@article{AbebeHakiSchweigertetal.2019, author = {Abebe, Zeweter and Haki, Gulelat Desse and Schweigert, Florian J. and Henkel, Ina M. and Baye, Kaleab}, title = {Low breastmilk vitamin A concentration is prevalent in rural Ethiopia}, series = {European journal of clinical nutrition}, volume = {73}, journal = {European journal of clinical nutrition}, number = {8}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {0954-3007}, doi = {10.1038/s41430-018-0334-4}, pages = {1110 -- 1116}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Background There is scant information on the breastmilk vitamin A (BMVA) concentration of lactating women in developing countries, partly due to lack of methods applicable in-field. Objective To assess BMVA concentrations of samples collected from lactating women of children aged 6-23 months, in Mecha district, Ethiopia. Subjects/methods Data on socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics were collected from randomly selected lactating women (n = 104). Breast milk samples were collected and vitamin A concentrations were analyzed using HPLC and iCheck FLUORO then the two measurements were compared. Results The prevalence of underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2)) among lactating women was 17\%. Seventy six percent of the BMVA values were < 1.05 mu mol/l and 81\% were < 8 mu g/g fat. The mean BMVA concentration accounted to 41\% of the estimated average value for mothers in developing countries. The BMVA values from HPLC and iCheck were correlated (r = 0.59, p = < 0.001), but it was not strong. Conclusions The result indicates the low vitamin A status of the lactating women and their children. It further indicates that intake assessments should not use average BMVA composition. The possibility of using iCheck for monitoring interventions designed to improve vitamin A status of lactating women with low BMVA requires further investigation.}, language = {en} } @misc{CeulemansGaedkeKlauschiesetal.2019, author = {Ceulemans, Ruben and Gaedke, Ursula and Klauschies, Toni and Guill, Christian}, title = {The effects of functional diversity on biomass production, variability, and resilience of ecosystem functions in a tritrophic system}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {744}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-43543}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-435439}, pages = {16}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Diverse communities can adjust their trait composition to altered environmental conditions, which may strongly influence their dynamics. Previous studies of trait-based models mainly considered only one or two trophic levels, whereas most natural system are at least tritrophic. Therefore, we investigated how the addition of trait variation to each trophic level influences population and community dynamics in a tritrophic model. Examining the phase relationships between species of adjacent trophic levels informs about the strength of top-down or bottom-up control in non-steadystate situations. Phase relationships within a trophic level highlight compensatory dynamical patterns between functionally different species, which are responsible for dampening the community temporal variability. Furthermore, even without trait variation, our tritrophic model always exhibits regions with two alternative states with either weak or strong nutrient exploitation, and correspondingly low or high biomass production at the top level. However, adding trait variation increased the basin of attraction of the high-production state, and decreased the likelihood of a critical transition from the high- to the lowproduction state with no apparent early warning signals. Hence, our study shows that trait variation enhances resource use efficiency, production, stability, and resilience of entire food webs.}, language = {en} } @misc{HeuerOrland2019, author = {Heuer, Leonie and Orland, Andreas}, title = {Cooperation in the Prisoner's Dilemma}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {107}, issn = {1867-5808}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-43592}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-435929}, pages = {9}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Cooperation is — despite not being predicted by game theory — a widely documented aspect of human behaviour in Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) situations. This article presents a comparison between subjects restricted to playing pure strategies and subjects allowed to play mixed strategies in a one-shot symmetric PD laboratory experiment. Subjects interact with 10 other subjects and take their decisions all at once. Because subjects in the mixed-strategy treatment group are allowed to condition their level of cooperation more precisely on their beliefs about their counterparts' level of cooperation, we predicted the cooperation rate in the mixed-strategy treatment group to be higher than in the pure-strategy control group. The results of our experiment reject our prediction: even after controlling for beliefs about the other subjects' level of cooperation, we find that cooperation in the mixed-strategy group is lower than in the pure-strategy group. We also find, however, that subjects in the mixedstrategy group condition their cooperative behaviour more closely on their beliefs than in the pure-strategy group. In the mixed-strategy group, most subjects choose intermediate levels of cooperation.}, language = {en} } @misc{CiaccioGunnar2019, author = {Ciaccio, Laura Anna and Gunnar, Jacob}, title = {Native speakers like affixes, L2 speakers like letters?}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe}, number = {169}, issn = {1866-8380}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-44461}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-444617}, pages = {22}, year = {2019}, abstract = {In an overt visual priming experiment, we investigate the role of orthography in native (L1) and non-native (L2) processing of German morphologically complex words. We compare priming effects for inflected and derived morphologically related prime-target pairs versus otherwise matched, purely orthographically related pairs. The results show morphological priming effects in both the L1 and L2 group, with no significant difference between inflection and derivation. However, L2 speakers, but not L1 speakers, also showed significant priming for orthographically related pairs. Our results support the claim that L2 speakers focus more on surface-level information such as orthography during visual word recognition. This can cause orthographic priming effects in morphologically related prime-target pairs, which may conceal L1-L2 differences in morphological processing.}, language = {en} } @article{SanchezWichtBaerenzungetal.2019, author = {Sanchez, S. and Wicht, J. and Baerenzung, Julien and Holschneider, Matthias}, title = {Sequential assimilation of geomagnetic observations}, series = {Geophysical journal international}, volume = {217}, journal = {Geophysical journal international}, number = {2}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0956-540X}, doi = {10.1093/gji/ggz090}, pages = {1434 -- 1450}, year = {2019}, abstract = {High-precision observations of the present-day geomagnetic field by ground-based observatories and satellites provide unprecedented conditions for unveiling the dynamics of the Earth's core. Combining geomagnetic observations with dynamo simulations in a data assimilation (DA) framework allows the reconstruction of past and present states of the internal core dynamics. The essential information that couples the internal state to the observations is provided by the statistical correlations from a numerical dynamo model in the form of a model covariance matrix. Here we test a sequential DA framework, working through a succession of forecast and analysis steps, that extracts the correlations from an ensemble of dynamo models. The primary correlations couple variables of the same azimuthal wave number, reflecting the predominant axial symmetry of the magnetic field. Synthetic tests show that the scheme becomes unstable when confronted with high-precision geomagnetic observations. Our study has identified spurious secondary correlations as the origin of the problem. Keeping only the primary correlations by localizing the covariance matrix with respect to the azimuthal wave number suffices to stabilize the assimilation. While the first analysis step is fundamental in constraining the large-scale interior state, further assimilation steps refine the smaller and more dynamical scales. This refinement turns out to be critical for long-term geomagnetic predictions. Increasing the assimilation steps from one to 18 roughly doubles the prediction horizon for the dipole from about  tree to six centuries, and from 30 to about  60 yr for smaller observable scales. This improvement is also reflected on the predictability of surface intensity features such as the South Atlantic Anomaly. Intensity prediction errors are decreased roughly by a half when assimilating long observation sequences.}, language = {en} } @misc{NitzeGrosseJonesetal.2019, author = {Nitze, Ingmar and Grosse, Guido and Jones, Benjamin M. and Romanovsky, Vladimir E. and Boike, Julia}, title = {Remote sensing quantifies widespread abundance of permafrost region disturbances across the Arctic and Subarctic}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {799}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42617}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-426171}, pages = {11}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Local observations indicate that climate change and shifting disturbance regimes are causing permafrost degradation. However, the occurrence and distribution of permafrost region disturbances (PRDs) remain poorly resolved across the Arctic and Subarctic. Here we quantify the abundance and distribution of three primary PRDs using time-series analysis of 30-m resolution Landsat imagery from 1999 to 2014. Our dataset spans four continental-scale transects in North America and Eurasia, covering ~10\% of the permafrost region. Lake area loss (-1.45\%) dominated the study domain with enhanced losses occurring at the boundary between discontinuous and continuous permafrost regions. Fires were the most extensive PRD across boreal regions (6.59\%), but in tundra regions (0.63\%) limited to Alaska. Retrogressive thaw slumps were abundant but highly localized (<10-5\%). Our analysis synergizes the global-scale importance of PRDs. The findings highlight the need to include PRDs in next-generation land surface models to project the permafrost carbon feedback.}, language = {en} } @misc{KindlerPulkkinenCherstvyetal.2019, author = {Kindler, Oliver and Pulkkinen, Otto and Cherstvy, Andrey G. and Metzler, Ralf}, title = {Burst Statistics in an Early Biofilm Quorum Sensing Mode}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {777}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-43909}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-439099}, pages = {21}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Quorum-sensing bacteria in a growing colony of cells send out signalling molecules (so-called "autoinducers") and themselves sense the autoinducer concentration in their vicinity. Once—due to increased local cell density inside a "cluster" of the growing colony—the concentration of autoinducers exceeds a threshold value, cells in this clusters get "induced" into a communal, multi-cell biofilm-forming mode in a cluster-wide burst event. We analyse quantitatively the influence of spatial disorder, the local heterogeneity of the spatial distribution of cells in the colony, and additional physical parameters such as the autoinducer signal range on the induction dynamics of the cell colony. Spatial inhomogeneity with higher local cell concentrations in clusters leads to earlier but more localised induction events, while homogeneous distributions lead to comparatively delayed but more concerted induction of the cell colony, and, thus, a behaviour close to the mean-field dynamics. We quantify the induction dynamics with quantifiers such as the time series of induction events and burst sizes, the grouping into induction families, and the mean autoinducer concentration levels. Consequences for different scenarios of biofilm growth are discussed, providing possible cues for biofilm control in both health care and biotechnology.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Schwerbel2019, author = {Schwerbel, Kristin}, title = {Der Einfluss zweier immun-assoziierter GTPasen auf die Entstehung einer Hepatosteatose}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {133}, year = {2019}, language = {de} } @misc{SperberWelkePetazzietal.2019, author = {Sperber, Hannah Sabeth and Welke, Robert-William and Petazzi, Roberto Arturo and Bergmann, Ronny and Schade, Matthias and Shai, Yechiel and Chiantia, Salvatore and Herrmann, Andreas and Schwarzer, Roland}, title = {Self-association and subcellular localization of Puumala hantavirus envelope proteins}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {648}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42504}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-425040}, pages = {15}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Hantavirus assembly and budding are governed by the surface glycoproteins Gn and Gc. In this study, we investigated the glycoproteins of Puumala, the most abundant Hantavirus species in Europe, using fluorescently labeled wild-type constructs and cytoplasmic tail (CT) mutants. We analyzed their intracellular distribution, co-localization and oligomerization, applying comprehensive live, single-cell fluorescence techniques, including confocal microscopy, imaging flow cytometry, anisotropy imaging and Number\&Brightness analysis. We demonstrate that Gc is significantly enriched in the Golgi apparatus in absence of other viral components, while Gn is mainly restricted to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Importantly, upon co-expression both glycoproteins were found in the Golgi apparatus. Furthermore, we show that an intact CT of Gc is necessary for efficient Golgi localization, while the CT of Gn influences protein stability. Finally, we found that Gn assembles into higher-order homo-oligomers, mainly dimers and tetramers, in the ER while Gc was present as mixture of monomers and dimers within the Golgi apparatus. Our findings suggest that PUUV Gc is the driving factor of the targeting of Gc and Gn to the Golgi region, while Gn possesses a significantly stronger self-association potential.}, language = {en} } @article{RaatzvanVelzenGaedke2019, author = {Raatz, Michael and van Velzen, Ellen and Gaedke, Ursula}, title = {Co-adaptation impacts the robustness of predator-prey dynamics against perturbations}, series = {Ecology and Evolution}, volume = {9}, journal = {Ecology and Evolution}, number = {7}, publisher = {John Wiley \& Sons}, address = {Hoboken, NJ}, issn = {2045-7758}, doi = {10.1002/ece3.5006}, pages = {3823 -- 3836}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Global change threatens the maintenance of ecosystem functions that are shaped by the persistence and dynamics of populations. It has been shown that the persistence of species increases if they possess larger trait adaptability. Here, we investigate whether trait adaptability also affects the robustness of population dynamics of interacting species and thereby shapes the reliability of ecosystem functions that are driven by these dynamics. We model co-adaptation in a predator-prey system as changes to predator offense and prey defense due to evolution or phenotypic plasticity. We investigate how trait adaptation affects the robustness of population dynamics against press perturbations to environmental parameters and against pulse perturbations targeting species abundances and their trait values. Robustness of population dynamics is characterized by resilience, elasticity, and resistance. In addition to employing established measures for resilience and elasticity against pulse perturbations (extinction probability and return time), we propose the warping distance as a new measure for resistance against press perturbations, which compares the shapes and amplitudes of pre- and post-perturbation population dynamics. As expected, we find that the robustness of population dynamics depends on the speed of adaptation, but in nontrivial ways. Elasticity increases with speed of adaptation as the system returns more rapidly to the pre-perturbation state. Resilience, in turn, is enhanced by intermediate speeds of adaptation, as here trait adaptation dampens biomass oscillations. The resistance of population dynamics strongly depends on the target of the press perturbation, preventing a simple relationship with the adaptation speed. In general, we find that low robustness often coincides with high amplitudes of population dynamics. Hence, amplitudes may indicate the robustness against perturbations also in other natural systems with similar dynamics. Our findings show that besides counteracting extinctions, trait adaptation indeed strongly affects the robustness of population dynamics against press and pulse perturbations.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Goktas2019, author = {Goktas, Melis}, title = {Coiled coils as molecular force sensors for the extracellular matrix}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42749}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427493}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xiv, 124}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Kraft spielt eine fundamentale Rolle bei der Regulation von biologischen Prozessen. Zellen messen mechanische Eigenschaften der extrazellul{\"a}ren Matrix und benutzen diese Information zur Regulierung ihrer Funktion. Dazu werden im Zytoskelett Kr{\"a}fte generiert und auf extrazellul{\"a}re Rezeptor-Ligand Wechselwirkungen {\"u}bertragen. Obwohl der grundlegende Einfluss von mechanischen Signalen f{\"u}r das Zellschicksal eindeutig belegt ist, sind die auf molekularer Ebene wirkenden Kr{\"a}fte kaum bekannt. Zur Messung dieser Kr{\"a}fte wurden verschiedene molekulare Kraftsensoren entwickelt, die ein mechanisches Inputsignal aufnehmen und in einen optischen Output (Fluoreszenz) umwandeln. Diese Arbeit etabliert einen neuen Kraftsensor-Baustein, der die mechanischen Eigenschaften der extrazellul{\"a}ren Matrix nachbildet. Dieser Baustein basiert auf nat{\"u}rlichen Matrixproteinen, sogenannten coiled coils (CCs), die α-helikale Strukturen im Zytoskelett und der Matrix formen. Eine Serie an CC-Heterodimeren wurde konzipiert und mittels Einzelmolek{\"u}l-Kraftspektroskopie und Molekulardynamik-Simulationen charakterisiert. Es wurde gezeigt, dass eine anliegende Scherkraft die Entfaltung der helikalen Struktur induziert. Die mechanische Stabilit{\"a}t (Separation der CC Helices) wird von der CC L{\"a}nge und der Zuggeschwindigkeit bestimmt. Im Folgenden wurden 2 CCs unterschiedlicher L{\"a}nge als Kraftsensoren verwendet, um die Adh{\"a}sionskr{\"a}fte von Fibroblasten und Endothelzellen zu untersuchen. Diese Kraftsensoren deuten an, dass diese Zelltypen unterschiedlich starke Kr{\"a}ften generieren und mittels Integrin-Rezeptoren auf einen extrazellul{\"a}ren Liganden (RGD-Peptid) {\"u}bertragen. Dieses neue CC-basierte Sensordesign ist ein leistungsstarkes Werkzeug zur Betrachtung zellul{\"a}rer Kraftwahrnehmungsprozesse auf molekularer Ebene, das neue Erkenntnisse {\"u}ber die involvierten Mechanismen und Kr{\"a}fte an der Zell-Matrix-Schnittstelle erm{\"o}glicht. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus wird dieses Sensordesign auch Anwendung bei der Entwicklung mechanisch kontrollierter Biomaterialien finden. Dazu k{\"o}nnen mechanisch charakterisierte, und mit einem Fluoreszenzreporter versehene, CCs in Hydrogele eingef{\"u}gt werden. Dies erlaubt die Untersuchung der Zusammenh{\"a}nge zwischen molekularer und makroskopischer Mechanik und er{\"o}ffnet neue M{\"o}glichkeiten zur Diskriminierung von lokalen und globalen Faktoren, die die zellul{\"a}re Antwort auf mechanische Signale bestimmen.}, language = {en} } @article{SarhanKoopmanSchuetzetal.2019, author = {Sarhan, Radwan Mohamed and Koopman, Wouter-Willem Adriaan and Schuetz, Roman and Schmid, Thomas and Liebig, Ferenc and Koetz, Joachim and Bargheer, Matias}, title = {The importance of plasmonic heating for the plasmondriven photodimerization of 4-nitrothiophenol}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {9}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, publisher = {Macmillan Publishers Limited}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-019-38627-2}, pages = {8}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Metal nanoparticles form potent nanoreactors, driven by the optical generation of energetic electrons and nanoscale heat. The relative influence of these two factors on nanoscale chemistry is strongly debated. This article discusses the temperature dependence of the dimerization of 4-nitrothiophenol (4-NTP) into 4,4′-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) adsorbed on gold nanoflowers by Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS). Raman thermometry shows a significant optical heating of the particles. The ratio of the Stokes and the anti-Stokes Raman signal moreover demonstrates that the molecular temperature during the reaction rises beyond the average crystal lattice temperature of the plasmonic particles. The product bands have an even higher temperature than reactant bands, which suggests that the reaction proceeds preferentially at thermal hot spots. In addition, kinetic measurements of the reaction during external heating of the reaction environment yield a considerable rise of the reaction rate with temperature. Despite this significant heating effects, a comparison of SERS spectra recorded after heating the sample by an external heater to spectra recorded after prolonged illumination shows that the reaction is strictly photo-driven. While in both cases the temperature increase is comparable, the dimerization occurs only in the presence of light. Intensity dependent measurements at fixed temperatures confirm this finding.}, language = {en} } @misc{PerkinsPernaAdrianetal.2019, author = {Perkins, Daniel M. and Perna, Andrea and Adrian, Rita and Cerme{\~n}o, Pedro and Gaedke, Ursula and Huete-Ortega, Maria and White, Ethan P. and Yvon-Durocher, Gabriel}, title = {Energetic equivalence underpins the size structure of tree and phytoplankton communities}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {684}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42569}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-425695}, pages = {8}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The size structure of autotroph communities - the relative abundance of small vs. large individuals - shapes the functioning of ecosystems. Whether common mechanisms underpin the size structure of unicellular and multicellular autotrophs is, however, unknown. Using a global data compilation, we show that individual body masses in tree and phytoplankton communities follow power-law distributions and that the average exponents of these individual size distributions (ISD) differ. Phytoplankton communities are characterized by an average ISD exponent consistent with three-quarter-power scaling of metabolism with body mass and equivalence in energy use among mass classes. Tree communities deviate from this pattern in a manner consistent with equivalence in energy use among diameter size classes. Our findings suggest that whilst universal metabolic constraints ultimately underlie the emergent size structure of autotroph communities, divergent aspects of body size (volumetric vs. linear dimensions) shape the ecological outcome of metabolic scaling in forest vs. pelagic ecosystems.}, language = {en} } @article{HellwigWalzMarkovic2019, author = {Hellwig, Niels and Walz, Ariane and Markovic, Danijela}, title = {Climatic and socioeconomic effects on land cover changes across Europe}, series = {PloS One}, volume = {14}, journal = {PloS One}, number = {7}, publisher = {PLOS 1}, address = {San Francisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0219374}, pages = {20}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Land cover change is a dynamic phenomenon driven by synergetic biophysical and socioeconomic effects. It involves massive transitions from natural to less natural habitats and thereby threatens ecosystems and the services they provide. To retain intact ecosystems and reduce land cover change to a minimum of natural transition processes, a dense network of protected areas has been established across Europe. However, even protected areas and in particular the zones around protected areas have been shown to undergo land cover changes. The aim of our study was to compare land cover changes in protected areas, non-protected areas, and 1 km buffer zones around protected areas and analyse their relationship to climatic and socioeconomic factors across Europe between 2000 and 2012 based on earth observation data. We investigated land cover flows describing major change processes: urbanisation, afforestation, deforestation, intensification of agriculture, extensification of agriculture, and formation of water bodies. Based on boosted regression trees, we modelled correlations between land cover flows and climatic and socioeconomic factors. The results show that land cover changes were most frequent in 1 km buffer zones around protected areas (3.0\% of all buffer areas affected). Overall, land cover changes within protected areas were less frequent than outside, although they still amounted to 18,800 km2 (1.5\% of all protected areas) from 2000 to 2012. In some parts of Europe, urbanisation and intensification of agriculture still accounted for up to 25\% of land cover changes within protected areas. Modelling revealed meaningful relationships between land cover changes and a combination of influencing factors. Demographic factors (accessibility to cities and population density) were most important for coarse-scale patterns of land cover changes, whereas fine-scale patterns were most related to longitude (representing the general east/west economic gradient) and latitude (representing the north/south climatic gradient).}, language = {en} } @article{CeulemansGaedkeKlauschiesetal.2019, author = {Ceulemans, Ruben and Gaedke, Ursula and Klauschies, Toni and Guill, Christian}, title = {The effects of functional diversity on biomass production, variability, and resilience of ecosystem functions in a tritrophic system}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {9}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, publisher = {Macmillan Publishers Limited}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-019-43974-1}, pages = {16}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Diverse communities can adjust their trait composition to altered environmental conditions, which may strongly influence their dynamics. Previous studies of trait-based models mainly considered only one or two trophic levels, whereas most natural system are at least tritrophic. Therefore, we investigated how the addition of trait variation to each trophic level influences population and community dynamics in a tritrophic model. Examining the phase relationships between species of adjacent trophic levels informs about the strength of top-down or bottom-up control in non-steadystate situations. Phase relationships within a trophic level highlight compensatory dynamical patterns between functionally different species, which are responsible for dampening the community temporal variability. Furthermore, even without trait variation, our tritrophic model always exhibits regions with two alternative states with either weak or strong nutrient exploitation, and correspondingly low or high biomass production at the top level. However, adding trait variation increased the basin of attraction of the high-production state, and decreased the likelihood of a critical transition from the high- to the lowproduction state with no apparent early warning signals. Hence, our study shows that trait variation enhances resource use efficiency, production, stability, and resilience of entire food webs.}, language = {en} } @article{HeuerOrland2019, author = {Heuer, Leonie and Orland, Andreas}, title = {Cooperation in the Prisoner's Dilemma}, series = {Royal Society Open Science}, volume = {6}, journal = {Royal Society Open Science}, publisher = {Royal Soc. Publ.}, address = {London}, issn = {2054-5703}, doi = {10.1098/rsos.182142}, pages = {9}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Cooperation is — despite not being predicted by game theory — a widely documented aspect of human behaviour in Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) situations. This article presents a comparison between subjects restricted to playing pure strategies and subjects allowed to play mixed strategies in a one-shot symmetric PD laboratory experiment. Subjects interact with 10 other subjects and take their decisions all at once. Because subjects in the mixed-strategy treatment group are allowed to condition their level of cooperation more precisely on their beliefs about their counterparts' level of cooperation, we predicted the cooperation rate in the mixed-strategy treatment group to be higher than in the pure-strategy control group. The results of our experiment reject our prediction: even after controlling for beliefs about the other subjects' level of cooperation, we find that cooperation in the mixed-strategy group is lower than in the pure-strategy group. We also find, however, that subjects in the mixedstrategy group condition their cooperative behaviour more closely on their beliefs than in the pure-strategy group. In the mixed-strategy group, most subjects choose intermediate levels of cooperation.}, language = {en} } @article{KindlerPulkkinenCherstvyetal.2019, author = {Kindler, Oliver and Pulkkinen, Otto and Cherstvy, Andrey G. and Metzler, Ralf}, title = {Burst Statistics in an Early Biofilm Quorum Sensing Mode}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {9}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, publisher = {Macmillan Publishers Limited part of Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-019-48525-2}, pages = {19}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Quorum-sensing bacteria in a growing colony of cells send out signalling molecules (so-called "autoinducers") and themselves sense the autoinducer concentration in their vicinity. Once—due to increased local cell density inside a "cluster" of the growing colony—the concentration of autoinducers exceeds a threshold value, cells in this clusters get "induced" into a communal, multi-cell biofilm-forming mode in a cluster-wide burst event. We analyse quantitatively the influence of spatial disorder, the local heterogeneity of the spatial distribution of cells in the colony, and additional physical parameters such as the autoinducer signal range on the induction dynamics of the cell colony. Spatial inhomogeneity with higher local cell concentrations in clusters leads to earlier but more localised induction events, while homogeneous distributions lead to comparatively delayed but more concerted induction of the cell colony, and, thus, a behaviour close to the mean-field dynamics. We quantify the induction dynamics with quantifiers such as the time series of induction events and burst sizes, the grouping into induction families, and the mean autoinducer concentration levels. Consequences for different scenarios of biofilm growth are discussed, providing possible cues for biofilm control in both health care and biotechnology.}, language = {en} } @incollection{Brendel2019, author = {Brendel, Nina}, title = {(How) do students reflect on sustainability?}, series = {Issues in Teaching and Learning of Education for Sustainability}, booktitle = {Issues in Teaching and Learning of Education for Sustainability}, editor = {Chang, Chew-Hung and Kidman, Gillian and Wi, Andy}, publisher = {Routledge}, address = {Abingdon}, isbn = {978-0-429-45043-3}, doi = {10.4324/9780429450433}, pages = {117 -- 126}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The ability to reflect is considered an essential element of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and a key competence for learners and educators in ESD (UNECE Strategy for ESD, 2012). In contrast to its high importance, little is known about how reflective thinking can be identified, influenced or increased in the classroom. Therefore, the objective of this study is to address this need by developing an empirical multi-stage model designed to help educators diagnose different levels of reflective thinking and to identify factors that influence students' reflective thinking about sustainability. Based on a 4-8-week project with grade 10 and 11 students studying sustainability, reflective thinking performance using weblogs as reflective journals was analysed. In addition, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teachers to comprehend the learning environment and the personal value they assigned to ESD in their geography class. To determine the levels of reflective thinking achieved by the students, the study built on the work of Dewey (1933) and pre-existing multi-stage models of reflective thinking (Bain, Ballantyne, \& Packer, 1999; Chen, Wei, Wu, \& Uden, 2009). Using a qualitative, iterative data analysis, the study adapted the stage models to be applicable in ESD and found great differences in the students' reflection levels. Furthermore, the study identified eight factors that influence students' reflective thinking about sustainability. The outcomes of this study may be valuable for educators in high school and higher education, who seek to diagnose their students' reflective thinking performance and facilitate reflection about sustainability.}, language = {en} } @misc{SchaelickeTeubnerMartinCreuzburgetal.2019, author = {Sch{\"a}licke, Svenja and Teubner, Johannes and Martin-Creuzburg, Dominik and Wacker, Alexander}, title = {Fitness response variation within and among consumer species can be co-mediated by food quantity and biochemical quality}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {806}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-44225}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-442256}, pages = {11}, year = {2019}, abstract = {In natural heterogeneous environments, the fitness of animals is strongly influenced by the availability and composition of food. Food quantity and biochemical quality constraints may affect individual traits of consumers differently, mediating fitness response variation within and among species. Using a multifactorial experimental approach, we assessed population growth rate, fecundity, and survival of six strains of the two closely related freshwater rotifer species Brachionus calyciflorus sensu stricto and Brachionus fernandoi. Therefore, rotifers fed low and high concentrations of three algal species differing in their biochemical food quality. Additionally, we explored the potential of a single limiting biochemical nutrient to mediate variations in population growth response. Therefore, rotifers fed a sterol-free alga, which we supplemented with cholesterol-containing liposomes. Co-limitation by food quantity and biochemical food quality resulted in differences in population growth rates among strains, but not between species, although effects on fecundity and survival differed between species. The effect of cholesterol supplementation on population growth was strain-specific but not species-specific. We show that fitness response variations within and among species can be mediated by biochemical food quality. Dietary constraints thus may act as evolutionary drivers on physiological traits of consumers, which may have strong implications for various ecological interactions.}, language = {en} } @article{SchaelickeTeubnerMartinCreuzburgetal.2019, author = {Sch{\"a}licke, Svenja and Teubner, Johannes and Martin-Creuzburg, Dominik and Wacker, Alexander}, title = {Fitness response variation within and among consumer species can be co-mediated by food quantity and biochemical quality}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {9}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, publisher = {Macmillan Publishers Limited}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-019-52538-2}, pages = {9}, year = {2019}, abstract = {In natural heterogeneous environments, the fitness of animals is strongly influenced by the availability and composition of food. Food quantity and biochemical quality constraints may affect individual traits of consumers differently, mediating fitness response variation within and among species. Using a multifactorial experimental approach, we assessed population growth rate, fecundity, and survival of six strains of the two closely related freshwater rotifer species Brachionus calyciflorus sensu stricto and Brachionus fernandoi. Therefore, rotifers fed low and high concentrations of three algal species differing in their biochemical food quality. Additionally, we explored the potential of a single limiting biochemical nutrient to mediate variations in population growth response. Therefore, rotifers fed a sterol-free alga, which we supplemented with cholesterol-containing liposomes. Co-limitation by food quantity and biochemical food quality resulted in differences in population growth rates among strains, but not between species, although effects on fecundity and survival differed between species. The effect of cholesterol supplementation on population growth was strain-specific but not species-specific. We show that fitness response variations within and among species can be mediated by biochemical food quality. Dietary constraints thus may act as evolutionary drivers on physiological traits of consumers, which may have strong implications for various ecological interactions.}, language = {en} }