scholarly journals Climate, latitude, and land cover predict flying insect biomass across a German malaise trap network

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen A.R. Welti ◽  
Petr Zajicek ◽  
Manfred Ayasse ◽  
Tim Bornholdt ◽  
Jörn Buse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Malaise Trap ◽  
Insect Communities ◽  
Temperature Deviation ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Effects Of Temperature ◽  
Insect Biomass

ABSTRACTWe examine the effects of climate and land cover on flying insect biomass using an ecological gradients approach and data from the first year of a new, ongoing, standardized German Malaise Trap Program coordinated by the German Long-Term Ecological Research network. We hypothesized that biomass would display a unimodal relationship with temperature, consistent with thermal performance theory. We additionally predicted biomass would decrease with precipitation due to reduced flying activity, and would decrease in areas with more heavily human-modified land cover. Flying insect biomass was quantified from malaise traps at 84 locations across Germany throughout the 2019 growing season. We used an Akaike information criterion approach to parse drivers of temperature, deviation in 2019 temperature from long-term averages, precipitation, land cover, geographic coordinates, elevation, and sampling period. We further examined how effects of temperature on insect biomass change across space by testing for interactions between temperature and latitude. Flying insect biomass increased linearly with monthly temperature across all samples. However, positive effects of temperature on flying insect biomass declined with latitude, suggesting the warm 2019 summer temperatures in southern Germany may have exceeded local insect optimums, and highlighting the spatial variation in climate change-driven impacts on insect communities. Land cover explained less variation in insect biomass, with the largest effect being lower biomass in forested sites. Large-scale, standardized biodiversity monitoring like the German Malaise Trap Program are critical to meet the challenge of disentangling the roles of multiple drivers on insect communities.

scholarly journals Vegetation and microbes interact to preserve carbon in many wooded peatlands

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongjun Wang ◽  
Jianqing Tian ◽  
Huai Chen ◽  
Mengchi Ho ◽  
Rytas Vilgalys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Composition ◽  
Ecological Traits ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
Carbon Decomposition ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Recalcitrant Carbon ◽  
Effects Of Temperature ◽  
Abiotic Controls ◽  
Slow Growing

AbstractPeatlands have persisted as massive carbon sinks over millennia, even during past periods of climate change. The commonly accepted theory of abiotic controls (mainly anoxia and low temperature) over carbon decomposition cannot fully explain how vast low-latitude shrub/tree dominated (wooded) peatlands consistently accrete peat under warm and seasonally unsaturated conditions. Here we show, by comparing the composition and ecological traits of microbes between Sphagnum- and shrub-dominated peatlands, that slow-growing microbes decisively dominate the studied shrub-dominated peatlands, concomitant with plant-induced increases in highly recalcitrant carbon and phenolics. The slow-growing microbes metabolize organic matter thirty times slower than the fast-growing microbes that dominate our Sphagnum-dominated site. We suggest that the high-phenolic shrub/tree induced shifts in microbial composition may compensate for positive effects of temperature and/or drought on metabolism over time in peatlands. This biotic self-sustaining process that modulates abiotic controls on carbon cycling may improve projections of long-term, climate-carbon feedbacks in peatlands.

scholarly journals Multi-Temporal Variabilities of Evapotranspiration Rates and Their Associations with Climate Change and Vegetation Greening in the Gan River Basin, China

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 2568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng Bai ◽  
Bing Shen ◽  
Xiaoyu Song ◽  
Shuhong Mo ◽  
Lingmei Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Long Term Evolution ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Term Evolution

Understanding the spatial-temporal dynamics of evapotranspiration in relation to climate change and human activities is crucial for the sustainability of water resources and ecosystem security, especially in regions strongly influenced by human impact. In this study, a process-based evapotranspiration (ET) model in conjunction with the Global Land Surface Satellite (GLASS) LAI dataset was used to characterize the spatial-temporal pattern of evapotranspiration from 1982 to 2016 over the Gan River basin (GRB), the largest sub-basin of the Poyang Lake catchment, China. The results showed that the actual annual ET (ETa) weakly increased with an annual trend of 0.88 mm year−2 from 1982 to 2016 over the GRB, along with a slight decline in annual potential ET (ETp). On an ecosystem scale; however, only the evergreen broadleaved forest and cropland presented a positive ETa trend, while the rest of the ecosystems demonstrated negative trends of ETa. Both correlation analysis and sensitivity analysis revealed a close relationship between ETa inter-annual variability and energy availability. Attribution analysis illustrated that contributions of climate change and vegetation greening on the ETa trend were −0.48 mm year−2 and 1.36 mm year−2, respectively. Climate change had a negative impact on the ETa trend over the GRB. However, the negative effects have been offset by the positive effects of vegetation greening, which mainly resulted from the large-scale revegetation in forestland and agricultural practices in cropland. It is concluded that large-scale afforestation and agricultural management were the main drivers of the long-term evolution of water consumption over the GRB. This study can improve our understanding of the interactive effects of climate change and human activities on the long-term evolution of water cycles.

scholarly journals Contrasting impacts of urban and farmland cover on flying insect biomass

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilie S. Svenningsen ◽  
Diana E. Bowler ◽  
Susanne Hecker ◽  
Jesper Bladt ◽  
Volker Grescho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Urban Land ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Land Use Intensity ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Urban Land Cover ◽  
Insect Biomass

AbstractRecent studies report declines in biomass, abundance and diversity of terrestrial insect groups. While anthropogenic land use is one likely contributor to this decline, studies assessing land cover as a driver of insect dynamics are rare and mostly restricted in spatial scale and types of land cover. In this study, we used rooftop-mounted car nets in a citizen science project (‘InsectMobile’) to allow for large-scale geographic sampling of flying insects across Denmark and parts of Germany. Citizen scientists sampled insects along 278 10 km routes in urban, farmland and semi-natural (grassland, wetland and forest) landscapes in the summer of 2018. We assessed the importance of local to landscape-scale effects and land use intensity by relating insect biomass to land cover in buffers of 50, 250, 500 and 1000 m along the routes. We found a negative association of urban cover and a positive association of farmland on insect biomass at a landscape-scale (1000 m buffer) in both countries. In Denmark, we also found positive effects of all semi-natural land covers, i.e. grassland (largest at the landscape-scale, 1000 m), forests (largest at intermediate scales, 250 m), and wetlands (largest at the local-scale, 50 m). The negative association of insect biomass with urban land cover and positive association with farmland were not clearly modified by any variable associated with land use intensity. Our results show that land cover has an impact on flying insect biomass with the magnitude of this effect varying across spatial scales. Since we consistently found negative effects of urban land cover, our findings highlight the need for the conservation of semi-natural areas, such as wetlands, grasslands and forests, in Europe.

scholarly journals Spatio-temporal responses of butterflies to global warming on a Mediterranean island over two decades

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pau Colom ◽  
Anna Traveset ◽  
David Carreras ◽  
Constantí Stefanescu
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Island Ecosystems ◽  
Mediterranean Island ◽  
Effects Of Temperature ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Positive Effect

AbstractIn recent decades, efforts have been made to understand how global warming affects biodiversity and in this regard butterflies have emerged as a model group. The most conspicuous sign that warming is affecting the ecology of butterflies are the phenological advances occurring in many species. Moreover, rising temperatures are having a notable impact – both negative and positive – on population abundances. To date, patterns have generally been analysed at species level without taking into account possible differences between populations, which, when they are noted, are mostly attributed to large-scale climate differences across a latitudinal gradient. In this work, we use a long-term database of butterflies from the island of Menorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) to investigate how phenology and population dynamics have been affected by climate warming during the past two decades. In addition, we assess how responses are modulated by habitat characteristics and by species’ biological cycles. Our results show that species respond differently to warming at a local scale depending on season and habitat, and that coastal habitats in the Mediterranean region are particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the effects of temperature could be partially offset in more inland habitats such as forests and deep ravines. The positive effect of temperature on ravine populations during the summer suggests that butterflies disperse across habitats as a response to rising temperatures during the season. This type of dispersal behaviour as a response to warming could be especially important in island ecosystems where the possibilities of modifying altitudinal or latitudinal distributions are often severely limited.

scholarly journals The impact of digital technology use on adolescent well-being

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-142
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Adolescents And Adults ◽  
The Impact

This review provides an overview of the literature regarding digital technology use and adolescent well-being. Overall, findings imply that the general effects are on the negative end of the spectrum but very small. Effects differ depending on the type of use: whereas procrastination and passive use are related to more negative effects, social and active use are related to more positive effects. Digital technology use has stronger effects on short-term markers of hedonic well-being (eg, negative affect) than long-term measures of eudaimonic well-being (eg, life satisfaction). Although adolescents are more vulnerable, effects are comparable for both adolescents and adults. It appears that both low and excessive use are related to decreased well-being, whereas moderate use is related to increased well-being. The current research still has many limitations: High-quality studies with large-scale samples, objective measures of digital technology use, and experience sampling of well-being are missing.

scholarly journals Historical (1700–2012) Global Multi-model Estimates of the Fire Emissions from the Fire Modeling Intercomparison Project (FireMIP)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Li ◽  
Maria Val Martin ◽  
Stijn Hantson ◽  
Meinrat O. Andreae ◽  
Almut Arneth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fire Modeling ◽  
Density Change ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Historical Reconstructions ◽  
Intercomparison Project ◽  
Vegetation Models

Abstract. Fire emissions are critical for carbon and nutrient cycles, climate, and air quality. Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs) with interactive fire modeling provide important estimates for long-term and large-scale changes of fire emissions. Here we present the first multi-model estimates of global gridded historical fire emissions for 1700–2012, including carbon and 33 species of trace gases and aerosols. The dataset is based on simulations of nine DGVMs with different state-of-the-art global fire models that participated in the Fire Modeling Intercomparison Project (FireMIP), using the same and standardized protocols and forcing data, and the most up-to-date fire emission factor table from field and laboratory studies over various land cover types. We evaluate the simulations of present-day fire emissions by comparing them with satellite-based products. Evaluation results show that most DGVMs simulate present-day global fire emission totals within the range of satellite-based products, and can capture the high emissions over the tropical savannas, low emissions over the arid and sparsely vegetated regions, and the main features of seasonality. However, most of the models fail to simulate the interannual variability, partly due to a lack of modeling peat fires and tropical deforestation fires. Historically, all models show only a weak trend in global fire emissions before ~ 1850s, consistent with multi-source merged historical reconstructions. The long-term trends among DGVMs are quite different for the 20th century, with some models showing an increase and others a decrease in fire emissions, mainly as a result of the discrepancy in their simulated responses to human population density change and land-use and land-cover change (LULCC). Our study provides a basic dataset for developing regional and global multi-source merged historical reconstructions and merging methods, and analyzing historical changes of fire emissions and their uncertainties as well as their role in the Earth system. It also highlights the importance of accurately modeling the responses of fire emissions to LULCC and population density change in reducing uncertainties in historical reconstructions of fire emissions and providing more reliable future projections.

scholarly journals Users’ Perception And Reported Effects Of Long-term Access To In-Vehicle Traffic Information Services Mediated Through Nomadic Devices

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-206
Author(s):  
Tor Skoglund ◽  
Pontus Wallgren ◽  
MariAnne Karlsson ◽  
Stig Franzén
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Traffic Information ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Operational Test ◽  
Large Scale Field ◽  
Field Operational Test ◽  
Perceived Effects ◽  
The Times

Abstract ICT-mediated traffic information has been argued to contribute to a more sustainable transport system through affecting drivers. Nevertheless, long-term effects of travellers having access to nomadic in-vehicle systems for traveller information are not well known. This study presents the results from a multi-national large-scale field operational test (FOT). The results show that the users in general were positive to the tested systems and that there were several effects on their driving behaviour but in many cases the effects were limited. Moreover the effects varied between system types. Positive effects were related to comfort, as well as individual and system efficiency. One could also notice that perceived effects were not as high as the participants had expected, leading to some disappointment. Most of the times this was due to the tested systems functioning in a less than optimal way.

scholarly journals Old-Fashioned Technology in the Era of “Bling”: Is There a Future for Text Messaging in Health Care? (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane C Willcox ◽  
Rosie Dobson ◽  
Robyn Whittaker
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Change ◽  
Text Messaging ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Text Message ◽  
Health Behavior Change ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
Long Term Conditions ◽  
Healthy Behavior ◽  
Positive Effects

UNSTRUCTURED In the quest to discover the next high-technology solution to solve many health problems, proven established technologies are often overlooked in favor of more “technologically advanced” systems that have not been fully explored for their applicability to support behavior change theory, or used by consumers. Text messages or SMS is one example of an established technology still used by consumers, but often overlooked as part of the mobile health (mHealth) toolbox. The purpose of this paper is to describe the benefits of text messages as a health promotion modality and to advocate for broader scale implementation of efficacious text message programs. Text messaging reaches consumers in a ubiquitous real-time exchange, contrasting the multistep active engagement required for apps and wearables. It continues to be the most widely adopted and least expensive mobile phone function. As an intervention modality, text messaging has taught researchers substantial lessons about tailored interactive health communication; reach and engagement, particularly in low-resource settings; and embedding of behavior change models into digital health. It supports behavior change techniques such as reinforcement, prompts and cues, goal setting, feedback on performance, support, and progress review. Consumers have provided feedback to indicate that text messages can provide them with useful information, increase perceived support, enhance motivation for healthy behavior change, and provide prompts to engage in health behaviors. Significant evidence supports the effectiveness of text messages alone as part of an mHealth toolbox or in combination with health services, to support healthy behavior change. Systematic reviews have consistently reported positive effects of text message interventions for health behavior change and disease management including smoking cessation, medication adherence, and self-management of long-term conditions and health, including diabetes and weight loss. However, few text message interventions are implemented on a large scale. There is still much to be learned from investing in text messaging delivered research. When a modality is known to be effective, we should be learning from large-scale implementation. Many other technologies currently suffer from poor long-term engagement, the digital divide within society, and low health and technology literacy of users. Investing in and incorporating the learnings and lessons from large-scale text message interventions will strengthen our way forward in the quest for the ultimate digitally delivered behavior change model.

scholarly journals Old-Fashioned Technology in the Era of “Bling”: Is There a Future for Text Messaging in Health Care?

10.2196/16630 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. e16630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane C Willcox ◽  
Rosie Dobson ◽  
Robyn Whittaker
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Change ◽  
Text Messaging ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Text Message ◽  
Health Behavior Change ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
Long Term Conditions ◽  
Healthy Behavior ◽  
Positive Effects

In the quest to discover the next high-technology solution to solve many health problems, proven established technologies are often overlooked in favor of more “technologically advanced” systems that have not been fully explored for their applicability to support behavior change theory, or used by consumers. Text messages or SMS is one example of an established technology still used by consumers, but often overlooked as part of the mobile health (mHealth) toolbox. The purpose of this paper is to describe the benefits of text messages as a health promotion modality and to advocate for broader scale implementation of efficacious text message programs. Text messaging reaches consumers in a ubiquitous real-time exchange, contrasting the multistep active engagement required for apps and wearables. It continues to be the most widely adopted and least expensive mobile phone function. As an intervention modality, text messaging has taught researchers substantial lessons about tailored interactive health communication; reach and engagement, particularly in low-resource settings; and embedding of behavior change models into digital health. It supports behavior change techniques such as reinforcement, prompts and cues, goal setting, feedback on performance, support, and progress review. Consumers have provided feedback to indicate that text messages can provide them with useful information, increase perceived support, enhance motivation for healthy behavior change, and provide prompts to engage in health behaviors. Significant evidence supports the effectiveness of text messages alone as part of an mHealth toolbox or in combination with health services, to support healthy behavior change. Systematic reviews have consistently reported positive effects of text message interventions for health behavior change and disease management including smoking cessation, medication adherence, and self-management of long-term conditions and health, including diabetes and weight loss. However, few text message interventions are implemented on a large scale. There is still much to be learned from investing in text messaging delivered research. When a modality is known to be effective, we should be learning from large-scale implementation. Many other technologies currently suffer from poor long-term engagement, the digital divide within society, and low health and technology literacy of users. Investing in and incorporating the learnings and lessons from large-scale text message interventions will strengthen our way forward in the quest for the ultimate digitally delivered behavior change model.

scholarly journals Holocene land cover and population dynamics in Southern France

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 776-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-François Berger ◽  
Stephen Shennan ◽  
Jessie Woodbridge ◽  
Alessio Palmisano ◽  
Florence Mazier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Human Impact ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Southern France ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Rhone Valley

This paper describes long-term changes in human population and vegetation cover in southern France, using summed radiocarbon probability distributions and site count data as population proxies and information from fossil pollen cores as a proxy for past land cover. Southern France is particularly well-suited to this type of study as a result of previous programmes of intensive survey work and excavation in advance of large-scale construction. These make it possible to calibrate the larger scale occupation patterns in the light of the visibility issues created by the burial of archaeological sites beneath alluvial sediments. For purposes of analysis, the region was divided into three biogeographical zones (BGZ), going from the Mediterranean coast to the middle Rhône valley (MRV). All the different population proxies in a given zone show broadly similar patterns of fluctuation, though with varying levels of resolution. The long-term patterns in the different zones all show significant differences from the overall regional pattern, but this is especially the case for the non-Mediterranean middle Rhône area. Cluster analysis of pollen samples has been carried out to identify the main regional land cover types through the Holocene, which are increasingly dominated by open types over time. A variety of other pollen indicators show evidence of increasing human impact through time. Measures of human impact correlate strongly with the population proxies. A series of thresholds are identified in the population–human impact trajectory that are related to other changes in the cultural sequence. The lack of independent climate data for the region means that its impact cannot currently be assessed with confidence. However, for the later periods, it is clear that the incorporation of southern France into larger regional systems played a major role in accounting for changes in land cover and settlement.

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