High mountain ecosystems and their biota are governed by low-temperature conditions and thus can be used as indicators for climate warming impacts on natural ecosystems, provided that long-term data ...exist.
We used data from the largest alpine to nival permanent plot site in the Alps, established in the frame of the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) on Schrankogel in the Tyrolean Alps, Austria, in 1994, and resurveyed in 2004 and 2014.
Vascular plant species richness per plot increased over the entire period, albeit to a lesser extent in the second decade, because disappearance events increased markedly in the latter period. Although presence/absence data could only marginally explain range shift dynamics, changes in species cover and plant community composition indicate an accelerating transformation towards a more warmth-demanding and more drought-adapted vegetation, which is strongest at the lowest, least rugged subsite.
Divergent responses of vertical distribution groups of species suggest that direct warming effects, rather than competitive displacement, are the primary causes of the observed patterns. The continued decrease in cryophilic species could imply that trailing edge dynamics proceed more rapidly than successful colonisation, which would favour a period of accelerated species declines.
Global change is impacting forests worldwide, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services including climate regulation. Understanding how forests respond is critical to forest conservation and ...climate protection. This review describes an international network of 59 long‐term forest dynamics research sites (CTFS‐ForestGEO) useful for characterizing forest responses to global change. Within very large plots (median size 25 ha), all stems ≥1 cm diameter are identified to species, mapped, and regularly recensused according to standardized protocols. CTFS‐ForestGEO spans 25°S–61°N latitude, is generally representative of the range of bioclimatic, edaphic, and topographic conditions experienced by forests worldwide, and is the only forest monitoring network that applies a standardized protocol to each of the world's major forest biomes. Supplementary standardized measurements at subsets of the sites provide additional information on plants, animals, and ecosystem and environmental variables. CTFS‐ForestGEO sites are experiencing multifaceted anthropogenic global change pressures including warming (average 0.61 °C), changes in precipitation (up to ±30% change), atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and sulfur compounds (up to 3.8 g N m⁻² yr⁻¹and 3.1 g S m⁻² yr⁻¹), and forest fragmentation in the surrounding landscape (up to 88% reduced tree cover within 5 km). The broad suite of measurements made at CTFS‐ForestGEO sites makes it possible to investigate the complex ways in which global change is impacting forest dynamics. Ongoing research across the CTFS‐ForestGEO network is yielding insights into how and why the forests are changing, and continued monitoring will provide vital contributions to understanding worldwide forest diversity and dynamics in an era of global change.
Objective
To explore the feasibility of home monitoring of epilepsy patients with a novel subcutaneous electroencephalography (EEG) device, including clinical implications, safety, and compliance via ...the first real‐life test.
Methods
We implanted a beta‐version of the 24/7 EEG SubQ (UNEEG Medical A/S, Denmark) subcutaneously in nine participants with temporal lobe epilepsy. Data on seizures, adverse events, compliance in using the device, and use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were collected. EEG was recorded for up to 3 months, and all EEG data were reviewed visually to identify electrographic seizures. These were descriptively compared to seizure counts and AED changes reported in diaries from the same period.
Results
Four hundred ninety days of EEG and 338 electrographic seizures were collected. Eight participants completed at least 9 weeks of home monitoring, while one cancelled participation after 4 weeks due to postimplantation soreness. In total, 13 cases of device‐related adverse events were registered, none of them serious. Recordings obtained from the device covered 73% of the time, on average (range 45%‐91%). Descriptively, electrographic seizure counts were substantially different from diary seizure counts. We uncovered several cases of underreporting and revealed important information on AED response. Electrographic seizure counts revealed circadian distributions of seizures not visible from seizure diaries.
Significance
The study shows that home monitoring for up to 3 months with a subcutaneous EEG device is feasible and well tolerated. No serious adverse device‐related events were reported. An objective seizure count can be derived, which often differs substantially from self‐reported seizure counts. Larger clinical trials quantifying the benefits of objective seizure counting should be a priority for future research as well as development of algorithms for automated review of data.
The COVID-19 pandemic drew attention to the critical role of building ventilation as a measure for controlling infection transmission. With the substantial number of COVID-19 outbreaks in care homes ...worldwide, the effectiveness of ventilation is an important consideration for infection control and wider exposure to indoor air pollutants. In this study, we used IoT-based sensors in two residential care homes to evaluate ventilation in various areas, including bedrooms, corridors, and communal spaces. Our monitoring focused on carbon dioxide (CO2) levels as a proxy for ventilation, as well as temperature and humidity, during the spring of 2022. We also developed a ventilation model using the software CONTAM and coupled it with an infection risk model to assess airborne transmission risks under different weather and occupancy conditions. Our results suggest that ventilation is generally adequate based on UK COVID-19 guidelines at the time, with CO2 below 800 ppm for the majority of the time, and opening windows in communal spaces in elderly care environments can help preserve indoor ventilation during periods of high occupancy. However, modelling data suggests that low CO2 values may be indicative of low occupancy in many spaces and therefore ventilation rates may not be sufficient to mitigate infection transmission. Encouraging positive ventilation behaviours in staff and residents, potentially supported by visible CO2 monitors, and taking additional precautions such as using air cleaners, enabling additional window openings or staff wearing masks during outbreaks and periods of high disease prevalence is likely to be beneficial for resident and staff health.
•IoT-based sensors are used to measure CO2, temperature and humidity in two care homes.•Measured data shows similar trends to a CONTAM airflow model.•CO2 measurements suggest per person ventilation rate is usually adequate but reduces under adverse weather.•Modelling suggests ventilation rate may not be able to prevent infection outbreaks.•Additional measures such as air cleaning may be needed during outbreaks.
The degradation of coral reefs has resulted in the expansion of coral reef restoration projects worldwide. In the tropical western Atlantic, most restoration efforts focus on outplanting Acropora ...cervicornis, once a dominant reef‐building branching coral, now found predominantly in spatially isolated populations. Hundreds of thousands of A. cervicornis colonies are outplanted onto degraded reefs every year; however, long‐term growth and survival data of outplanted corals is limited. In this study, we assessed the long‐term restoration of A. cervicornis by determining the relationship between surviving outplant populations and restoration effort. We surveyed coral populations at 11 sites in the upper Florida Keys that represented a gradient of restoration effort, defined by the total number of outplants, number of outplanting years, and time since last outplanting. We found a negative relationship between the amount of A. cervicornis live tissue and time since last outplanting, suggesting that outplants are not surviving longer than 2 years. In addition to restoration effort, we investigated how past and present benthic community metrics such as coral density and diversity may influence long‐term outplant survival. We found a positive relationship between the amount of live A. cervicornis tissue and pre‐restoration coral density, suggesting that areas that previously supported dense populations of corals may facilitate restoration success. Ultimately, this study finds that restored A. cervicornis populations decline over time, and continued outplanting effort is needed for the persistence of the species in certain areas. This study also highlights the need for more long‐term monitoring to inform adaptive management and restoration strategies.
•First published comparison between ear-EEG and scalp-EEG in patients with epilepsy.•Ear-EEG can detect temporal lobe seizures and generalized seizures.•Ear-EEG can characterize interictal spikes.
...Ear-EEG is recording of electroencephalography from a small device in the ear. This is the first study to compare ictal and interictal abnormalities recorded with ear-EEG and simultaneous scalp-EEG in an epilepsy monitoring unit.
We recorded and compared simultaneous ear-EEG and scalp-EEG from 15 patients with suspected temporal lobe epilepsy. EEGs were compared visually by independent neurophysiologists. Correlation and time-frequency analysis was used to quantify the similarity between ear and scalp electrodes. Spike-averages were used to assess similarity of interictal spikes.
There were no differences in sensitivity or specificity for seizure detection. Mean correlation coefficient between ear-EEG and nearest scalp electrode was above 0.6 with a statistically significant decreasing trend with increasing distance away from the ear. Ictal morphology and frequency dynamics can be observed from visual inspection and time-frequency analysis. Spike averages derived from ear-EEG electrodes yield a recognizable spike appearance.
Our results suggest that ear-EEG can reliably detect electroencephalographic patterns associated with focal temporal lobe seizures. Interictal spike morphology from sufficiently large temporal spike sources can be sampled using ear-EEG.
Ear-EEG is likely to become an important tool in clinical epilepsy monitoring and diagnosis.
World‐wide declines in arthropod abundance and diversity are a major concern, particularly given their importance in ecosystem functioning. Yet, data documenting long‐term trends are rare from the ...tropics, particularly the Afrotropics. Here we evaluate changes in the arthropod communities in Kibale National Park, Uganda across almost four decades. Systematic sweep‐net sampling was conducted in two forested sections of the park that had been logged and in one old‐growth forest area over 12 consecutive months in 1983/1984 and 2020/2021. This data was augmented with intermittent samples taken in 1986 and 1995. Arthropod abundance declined in all areas, but only significantly so in the moderately logged forestry compartment (41%). Permutational multivariate analysis of variance indicated that community compositions of arthropods differed between the censuses. Understanding the drivers of changes in the arthropod communities is difficult as the system is complex and dynamic. We document an increase in temperature, but no change in rainfall, increases in 11 mammal species, including a marked increase in elephant numbers, and changes in forest structure. We also report on changes in the landscape outside of the park, which includes the human population increasing by a factor of four and agricultural intensification that now includes the use of pesticides. We document that many components of the ecosystem we studied changed simultaneously, which signals that for effective conservation planning, more long‐term multi‐disciplinary efforts are needed.
Sweep‐net sampling conducted in 1983/1984 and 2020/2021 document declines in arthropods by up to 41% and snails by up to 98%. We document potential drivers of this change, including an increase in temperature, increases in 11 mammal species, including a marked increase in elephant numbers, changes in forest structure, and marked increase in the human population outside the park that corresponded with agricultural intensification that now includes the use of pesticides
Microplastics are ubiquitous to most marine environments worldwide, and their management has become one of the major challenges facing stakeholders. Here we monitored monthly, between March 2018 and ...March 2019, the abundance of microplastics (0.3–18.2 mm) at the sea surface within the Kiel Fjord, southwest Baltic Sea. Microplastics were sampled at eight locations, inside and outside the fjord, near potential source of microplastics, such as the outlets of storm drains or the Kiel-Bülk wastewater treatment plant, the Schwentine River mouth and the entrance of the Kiel Canal. Weather (wind, precipitations) and seawater (salinity, temperature) parameters were compared to the spatiotemporal distribution of the microplastics. We found an overall stable, and low (0.04 particles/m3), microplastic load within the Kiel Fjord compared to other urban areas worldwide with comparable population densities. No relationship was found between the microplastic abundance and the environmental factors, but the few samples that yielded unusually high amount of microplastics were all preceded by rainfall and snow/ice melt. During such events, vast amounts of water, potentially contaminated with microplastics, were released into the fjord via the storm drainage system. The microplastic abundances at the wastewater plant outflow were among the lowest of our survey, likely thanks to an efficient filtering system. The results of this study highlight the importance to repeat microplastic samplings over time and space to determine with confidence baseline microplastic abundance and to detect unusual acute contamination, especially during snow and ice melting. Overall, the microplastic abundance within the Kiel Fjord was low, probably thanks to efficient waste management on land. However, improvements are still needed to filter millimetre-sized particles within the storm drainage system, which is likely a major source of microplastics into the marine environment.
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•Microplastic abundance was overall low and not related to environmental parameters.•High microplastic loads were found on few occasions after rainfall and snowmelt.•Microplastics were mainly hard fragments of PE and PP in various colours.•Microplastic contamination from the wastewater treatment plant was the lowest.•Stormwater drains are important source of microplastics into the marine environment.
Climate change has been shown to cause poleward range shifts of species. These shifts are typically demonstrated using presence–absence data, which can mask the potential changes in the abundance of ...species. Moreover, changes in the mean centre of weighted density of species are seldom examined, and comparisons between these two methods are even rarer. Here, we studied the change in the mean weighted latitude of density (MWLD) of 94 bird species in Finland, northern Europe, using data covering a north–south gradient of over 1000 km from the 1970s to the 2010s. The MWLD shifted northward on average 1.26 km yr⁻¹, and this shift was significantly stronger in northern species compared to southern species. These shifts can be related to climate warming during the study period, because the annual temperature had increased more in northern Finland (by 1.7 °C) than in southern Finland (by 1.4 °C), although direct causal links cannot be shown. Density shifts of species distributed over the whole country did not differ from shifts in species situated on the edge of the species range in southern and northern species. This means that density shifts occur both in the core and on the edge of species distribution. The species‐specific comparison of MWLD values with corresponding changes in the mean weighted latitude using presence–absence atlas data (MWL) revealed that the MWLD moved more slowly than the MWL in the atlas data in the southern species examined, but more rapidly in the northern species. Our findings highlight that population densities are also moving rapidly towards the poles and the use of presence–absence data can mask the shift of population densities. We encourage use of abundance data in studies considering the effects of climate change on biodiversity.
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