scholarly journals The evolutionary heritage and ecological uniqueness of Scots pine in the Caucasus ecoregion is at risk of climate changes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Dering ◽  
M. Baranowska ◽  
B. Beridze ◽  
I. J. Chybicki ◽  
I. Danelia ◽  
...  

AbstractScots pine is one of the most widely occurring pines, but future projections suggest a large reduction in its range, mostly at the southern European limits. A significant part of its range is located in the Caucasus, a global hot-spot of diversity. Pine forests are an important reservoir of biodiversity and endemism in this region. We explored demographic and biogeographical processes that shaped the genetic diversity of Scots pine in the Caucasus ecoregion and its probable future distribution under different climate scenarios. We found that the high genetic variability of the Caucasian populations mirrors a complex glacial and postglacial history that had a unique evolutionary trajectory compared to the main range in Europe. Scots pine currently grows under a broad spectrum of climatic conditions in the Caucasus, which implies high adaptive potential in the past. However, the current genetic resources of Scots pine are under high pressure from climate change. From our predictions, over 90% of the current distribution of Scots pine may be lost in this century. By threatening the stability of the forest ecosystems, this would dramatically affect the biodiversity of the Caucasus hot-spot.

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 00120
Author(s):  
Tatyana Slepneva ◽  
Sergey Makarenko ◽  
Alexander Taranau

The results of assessment are presented the stability of 13 sorts of plum-tree P. salicina subsp. ussuriensis Koval. et Kost. to the climatic conditions in the winter period from 2015/16 to 2020/21 in the northern forest-steppe of the Southern Urals. Like the control sort Ural’skaya zolotistaya by high adaptability to the conditions of the winter period are characterized sorts Altajskaya yubilejnaya, Zavet, Pionerka, Sapfir, Seyanec Krasnogo shara, Sodruzhestvo, Sinil’ga, Ural’skie zori, Chernosliv pozdnij. Stable fruiting over the years, regardless of weather conditions, during the flowering period with a yield of 62.0 to 91.6 hundredweight/ha are mark out with an increasing total sort Altajskaya yubilejnaya, Pionerka, Chernosliv pozdnij. The control sort Ural’skaya zolotistaya exceeds the yield of the sort Altajskaya yubilejnaya (91.6 hundredweight/ha), at the level of control the yield of the sorts Sodruzhestvo (71.5 hundredweight/ha), Sapfir (70.0 hundredweight/ha).


2018 ◽  
pp. 803-819
Author(s):  
Dmitri Parmacli ◽  
Alina Ianioglo

The article highlights the presence of unfavourable climatic conditions in the agricultural production of the Republic of Moldova, which adversely affect the results of crop cultivation and the economic sustainability of enterprises. As a rule, the variation indicators are not taken into account and evaluated when calculating the efficiency of crops production and sales, and accordingly, the potential values of land use efficiency in the industry are not correctly predicted. In this regard, the aim of the study is to develop methodo?logical approaches to assess the stability of production and to justify some fea?tures of calculating potential indicators of production and sales of crops. The article shows the dynamics of yield of leading crops over the past 16 years and estimates the instability of production. For this purpose formulas are proposed, with the help of which the level of sustainability of enterprises can be predicted. The suggested interrelationships are vividly presented on graphs. The proposed approaches will allow specialists of enterprises to calculate the financial safety margin and the risk zone for each crop, to predict economic development using, above all, the moving average indicators.


Author(s):  
М. M. Magomedov ◽  
А. Z. Shihmuradov

Studies on durum wheat were carried out in 2018–2020 on experimental plots of the Dagestan experimental station branch of the VIR. The climatic conditions were typical over the past decade due to global warming: warm autumn, almost no snow in winter, early spring and dry summer. Sowing was carried out in the third decade of October for vegetable predecessors (beet seed plants), where increased doses of complex fertilizers (nitrogen and phosphorus) were applied. Warm and wet conditions of winter and spring, two water-charging irrigations in autumn and vegetative in spring, as well as a top dressing with ammonium nitrate (2.0 c / ha) in the phase of the beginning of tube emergence contributed to the formation of good stalks and productive ears of plants. In total 458 samples of the durum wheat world collection from the mountain, foothill and plain zones of Azerbaijan for breeding and valuable traits have been studied: early maturity, resistance to fungal diseases, productivity and its components. Highlighted productive varieties of durum wheat with a high adaptive potential, which can be used both for purely genetic research and in practical breeding to improve existing varieties and develop new ones.


Author(s):  
Dimitrios Damalas ◽  
Vassiliki SGARDELI ◽  
Paraskevas Vasilakopoulos ◽  
Georgios TSERPES ◽  
Christos MARAVELIAS

Climate change (CC) can alter the configuration of marine ecosystems, however ecosystem response and resilience to change are usually case-specific. The effect of CC on the demersal resources of the Aegean Sea (east Mediterranean Sea) was investigated during the past six decades applying a combination of multivariate analysis, non-additive modelling and the Integrated Resilience Assessment (IRA) framework. We focused on the study of: (i) the biological ‘system’ complex, using proxies of biomass (landings per unit of capacity) for 12 demersal taxa and (ii) the environmental ‘stressor’ complex, described by 12 abiotic variables. Pronounced changes have occurred in both the environmental and biological system over the studied period. The majority of the environmental stressors exhibited strikingly increasing trends (temperature, salinity, primary production indices) with values started exceeding the global historical means during late 1980s-early 1990s. It is suggested that the biological system exhibited a discontinuous response to CC, with two apparently climate-induced regime shifts occurring in the past 25 years. There is evidence for two fold bifurcations and four tipping points in the system, forming a folded stability landscape with three basins of attraction. The shape of the stability landscape for the Aegean Sea’s biological system suggests that while the initial state (1966-1991) was rather resilient to CC, absorbing two environmental step-changes, this was not the case for the two subsequent ones (intermediate: 1992-2002; recent: 2003-2016). Given the current trajectory of environmental change, it is highly unlikely that the biological system will ever return to its pre-1990s state, as it is entering areas of unprecedented climatic conditions and there is some evidence that the system may be even shifting towards a new state. Our approach and findings may be relevant to other marine areas of the Mediterranean and beyond, undergoing climate-driven regime shifts, and can assist to their adaptive management.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-90
Author(s):  
T.Z. Mutallapov ◽  

The article presents the results of evaluating the growth of Scots pine in the Baymak forest area. The analysis of forestry and taxation indicators of Scots pine crops on the studied sample areas is carried out, and a comparative assessment of the growth of forest crops growing in different types of forest is given. Increased competition in plantings leads to the natural decline of stunted trees, which is the result of differentiation in the stand. As a result, its structure changes, the number of large trees increases, and, accordingly, the stability of the forest ecosystem increases. In this regard, the appearance of the tree distribution curve by thickness levels also changes. It becomes more "flat", and its competitive load is more evenly distributed over the entire structure of the stand, and competition is weakened.


2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Sideri

The Caucasus was a zone of encounters for centuries, generating images of regional cosmopolitanism in the past. This vision creates expectations for the present, when it is included in the wider discussion about the meanings of cosmopolitanism today, its relation to modern geopolitics, and issues of social and political co-existence and recognition. This essay focuses on two different photographs that belong to different Greek families in Georgia. These photographs represent two different historical experiences of migration and pinpoint different understandings of cosmopolitanism. However, they both seem to stem from specific discourses about diasporas and their cosmopolitan character. The role of language in the construction of these discourses is fundamental. The essay compares photographic representations of the 'Greek Diaspora' in order to trace the perceptions of cosmopolitanism they generate, the cultural capital they carry, and its outcome in relation to Greek diaspora politics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 169 (5) ◽  
pp. 260-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Wohlgemuth ◽  
Violette Doublet ◽  
Cynthia Nussbaumer ◽  
Linda Feichtinger ◽  
Andreas Rigling

Vegetation shift in Scots pine forests in the Valais accelerated by large disturbances In the past dozen years, several studies have concluded a vegetation shift from Scots pine to oak (pubescent and sessile) forests in the low elevated zones of the Valais. It is, however, not fully clear in which way such a vegetation shift actually occurs and on which processes such a shift would be based. Two studies, one on the tree demography in the intact Pfynwald and the other on the tree regeneration on the large Leuk forest fire patch, serve to discuss different aspects of the shift from Scots pine to oak. The forest stands of Pfynwald consist of 67% Scots pines and 14% oaks. Regenerating trees are 2–3.5 times more frequent in small gaps than under canopy. In gaps of the Upper Pfynwald, seedlings and saplings of Scots pine are three times more abundant than oaks, while both species regenerate in similar quantities under canopy. In the Lower Pfynwald, young oaks – especially seedlings – are more frequent than Scots pines. A different process is going on at the lower part in the Leuk forest fire patch where Scots pines prevailed before the burn of 2003. While Scots pines regenerate exclusively close to the edge of the intact forest, oaks not only resprout from trunk but also profit from unlimited spreading of their seeds by the Eurasian jay. Regeneration from seeds are hence observed in the whole studied area, independent of the proximity of seed trees. After the large fire disturbance, a mixed forests with a high share of oaks is establishing, which translates to a rapid vegetation shift. The two trajectories are discussed in the light of climate change.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheetal Uppal ◽  
Mohd. Asim Khan ◽  
Suman Kundu

Aims: The aim of our study is to understand the biophysical traits that govern the stability and folding of Synechocystis hemoglobin, a unique cyanobacterial globin that displays unusual traits not observed in any of the other globins discovered so far. Background: For the past few decades, classical hemoglobins such as vertebrate hemoglobin and myoglobin have been extensively studied to unravel the stability and folding mechanisms of hemoglobins. However, the expanding wealth of hemoglobins identified in all life forms with novel properties, like heme coordination chemistry and globin fold, have added complexity and challenges to the understanding of hemoglobin stability, which has not been adequately addressed. Here, we explored the unique truncated and hexacoordinate hemoglobin from the freshwater cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 known as “Synechocystis hemoglobin (SynHb)”. The “three histidines” linkages to heme are novel to this cyanobacterial hemoglobin. Objective: Mutational studies were employed to decipher the residues within the heme pocket that dictate the stability and folding of SynHb. Methods: Site-directed mutants of SynHb were generated and analyzed using a repertoire of spectroscopic and calorimetric tools. Result: The results revealed that the heme was stably associated to the protein under all denaturing conditions with His117 playing the anchoring role. The studies also highlighted the possibility of existence of a “molten globule” like intermediate at acidic pH in this exceptionally thermostable globin. His117 and other key residues in the heme pocket play an indispensable role in imparting significant polypeptide stability. Conclusion: Synechocystis hemoglobin presents an important model system for investigations of protein folding and stability in general. The heme pocket residues influenced the folding and stability of SynHb in a very subtle and specific manner and may have been optimized to make this Hb the most stable known as of date. Other: The knowledge gained hereby about the influence of heme pocket amino acid side chains on stability and expression is currently being utilized to improve the stability of recombinant human Hbs for efficient use as oxygen delivery vehicles.


Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Dien-Thien To ◽  
Yu-Chuan Lin

Copper phyllosilicates-derived catalysts (CuPS-cats) have been intensively explored in the past two decades due to their promising activity in carbonyls hydrogenation. However, CuPS-cats have not been completely reviewed. This paper focuses on the aspects concerning CuPS-cats from synthesis methods, effects of preparation conditions, and dopant to catalytic applications of CuPS-cats. The applications of CuPS-cats include the hydrogenation of carboxylates, carboxylic acids, carbonates, formyls, and CO2 to their respective alcohols. Besides, important factors such as the Cu dispersion, Cu+ and Cu0 surface areas, particles size, interaction between Cu and supports and dopants, morphologies, and spatial effect on catalytic performance of CuPS-cats are discussed. The deactivation and remedial actions to improve the stability of CuPS-cats are summarized. It ends up with the challenges and prospective by using this type of catalyst.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5659
Author(s):  
Farhood Sarrafzadeh Javadi ◽  
Rahman Saidur

Refrigeration systems have experienced massive technological changes in the past 50 years. Nanotechnology can lead to a promising technological leap in the refrigeration industry. Nano-refrigerant still remains unknown because of the complexity of the phase change process of the mixture including refrigerant, lubricant, and nanoparticle. In this study, the stability of Al2O3 nanofluid and the performance of a nano-refrigerant-based domestic refrigerator have been experimentally investigated, with the focus on the thermodynamic and energy approaches. It was found that by increasing the nanoparticle concentration, the stability of nano-lubricant was decreased and evaporator temperature gradient was increased. The average of the temperature gradient increment in the evaporator was 20.2% in case of using 0.1%-Al2O3. The results showed that the energy consumption of the refrigerator reduced around 2.69% when 0.1%-Al2O3 nanoparticle was added to the system.


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