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Small headwater streams comprise most of the total channel length and catchment area in fluvial networks. They are tightly connected to their catchments and, thus, are highly vulnerable to changes in catchment hydrologic budgets and land use. Although these small, often fishless streams are of little economic interest, they are vital for the ecological and chemical state of larger water bodies. Although numerous studies investigate the impact of various anthropogenic stressors or altered catchment conditions, we lack an in-depth understanding of the natural conditions and processes in headwater streams. This natural state, however, largely affects how a headwater stream responds to anthropogenic or climatic changes. One of the major threats to aquatic ecosystems is the excessive anthropogenic input of nutrients leading to eutrophication. Nutrients exert a bottom-up effect in the food web, foremost affecting primary producers and their consumers, i.e. periphyton and benthic grazers in headwater streams. The periphyton-grazer link is the main path of autochthonous (in-stream) production into the stream food web and the strength of this link largely determines the effectiveness of this pathway. Therefore, this thesis aims at elucidating important biological processes with the explicit focus on periphyton-grazer interactions. I assessed different aspects of periphyton-grazer interactions using laboratory experiments to solve methodological problems, and using a field study to compare the benthic communities of three morphologically similar, phosphorus-limited, near-natural headwater streams. With the results of the laboratory experiments, I was able to show that periphyton RNA/DNA ratios can be used as proxy for periphyton growth rates in controlled experiments and that the fatty acid composition of grazing mayfly nymphs responds to changes in fatty acids provided by the diet after only two weeks. The use of the RNA/DNA ratio as a proxy for periphyton growth rate allows a comparison of these growth rates even in simple experimental set-ups and thereby permits the inclusion of this important process in ecotoxicological or ecological experiments. The observed fast turnover rates of fatty acids in consumer tissues show that even short-term changes in available primary producers can alter the fatty acid composition of primary consumers with important implications for the supply of higher trophic levels with physiologically important polyunsaturated fatty acids. With the results of the field study, I revealed gaps in the understanding of the linkages between catchment and in-stream phosphorus availability under near-natural conditions and demonstrated that seemingly comparable headwater streams had significantly different benthic communities. These differences most likely affect stream responses to environmental changes.
Grapevine growers have struggled with defending their crops against pests and diseases since the domestication of grapevine over 6000 ears ago. Since then, new growing methods paired with a better nderstanding of the ecological processes in the vineyard ecosystem continue to improve quality and quantity of grape harvests. In this thesis I am describing the effects of two recent innovations in viticulture on pest and beneficial arthropods in vineyards; Fungus-resistant grapevine cultivars (PIWIs) and the pruning system semi-minimal pruned hedge (SMPH). The SMPH pruning system allows for a drastic reduction of manual labor in the vineyard, and PIWIs are resistant to two of the most common fungal diseases of grapevine and therefore allow a drastic reduction of fungicide applications compared to conventional varieties. Heavy use of pesticides is linked to a number of problems, including pollution of waterways, negative effects on human health, and biodiversity loss. Here, I studied the effects of fungicide reduction and minimal pruning on arthropods that are beneficial for natural pest suppression in the vineyard ecosystem such as predatory mites, spiders, ants, earwigs, and lacewings. All of these groups either benefitted from the reduction of fungicide sprayings or were not significantly affected. Structural changes in the canopy of SMPH grapevines altered the microclimate in the canopy which in turn influenced some of the arthropods living in it. Overall, my findings suggest that PIWIs and SMPH, both in combination or separately, improve conditions for natural pest control. This adds to other advantages of these innovative management practices such as a reduction in production cost and a smaller impact on the environment.
Nanotemplates for the combined structural and functional analysis of membrane-associated proteins
(2019)
Plasma membranes are essential for life because they give cells an identity. Plasma membranes are almost impermeable to fluids and substances. Still, transport between inside and outside needs to be possible. An important transport way is endocytosis. This mechanism relies on membrane-associated proteins that sense and induce curvature to the plasma membrane. However, the physics and structural dynamics behind proteins acting on membranes is not well understood. There is a standard method in vitro to investigate membrane-associated proteins sensing spherical geometries: They are incubated on unilamellar vesicles. This procedure allows to analyze these proteins in their bound state. This approach is inappropriate for GRAF1 (GTPase Regulator Associated with Focal Adhesion Kinase-1), a key player in endocytosis because it senses tubular geometries instead. However, GRAF1 extrudes lipid tubes from vesicles that can be analyzed. Still, this is a limited method because these tubes suffer from inhomogeneity and they do not enable the observation of intermediate and lower concentration binding states. To overcome this issue they can be incubated on pre-tubular structures called nanotemplates. There have been studies using carbon nanotubes and Galactosylceramide lipid tubes as nanotemplates. These approaches require complex chemical modifications or expensive components and they are not necessarily flexible. In this work we present a simple and easy new approach to prepare nanotemplates using Folch lipid mixture. We show on the basis of BPG, a truncate of GRAF1, that our nanotemplates are suitable for Cryo-EM and that it is possible to use IHRSR (Iterative Helical Real Space Reconstruction) to analyze the structure of BPG in its bound state. Moreover, the qualification for Cryo-EM allows to use plunge freezing to interrupt the incubation on our nanotemplates abruptly. This enables the analysis of intermediate binding states to understand the binding process.
The bio-insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) has worldwide become the most commonly used agentin mosquito control programs that pursue two main objectives: the control of vector-borne diseases and the reduction of nuisance, mainly coming frommosquitoes that emerge in large quantities from seasonal wetlands. The Upper Rhine Valley, a biodiversity hotspot in Germany, has been treated withBti for decades to reduce mosquito-borne nuisance and increase human well-being.Although Btiis presumed to be an environmentally safe agent,adverse effects on wetland ecosystems are still a matter of debate especially when it comes to long-term and indirect effects on non-target organisms. In light of the above, this thesis aims at investigating direct and indirect effects of Bti-based mosquito control on non-target organisms within wetland food chains.Effects were examinedin studies with increasingeco(toxico)logical complexity, ranging from laboratory over mesocosm to field approaches with a focus on the non-biting Chironomidae and amphibian larvae (Rana temporaria, Lissotriton sp.).In addition, public acceptance of environmentally less invasive alternative mosquito control methods was evaluated within surveys among the local population.
Chironomids were the most severely affected non-target aquatic invertebrates. Bti substantially reduced larval and adult chironomid abundances and modified their species composition. Repeated exposures to commonly used Bti formulations induced sublethal alterations of enzymatic biomarkers activityin frog tadpoles. Bti-induced reductions of chironomid prey availability indirectly decreased body size of newts at metamorphosis and increased predation on newt larvae in mesocosm experiments. Indirect effects of severe reductions in midge biomassmight equally be passed through aquatic but also terrestrial food chains influencing predators of higher trophic levels. The majority ofaffectedpeople in the Upper Rhine Valley expressed a high willingness to contributefinancially to environmentally less harmful mosquito control.Alternative approaches could still include Bti applications excepting treatment of ecologically valuable areas. Potentially rising mosquito levels could be counteracted with local acting mosquito traps in domestic and urban areas because mosquito presence was experienced as most annoying in the home environment.
As Bti-based mosquito control can adversely affect wetland ecosystems, its large-scale applications, including nature conservation areas, should be considered more carefully to avoid harmful consequences for the environmentat the Upper Rhine Valley.This thesis emphasizesthe importance to reconsiderthe current practice of mosquito control and encourage research on alternative mosquito control concepts that are endorsed by the local population. In the context ofthe ongoing amphibian and insect declinesfurther human-induced effects onwetlands should be avoided to preserve biodiversity in functioning ecosystems.
Computer modelling of human partial body structures is becoming increasingly important for medical application. This is an interdisciplinary field of research in which new methods can be developed through the cooperation of physics, mathematics, computer visualistics and medicine. These methods can be used to make more precise statements about the mechanical loads of internal force-transmitting structures, such as intervertebral discs, ligaments, joints and muscles, during motion sequences.
At the beginning of this work, the importance of the need for research in computer modeling, specialized in the area of the spine, is presented.
In the following, the basic anatomical structures will be discussed, including intervertebral discs, ligaments, facet joints and musculature.
Algorithms are then developed to create individual lumbar spine models from CT data in a short time and semi-automatically. Methods will be developed to model the presented force transmitting structures of the spine, such as the intervertebral discs, ligaments, facet joints and muscles.
In addition different imaging methods (MRT data, x-ray film, x-ray functional images) will be presented and validate the lumbar spine models.
Finally, the algorithms developed will be used to create a larger number of individual lumbar spine models, which will then be examined for similarities and differences with regard to internal loads as well as for physiologically correct movement sequences. In particular, the relative momentary center of rotation between two adjacent vertebrae is calculated.
Lakes and reservoirs are important sources of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Although freshwaters cover only a small fraction of the global surface, their contribution to global methane emission is significant and this is expected to increase, as a positive feedback to climate warming and exacerbated eutrophication. Yet, global estimates of methane emission from freshwaters are often based on point measurements that are spatio-temporally biased. To better constrain the uncertainties in quantifying methane fluxes from inland waters, a closer examination of the processes transporting methane from sediment to atmosphere is necessary. Among these processes, ebullition (bubbling) is an important transport pathway and is a primary source of uncertainty in quantifying methane emissions from freshwaters. This thesis aims to improve our understanding of ebullition in freshwaters by studying the processes of methane bubble formation, storage and release in aquatic sediments. The laboratory experiments demonstrate that aquatic sediments can store up to ~20% (volumetric content) gas and the storage capacity varies with sediment properties. The methane produced is stored as gas bubbles in sediment with minimal ebullition until the storage capacity is reached. Once the sediment void spaces are created by gas bubble formation, they are stable and available for future bubble storage and transport. Controlled water level drawdown experiments showed that the amounts of gas released from the sediment scaled with the total volume of sediment gas storage and correlated linearly to the drop in hydrostatic pressure. It was hypothesized that not only the timing of ebullition is controlled by sediment gas storage, but also the spatial distribution of ebullition. A newly developed freeze corer, capable of characterizing sediment gas content under in situ environments, enabled the possibility to test the hypothesis in a large subtropical lake (Lake Kinneret, Israel). The results showed that gas content was variable both vertically and horizontally in the lake sediment. Sediment methane production rate and sediment characteristics could explain these variabilities. The spatial distribution of ebullition generally was in a good agreement with the horizontal distribution of depth-averaged (surface 1 m) sediment gas content. While discrepancies were found between sediment depth-integrated methane production and the snapshot ebullition rate, they were consistent in a long term (multiyear average). These findings provide a solid basis for the future development of a process-based ebullition model. By coupling a sediment transport model with a sediment diagenetic model, general patterns of ebullition hotspots can be predicted at a system level and the uncertainties in ebullition flux measurements can be better constrained both on long-term (months to years) and short-term (minutes to hours) scales.
Will Eisners Graphic Novels zeugen von einer tiefgehenden Identitifation mit dem Judentum als Volkszugehörigkeit, Religion und Kultur und spiegeln das Judentum in all seinen Facetten wider. Dabei ist besonders hervorzuheben, dass die Entwicklung des Gesamtwerks parallel verläuft zur Geschichte der Emanzipation der jüdischen Bevölkerung in New York City. Der Band clustert die jüdischen Aspekte in Eisners Werk in beispielsweise Faktoren kollektiver Erinnerung, Umgang mit und Kampf gegen Antisemitismus und religiöse Besonderheiten.
Fachdidaktische und pädagogische Kompetenzen angehender Mathematiklehrkräfte für die Realschule
(2019)
Studien zur Wirksamkeit der Ausbildung von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern sind in der Regel fragebogenbasiert. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung wird ein anderer Ansatz gewählt, um die Kompetenzen angehender Mathematiklehrkräfte zu erheben und zu evaluieren. Die Studie untersucht anhand der unterrichtlichen Performanz, welche Kompetenzen Anwärterinnen und Anwärter in ihrer praktischen Ausbildung erworben haben. Der Analyse liegen 137 anonymisierte Niederschriften zu benote-ten Lehrproben von Anwärterinnen und Anwärtern im Fach Mathematik zugrunde. Diese bilden die Ausbildungsjahrgänge von 2004 bis 2011 ab. Die Anwärterinnen und Anwärter werden unterrichtspraktisch anhand der Niederschriften in Anlehnung an eine qualitative Inhaltsanalyse auf ihre Kompetenzausprägungen hin getestet. Dies erfolgt schwerpunktmäßig in den Bereichen Fachdidaktik, Fachmethodik, Classroom-Management und Gesprächsführung. Im Verlauf der Untersuchung wird deutlich, dass die Teilneh-mergruppe vor allem Stärken im methodischen Bereich hat. Hier können durchgehend gute Kompetenzausprägungen festgestellt werden. Über den gesamten Erhebungszeitraum zeigen sich hingegen in den Bereichen Classroom-Management und Gesprächsführung deutliche Defizite. Die fachdidaktischen Kompetenzen der angehenden Lehrkräfte entwickeln sich negativ: Ist zu Beginn der Erhebung noch etwa die Hälfte der Anwärterinnen und Anwärter im Bereich der Fachdidaktik zufriedenstellend einzustufen, gilt das im letzten Erhebungsjahrgang nur noch für knapp ein Fünftel der Probandinnen und Probanden. Es kann gezeigt werden, dass eine gute Notenfestsetzung eng mit den er-forderlichen Kompetenzen in der Fachdidaktik zusammenhängt.
Die vorliegende Studie bestätigt im Bereich der Fachdidaktik die Ergebnisse jener Studien, die auf Fragebögen basieren.
Es konnte zudem ein statistischer Zusammenhang zwischen den fachdidaktischen Fähigkeiten und den Steuerungskompetenzen hergestellt werden.
Die vorliegende Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit euroskeptischen Äußerungen in der Parteienkommunikation und der Medienberichterstattung im Vorfeld der Europawahl 2014. Die Arbeit verwendet ein akteurszentriertes Forschungsdesign, welches eine differenzierte Betrachtung der öffentlichen Debatte europäischer Themen erlaubt. Die Analyse deckt auf, welche nationalen Parteien euroskeptische Positionen vertreten und inwiefern diese Einzug in die mediale Berichterstattung finden. Auch die Positionierung der Medien selbst wird durch die Untersuchung meinungsbezogener Artikel berücksichtigt. Die den Studien zu Grunde liegende Konzeptualisierung des Euroskeptizismus-Begriff umfasst neben globalen und konkreten negativen Bewertungen der EU auch die Zuschreibung von Problemverantwortung als weitere Spielart euroskeptischer Äußerungen. Die Arbeit nimmt weiterhin eine international vergleichende Perspektive ein, um den Einfluss nationaler Kontextfaktoren auf die Verbreitung euroskeptischer Positionen aufzuzeigen.
Die Ergebnisse der Analyse decken zunächst auf, dass das Vorhandensein erstarkender euroskeptischer Oppositionsparteien nicht zwangsläufig zu einer Politisierung der europäischen Debatte führt, da sich die europhilen Mainstream-Parteien verschiedener Strategien zur Vermeidung einer solchen Kontroversen bedienen. Die Analysen ergeben weiterhin, dass europhile Regierungsparteien zwar mehrheitlich vor konkreten negativen Bewertungen der EU zurückschrecken, diese aber in Bezug auf die europäische Finanzkrise vorwiegend als Verursacher von Problemlagen skizzieren. Letztlich verdeutlichen die Ergebnisse, dass die mediale Berichterstattung zu Themen mit EU-Bezug eine starke Synchronizität zwischen Nachrichten- und Meinungsteil aufzeigt. Dies gilt sowohl in Bezug auf die geäußerten Bewertungen zur Europäischen Union als auch hinsichtlich der Darstellung von Verantwortlichkeit.
This dissertation deals with the opportunities and restrictions that parties face in an election campaign at the supranational level of the EU. Using communication science concepts of agenda-setting (focus: media) and agenda-building (focus: political parties), the first part of the study is based on the election campaign for the European Parliament (EP) in 2014. It analyses to what extent political parties put the EU on the agenda. Second, it is examined whether parties have used their structural advantage of being able to influence the media agenda at the supranational level during the election campaign in the context of the EP election campaign. Third, it is examined whether parties can gain an advantage for the visibility of their campaigns by rejecting EU integration and the associated conflictual communication. Fourth and final, it will be explored whether agenda-building can influence the rankings of specific policy issues on the media agenda in the European context.
First, the analyses show that a European political focus of election campaign communication can no longer be found only on the part of the small (eurosceptic) parties. Second, parties have a good chance of being present in media coverage if the they pursue a European political focus in their campaign communication. Third, a negative tone in party communication turns out not to be decisive for the parties' visibility in the election campaign. Fourth, a clear positioning on political issues also prepares parties for restrictions of the further development of a European thematic agenda. After a discussion of these results, the paper concludes with an assessment of the analysis limitations and an outlook on further research approaches.