Unraveling environmental drivers of a recent increase in Swiss fungi fruiting

Disentangling biotic and abiotic drivers of wild mushroom fruiting is fraught with difficulties because mycelial growth is hidden belowground, symbiotic and saprotrophic supply strategies may interact, and myco-ecological observations are often either discontinuous or too short. Here, we compiled and analyzed 115 417 weekly fungal fruit body counts from permanent Swiss inventories between 1975 and 2006. Mushroom fruiting exhibited an average autumnal delay of 12 days after 1991 compared with before, the annual number of fruit bodies increased from 1801 to 5414 and the mean species richness doubled from 10 to 20. Intra- and interannual coherency of symbiotic and saprotrophic mushroom fruiting, together with little agreement between mycorrhizal yield and tree growth suggests direct climate controls on fruit body formation of both nutritional modes. Our results contradict a previously reported declining of mushroom harvests and propose rethinking the conceptual role of symbiotic pathways in fungi-host interaction. Moreover, this conceptual advancement may foster new cross-disciplinary research avenues, and stimulate questions about possible amplifications of the global carbon cycle, as enhanced fungal production in moist mid-latitude forests rises carbon cycling and thus increases greenhouse gas exchanges between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere.

Declining pine growth in Central Spain coincides with increasing diurnal temperature range since the 1970s

Growing evidence suggests environmental change to be most severe across the semi-arid subtropics, with past, present and projected drying of the Mediterranean Basin posing a key multidisciplinary challenge. Consideration of a single climatic factor, however, often fails to explain spatiotemporal growth dynamics of drought-prone ecosystems. Here, we present annually resolved and absolutely dated ring width measurements of 871 Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) from 18 individual plot sites in the Central Spanish Pinar Grande forest reserve. Although comprising tree ages from 6 to 175 years, this network correlates surprisingly well with the inverse May–July diurnal temperature range (r = 0.84; p < 0.00011956–2011). Ring width extremes were triggered by pressure anomalies of the North Atlantic Oscillation, and the long-term growth decline coincided with Iberian-wide drying since the mid-1970s. Climate model simulations not only confirm this negative trend over the last decades but also project drought to continuously increase over the 21st century. Associated ecological effects and socio-economic consequences should be considered to improve adaptation strategies of agricultural and forest management, as well as biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service.

European summer temperature response to annually dated volcanic eruptions over the past nine centuries

The drop in temperature following large volcanic eruptions has been identified as an important component of natural climate variability. However, due to the limited number of large eruptions that occurred during the period of instrumental observations, the precise amplitude of post-volcanic cooling is not well constrained. Here we present new evidence on summer temperature cooling over Europe in years following volcanic eruptions. We compile and analyze an updated network of tree-ring maximum latewood density chronologies, spanning the past nine centuries, and compare cooling signatures in this network with exceptionally long instrumental station records and state-of-the-art general circulation models. Results indicate post-volcanic June–August cooling is strongest in Northern Europe 2 years after an eruption (−0.52 ± 0.05 °C), whereas in Central Europe the temperature response is smaller and occurs 1 year after an eruption (−0.18 ± 0.07 °C). We validate these estimates by comparison with the shorter instrumental network and evaluate the statistical significance of post-volcanic summer temperature cooling in the context of natural climate variability over the past nine centuries. Finding no significant post-volcanic temperature cooling lasting longer than 2 years, our results question the ability of large eruptions to initiate long-term temperature changes through feedback mechanisms in the climate system. We discuss the implications of these findings with respect to the response seen in general circulation models and emphasize the importance of considering well-documented, annually dated eruptions when assessing the significance of volcanic forcing on continental-scale temperature variations.

Potential and limitations of Burgundy truffle cultivation

Burgundy truffles (Tuber aestivum syn. Tuber uncinatum) are the highly prized fruit bodies of subterranean fungi always occurring in ectomycorrhizal symbiosis with host plants. Successful cultivation can be achieved through artificial mycorrhization and outplanting of mostly oaks and hazel on suitable terrain. Here, we review ecological requirements, the influence of environmental factors, and the importance of molecular techniques for a successful cultivation of T. aestivum across Europe. The historical background and current knowledge of T. aestivum cultivation are discussed in light of its socioeconomic relevance.

Tracing the origin of Arctic driftwood

Arctic environments, where surface temperatures increase and sea ice cover and permafrost depth decrease, are very sensitive to even slight climatic variations. Placing recent environmental change of the high-northern latitudes in a long-term context is, however, complicated by too short meteorological observations and too few proxy records. Driftwood may represent a unique cross-disciplinary archive at the interface of marine and terrestrial processes. Here, we introduce 1445 driftwood remains from coastal East Greenland and Svalbard. Macroscopy and microscopy were applied for wood anatomical classification; a multi-species subset was used for detecting fungi; and information on boreal vegetation patterns, circumpolar river systems, and ocean current dynamics was reviewed and evaluated. Four conifer (Pinus, Larix, Picea, and Abies) and three deciduous (Populus, Salix, and Betula) genera were differentiated. Species-specific identification also separated Pinus sylvestris and Pinus sibirica, which account for ~40% of all driftwood and predominantly originate from western and central Siberia. Larch and spruce from Siberia or North America represents ~26% and ~18% of all materials, respectively. Fungal colonization caused different levels of driftwood staining and/or decay. Our results demonstrate the importance of combining wood anatomical knowledge with insight on boreal forest composition for successfully tracing the origin of Arctic driftwood. To ultimately reconstruct spatiotemporal variations in ocean currents, and to better quantify postglacial uplift rates, we recommend consideration of dendrochronologically dated material from many more circumpolar sites.

Filling the Eastern European gap in millennium-long temperature reconstructions

Tree ring–based temperature reconstructions form the scientific backbone of the current global change debate. Although some European records extend into medieval times, high-resolution, long-term, regional-scale paleoclimatic evidence is missing for the eastern part of the continent. Here we compile 545 samples of living trees and historical timbers from the greater Tatra region to reconstruct interannual to centennial-long variations in Eastern European May–June temperature back to 1040 AD. Recent anthropogenic warming exceeds the range of past natural climate variability. Increased plague outbreaks and political conflicts, as well as decreased settlement activities, coincided with temperature depressions. The Black Death in the mid-14th century, the Thirty Years War in the early 17th century, and the French Invasion of Russia in the early 19th century all occurred during the coldest episodes of the last millennium. A comparison with summer temperature reconstructions from Scandinavia, the Alps, and the Pyrenees emphasizes the seasonal and spatial specificity of our results, questioning those large-scale reconstructions that simply average individual sites.

Climatic drivers of hourly to yearly tree radius variations along a 6°C natural warming gradient

Climate affects the timing, rate and dynamics of tree growth, over time scales ranging from seconds to centuries. Monitoring how a tree's stem radius varies over these time scales can provide insight into intra-annual stem dynamics and improve our understanding of climate impacts on tree physiology and growth processes. Here, we quantify the response of radial conifer stem size to environmental fluctuations via a novel assessment of tree circadian cycles. We analyze four years of sub-hourly data collected from 56 larch and spruce trees growing along a natural temperature gradient of ∼6 °C in the central Swiss Alps. During the growing season, tree stem diameters were greatest at mid-morning and smallest in the late evening, reflecting the daily cycle of water uptake and loss. Along the gradient, amplitudes calculated from the stem radius cycle were ∼50% smaller at the upper site (∼2200 m a.s.l.) relative to the lower site (∼800 m a.s.l.). We show changes in precipitation, temperature and cloud cover have a substantial effect on typical growing season diurnal cycles; amplitudes were nine times smaller on rainy days (>10 mm), and daily amplitudes are approximately 40% larger when the mean daily temperature is 15–20 °C than when it is 5–10 °C. We find that over the growing season in the sub-alpine forests, spruce show greater daily stem water movement than larch. However, under projected future warming, larch could experience up to 50% greater stem water use, which may severely affect future growth on already dry sites. Our data further indicate that because of the confounding influences of radial growth and short-term water dynamics on stem size, conventional methodology probably overstates the effect of water-linked meteorological variables (i.e. precipitation and relative humidity) on intra-annual tree growth. We suggest future studies use intra-seasonal measurements of cell development and consider whether climatic factors produce reversible changes in stem diameter. These study design elements may help researchers more accurately quantify and attribute changes in forest productivity in response to future warming.

What is ‘wood’ – An anatomical re-definition

The technical definition of ‘wood’ is well accepted, but its botanical understanding remains vague. Different degrees and amounts of lignification in plants and their imprecise description, together with a conceptually doubtful life form catalog including trees, shrubs and herbs further complicate our understanding of ‘wood’. Here, we use permanent micro sections to demonstrate that the xylem and bark of terrestrial plants can vary from one tissue with a few lignified cells to an almost fully lignified tissue. This universal principle of plant growth and stabilization, accounting for all taxonomic units within vascular plants, suggests that the classical life form separation into herbs, shrubs and trees is not valid. An anatomical-based differentiation between ‘wood’, ‘woody’ and ‘woodiness’ is also only meaningful if supplemented by insight on the particular plant section and its lignified proportion. We therefore recommend utilizing the botanically more neutral term ‘stem anatomy’ instead of ‘wood anatomy’, which further implies integration of the xylem and bark of all terrestrial plants. Since dendrochronology considers shrubs, dwarf shrubs and perennial herbs in addition to trees, its semantic expansion toward ‘xylemchronology’ might be worthwhile considering.

Numerical solution of optimal control problems with constant control delays

We investigate a class of optimal control problems that exhibit constant exogenously given delays in the control in the equation of motion of the differential states. Therefore, we formulate an exemplary optimal control problem with one stock and one control variable and review some analytic properties of an optimal solution. However, analytical considerations are quite limited in case of delayed optimal control problems. In order to overcome these limits, we reformulate the problem and apply direct numerical methods to calculate approximate solutions that give a better understanding of this class of optimization problems. In particular, we present two possibilities to reformulate the delayed optimal control problem into an instantaneous optimal control problem and show how these can be solved numerically with a stateof- the-art direct method by applying Bock’s direct multiple shooting algorithm. We further demonstrate the strength of our approach by two economic examples.

High-density lipoprotein cholesterol, coronary artery disease, and cardiovascular mortality.

AIMS High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is a strong predictor of cardiovascular mortality. This work aimed to investigate whether the presence of coronary artery disease (CAD) impacts on its predictive value. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 3141 participants (2191 males, 950 females) of the LUdwigshafen RIsk and Cardiovascular health (LURIC) study. They had a mean ± standard deviation age of 62.6 ± 10.6 years, body mass index of 27.5 ± 4.1 kg/m², and HDL cholesterol of 38.9 ± 10.8 mg/dL. The cohort consisted of 699 people without CAD, 1515 patients with stable CAD, and 927 patients with unstable CAD. The participants were prospectively followed for cardiovascular mortality over a median (inter-quartile range) period of 9.9 (8.7-10.7) years. A total of 590 participants died from cardiovascular diseases. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol by tertiles was inversely related to cardiovascular mortality in the entire cohort (P = 0.009). There was significant interaction between HDL cholesterol and CAD in predicting the outcome (P = 0.007). In stratified analyses, HDL cholesterol was strongly associated with cardiovascular mortality in people without CAD [3rd vs. 1st tertile: HR (95% CI) = 0.37 (0.18-0.74), P = 0.005], but not in patients with stable [3rd vs. 1st tertile: HR (95% CI) = 0.81 (0.61-1.09), P = 0.159] and unstable [3rd vs. 1st tertile: HR (95% CI) = 0.91 (0.59-1.41), P = 0.675] CAD. These results were replicated by analyses in 3413 participants of the AtheroGene cohort and 5738 participants of the ESTHER cohort, and by a meta-analysis comprising all three cohorts. CONCLUSION The inverse relationship of HDL cholesterol with cardiovascular mortality is weakened in patients with CAD. The usefulness of considering HDL cholesterol for cardiovascular risk stratification seems limited in such patients.

Placing unprecedented recent fir growth in a European-wide and Holocene-long context

Forest decline played a pivotal role in motivating Europe's political focus on sustainability around 35 years ago. Silver fir (Abies alba) exhibited a particularly severe dieback in the mid-1970s, but disentangling biotic from abiotic drivers remained challenging because both spatial and temporal data were lacking. Here, we analyze 14 136 samples from living trees and historical timbers, together with 356 pollen records, to evaluate recent fir growth from a continent-wide and Holocene-long perspective. Land use and climate change influenced forest growth over the past millennium, whereas anthropogenic emissions of acidic sulfates and nitrates became important after about 1850. Pollution control since the 1980s, together with a warmer but not drier climate, has facilitated an unprecedented surge in productivity across Central European fir stands. Restricted fir distribution prior to the Mesolithic and again in the Modern Era, separated by a peak in abundance during the Bronze Age, is indicative of the long-term interplay of changing temperatures, shifts in the hydrological cycle, and human impacts that have shaped forest structure and productivity.

Inhibition of meningitis-associated neutrophil apoptosis by TNF-α depends on functional PI3-kinase in monocytes

In bacterial meningitis, neutrophils cope with bacterial infection but also lead to tissue damage. The balance of beneficial and harmful effects may depend on the lifespan of the neutrophils in the CNS. Here, we show that CSF of patients with meningococcal meningitis contains a neutrophil apoptosis-inhibiting capacity that correlates with TNF-α content. In vitro experiments show that Neisseria meningitidis as well as LPS derived from these bacteria regulated neutrophil apoptosis mainly by stimulating TNF-α production in monocytes. Whereas LPS-induced PI3K-dependent survival signals in monocytes are critical for neutrophil survival, PI3K signaling in granulocytes did not contribute to the increased lifespan of neutrophils. We conclude that LPS-driven PI3K signaling in monocytes regulates neutrophil apoptosis and thereby, may be crucial in the initiation of secondary brain damage in bacterial meningitis.