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Fluorescence spectroscopy via confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was used to analyze ancient sedimentary organic matter, including Tasmanites microfossils in Devonian shale and Gloecapsomorpha prisca (G. prisca) in Ordovician kukersite from North American basins. We examined fluorescence emission as a function of excitation laser wavelength, sample orientation, and with respect to location within individual organic entities and along organic matter chemical transects. Results from spectral scans of the same field of view in Tasmanites with different laser lines showed progressive red-shift in emission maxima with longer excitation wavelengths. This result indicates steady-state Tasmanites fluorescence emission is an overlapping combination of emission from multiple distinct fluorophore functions. Stokes shift decreased with increasing excitation wavelength, further suggesting the presence of multiple fluorophore functions with different S1 -> S0 transition energies. This observation also indicates that at longer excitation wavelengths, less absorbed light energy is dissipated via collisional transfer than at shorter excitation wavelengths and may suggest fewer polar functions are preferentially absorbing. Confirming earlier results, emission spectra observed from high fluorescence intensity regions (fold apices) in individual Tasmanites are blue-shifted relative to emission from other locations in the same microfossil. We suggest high intensity emission is from photoselective alignment of polarized excitation with the fluorophore absorption and emission transition moment. The blue shift observed in regions of high intensity emission may be due to relative absence of polar species, e.g., bridging ether or ester functions, although this could not be confirmed with preliminary time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) analysis. Tasmanites occurring in consolidated sediments are flattened from original spherical morphology and, in optical microscopy, this burial deformation results in generally parallel extinction (strain-influenced) and positive elongation. The deformation also induces fluorescence anisotropy observed as variations in emission wavelength when samples are measured parallel to bedding, whereas this effect is absent in bedding-normal view. Evaluation of fluorescence emission on compositional transects from G. prisca-rich source layers into adjacent reservoir layers indicates decrease in fluorescence intensity and spectral red-shift (increase in full-width half-maximum with increasing red portion of the half-width). These results may suggest an increase in fluorescence quenching across the source-to-reservoir transition zone, consistent with an increase in aromaticity following petroleum expulsion and migration. These observations are supported by increasing reflectance values measured across similar micro-scale transects. Our results highlight the applicability of CLSM as a broad and under-utilized approach for the characterization of sedimentary organic matter and are discussed with perspective toward petroleum processes and thermal indices research.

Monthly and daily summary from Barro Colorado Island (BCI). Data organized in horizontal format for seasonal and inter-year comparisonsLocation 9°9'42.36"N, 79°50'15.67"WParameters: air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, precipitation, sea surface temperature, solar radiation (pyranometer), air pressure, soil moisture, runoff, potential evapotranspiration, wet/dry season starting datesLutz catchment is a 9.73ha protected watershed on BCIThe Lutz tower was built in 1972 and was originally 42m. In 2002 it was increased to 48mThe data from 48m should be considered a separate data series from the data at 42m. Wind speed is significantly higher at 48m due to the distance to the top of the canopy.The Clearing is a small, open area surrounded by forest and some buildings. Station established in 1972. Consists of a Stevenson screen with max/min thermometers and air pressure sensor. Temperature/humidity sensor, rain gauge and evaporation sensors are located at various locations around the screen.

The Assessment Unit is the fundamental unit used in the National Assessment Project for the assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources. The Assessment Unit is defined within the context of the higher-level Total Petroleum System. The Assessment Unit is shown herein as a geographic boundary interpreted, defined, and mapped by the geologist responsible for the province and incorporates a set of known or postulated oil and (or) gas accumulations sharing similar geologic, geographic, and temporal properties within the Total Petroleum System, such as source rock, timing, migration pathways, trapping mechanism, and hydrocarbon type. The Assessment Unit boundary is defined geologically as the limits of the geologic elements that define the Assessment Unit, such as limits of reservoir rock, geologic structures, source rock, and seal lithologies. The only exceptions to this are Assessment Units that border the Federal-State water boundary. In these cases, the Federal-State water boundary forms part of the Assessment Unit boundary.

Although GPS coordinates for current populations are not included due to the potential threat of poaching, the climate variables for each species are provided. The records for extant gecko and skinks mainly came from the New Zealand's Department of Conervation Herpetofauna Database. After updating the taxonomy and cleaning the data to reflect the taxonomy as at 2019 of 43 geckos speceis recognised across seven genera and 61 species in genus, we then thinned the occurrence records at a 1 km resolution for all species then predicted distributions for those with > 15 records using species distribution models. The climate variables for each species were selected among annual mean temperature (bio1), maximum temperature of the warmest month (bio5), minimum temperature of the coldest month (bio6), mean temperature of driest quarter (bio9), mean temperature of wettest quarter (bio10), and precipitation of the driest quarter (bio17). To reduce multicollinearity in species distribution models for each species, we only retained climate variables with a variable inflation factor < 10. The climate variables were from the CHELSA database (https://chelsa-climate.org/), which can be freely downloaded for current and future scenarios. We also provide MCC tree files for the geckos and skinks. The phylogenetic trees have been constructed for NZ geckos by (Nielsen et al., 2011) and for NZ skinks by (Chapple et al., 2009). For geckos we used a subset of the sequences used by Nielsen et al. (2011) for four genes, two nuclear (RAG 1, PDC) and two mitochondrial (16S, ND2 along with flanking tRNA sequences). For skinks, we used sequences from Chapple et al. (2009) for one nuclear (RAG 1) and five mitochondrial (ND2, ND4, Cyt b, 12S and 16S) genes, and additional ND2 sequences for taxa not included in the original phylogeny (Chapple et al., 2011, p. 201). In total we used sequences for all recognised extant taxa (Hitchmough et al., 2016) as at 2019 except for three species of skink (O. aff. inconspicuum “Okuru”, O. robinsoni, and O. aff. inconspicuum “North Otago”) and two species of gecko (M. “Cupola” and W. “Kaikouras”) for which genetic data were not available. Aim: The primary drivers of species and population extirpations have been habitat loss, overexploitation, and invasive species, but human-mediated climate change is expected to be a major driver in future. To minimise biodiversity loss, conservation managers should identify species vulnerable to climate change and prioritise their protection. Here, we estimate climatic suitability for two speciose taxonomic groups, then use phylogenetic analyses to assess vulnerability to climate change. Location: Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) Taxa: NZ lizards: diplodactylid geckos and eugongylinae skinks Methods: We built correlative species distribution models (SDMs) for NZ geckos and skinks to estimate climatic suitability under current climate and 2070 future-climate scenarios. We then used Bayesian phylogenetic mixed models (BPMMs) to assess vulnerability for both groups with predictor variables for life history traits (body size and activity phase) and current distribution (elevation and latitude). We explored two scenarios: an unlimited dispersal scenario, where projections track climate, and a no-dispersal scenario, where projections are restricted to areas currently identified as suitable. Results: SDMs projected vulnerability to climate change for most modelled lizards. For species’ ranges projected to decline in climatically suitable areas, average decreases were between 42–45% for geckos and 33–91% for skinks, although area did increase or remain stable for a minority of species. For the no-dispersal scenario, the average decrease for geckos was 37–52% and for skinks was 33–52%. Our BPMMs showed phylogenetic signal in climate change vulnerability for both groups, with elevation increasing vulnerability for geckos, and body size reducing vulnerability for skinks. Main conclusions: NZ lizards showed variable vulnerability to climate change, with most species’ ranges predicted to decrease. For species whose suitable climatic space is projected to disappear from within their current range, managed relocation could be considered to establish populations in regions that will be suitable under future climates.

This dataset contains the underlying data for the following publication: Doukas, H., Spiliotis, E., Jafari, M. A., Giarola, S. & Nikas, A. (2021). Low-cost emissions cuts in container shipping: Thinking inside the box. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 94, 102815, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2021.102815.

The major goal of this EAGER project is to create a Big Data mining toolset for the Landsat Time Series that captures, labels, and maps glacier change for use in climate science, hydrology, and Earth science education. This pilot study demonstrates the potential for interactively mapping, visualizing, and labeling glacier changes. What is truly innovative is that IceTrendr not only maps the changes but also uses expert knowledge to label the changes and such labels can be applied to other glaciers exhibiting statistically similar changes. This is much more than just a simple "then and now" approach to glacier mapping. IceTrendr is a means of integrating the power of computing, remote sensing, and expert knowledge to "tell the story " of glacier changes. Our key findings are that the IceTrendr concept and software can provide important functionality for glaciologists and educators interested in studying glacier changes during the Landsat TM timeframe (1984-present). With additional time and funding, there is the exciting and innovative opportunity to build on the IceTrendr framework, to develop much greater utility for mapping glaciers and characterizing glacier change globally. Although this pilot study focused on just five glaciers, with some future funding and effort, IceTrendr will have the potential to map changing glaciers EVERYWHERE over the full Landsat TM timeframe (1984-present). Specifically, concerns with the Landsat TM imagery are that many images are missing during the period 1984-1995 and the automated cloud mask is not effective requiring the user to manually identify cloud-free images. We found that the visualization of the glacier in the IceTrendr window worked well with high-resolution satellite data from Google Earth and visualization was improved with additional high-resolution images from the Polar Geospatial Center. The automated clustering algorithm was a good first step in glacier mapping and when augmented with glacier outlines from the Randall Glacier Inventory, users could readily see changes in glacier extent, brightness, debris cover, as well as changes in surrounding area including glacial lakes and rivers, vegetation, and moraines.