@article{StangeHintscheSachseetal.2017, author = {Stange, Maike and Hintsche, Marius and Sachse, Kirsten and Gerhardt, Matthias and Valleriani, Angelo and Beta, Carsten}, title = {Analyzing the spatial positioning of nuclei in polynuclear giant cells}, series = {Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics}, volume = {50}, journal = {Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics}, number = {46}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0022-3727}, doi = {10.1088/1361-6463/aa8da0}, pages = {8}, year = {2017}, abstract = {How cells establish and maintain a well-defined size is a fundamental question of cell biology. Here we investigated to what extent the microtubule cytoskeleton can set a predefined cell size, independent of an enclosing cell membrane. We used electropulse-induced cell fusion to form giant multinuclear cells of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. Based on dual-color confocal imaging of cells that expressed fluorescent markers for the cell nucleus and the microtubules, we determined the subcellular distributions of nuclei and centrosomes in the giant cells. Our two- and three-dimensional imaging results showed that the positions of nuclei in giant cells do not fall onto a regular lattice. However, a comparison with model predictions for random positioning showed that the subcellular arrangement of nuclei maintains a low but still detectable degree of ordering. This can be explained by the steric requirements of the microtubule cytoskeleton, as confirmed by the effect of a microtubule degrading drug.}, language = {en} } @article{KarpTallisSachseetal.2015, author = {Karp, Daniel S. and Tallis, Heather and Sachse, Rene and Halpern, Ben and Thonicke, Kirsten and Cramer, Wolfgang and Mooney, Harold and Polasky, Stephen and Tietjen, Britta and Waha, Katharina and Walt, Ariane and Wolny, Stacie}, title = {National indicators for observing ecosystem service change}, series = {Global environmental change : human and policy dimensions}, volume = {35}, journal = {Global environmental change : human and policy dimensions}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0959-3780}, doi = {10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.07.014}, pages = {12 -- 21}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Earth's life-support systems are in rapid decline, yet we have few metrics or indicators with which to track these changes. The world's governments are calling for biodiversity and ecosystem-service monitoring to guide and evaluate international conservation policy as well as to incorporate natural capital into their national accounts. The Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) has been tasked with setting up this monitoring system. Here we explore the immediate feasibility of creating a global ecosystem-service monitoring platform under the GEO BON framework through combining data from national statistics, global vegetation models, and production function models. We found that nine ecosystem services could be annually reported at a national scale in the short term: carbon sequestration, water supply for hydropower, and non-fisheries marine products, crop, livestock, game meat, fisheries, mariculture, and timber production. Reported changes in service delivery over time reflected ecological shocks (e.g., droughts and disease outbreaks), highlighting the immediate utility of this monitoring system. Our work also identified three opportunities for creating a more comprehensive monitoring system. First, investing in input data for ecological process models (e.g., global land-use maps) would allow many more regulating services to be monitored. Currently, only 1 of 9 services that can be reported is a regulating service. Second, household surveys and censuses could help evaluate how nature affects people and provides non-monetary benefits. Finally, to forecast the sustainability of service delivery, research efforts could focus on calculating the total remaining biophysical stocks of provisioning services. Regardless, we demonstrated that a preliminary ecosystem-service monitoring platform is immediately feasible. With sufficient international investment, the platform could evolve further into a much-needed system to track changes in our planet's life-support systems. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} }