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Demise of the Lizards Despite pessimistic forecasts from recent studies examining the effects of global climate change on species, and observed extinctions in local geographic areas, there is little evidence so far of global-scale extinctions. Sinervo et al. (p. 894 ; see the Perspective by Huey et al. ) find that extinctions resulting from climate change are currently reducing global lizard diversity. Climate records during the past century were synthesized with detailed surveys of Mexican species at 200 sites over the past 30 years. Temperature change has been so rapid in this region that rates of adaptation have not kept pace with climate change. The models were then extended to all families of lizards at >1000 sites across the globe, and suggest that climate change-induced extinctions are currently affecting worldwide lizard assemblages.

Reflection by waxy or resinous surface structures and hairs, repair reactions of biomolecules and induction of different sheltering components provide the means of plant protection from harmful solar UV-B radiation. Secondary products, especially flavonoids and phenolic acids as defense components are also important in plant tolerance to UV-B, fulfilling the dual role as screens that reduce UV-B penetration in plant tissues, and as antioxidants protecting from damage by reactive oxidant species. Plants are sensitive to UV-B radiation, and this sensitivity can be even more clone-specific than species-specific. The results available in the literature for deciduous trees and shrubs indicate that UV-B radiation may affect several directions in the interaction of woody species with biotic (herbivores) and abiotic (CO2 and nutrition) factors depending on the specific interaction in question. These multilevel interactions should have moderate ecological significance via the overall changed performance of woody species and shrubs.

In Northern Europe, most lakes are characterized by extended periods of winter ice cover, high spring inflow from snow melt and brown water produced by the transport of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from the surrounding catchments. In this chapter, the potential impact of climate change on the dynamics of these lakes is addressed by: (i) Describing the historical responses of the lakes to changes in the weather. (ii) Summarizing the results of modelling studies that quantify the impact of future changes in the climate on the lakes and the surrounding catchments. Many existing water quality problems could well be exacerbated by the effects of climatic change. It is therefore important to assess the holistic responses of the individual lakes to the combined effects of local changes in the catchment and regional changes in the weather (Hall et al., 1999; Anderson et al., 2005). Overall, the response of individual lakes to climate change can be very different (Blenckner et al., 2004). For example, mountain lake catchments are affected differently from those at lower altitudes. In addition, the landscape position of a particular lake influences hydrological flow regime (Kratz et al., 1997). Furthermore, the response of lakes to climatic variation is also modified by physical lake features such as morphometry and water clarity which, in turn, is also affected by the concentration of the dissolved organic carbon (see for example Fee et al., 1996). Also, the alignment of the lake in relation to the main wind direction is important for the timing of the ice break-up and mixing regime. Even, the environmental changes experienced by the lake in the past can affect the magnitude of the response to climatic variation. Lakes in a recovery phase from eutrophication, acidification, toxic components or any other strong human disturbance, might respond differently to climatic variability and change owing to their specific history and food web structure.

Abstract The promise of superblack materials to revolutionize energy harvesting and optoelectronic technologies has been constrained by their cost and mechanical fragility. Here we report on a simple strategy, guided by computational methods, to develop robust superblack materials following metal-free wood delignification and carbonization (1500 oC). Subwavelength severed cells evolve under shrinkage stresses, yielding vertically aligned fibrillar arrays with a thickness of ~100 µm and light reflectance as low as 0.36 %, on par with conventional superblack materials. The negated light reflection is independent of the incidence angle and wood density. Moreover, our measurements indicate a laser beam reflectivity three-fold lower than commercial light stoppers in current use. Overall, the new wood-based superblack material is introduced as a mechanically strong and cost-effective surrogate for microfabricated carbon nanotube arrays.

There has been a “territorial turn” in exploring sustainable development in the past two decades. Sustainability is increasingly seen as rooted in local resources, relationships, and values. Cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are a substantial local resource and participants of local development. One of the most important relationships of CCIs is with local municipalities, which usually have an overview of local resources, and a role of redefining national level policy ideas, including those pertaining to cultural and art activities. The paper examines place-based development in Valmiera County as a case of national cultural policy translation, grounded in interpretations of the availability of local resources for change. The paper argues that the trajectories of local cultural development are indeed strongly related to local development agents' interpretations of available local resources, including active CCIs. In negotiating the preferred development paths, the stakeholders tend to respond to one of two strategies carried out by the local municipality: Act (taking upon themselves the role of a cultural operator) or Wait-and-see (enabling other cultural operators, the private and non-governmental CCI sector). The paper also highlights the role of creative intermediaries in negotiation processes. The Wait-and-see approach is seen as preferable and more sustainable in the long run.

International audience; Week VII of the INT program 2018 “Probing Nucleons and Nuclei in High Energy Collisions” was dedicated to topics at the interface of the electron-ion collider (EIC), heavy ion and proton-nucleus collisions. The EIC will provide complementary tools to investigate and constrain the initial state in HIC collisions, as well as transport properties of QCD matter which can be extracted from observables that are sensitive to final states interactions such as pt-broadening and energy loss. The contributed talks and discussions covered a variety of physics topics from saturation physics and the origin of multi-particle correlations in HIC to jet quenching and the strong coupling regime of high energy scattering.

Although sediments of small boreal humic lakes are important carbon stores and greenhouse gas sources, the composition and structuring mechanisms of their microbial communities have remained understudied. We analyzed the vertical profiles of microbial biomass indicators (PLFAs, DNA and RNA) and the bacterial and archaeal community composition (sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons and qPCR of mcrA) in sediment cores collected from a typical small boreal lake. While microbial biomass decreased with sediment depth, viable microbes (RNA and PLFA) were present all through the profiles. The vertical stratification patterns of the bacterial and archaeal communities resembled those in marine sediments with well-characterized groups (e.g. Methanomicrobia, Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidetes) dominating in the surface sediment and being replaced by poorly-known groups (e.g. Bathyarchaeota, Aminicenantes and Caldiserica) in the deeper layers. The results also suggested that, similar to marine systems, the deep bacterial and archaeal communities were predominantly assembled by selective survival of taxa able to persist in the low energy conditions. Methanotrophs were rare, further corroborating the role of these methanogen-rich sediments as important methane emitters. Based on their taxonomy, the deep-dwelling groups were putatively organo-heterotrophic, organo-autotrophic and/or acetogenic and thus may contribute to changes in the lake sediment carbon storage.