Contribution of tiller age category to herbage accumulation of Marandu palisadegrass under two fertilization regimes

Based on the hypothesis that climate and fertilizers influence the proportion of tiller age categories in the canopy and, consequently, in herbage accumulation, the objective of this study was to determine the population density and the contribution of tiller age categories for herbage accumulation of Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu during the year and in response to phosphate and nitrogen fertilization. The treatments consisted of two fertilization strategies: low and high fertilization and three tiller ages (young, mature and old), evaluated at four times of the year: winter, early and late spring, and summer. The total number of tillers and the proportion of young tillers were higher in late spring and summer. The growth and herbage accumulation rates showed a typical seasonal pattern and were higher in the canopy under high fertilization. Old tillers contributed more to control the total stem growth rate, as well as the canopy senescence rate. The highest percentage of young tillers is related to the high herbage accumulation in the Marandu palisadegrass canopy.

Subseasonal Meteorological Drought Development over the Central United States during Spring

Diagnosis of rapidly developing springtime droughts in the central U.S. has mostly been made via numerous individual case studies rather than in an aggregate sense. This study investigates common aspects of subseasonal “meteorological drought” evolution, here defined as persistent precipitation minus evapotranspiration (P-ET) deficits, revealed in early (April 1-May 15) and late (May 16-June 30) spring composites of 5-day running mean JRA-55 reanalysis data for three different central U.S. regions during 1958-2018. On average, these droughts are initiated by a quasi-stationary Rossby wave packet (RWP), propagating from the western North Pacific, which arises about a week prior to drought onset. The RWP is related to a persistent ridge west of the incipient drought region and strong subsidence over it. This subsidence is associated with low-level divergent flow that dries the atmosphere and suppresses precipitation for roughly 1-2 weeks, and generally has a greater impact on the moisture budget than does reduced poleward moisture transport. The resulting “dynamically driven” evaporative demand corresponds to a rapid drying of the root-zone soil moisture, which decreases ∼40 percentiles within ∼10 days. Anomalous near-surface warmth develops only after P-ET deficit onset, as does anomalously low soil moisture that then lingers a month or more, especially in late spring. The horizontal scale of the RWPs, and of the related drought anomalies, decreases from early to late spring, consistent with the climatological change in the Pacific Rossby waveguide. Finally, while this composite analysis is based upon strong, persistent P-ET deficits, it still appears to capture much of the springtime development of so-called “flash droughts” as well.

Relationship of Spatial Phytoplankton Variability during Spring with Eutrophic Inshore and Oligotrophic Offshore Waters in the East Sea, Including Dokdo, Korea

The area near the subpolar front of the East Sea has high primary productivity during the spring season. We conducted two surveys, one in early spring and another in late spring, to assess environmental factors that influence phytoplankton community structure during these times. During early spring, vertical mixing supplied abundant nutrients to the surface. Due to the well-mixed water column, there were high nutrient levels, but total phytoplankton abundances and diversity were relatively low and were dominated by the diatom Chaetoceros spp. During late spring, the water column gradually stratified, with relatively high levels of nutrients in the surface layers near the coastal areas. Phytoplankton abundance and diversity at that time were higher, and there were diatoms (Pseudo-nitzschia spp. and Chaetoceros spp.), cryptophytes, and small flagellates. Pseudo-nitzschia spp. were especially abundant in re-sampled areas. The presence of a stratified and stable water mass and sufficient nitrate led to high phytoplankton growth, even in the open sea during late spring. These findings provide a better understanding of how phytoplankton population dynamics in the East Sea depend on water column stability during both early and late spring seasons.

The K–T boundary strata north of Korsnæb, Stevns Klint, Denmark – evolution and geometry revealed in a long, horizontal profile

A 460 m long profile of the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–T) boundary strata at Stevns Klint was measured by the late Professor A. Rosenkrantz probably in 1944. The measured profile was inherited by Finn Surlyk around 1974 together with other original boundary data. This material was dug up in a long-forgotten drawer in connection with detailed field work by the co-authors on the boundary succession in the late spring and summer of 2021. The profile illustrates the stratigraphy, geometry and palaeotopography of the boundary strata in unprecedented detail. The part of the cliff illustrated in the profile is today partly covered by beach ridges composed of flint rubble but is situated below the finest section of the lower Danian bryozoan mounds exposed at Stevns Klint. This coastal section is situated immediately adjacent to a large limestone quarry and was planned to be quarried away around 1937, but was saved by A. Rosenkrantz who demonstrated its great scientific and educational value to the authorities.

HEADLESS MUSICAL SEEDS AND GESTURES WITH ADJECTIVES: AN INTERVIEW WITH KEIKO DEVAUX

Keiko Devaux (b. 1982) is a Canadian composer, originally from British Columbia, who now lives in Montréal. She began her musical career in piano-performance studies as well as composing, touring and recording several albums in independent rock bands. Her concert music is widely performed throughout Canada and Europe. From 2016–18, Keiko was the composer in residence of Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. She joined Salvatore Sciarrino's masterclasses at L'Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, between the years 2017 and 2019. Keiko was commissioned by music@villaromana festival, Florence, to create Echoic Memories. She is the inaugural winner of the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music (2020) and is also engaged in a two-year residency as a Carrefour composer with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (2020–22). This interview was conducted over Zoom in late spring 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Phenological variability and resistance to late spring frost of common beech in the international provenance test in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The research aimed to determine the start, end and duration of leafing phases, the degree of plant damage caused by late spring frost, and the retention of leaves in autumn. The research was conducted in the international common beech provenance test in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The test contains eight provenances from Bosnia and Herzegovina, four from Germany, three from Serbia, two each from Croatia, Romania and Switzerland, and one from Hungary. Leafing phenology, canopy damage caused by late spring frost, and leaf retention were assessed in 2019. Most provenances started opening buds on 17 April 2019. Complete canopy damage affected the highest percentage of plants in provenance BW Bad Wildbad, Germany (68 %), and the lowest in provenance Konjuh Kladanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina (3.2 %). Provenance Herzogenbuchsee from Switzerland had the highest percentage of winter leaf retention (37.5 % of plants). The results can be used in choosing provenances that are resistant to low temperatures in zones of late spring and early autumn frost.

Growth Recovery and Phenological Responses of Juvenile Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) Exposed to Spring Warming and Late Spring Frost

Global change increases the risk of extreme climatic events. The impact of extreme temperature may depend on the tree species and also on the provenance. Ten provenances of Fagus sylvatica L. were grown in a common garden environment in Belgium and subjected to different temperature treatments. Half of the one year old seedlings were submitted to a high thermal stress in the spring of the first year, and all plants were exposed to a late spring frost in the second year. The high-temperature treated plants displayed reduced growth in the first year, which was fully compensated (recovery with exact compensation) in the second year for radial growth and in the third year for height growth. Frost in the spring of the second year damaged part of the saplings and reduced their growth. The frost damaged plants regained the pre-stress growth rate one year later (recovery without compensation). The high temperature treatment in the first year and the frost damage in the second year clearly influenced the phenological responses in the year of the event and in the succeeding year. Little population differentiation was observed among the provenances for growth and for phenological responses. Yet, a southern provenance, a non-autochthonous provenance (original German provenance that was planted in Belgium about a century ago) and a more continental provenance flushed earlier than the local Atlantic provenances in the year of the frost event, resulting in more frost damage. Some caution should therefore be taken when translocating provenances as an anticipation of the predicted climate warming.

Particulate biogenic barium tracer of mesopelagic carbon remineralization in the Mediterranean Sea (PEACETIME project)

We report on the sub-basin variability in particulate organic carbon (POC) remineralization in the western and central Mediterranean Sea in late spring during the PEACETIME (ProcEss studies at the Air–sEa Interface after dust deposition in the MEditerranean sea) cruise. POC remineralization rates were estimated using the excess biogenic particulate barium (Baxs) inventories in the mesopelagic layers (100–1000 m depth) and compared with prokaryotic heterotrophic production (PHP). Baxs-based mesopelagic remineralization rates (MRs) ranged from 25±2 to 306±70 mgCm-2d-1. MRs were larger in the Algero-Provençal (ALG) Basin than in the Tyrrhenian (TYR) and Ionian (ION) basins. Our Baxs inventories and integrated PHP data also indicated that significant mesopelagic remineralization occurred down to 1000 m depth in the ALG Basin in contrast to the ION and TYR basins, where remineralization was mainly located above 500 m depth. We propose that the higher and deeper MRs in the ALG Basin were sustained by an additional particle export event driven by deep convection. The TYR Basin (in contrast to the ALG and ION basins) presented the impact of a previous dust event, as reflected by our particulate Al water column concentrations. The ION and TYR basins showed small-scale heterogeneity in remineralization processes, reflected by our Baxs inventories and integrated PHP data at the Tyrr long-duration station. This heterogeneity was linked to the mosaic of blooming and non-blooming patches reported in this area during the cruise. In contrast to the western Mediterranean Sea (ALG Basin), the central Mediterranean Sea (ION and TYR basins) showed lower remineralization rates restricted to the upper mesopelagic layer during the late spring PEACETIME cruise.