Root Growth Was Enhanced in China Fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) after Mechanical Disturbance by Ice Storm

Accurate estimation of forest biomass and its growth potential could be important in assessing the mitigation potential of forest for climate change. However, severe mechanical disturbance such as stem breakage imposed significant changes to tree individuals in biomass structure, which could bring new inaccuracy to biomass estimation. In order to investigate the influence of severe mechanical disturbance on tree biomass accumulation and to construct accurate models for biomass and carbon storage estimation, this paper analyzed the relationship between tree size and biomass for China fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) which suffered stem breakage from, and survived, an ice storm. The performance of independent variables diameter (D) and height (H) of China fir, were also compared in biomass estimation. The results showed that D as an independent variable was adequate in biomass estimation for China fir, and tree height was not necessary in this case. Root growth was faster in China fir which had suffered breakage in the main stem by the ice storm, than China fir which were undamaged for at least 7 years after the mechanical disturbance, which, in addition to biomass loss in stem, caused changes in the allocation pattern of the damaged trees. This suggests biomass models constructed before severe mechanical disturbance would be less suitable in application for a subsequent period, and accurate estimations of biomass and forest carbon storage would take more effort.

NIH Funding of COVID-19 Research in 2020: a Cross Sectional Study

ObjectiveThis study aims to characterize and evaluate the NIH’s grant allocation pattern of COVID-19 research.DesignCross sectional studySettingCOVID-19 NIH RePORTER Dataset was used to identify COVID-19 relevant grants.Participants1,108 grants allocated to COVID-19 research.Main Outcomes and MeasuresThe primary outcome was to determine the number of grants and funding amount the NIH allocated for COVID-19 by research type and clinical/scientific area. The secondary outcome was to calculate the time from the funding opportunity announcement to the award notice date.ResultsThe NIH awarded a total of 56,169 grants in 2020, of which 2.0% (n=1,108) were allocated for COVID-19 research. The NIH had a $42 billion budget that year, of which 5.3% ($2.2 billion) was allocated to COVID-19 research. The most common clinical/scientific areas were social determinants of health (n=278, 8.5% of COVID-19 funding), immunology (n=211, 25.8%), and pharmaceutical interventions research (n=208, 47.6%). There were 104 grants studying COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions, of which 2 grants studied the efficacy of face masks and 6 studied the efficacy of social distancing. Of the 83 COVID-19 funded grants on transmission, 5 were awarded to study airborne transmission of COVID-19, and 2 grants on transmission of COVID-19 in schools. The average time from the funding opportunity announcement to the award notice date was 151 days (SD: ±57.9).ConclusionIn the first year of the pandemic, the NIH diverted a small fraction of its budget to COVID-19 research. Future health emergencies will require research funding to pivot in a timely fashion and funding levels to be proportional to the anticipated burden of disease in the population.

Spatial Pattern and Spatial Heterogeneity of Chinese Elite Hospitals: A Country-Level Analysis

Elite hospitals represent the highest level of Chinese hospitals in medical service and management, medical quality and safety, technical level and efficiency, which are also one of the important indicators reflecting high-quality medical resources in the region, and their spatial allocation is directly related to the fairness of health resource allocation. We explored the allocation pattern of high-quality resources and its influencing factors in the development of China's health system using geographic weighted regression (GWR), Multi-scale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR), GWR and MGWR with Spatial Autocorrelation(GWR-SAR and MGWR-SAR), spatial lag model (SLM), and spatial error model (SEM). The results of OLS regression showed that city level, number of medical colleges, urbanization rate, permanent population and GDP per capita were its significant variables. And spatial auto-correlation of elite hospitals in China is of great significance. Further, its spatial agglomeration phenomenon was confirmed through SLM and SEM. Among them, the city level is the most important factor affecting the spatial allocation of elite hospitals in China. Its action intensity shows a solid and weak mosaic trend in the Middle East, relatively concentrated in some areas with medium intensity and concentrated in the West China. Obviously, China's elite hospitals are unevenly distributed and have evident spatial heterogeneity. Therefore, we suggest that we should pay attention to the spatial governance of high-quality medical resources, attract medical elites in the region, increase investment in medical education in the scarce areas of elite hospitals and develop tele-medicine service.

Boreal forest carbon exchange and growth recovery after the summer 2018 drought

<p>In summer 2018, Northern Europe experienced an extreme summer drought in combination with unusually high temperatures, which had a substantial impact on agricultural yields as well as on forest growth conditions in various ways. An earlier study, using ICOS RI (Integrated Carbon Observation Research Infrastructure) stations and other forest ecosystem stations in the Nordic region, shows that the drought dramatically decreased NEP in the southern Scandinavian and Baltic region, almost nullifying the carbon sinks in some of the forests [1]. Such severe conditions during a single year could be expected to influence a forest over following several years. Reduced tree storage of carbohydrates leads to a changed carbon allocation pattern in spring that may affect both the woody growth and pests' resistance. It is thus important to reveal the impact of such climatic events over a more extended period.    </p><p>This study aims at assessing the carry-over effects of the extreme weather conditions on the carbon and water fluxes and the forest growth to the years after the event. The analysis is based on measurement from the stations shown to be significantly affected by the drought through reduced carbon fluxes in 2018: the spruce forests Hyltemossa and Skogaryd and the mixed forests Norunda, Svartberget, Soontaga and Rumperöd. The ecosystem carbon and water fluxes will, together with tree-ring width data, be used to assess the carbon and water exchange and growth recovery in the years after the extreme 2018 drought (2019 and 2020) by comparisons to earlier normal years and extreme events.</p><p>[1] Lindroth, A., et al. (2020): Effects of drought and meteorological forcing on carbon and water fluxes in Nordic forests during the dry summer of 2018 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B37520190516 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0516</p>

Carbon allocation of mature spruce upon drought release – results from a whole-tree 13C-labeling study

<p>This contribution presents the result of a free-air <sup>13</sup>C labeling experiment on mature Norway spruce (<em>P. abies [L.] KARST.</em>) upon watering after five years of recurrent summer drought in southern Germany, focusing on whole tree allocation processes. Mature spruce trees had been exposed to recurrent summer drought from 2014 to 2018 through complete exclusion of precipitation throughfall from spring to late fall (i.e., March to November).  In early summer 2019, the drought stressed spruce trees were watered to investigate their recovery processes. In parallel with the watering, we conducted a whole-tree <sup>13</sup>C labeling in canopies and traced the signal in various C sinks, i.e. stem phloem and CO<sub>2</sub> efflux, tree rings at different heights, coarse roots, fine root tips, mycorrhiza, root exudates, and soil CO<sub>2</sub> efflux.</p><p>We hypothesize that drought stressed spruce preferentially allocates newly assimilated C to belowground sinks upon drought release. Conversely to our expectations, allocation to belowground C sinks was not stimulated in drought stressed compared to control spruce. Likewise, the relative amount of recently fixed C allocated to aboveground sinks did not differ between treatments. Our findings suggest that the belowground C sinks are not of higher priority for the allocation of newly assimilated C upon watering after long-term drought. The observed allocation pattern is discussed taking total above- and belowground biomass as well as C source/sink relations into account.</p>