that anthropogenic aerosol emissions influenced a range of societally important historical climate events such as peaks in hurricane activity and Sahel drought. Decadal-scale model predictions of regional Atlantic climate will probably be improved by incorporating aerosol-cloud microphysical interactions and estimates of future concentrations of aerosols, emissions of which are directly addressable by policy actions.