Concert visitors help to improve disaster protection – Diepresse.com
Further reports on the environment, climate & technology with fish monitoring using environmental DNA, plants that whistle on gravity and a study on forest floor and wood harvest.
Disaster management: Big festivals have a similar effect on mobility such as floods
What can you learn from major social events for natural disasters? A Swiss-Austrian research team shows in the journal NPJ Complexitythat these have similar effects on mobility as heavy local floods. Traffic flows were examined on the street and rail around a flood in Swiss Zofingen in 2017 over six weeks. In addition to the usual mobility behavior and the deviations from the floods, the – based on the location data of cell phones – similar distortions from concerts, markets or summer festivals were discovered. Since these are far more common than floods and more data available, they could help build models for disaster management.
Mondsee: Fish species about DNA traces identified
In order to determine the distribution and habitats of fish, they are usually caught with nets or electricity. Researchers from the University of Innsbruck went a different path for an examination in the Mondsee: they analyzed the DNA traces in the laboratory, which leaves fish in the water (skin cells, excretions). The DNA was found by Reinanken and Seesaiblingen, especially in the deeper areas of the lake, while the DNA of Aiteln and Brachsen was mainly detected in the bank areas. The study carried out in cooperation with the AGES and the Federal Office of Water Management shows that the habitat preferences of various fish species match the spatial patterns of DNA evidence ((Ecological Indicators).
« /> Also the protected pearlfish (Rutilus Meidingeri) could be proven with the new method in the Mondsee. Thomas Ebner (CC by 4.0)
Dryness: plants whistle on gravity
If there is a lack of water, plant roots set up their stubborn growth down and search for wet areas all over the floor. The botanist and Wittgenstein award winner found this Jiří Friml from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria in Klosterneuburg together with Chinese colleagues ((PNAS). A main switch (MIZ1) for moisture -driven growth (hydrotropism) then inhibits this Turning the roots towards gravity (Gravitropism). This succeeds by preventing the growth hormone auxinity asymmetrically distributed in the root cells.
Wooden harvest: Technology influences forest floor and water balance
Heavy machines condense soils, which means that the risk of flooding can change. In addition, there is less water for plants and soil creatures in the forest. What effects does the wooden harvest have? A team from the Boku Vienna carried out heavy rain field trials in the flying zone of the Wienerwald. It compared the three wooden harvesting systems Harvester/Forwarder, Harvester/Forwarder with ligaments (less pressure) and rope unit/motor dumpling cases (VA used in the mountains, is considered soil -friendly). Conclusion: The undisturbed forest floor and the forest floor under rope unit lines were able to absorb the entire water in the experiment (Journal of Hydrology). In contrast, more than 60 percent of the water flowed directly in the roads of the two Harvester/Forwarder variants.
« /> A harvester in a forest near Elsbethen (Salzburg).APA / APA / Barbara Gindl
(COG/GRAL/APA)
