The impact of plateau zokor Myospalax fontanierii burrows on alpine meadow vegetation on the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) plateau

The impact of burrows constructed by plateau zokors Myospalax fontanierii (Milne-Edwards, 1867) on alpine meadow vegetation on the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) plateau was investigated. Plant samples taken from quadrats directly over active zokor burrows, back-filled burrows, adjacent burrow controls, and random sites from a field, in which no burrows or mounds occurred were compared. The biomass of plants (below- and above-ground) directly over shallow active burrows was significantly lower than on control plots. This reduction in biomass was not significantly different than that between deep active burrows and control plots. There were no significant differences between above- and below-ground plant biomass on areas perpendicular to active burrows when compared to random sites. Back-filling soil in burrows could promote the growth of above-ground monocotyledonous plants. However, the burrowing activities of zokors had a negative effect on biomass of dicotyledonous plants.

Polychaete burrows harbour distinct microbial communities in oil-contaminated coastal sediments

Previous studies have shown that the bioturbating polychaete Hediste (Nereis) diversicolor can affect the composition of bacterial communities in oil-contaminated sediments, but have not considered diversity specifically within bioturbator burrows or the impact on microbial eukaryotes. We tested the hypothesis that H. diversicolor burrows harbour different eukaryotic and bacterial communities compared with un-bioturbated sediment, and that bioturbation stimulates oil degradation. Oil-contaminated sediment was incubated with or without H. diversicolor for 30 days, after which sediment un-affected by H. diversicolor and burrow DNA/RNA samples were analysed using quantitative reverse transcription PCR (Q-RT-PCR) and high-throughput sequencing. Fungi dominated both burrow and un-bioturbated sediment sequence libraries; however, there was significant enrichment of bacterivorous protists and nematodes in the burrows. There were also significant differences between the bacterial communities in burrows compared with un-bioturbated sediment. Increased activity and relative abundance of aerobic hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria in the burrows coincided with the significant reduction in hydrocarbon concentration in the bioturbated sediment. This study represents the first detailed assessment of the effect of bioturbation on total microbial communities in oil-contaminated sediments. In addition, it further shows that bioturbation is a significant factor in determining microbial diversity within polluted sediments and plays an important role in stimulating bioremediation.

A tentative determination of upwelling influence on the paleo-surficial marine water reservoir effect in southeastern Brazil.

Previous work has suggested that seasonal and inter-annual upwelling of deep, cold, radiocarbon depleted waters from the South Atlantic has caused variations in the reservoir effect (R) through time along the southern coast of Brazil. This work aims to examine the possible upwelling influence on the paleo-reservoir age of Brazilian surficial coastal waters based on paired terrestrial/marine samples obtained from archaeological remains. On the Brazilian coast there are hundreds of shell-middens built up by an ancient culture that lived between 6500 to 1500 years ago, but there are few located on open coast with a known upwelling influence. Three archaeological sites located in a large headland in Arraial do Cabo and Ilha de Cabo Frio, southeastern coast of Brazil with open ocean conditions and a well-known strong and large upwelling of the Malvinas/Falkland current were chosen for this study. The 14C age differences between carbonized seed and marine samples varied from 281 ± 44 to 1083 ± 51 14C yr. There are also significant age differences between carbonized seed samples (977 14C yr) and marine samples (200 and 228 14C yr) from the same archaeological layer that cannot be explained by a reservoir effect or an old-wood effect for charcoal. Therefore the present data from the southeastern Brazilian coast are inconclusive for identifying an upwelling effect on R. To do so it would be necessary to more precisely define the present-pre-bomb R in upwelling regions and to analyze paired marine/terrestrial samples that are contemporaneous beyond doubt.

Roteiros Paleo-Geológicos no Barlavento Algarvio

Dissertação mestr., Biologia e Geologia - Educação, Universidade do Algarve, 2007

A percepção da ordem e a consciência do tempo em Mari no período Paleo-Babilónico (séc. XIX- XVIII a. C.)

O presente estudo tem como objectivo estudar as questões do tempo e da ordem no reino de Mari. A análise destas questões evidencia dois aspectos importantes: por um lado, a convergência de duas culturas distintas – uma cultura acádica, tipicamente mesopotâmica, e uma cultura amorrita, mais ocidental – num mesmo espaço e, por outro lado, a importância do reino de Mari como um estudo de caso que retrata, por vezes com grande pormenor, a influência da penetração dos povos nómadas nas terras da Mesopotâmia e as suas repercussões nos vários domínios da vida pública. Estudar a ordem implica compreender a organização do mundo e da sociedade, bem como a relação entre as esferas humana e celeste. Estudar o tempo implica, por sua vez, entender como o homem se posiciona no espaço, como entende a sua história e o seu destino. Uma análise focada nestes dois temas permitir-nos-á, pois, compreender qual era o verdadeiro sentido da vida e do mundo para o homem de Mari. Como veremos, para o mariota, a vida assentava numa intensa dinâmica na qual a família detinha o papel principal: era ela que o enquadrava na sociedade, que lhe permitia participar nos destinos da vida pública e receber as devidas honras após a morte. Nesta perspectiva, a família e os laços de sangue adquiriam um papel preponderante em vários domínios da vida humana. Eram os laços consanguíneos que imperavam aquando da escolha de aliados e partidários. Por outro lado, o culto do parentesco impunha uma visão da história segundo a qual o tempo passado se afirmava como o grande modelo teórico das acções desenvolvidas no quotidiano (no presente). Paralelamente à família, o homem de Mari acreditava que no mundo divino residia a sua verdadeira esperança de levar uma vida feliz. A imagem de uma teocracia, onde homem e deus partilhavam o mesmo destino, é transversal a todo o pensamento e acção do homem de Mari. Nesta tese, propomos desenvolver um estudo de conjunto, uma análise transversal que abranja todos os aspectos da vida social e humana: a religião, a política, a cultura e a sociedade

Letter to Samuel Woodruff regarding the $2000 owing to him and presenting applications for Williams, Sampson, Hall, Burrows and Rogers’s accounts

Letter (1 page, typed) to Samuel Woodruff regarding the $2000 owing to him and presenting applications for Williams, Sampson, Hall, Burrows and Rogers’s accounts. There are some handwritten comments on this letter. It is not signed, but bears the Jarvis, Conklin and Co. letterhead, May 16, 1882.

Miniature Carvings in the Canadian Dorset Culture: the Paleo-Eskimo Belief System

En este estudio, intento resumir los debates relacionados con la última cultura paleoesquimal de Canadá Ártica y la de Groenlandia, y llamar la atención sobre las analogías culturales desde Asia, además de crear un cuadro complejo sobre el chamanismo y el culto al oso de los Dorset. Los temas como el origen del arte de los Dorset, la transición Pre-Dorset-Dorset, y los contactos entre los Dorset y los Thule son relevantes para reconstruir el sistema de creencias de los Dorset. Sin embargo, la totalidad del sistema de creencias de los paleoesquimales no se puede comprender sobre la base de los hallazgos arqueológicosy las analogías etnográficas remotas.

The sea level conundrum: insights from paleo studies

Empirical Constraints on Future Sea Level Rise; Bern, Switzerland, 25–29 August 2008; Eustatic sea level (ESL) rise during the 21st century is perhaps the greatest threat from climate change, but its magnitude is contested. Geological records identify examples of nonlinear ice sheet response to climate forcing, suggesting a strategy for refining estimates of 21st-century sea level change. In August 2008, Past Global Changes (PAGES), International Marine Past Global Change Study (IMAGES), and the University of Bern cosponsored a workshop to address this possibility. The workshop highlighted several ways that paleoceanography studies can place limits on future sea level rise, and these are enlarged upon here.

Using paleo-climate comparisons to constrain future projections in CMIP5

We present a description of the theoretical framework and "best practice" for using the paleo-climate model component of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (Phase 5) (CMIP5) to constrain future projections of climate using the same models. The constraints arise from measures of skill in hindcasting paleo-climate changes from the present over 3 periods: the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (21 thousand years before present, ka), the mid-Holocene (MH) (6 ka) and the Last Millennium (LM) (850–1850 CE). The skill measures may be used to validate robust patterns of climate change across scenarios or to distinguish between models that have differing outcomes in future scenarios. We find that the multi-model ensemble of paleo-simulations is adequate for addressing at least some of these issues. For example, selected benchmarks for the LGM and MH are correlated to the rank of future projections of precipitation/temperature or sea ice extent to indicate that models that produce the best agreement with paleoclimate information give demonstrably different future results than the rest of the models. We also find that some comparisons, for instance associated with model variability, are strongly dependent on uncertain forcing timeseries, or show time dependent behaviour, making direct inferences for the future problematic. Overall, we demonstrate that there is a strong potential for the paleo-climate simulations to help inform the future projections and urge all the modeling groups to complete this subset of the CMIP5 runs.