New Insights into Gastrointestinal and Pulmonary Parasitofauna of Wild Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in the Harz Mountains of Germany

The Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) represents an endangered wild felid species. In Germany, it currently occurs in three isolated populations in and around the Harz Mountains, the Palatinate Forest and the Bavarian Forest. Lynx parasitic infections affect animal health and might have an influence on population performance. Therefore, we investigated the protozoan and helminth fauna of free-ranging Eurasian lynx of the Harz population with emphasis on zoonotic parasites. Individual scat samples (n = 24) were collected from wild animals between 2019 and 2021 in the Harz National Park and surrounding areas. In total, 15 taxa of endoparasites were detected, including seven nematodes (i.e., Aelurostrongylus abstrusus, Angiostrongylus spp., Uncinaria stenocephala, Toxascaris leonina, Toxocara cati, Cylicospirura spp. and Capillaria spp.), one cestode (Diphyllobothriidae) and one trematode (Heterophylidae) as well as six protozoans (i.e., Cystoisospora rivolta, Cystoisospora felis, Toxoplasma gondii/Hammondia spp., Sarcocystis spp., Giardia intestinalis and Cryptosporidium spp.). Moreover, first-stage larvae (L1) of spurious lungworm, Protostrongylus pulmonalis, originating from lagomorph preys were identified. This work represents the first report on patent A. abstrusus and Angiostrongylus spp. infections in wild German Eurasian lynxes. Some of the identified parasites represent relevant pathogens for lynxes, circulating between these carnivorous definitive hosts and a variety of mammalian and invertebrate intermediate hosts, e.g., Sarcocystis spp., T. gondii/Hammondia spp., T. cati, T. leonina, A. abstrusus and Angiostrongylus spp., while others are considered exclusively pathogenic for wild felids (e.g., Cylicospirura spp., C. rivolta, C. felis). This study provides insights in the occurrence of zooanthroponotically relevant metazoan (i.e., T. cati and U. stenocephala) and protozoan (i.e., G. intestinalis) species in free-ranging lynx. The present work should be considered as a baseline study for future monitoring surveys on endoparasites circulating in wild Eurasian lynx for appropriate management practices in lynx conservation strategies in Europe.

Freud and the Disenchantment of Telepathy: Thought-Transference Analysed and the History of an Unpublished Paper

This article discusses Freud’s presentation on telepathy to his close colleagues at the meeting in the Harz mountains in 1921. It considers the fate of his paper and the reasons why he never published it as a single piece. The development of Freud’s ideas about telepathy during the succeeding years and the reasons that prompted him finally to publish his views on thought-transference in 1925 are also considered. The article also discusses the place of the four cases presented in his writings on telepathy over this period, culminating in his new ‘lecture’ on Dreams and Occultism in 1933. It is suggested that Freud’s persuasion that psychoanalysis could credibly account for thought-transference was in part affected by the degree of trust he held in those presenting him with material, but most of all by his own personal experience. Freud held out against opposition from people like Jones on the matter of the worthiness of the subject for investigation, but never succeeded in integrating it more fully into psychoanalysis, and this position is largely unchanged today.

Heavy metal concentrations in floodplain soils of the Innerste River and in leaves of wild blackberries (Rubus fruticosus L. agg.) growing within and outside the floodplain: the legacy of historical mining activities in the Harz Mountains (Germany)

We studied heavy metal levels in floodplain soils of the Innerste River in northern Germany and in the leaves of wild blackberries (Rubus fruticosus L. agg.) growing within and in adjacent areas outside the river floodplain. Heavy metal contamination of the Innerste floodplain is a legacy of historical metal ore mining, processing, and smelting in the Harz Mountains. The heavy metal (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Cr) contents of previously studied soil samples from eleven floodplain sites along the Innerste River were re-analyzed statistically, and the levels of these metals in blackberry leaves were determined at five sites. Mean concentrations in the floodplain soils were elevated by factors of 4.59 to 28.5 for Cd, 13.03 to 158.21 for Pb, 5.66 to 45.83 for Zn, and 1.1–14.81 for Cu relative to the precautionary limits for soils stipulated by the German Federal Soil Protection and Contaminated Sites Ordinance. Cadmium, Pb, Zn, Cu, and Ni levels in floodplain soils decreased markedly downstream, as did the concentrations of Cd, Zn, and Ni in the leaves of blackberries from within the floodplain. Levels of Cd, Pb, and Zn in leaves of blackberries from within the floodplain significantly exceeded those of specimens from outside the floodplain. The findings of our study highlight the potential of wild blackberry as a biomonitor of soil pollution by Cd, Pb, and Zn and corroborate the massive heavy metal contamination of floodplain soils along the Innerste River observed in previous studies.

The Subhercynian Basin: an example of an intraplate foreland basin due to a broken plate

The Late Cretaceous intraplate shortening event in central western Europe is associated with a number of marine basins of relatively high amplitude and short wavelength (2–3 km depth and 20–100 km width). In particular, the Harz Mountains, a basement uplift on a single, relatively steeply dipping basement thrust, have filled the adjacent Subhercynian Cretaceous Basin with their erosive product, proving that the two were related and synchronous. The problem of generating subsidence of this general style and geometry in an intraplate setting is dealt with here by using an elastic flexural model conditioned to take account of basement thrusts as weak zones in the lithosphere. Using a relatively simple configuration of this kind, we reproduce many of the basic features of the Subhercynian Cretaceous Basin and related basement thrusts. As a result, we suggest that overall, it shares many characteristics with larger-scale foreland basins associated with collisional orogens on plate boundaries.

Late Cretaceous to Paleogene exhumation in central Europe – localized inversion vs. large-scale domal uplift

Large parts of central Europe experienced exhumation in Late Cretaceous to Paleogene time. Previous studies mainly focused on thrusted basement uplifts to unravel the magnitude, processes and timing of exhumation. This study provides, for the first time, a comprehensive thermochronological dataset from mostly Permo-Triassic strata exposed adjacent to and between the basement uplifts in central Germany, comprising an area of at least some 250–300 km across. Results of apatite fission-track and (U–Th) / He analyses on > 100 new samples reveal that (i) kilometre-scale exhumation affected the entire region, (ii) thrusting of basement blocks like the Harz Mountains and the Thuringian Forest focused in the Late Cretaceous (about 90–70 Ma), while superimposed domal uplift of central Germany is slightly younger (about 75–55 Ma), and (iii) large parts of the domal uplift experienced removal of 3 to 4 km of Mesozoic strata. Using spatial extent, magnitude and timing as constraints suggests that thrusting and crustal thickening alone can account for no more than half of the domal uplift. Most likely, dynamic topography caused by upwelling asthenosphere significantly contributed to the observed pattern of exhumation in central Germany.

Revisiting the Harz Tour of Coleridge and the ‘Carlyon-Parry-Greenation’ in May 1799

The walking tour of the Harz Mountains in 1799 by Coleridge and his English companions – Clement Carlyon, Charles Parry, and George Bellas Greenough – was an exploration of Romantic science and Romantic poetry. This paper examines the Harz tour of the ‘Carlyon-Parry-Greenation’ as a geological and mineralogical excursion concurrent with Coleridge's Harzreise described in his letters. Influenced by the natural history lectures of Professor Blumenbach, the Harz walking tour was organised around visits to caves and mines. A comparative analysis of Coleridge's letters and Charles Parry's journal reveals that while the tour was more significant as a geological field trip for the ‘Carlyon-Parry-Greenation’, it was while walking en route to these destinations of scientific exploration that Coleridge responded to the landscapes traversed and discovered his own Harzreise.

Late Cretaceous to Paleogene exhumation in Central Europe – localized inversion vs. large-scale domal uplift

<p>Large parts of Central Europe have experienced exhumation in Late Cretaceous to Paleogene time. Previous studies mainly focused on thrusted basement uplifts to unravel magnitude, processes and timing of exhumation. In this study we present a comprehensive thermochronological dataset from mostly Permo-Triassic strata exposed adjacent to and between the major basement uplifts in central Germany, comprising an area of at least some 250-300 km across. Results of apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He analyses from >100 new samples reveal that (i) km-scale exhumation affected the entire region, suggesting long-wavelength domal uplift, (ii) thrusting of basement blocks like the Harz Mountains and the Thuringian Forest focused in the Late Cretaceous (about 90-70 Ma) while superimposed domal uplift of central Germany appears slightly younger (about 75-55 Ma), and (iii) large parts of the domal uplift experienced removal of 3 to 4 km of Mesozoic strata. Using spatial extent, magnitude and timing as constraints we find that thrusting and crustal thickening alone can account for no more than half of the domal uplift. Most likely, dynamic topography caused by upwelling asthenosphere has contributed significantly to the observed pattern of exhumation in central Germany.</p>

The Harz Mountains and the St. Andreasberg Mining District (Germany) as a key region for an interdisciplinary Anthropocene discourse

<p>The proposal to introduce a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, has led to an increasingly intensive discourse on the concrete evidence of anthropogenic interventions in nature, their extent and exact beginning in Geosciences and neighboring disciplines, as well as on questions of a fundamental change in man-environmental relations especially in the humanities. The concept of the Anthropocene thus has become a socio-political relevance with regard to global environmental changes and their management.</p><p>The paper uses a conceptual model to illustrate the various proposals for formalizing the Anthropocene from the geoscientific perspective on the one hand and the complex interlinking of human-nature relationships on the other hand on the base of the Harz Region (Lower Saxony, Germany) and selected type localities for the Anthropocene. The Harz and its foreland possess numerous key localities in geological, geomorphological, vegetation and cultural-historical research as well as important geoarchaeological and settlement-historical sites. At a comparatively small spatial segment of the earth surface, the transitions from a natural to a human-dominated world can be demonstrated on different spatio-temporal scales from the Paleo-Anthropocene to the current modern Anthropocene based on a broad spectrum of Quaternary paleo-archives and cultural evidences. In the northern Harz foreland, there are significant geoarchaeological sites from the Paleolithic and in the southern Harz foreland from the Middle Paleolithic, including caves and settlement relics, with far-reaching implications for early human intervention in nature. Since the Bronze Age, the Harz Region was used for mining mineral resources. Since the Middle Ages and Modern Age at the latest, the Harz Mountains have been systematically developed for mining, and not least because of the rich silver ore deposits, they have been converted into an industrial landscape. Mining landscapes with special landform assemblages emerged at the local level, which not only changed the geological underground and geomorphological relief surface partly irreversibly, but also the vegetation and the hydrological system was profoundly changed with consequences for the future ecological system. The environmental impact, but above all the indirect consequences of mining activities in the context of the import and export of goods, the migrations of workers and exchange of knowledge extended far beyond the region to the global level.</p><p>In this regard the St. Andreasberg Mining District with the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Samson Pit, one of the centers of silver mining in the Harz Mountains, was selected as a key site for demonstrating the human impact since the times of the Columbian Exchange. It shows in a paradigmatic way the anthropogenic transformation of the natural landscape in the context of regional and global environmental changes in their complex human-nature interplay. At the same time, the recent change from a mining to a tourism landscape as well as approaches of sustainable development strategies in form of modern wilderness-concepts and the use of regenerative energies based on a century old water management system provide the base for future-oriented man-environment concepts.   </p>