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While vegetation has intensively been surveyed on mountain summits, limited knowledge exists about the diversity and community structure of soil biota. Here, we study how climatic variables, vegetation, parent material, soil properties, and slope aspect affect the soil microbiome on 10 GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine environments) mountain summits ranging from the lower alpine to the nival zone in Switzerland. At these summits we sampled soils from all four aspects and examined how the bacterial and fungal communities vary by using Illumina MiSeq sequencing. We found that mountain summit soils contain highly diverse microbial communities with a total of 10,406 bacterial and 6,291 fungal taxa. Bacterial a-diversity increased with increasing soil pH and decreased with increasing elevation, whereas fungal a-diversity did not change significantly. Soil pH was the strongest predictor for microbial b-diversity. Bacterial and fungal community structures exhibited a significant positive relationship with plant communities, indicating that summits with a more distinct plant composition also revealed more distinct microbial communities. The influence of elevation was stronger than aspect on the soil microbiome. Several microbial taxa responded to elevation and soil pH. Chloroflexi and Mucoromycota were significantly more abundant on summits at higher elevations, whereas the relative abundance of Basidiomycota and Agaricomycetes decreased with elevation. Most bacterial OTUs belonging to the phylum Acidobacteria were indicators for siliceous parent material and several OTUs belonging to the phylum Planctomycetes were associated with calcareous soils. The trends for fungi were less clear. Indicator OTUs belonging to the genera Mortierella and Naganishia showed a mixed response to parent material, demonstrating their ubiquitous and opportunistic behaviour in soils. Overall, fungal communities responded weakly to abiotic and biotic factors. In contrast, bacterial communities were strongly influenced by environmental changes suggesting they will be strongly affected by future climate change and associated temperature increase and an upward migration of vegetation. Our results provide the first insights into the soil microbiome of mountain summits in the European Alps that are shaped as a result of highly variable local environmental conditions and may help to predict responses of the soil biota to global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions: The alpine vegetation of the Alps is particularly vulnerable to climate change, as the temperature increase in this region is twice the global average and the available area for new colonisations decreases with increasing elevation. While numerous studies have investigated the response of vascular plants to a warming climate in the alpine belt, only a handful have investigated that of cryptogams in the European Alps. Based on a 21‐year monitoring project, we assessed the effects of climate change on cryptogams along elevation, from the treeline to the subnival belt. Location: Four GLORIA summits in Valais (Switzerland). Methods: Between 2001 and 2022, terricolous lichens and bryophytes (from 2008) were inventoried in 52 1‐m2 plots distributed across four summits: 2360 m a.s.l. (treeline), 2550 m (lower alpine), 2990 m (upper alpine) and 3210 m (subnival). Changes in species cover and richness were analysed using generalised linear mixed‐effects model (GLMMs). Results: For bryophytes, total cover remained stable overall. However, six species declined significantly between 2008 and 2022, and the species richness decreased after 2015. For terricolous lichens, total cover significantly increased on the lower alpine summit, while species richness increased on the upper alpine and subnival summits. Conclusions: Bryophytes have probably suffered from the increasingly dry conditions, with a succession of very warm and dry summers over the last decades. Terricolous lichens have taken advantage of the warmer conditions to increase their cover on the lower alpine summit, and new species have colonised the upper summits. However, as they compete with vascular plants for soil and light, they may suffer from shrub and tree encroachment in the future and will be limited upwards by the rarity of developed soils. The large topo‐climatic gradient (850 m) and the length of the time series suggest that similar trends are likely to be more widespread across the Alps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote sensing of optically complex inland waterbodies is challenging due to the complex nonlinear correlation between water quality parameters and water optical properties. However, integration of deep learning techniques and representative datasets offers the potential to address these challenges effectively. This study aims to develop robust deep learning models, utilizing limited but highly representative dataset of in-situ water quality and radiometrically corrected hyperspectral remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) measurements collected from optically diverse lakes of China, for independent and simultaneous retrieval of Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), Secchi Disk Depth (SDD), and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) using Sentinel-2 analysis ready products. The GLObal Reflectance community dataset for Imaging and optical sensing of Aquatic environments (GLORIA) provides over 400 such measurements for Chinese lakes, which are simulated to Sentinel-2 Rrs with its spectral response function to build a representative dataset. Using this dataset, Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) based Deep Neural Network (DNN) models are developed and compared with eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGB), Random Forest (RF), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms. The DNN models outperformed in effective evaluation of Chl-a (Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) = 14.18 mg/m3), TSS (RMSE=7.23 g/m3) and SDD (RMSE=0.12 m) on test datasets and Chl-a (RMSE=14.42 mg/m3) and SDD (RMSE=0.07 m) against Sentinel-2A validation dataset of Liangzi lake. Mixed Density Network (MDN) model showed less accuracy for Chl-a (RMSE=16.76 mg/m3) on same validation dataset. Impact of different atmospheric correction processors is also assessed and DNN models achieved their accuracy on Sentinel-2 Atmospheric Correction (Sen2Cor) processor. Finally, water quality maps for various lakes in China are produced showing realistic ranges. These results show the potential of DNN models trained with limited but representative dataset in practical applications for spatial and temporal analysis of water quality.

This study investigates the impact of varying planting densities on cotton plants’ morphological traits and yield. As planting density increases, there is a reduction in monopodial and sympodial branches, resulting in a more compact plant structure. The study highlights the highest yield achieved with specific planting densities, endorsing the viability of both holl and row planting methods. It suggests adopting narrow or ultra-narrow row systems to enhance yield and economize input costs. The study was conducted in 2017 at the experimental field of Aydın Adnan Menderes University in the Faculty of Agriculture’s Department of Field Crops. The material used in this study was the widely cultivated cotton variety “Gloria” in the Aegean region. The investigation was conducted using a randomized block design with 4 replications. In evaluating cotton yield and related parameters, it was observed that D1 and D2 (14.285 plants/da) achieved the highest yield concerning plant density, emphasizing the viability of both holl and row planting methods. The study concluded that augmenting the number of plants within a specific area of production significantly contributes to higher seed cotton yields. To enhance yield and economize cotton input costs, the adoption of a narrow or ultra-narrow row production system is suggested as an alternative strategy to conventional methods.

Music is an essential part of human life, but it is also integral to the experience of faith. From its beginnings, music has been associated with religious expression and worship. One of the oldest Christian hymns is the hymn "Gloria in excelsis Deo"-"Glory to God in the highest", which was originally a component of morning and evening prayer. Later, it became part of the Holy Mass and is still sung during the celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays and feast days. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive view of this precious hymn in terms of its historical use. The study pays special attention to the sources of the text of this ancient hymn. A theological analysis of the text is also an indispensable prerequisite for a deeper understanding. Finally, the study offers up-to-date guidelines for the hymn's use today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music is an essential part of human life, but it is also integral to the experience of faith. From its beginnings, music has been associated with religious expression and worship. One of the oldest Christian hymns is the hymn “Gloria in excelsis Deo”-“Glory to God in the highest”, which was originally a component of morning and evening prayer. Later, it became part of the Holy Mass and is still sung during the celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays and feast days. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive view of this precious hymn in terms of its historical use. The study pays special attention to the sources of the text of this ancient hymn. A theological analysis of the text is also an indispensable prerequisite for a deeper understanding. Finally, the study offers up-to-date guidelines for the hymn’s use today.