281 research outputs found
Nitrogen deposition and temperature structure fungal communities associated with alpine moss-sedge heath in the UK
Funding Information: We are very grateful to Ruth Mitchell, Dave Riach, Julia Fisher and Hannah Urpeth for their help with fieldwork. Helaina Black is thanked for helpful discussion during the design of the project. Numerous conservation agency staff and landowners gave permission to carry out work on their land, without which this study would not have been possible. The study was financially supported by the Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS).Peer reviewe
Legacy effects of nitrogen and phosphorus additions on vegetation and carbon stocks of upland heaths
Open Access via the Wiley Jisc Agreement. Funding Information Scottish Natural Heritage Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) N8 AgriFoodPeer reviewedPublisher PD
The potential for modelling peatland habitat condition in Scotland using long-term MODIS data
Funding: All James Hutton Institute authors are supported by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Research and Analysis Directorate under the current Strategic Research Programme (2016-2021). Sally Johnson, Patricia Bruneau and Louise Ross did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors for this project. The peat spatial extent model was created in part within a UK Government – Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy-funded project (TRN860/07/2014, Scoping the use of the methodology set out in Chapters 2 and 3 of the ‘2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands in the UK GHG Inventory: Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF)), with further updates created within the Strategic Research Programme (2016-2021) funding.Peer reviewedPostprin
Computational modeling of threat learning reveals links with anxiety and neuroanatomy in humans
Influential theories implicate variations in the mechanisms supporting threat learning in the severity of anxiety symptoms. We use computational models of associative learning in conjunction with structural imaging to explicate links among the mechanisms underlying threat learning, their neuroanatomical substrates, and anxiety severity in humans. We recorded skin-conductance data during a threat-learning task from individuals with and without anxiety disorders (N=251; 8-50 years; 116 females). Reinforcement-learning model variants quantified processes hypothesized to relate to anxiety: threat conditioning, threat generalization, safety learning, and threat extinction. We identified the best-fitting models for these processes and tested associations among latent learning parameters, whole-brain anatomy, and anxiety severity. Results indicate that greater anxiety severity related specifically to slower safety learning and slower extinction of response to safe stimuli. Nucleus accumbens gray-matter volume moderated learning-anxiety associations. Using a modeling approach, we identify computational mechanisms linking threat learning and anxiety severity and their neuroanatomical substrates
Prevalence and risk factors for soil-transmitted helminth infection in mothers and their infants in Butajira, Ethiopia: a population based study
BACKGROUND: Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) are widespread in underdeveloped countries. In Ethiopia, the prevalence and distribution of helminth infection varies by place and with age. We therefore investigated the prevalence of and risk factors for STH infection in mothers and their one year-old children living in Butajira town and surrounding rural areas in southern Ethiopia. METHODS: In 2005-2006, 1065 pregnant women were recruited in their third trimester of pregnancy. In 2006-2007, when children reached their first birthdays, data on the infants and their mothers were collected, including stool samples for qualitative STH analysis. Questionnaire data on various demographic, housing and lifestyle variables were available. Logistic regression analysis was employed to determine the independent risk factors for STH infection in the mothers and children. RESULTS: 908 mothers and 905 infants provided complete data for analysis. Prevalence of any STH infection was 43.5% (95% confidence interval (CI) 40.2-46.8%) in mothers and 4.9% (95%CI 3.6-6.5%) in children. In the fully adjusted regression model, infrequent use of soap by the mother was associated with increased risk (odds ratio (OR) 1.40, 95% CI 1.04-1.88, and 1.66, 95% CI 0.92-2.99, for use at least once a week and less frequent than once a week respectively, relative to daily use; p for trend = 0.018), and urban place of residence (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.28-0.73, p = 0.001) was associated with reduced risk of maternal STH infection. The only factor associated with STH infection in infants was household source of water, with the greatest risk in those using piped water inside the compound (OR 0.09, 95% CI 0.02-0.38 for river water, 0.20, 95% CI 0.56-0.69 for either well or stream water and 0.21, 95% CI 0.09-0.51 for piped water outside compared with piped water inside the compound, overall p = 0.002) CONCLUSION: In this rural Ethiopian community with a relatively high prevalence of STH infection, we found a reduced risk of infection in relation to maternal hygiene and urban living. Daily use of soap and a safe supply of water are likely to reduce the risk of STH infection
Bioavailability of Macro and Micronutrients Across Global Topsoils: Main Drivers and Global Change Impacts
Understanding the chemical composition of our planet\u27s crust was one of the biggest questions of the 20th century. More than 100 years later, we are still far from understanding the global patterns in the bioavailability and spatial coupling of elements in topsoils worldwide, despite their importance for the productivity and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we measured the bioavailability and coupling of thirteen macro- and micronutrients and phytotoxic elements in topsoils (3–8 cm) from a range of terrestrial ecosystems across all continents (∼10,000 observations) and in response to global change manipulations (∼5,000 observations). For this, we incubated between 1 and 4 pairs of anionic and cationic exchange membranes per site for a mean period of 53 days. The most bioavailable elements (Ca, Mg, and K) were also amongst the most abundant in the crust. Patterns of bioavailability were biome-dependent and controlled by soil properties such as pH, organic matter content and texture, plant cover, and climate. However, global change simulations resulted in important alterations in the bioavailability of elements. Elements were highly coupled, and coupling was predictable by the atomic properties of elements, particularly mass, mass to charge ratio, and second ionization energy. Deviations from the predictable coupling-atomic mass relationship were attributed to global change and agriculture. Our work illustrates the tight links between the bioavailability and coupling of topsoil elements and environmental context, human activities, and atomic properties of elements, thus deeply enhancing our integrated understanding of the biogeochemical connections that underlie the productivity and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems in a changing world
Global change effects on plant communities are magnified by time and the number of global change factors imposed
Global change drivers (GCDs) are expected to alter community structure and consequently, the services that ecosystems provide. Yet, few experimental investigations have examined effects of GCDs on plant community structure across multiple ecosystem types, and those that do exist present conflicting patterns. In an unprecedented global synthesis of over 100 experiments that manipulated factors linked to GCDs, we show that herbaceous plant community responses depend on experimental manipulation length and number of factors manipulated. We found that plant communities are fairly resistant to experimentally manipulated GCDs in the short term (<10 y). In contrast, long-term (≥10 y) experiments show increasing community divergence of treatments from control conditions. Surprisingly, these community responses occurred with similar frequency across the GCD types manipulated in our database. However, community responses were more common when 3 or more GCDs were simultaneously manipulated, suggesting the emergence of additive or synergistic effects of multiple drivers, particularly over long time periods. In half of the cases, GCD manipulations caused a difference in community composition without a corresponding species richness difference, indicating that species reordering or replacement is an important mechanism of community responses to GCDs and should be given greater consideration when examining consequences of GCDs for the biodiversity–ecosystem function relationship. Human activities are currently driving unparalleled global changes worldwide. Our analyses provide the most comprehensive evidence to date that these human activities may have widespread impacts on plant community composition globally, which will increase in frequency over time and be greater in areas where communities face multiple GCDs simultaneously
Diet and food strategies in a southern al-Andalusian urban environment during Caliphal period, ecija, Sevilla
The Iberian medieval period is unique in European history due to the widespread socio-cultural changes that took place after the
arrival of Arabs, Berbers and Islam in 711 AD. Recently, isotopic research has been insightful on dietary shifts, status, resource
availability and the impact of environment. However, there is no published isotopic research exploring these factors in southern
Iberian populations, and as the history of this area differs to the northern regions, this leaves a significant lacuna in our
knowledge. This research fills this gap via isotopic analysis of human (n = 66) and faunal (n = 13) samples from the 9th to the
13th century Écija, a town renowned for high temperatures and salinity. Stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes were
assessed from rib collagen, while carbon (δ13C) values were derived from enamel apatite. Human diet is consistent with C3 plant
consumption with a very minor contribution of C4 plants, an interesting feature considering the suitability of Écija to C4 cereal
production. δ15N values vary among adults, which may suggest variable animal protein consumption or isotopic variation within
animal species due to differences in foddering. Consideration of δ13C collagen and apatite values together may indicate sugarcane
consumption, while moderate δ15N values do not suggest a strong aridity or salinity effect. Comparison with other Iberian groups
shows similarities relating to time and location rather than by religion, although more multi-isotopic studies combined with
zooarchaeology and botany may reveal subtle differences unobservable in carbon and nitrogen collagen studies alone.OLC is funded by Plan Galego I2C mod.B (ED481D 2017/014). The research was partially funded by the projects “Galician Paleodiet” and by Consiliencia network (ED 431D2017/08) Xunta de GaliciaS
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