ALBERT

Beschreibung: One of the most controversially discussed topics in current biodiversity-ecosystem function research is the transfer of results from experimental and theoretical studies to natural ecosystems. At the same time, monitoring data on biodiversity are requested as key indicators for the state of an ecosystem in most environmental evaluation frameworks. We analyse two monitoring data sets comprising information on abundance and biomass of macrozoobenthos communities in the German Wadden Sea in order to evaluate how much information monitoring data on biodiversity provide concerning ecosystem functioning and what implications this information (or the lack thereof) has for future monitoring programmes. Our results show a positive correlation between number of species of macrozoobenthos and its standing stock. Despite differences in overall biomass and individual size in different functional groups, this correlation remained consistent for different feeding guilds and therefore is likely to be independent of certain species traits. Moreover, functional turnover analyses indicate that increasing species richness is needed to maintain biomass levels over increasing periods of time. Whereas our data thus corroborate predictions from theory, we could not determine any causal relationships, because monitoring data commonly include only vague proxies for very few functional parameters, in our case standing biomass as a proxy for production. As to the use of diversity as an indicator for ecosystem functioning, we advise that management decisions are to be based on verified causal relationships and therefore strongly suggest the general incorporation of unambiguous proxies for functional parameters in the measuring campaigns of monitoring programmes.

Beschreibung: Geophysical data acquired along the Antarctic passive margins constrain the structure and geometry of the deformed continental crust. Crustal thickness estimates range between 7 and 50 km and the Antarctic continent–ocean transition zone (COTZ) extends up to 100–670 km towards the ocean. Continental deformation prior to rifting over a c. 100 million years long time span resulted in crustal stretching factors varying between 1.8 and 5.9. The time span of deformation was sufficiently large and the rifting velocity low enough to extend the margin by up to 300–400 km. Crustal thinning generates a significant subsidence and shallow water passages might already have developed during the rifting phase along the margin. Accounting for accurate continental margin deformation has also consequences for plate-tectonic reconstructions.

Beschreibung: Information about past environmental conditions is preserved in the elemental signature of biogenic marine carbonates. Thus, trace element to calcium ratios (Me/Ca) of biogenic calcium carbonates, such as bivalve shells, are often used to reconstruct past environmental conditions at the time of carbonate formation (Foster et al., 2008). In this study, we examine the suitability of the long-lived (〉 400 years) bivalve Arctica islandica as a high-resolution bioarchive by measuring Me/Ca ratios in the shell carbonate. Pb/Ca concentrations in A. islandica shells reflect anthropogenic gasoline lead consumption and further provide a centennial record of lead pollution for the collection site off the coast of Virginia, USA. With A. islandica shells from the North Sea we test the hypothesis that Ba/Ca and Mn/Ca ratios are indicators of the diatom abundance. Our results indicate that statistically both ratios correlate well with the diatom abundance, and yet, on a year-to-year base, there is no consistent reflection of diatom abundance patterns in the Ba/Ca and Mn/Ca annual profiles. These findings indicate that primary production affects Ba/Ca and Mn/Ca shell ratios, though we suggest that both elements are coupled to primary production through different processes and are affected by further, yet unknown processes.

Beschreibung: To date, the software package SCIATRAN (Rozanov et al. 2002; Rozanov et al., 2005, 2008) has been used for modelling radiative processes in the atmosphere for the retrieval of trace gases from satellite data from the satellite sensor SCIAMACHY (Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric CHartographY onboard the satellite ENVISAT). This SCIATRAN version only accounted for radiative transfer within the atmosphere and reflection of light at the earth surface. However, radiation also passes the air-water interface, proceeds within the water and is modified by the water itself and the water constituents. Therefore, SCIATRAN has been extended by oceanic radiative transfer and coupling it to the atmospheric radiative transfer model under the terms of established models for radiative transfer underwater (Kopelevich 1983; Morel et al. 1974, 2001; Shifrin 1988; Buitevald et al. 1994; Cox and Munk 1954a, 1954b; Breon and Henriot 2006; Mobley 1994) and extending the data bases to include the specific properties of the water constituents (Pope and Fry 1997; Haltrin 2006; Prieur and Sathyendranath 1981).

Beschreibung: This study was dedicated to improve the PhytoDOAS method, which was established to distinguish major phytoplankton groups using hyper-spectral satellite data. Through this work the method was improved to detect also coccolithophores, another important taxonomic group, besides diatoms and cyanobacteria from SCIAMACHY data. Instead of the usual approach of the PhytoDOAS single-target fit, a simultaneous fit of a certain set of phytoplankton functional types (PFTs) was implemented within a wider wavelength fit-window, called multi-target fit. The improved method was successfully tested through detecting reported blooms of coccolithophores, as well as by comparison of the globally retrieved coccolithophores with the global distribution of Particulate Inorganic Carbon (PIC). The improved PhytoDOAS was exploited by analyzing eight years of SCIAMACHY data to investigate the temporal variations of coccolithophore blooms in a selected region within the North Atlantic, which is characterized by the frequent occurrence of intensive coccolithophore blooms. These data were compared to satellite total phytoplankton biomass, PIC conc., sea-surface temperature, surface wind speed and modeled mixed-layer depth (MLD) in order to investigate the bloom dynamics based on variations in regional climate conditions. The results show that coccolithophore blooms follow the first total chl-max and are in accordance with the PIC data. All three variables respond to the dynamics in wind speed, sea surface temperature and mixed layer depth. Overall the result prove, that PhytoDOAS is a valid method for retrieving coccolithophores' biomass and for monitoring bloom developments in the global ocean.

Beschreibung: Grid technology can help scientists to overcome problems with the Data Deluge in climate research, as it facilitates large scale data sharing and reuse of data. Worldwide there are different initiatives to facilitate data handling for scientific work and to built up collaborational working environments with interinstitutional data access.

Beschreibung: Seaweeds have been utilized by man as food and medication for about 14,000 years. The ever rising demand for edible seaweeds and for biochemical components of seaweeds, mainly hydrocolloids like agar, alginate, and carrageenan, has fuelled a large aquaculture industry particularly in Asia. Future expansion of seaweed culture will include suitable farming sites in offshore areas associated with wind farms. Seaweeds as extractive and therefore bioremedial species are moreover an important component in Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA), where commercially valuable organisms of different trophic levels are combined in a culturing system resembling a small ecosystem. The employment created by seaweeds and other aquaculture secures an income to millions of people and is therefore of high socioeconomic importance.