• SDSN - Greece
• Publicationsclose
• Research dataclose
• Other literature type close
• US close
• Hyper Article en Ligne close

During the ACCESS airborne campaign in July 2012, extensive boreal forest fires resulted in significant aerosol transport to the Arctic. A 10-day episode combining intense biomass burning over Siberia and low-pressure systems over the Arctic Ocean resulted in efficient transport of plumes containing black carbon (BC) towards the Arctic, mostly in the upper troposphere (6–8 km). A combination of in situ observations (DLR Falcon aircraft), satellite analysis and WRF-Chem simulations is used to understand the vertical and horizontal transport mechanisms of BC with a focus on the role of wet removal. Between the northwestern Norwegian coast and the Svalbard archipelago, the Falcon aircraft sampled plumes with enhanced CO concentrations up to 200 ppbv and BC mixing ratios up to 25 ng kg−1. During transport to the Arctic region, a large fraction of BC particles are scavenged by two wet deposition processes, namely wet removal by large-scale precipitation and removal in wet convective updrafts, with both processes contributing almost equally to the total accumulated deposition of BC. Our results underline that applying a finer horizontal resolution (40 instead of 100 km) improves the model performance, as it significantly reduces the overestimation of BC levels observed at a coarser resolution in the mid-troposphere. According to the simulations at 40 km, the transport efficiency of BC (TEBC) in biomass burning plumes was larger (60 %), because it was impacted by small accumulated precipitation along trajectory (1 mm). In contrast TEBC was small (< 30 %) and accumulated precipitation amounts were larger (5–10 mm) in plumes influenced by urban anthropogenic sources and flaring activities in northern Russia, resulting in transport to lower altitudes. TEBC due to large-scale precipitation is responsible for a sharp meridional gradient in the distribution of BC concentrations. Wet removal in cumulus clouds is the cause of modeled vertical gradient of TEBC, especially in the mid-latitudes, reflecting the distribution of convective precipitation, but is dominated in the Arctic region by the large-scale wet removal associated with the formation of stratocumulus clouds in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) that produce frequent drizzle.

The Tilos project is presented; the objectives are to maximize photovoltaic and wind production to supply electricity to the Tilos island in Greece while maintaining a total electricity supply security. A smart grid coupled to a hybrid PV/Wind/Zebra batteries system was implemented and makes this green island partially autonomous thank to renewable energy. The objectives of this European Horizon 2020 project are detailed and a summation of the main results of this international collaboration is presented.

Bees are in decline potentially leading to reduced pollination and hence production of insect-pollinated crops in many countries. It is however still unclear whether the consequences of pollinator shortages differ among countries with different environmental and societal conditions. Here, we calculated economic gains attributed to insect (particularly bee) pollination (EVIP) as well as their contribution to the total value of crop production (vulnerability), and analyzed their temporal trends and inter-annual variability from 1991 to 2009 for each country of the European Union (EU). To understand which factors drive country-specific differences in pollinator dependency and stability of insect-dependent crop yields, we further asked whether EVIP, vulnerability and stability of yields were influenced by a country’s climate, the number of wild bee species and/or managed honeybee hives per country, and (agricultural) gross domestic product (GDP). Across Europe, crop pollination by insects accounted for 14.6 [±3.3] billion EURannually (EVIP), which equaled 12 (±0.8)% of the total economic value of annual crop production. Gains strongly varied among countries. Both EVIP and vulnerability increased (and the inter-annual variation of vulnerability decreased) significantly from the colder northern to the warmer Mediterranean EU countries, in parallel with increases in the number of wild bee species. Across years, economic importance of pollination increased in all but three EU countries. Apples were the most important insect-pollinated crop in the EU, accounting for 16% of the EU’s total EVIP. Our results show that whereas dependency on insect pollination increased from the colder north to the warmer south, variation in economic gain from insect pollination decreased, indicating that Mediterranean countries had more stable yields of pollinator-dependent crops across years and thus more reliable gains from pollination services. Seit einigen Jahren nimmt die Bienendiversität in zahlreichen Ländern ab. Mögliche Folgen dieses Artenrückgangs sind eine Abnahme der Bestäubungsleistung und ein dadurch verringerter Ertrag bei insektenbestäubten Kulturpflanzen. Unklar ist, ob die Bedeutung der Bestäuberleistung und damit deren Auswirkung auf Ernteerträge mit den gesellschaftlichen und/oder Umweltbedingungen eines Landes zusammenhängen. In der hier vorgelegten Studie berechneten wir für die Länder der Europäischen Union (EU) den Wirtschaftsgewinn, welcher durch Bestäubungsleistungen (insbesondere von Bienen) erzielt wird (Wirtschaftswert der Insektenbestäubung, WWIB), sowie dessen Anteil am Gesamtgewinn aus dem Ertrag von allen Kulturpflanzen. Aus letzterem ergibt sich ein Wert, der dem landesspezifischen ,,Risiko” von Wirtschaftseinbußen durch einen Bestäuberrückgang entspricht. Darüber hinaus untersuchten wir jahreszeitliche Schwankungen von WWIB und dem Risikowert sowie deren Entwicklung über die Jahre 1991 bis 2001. Um besser zu verstehen, welche Faktoren landesspezifische Unterschiede in der Abhängigkeit von Bestäubungsleistungen sowie der Stabilität von Ernteerträgen bei insektenbestäubten Kulturpflanzen verursachen, analysierten wir die Zusammenhänge zwischen WWIB, Risiko und Etragsstabilität mit dem Klima, der Bienendiversität und Honigbienenvölkeranzahl jedes EU Landes sowie des Teils seines Bruttoinlandproduktes, der auf den Agrarsektor entfällt. Die Bestäubung von Kulturpflanzen durch Insekten machte innerhalb der gesamten EU jährlich 14.6 [±3.3] Milliarden EUR (WWIB) aus, was einem Anteil von 12 (±0.8)% des durchschnittlichen Jahesgesamtgewinns aus der Ernte von Kulturpflanzen entspricht. Die Gewinne waren von Land zu Land stark unterschiedlich. Sowohl WWIB als auch der Risikowert nahmen von den kälteren nördlichen Ländern zu den wärmeren Mittelmeerstaaten hin zu, ebenso wie die Bienendiversität, während jährliche Schwankungen des Risikowerts abnahmen. Die wirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Bestäubung nahm von 1991 bis 2001 in fast allen EU-Ländern zu. Äpfelmachten, als wichtigste in der EU produzierte Feldfrucht, 16% des aufBestäubungsleistungen basierenden Gesamtgewinns aus. Unsere Berechnungen verdeutlichen, dass sowohl die Abhängigkeit von der Insektenbestäubung als auch dieErtragsstabilität vomkalten europäischen Norden zu den Mittelmeerländern hin zunimmt. Mittelmeerstaaten erzielen folglich stabilere Gewinne aus insektenbestäubten Kulturpflanzen und damit aus Bestäubungsleistungen. Fil: Leonhardt, Sara Diana. Leuphana University of Lüneburg; Alemania Fil: Gallai, Nicola. Ecole Nationale de Formation Agronomique; Francia Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro. Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro. Sede Andina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Kuhlmann, Michael. Natural History Museum; Reino Unido Fil: Klein, Alexandra Maria. Leuphana University of Lüneburg; Alemania. University of Freiburg; Alemania

The invasive plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa currently threatens European flora through the loss of economically and culturally important host plants. This emerging vector-borne bacterium, native to the Americas, causes several important diseases in a wide range of plants including crops, ornamentals, and trees. Previously absent from Europe, and considered a quarantine pathogen, X. fastidiosa was first detected in Apulia, Italy in 2013 associated with a devastating disease of olive trees (Olive Quick Decline Syndrome, OQDS). OQDS has led to significant economic, environmental, cultural, as well as political crises. Although the biology of X. fastidiosa diseases have been studied for over a century, there is still no information on the determinants of specificity between bacterial genotypes and host plant species, which is particularly relevant today as X. fastidiosa is expanding in the naive European landscape. We analysed the genomes of 79 X . fastidiosa samples from diseased olive trees across the affected area in Italy as well as genomes of the most genetically closely related strains from Central America. We provided insights into the ecological and evolutionary emergence of this pathogen in Italy. We first showed that the outbreak in Apulia is due to a single introduction from Central America that we estimated to have occurred in 2008 [95 % HPD: 1930–2016]. By using a combination of population genomic approaches and evolutionary genomics methods, we further identified a short list of genes that could play a major role in the adaptation of X. fastidiosa to this new environment. We finally provided experimental evidence for the adaptation of the strain to this new environment.

Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2018.00283/full#supplementary-material; International audience; Common carp is a major aquaculture species worldwide, commonly sold alive but also as processed headless carcass or filets. However, recording of processing yields is impossible on live breeding candidates, and alternatives for genetic improvement are either sib selection based on slaughtered fish, or indirect selection on correlated traits recorded in vivo. Morphological predictors that can be measured on live fish and that correlate with real slaughter yields hence remain a possible alternative. To quantify the power of morphological predictors for genetic improvement of yields, we estimated genetic parameters of slaughter yields and various predictors in 3-year-old common carp reared communally under semi-intensive pond conditions. The experimental stock was established by a partial factorial design of 20 dams and 40 sires, and 1553 progenies were assigned to their parents using 12 microsatellites. Slaughter yields were highly heritable (h2 = 0.46 for headless carcass yield, 0.50 for filet yield) and strongly genetically correlated with each other (rg = 0.96). To create morphological predictors, external (phenotypes, 2D digitization) and internal measurements (ultrasound imagery) were recorded and combined by multiple linear regression to predict slaughter yields. The accuracy of the phenotypic prediction was high for headless carcass yield (R2 = 0.63) and intermediate for filet yield (R2 = 0.49). Interestingly, heritability of predicted slaughter yields (0.48–0.63) was higher than that of the real yields to predict, and had high genetic correlations with the real yields (rg = 0.84–0.88). In addition, both predicted yields were highly phenotypically and genetically correlated with each other (0.95 for both), suggesting that using predicted headless carcass yield in a breeding program would be a good way to also improve filet yield. Besides, two individual predictors (P1 and P2) included in the prediction models and two simple internal measurements (E4 and E23) exhibited intermediate to high heritability estimates (h2 = 0.34 – 0.72) and significant genetic correlations to the slaughter yields (rg = |0.39 – 0.83|). The results show that there is a solid potential for genetic improvement of slaughter yields by selecting for predictor traits recorded on live breeding candidates of common carp.