Biogeosciences

What´s in your fieldbag? Part 1: measuring freshwater carbon fluxes in the Artic

Jasper Bloemen July 27, 2016

How to pack light for a trip to the Siberian Arctic (photo credit: Joshua F. Dean, VU Amsterdam).

This bag belongs to Joshua Dean, Postdoc, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Field Work location Far Eastern Siberian Arctic: Kytalyk Nature Reserve. Duration of field work 2 weeks plus 3 days travel either side. Items in the bag Detecto Pak-Infrared (DP-IR) gas analyser [borrowed from colleagues, protect at all costs] EGM4 CO2 gas analyser [borrowed from another department, protect at all costs] water ...[Read More]

Coffee break biogeosciences – climate change affects mountain plant’s sex ratios

Jasper Bloemen July 22, 2016

A recent study shows that the effect of climate change on mountain plants ( Valeriana edulis in the picture) is strongly dependent on plant sex (Photo credit: Will Petry).

As climate change progresses, widespread changes in phenotypes in many plant populations are bing observed by scientists around the world. For instance in alpine areas, dominant plant species on lower altitude are shifting towards higher altitude as they adapt to increasing temperatures, thereby competing with high-altitude native plant species. In a recent study by Petry et al. (2016) it was show ...[Read More]

Coffee break biogeosciences–The oldest known fossilized active root meristem

Rachael Moore July 1, 2016

Radix carbonica is the oldest known fossilized remains of root meristem which was actively growing at time of fossilization. (Image credit: Alexander (Sandy) Hetherington of slide number 81 with the permission of the Oxford University Herbaria).

Meristems are groups of undifferentiated cells found in growth zones of plants. Active meristem zones have a different cellular organization than inactive zones, and up until recently no fossilized active root meristem had been found. A team of scientists recently found and described the fossilized remains of an actively growing root meristem dating from the Carboniferous. The fossil, named Radix ...[Read More]

Keeping a lookout at the edge of the world

Jasper Bloemen June 10, 2016

One of the last sunsets over the Kytalyk research station in the Siberian Arctic before 24-hour daylight sets in, and the Spring thaw begins (photo credit: Joshua F. Dean).

Few places in the world conjure up images of remoteness and harshness like Far Eastern Siberia. Yet, it’s places like these where our science is needed most. Arctic soils hold vast amount of carbon, protected in thick layers of permafrost, but these stores are becoming more and more vulnerable as temperatures in the Arctic warm, and are set to warm faster than anywhere else on the planet. R ...[Read More]

Coffee break biogeosciences–Urban bees found to feed on flowers

Rachael Moore June 2, 2016

The food source of urban bees was found to be city flowers rather than a man-made sugar source (Image credit: Lauren Nichols).

Honey bees, a highly important pollinator, have suffered a number of declines and population collapses in recent years. The growth of urban centers has contributed to a loss of foraging habitat and an introduction of new food sources. A recent study conducted across the rural-urban boundary of Raleigh, North Carolina, USA examined the feeding sources of urban and rural honey bees using δ13C measur ...[Read More]

Coffee break biogeosciences – New coral reef at Amazon river mouth discovered

Jasper Bloemen May 20, 2016

Scientists were surprised to discover the coral reef in the muddy waters at the mouth of the river Amazon (Photo credit: Nasa)

At the Amazon river mouth, a huge 9,300 sq km coral reef system has been found below the muddy waters off the mouth of the river Amazon. As corals mostly thrive in clear, sunlit, salt water, and the waters near the mouth of the Amazon are some of the muddiest in the world, the discovery of this almost 2000 km long reef leaves scientists puzzled about the potential extent of coral reefs worldwide. ...[Read More]

General assembly 2016: our session picks

Jasper Bloemen April 14, 2016

EGU GA 2016 is only three days away! Here you can find our session picks!

Whether you’re an experienced attendee of the EGU GA, or this is your first time there are always things to look out for, it is always worth attending your division’s division meeting, one of the great debates, and keep an eye out for short courses which may be of interest to you. Here are the recommendations from the Biogeosciences Blogging team: The BG division meeting is Thursday from 12:15-13: ...[Read More]

Digging up bones for science – looking into 48 million years old blood vessel-like structures

Jasper Bloemen March 24, 2016

Ever wondered how blood vessel-like structures of fossilized turtles, crocodiles, mammals, birds and lizards looked like (credit: Edward Cadena, Senckenberg museum) ?

The Messel Pit is a worldwide famous fossil site recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site because of the exceptional preservation, as well as the diversity of its fossils from the early-middle Eocene (~48 Ma). The Messel Pit, located in an old Quarry in Germany near Frankfurt am Main , includes fossils from vertebrates (turtles, crocodiles, mammals, birds, lizards, among others), inve ...[Read More]

Coffee break biogeosciences – using truffle dogs for science!

Jasper Bloemen March 9, 2016

Truffle dogs can be used in biogeosciences as shown by Büntgen et al. (2016) (Photo credit: Simon Egli, WSL)

Coffee break biogeosciences, your bi-weekly biogeoscience cake to accompany your coffee… Do you remember your last scientific conference? Did you also find the scientific coffee break discussion as interesting as the scientific talks? If yes, these short blog posts will allow you to keep the interesting coffee break discussions going as we´ll give you on a bi-weekly basis your scientific bio ...[Read More]

Sky-scraping Biogeoscience at 325m above the Amazonian rainforest

Jasper Bloemen February 5, 2016

The 325m high Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) will give researchers an insight in greenhouse gases, reactive trace gases, aerosols and atmospheric transport processes at a height above the surface layer of the largest forest system of the world (credit: Susanne Benner/ Max Planck Institute for Chemistry).

“The outcome of this project will help us to understand the Amazonian forest system before we all destroy it completely” The Amazon Rainforest in South America represents the Earth´s largest rainforest, housing at least 10% of the world´s known biodiversity and consisting of more than 350 billion individual trees. Besides its large diversity in floral and faunal species, the Amazonian ...[Read More]