Ancient Thebes

The principal city of Boiotia, Thebes exerted influence and at times control over the great expanse of Central Greece, from the South Euboean Gulf at east to the Gulf of Corinth at west. Lying north of the massif of Parnes (and its most famous spur, Cithaeron), Thebes bestrides the western reaches of a low mountain range running east toward Tanagra and governs access to the flatlands along the Asopus river to the south, to the plains stretching north and east toward Helicon and the Copais (the Teneric plain), and to the level expanses extending west toward the sea south of the Messapion-Ptoon line (the Aonian plain). Thebes itself sits on a dense cluster of hills. One such hill, the Cadmea, is the age-old acropolis. The river Dirce runs just west of the Cadmea. Two rivers lie east: the Strophia (or Chrysoroas), which runs immediately next to the Cadmea, and, further east, the Ismenos. Thebes has a grand mythic history. Founded by the Phoenician Cadmus (in one tradition) while in search of his sister, Europa, the city is the birthplace of two sons of Zeus, Dionysus and Heracles, and an imposing mortal line which includes Oedipus. Impressive Bronze Age remains have long lent intrigue to these traditions. Thebes had regional and extra-regional aspirations by the 6th century, with mythic, epigraphic, and historical references indicating rivalry with neighboring Boiotian communities as well as Athens and Thessaly. Famous for medizing during the Persian Wars, Thebes likely acted within a Boiotian collective by the middle of the 5th century. Thebans joined the Peloponnesian cause in the Peloponnesian War but thereafter came into running conflict with Sparta. The city expelled an imposed Spartan garrison in 379, and the leaders Epaminondas and Pelopidas brought forth a period of expansive Theban hegemony after Leuctra (371). Following the shared defeat at Chaeronea in 338—where Thebes’ renowned Sacred Band came to ruin—the city endured a Macedonian garrison. Destroyed by Alexander in 335 for rebellion, Thebes was rebuilt in the time of Cassander (316). The city functioned as a member of a Boiotian collective subsequently, but Sulla stripped its territory in 86 for Thebes’ backing of Mithridates. Thebes sank to relative insignificance thereafter and did not rise to prominence again until Byzantine times. A prosperous international city after Justinian and into the Middle Ages, Thebes’ importance receded under Ottoman domination.

Storm-runoff processes in a mainly waterlogged low mountain range catchment in the national park Hunsrück-Hochwald, SW-Germany

<p>This study investigates potential effects of wetland restoration on storm flow dynamics in a mainly waterlogged low mountain range catchment located in SW-Germany. Here, wetland drainage networks are being sealed, aiming to achieve rising soil water tables and reestablished peat vegetation. With the help of hydrograph separation, multiple linear regression (MLR) and covariance analysis (ANCOVA), runoff-governing storm properties and sealing influences were analyzed. Results show, that not only natural storm parameters (precipitation sum, rainfall intensity, antecedent precipitation and temperature) exert influence on storm-runoff, but sealings also led to significantly altered processes: On the one hand, storm-runoff coefficients increased in sealed catchments, resulting most likely from more saturated soils, providing a smaller infiltration capacity. This is a desired effect of rewetting but coincidently a downside regarding storm flood prevention. On the other hand, lag times, meaning the timespan between rainfall occurrence and the hydrograph starting to rise, were noticeably prolonged. This effect can be potentially beneficial when it comes to storm flood prevention. Overall, statistical models including sealings showed more satisfactory results describing stormflow variance compared to models without sealings. Therefore, sealings do exert – statistically proven – an effect on storm runoff. The heterogeneity of the results, representing a dense gauge network spread over an investigation area of roughly 7.5 km² shows, that a high-resolution sampling, both spatially and temporally, is vital. That is since runoff processes in waterlogged low mountain range catchments are still poorly understood.</p>

Distributional Patterns of Aquatic Empididae (Diptera) along an Elevational Diversity Gradient in a Low Mountain Range: An Example from Central Europe

The two subfamilies Hemerodromiinae and Clinocerinae, also known as aquatic dance flies, are a group of small predatory insects occurring mainly in mountainous areas and the northern temperate. However, very little is known about distribution patterns for most of the species. Habitat preferences for 40 aquatic empidid species were analysed in the Pieniny Mts., Poland. Forty-six sampling sites from a major part of this relatively low mountain massif (400–770 m) were chosen, for which 17 micro and macrohabitat environmental variables were measured including both abiotic (altitude, stream mean width and depth, and shading) and biotic factors (13 dominant plant communities). Here we show that numerous studied aquatic Empididae were characterized by unique habitat preferences and were restricted to the foothills or the lower montane zone with only a few species characterized by wider elevational distribution. Chelifera pectinicauda, C. flavella, C. subangusta and Phyllodromia melanocephala (Hemerodromiinae), and Clinocera appendiculata, C. fontinalis, C. wesmaeli, Dolichocephala guttata, D. oblongoguttata, Kowarzia plectrum, Wiedemannia jazdzewskii, and W. thienemanni (Clinocerinae) were clearly associated with the highest altitudes and shaded areas while W. bistigma, W. lamellata, W. phantasma, and W. tricuspidata (Clinocerinae) were clearly associated with the lower elevated, wider stream valleys overgrown by willow brakes. Species richness and diversity decreased along elevational gradient with the hump-shaped diversity pattern noted for the subfamily Clinocerinae. The altitude, size of river/stream as well as the type of plant community were found as the most important factors in the distribution of the studied aquatic empidid species. The present study is the first one focused on elevational diversity gradient and habitat preferences of Hemerodromiinae and Clinocerinae of central Europe, and one of only a few in the world.

Low Flow and Drought in a German Low Mountain Range Basin

Rising temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns in the last decades have led to an increased awareness on low flow and droughts even in temperate climate zones. The scientific community often considers low flow as a consequence of drought. However, when observing low flow, catchment processes play an important role alongside precipitation shortages. Therefore, it is crucial to not neglect the role of catchment characteristics. This paper seeks to investigate low flow and drought in an integrative catchment approach by observing the historical development of low flows and drought in a typical German low mountain range basin in the federal state of Hesse for the period 1980 to 2018. A trend analysis of drought and low flow indices was conducted and the results were analyzed with respect to the characteristics of the Gersprenz catchment and its subbasin, the Fischbach. It was shown that catchments comprising characteristics that are likely to evoke low flow are probably more likely to experience short-term, seasonal low flow events, while catchments incorporating characteristics that are more robust towards fluctuations of water availability will show long-term sensitivities towards meteorological trends. This study emphasizes the importance of small-scale effects when dealing with low flow events.

Storm-runoff processes in a mainly waterlogged low mountain range catchment in the national park Hunsrück-Hochwald, SW-Germany: Assessing the impact of wetland restoration using multiple linear regression analysis and ANCOVA.

This study investigates potential effects of wetland restoration on storm flow dynamics in a mainly waterlogged low mountain range catchment located in SW-Germany. Here, wetland drainage networks are being sealed, aiming to achieve rising soil water tables and reestablished peat vegetation. With the help of hydrograph separation, multiple linear regression (MLR) and covariance analysis (ANCOVA), runoff-governing storm properties and sealing influences were analyzed. Results show, that not only natural storm parameters (precipitation sum, rainfall intensity, antecedent precipitation and temperature) exert influence on storm-runoff, but sealings also led to significantly altered processes: On the one hand, storm-runoff coefficients increased in sealed catchments, resulting most likely from more saturated soils, providing a smaller infiltration capacity. This is a desired effect of rewetting but coincidently a downside regarding storm flood prevention. On the other hand, lag times, meaning the timespan between rainfall occurrence and the hydrograph starting to rise, were noticeably prolonged. This effect potentially can be beneficial when it comes to storm flood prevention. Overall, statistical models including sealings showed more satisfactory results describing stormflow variance compared to models without sealings. Therefore, sealings do exert – statistically proven – an effect on storm runoff. The heterogeneity of the results, representing a dense gauge network spread over an investigation area of roughly 7.5 km² shows, that a high-resolution sampling, both spatially and temporally, is vital. That is since runoff processes in waterlogged low mountain range catchments are still poorly understood.

Comparison of Baseflow Separation Methods in the German Low Mountain Range

The last several years in southern Germany brought below average precipitation and high temperatures, leading to considerable challenges in water resource management. Deriving a plausible baseflow estimate is important as it affects aspects of integrated water resource management such as water usage and low flow predictions. The aim of this study is to estimate baseflow in a representative catchment in the German low mountain range and identify suitable baseflow estimation methods for this region. Several different baseflow separation methods, including digital filters, a mass balance filter (MBF) and non-continuous estimation methods were applied and compared to estimate baseflow. Using electric conductivity (EC) for the MBF, June to September and November to May were found to be suitable to estimate the EC of the baseflow and runoff component, respectively. Both weekly and continuous EC monitoring can derive similar EC value component estimates. However, EC estimation of the runoff component requires more careful consideration. The baseflow index (BFI) is estimated to be in the range of 0.4 to 0.5. The Chapman and Maxwell filter, Kille method and the Q90/Q50 ratio are recommended for baseflow estimation in the German low mountain range as they give similar results to the MBF. The Eckhardt filter requires further calibration before application.

Evapotranspiration at four sites representing land-use and height gradient in the Eastern Ore Mountains (Germany)

Less is known about evapotranspiration (ET) along elevation gradients of low mountain ranges, especially with regard to different land uses and concerning long-term studies. We investigate ET of four sites of different land-uses along an elevation gradient of a low mountain range over eleven years (2008–2018) based on daily values. Three different ET estimates are inspected, which can give a reasonable range of ET. These estimates are ET based on the energy balance residual (ET_residual), ET corrected for the energy balance closure gap (ET_corr) and ET not corrected for the energy balance closure gap (ET_uncorr). In general, ET_residual showed largest values and ET_uncorr showed lowest values with ET_corr in between. Average annual differences between ET_residual and ET_corr ranged between 111 mm a−1 and 196 mm a−1. Average annual differences between ET_uncorr and ET_corr ranged between 70 mm a−1 and 167 mm a−1. For two site years ET_corr was lower than ET_uncorr. This could be related to gap-filling. Differences between different estimates were site-specific and related to the respective energy balance closure gap. Principal component analysis revealed similar dependency on driving variables for all three estimates and all sites. Given the influence of the energy balance closure gap on ET_uncorr and ET_residual, we recommend using ET_corr, but ET_residual can be still useful especially for sites with low vegetation, which rarely experience water stress. Comparison of two coniferous sites situated at different altitudes showed frequently larger values for the site located at a higher altitude. This might be a result of rainfall interception, which however must be investigated at sub-daily timescale.