The Permafrost and Organic LayEr module for Forest Models (POLE-FM) 1.0

Climate change and increased fire are eroding the resilience of boreal forests. This is problematic because boreal vegetation and the cold soils underneath store approximately 30 % of all terrestrial carbon. Society urgently needs projections of where, when, and why boreal forests are likely to change. Permafrost (i.e., subsurface material that remains frozen for at least two consecutive years) and the thick soil-surface organic layers (SOLs) that insulate permafrost are important controls of boreal forest dynamics and carbon cycling. However, both are rarely included in process-based vegetation models used to simulate future ecosystem trajectories. To address this challenge, we developed a computationally efficient permafrost and SOL module that operates at fine spatial (1 ha) and temporal (daily) resolutions. The module mechanistically simulates daily changes in depth to permafrost, annual SOL accumulation, and their complex effects on boreal forest structure and functions. We coupled the module to an established forest landscape model, iLand, and benchmarked the model in interior Alaska at spatial scales of stands (1 ha) to landscapes (61,000 ha) and over temporal scales of days to centuries. The coupled model could generate intra- and inter-annual patterns of snow accumulation and active layer depth (portion of soil column that thaws throughout the year) consistent with independent observations in 17 instrumented forest stands. The model was also skilled at representing the distribution of near-surface permafrost presence in a topographically complex landscape. We simulated 34.6 % of forested area in the landscape as underlain by permafrost; a close match to the estimated 33.4 % from the benchmarking product. We further determined that the model could accurately simulate moss biomass, SOL accumulation, fire activity, tree-species composition, and stand structure at the landscape scale. Modular and flexible representations of key biophysical processes that underpin 21st-century ecological change are an essential next step in vegetation simulation to reduce uncertainty in future projections and to support innovative environmental decision making. We show that coupling a new permafrost and SOL module to an existing forest landscape model increases the model&rsquo;s utility for projecting forest futures at high latitudes. Process-based models that represent relevant dynamics will catalyze opportunities to address previously intractable questions about boreal forest resilience, biogeochemical cycling, and feedbacks to regional and global climate.&emsp;</p

Unique health needs and characteristics of homeless women in Iowa City, Iowa

Context: Homeless individuals have comparatively poorer health, however few gender specific assessments exist. Purpose: This cross-sectional survey of homeless individuals assesses gender-specific health needs. Procedure: 68 Homeless adults were surveyed at a shelter from March to April, 2015 in Iowa City, IA. Descriptive statistics were computed to compare gender-subgroup responses. Main Findings: The study population was predominately male (45, 67.2%), white (37, 54.4%), and averaged 42.35 years old (range 21-74). Males were more likely to be veterans (13, 28.9% vs. 1, 4.5%, p=0.025). Women were more likely to have dependents (9, 47.4% vs. 1, 4%, p=0.001) and access to dental coverage (16, 80% vs. 12, 30.8%, p=0.001). Similar rates of chronic disease, primary care access, and unmet health needs were noted. Conclusions: Homeless women and men have unique needs and would benefit from gender-specific health interventions. Resources for child-care may be important for women who are homeless, while dental health care may be particularly beneficial for men

The Permafrost and Organic LayEr module for Forest Models (POLE-FM) 1.0

Climate change and increased fire are eroding the resilience of boreal forests. This is problematic because boreal vegetation and the cold soils underneath store approximately 30 % of all terrestrial carbon. Society urgently needs projections of where, when, and why boreal forests are likely to change. Permafrost (i.e., subsurface material that remains frozen for at least 2 consecutive years) and the thick soil-surface organic layers (SOLs) that insulate permafrost are important controls of boreal forest dynamics and carbon cycling. However, both are rarely included in process-based vegetation models used to simulate future ecosystem trajectories. To address this challenge, we developed a computationally efficient permafrost and SOL module named the Permafrost and Organic LayEr module for Forest Models (POLE-FM) that operates at fine spatial (1 ha) and temporal (daily) resolutions. The module mechanistically simulates daily changes in depth to permafrost, annual SOL accumulation, and their complex effects on boreal forest structure and functions. We coupled the module to an established forest landscape model, iLand, and benchmarked the model in interior Alaska at spatial scales of stands (1 ha) to landscapes (61 000 ha) and over temporal scales of days to centuries. The coupled model generated intra- and inter-annual patterns of snow accumulation and active layer depth (portion of soil column that thaws throughout the year) generally consistent with independent observations in 17 instrumented forest stands. The model also represented the distribution of near-surface permafrost presence in a topographically complex landscape. We simulated 39.3 % of forested area in the landscape as underlain by permafrost, compared to the estimated 33.4 % from the benchmarking product. We further determined that the model could accurately simulate moss biomass, SOL accumulation, fire activity, tree species composition, and stand structure at the landscape scale. Modular and flexible representations of key biophysical processes that underpin 21st-century ecological change are an essential next step in vegetation simulation to reduce uncertainty in future projections and to support innovative environmental decision-making. We show that coupling a new permafrost and SOL module to an existing forest landscape model increases the model's utility for projecting forest futures at high latitudes. Process-based models that represent relevant dynamics will catalyze opportunities to address previously intractable questions about boreal forest resilience, biogeochemical cycling, and feedbacks to regional and global climate.</p

Geophysical Observations of Taliks Below Drained Lake Basins on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska

Lakes and drained lake basins (DLBs) together cover up to ∼80% of the western Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska. The formation and drainage of lakes in this continuous permafrost region drive spatial and temporal landscape dynamics. Postdrainage processes including vegetation succession and permafrost aggradation have implications for hydrology, carbon cycling, and landscape evolution. Here, we used surface nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and transient electromagnetic (TEM) measurements in conjunction with thermal modeling to investigate permafrost aggradation beneath eight DLBs on the western Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska. We also surveyed two primary surface sites that served as nonlake affected control sites. Approximate timing of lake drainage was estimated based on historical aerial imagery. We interpreted the presence of taliks based on either unfrozen water estimated with surface NMR and/or TEM resistivities in DLBs compared to measurements on primary surface sites and borehole resistivity logs. Our results show evidence of taliks below several DLBs that drained before and after 1949 (oldest imagery). We observed depths to the top of taliks between 9 and 45 m. Thermal modeling and geophysical observations agree about the presence and extent of taliks at sites that drained after 1949. Lake drainage events will likely become more frequent in the future due to climate change and our modeling results suggest that warmer and wetter conditions will limit permafrost aggradation in DLBs. Our observations provide useful information to predict future evolution of permafrost in DLBs and its implications for the water and carbon cycles in the Arctic

Unpublished Mediterranean and Black Sea records of marine alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species

To enrich spatio-temporal information on the distribution of alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, a collective effort by 173 marine scientists was made to provide unpublished records and make them open access to the scientific community. Through this effort, we collected and harmonized a dataset of 12,649 records. It includes 247 taxa, of which 217 are Animalia, 25 Plantae and 5 Chromista, from 23 countries surrounding the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Chordata was the most abundant taxonomic group, followed by Arthropoda, Mollusca, and Annelida. In terms of species records, Siganus luridus, Siganus rivulatus, Saurida lessepsianus, Pterois miles, Upeneus moluccensis, Charybdis (Archias) longicollis, and Caulerpa cylindracea were the most numerous. The temporal distribution of the records ranges from 1973 to 2022, with 44% of the records in 2020–2021. Lethrinus borbonicus is reported for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, while Pomatoschistus quagga, Caulerpa cylindracea, Grateloupia turuturu, and Misophria pallida are first records for the Black Sea; Kapraunia schneideri is recorded for the second time in the Mediterranean and for the first time in Israel; Prionospio depauperata and Pseudonereis anomala are reported for the first time from the Sea of Marmara. Many first country records are also included, namely: Amathia verticillata (Montenegro), Ampithoe valida (Italy), Antithamnion amphigeneum (Greece), Clavelina oblonga (Tunisia and Slovenia), Dendostrea cf. folium (Syria), Epinephelus fasciatus (Tunisia), Ganonema farinosum (Montenegro), Macrorhynchia philippina (Tunisia), Marenzelleria neglecta (Romania), Paratapes textilis (Tunisia), and Botrylloides diegensis (Tunisia)

The satisfactory growth and development at 2 years of age of the INTERGROWTH-21st Fetal Growth Standards cohort support its appropriateness for constructing international standards.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization recommends that human growth should be monitored with the use of international standards. However, in obstetric practice, we continue to monitor fetal growth using numerous local charts or equations that are based on different populations for each body structure. Consistent with World Health Organization recommendations, the INTERGROWTH-21st Project has produced the first set of international standards to date pregnancies; to monitor fetal growth, estimated fetal weight, Doppler measures, and brain structures; to measure uterine growth, maternal nutrition, newborn infant size, and body composition; and to assess the postnatal growth of preterm babies. All these standards are based on the same healthy pregnancy cohort. Recognizing the importance of demonstrating that, postnatally, this cohort still adhered to the World Health Organization prescriptive approach, we followed their growth and development to the key milestone of 2 years of age. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the babies in the INTERGROWTH-21st Project maintained optimal growth and development in childhood. STUDY DESIGN: In the Infant Follow-up Study of the INTERGROWTH-21st Project, we evaluated postnatal growth, nutrition, morbidity, and motor development up to 2 years of age in the children who contributed data to the construction of the international fetal growth, newborn infant size and body composition at birth, and preterm postnatal growth standards. Clinical care, feeding practices, anthropometric measures, and assessment of morbidity were standardized across study sites and documented at 1 and 2 years of age. Weight, length, and head circumference age- and sex-specific z-scores and percentiles and motor development milestones were estimated with the use of the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards and World Health Organization milestone distributions, respectively. For the preterm infants, corrected age was used. Variance components analysis was used to estimate the percentage variability among individuals within a study site compared with that among study sites. RESULTS: There were 3711 eligible singleton live births; 3042 children (82%) were evaluated at 2 years of age. There were no substantive differences between the included group and the lost-to-follow up group. Infant mortality rate was 3 per 1000; neonatal mortality rate was 1.6 per 1000. At the 2-year visit, the children included in the INTERGROWTH-21st Fetal Growth Standards were at the 49th percentile for length, 50th percentile for head circumference, and 58th percentile for weight of the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards. Similar results were seen for the preterm subgroup that was included in the INTERGROWTH-21st Preterm Postnatal Growth Standards. The cohort overlapped between the 3rd and 97th percentiles of the World Health Organization motor development milestones. We estimated that the variance among study sites explains only 5.5% of the total variability in the length of the children between birth and 2 years of age, although the variance among individuals within a study site explains 42.9% (ie, 8 times the amount explained by the variation among sites). An increase of 8.9 cm in adult height over mean parental height is estimated to occur in the cohort from low-middle income countries, provided that children continue to have adequate health, environmental, and nutritional conditions. CONCLUSION: The cohort enrolled in the INTERGROWTH-21st standards remained healthy with adequate growth and motor development up to 2 years of age, which supports its appropriateness for the construction of international fetal and preterm postnatal growth standards

Post-glacial dispersal patterns of Northern pike inferred from an 8800 year old pike (Esox cf. lucius) skull from interior Alaska

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. The biogeography of freshwater fish species during and after late-Pleistocene glaciations relate to how these species are genetically organized today, and the management of these often disjunct populations. Debate exists concerning the biogeography and routes of dispersal for Northern pike (Esox lucius) after the last glaciation. A hypothesis to account for the relatively low modern genetic diversity for E. lucius is post-glacial radiation from refugia, including lakes from within the un-glaciated portions of eastern Beringia. We report the remains of a Northern pike (E. cf. lucius) skull, including bones, teeth, bone collagen and ancient DNA. The remains were preserved at a depth of between 440 and 446cm in a 670cm long core of sediment from Quartz Lake, which initiated at ~11,200calyr BP in interior Alaska. A calibrated accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) radiocarbon age of the collagen extracted from the preserved bones indicated that the organism was dated to 8820calyr BP and is bracketed by AMS values from analyses of terrestrial plant macrofossils, avoiding any potential aquatic reservoir effect that could have influenced the radiocarbon age of the bones. Scanning electron microscope images of the specimen show the hinged tooth anatomy typically of E.lucius. Molar C:N (3.5, 1σ=0.1) value of the collagen from the specimen indicated well-preserved collagen and its mean stable nitrogen isotope value is consistent with the known predatory feeding ecology of E.lucius. Ancient DNA in the bones showed that the specimen was identical to modern E.lucius. Our record of E.lucius from interior Alaska is consistent with a biogeographic scenario involving rapid dispersal of this species from glacial refugia in the northern hemisphere after the last glaciation

Post-glacial dispersal patterns of Northern pike inferred from an 8800 year old pike (Esox cf. lucius) skull from interior Alaska

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. The biogeography of freshwater fish species during and after late-Pleistocene glaciations relate to how these species are genetically organized today, and the management of these often disjunct populations. Debate exists concerning the biogeography and routes of dispersal for Northern pike (Esox lucius) after the last glaciation. A hypothesis to account for the relatively low modern genetic diversity for E. lucius is post-glacial radiation from refugia, including lakes from within the un-glaciated portions of eastern Beringia. We report the remains of a Northern pike (E. cf. lucius) skull, including bones, teeth, bone collagen and ancient DNA. The remains were preserved at a depth of between 440 and 446cm in a 670cm long core of sediment from Quartz Lake, which initiated at ~11,200calyr BP in interior Alaska. A calibrated accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) radiocarbon age of the collagen extracted from the preserved bones indicated that the organism was dated to 8820calyr BP and is bracketed by AMS values from analyses of terrestrial plant macrofossils, avoiding any potential aquatic reservoir effect that could have influenced the radiocarbon age of the bones. Scanning electron microscope images of the specimen show the hinged tooth anatomy typically of E.lucius. Molar C:N (3.5, 1σ=0.1) value of the collagen from the specimen indicated well-preserved collagen and its mean stable nitrogen isotope value is consistent with the known predatory feeding ecology of E.lucius. Ancient DNA in the bones showed that the specimen was identical to modern E.lucius. Our record of E.lucius from interior Alaska is consistent with a biogeographic scenario involving rapid dispersal of this species from glacial refugia in the northern hemisphere after the last glaciation