scholarly journals An updated checklist to the biodiversity data of ladybeetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the Azores Archipelago (Portugal)

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
António Soares ◽  
Isabel Borges ◽  
Hugo Calado ◽  
Paulo Borges
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Mixed Forest ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
Terrestrial Biodiversity ◽  
Available Information ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Native Host

A recently-published review from 2021 presents a comprehensive checklist of ladybeetles of Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira Archipelagos. Until then, the available information was very scattered and based on a single revision dating back to 1986, a few international catalogues and databases, individual records and studies on communities of agroecosystems. However, no information was available on faunal composition across the Azorean islands and their habitats, using standardised inventories. Here, we present data about the biodiversity of ladybeetles and their distribution and abundance in five Islands of the Azores (Faial, Graciosa, Pico, São Jorge and São Miguel). Surveys included herbaceous and arboreal habitats from native to anthropogenic-managed habitats: ruderal road vegetation, vegetable garden, mixed forest of endemic and non-native host plants, coastal prairies, coastal mixed vegetation, cornfields and urban areas. We aimed to contribute to the ongoing effort to document the terrestrial biodiversity of Portugal, including the Archipelago of the Azores, within the research project AZORESBIOPORTAL–PORBIOTA (ACORES-01-0145-FEDER-000072). In this study, a total of 1,487 specimens of Coccinellidae belonging to 19 species are reported for several habitats. The listed species are from one single sub-familiy (Coccinellinae) and six tribes; Chilocorini (one species), Coccidulini (three species), Coccinellini (six species), Noviini (one species), Scymnini (seven species), Stethorini (one species). The number of species collected per island differed; Faial (10 species), Graciosa (four species), Pico (seven species), São Jorge (seven species) and São Miguel (12 species). For six species, new island records are given. Currently, the number of species known to occur in the Azores are 32, including two doubtful records. The majority of species are Scymnini, being Scymnus (Scymnus) interruptus (Goeze, 1777) and Scymnus (Scymnus) nubilus Mulsant, 1850, the most abundant species (relative abundance 71.1%). This database will be the baseline of a long-term monitoring project allowing assessment of the impact of ongoing global changes in the distribution and abundance of ladybeetles.

The emerging threat of artificial intelligence on competition in liberalized electricity markets: A deep Q-network approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danial Esmaeili Aliabadi ◽  
Katrina Chan
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Markets ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
End Users ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Bidding Strategies ◽  
Q Learning ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Available Information ◽  
The Impact

Abstract BackgroundAccording to sustainable development goals (SDGs), societies should have access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy. Deregulated electricity markets have been established to provide affordable electricity for end-users through advertising competition. Although these liberalized markets are expected to serve this purpose, they are far from perfect and are prone to threats, such as collusion. Tacit collusion is a condition, in which power generating companies (GenCos) disrupt the competition by exploiting their market power. MethodsIn this manuscript, a novel deep Q-network (DQN) model is developed, which GenCos can use to determine the bidding strategies to maximize average long-term payoffs using available information. In the presence of collusive equilibria, the results are compared with a conventional Q-learning model that solely relies on past outcomes. With that, this manuscript aims to investigate the impact of emerging DQN models on the establishment of collusive equilibrium in markets with repetitive interactions among players. Results and ConclusionsThe outcomes show that GenCos may be able to collude unintentionally while trying to ameliorate long-term profits. Collusive strategies can lead to exorbitant electric bills for end-users, which is one of the influential factors in energy poverty. Thus, policymakers and market designers should be vigilant regarding the combined effect of information disclosure and autonomous pricing, as new models exploit information more effectively.

scholarly journals 60 years of UK visibility measurements: impact of meteorology and atmospheric pollutants on visibility

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 2085-2101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajit Singh ◽  
William J. Bloss ◽  
Francis D. Pope
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Aerosol Particle ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Gas Absorption ◽  
Atmospheric Pollutants ◽  
Light Extinction ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Aerosol Hygroscopicity

Abstract. Reduced visibility is an indicator of poor air quality. Moreover, degradation in visibility can be hazardous to human safety; for example, low visibility can lead to road, rail, sea and air accidents. In this paper, we explore the combined influence of atmospheric aerosol particle and gas characteristics, and meteorology, on long-term visibility. We use visibility data from eight meteorological stations, situated in the UK, which have been running since the 1950s. The site locations include urban, rural and marine environments. Most stations show a long-term trend of increasing visibility, which is indicative of reductions in air pollution, especially in urban areas. Additionally, the visibility at all sites shows a very clear dependence on relative humidity, indicating the importance of aerosol hygroscopicity on the ability of aerosol particles to scatter radiation. The dependence of visibility on other meteorological parameters, such as wind speed and wind direction, is also investigated. Most stations show long-term increases in temperature which can be ascribed to climate change, land-use changes (e.g. urban heat island effects) or a combination of both; the observed effect is greatest in urban areas. The impact of this temperature change upon local relative humidity is discussed. To explain the long-term visibility trends and their dependence on meteorological conditions, the measured data were fitted to a newly developed light-extinction model to generate predictions of historic aerosol and gas scattering and absorbing properties. In general, an excellent fit was achieved between measured and modelled visibility for all eight sites. The model incorporates parameterizations of aerosol hygroscopicity, particle concentration, particle scattering, and particle and gas absorption. This new model should be applicable and is easily transferrable to other data sets worldwide. Hence, historical visibility data can be used to assess trends in aerosol particle properties. This approach may help constrain global model simulations which attempt to generate aerosol fields for time periods when observational data are scarce or non-existent. Both the measured visibility and the modelled aerosol properties reported in this paper highlight the success of the UK's Clean Air Act, which was passed in 1956, in cleaning the atmosphere of visibility-reducing pollutants.

scholarly journals Proyecto Haz[Otea]

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Alvira Baeza
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Surface Characteristics ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
General Transformation ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Collective Benefit ◽  
S Model ◽  
Available Information ◽  
The Impact

Desde hace ya tiempo es frecuente oír hablar del gran potencial de la ‘puesta en carga’ de las azoteas urbanas no utilizadas para incrementar la sostenibilidad de las ciudades, generalmente alu-diendo a su habilitación como azoteas verdes o para ubicar elementos generadores de energía re-novable. Sin embargo, por varios motivos resulta difícil valorar en qué grado son correctas dichas afirmaciones: La información disponible de diferentes soluciones de azoteas describe cuestiones técnicas e impactos focalizados en aspectos muy concretos de la realidad (aislamiento térmico, re-tención de agua de lluvia…) difícilmente relacionables con el efecto global sobre las áreas urbanas de habilitar las azoteas. El efecto de un diseño/solución técnica es diferente en áreas urbanas diferentes. Las azoteas pueden ser destinadas a numerosos usos y antes de afirmar el mayor o menor interés de cada uno de ellos es necesario compararlos entre sí. Para ayudar en este debate, en este texto tratamos de aportar una estimación más completa del potencial de transformar la ciudad mediante la actuación sobre las azoteas de los edificios, incorporando dos cuestiones frecuentemente ausentes: revisaremos tanto las soluciones frecuentemente denominadas ‘sostenibles’ como un rango amplio de otras transformaciones posibles que seleccionamos a partir de una revisión extensa de ejemplos actuales y pasados de aprovechamiento de azoteas en todo el mundo. Paralelamente, realizaremos una estimación del impacto previsible de habilitar todas las azoteas de un área urbana existente, lo que nos permitirá valorar impactos globales que solo es posible apre-ciar al incrementar la escala de análisis.Para ello, estimaremos el impacto previsible de la posible transformación de un área urbana exis-tente (el barrio Palos de Moguer en Madrid) utilizando el modelo Meta[S] propuesto por el autor (Alvira, 2015). La evaluación nos permite poner de manifiesto tres cuestiones fundamentales: no todas las transformaciones posibles de las azoteas producen el mismo beneficio sobre las ciudades, maximizar el beneficio de poner en carga las azoteas requiere el análisis particularizado de cada área urbana, y la cantidad de usos que es posible implantar y la facilidad de dicha implantación se incrementan si se introducen cambios en la normativa. Estas dos últimas cuestiones nos permiten afirmar el interés no solo de actualizar las normas estata-les de edificación, sino también de que los ayuntamientos regulen las condiciones y utilización de los espacios de azotea, y en las conclusiones enumeramos algunas cuestiones que consideramos deberían contemplar o incorporar las diferentes normativas en relación a las azoteas. For some time now, it has become increasingly common hearing about the great potential trans-forming urban rooftop spaces poses for increasing cities’ sustainability, in a speech usually encour-aging their adaptation into green roofs or use for locating renewable energy generators. However, it is currently extremely difficult assessing to what extent these statements are correct:• Available information and assessments of these rooftops’ types describe technical issues and/or focus on specific aspects of their impact on reality [thermal insulation, rain water re-tention ...] being hardly relatable to the impact a general transformation of an urban area’s rooftops would imply for the area’s overall state. • The impact of some technological solution/design may be different in different urban are-as.• Rooftops may host several uses, yet we have found no document providing an extensive comparison of the impact of each of them.To assist in this debate, in this text we estimate the expected impact of the hypothetical transfor-mation of all available rooftops in an existing urban area: Palos de Moguer neighborhood in Madrid. In order to do so, we use Meta[S] model proposed by the author as PhD Thesis project, which as-sesses 64 dimensions of urban reality. The assessment allows us to highlight three key issues:• Not all possible rooftops transformations produce the same benefit for cities/urban areas, and in urban consolidated environments rooftop transformations that allow people’s use may pose higher collective benefit.• Rooftops transformations benefit maximization requires individual analysis of each urban area, relating its particular needs with available rooftop surface characteristics.• The number of different rooftops possible uses and their ease of implementation can be greatly increased if some previsions are incorporated in Urban Planning/Building CodesThese last two issues allow us to state the interest of both updating national Building & Design Codes and that municipalities regulate the conditions and use of rooftop spaces. In the Conclusions we list some issues we believe should be incorporated by different rooftops’ regulations.

scholarly journals Exploring the Impact of a District Sharing Strategy on Application Capacity and Carbon Emissions for Heating and Cooling with GSHP Systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 5543
Author(s):  
Yi Zhang ◽  
He Qi ◽  
Yu Zhou ◽  
Zhonghua Zhang ◽  
Xi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Ground Source ◽  
Sharing Strategy ◽  
Low Carbon Energy ◽  
The Impact

To meet long-term climate change targets, the way that heating and cooling are generated and distributed has to be changed to achieve a supply of affordable, secure and low-carbon energy for all buildings and infrastructures. Among the possible renewable sources of energy, ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems can be an effective low-carbon solution that is compatible with district heating and cooling in urban areas. There are no location restrictions for this technology, and underground energy sources are stable for long-term use. According to a previous study, buildings in urban areas have demonstrated significant spatial heterogeneity in terms of their capacity to demand (C/D) ratio under the application of GSHP due to variations in heating demand and available space. If a spatial sharing strategy can be developed to allow the surplus geothermal capacity to be shared with neighbors, the heating and cooling demands of a greater number of buildings in an area can be satisfied, thus achieving a city with lower carbon emissions. In this study, a GSHP district system model was developed with a specific embedding sharing strategy for the application of GSHP. Two sharing strategies were proposed in this study: (i) Strategy 1 involved individual systems with borehole sharing, and (ii) Strategy 2 was a central district system. Three districts in London were selected to compare the performance of the developed models on the C/D ratio, required borehole number and carbon emissions. According to the comparison analysis, both strategies were able to enhance the GSHP application capacity and increase the savings of carbon emissions. However, the improvement levels were shown to be different. A greater number of building types and a higher variety in building types with larger differentiation in heating and cooling demands can contribute to a better district sharing performance. In addition, it was found that these two sharing strategies were applicable to different kinds of districts.

scholarly journals 60 years of UK visibility measurements: impact of meteorology and atmospheric pollutants on visibility

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajit Singh ◽  
William J. Bloss ◽  
Francis D. Pope
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Aerosol Particle ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Gas Absorption ◽  
Atmospheric Pollutants ◽  
Light Extinction ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Aerosol Hygroscopicity

Abstract. Reduced visibility is an indicator of poor air quality. Moreover, degradation in visibility can be hazardous to human safety; for example, low visibility can lead to road, rail, sea and air accidents. In this paper, we explore the combined influence of atmospheric aerosol particle and gas characteristics, and meteorology, on long-term visibility. We use visibility data from eight meteorological stations, situated in the UK, which have been running since the 1950s. The site locations include urban, rural and marine environments. Most stations show a long term trend of increasing visibility which is indicative of reductions in air pollution, especially in urban areas. Additionally, the visibility at all sites show a very clear dependence on relative humidity indicating the importance of aerosol hygroscopicity on the ability of aerosol particles to scatter radiation. The dependence of visibility on other meteorological parameters, such as wind speed and wind direction is also investigated. Most stations show long term increases in temperature which can be ascribed to either climate change, land-use changes (e.g. urban heat island effects) or a combination of both; the observed effect is greatest in urban areas. The impact of this temperature change upon local relative humidity is discussed. To explain the long term visibility trends and their dependence on meteorological conditions, the measured data were fitted to a newly developed light extinction model to generate predictions of historic aerosol and gas scattering and absorbing properties. In general, an excellent fit was achieved between measured and modelled visibility for all 8 sites. The model incorporates parameterizations of aerosol hygroscopicity, particle concentration, particle scattering, and particle and gas absorption. This new model should be applicable and is easily transferrable to other data sets worldwide. Hence, historical visibility data can be used to assess trends in aerosol particle properties. This approach may help constrain global model simulations which attempt to generate aerosol fields for time periods when observational data are scarce or non-existent. Both the measured visibility and the modelled aerosol properties reported in this paper highlight the success of the UK’s Clean Air Act, which was passed in 1956, in cleaning the atmosphere of visibility reducing pollutants.

Effect of Aerially-Applied Herbicides on Texas and Puerto Rico Forests

Weed Science ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clyde C. Dowler ◽  
Fred H. Tschirley ◽  
R. W. Bovey ◽  
H. L. Morton
Keyword(s):  
Acetic Acid ◽  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Woody Plants ◽  
Secondary Succession ◽  
Mixed Forest ◽  
The Other ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
Dichlorophenoxy Acetic Acid

We applied (2,4-dichlorophenoxy)acetic acid (2,4-D), (2, 4,5-trichlorophenoxy)acetic acid (2,4,5-T), 4-amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid (picloram), and 1,1′-dimethyl-4,4′-bipyridinium ion (paraquat) alone and in various combinations by aircraft on arborescent species in Texas and Puerto Rico. Paraquat defoliated trees rapidly but did not give long-term control. Picloram defoliated a greater number of species than the other herbicides and defoliation extended over a longer period. No treatment killed all trees in the mixed forest or prevented regrowth and secondary succession for a period of more than 1 year. Higher herbicide rates were necessary to defoliate woody plants in tropical Puerto Rico than in subtropical Texas.

Fluctuations of rodent populations in response to rainfall and fire in a central Australian hummock grassland dominated by Plectrachne schinzii

1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 289 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Southgate ◽  
P Masters
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammal ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Dry Period ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Rodent Populations

Fluctuations in the composition and abundance of a small-mammal assemblage were studied in a hummock grassland dominated by Plectrachne schinzii at Watarrka National Park from 1988 to 1993. During this period an experiment was conducted to examine the short-term effects of fire on the rodents. We caught three species of rodent (Pseudomys hermannsburgensis, Notomys alexis and Mus domesticus). All species reached their greatest density in spring 1989 during an exceptionally wet period that extended from mid- 1988 to 1990. P. hermannsburgensis was the most abundant species and showed a 10-fold fluctuation in numbers over the sample period; N. alexis was the next most abundant species and showed a 5-fold increase but the population took longer to decline. M. domesticus was recorded only during the period of high rainfall. The number of M. domesticus was significantly less on the burnt plots than on the unburnt plots. Neither P. hermannsburgensis nor N. alexis showed significant differences between burnt and unburnt plots. This study illustrates the impact of rainfall events on the composition and density of small-mammal populations in spinifex grasslands in central Australia. Our results lead to the prediction that rodent populations will achieve densities in the order of 10 individuals ha-' or more in regions that experience three consecutive 6-month periods each with rainfall at 150% of the long-term average. This sequence apparently needs to follow a dry period where rainfall is no more than 85% of the long-term annual average for two consecutive 12-month periods.

scholarly journals Short-term temperature variability in a tropical Andean city Manizales, Colombia

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-139
Author(s):  
Jeannette Zambrano Nájera ◽  
Victor Delgado ◽  
Jorge Julian Vélez Upegui
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Temperature Structure ◽  
Tropical Andes ◽  
Temporal Complexity ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Available Information ◽  
The City

The climatic variability in the Tropical Andes area is high, both spatially and temporally, and its analysis must be carried out both in the short and long term depending on the available information. This type of spatial-temporal analysis provides tools for planning and environmental management in urban areas, given its high complexity. This investigation focuses on a diagnosis of the diurnal cycle and the analysis of the monthly temperature structure in 13 stations located in the city of Manizales, Caldas (Colombia). This applied research aims to understand the behavior of the temperature in a tropical Andes city in Colombia, where the spatial-temporal complexity of this variable improve the urban and hydrological planning strategies. Results correspond to what has been previously defined by other authors for the Andean zone: city temperature shows very stable patrons, yet important variations in temperature range across the city are appreciated during the day.

The impact of artificial lighting on bats along native coastal vegetation

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant D. Linley
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Coastal Vegetation ◽  
Native Vegetation ◽  
Light Pollution ◽  
Species Loss ◽  
Artificial Lighting ◽  
Bat Activity ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Impact

Anthropogenic light pollution is increasing rapidly within urban areas around the world, causing a raft of ecological issues, including species loss. I used echolocation detectors to uncover the impact of artificial lighting on insectivorous bat (Chiroptera) species in Melbourne’s south-east. Surveys were undertaken in native vegetation at a lit treatment, which was illuminated by a street light, and an unlit treatment, which was dark. Bat activity and species richness at unlit treatments was significantly higher when compared with lit treatments. The temperature at which the greatest activity occurred was ~2°C higher at unlit treatments than lit treatments. Bat activity at both the lit and unlit treatments increased rapidly after sunset. Bat activity moderately decreased during the night at lit treatments until sunrise, whilst activity at unlit treatments remained steady throughout the night before rapidly decreasing two hours before sunrise. The negative effect of artificial lighting on bat activity and species in urban areas may have major long-term implications on the ecology of urban areas.

Investigating global changes in snow dynamics and the impact on water resources

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrià Fontrodona Bach ◽  
Joshua Larsen ◽  
Ross Woods ◽  
Bettina Schaefli ◽  
Ryan Teuling
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Hydrological Models ◽  
Winter Snow ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
The Impact

<p>Snow is a key component of the hydrological cycle in many regions of the world, providing a natural storage of water by accumulating snow in winter and releasing it in spring. Many ecosystems, societies and economies rely on this mechanism as a water resource. There is strong evidence in the literature that global warming leads to decreasing snowfall and snow accumulation and shifts the onset of the melt season to earlier in the year. However, little is known about how rising temperatures affect snowmelt rates and timing, and how these can have an impact on water resources for instance by changing the time and magnitude of streamflow. Some studies predict slower snowmelt rates in a warmer world, due to the onset of melt being earlier when there is less energy available for melt, but there is not yet an observation-based study showing such trends. As a first step, here we present preliminary results of observed long term trends in snowmelt rates from different climates. We use a dataset that has already shown strong decreasing signals for winter snow accumulation. Here we also present potential avenues to investigate the sensitivity of snowpacks and snowmelt regimes in different climatic settings to further rising temperatures using modeled snow dynamics. A few possibilities on how to link the snowpack dynamics to impacts in water resources are also discussed, for instance by comparing modelled dynamics to hydrological models and observations.</p>

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