The role of landscape, topography, and geodiversity in explaining vascular plant species richness in a fragmented landscape

We explained vascular plant species richness patterns in a 286 km2 fragmented landscape with a notable human influence. The objective of this study was two-fold: to test the relative importance of landscape, topography and geodiversity measures, and to compare three different landscape-type variables in species richness modeling. Moreover, we tested if results differ when only native species are considered. We used generalized linear modeling based variation partitioning and generalized additive models with different explanatory variable sets. Landscape and topography explained the majority of the variation but the relative importance of topography and geodiversity was higher in explaining native species richness than in explaining total species richness. Differences between the three landscape type variables were small and they provided complementary information. Finally, topography and geodiversity often direct human action and can be ultimate causes behind both landscape variability and species richness patterns.peerReviewe

Genetic risk factors have a substantial impact on healthy life years

The impact of genetic variation on overall disease burden has not been comprehensively evaluated. We introduce an approach to estimate the effect of genetic risk factors on disability-adjusted life years (DALYs; 'lost healthy life years'). We use genetic information from 735,748 individuals and consider 80 diseases. Rare variants had the highest effect on DALYs at the individual level. Among common variants, rs3798220 (LPA) had the strongest individual-level effect, with 1.18 DALYs from carrying 1 versus 0 copies. Being in the top 10% versus the bottom 90% of a polygenic score for multisite chronic pain had an effect of 3.63 DALYs. Some common variants had a population-level effect comparable to modifiable risk factors such as high sodium intake and low physical activity. Attributable DALYs vary between males and females for some genetic exposures. Genetic risk factors can explain a sizable number of healthy life years lost both at the individual and population level.Peer reviewe

New national and regional biological records for Finland 7. Contributions to Bryophyta and Marchantiophyta

Three species of mosses (Bryophyta: Philonotis yezoana, Protobryum bryoides, Rhynchostegium murale) and one of liverworts (Marchantiophyta: Moerckia flotoviana) are presented new for Finland. Timmia megapolitana, previously thought to be regionally extinct, is reported to being found again. New records in biogeographical provinces for 82 species of mosses and 34 species of liverworts are listed. Finally, 8 occurrences in provinces are removed due to misidentifications or missing specimens

New national and regional biological records for Finland 10. Contributions to Bryophyta and Marchantiophyta 9

Six species of mosses (Bryophyta: Brachythecium udum, Lewinskya fastigiata, L. elegans, Polytrichastrum altaicum, P. septentrionale, Tortella densa) and two of liverworts (Marchantiophyta: Scapania parvifolia and Tritomaria excecta) are presented as new for Finland. One species, Brachythecium laetum, is removed from the Finnish checklist. New records in biogeographical provinces for 51 species of mosses and 32 species of liverworts are listed. Finally, two occurrences in biogeographical provinces are removed due to misidentifications

The annual excursion of the Nordic Bryological Society (NBS) and the Finnish Bryophyte Expert Group to Finnish Lapland in 2019

The Nordic Bryological Society held its Annual meeting and excursion from 5 to 9 August 2019 in Sodankylä, Kittilä and Kolari in northern Finland. The excursion was attended by twenty-one participants. Special emphasis was given to boreal aapa mires and their Sphagnum species. A multitude of Sphagnum species typical to the area was encountered. Also, Red Listed species of meso- and eutrophic flark fens were discovered, e.g. Hamatocaulis vernicosus, H. lapponicus, Meesia longiseta, Schistochilopsis grandiretis and Moerckia flotoviana. Sphagnum annulatum, S. flexuosum, S. divinum, Heterogemma laxa and Scapania umbrosa were collected for the first time from Kittilän Lappi biogeographical province. Sphagnum annulatum, S. divinum, Campylium laxifolium, Pohlia sphagnicola, Gymnocolea borealis and Heterogemma laxa were collected for the first time from Sompion Lappi biogeographical province. In total, 54 records of Red Listed species were made.</p

Rankkasateet ja taajamatulvat (RATU)

Voimakkaat rankkasateet ja niihin usein liittyvät sääilmiöt kuten rakeet, ukkonen sekä ukkospuuskat vaikuttavat monin tavoin yhteiskunnan eri aloihin ja edellyttävät erilaisia varautumistoimia. Taajamissa hulevesien hallinnan ongelmana ovat ilmastonmuutoksen myötä kasvavat sademäärät ja lisääntyvät rankkasateet. Konkreettinen esimerkki rankkasateiden aiheuttamista mittavista ja laaja-alaisista vahingoista suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa on kesän 2007 tapaus Porissa, jossa hulevesien aiheuttamat vahingot olivat arviolta 20 miljoonaa euroa. Lyhytaikaisten ja paikallisten rankkasateiden nykyisistä intensiteeteistä ja todennäköisyyksistä oli ennen hanketta käytettävissä varsin niukasti ajanmukaista tutkimustietoa. Yhdyskuntasuunnittelun mitoituksissa käytetään edelleenkin 1960-luvulta peräisin olevia sadejakaumia, jotka perustuvat suhteellisen vähälukuisiin sademittarihavaintoihin, vaikka uutta mittausaineistoa on Suomen sateista erittäin paljon. Tämä rankkasateita ja taajamatulvia koskeva RATU-hanke toteutettiin vuosina 2005 - 2008. Sen tavoitteena oli - selvittää säätutka- ja sademittarihavaintoihin pohjautuen rankkasateiden nykyinen esiintymistodennäköisyys - arvioida valittujen kesien rankkasateiden ilmastollinen edustavuus ja rankkasateiden esiintymisen muutos tulevaisuudessa - selvittää olemassa olevien käyttökelpoisten taajamahydrologiamallien soveltuvuus Suomen olosuhteisiin - arvioida uuden tiedon vaikutuksia hulevesien hallintaan mallintamalla kaksi koealuetta. Tutkimuksessa käytettiin koko Suomen kattavilta säätutkilta kesinä 2000 - 2005 saatuja sadantatietoja. Vaikka havaintovuosia on vähän niin mittaustuloksia on miljardeja, joten niiden perusteella voidaan arvioida myös harvinaisten tapausten toistuvuutta. Tutkimuksessa saatiin arvioita erittäin harvoin, jopa keskimäärin kerran 3000 kesässä, toistuville sadetapahtumille. Tulosten mukaan harvinaisten rankkasateiden sademäärät ovat varsin samansuuruisia kuin tähän asti on oletettu. Analysoitujen sateen tilastollisten parametrien avulla voidaan generoida Suomen ilmastoon sopivia sadetapahtumia. Perinteisillä sademittareilla saatujen tulosten mukaan sadanta vähenee Suomessa etelästä pohjoiseen mennessä. Rannikon ja sisämaan välillä ei havaittu samalla leveyspiirillä olevan tarvetta korjata sadetta korjauskertoimella. Touko-syyskuun rankkasateiden arvioidaan kasvavan ajan mukana keskimäärin melko lineaarisesti. Nykyilmaston keskimäärin kolmen vuoden välein toistuva tapahtuma toistuu tulevaisuudessa noin kahden vuoden välein. Hulevesimalleilla tehtyjen tarkastelujen mukaan ilmastonmuutos lisäsi virtaamaa koealueilla lähes yhtä paljon kuin sadanta kasvoi

New national and regional biological records for Finland 7. Contributions to Bryophyta and Marchantiophyta

Three species of mosses (Bryophyta: Philonotis yezoana, Protobryum bryoides, Rhynchostegiummurale) and one of liverworts (Marchantiophyta: Moerckia flotoviana) are presented new for Finland.Timmia megapolitana, previously thought to be regionally extinct, is reported to being foundagain. New records in biogeographical provinces for 82 species of mosses and 34 species of liverwortsare listed. Finally, 8 occurrences in provinces are removed due to misidentifications ormissing specimens.</p

New national and regional biological records for Finland 10. Contributions to Bryophyta and Marchantiophyta 9

Six species of mosses (Bryophyta: Brachythecium udum, Lewinskya fastigiata, L. elegans, Polytrichastrumaltaicum, P. septentrionale, Tortella densa) and two of liverworts (Marchantiophyta:Scapania parvifolia and Tritomaria excecta) are presented as new for Finland. One species,Brachythecium laetum, is removed from the Finnish checklist. New records in biogeographicalprovinces for 51 species of mosses and 32 species of liverworts are listed. Finally, two occurrencesin biogeographical provinces are removed due to misidentifications.</p

New national and regional biological records for Finland 11. Contributions to Bryophyta and Marchantiophyta 10

Ten species of mosses (Bryophyta: Entosthodon obtusus, Entosthodon ulvinenii, Eurhynchiastrum diversifolium, Hedwigia emodica, Hedwigia mollis, Hygrohypnum styriacum, Plagiothecium rossicum, Polytrichum perigoniale, Tortella alpicola and Ulota intermedia) are presented as new for Finland. Cephalozia lacinulata, previously considered to be regionally extinct from Finland, is reported to being found again. New records in biogeographical provinces for 67 species of mosses and 34 species of liverworts are listed. Finally, 6 occurrences in provinces are removed due to misidentifications or missing specimens

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation