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Mapping cortical brain asymmetry in 17,141 healthy individuals worldwide via the ENIGMA Consortium
(2017)
Although the distribution and composition of cool temperate rainforest in eastern Australia may be regarded as well documented, the recent discovery of cool temperate rainforest stands dominated by Atherosperma moschatum in the Pilot Wilderness area of Kosciuszko National Park shows that our knowledge is still incomplete. The additional discovery of 10 plant species previously unrecorded for the park including large specimens of Elaeocarpus holopetalus highlights the fact that although the flora and vegetation of the alpine and subalpine tracts of Kosciuszko National Park are relatively well studied, the remainder of the park is by comparison understudied and under sampled. Although not actively protected or managed, these cool temperate rainforest stands appear to have been little affected by the 2003 fires in the Australian Alps, with only 2 stands out of 25 showing any fire incursion. However, whether the direct effects of climate change or the indirect effects of human reaction to climate change poses the greatest threat to the continued existence of these stands is an open question. The aim of this short communication is to: a) examine the distribution and composition of these newly discovered stands of cool temperate rainforest and b) to briefly describe the impact of the 2003 fires on this restricted vegetation type.
Although Kosciuszko National Park is one of the largest and oldest in New South Wales, the vascular flora found within it has not been fully documented. An understandable focus on the alpine and subalpine flora has resulted in a lesser focus on the flora of the extensive tracts of forest and woodlands found in the montane, tableland and lower Snowy River zones of the Park. Here we summarise and provide an overview of the entire vascular flora across the full range of floristic zones within Kosciuszko, building upon earlier summaries focussed solely on the alpine and subalpine zones. Our compilation of records resulted in a total vascular flora for Kosciuszko National Park of 1435 taxa, of which 1105 taxa (77%) are native and 330 taxa (23%) are alien, excluding cultivated taxa. Based on 1990 data for the flora of New South Wales, Kosciuszko National Park hosts 24% of the State’s native vascular flora and 26% of the State’s alien vascular flora. There are 25 species of vascular plant that are endemic to the park and all but one (Haloragis milesiae) occur in the alpine and subalpine zones. A further 86 species have their NSW occurrences confined to the park. Many of the 24 endangered or vulnerable species found within the park also have their main occurrences in treeless subalpine and alpine vegetation. An additional 105 species are at the limits of their geographic distribution, have disjunct occurrences in the park or are uncommon in the Alps and these occur across a range of floristic zones. At least one species, Euphrasia scabra, is listed as presumed extinct in the park although it occurs elsewhere in New South Wales. Although well surveyed overall, areas including the Byadbo Wilderness, Pilot Wilderness and forests on the western flanks are by comparison under sampled and will require further survey effort in future to fully document the flora of the park. Historical legacies of past land use practices and impacts from current recreational uses, as well as impacts from feral herbivores and alien plant species all pose ongoing threats to the long term survival of many plant species found within the park. The interaction of these threats with increasing temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns including snow cover and changing fire regimes will require ongoing monitoring and increased resourcing if significant changes to ecosystems are to be effectively managed.
We report on HCFC-22 data acquired by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) in the reduced spectral resolution nominal observation mode. The data cover the period from January 2005 to April 2012 and the altitude range from the upper troposphere (above cloud top altitude) to about 50 km. The profile retrieval was performed by constrained nonlinear least squares fitting of modelled spectra to the measured limb spectral radiances. The spectral ν4-band at 816.5 ± 13 cm−1 was used for the retrieval. A Tikhonov-type smoothing constraint was applied to stabilise the retrieval. In the lower stratosphere, we find a global volume mixing ratio of HCFC-22 of about 185 pptv in January 2005. The rate of linear growth in the lower latitudes lower stratosphere was about 6 to 7 pptv year−1 in the period 2005–2012. The profiles obtained were compared with ACE-FTS satellite data v3.5, as well as with MkIV balloon profiles and cryosampler balloon measurements. Between 13 and 22 km, average agreement within −3 to +5 pptv (MIPAS – ACE) with ACE-FTS v3.5 profiles is demonstrated. Agreement with MkIV solar occultation balloon-borne measurements is within 10–20 pptv below 30 km and worse above, while in situ cryosampler balloon measurements are systematically lower over their full altitude range by 15–50 pptv below 24 km and less than 10 pptv above 28 km. MIPAS HCFC-22 time series below 10 km altitude are shown to agree mostly well to corresponding time series of near-surface abundances from the NOAA/ESRL and AGAGE networks, although a more pronounced seasonal cycle is obvious in the satellite data. This is attributed to tropopause altitude fluctuations and subsidence of polar winter stratospheric air into the troposphere. A parametric model consisting of constant, linear, quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and several sine and cosine terms with different periods has been fitted to the temporal variation of stratospheric HCFC-22 for all 10°-latitude/1-to-2-km-altitude bins. The relative linear variation was always positive, with relative increases of 40–70 % decade−1 in the tropics and global lower stratosphere, and up to 120 % decade−1 in the upper stratosphere of the northern polar region and the southern extratropical hemisphere. Asian HCFC-22 emissions have become the major source of global upper tropospheric HCFC-22. In the upper troposphere, monsoon air, rich in HCFC-22, is instantaneously mixed into the tropics. In the middle stratosphere, between 20 and 30 km, the observed trend is inconsistent with the trend at the surface (corrected for the age of stratospheric air), hinting at circulation changes. There exists a stronger positive trend in HCFC-22 in the Southern Hemisphere and a more muted positive trend in the Northern Hemisphere, implying a potential change in the stratospheric circulation over the observation period.
We report on HCFC-22 data acquired by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) in reduced spectral resolution nominal mode in the period from January 2005 to April 2012 from version 5.02 level-1b spectral data and covering an altitude range from the upper troposphere (above cloud top altitude) to about 50 km. The profile retrieval was performed by constrained nonlinear least squares fitting of measured limb spectral radiances to modelled spectra. The spectral v4-band at 816.5 ± 13 cm-1 was used for the retrieval. A Tikhonov-type smoothing constraint was applied to stabilise the retrieval. In the lower stratosphere, we find a global volume mixing ratio of HCFC-22 of about 185 pptv in January 2005. The linear growth rate in the lower latitudes lower stratosphere was about 6 to 7 pptv yr-1 in the period 2005–2012. The obtained profiles were compared with ACE-FTS satellite data v3.5, as well as with MkIV balloon profiles and in situ cryosampler balloon measurements. Between 13 and 22 km, average agreement within -3 to +5 pptv (MIPAS–ACE) with ACE-FTS v3.5 pro files is demonstrated. Agreement with MkIV solar occultation balloon-borne measurements is within 10–20 pptv below 30 km and worse above, while in situ cryosampler balloon measurements are systematically lower over their full altitude range by 15– 50 pptv below 24 km and less than 10 pptv above 28 km. Obtained MIPAS HCFC-22 time series below 10 km altitude are shown to agree mostly well to corresponding time series of near-surface abundances from NOAA/ESRL and AGAGE networks, although a more pronounced seasonal cycle is obvious in the satellite data, probably due to tropopause altitude fluctuations and subsidence of polar winter stratospheric air into the troposphere. A parametric model consisting of constant, linear, quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and several sine and cosine terms with different periods has been fitted to the temporal variation of stratospheric HCFC-22 for all 10° latitude/1 to 2 km altitude bins. The relative linear variation was always positive, with relative increases of 40–70%decade-1 in the tropics and global lower stratosphere, and up to 120%decade-1 in the upper stratosphere of the northern polar region and the southern extratropical hemisphere. In the middle stratosphere between 20 and 30 km, the observed trend is not consistent with the age of stratospheric air-corrected trend at ground, but stronger positive at the Southern Hemisphere and less strong increasing in the Northern Hemisphere, hinting towards changes in the stratospheric circulation over the observation period.