Spatial Association of Respiratory Health with Social and Environmental Factors: Case Study of Cook County, IL

BackgroundPeople who live with respiratory diseases like asthma are more likely at risk of serious illness. Spatial analytic techniques allow for discovering areas of concern and finding correlates of asthma prevalence.ObjectiveThere is growing interest in disentangling the impacts of socioeconomic and environmental factors on respiratory health, their spatial correlation, and the demographic profile of people at risk of respiratory diseases. It is important to know how people with asthma are geographically distributed and what social and environmental factors correlate with asthma. Thereby, the purpose of the study is to describe socioeconomic factors associated with asthma prevalence in Cook County, IL and to identify the significant risks and the protective factors to control asthma.Data and MethodsData obtained from CDC 2018 SVI, ACS, the City of Chicago Data Portal, HealthData.gov, and ESRI. In this paper, we illustrate the usefulness of geospatial regression analysis in the analysis and presentation of spatially distributed asthma prevalence among the population with disabilities, minorities with the language barrier, nonwhite population, age 17 and younger, and age 65 and older in the census tracts of Cook County, IL where Chicago Metropolitan Area located. In addition, we map the spatial variation of asthma prevalence with variation in the tree canopy, access to medical centers, air quality, and household quality. Lastly, we used bivariate mapping to illustrate the spatial distributions of residential land use and tree covers.ResultsOur findings show a good correlation between asthma and socioeconomic and physical factors including age 17 and younger, age 65 and older, population with disabilities, a minority with the language barrier, tree canopy, access to medical centers, air quality, and household quality. The aged 65 and older, 17 and younger, and people with disabilities are found to have a higher asthma prevalence in areas around the industrial corridors in southeast and west sides of Cook County, IL. Results may guide further decisions in planning for asthma research and intervention, especially for identifying vulnerable areas and people.

Intermediate-scale horizontal isoprene concentrations in the near-canopy forest atmosphere and implications for emission heterogeneity

The emissions, deposition, and chemistry of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are thought to be influenced by underlying landscape heterogeneity at intermediate horizontal scales of several hundred meters across different forest subtypes within a tropical forest. Quantitative observations and scientific understanding at these scales, however, remain lacking, in large part due to a historical absence of canopy access and suitable observational approaches. Herein, horizontal heterogeneity in VOC concentrations in the near-canopy atmosphere was examined by sampling from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flown horizontally several hundred meters over the plateau and slope forests in central Amazonia during the morning and early afternoon periods of the wet season of 2018. Unlike terpene concentrations, the isoprene concentrations in the near-canopy atmosphere over the plateau forest were 60% greater than those over the slope forest. A gradient transport model constrained by the data suggests that isoprene emissions differed by 220 to 330% from these forest subtypes, which is in contrast to a 0% difference implemented in most present-day biosphere emissions models (i.e., homogeneous emissions). Quantifying VOC concentrations, emissions, and other processes at intermediate horizontal scales is essential for understanding the ecological and Earth system roles of VOCs and representing them in climate and air quality models.

Bryophyte stable isotope composition, diversity and biomass define tropical montane cloud forest extent

Liverworts and mosses are a major component of the epiphyte flora of tropical montane forest ecosystems. Canopy access was used to analyse the distribution and vertical stratification of bryophyte epiphytes within tree crowns at nine forest sites across a 3400 m elevational gradient in Peru, from the Amazonian basin to the high Andes. The stable isotope compositions of bryophyte organic material ( 13 C/ 12 C and 18 O/ 16 O) are associated with surface water diffusive limitations and, along with C/N content, provide a generic index for the extent of cloud immersion. From lowland to cloud forest δ 13 C increased from −33‰ to −27‰, while δ 18 O increased from 16.3‰ to 18.0‰. Epiphytic bryophyte and associated canopy soil biomass in the cloud immersion zone was estimated at up to 45 t dry mass ha −1 , and overall water holding capacity was equivalent to a 20 mm precipitation event. The study emphasizes the importance of diverse bryophyte communities in sequestering carbon in threatened habitats, with stable isotope analysis allowing future elevational shifts in the cloud base associated with changes in climate to be tracked.

Peach Blossom String Thinner Performance Improved with Selective Pruning

Hand-thinning of fruit is among the most labor-intensive orchard practices and consequently contributes significantly to peach (Prunus persica) production costs. Prior research conducted by the authors on string blossom thinners for managing peach tree cropload demonstrated that this new technology reduces labor requirement and also improves fruit size. Studies were conducted over two seasons in peach orchards trained to perpendicular V or open-center systems to evaluate possible pruning strategies to improve tree canopy access by string thinners. The objectives were to demonstrate if modifications in fruiting shoot orientation, pruning detail, and/or scaffold accessibility improved flower removal, reduced follow-up hand-thinning requirement, and/or increased fruit size. Blossom removal was improved by either detailed pruning or partial pruning (elimination of all shoots on the side of a limb inaccessible by the thinner spindle) in both training systems. Flower density and fruit set measurements revealed greater differences among pruning treatments compared with hand-thinned control treatments with both fruiting shoot orientation pruning modifications and detail pruning resulting in improved thinning. Thinning efficacy was unaffected by scaffold angle but increased as canopy accessibility ranking increased. Follow-up hand-thinning time was reduced by all treatment, system/cultivar, and year combinations except standard pruning in an open center-trained 2009 trial. Detail pruning consistently improved fruit size compared with hand-thinned control and other pruning treatments in both perpendicular V- and open center-trained orchard plots. The best treatments resulted in a thinning savings of $120/ha to $282/ha in perpendicular V plantings and $26/ha to $46/ha in open-center plantings. Realized economic savings beyond hand-thinning alone ranged from $473/ha to $2875/ha in perpendicular V trials and $28/ha to $293/ha in open-center trials.

Canopy assemblages of ants in a New Guinea rain forest

The ant assemblages in two common tree species in primary lowland forest of New Guinea were explored using direct canopy access and tuna bait traps. The 19 trees investigated were occupied by 21 ant species of which 18 were canopy inhabitants. On average only 3.6 ant species per tree and 3 species per bait were found. Height of bait position was positively related to ant species richness, with the upper parts of the canopy being occupied by the highest number of species. On the other hand, tree species and study site did not have any effect on ant species richness nor on structure of the ant assemblages. Ant species appeared to be distributed randomly and we did not detect any effect of distance on similarity of ant assemblage occurring on the trees. The dominant species (Crematogaster polita) had certain negative effects on the presence of some species at food sources co-occurring at the same tree, but it did co-occur with the other ants to some extent as well. The majority of species found in the canopy were generalist omnivores (depending mainly on trophobionts or plant exudates).

Vertical and temporal distribution of insolation in gaps in an old-growth coniferous forest

The combination of canopy access at the Wind River Canopy Crane Research Facility, hemispherical photography, and long-term insolation data provided estimates of vertical and temporal distributions of insolation in nine canopy gaps in a 65 m tall Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) - western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) forest. Yearly insolation (long-term data from Portland, Oreg.) exhibited a sigmoidal pattern with height, with a bright zone (>4200 MJ/m2) above 50 m, a transition zone from 45 to 30 m (2000 MJ/m2), and less rapid decrease from 30 to below 10 m (600 MJ/m2). Intergap variation peaked between 20 and 40 m. Interannual variation of yearly insolation (CV = SD/mean) was about 5% throughout the canopy. Seasonality of insolation was driven by solar angle and cloudiness. Diffuse insolation was 50% of annual above-canopy flux, increasing to nearly 70% at 1.5 m, and diffuse proportion was greater in winter and spring. Hourly simulations under clear and cloudy conditions provided an appropriate time scale for modeling photosynthesis. Estimated leaf area index peaked at 30-35 and 5-10 m but was underestimated (3.7 vs. 9.1 m2/m2 from direct measurements) because of foliage clumping. The methods documented highly variable distributions of insolation driven by forest structure, cloudiness, and seasonal changes in solar angle.

Leaf area index of an old-growth Douglas-fir forest estimated from direct structural measurements in the canopy

Leaf area index (LAI) in old-growth Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) forests exceeds that of any other forest ecosystem by some estimates; however, LAI determinations in coniferous forests have generally been indirect, involving extrapolations of patterns observed in younger stands. Aided by a 75-m construction crane for canopy access, we used a vertical line-intercept method to estimate LAI for a [Formula: see text]450-year-old Douglas-fir - western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) forest in southwestern Washington state. LAI was calculated as the product of foliage contact frequency and an "extinction coefficient" accounting for foliage angular distribution, geometry, and the ratio of "interceptable" to total leaf area. LAI estimates were 9.3 ± 2.1 (estimate ± 95% confidence interval), 8.5 ± 2.2, and 8.2 ± 1.8 in 1997, 1998, and 1999, respectively, or 8.6 ± 1.1 pooled across years. Understory vegetation, including foliage of woody stems <5 cm diameter, represented 20% of this total. Sample points in which Douglas-fir was dominant had a higher total LAI than points dominated by western hemlock, including a higher LAI of understory vegetation. Our results do not support the contention that old-growth Douglas-fir - western hemlock forests maintain an appreciably higher LAI than do other forest ecosystems. Moreover, LAI in very old stands may decline as western hemlock replaces Douglas-fir through the course of succession.