Clouds strongly modulate the surface energy budget over the Arctic ice pack. In autumn, as the amount of insolation rapidly decreases, their main influence is felt through enhancing the emissivity of the cold dry atmosphere. During autumn, low clouds are present over the arctic ice pack nearly 60% of the time. In addition, ice clouds, which are not included in this statistic, become increasingl...

Deep sympatric intraspecific divergence in mtDNA may reflect cryptic species or formerly distinct lineages in the process of remerging. Preliminary results from DNA barcoding of Scandinavian butterflies and moths showed high intraspecific sequence variation in the autumnal moth, Epirrita autumnata. In this study, specimens from different localities in Norway and some samples from Finland and Sc...

The vagaries of poetic inspiration have often been regarded as ineffably mysterious, and have provoked conjectures since antiquity. Instead of invoking the muses, we today are more apt to consider neurophysiological factors. The case of the great English poet John Milton, whose poetic inspiration seemed to follow a marked seasonal pattern, is considered here, and evidence is presented to show c...

Allium therinanthum, a new species of A. sect. Codonoprasum, is described and illustrated from southern Mt. Hermon (Israel). It is a late-flowering diploid species (2n = 16), growing on calcareous substrates of the mountain belt. It is a narrowly distributed geophyte, showing morphological relationships mainly with A. tardiflorum, a typical autumnal species also occurring in Israel within the p...

Autumnal tints are one of the most fascinating natural phenomena, but the molecular mechanism of chlorophyll (Chl-)degradation in deciduous trees has not been fully understood. In this study, from the leaves of Ginkgo biloba, chlorophyllase-homologous GbCLH was cloned by RT-PCR with degenerated primers. The expression of GbCLH in different yellowing stages was analyzed by Northern hybridization...

The western north Atlantic Ocean constitutes a major route for autumnal migrants moving between eastern North America and the Caribbean or South America. Some shorebirds have long been known to use this route (Lincoln, 1939; Hagar, 1966; Palmer, 1968; McNeil and Burton, 1973), and recently Drury and Nisbet (1964) and Nisbet (1970) have stated that the Blackpoll Warbler (Dendroica striata) proba...