Single-step genomic evaluation of Russian dairy cattle using internal and external information

Genomic data are widely used in predicting the breeding values of dairy cattle. The accuracy of genomic prediction depends on the size of the reference population and how related the candidate animals are to it. For populations with limited numbers of progeny-tested bulls, the reference populations must include cows and data from external populations. The aim of this study was to implement state-of-the-art single-step genomic evaluations for milk and fat yield in Holstein and Russian Black & White cattle in the Leningrad region (LR, Russia), using only a limited number of genotyped animals. We complemented internal information with external pseudo-phenotypic and genotypic data of bulls from the neighbouring Danish, Finnish and Swedish Holstein (DFS) population. Three data scenarios were used to perform single-step GBLUP predictions in the LR dairy cattle population. The first scenario was based on the original LR reference population, which constituted 1,080 genotyped cows and 427 genotyped bulls. In the second scenario, the genotypes of 414 bulls related to the LR from the DFS population were added to the reference population. In the third scenario, LR data were further augmented with pseudo-phenotypic data from the DFS population. The inclusion of foreign information increased the validation reliability of the milk yield by up to 30%. Suboptimal data recording practices hindered the improvement of fat yield. We confirmed that the single-step model is suitable for populations with a low number of genotyped animals, especially when external information is integrated into the evaluations. Genomic prediction in populations with a low number of progeny-tested bulls can be based on data from genotyped cows and on the inclusion of genotypes and pseudo-phenotypes from the external population. This approach increased the validation reliability of the implemented single-step model in the milk yield, but shortcomings in the LR data recording scheme prevented improvements in fat yield.Peer reviewe

Black soils.

Definition and description; Global distribution of hotspot; Global carbon stocks and additional carbon storage potential; Importance of black soil conservation for the provision of specific ecosystem services; General challenges and trends related to the black soils

Variation of Absorption Angstrom Exponent in Aerosols From Different Emission Sources

The absorption Angstrom exponent (AAE) describes the spectral dependence of light absorption by aerosols. AAE is typically used to differentiate between different aerosol types for example., black carbon, brown carbon, and dust particles. In this study, the variation of AAE was investigated mainly in fresh aerosol emissions from different fuel and combustion types, including emissions from ships, buses, coal-fired power plants, and residential wood burning. The results were assembled to provide a compendium of AAE values from different emission sources. A dual-spot aethalometer (AE33) was used in all measurements to obtain the light absorption coefficients at seven wavelengths (370-950 nm). AAE(470/950) varied greatly between the different emission sources, ranging from -0.2 +/- 0.7 to 3.0 +/- 0.8. The correlation between the AAE(470/950) and AAE(370-950) results was good (R-2 = 0.95) and the mean bias error between these was 0.02. In the ship engine exhaust emissions, the highest AAE(470/950) values (up to 2.0 +/- 0.1) were observed when high sulfur content heavy fuel oil was used, whereas low sulfur content fuels had the lowest AAE(470/950) (0.9-1.1). In the diesel bus exhaust emissions, AAE(470/950) increased in the order of acceleration (0.8 +/- 0.1), deceleration (1.1 +/- 0.1), and steady driving (1.2 +/- 0.1). In the coal-fired power plant emissions, the variation of AAE(470/950) was substantial (from -0.1 +/- 2.1 to 0.9 +/- 1.6) due to the differences in the fuels and flue gas cleaning conditions. Fresh wood-burning derived aerosols had AAE(470/950) from 1.1 +/- 0.1 (modern masonry heater) to 1.4 +/- 0.1 (pellet boiler), lower than typically associated with wood burning, while the burn cycle phase affected AAE variation.Peer reviewe

‘Mind the Gap’—reforestation needs vs. reforestation capacity in the western United States

Tree establishment following severe or stand-replacing disturbance is critical for achieving U.S. climate change mitigation goals and for maintaining the co-benefits of intact forest ecosystems. In many contexts, natural post-fire tree regeneration is sufficient to maintain forest cover and associated ecosystem services, but increasingly the pattern and scale of disturbance exceeds ecological thresholds and active reforestation may be warranted. Our capacity to plant trees, however, is not keeping pace with reforestation needs. This shortfall is uniquely apparent in the western U.S., where wildfire size and severity have increased in recent decades and long-term divestment in the reforestation supply chain has limited our ability to respond to existing needs. Here we present an analysis of key facets of both the supply and demand side of reforestation in the western U.S. and address six questions: (1) What is the current backlog of potential reforestation needs driven by high-severity wildfire?; (2) How will increasing wildfire activity through the end of the century affect potential reforestation needs?; (3) What is our capacity to meet current and future reforestation needs?; (4) How can we scale the reforestation supply chain to meet current and future demands?; (5) What approaches to reforestation can promote forest resilience to climate change and wildfire?; and (6) Where are opportunities emerging from recent policy initiatives, innovative public-private partnerships, and natural capital markets for scaling reforestation? Between 1984 and 2000, annual tree planting capacity met post-fire needs but cumulatively over the last two decades (2000 to 2021) it has fallen short of fire-driven needs by an estimated 1.5 million ha (ca. 3.8 million ac). We anticipate this gap will increase 2 to 3 fold by 2050. Scaling up reforestation efforts to close this gap will require increased investment across all facets of the reforestation supply chain, public-private partnerships, and novel approaches to reforestation that increase the resilience of western forests to drought and wildfire. We highlight emerging opportunities from recent policy initiatives and conservation finance for expanding reforestation efforts

Investigating the use of 3-D full-waveform inversion to characterize the host rock at a geological disposal site

The U.K. government has a policy to dispose of higher activity radioactive waste in a geological disposal facility (GDF), which will have multiple protective barriers to keep the waste isolated and to ensure no harmful quantities of radioactivity are able to reach the surface. Currently no specific GDF site in the United Kingdom has been chosen but, once it has, the site is likely to be investigated using seismic methods. In this study, we explore whether 3-D full-waveform inversion (FWI) of seismic data can be used to map changes in physical properties caused by the construction of the site, specifically tunnel-induced fracturing. We have built a synthetic model for a GDF located in granite at 1000 m depth below the surface, since granite is one of the candidate host rocks due to its high strength and low permeability and the GDF could be located at such a depth. We use an effective medium model to predict changes in P-wave velocity associated with tunnel-induced fracturing, within the spatial limits of an excavated disturbed zone (EdZ), modelled here as an increase in fracture density around the tunnel. We then generate synthetic seismic data using a number of different experimental geometries to investigate how they affect the performance of FWI in recovering subsurface P-wave velocity structure. We find that the location and velocity of the EdZ are recovered well, especially when data recorded on tunnel receivers are included in the inversion. Our findings show that 3-D FWI could be a useful tool for characterizing the subsurface and changes in fracture properties caused during construction, and make a suite of suggestions on how to proceed once a potential GDF site has been identified and the geological setting is known