Model simulation output data (CCSM3) related to uplift of African topography and the intensification of upwelling in the Benguela region

The Benguela Current, located off the west coast of southern Africa, is tied to a highly productive upwelling system**1. Over the past 12 million years, the current has cooled, and upwelling has intensified**2, 3, 4. These changes have been variously linked to atmospheric and oceanic changes associated with the glaciation of Antarctica and global cooling**5, the closure of the Central American Seaway**1, 6 or the further restriction of the Indonesian Seaway**3. The upwelling intensification also occurred during a period of substantial uplift of the African continent**7, 8. Here we use a coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model to test the effect of African uplift on Benguela upwelling. In our simulations, uplift in the East African Rift system and in southern and southwestern Africa induces an intensification of coastal low-level winds, which leads to increased oceanic upwelling of cool subsurface waters. We compare the effect of African uplift with the simulated impact of the Central American Seaway closure9, Indonesian Throughflow restriction10 and Antarctic glaciation**11, and find that African uplift has at least an equally strong influence as each of the three other factors. We therefore conclude that African uplift was an important factor in driving the cooling and strengthening of the Benguela Current and coastal upwelling during the late Miocene and Pliocene epochs.

Temperature tolerance of different larval stages of the spider crab Hyas araneus exposed to elevated seawater PCO2

Exposure to elevated seawater PCO2 limits the thermal tolerance of crustaceans but the underlying mechanisms have not been comprehensively explored. Larval stages of crustaceans are even more sensitive to environmental hypercapnia and possess narrower thermal windows than adults. In a mechanistic approach, we analysed the impact of high seawater CO2 on parameters at different levels of biological organization, from the molecular to the whole animal level. At the whole animal level we measured oxygen consumption, heart rate and activity during acute warming in zoea and megalopa larvae of the spider crab Hyas araneus exposed to different levels of seawater PCO2. Furthermore, the expression of genes responsible for acid-base regulation and mitochondrial energy metabolism, and cellular responses to thermal stress (e.g. the heat shock response) was analysed before and after larvae were heat shocked byrapidly raising the seawater temperature from 10°C rearing temperature to 20°C. Zoea larvae showed a high heat tolerance, which decreased at elevated seawater PCO2, while the already low heat tolerance of megalopa larvae was not limited further by hypercapnic exposure. There was a combined effect of elevated seawater CO2 and heat shock in zoea larvae causing elevated transcript levels of heat shock proteins. In all three larval stages, hypercapnic exposure elicited an up-regulation of genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation, which was, however, not accompanied by increased energetic demands. The combined effect of seawater CO2 and heat shock on the gene expression of heat shock proteins reflects the downward shift in thermal limits seen on the whole animal level and indicates an associated capacity to elicit passive thermal tolerance. The up-regulation of genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation might compensate for enzyme activities being lowered through bicarbonate inhibition and maintain larval standard metabolic rates at high seawater CO2 levels. The present study underlines the necessity to align transcriptomic data with physiological responses when addressing mechanisms affected by an interaction of elevated seawater PCO2 and temperature extremes.

A return-on-investment framework to identify conservation priorities in Africa

Environmental conservation activities must continue to become more efficient and effective, especially in Africa where development and population growth pressures continue to escalate. Recently, prioritization of conservation resources has focused on explicitly incorporating the economic costs of conservation along with better defining the outcomes of these expenditures. We demonstrate how new global and continental data that spans social, economic, and ecological sectors creates an opportunity to incorporate return-on-investment (ROI) principles into conservation priority setting for Africa. We suggest that combining conservation priorities that factor in biodiversity value, habitat quality, and conservation management investments across terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal marine environments provides a new lens for setting global conservation priorities. Using this approach we identified seven regions capturing interior and coastal resources that also have high ROI values that support further investment. We illustrate how spatially explicit, yet flexible ROI analysis can help to better address uncertainty, risk, and opportunities for conservation, while making values that guide prioritization more transparent. In one case the results of this prioritization process were used to support new conservation investments. Acknowledging a clear research need to improve cost information, we propose that adopting a flexible ROI framework to set conservation priorities in Africa has multiple potential benefits.

Integrated topographic database for King George Island, South Shetland Islands, with links to shapefiles

SCAR KGIS (SCAR King George Island GIS Project) was an integrated topographic database for King George Island, South Shetland Islands, including the SCAR Feature Catalogue to semantically integrate the data sets. The project, operated by the University of Freiburg, was available at http://portal.uni-freiburg.de/AntSDI as "The Antarctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (AntSDI)". Operation ended in 2007. The remaining data files were archived in shape format (zipped) in projections as recommended by SCAR. The source data was provided by a variety of institutions which were not referenced in the original product.