Die Brachiopoen des Callovien im zentralen Nordwestschweizer Jura

Im Rahmen einer lithologischen, biostratigraphischen und faziellen Neubearbeitung des Callovien im zentralen Nordwestschweizer Jura werden auch verschiedene Faunenelemente berücksichtigt und untersucht. In dieser Arbeit wird im ersten Teil die Fazies von vier lithologischen Einheiten (Châtillon-, Bollement-, Herznach- und Graitery-Member) vorgestellt, die Brachiopoden führen. Diese sind im zweiten Teil näher beschrieben. Dabei konnten im Untersuchungsgebiet 21 Arten festgestellt werden: 6 Rhynchonelliden, 15 Terebratuliden (davon 7 Terebratulidinen und 8 Terebratellidinen). 8 Spezies sind nicht nur im Untersuchungsgebiet erstmals nachgewiesen worden, sie sind für das ganze Gebiet der Schweiz neu: Fortunella? acutiloba, Septaliphoria orbignyana, Dictyothyris smithi, orsoplicathyris flexuosa, Antiptychina bivallata, Aulacothyris hypocirta, Digonella cf. pseudoantiplecta, „Zeilleria“ cf. biappendiculata.

Human and climatic impact on mires: a case study of Les Amburnex mire, Swiss Jura Mountains

Modern period long-term human and climatic impacts on a small mire in the Jura Mountains were assessed using testate amoebae, macrofossils and pollen. This multiproxy data analysis permitted detailed interpretations of local and regional environmental change and thus a partial disentanglement of the different variables that influence long-term mire development. From the Middle Ages until a.d. 1700 the mire vegetation was characterised by ferns, Caltha and Vaccinium, but then abruptly changed into the modern vegetation characterised by Cyperaceae, Potentilla and Sphagnum. The cause for this change was most probably deforestation, possibly enhanced by climatic cooling. A decrease in trampling intensity by domestic animals from a.d. 1950 onwards allowed Sphagnum growth and climatic warming in the a.d. 1980s and 1990s may have been responsible for considerable changes in the species composition. The mire investigated is an example of the rapid changes in mire vegetation and peat development that occurred throughout the central European mountain region during the past centuries as a result of changing climate and land-use practice. These processes are still active today and will determine the future development of high-altitude mires.

The palaeoecological history of the Praz-Rodet bog (Swiss Jura) based on pollen, plant macrofossils and testate amoebae (Protozoa)

Stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating and analyses of pollen, plant macrofossils and testate amoebae were used to reconstruct the development and ecology of a small raised bog in a karst-dominated landscape in the Swiss Jura Mountains. Special focus was on past vegetation and on the history of Pinus rotundata in relation to anthropogenic and climatic influences. Testate amoebae were used to reconstruc-t past local soil pH and water-table depth. The inferred development of the Praz-Rodet bog typifies a classic hydroseral tefrestrialization of a small basin. Two features are specific for this site. First, the bog was much wetter than today for a long period; according to our hypothesis, this only changed as a consequence of human activities. Second, two hiatuses are present at the coring location (Younger Dryas--early Preboreal, and 4700-2800 cal. yr BP), the former probably caused by low lake productivity due to cold temperatures and the latter by the erosional activity of the adjacent small river. The date of 2800 cal. yr BP for renewed peat accumulation may be related to climatic change (Subboreal-Subatlantic transition). Pollen indicators failed to show one hiatus: an apparently complete pollen sequence is therefore no guarantee of an uninterrupted sediment accumulation. Evidence of early minor human impact on the vegetation in the Joux Valley dates back to c. 6850 calendar years, congruous with the early Neolithic in the Jura Mountains. The history of Pinuis rotindata appears to be more complex than previously believed. Human activity is clearly responsible for the present abundance of this species, but the tree was naturally present on the bog long before the first evidence of important human disturbance of the site (1500 cal. yr BP). It is suggested that, in karst-dominated landscapes, dense forests growing on mineral soils around raised bogs may significantly reduce summer evapotranspiration by acting as windbreaks. Forest clearance results in increased evapotranspiration, causing a lowering of the water table on the bog and a modification of the vegetation cover. This hypothesis has implications for the management of similar small raised bogs in karst-dominated landscape.

Cultural Legacies and Political Preferences: The Failure of Separatism in the Swiss Jura

The study of secession generally stresses the causal influence of cultural identities, political preferences, or ecological factors. Whereas these different views are often considered to be mutually exclusive, this paper proposes a two-stage model in which they are complementary. We posit that cultural identities matter for explaining secessionism, but not because of primordial attachments. Rather, religious and linguistic groups matter because their members are imbued with cultural legacies that lead to distinct political preferences – in this case preferences over welfare statism. Further, ecological constraints such as geography and topography affect social interaction with like-minded individuals. On the basis of both these political preferences and ecological constraints, individuals then make rational choices about the desirability of secession. Instrumental considerations are therefore crucial in explaining the decision to secede, but not in a conventional pocketbook manner. To examine this theory, we analyze the 2013 referendum on the secession of the Jura Bernois region from the Canton of Berne in Switzerland, using municipal level census and referendum data. The results lend support to the theory and suggest one way in which the politics of identity, based on factors like language and religion, can be fused with the politics of interest (preferences for more or less state intervention into the polity and economy) to better understand group behavior.

History of Atmospheric Lead Deposition Since 12,370 14C yr BP from a Peat Bog, Jura Mountains, Switzerland

A continuous record of atmospheric lead since 12,370 carbon-14 years before the present (14C yr BP) is preserved in a Swiss peat bog. Enhanced fluxes caused by climate changes reached their maxima 10,590 14C yr BP (Younger Dryas) and 823014C yr BP. Soil erosion caused by forest clearing and agricultural tillage increased lead deposition after 532014C yr BP. Increasing lead/scandium and decreasing lead-206/lead-207 beginning 3000 14C yr BP indicate the beginning of lead pollution from mining and smelting, and anthropogenic sources have dominated lead emissions ever since. The greatest lead flux (15.7 milligrams per square meter per year in A.D. 1979) was 1570 times the natural, background value (0.01 milligram per square meter per year from 8030 to 5320 14C yr BP).

Die Carduus-Formen des badischen Jura-Gebietes

Von Dr. Schatz

Versuch einer auf den Jura und Umgegend angewandten Phytostatik oder Vertheilung der Gefäßpflanzen nach den Gebirgsarten

Von Hrn. Jul. Thurmann

Versuch einer auf den Jura und Umgegend angewandten Phytostatik oder Vertheilung der Gefäßpflanzen nach den Gebirgsarten

Von Hrn. Jul. Thurmann

Beobachtungen über den ostafrikanischen Jura

von E. Fraas