•Załęże Gully is the second known deposit of the chocolate flint in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland.•New deposit of the chocolate flint is characterized and its past availability evaluated.•The ...petrographic characteristics of the Załęże chocolate flint is presented.
One of the valued chert raw materials used by prehistoric communities in Central and Eastern Europe was chocolate flint. Despite finding artefacts made of it over a wide area, for many years, it was thought to occur only in one location - in the Holy Cross Mountains in Poland. However, the discoveries of recent years have shown that deposits of this raw material also occur in another region of Poland, in the northern part of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland (KCU). The result of intensive field surveys conducted in this area is the finding of a new outcrop of chocolate flint in Załęże gully (Lesser Poland voivodeship) described in this paper. Based on the results obtained from the radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating of sediments co-occurring with the flint deposit, a history of the paleogeographic development of this gully has been proposed. Access to the deposit in its present form is limited to modern times, but it was likely accessible elsewhere in this area. Macroscopic and microscopic (using optical and cathodoluminescence microscopy) examinations showed a high similarity with the material of other KCU provenance from the prehistoric mine in Poręba Dzierżna, site 24. In the vicinity of Załęże gully there are many archaeological sites where chocolate flint artefacts were found. Preliminary research suggests that they could have been made from the raw material from the newly discovered outcrop. The new location of chocolate flint occurrence in the KCU region described here is another premise to re-think the existing interpretations related to the extraction, use and distribution of this important chert raw material in prehistoric times in Central and Eastern Europe.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Most previous research found that within-family resemblance on social outcomes and intelligence is mostly due to genetic factors with a limited role of the shared environment, with the exception of ...educational attainment. Hypotheses about a gene-environment interaction with SES, with a presumably smaller role of genetic factors in families with low social status, have been only partially confirmed. However, these results do not necessarily generalize to all societies, and data from Central or Eastern European countries is currently deficient. In the current work we replicate using data from the Hungarian Twin Registry that intelligence, income, and educational attainment are substantially heritable, with limited role of the shared environment. In contrast to studies in Anglo-Saxon or Western European countries, we found an influence of the shared environment on standardized high school test scores, especially history. Both genetic and shared environmental (but not nonshared environmental) correlations were substantial, in line with generalist genes and shared environments but specific nonshared environmental effects. The results show that the heritability of social traits is observable in Central/Eastern Europe, but they highlight a potentially problematic aspect of Hungarian high school final tests, as students' family of origin appears to be a potent determinant of grades.
•Central/Eastern European societies are unique but sociogenomic studies are rare.•Twin study of intelligence, income, years in education and high school final exam grades•Intelligence, income, years education and mathematics grades substantially heritable•Shared environmental effects on finals grades in humanities
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The Jews of Modern France explores the endlessly complex
encounter of France and its Jews from just before the Revolution to
the eve of the twenty-first century. In the late eighteenth
century, some ...forty thousand Jews lived in scattered communities on
the peripheries of the French state, not considered French by
others or by themselves. Two hundred years later, in 1989, France
celebrated the anniversary of the Revolution with the largest, most
vital Jewish population in western and central Europe. Paula Hyman
looks closely at the period that began when France's Jews were
offered citizenship during the Revolution. She shows how they and
succeeding generations embraced the opportunities of integration
and acculturation, redefined their identities, adapted their
Judaism to the pragmatic and ideological demands of the time, and
participated fully in French culture and politics. Within this same
period, Jews in France fell victim to a secular political
antisemitism that mocked the gains of emancipation, culminating
first in the Dreyfus Affair and later in the murder of one-fourth
of them in the Holocaust. Yet up to the present day, through
successive waves of immigration, Jews have asserted the
compatibility of their French identity with various versions of
Jewish particularity, including Zionism. This remarkable view in
microcosm of the modern Jewish experience will interest general
readers and scholars alike.
This paper presents data on the distribution of Ventanata dubia in Slovakia. I recorded the species in 145 quadrants of the Central European mapping grid. The majority of these records occurred in ...the Pannonian region, especially in the phytogeographical districts of Podunajská nížina, Burda and Ipeľsko-rimavská brázda Region of southern Slovakia. In the Carpathian region, the species has a scattered to rare distribution pattern and is only found in the area associated with the pre-Carpathian flora, especially in the Štiavnické vrchy Mountains. Ventenata dubia most often occupies dry grassland habitats, but also frequently occurs in human-modified habitats (quarries, unpaved roads through agricultural fields and grasslands, vineyards). It rarely occurs on forest edges or in open forests. The grass was recorded on loessal, saline, quartzite, and limestone soils, but most often on shallow soils with high basalt (volcanic) rock content. At present, it is among the less threatened plant species of the Slovak flora (NT). URL: https://www.upjs.sk/pracoviska/botanicka-zahrada/odborne-aktivity/contents-abstracts/
•Reduced forest rotation length can reduce wind and bark beetle disturbance.•Efficiency of this measure decreases under climate change.•Short-term collateral effects on forest carbon and biodiversity ...are severe.
Forest disturbance regimes are intensifying in many parts of the globe. In order to mitigate disturbance impacts a number of management responses have been proposed, yet their effectiveness in addressing changing disturbance regimes remains largely unknown. The strong positive relationship between forest age and the vulnerability to disturbances such as windthrows and bark beetle infestations suggests that a reduced rotation length can be a potent means for mitigating the impacts of natural disturbances. However, disturbance mitigation measures such as shortened rotation lengths (SRL) can also have undesired consequences on ecosystem services and biodiversity, which need to be considered in their application.
Here, we used the process-based landscape and disturbance model iLand to investigate the effects of SRL on the vulnerability of a 16,000 ha forest landscape in Central Europe to wind and bark beetle disturbances. We experimentally reduced the current rotation length (between 100 and 115 years) by up to −40% in 10% increments, and studied effects on disturbance dynamics under current and future climate conditions over a 200-year simulation period. Simultaneously, we quantified the collateral effects of SRL on forest carbon stocks and indicators of biodiversity. Shortening the rotation length by 40% decreased disturbances by 14%. This effect was strongly diminished under future climate change, reducing the mitigating effect of shortened rotation to <6%. Collateral effects were severe in the initial decades after implementation: Reducing the rotation length by 40% caused a spike in harvested timber volume (+92%), decreased total forest carbon storage by 6% and reduced the number of large trees on the landscape by 20%. The long-term effects of SRL were less pronounced. At the same time, SRL caused an increase in tree species diversity. Shortening rotation length can reduce the impact of wind and bark beetle disturbances, but the overall efficiency of the measure is limited and decreases under climate change. Given the potential for undesired collateral effects we conclude that a reduction of the rotation length is no panacea for managing increasing disturbances, and should be applied in combination with other management measures reducing risks and fostering resilience.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Isotopic analysis of specific compounds in aerosols can be a useful tool when studying atmospheric processes. Here, we present the results of stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) measurements performed ...on a one-year set (n = 96, Sep. 2013–Aug. 2014) of dicarboxylic acids and related compounds in PM1 at a rural Central European background site, Košetice (Czech Republic).
The most 13C enriched acid was oxalic (C2, annual average = −16.6 ± 5.0‰) followed by malonic (C3, avg. = −19.9 ± 6.6‰) and succinic (C4, avg. = −21.3 ± 4.6‰) acids. Thus, δ13C values decreased with an increase in carbon numbers. Azelaic acid (C9, avg. = −27.2 ± 3.6‰) was found to be the least 13C enriched.
A comparison of δ13C of dicarboxylic acids from other background sites, especially in Asia, shows similar values to those from the European site. This comparison also showed that C2 is more 13C enriched at background sites than at urban ones. In general, we did not observe significant seasonal differences in δ13C values of dicarboxylic acids at the Central European station. We observed statistically significant differences (p value < 0.05) between winter and summer δ13C values solely for C4, glyoxylic acid (ωC2), glutaric acid (C5) and suberic acid (C8).
The only significant correlations between δ13C of C2 and δ13C of C3 were found in spring and summer, suggesting that the oxidation of C3 to C2 is significant in these months with a strong contribution from biogenic aerosols. The strongest season-independent annual correlation was observed in δ13C values between C2 and C4, the two dominant dicarboxylic acids. Therefore, C4 appears to be the main intermediate precursor of C2 throughout the whole year.
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•Seasonal differences (winter vs. summer) are significant for C4, ωC2, C5 and C8.•Strong correlation was found between δ13C of oxalic and succinic acids.•Correlation between δ13C of C2 and C3 was significant in spring and summer.•δ13C values of dicarboxylic acids are similar to those from Southeast Asia.•Background aerosols provide more 13C enriched C2 compared to urban aerosols.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Due to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, contaminated air masses, containing 137Cs, were widely propagated across all of Europe. Cesium-137 is easily adsorbed on aerosol particles as it ...returns to the lithosphere/pedosphere/via wet and dry deposition in the form of a radioactive fallout component. Following the nuclear accident, primary attention was paid to agricultural areas and less to urban environments. Our 137Cs activity study using undisturbed attic dust samples has been carried out from two residential areas (city of Salgótarján and Ózd) in northern Hungary, approx. 1000 km away from Chernobyl. A total of 61 attic dust samples were collected in 2016 and 2018 from houses (>30 years) functioning as family house, kindergarten, blockhouse and church. Activity concentration of 137Cs was determined for 1–2 g homogenized (<125 μm) attic dust samples in a low background iron chamber with a well-type HPGe detector. The mean 137Cs activity concentrations in attic dust samples are 88.5 ± 5.1 Bq kg−1 and 87.8 ± 4.5 Bq kg−1 in Salgótarján and Ózd, respectively. The dependence between 137Cs activities and the age of the houses was found to be significant (p=0.02), which could be explained by Chernobyl nuclear accident-causing elevated activity concentrations in location built prior to the accident. Three outliers in Ózd (>223 Bq kg−1), are probably related to the first rainfall event after the Chernobyl accident. Isotopic landscapes (isoscapes) of 137Cs were derived for both cities by means of kriging interpolation. In Salgótarján the 137Cs activity concentrations were higher than in Ózd which might have been due to redistribution loadings and local topographical features. We concluded that components of attic dust are highly useful indicators of home exposure to pollution events and remain detectable after several decades.
•The long-term accumulation of dust preserves high activity concentration of 137Cs in attic area.•The 137Cs activity concentration in >10% of the attic dust samples exceeded 100 Bq kg−1, reaches up to 272 Bq kg−1.•The meteorological simulations illustrated obvious differences in 137Cs deposition in the studied two cities.•Geostatistical analysis for pre-1950 built houses prove influence of topographical feature in 137Cs deposition rate.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) is an Old World mammarenavirus found worldwide because of its association with the house mouse. When LCMV spills over to immunocompetent humans, the virus ...can cause aseptic meningitis; in immunocompromised persons, systemic infection and death can occur. Central Europe is a strategic location for the study of LCMV evolutionary history and host specificity because of the presence of a hybrid zone (genetic barrier) between 2 house mouse subspecies, Mus musculus musculus and M. musculus domesticus. We report LCMV prevalence in natural mouse populations from a Czech Republic-Germany transect and genomic characterization of 2 new LCMV variants from the Czech Republic. We demonstrate that the main division in the LCMV phylogenetic tree corresponds to mouse host subspecies and, when the virus is found in human hosts, the mouse subspecies found at the spillover location. Therefore, LCMV strains infecting humans can be predicted by the genetic structure of house mice.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The paper presents new records of
Taraxacum parnassicum
, the most common member of
Taraxacum
section
Erythrosperma
in Slovakia. The species has been recorded in most of the 31 phytogeographical ...districts of Slovakia. At least 25 new localities were discovered, and many old ones were confirmed.
T. parnassicum
prefers natural and semi-ruderal sites on limestone, rarely on volcanic and sandy soils, predominantly not shaded. The majority of populations occur from the lowland to supracolline vegetation belt, mainly at elevations of 140–700 m a.s.l., with the altitudinal maximum at 1,410 m a.s.l. A distribution map is given with the list of localities from the whole territory of Slovakia as well as short discussion about its taxonomy and ploidy level.
•Thermal gradients were evaluated within small forest fragments.•Aspect- and edge-related gradients are the most important.•Edge effect alters microclimate in large areas of forest fragments.•Edge ...effect probably augments negative consequences of climate change.•Edge influence could be reduced by avoiding clear-cut timber harvesting.
A long-distance edge effect influences structure of species-rich plant communities in temperate forest fragments surrounded by an agricultural landscape in Central Europe. Though the edge effect may be an aggregate of many environmental conditions, the thermal gradient from the forest edge to the forest interior deserves particular attention due to increasing ambient air temperature over the past decades. With regard to ongoing climate change, any reliable information about magnitude and distance of thermal gradients in these forest fragments has become of great importance. Therefore, we carried out seasonal measurements of forest air and soil temperature at a total 40 sites in 14 forest fragments in central Bohemia with areas ranging between 0.3 and 255 ha. In addition, we assessed spatial and vertical air temperature variability at two sites, on both south and north facing slopes. We found that differences in daily mean air temperature in these forest fragments is significantly modified by slope aspect (and/or slope inclination) and distance to the forest edge. A negative monotonic edge-related thermal gradient was apparent up to 100 m towards the forest interior with differences in daily mean air temperatures of about 0.3 °C. The magnitude of this edge thermal gradient is comparable to the effect of slope aspect. In addition to mean air temperature, maximum and minimum daily temperatures as well as mean soil temperature inside forest fragments also showed impacts caused by the edge effect and other environmental conditions (e.g. forest structure, elevation). The edge-related area closer than 100 m from the forest edge represents the majority (78%) of forested land in the study area as well as a considerable part of temperate forests in Central Europe (40%), including less fragmented mountain forests. Hence, the edge alteration of forest microclimate should be taken into serious consideration when planning adaptation measures against the consequences of climate change in Central Europe. The edge influence could be partially mitigated by preventing further forest fragmentation and the adoption of timber harvesting methods that avoid creation of clearings, such as single-tree selection. Even if such forest management measures are implemented in the study area, spatial patterns and gradients of environmental heterogeneity may be gradually reduced in the forest fragments as a result of further exposure to the combined effects of climate change and edge influence.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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