Biodiversity survey of the UNESCO Sheka forest biosphere reserve from February 2016 to May 2016

Data of amphibians, reptiles and birds surveyed from February 2016 to May 2016 in the UNESCO Sheka forest biosphere reserve are provided as an online open access data file.

Chemistry of Pliocene-Pleistocene pumice from the Izu-Bonin Arc

Thick pumice deposits were found in the cored sequences of forearc, arc, and backarc sites of Leg 126 in the Izu-Bonin Arc. These deposits, composed of fragmental rhyolite pumice with the chemical composition of low-alkali tholeiites, are products of arc volcanism. Pumice deposits constitute more than half of the thickness of the sediment fill of the Sumisu Rift, a backarc rift of the Izu-Bonin Arc. They comprise five thick pumiceous beds separated by thin hemipelagic units; as such, they record four major episodes or pulses of explosive, rhyolitic volcanism during the last 0.15 Ma, separated by quiescent intervals that each lasted about 30-60 k.y. The thick pumiceous beds were deposited in the rift mainly by sediment gravity flows during and immediately after the eruption of arc volcanos, which were probably submarine. Initiation of rifting was also preceded in the Pliocene by submarine rhyolitic volcanism, as seen in samples from the top of the eastern rift flank. Thick pumice beds correlative with those in the backarc also occur in the forearc basin to the east.

Seasonal variations in surface metabolite composition of Fucus vesiculosus and Fucus serratus sampled at outer Kiel Fjord (August 2012 - July 2013)

The chemical composition of surface associated metabolites of two Fucus species (Fucus vesiculosus and Fucus serratus) was analysed by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to describe temporal patterns in chemical surface composition. Method: The two perennial brown macroalgae F. vesiculosus and F. serratus were sampled monthly at Bülk, outer Kiel Fjord, Germany (54°27'21 N / 10°11'57 E) over an entire year (August 2012 - July 2013). Per month and species six non-fertile Fucus individuals were collected from mixed stands at a depth of 0.5 m under mid water level. For surface extraction approx. 50 g of the upper 5-10 cm apical thalli tips were cut off per species. The surface extraction of Fucus was performed according to the protocol of de Nys and co-workers (1998) with minor modifications (see Rickert et al. 2015). GC/EI-MS measurements were performed with a Waters GCT premier (Waters, Manchester, UK) coupled to an Agilent 6890N GC equipped with a DB-5 ms 30 m column (0.25 mm internal diameter, 0.25 mM film thickness, Agilent, USA). The inlet temperature was maintained at 250°C and samples were injected in split 10 mode. He carrier gas flow was adjusted to 1 ml min-1. Alkanes were used for referencing of retention times. For further details (GC-MS sample preparation and analysis) see the related publication (Rickert et al. submitted to PLOS ONE).

Fatty acid composition of tissue samples from Arctic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) and their prey

Blubber biopsies were collected from 18 adult male walruses from Svalbard, Norway. The biopsies were taken vertically through the skin and the entire blubber layer down to, but not including, the muscle layer. Fatty acid (FA) compositions of inner blubber, outer blubber and dermis of the walruses and of potential prey organisms were determined. The three layers differed significantly from one another in FA composition. Generally, the inner blubber contained more long-chained monounsaturated, saturated and polyunsaturated FAs, while the outer blubber and dermis contained more short-chained monounsaturated FAs. This stratification is similar to what has been observed in other marine mammal species. However, differences between layers were less pronounced than in most other species, possibly because the extremely thick overlying dermis of walruses provides an insulating shield, which affects the FA composition of the outer blubber. The FA composition of the potential prey organisms was different from that of the blubber of the walruses, although more similar to the inner blubber than to the outer blubber or dermis. FA composition in the inner blubber was not significantly correlated with age (assessed by tusk volume), while the FA composition of the outer blubber and dermis were significantly correlated with age.

Stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of foraminifera from Cretaceous and Paleocene sediments

Detailed analysis of over 200 samples of uppermost Cretaceous and Paleocene sediments from Atlantic Ocean DSDP Sites 384, 86, 95, 152, 144, 20C, 21, 356, 357, and 329 provides new information on the temperature stratification of Paleocene planktonic foraminifera, the temperature and carbon isotopic changes across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary, and the fluctuating temperature and carbon isotopic records through the Paleocene ~64.5-54 m.y.). There was a significant temperature rise across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary both at the surface and in deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean. This temperature rise occurred before the basal Tertiary 'Globigerina' eugubina Zone, so that in the oldest Paleocene sample yet analyzed from the deep sea (Site 356) temperatures are already three degrees higher at the bottom and at the surface than in the Cretaceous. The temperature rise across the boundaryis more pronounced on the bottom and in samples from higher latitudes. Accompanying the temperature rise across the boundary there is a significant shift in the carbon isotope profile. In the basal Paleocene the foraminifera of the surface zone demonstrate very negative carbon isotope values (unlike in the Cretaceous of today's ocean), while deeper dwelling species have more positive values which then decrease to the bottom. The unusual carbon isotope gradients persist through the first three million years of the Paleocene until towards the top of planktonic foraminiferal Zone P.1 (G. trinidadensis Zone) the foraminifera record a profile more positive at the surface and decreasing towards the bottom (as in today's ocean). During the Paleocene there are two noteworthy rises in surface water temperature; the first around 62-61 m.y. (G. trinidadensis Zone), and the second near the base of the Globorotalia angulata Zone, 60-59 m.y. At this time surface temperatures at low to mid latitudes reached values near 25°C, while at mid-latitude Site 384 temperature highs near 22°C were registered. At a sample spacing of around one per million years, we have only produced some of the detail of these temperature fluctuations. The later Paleocene is generally cooler and there do not seem to be any large variations either through time or latitude. Middle-latitude sites average temperatures near 15°C at the surface, while high lower latitude site temperatures range near 18°C. The most salient feature of the bottom temperature record (based on multispecific samples) through the Paleocene is its lack of fluctuations. There is an overall temperature range of 5°C at these intermediate depth sites (paleodepth estimates between 1500 and 3000 m). Higher values near 13°C accompany the surface temperature peaks around 62 and 60 m.y., while low values near 8°C occur in Zone P.2 (61-60 m.y.). We detected no change in bottom temperature across the paleocene/Eocene boundary in the few samples studied so far. While there are several fluctuations in the carbon isotope values through the early Paleocene, the general trend is one of increasingly positive values at the surface and at depth. This trend culminates in the late Paleocene (upper Zone P.4, about 56-57 m.y.) with a major excursion in the carbon isotope values. At low latitudes the range between the surface and the deepest planktonic foraminifera is a delta13C of 4 per mil as compared with a range of 2 per mil today. The carbon values drop off slightly, but remain strongly positive through the remainder of the Paleocene at most sites. Accompanying the carbon isotope excursion at Site 384 is a productivity increase and a proposed rise in the CCD.

Occurrence of Inoceramus in the South Atlantic and oxygen isotopic paleotemperatures in DSDP Hole 75-530A

Inoceramus occurs in every DSDP hole that penetrated Cretaceous sediments in the South Atlantic Ocean, and specimen occurrence has been mapped in detail for each core. Oxygen and carbon isotope measurements were completed on 18 Inoceramus specimens from Hole 530A. Textural evidence of diagenesis is accompanied by depletion in 18O. Paleotemperature results were obtained from 11 well-preserved specimens. Bottom water temperatures in the Angola Basin decreased from 23°C during the Coniacian to 13°C near the end of the Campanian.