TY - JOUR A1 - Adhikari, Yojana A1 - Bachstein, Nadine A1 - Gohr, Charlotte A1 - Blumröder, Jeanette S. A1 - Meier, Caroline A1 - Ibisch, Pierre L. T1 - Old-growth beech forests in Germany as cool islands in a warming landscape JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Abstract The climate crisis seriously threatens Central European forests and their ecosystem functions. There are indications that old-growth forests are relatively resilient and efficient in micro-climatic regulation during extreme climatic conditions. This study evaluates five well-protected old beech forests in Germany, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We examined temperature dynamics and vitality in core, buffer, and border zones during hot days from 2017 to 2023, using Landsat 8 and 9 imageries to assess Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), alongside on-site Air Temperature (AT) measurements. Our findings reveal that all five forests were impacted by recent extreme heat events, with core zones remaining cooler and more vital, followed by buffer zones. Temperature-regulating patterns varied with landscape characteristics and the surrounding matrixes. We observed a site-dependent cooling effect of the forest interior that increased with higher LST. Our study highlights the value of old-growth forests and recommends increasing effective protection around mature forests, establishing corridors between isolated patches, and creating mosaics in managed landscapes that include unmanaged areas capable of developing into old-growth ecosystems. KW - - KW - Climate crisis KW - Ecosystem functions KW - Land Surface Temperature KW - Microclimatic regulation KW - Normalized Difference Vegetation Index KW - Vitality Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9608 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 14 IS - 1 PB - Nature Publishing Group UK CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sydorenko, S. A1 - Gumeniuk, V. A1 - De Miguel-Díez, F. A1 - Soshenskiy, O. A1 - Budzinskyi, I. A1 - Koren, V. T1 - Assessment of the surface forest fuel load in the Ukrainian Polissia JF - Fire Ecology N2 - Abstract Background There is a clearly increasing trend of wildfires that become catastrophic in some countries such as the United States, Australia, Russia, Portugal, Greece, and Spain. Fuel is one of the key components that influences fire behavior and its effects. Assessing the fuel load and distribution of its components in the landscape provides effective fire management treatments in terms of fire prevention campaigns on a scientific basis. This study aims to evaluate the litter, duff, and herb fuels in highly flammable coniferous forest types in Ukrainian Polissia. To estimate relationships between forestry variables that reflect the characteristics of the pine stand (DBH, height of the stand, age, relative density, stock of the plantation etc.) and the load of litter, duff, and herb fuels (CWD, FWD, litter, live grass, etc.), correlation analysis was used. To analyze difference between groups of sampling plots that have different forests, we use generalized linear mixed models including random effects of sampling plot type. Cluster analysis was performed using k-means partitioning method and Calinski-Harabasz criterion. To assess the significance of individual variables on which the variation of forest fuel depends, the random forest algorithm was used; for variable selection, we used two parameters: the percent increase in mean squared error and the Gini impurity index. Results The research revealed that in the pine forest stands, the stock of litter and duff varies from 15.5 (15 years) to 140 ton/ha (139 years). When modeling, the humidity level of the forest site (soil) significantly affects the dynamics of forest fuel accumulation. In fresh types of forest-growing conditions, the forest litter stock increases to the age of 80–90 years; then, it strongly decreases, while in wet forest types, continuous forest fuel stock accumulation is established during the entire growth period. Moreover, the results showed that the forest fuel load was influenced by the soil fertility. The stock of live and dead herbaceous fuel in fresh and wet conditions is not statistically different, and soil moisture has not had a significant impact. Fine woody debris stocks were more dependent on stand productivity and practically does not depend on the soil fertility index, site moisture content, and its age and ranged from 0.4 to 1.9 t/ha (1 h), from 0.1 to 2.2 t/ha (10 h), and from 0 to 1.6 t/ha (100 h). Conclusions The obtained results enabled to develop mathematical models for estimating litter and duff stocks in the Polissia forest stands based on stand characteristic and the soil humidity level. Moreover, the results will serve as basis to develop local forest fuel models as well as to determine potential fire hazards and a fire behavior modeling process in coniferous forests of that region. These models constitute the basis for the national set of fuel model development for each nature zone of Ukraine. N2 - Resumen Antecedentes Existe una tendencia creciente de incendios que se transforman en catastróficos en algunos países como los Estados Unidos, Australia, Rusia, Portugal, Grecia y España. El combustible vegetal es uno de los componentes clave que influencian el comportamiento del fuego y sus efectos. Determinar la carga y distribución de sus componentes en el paisaje provee de elementos para tratamientos efectivos de manejo en términos de campañas de prevención basadas en datos científicos. Este estudio busca evaluar los combustibles como la broza (i.e.litter), el mantillo (i.e. duff) y las hierbas en tipos de bosques de coníferas en Polesia, Ucrania. Para estimar las relaciones entre variables forestales que reflejen las características de un rodal de pinos (diámetro a la altura del pecho, altura del rodal, edad, densidad relativa, stock de la plantación, etc.), y la carga de broza, de mantillo (CWD, FWD, broza, pastos vivos, etc.), se usó análisis de correlación. Para analizar las diferencias entre los grupos de parcelas de muestreo que tenían diferente uso forestal, se usaron modelos mixtos generalizados incluyendo efectos del azar en cada tipo de parcela de muestreo. Se realizó un análisis de Clusters usando el método de particionamiento de las K-medias y el criterio de Calinski-Harabasz. Para determinar la significancia de las variables individuales sobre las cuales depende la variación de los combustibles forestales, se usó el algoritmo de bosque al azar (Random Forest algorithm), y para la selección de variables fueron usados dos parámetros: el porcentaje de incremento en el error cuadrático medio y el índice de impuridad de Gini. Resultados La investigación reveló que en los rodales de pino el stock de broza y mantillo varió de 15,5 (en 15 años) a 140 ton/ha (139 años). Al realizar la modelación, el nivel de humedad del sitio forestal (suelo) afecta significativamente la dinámica de la acumulación de los combustibles. En condiciones de crecimiento del bosque con suelos más bien secos, el stock de broza se incrementa hasta una edad de 80–90 años, y luego disminuye drásticamente, mientras que, en sitios forestales húmedos, la acumulación continua de combustibles perdura por todo el período de crecimiento. Además, los resultados muestran que la carga de combustibles está influenciada por la fertilidad del suelo. El stock del combustible herbáceo vivo y muerto en condiciones de suelo secas o húmedas no fue estadísticamente diferente, y la humedad del suelo no tuvo un impacto significativo. Los restos de troncos finos fueron más dependientes de la productividad de los rodales sin depender prácticamente del índice de la fertilidad del suelo, de la humedad del sitio, o de su edad, oscilando en rangos entre 0,4–1,9 ton/ha (1 h); 0,1–2,2 ton/ha (10 h); 0–1,6 ton/ha (100 h). Conclusiones Los resultados obtenidos permitieron desarrollar modelos matemáticos para estimar los stocks de broza y mantillo en rodales de los bosques de Polesia basados en las características de los rodales y el nivel de humedad del suelo. Además, los resultados servirán de base para desarrollar modelos de combustibles locales y también determinar el peligro potencial y el proceso de modelado del comportamiento del fuego en bosques de coníferas de la región. Estos modelos constituyen la base del conjunto nacional para el desarrollo de modelos de combustibles para cada zona natural de Ucrania. KW - - KW - Forest fuel load KW - Fine woody debris KW - Fuel modeling KW - Forest litter KW - Forest duff KW - Wildfire hazard Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9599 SN - 1933-9747 VL - 20 IS - 1 PB - Springer International Publishing CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hoffmann, Monika T. A1 - Ostapowicz, Katarzyna A1 - Bartoń, Kamil A1 - Ibisch, Pierre L. A1 - Selva, Nuria T1 - Author Correction: Mapping roadless areas in regions with contrasting human footprint JF - Scientific Reports KW - - Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9580 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 14 IS - 1 PB - Nature Publishing Group UK CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Starik, Nicole A1 - Gygax, Lorenz A1 - Göttert, Thomas T1 - Unexpected bat community changes along an urban–rural gradient in the Berlin–Brandenburg metropolitan area JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Abstract Urbanization gradients are increasingly used in ecological studies to discover responses of species communities to different intensities of human-induced habitat transformation. Here, we investigated patterns of bat communities against the background of different urbanization levels using a priori defined urbanization categories based on distance classes (5 km intervals) along a linear transect from the urban core of the city of Berlin westwards into the rural outskirts of the state of Brandenburg. Using linear-mixed effects models, we found that “distance class”, as a proxy for urbanization level, is a meaningful and suitable predictor of bat species richness and diversity. We observed an unexpectedly sudden increase in bat species richness and diversity and changes in species-specific activity levels relatively close to the urban center at the transition between urban and peri-urban areas. This change suggests a relevant influence of the peri-urban areas as a “buffer zone” for specific bat species not able to adapt to the heavily modified inner core of the metropolitan area. Although we could demonstrate that anthropogenic noise and artificial light have the potential to predict the variability of bat species activity along the urban–rural gradient, the actual influence on observed shifts in the bat community needs further research. KW - - KW - Urbanization gradient KW - Urban winners and losers KW - Anthropogenic noise KW - Artificial light KW - Bioindicators Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9570 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 14 IS - 1 PB - Nature Publishing Group UK CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wilms, Florian A1 - Berendt, Ferréol A1 - Bronisz, Karol A1 - Bashutska, Ulyana A1 - Fotelli, Mariangela A1 - Radoglou, Kalliopi A1 - Spyroglou, Gavriil T1 - Applying taper function models for black locust plantations in Greek post-mining areas JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Abstract A key process in forest management planning is the estimation of tree volume and, more specifically, merchantable volume. The ability to predict the cumulative stem volume relative to any upper stem diameter on standing trees or stands is essential for forest inventories and the management of forest resources. In the 1980s, the Hellenic Public Power Corporation (HPPC) started the rehabilitation of lignite post-mining areas in Greece by planting mainly black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia, L.). Today, these plantations occupy an area of approximately 2570 ha, but the stem volume has not yet been estimated. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the over- and under-bark stem volume using taper function models for 30 destructively sampled trees. Of the nineteen calibrated fixed-effects models, Kozak’s (2004) equation performed best for both the over-bark and under-bark datasets, followed by Lee’s (2003) and Muhairwe’s (1999) equations. Two fixed effect models were compared with fitted coefficients from Poland and the United States confirming that the local model fits were better suited, as the foreign model coefficients caused an increase in root mean square error (RMSE) for stem diameter predictions of 13% and 218%, respectively. The addition of random effects on a single-stem basis for two coefficients of Kozak’s (2004) equation improved the model fit significantly at 86% of the over-bark fixed effect RMSE and 69% for the under-bark model. Integrated taper functions were found to slightly outperform three volume equations for predictions of single stem volume over and under bark. Ultimately it was shown that these models can be used to precisely predict stem diameters and total stem volume for the population average as well as for specific trees of the black locust plantations in the study area. KW - - KW - Forest landscape restoration KW - Stem taper KW - Tree volume KW - Fixed- and mixed-effects modelling KW - Random coefficients KW - L. Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9562 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 14 IS - 1 PB - Nature Publishing Group UK CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hoffmann, Monika T. A1 - Ostapowicz, Katarzyna A1 - Bartoń, Kamil A1 - Ibisch, Pierre L. A1 - Selva, Nuria T1 - Mapping roadless areas in regions with contrasting human footprint JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Abstract In an increasingly human- and road-dominated world, the preservation of functional ecosystems has become highly relevant. While the negative ecological impacts of roads on ecosystems are numerous and well documented, roadless areas have been proposed as proxy for functional ecosystems. However, their potential remains underexplored, partly due to the incomplete mapping of roads. We assessed the accuracy of roadless areas identification using freely available road-data in two regions with contrasting levels of anthropogenic influence: boreal Canada and temperate Central Europe (Poland, Slovakia, Czechia, and Hungary). Within randomly selected circular plots (per region and country), we visually examined the completeness of road mapping using OpenStreetMap 2020 and assessed whether human influences affect mapping quality using four variables. In boreal Canada, roads were completely mapped in 3% of the plots, compared to 40% in Central Europe. Lower Human Footprint Index and road density values were related to greater incompleteness in road mapping. Roadless areas, defined as areas at least 1 km away from any road, covered 85% of the surface in boreal Canada (mean size ± s.d. = 272 ± 12,197 km 2 ), compared to only 0.4% in temperate Central Europe (mean size ± s.d. = 0.6 ± 3.1 km 2 ). By visually interpreting and manually adding unmapped roads in 30 randomly selected roadless areas from each study country, we observed a similar reduction in roadless surface in both Canada and Central Europe (27% vs 28%) when all roads were included. This study highlights the urgent need for improved road mapping techniques to support research on roadless areas as conservation targets and surrogates of functional ecosystems. KW - - KW - Roadless areas KW - OpenStreetMap KW - Road mapping KW - Road ecology KW - Anthropogenic impact KW - Human footprint index KW - Human modification index KW - Travel time to major cities Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9553 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 14 IS - 1 PB - Nature Publishing Group UK CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sousa-Silva, Rita A1 - Feurer, Mélanie A1 - Morhart, Christopher A1 - Sheppard, Jonathan P. A1 - Albrecht, Stefanie A1 - Anys, Markus A1 - Beyer, Friderike A1 - Blumenstein, Kathrin A1 - Reinecke, Sabine A1 - Seifert, Thomas A1 - Whitehead, Ian A1 - Pauleit, Stephan A1 - Bauhus, Jürgen T1 - Seeing the Trees Without the Forest: What and How can Agroforestry and Urban Forestry Learn from Each Other? JF - Current Forestry Reports N2 - Abstract Purpose of Review Agroforestry and urban forestry have evolved mainly as separate disciplines, although they share a long history of tree cultivation in man-made environments. Here, we review their common threads, exploring how trees in both systems interact with and shape their environments. We examine common themes and methodologies – ranging from tree growth dynamics to environmental stressors, ecosystem services provision, and questions of governance – and identify opportunities for synergies between these fields. Recent Findings We emphasize the potential of agroforestry and urban forestry for enhancing multifunctional landscapes. Geographical divides in research are evident, with agroforestry predominantly studied in the Global South and urban forestry receiving more attention in the Global North. However, significant research gaps provide avenues for collaboration, for instance, addressing challenges in capturing the monetary and socio-cultural value of ecosystem services and environmental justice considerations. Summary In light of the growing need for integrated approaches in addressing contemporary challenges, from climate change mitigation and adaptation to community well-being, our review explores what these research fields can learn from each other and provides recommendations for fostering greater interdisciplinary dialogue and new avenues for collaborations in a meaningful and synergistic manner, aiming to advance policy, research, and practice in agroforestry and urban forestry. KW - - KW - Ecosystem services KW - Interdisciplinary research KW - Social − ecological systems KW - Sustainability KW - Trees outside forests KW - Urban–rural green infrastructure Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9543 SN - 2198-6436 VL - 10 IS - 4 SP - 239 EP - 254 PB - Springer International Publishing CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Peter, Sophie A1 - Niess, Sarah A1 - Batjav, Batbuyan A1 - Dejid, Nandintsetseg A1 - Drees, Lukas A1 - Jäschke, Yun A1 - Kasymov, Ulan A1 - Damdindorj, Sugar A1 - Dorjoo, Khishigdorj A1 - Gonchigsumlaa, Ganzorig A1 - Matias, Denise Margaret S. A1 - Müller, Thomas A1 - Mehring, Marion T1 - The role of traditional ecological knowledge, given the transformation of pastoralism in Central and Eastern Mongolia JF - Ambio N2 - Abstract Mongolian nomadic herders traditionally pass on ecological knowledge intergenerationally, mainly within families. However, little is known about how current societal transformation processes may impact the application and transfer of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) amongst herders. Combining quantitative household survey data with qualitative interviews, we show that TEK is still widely applied amongst herders. Our data show that households living under conditions of greater societal transformation apply TEK more often in order to adapt to the situation than households under lower transformation pressure. High transformation pressure goes along with high human population and livestock density and thus competition for good pastureland. In addition, our results show that intragenerational knowledge transfer between families is gaining more importance nowadays. For Mongolia, we recommend facilitating access to and strengthening the exchange of TEK to prepare herders for the future due to the high level of uncertainty accompanying societal transformations. KW - - KW - Central and Eastern Mongolia KW - Inter- and intragenerational knowledge transfer KW - Pastoralism KW - Social science mixed methods approach KW - Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9538 SN - 0044-7447 SN - 1654-7209 VL - 53 IS - 12 SP - 1813 EP - 1829 PB - Springer Netherlands CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Care, O. A1 - Zaehringer, Julie G. A1 - Bernstein, Michael J. A1 - Chapman, Mollie A1 - Friis, Cecilie A1 - Graham, Sonia A1 - Haider, L. Jamila A1 - Hernández-Morcillo, Mónica A1 - Hoffmann, Harry A1 - Kernecker, Maria Lee A1 - Pitt, Hannah A1 - Seufert, Verena T1 - Reaping what we sow: Centering values in food systems transformations research JF - Ambio N2 - Abstract In many transdisciplinary research settings, a lack of attention to the values underpinning project aims can inhibit stakeholder engagement and ultimately slow or undermine project outcomes. As a research collective (The Careoperative), we have developed a set of four shared values through a facilitated visioning process, as central to the way we work together: care, reflexivity, inclusivity, and collectivity. In this paper, we explore the implications of a values-centered approach to collaboration in food system transformation research. The paper presents two cases that illustrate how researchers might approach centering values in practice. Where much research on food system transformation focuses on values of food system stakeholders, we contribute insights into the values of researchers in such transdisciplinary endeavors. Specifically, we argue that researchers working on sustainability transformations need to be better prepared to engage in such reflections and aspire to embody values aligned with the transformations they seek to research. KW - - KW - Care KW - Collectivity KW - Process work KW - Reflexivity KW - Sustainability research KW - Transformational leadership Y1 - 2025 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9524 SN - 0044-7447 SN - 1654-7209 VL - 54 IS - 2 SP - 226 EP - 238 PB - Springer Netherlands CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Assal, Reem Amr A1 - Abd El-bary, Rowan Bahaa El-din A1 - Youness, Rana A. A1 - Abdelrahman, Mohamed Mamdouh A1 - Zahran, Hala A1 - Hosny, Karim Adel A1 - Esmat, Gamal A1 - Breuhahn, Kai A1 - El-Ekiaby, Nada A1 - Fawzy, Injie Omar A1 - Abdelaziz, Ahmed Ihab T1 - OncomiR-181a promotes carcinogenesis by repressing the extracellular matrix proteoglycan decorin in hepatocellular carcinoma JF - BMC Gastroenterology N2 - Abstract Background Proteoglycans are important tumor microenvironment extracellular matrix components. The regulation of key proteoglycans, such as decorin (DCN), by miRNAs has drawn attention since they have surfaced as novel therapeutic targets in cancer. Accordingly, this study aimed at identifying the impact of miR-181a in liver cancer and its regulatory role on the extracellular matrix proteoglycan, DCN, and hence on downstream oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Results DCN was under-expressed in 22 cirrhotic and HCC liver tissues compared to that in 11 healthy tissues of liver transplantation donors. Conversely, miR-181a was over-expressed in HCC liver tissues compared to that in healthy liver tissues. In silico analysis predicted that DCN 3’UTR harbors two high-score oncomiR-181a binding regions. This was validated by pmiRGLO luciferase reporter assay. Ectopic miR-181a expression into HuH-7 cells repressed the transcript and protein levels of DCN as assessed fluorometrically and by western blotting. DCN siRNAs showed similar results to miR-181a, where they both enhanced the cellular viability, proliferation, and clonogenicity. They also increased Myc and E2F and decreased p53 and Rb signaling as assessed using reporter vectors harboring p53, Rb, Myc, and E2F response elements. Our findings demonstrated that miR-181a directly downregulated the expression of its direct downstream target DCN, which in turn affected downstream targets related to cellular proliferation and apoptosis. Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the first study to unveil the direct targeting of DCN by oncomiR-181a. We also highlighted that miR-181a affects targets related to cellular proliferation in HCC which may be partly mediated through inhibition of DCN transcription. Thus, miR-181a could be a promising biomarker for the early detection and monitoring of liver cancer progression. This would pave the way for the future targeting of the oncomiR-181a as a therapeutic approach in liver cancer, where miR-181a-based therapy approach could be potentially combined with chemotherapy and immunotherapy for the management of liver cancer. KW - - KW - Decorin (DCN) KW - microRNA-181a (miR-181a) KW - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) KW - Liver cancer Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9514 SN - 1471-230X VL - 24 IS - 1 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dabard, Caroline Hélène A1 - Gohr, Charlotte A1 - Weiss, Fabio A1 - von Wehrden, Henrik A1 - Neumann, Frederike A1 - Hordasevych, Solomiia A1 - Arieta, Bruno A1 - Hammerich, Jenny A1 - Meier, Caroline A1 - Jargow, Janine A1 - Luthardt, Vera A1 - Ibisch, Pierre L. A1 - Ferreira, Ana Filipa T1 - Correction: Biosphere Reserves as model regions for transdisciplinarity? A literature review JF - Sustainability Science KW - - Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9506 SN - 1862-4065 SN - 1862-4057 VL - 19 IS - 6 SP - 2083 EP - 2084 PB - Springer Japan CY - Tokyo ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dabard, Caroline Hélène A1 - Gohr, Charlotte A1 - Weiss, Fabio A1 - von Wehrden, Henrik A1 - Neumann, Frederike A1 - Hordasevych, Solomiia A1 - Arieta, Bruno A1 - Hammerich, Jenny A1 - Meier, Caroline A1 - Jargow, Janine A1 - Luthardt, Vera A1 - Ibisch, Pierre L. A1 - Ferreira, Ana Filipa T1 - Biosphere Reserves as model regions for transdisciplinarity? A literature review JF - Sustainability Science N2 - Abstract The World Network of Biosphere Reserves promotes learning sites for sustainable development, designated under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere programme (MAB). The programme aims to strengthen biodiversity conservation, economic development and capacity building. Scientific research in and about Biosphere Reserves is expected to support these objectives. In response to a strong focus on natural sciences and conservation issues, calls for transdisciplinary approaches emanated from science and the newest MAB Lima Action Plan. Yet, the extent and contributions of transdisciplinary research in Biosphere Reserves remains unexplored. This study provides a comprehensive and systematic screening of 3304 scientific publications in and about Biosphere Reserves published since 1975. Research within Biosphere Reserves spans a broad spectrum, encompassing social to political to ecological investigations, with a focus on natural sciences and studies conducted mainly in Europe and Asia. We identified an emerging field of transdisciplinary science in research, represented in 336 publications. Most transdisciplinary studies were conducted in Mexican and Indian Biosphere Reserves. While transdisciplinary research provided insights about participation, management and governance in Biosphere Reserves, its transformative potential could be enhanced, notably through stronger forms of participation of non-academic actors in research processes. Our review suggests strengthening knowledge co-creation about transformative solutions and interventions addressing deep leverage points. Scientific research could thereby enhance the role of Biosphere Reserves as model regions for sustainability transformations. KW - - KW - Systematic literature review KW - Leverage points KW - Protected areas KW - Transformative research KW - Participation Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9497 SN - 1862-4065 SN - 1862-4057 VL - 19 IS - 6 SP - 2065 EP - 2081 PB - Springer Japan CY - Tokyo ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidinger, Jonas A1 - Schröter, Ingmar A1 - Bönecke, Eric A1 - Gebbers, Robin A1 - Ruehlmann, Joerg A1 - Kramer, Eckart A1 - Mulder, Vera L. A1 - Heuvelink, Gerard B. M. A1 - Vogel, Sebastian T1 - Effect of training sample size, sampling design and prediction model on soil mapping with proximal sensing data for precision liming JF - Precision Agriculture N2 - Abstract Site-specific estimation of lime requirement requires high-resolution maps of soil organic carbon (SOC), clay and pH. These maps can be generated with digital soil mapping models fitted on covariates observed by proximal soil sensors. However, the quality of the derived maps depends on the applied methodology. We assessed the effects of (i) training sample size (5–100); (ii) sampling design (simple random sampling (SRS), conditioned Latin hypercube sampling (cLHS) and k-means sampling (KM)); and (iii) prediction model (multiple linear regression (MLR) and random forest (RF)) on the prediction performance for the above mentioned three soil properties. The case study is based on conditional geostatistical simulations using 250 soil samples from a 51 ha field in Eastern Germany. Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) and root-mean-square error (RMSE) were used to evaluate model performances. Results show that with increasing training sample sizes, relative improvements of RMSE and CCC decreased exponentially. We found the lowest median RMSE values with 100 training observations i.e., 1.73%, 0.21% and 0.3 for clay, SOC and pH, respectively. However, already with a sample size of 10, models of moderate quality (CCC > 0.65) were obtained for all three soil properties. cLHS and KM performed significantly better than SRS. MLR showed lower median RMSE values than RF for SOC and pH for smaller sample sizes, but RF outperformed MLR if at least 25–30 or 75–100 soil samples were used for SOC or pH, respectively. For clay, the median RMSE was lower with RF, regardless of sample size. KW - - KW - Variable rate soil liming KW - Digital soil mapping KW - Training sample size KW - Precision agriculture KW - Sampling designs KW - Proximal soil sensing Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9484 SN - 1385-2256 SN - 1573-1618 VL - 25 IS - 3 SP - 1529 EP - 1555 PB - Springer US CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Elmaidomy, Abeer H. A1 - Abdelmohsen, Usama Ramadan A1 - Alsenani, Faisal A1 - Aly, Hanan F. A1 - Eldin Shams, Shams Gamal A1 - Younis, Eman A. A1 - Ahmed, Kawkab A. A1 - Sayed, Ahmed M. A1 - Owis, Asmaa I. A1 - Afifi, Naglaa A1 - El Amir, Dalia T1 - Retraction: The anti-Alzheimer potential of Tamarindus indica: an in vivo investigation supported by in vitro and in silico approaches JF - RSC Advances N2 - Retraction of ‘The anti-Alzheimer potential of Tamarindus indica : an in vivo investigation supported by in vitro and in silico approaches’ by Abeer H. Elmaidomy et al. , RSC Adv. , 2022, 12 , 11769–11785, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RA01340A . KW - - Y1 - 2025 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9474 SN - 2046-2069 VL - 15 IS - 4 SP - 2461 EP - 2461 PB - The Royal Society of Chemistry ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiss, Fabio A1 - Winter, Susanne A1 - Pflugmacher, Dirk A1 - Kolling, Thomas A1 - Linde, Andreas T1 - Evidence for regional-scale declines in carabid beetles in old lowland beech forests following a period of severe drought JF - Landscape Ecology N2 - Abstract Context Evidence for declines in insect populations is growing with climate change being one suspected driver. Forests, however, are still underrepresented in the relevant research. Recent droughts (2018–2020) have severely affected forests in Central Europe and have been linked to declines in carabid abundance, biomass as well as changes in species traits at the local scale. Objective We tested drought effects on forest carabids at regional scale. We additionally investigated whether variability in drought effects could be explained with the initial community composition and the local environmental context. Methods We used generalized linear mixed models to compare data from 1999 to 2001 and 2020 to 2022 across eleven old beech forest sites of high conservation interest in North-East Germany and investigated changes in carabid abundance, biomass, Hill numbers and selected species traits. We then tested additional community-related and environmental predictors to explain spatial variability in changes in biomass. Results We found significant declines in biomass of 65% and in abundance of 51%. There were no significant changes in Hill numbers. We found consistent evidence that declines affected especially larger and less mobile species. Declines and changes in species traits also occurred in strictly protected old-growth beech forests. Among environmental predictors, landscape composition explained local variability in biomass declines best with stronger decline at forest sites with less forest area in their vicinity. Conclusions Our findings reveal large-scale declines in forest carabids in the context of recent droughts and highlight the exceptional role of landscape composition in this regard. Future insect conservation strategies need to incorporate the landscape context and potential exposure to extreme weather. KW - - KW - Biosphere Reserves KW - Climate change KW - Drought KW - Global environmental change KW - Insect decline KW - Old-growth forests KW - UNESCO World Heritage Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9464 SN - 1572-9761 VL - 39 IS - 7 PB - Springer Netherlands CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eshetu, Shibire Bekele A1 - Kipkulei, Harison Kiplagat A1 - Koepke, Julian A1 - Kächele, Harald A1 - Sieber, Stefan A1 - Löhr, Katharina T1 - Impact of forest landscape restoration in combating soil erosion in the Lake Abaya catchment, Southern Ethiopia JF - Environmental Monitoring and Assessment N2 - Abstract As an effect of forest degradation, soil erosion is among Ethiopia’s most pressing environmental challenges and a major threat to food security where it could potentially compromise the ecosystem functions and services. As the effects of soil erosion intensify, the landscape’s capacity to support ecosystem functions and services is compromised. Exploring the ecological implications of soil erosion is crucial. This study investigated the soil loss and land degradation in the Lake Abaya catchment to explore forest landscape restoration (FLR) implementation as a possible countermeasure to the effects. The study used a geographic information system (GIS)-based approach of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) to determine the potential annual soil loss and develop an erosion risk map. Results show that 13% of the catchment, which accounts for approximately 110,000 ha, is under high erosion risk of exceeding the average annual tolerable soil loss of 10 t/ha/year. Allocation of land on steep slopes to crop production is the major reason for the calculated high erosion risk in the catchment. A scenario-based analysis was implemented following the slope-based land-use allocation proposal indicated in the Rural Land Use Proclamation 456/2005 of Ethiopia. The scenario analysis resulted in a reversal erosion effect whereby an estimated 3000 t/ha/year of soil loss in the catchment. Thus, FLR activities hold great potential for minimizing soil loss and contributing to supporting functioning and providing ecosystem services. Tree-based agroforestry systems are among the key FLR measures championed in highly degraded landscapes in Ethiopia. This study helps policymakers and FLR implementors identify erosion risk areas for future FLR activities. Thereby, it contributes to achieving the country’s restoration commitment. KW - - KW - RUSLE KW - GIS KW - Erosion KW - Landscape restoration KW - Scenario analysis Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9454 SN - 0167-6369 SN - 1573-2959 VL - 196 IS - 3 PB - Springer International Publishing CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vijayan, Dhanya A1 - Girindran, Renoy A1 - Sam, Anu Susan A1 - Sathyan, Archana Raghavan A1 - Kaechele, Harald T1 - The large-scale expansion of rubber plantations in southern India: major impacts and the changing nature of drivers JF - Environmental Monitoring and Assessment N2 - Abstract This study investigates the major environmental and socio-economic impacts of an increase in the area of rubber plantations and the changing patterns of drivers of land use changes. Using a combination of geospatial techniques and socio-economic methods, we mainly analyzed the rate of increase in area under rubber plantations, the major impacts of land use changes, and the changing drivers of land use changes. Our results show that the area under rubber plantations has increased significantly within the study area, with the area under rubber plantations increasing from 30 to 74% of the total area within five decades. Impact assessment of land use changes based on household surveys showed significant improvement in the socio-economic conditions of the farmers, however, at the expense of severe environmental degradation. Our results also indicate that while areas under rubber plantations continue to increase, the drivers of land use changes have changed over time. Furthermore, it has been observed that in the past, many interventions prioritized social and economic development and placed less emphasis on the ecological stability of the region. Perceptions of farmers revealed that the effects of ecological fragility already affected the economic robustness of the whole area. Therefore, we conclude that government interventions to support additional rubber cultivation should also focus on ecosystem stabilization in order to minimize the risk of an ecological catastrophe that would significantly affect the economic prosperity of the region. KW - - KW - Land use change KW - Environmental drivers KW - Changing nature of drivers KW - Data scarce region KW - Geospatial techniques Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9443 SN - 0167-6369 SN - 1573-2959 VL - 196 IS - 4 PB - Springer International Publishing CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ruehlmann, Joerg A1 - Bönecke, Eric A1 - Gebbers, Robin A1 - Gerlach, Felix A1 - Kling, Charlotte A1 - Lück, Katrin A1 - Meyer, Swen A1 - Nagel, Anne A1 - Palme, Stefan A1 - Philipp, Golo A1 - Scheibe, Dirk A1 - Schröter, Ingmar A1 - Vogel, Sebastian A1 - Kramer, Eckart ED - Ciavatta, Claudio T1 - Predicting the Base Neutralization Capacity of Soils Based on Texture, Organic Carbon and Initial pH: An Opportunity to Adjust Common Liming Recommendation Approaches to Specific Management and Climate Conditions JF - Agronomy N2 -
Liming is an effective measure to increase the soil pH and to counterbalance soil acidification. Therefore, the liming recommendations (LRs) for agricultural practice consider two aspects: changing the initial pH to the desired pH and compensating for all pH decreases taking place within the liming interval. The separation of these aspects is essential to optimize LRs and to minimize lime losses to the environment. Therefore, we developed a pedotransfer function (PTF) to calculate the lime demand to change the initial pH to the desired pH and compared the results with the LRs for agricultural practice. Applying this PTF to a set of 126 soil samples that were analyzed for base neutralization capacity could explain approximately 78% of the variability in the pH changes after the addition of different amounts of Ca(OH)2. Consequently, the lime demand to change the initial pH to the desired pH increased by approximately one-sixth compared to the lime demand proposed by the liming recommendation scheme, which is commonly used in Germany. From the numerical difference between the lime demand according to the LRs and the PTF, we calculated the annual acidification rates based on the soil texture, organic matter content and initial pH. Decoupling the abovementioned two aspects of LRs might be helpful to optimize the LRs by adapting to different regions, diverse management strategies and a changing climate.
KW - - KW - acidification KW - organic carbon KW - lime KW - pedotransfer function KW - pH KW - soil KW - texture Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9435 SN - 2073-4395 VL - 13 IS - 11 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mayar, Mohammad Assem A1 - Hamidov, Ahmad A1 - Akramkhanov, Akmal A1 - Helming, Katharina ED - Disse, Markus ED - Huang, Jingshui T1 - Consideration of the Environment in Water-Energy-Food Nexus Research in the Aral Sea Basin JF - Water N2 -The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is a holistic concept used to understand the synergies and trade-offs of interdependent water, energy, and food resources. Despite its widespread use, this concept often overlooks environmental concerns. In addition, the lack of a systemic approach in the Aral Sea Basin (ASB) has resulted in serious environmental degradation. For instance, the Aral Sea, situated at the terminus of the basin, is steadily shrinking, yet researchers studying the WEF nexus tend to overlook the upstream tributaries of the basin. This study aims to determine the extent to which research on the WEF nexus in the ASB in Central Asia has considered the environment through a systematic review of the literature published between 2012 and 2022. The results indicate that the number of WEF publications regarding the ASB has seen an upward trend, with a primary focus on the transboundary level and less research available on the local and national levels. This confirms the strong reliance of Central Asian states on one another for food, energy, and water resources. Furthermore, the results show that the majority of published studies either do not consider environmental concerns in their analyses at all or do so with little precision. Therefore, to achieve precise and sustainable outcomes, this study recommends the inclusion of environmental concerns along with basin-wide coverage in future WEF analyses. Finally, the WEF concept should be downscaled to the national and local levels in order to facilitate its implementation.
KW - - KW - systematic review KW - transboundary KW - sustainability KW - Central Asia KW - trends Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9426 SN - 2073-4441 VL - 16 IS - 5 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mason, Eloïse A1 - Bispo, Antonio A1 - Matt, Mireille A1 - Helming, Katharina A1 - Rodriguez, Elena A1 - Lansac, Rocio A1 - Carrasco, Violeta A1 - Hashar, Mohammad Rafiul A1 - Verdonk, Loes A1 - Prokop, Gundula A1 - Wall, David A1 - Francis, Nancy A1 - Laszlo, Peter A1 - Löbmann, Michael T. T1 - Sustainable soil and land management: a systems-oriented overview of scientific literature JF - Frontiers in Soil Science N2 -Healthy soil is vital for our wellbeing and wealth. However, increasing demand for food and biomass may lead to unsustainable soil and land management practices that threaten soils. Other degradation processes such as soil sealing also endanger soil resources. Identifying and accessing the best available knowledge is crucial to address related sustainability issues and promote the needed transition towards sustainable soil and land management practices. Such knowledge has to cover all knowledge domains, system knowledge, target knowledge, and transformation knowledge. However, a comprehensive overview of existing research addressing societal needs related to soil is still missing, which hinders the identification of knowledge gaps. This study provides a detailed analysis of scientific literature to identify ongoing research activities and trends. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of scientific literature related to sustainable soil and land management was conducted. A systems-oriented analytical framework was used that combines soil and land related societal challenges with related knowledge domains. Our analysis revealed a significant increase in scientific publications and related interest in soil and land use-related research, above the average increase of publications within all scientific fields. Different forms of reduction and remediation of soil degradation processes (e.g. erosion, contamination) have been studied most extensively. Other topic areas like land take mitigation, soil biodiversity increase, increase of ecosystem services provision and climate change mitigation and adaption seem to be rather recent concerns, less investigated. We could highlight the importance of context-specific research, as different regions require different practices. For instance, boreal, tropical, karst and peatland regions were less studied. Furthermore, we found that diversifying soil management practices such as agroforestry or including livestock into arable systems are valuable options for increasing biomass, mitigating/adapting to climate change, and improving soil related ecosystem services. A recent trend towards the latter research topic indicates the transition from a soil conservation-oriented perspective to a soil service-oriented perspective, which may be better suited to integrate the social and economic dimensions of soil health improvement alongside the ecological dimension.
KW - - KW - CorTexT KW - knowledge gaps KW - literature analysis KW - societal challenge KW - soil mission KW - stock assessment Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9418 SN - 2673-8619 VL - 3 PB - Frontiers Media S.A. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Julich, Dorit A1 - Julich, Stefan A1 - Feger, Karl-Heinz A1 - Klauder, Tobias A1 - Zethof, Jeroen H. T. ED - Viti, Carlo T1 - Effects of Past Sulfur Deposition on the Soil Microbial Biomass at Spruce Forest Sites JF - Soil Systems N2 -During the last decades, forest soils in Central Europe recovered from former sulfur and acid deposition. As external S input into forests has strongly decreased and legacy S pools in the soils are diminishing, internal S cycling through mineralization will increasingly become important for ecosystem nutrition. However, it is not known how microbial biomass is affected by the S pool change in the formerly S surplus soils. Here, we present data on the status quo of C, N, and S in microbial biomass in relation to contents in mineral soil and organic layer. The results of forest soil in Eastern Germany (low and high liming), which is slowly recovering from former pollution, are compared to those of a site remote from air pollution in the Swiss Alps. The contents of C, N, and S in soil as well as in microbial biomass were clearly higher in the organic layer than in mineral topsoil at all sites. Despite the generally low content in the mineral A-horizon, the clean-air site showed indications of a more active S-turnover as compared to the high-pollution site. Liming at the high-pollution site improved the conditions for microbial growth (pH increase) in the organic layer resulting in more mobile S.
KW - - KW - microbial biomass sulfur KW - microbial biomass nitrogen KW - forest soil KW - nutrient stoichiometry Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9404 SN - 2571-8789 VL - 8 IS - 2 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - El-Hddad, Sanadelaslam S. A. A1 - Sobhy, Mohamed H. A1 - El-morsy, Ahmed A1 - Shoman, Nabil A. A1 - El-Adl, Khaled T1 - Quinazolines and thiazolidine-2,4-dions as SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors: repurposing, in silico molecular docking and dynamics simulation JF - RSC Advances N2 -This paper presents an extensive analysis of COVID-19 with a specific focus on VEGFR-2 inhibitors as potential treatments. The investigation includes an overview of computational methodologies employed in drug repurposing and highlights
This paper presents an extensive analysis of COVID-19 with a specific focus on VEGFR-2 inhibitors as potential treatments.
To manage Earth in the Anthropocene, new tools, new institutions, and new forms of international cooperation will be required. Earth Virtualization Engines is proposed as an international federation of centers of excellence to empower all people to respond to the immense and urgent challenges posed by climate change.
KW - - Y1 - U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9388 SN - 1866-3516 VL - 16 IS - 4 SP - 2113 EP - 2122 PB - Copernicus Publications CY - Göttingen, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vogel, Sebastian A1 - Emmerich, Katja A1 - Schröter, Ingmar A1 - Bönecke, Eric A1 - Schwanghart, Wolfgang A1 - Rühlmann, Jörg A1 - Kramer, Eckart A1 - Gebbers, Robin T1 - The effect of soil moisture content and soil texture on fast in situ pH measurements with two types of robust ion-selective electrodes JF - SOIL N2 - Abstract In situ soil pH measurements with ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) are receiving increasing attention in soil mapping for precision agriculture as they can avoid time-consuming sampling and off-site laboratory work. However, unlike the standard laboratory protocol, in situ pH measurements are carried out at lower and varying soil moisture contents (SMCs), which can have a pronounced effect on the sensor readings. In addition, as the contact with the soil during in situ measurements should be relatively short, effects of soil texture could be expected because texture controls the migration of protons to the electrode interface. This may be exacerbated by the fact that the electrodes used for in situ measurements are made of less sensitive but more robust materials as compared to the standard glass electrode. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of soil moisture and soil texture on pH measurements using robust antimony and epoxy-body ISEs pressed directly into the soil for 30 s. The SMC was gradually increased from dry conditions to field capacity. A wide range of soil texture classes were included, with sand, silt, and clay contents ranging from 16 % to 91 %, 5 % to 44 %, and 4 % to 65 %, respectively. An exponential model was fitted to the data to quantify the relationship between SMC and pH. The results show that an increase in SMC causes a maximum increase in pH of approximately 1.5 pH units, regardless of the type of pH ISE used. Furthermore, for sandy soil textures, a rather linear relationship between pH and SMC was observed, whereas, with decreasing mean particle diameter (MPD), the model had a pronounced exponential shape, i.e., a greater pH increase at low SMC and a plateau effect at high SMC. With increasing SMC, the pH values asymptotically approached the standard pH measured with a glass electrode in 0.01 M CaCl 2(soil : solution ratio of 1:2.5). Thus, at high SMC, subsequent calibration of the sensor pH values to the standard pH value is negligible, which may be relevant for using the sensor pH data for lime requirement estimates. The pH measurement error decreases exponentially with increasing soil moisture and increases with decreasing MPD. Using a knee point detection, reliable pH values were obtained for SMC > 11 %, irrespective of the pH ISE used. An analysis of the regression coefficients of the fitted exponential model showed that the maximum pH increase also depends on soil texture; i.e., the influence of soil moisture variation on the pH value increases with decreasing MPD. Moreover, the concavity of the exponential curve increases with decreasing MPD. KW - - Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9377 SN - 2199-398X VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - 321 EP - 333 PB - Copernicus Publications CY - Göttingen, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stevens, Bjorn A1 - Adami, Stefan A1 - Ali, Tariq A1 - Anzt, Hartwig A1 - Aslan, Zafer A1 - Attinger, Sabine A1 - Bäck, Jaana A1 - Baehr, Johanna A1 - Bauer, Peter A1 - Bernier, Natacha A1 - Bishop, Bob A1 - Bockelmann, Hendryk A1 - Bony, Sandrine A1 - Brasseur, Guy A1 - Bresch, David N. A1 - Breyer, Sean A1 - Brunet, Gilbert A1 - Buttigieg, Pier Luigi A1 - Cao, Junji A1 - Castet, Christelle A1 - Cheng, Yafang A1 - Dey Choudhury, Ayantika A1 - Coen, Deborah A1 - Crewell, Susanne A1 - Dabholkar, Atish A1 - Dai, Qing A1 - Doblas-Reyes, Francisco A1 - Durran, Dale A1 - El Gaidi, Ayoub A1 - Ewen, Charlie A1 - Exarchou, Eleftheria A1 - Eyring, Veronika A1 - Falkinhoff, Florencia A1 - Farrell, David A1 - Forster, Piers M. A1 - Frassoni, Ariane A1 - Frauen, Claudia A1 - Fuhrer, Oliver A1 - Gani, Shahzad A1 - Gerber, Edwin A1 - Goldfarb, Debra A1 - Grieger, Jens A1 - Gruber, Nicolas A1 - Hazeleger, Wilco A1 - Herken, Rolf A1 - Hewitt, Chris A1 - Hoefler, Torsten A1 - Hsu, Huang-Hsiung A1 - Jacob, Daniela A1 - Jahn, Alexandra A1 - Jakob, Christian A1 - Jung, Thomas A1 - Kadow, Christopher A1 - Kang, In-Sik A1 - Kang, Sarah A1 - Kashinath, Karthik A1 - Kleinen-von Königslöw, Katharina A1 - Klocke, Daniel A1 - Kloenne, Uta A1 - Klöwer, Milan A1 - Kodama, Chihiro A1 - Kollet, Stefan A1 - Kölling, Tobias A1 - Kontkanen, Jenni A1 - Kopp, Steve A1 - Koran, Michal A1 - Kulmala, Markku A1 - Lappalainen, Hanna A1 - Latifi, Fakhria A1 - Lawrence, Bryan A1 - Lee, June Yi A1 - Lejeun, Quentin A1 - Lessig, Christian A1 - Li, Chao A1 - Lippert, Thomas A1 - Luterbacher, Jürg A1 - Manninen, Pekka A1 - Marotzke, Jochem A1 - Matsouoka, Satoshi A1 - Merchant, Charlotte A1 - Messmer, Peter A1 - Michel, Gero A1 - Michielsen, Kristel A1 - Miyakawa, Tomoki A1 - Müller, Jens A1 - Munir, Ramsha A1 - Narayanasetti, Sandeep A1 - Ndiaye, Ousmane A1 - Nobre, Carlos A1 - Oberg, Achim A1 - Oki, Riko A1 - Özkan-Haller, Tuba A1 - Palmer, Tim A1 - Posey, Stan A1 - Prein, Andreas A1 - Primus, Odessa A1 - Pritchard, Mike A1 - Pullen, Julie A1 - Putrasahan, Dian A1 - Quaas, Johannes A1 - Raghavan, Krishnan A1 - Ramaswamy, Venkatachalam A1 - Rapp, Markus A1 - Rauser, Florian A1 - Reichstein, Markus A1 - Revi, Aromar A1 - Saluja, Sonakshi A1 - Satoh, Masaki A1 - Schemann, Vera A1 - Schemm, Sebastian A1 - Schnadt Poberaj, Christina A1 - Schulthess, Thomas A1 - Senior, Cath A1 - Shukla, Jagadish A1 - Singh, Manmeet A1 - Slingo, Julia A1 - Sobel, Adam A1 - Solman, Silvina A1 - Spitzer, Jenna A1 - Stier, Philip A1 - Stocker, Thomas A1 - Strock, Sarah A1 - Su, Hang A1 - Taalas, Petteri A1 - Taylor, John A1 - Tegtmeier, Susann A1 - Teutsch, Georg A1 - Tompkins, Adrian A1 - Ulbrich, Uwe A1 - Vidale, Pier-Luigi A1 - Wu, Chien-Ming A1 - Xu, Hao A1 - Zaki, Najibullah A1 - Zanna, Laure A1 - Zhou, Tianjun A1 - Ziemen, Florian T1 - Earth Virtualization Engines (EVE) JF - Earth System Science Data N2 - Abstract To manage Earth in the Anthropocene, new tools, new institutions, and new forms of international cooperation will be required. Earth Virtualization Engines is proposed as an international federation of centers of excellence to empower all people to respond to the immense and urgent challenges posed by climate change. KW - - Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9367 SN - 1866-3516 VL - 16 IS - 4 SP - 2113 EP - 2122 PB - Copernicus Publications CY - Göttingen, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Perry, Gad A1 - Göttert, Thomas ED - Wink, Michael T1 - The City as an Evolutionary Hothouse—The Search for Rapid Evolution in Urban Settings JF - Diversity N2 - Cities are ubiquitous and, though a novel phenomenon by evolutionary standards, provide a home for many species and exert particularly strong and novel selection pressures on them. They thus offer a unique opportunity to study rapid evolutionary processes. We conducted a scoping review of published studies documenting evolutionary processes in urban environments, focusing primarily on more recent work. Unfortunately, cities have not been attractive environments for biological research and thus remain poorly studied, despite slowly growing interest in recent years. Nonetheless, we found studies documenting the effects of mutation, genetic drift, and selection in cities. However, studies show some geographic bias and were not always as conclusive as might be desired. There is even support for incipient urban speciation. Evidence across the board is less abundant and less conclusive than desirable, suggesting the need for more data collection. The urban setting, with its stronger selection, more common intermixing, and abundance of both human and widespread potential non-human zoonosis hosts and human-associated species offers great opportunities to further document evolution in action and explore its conservation implications. KW - - KW - conservation KW - ecology KW - evolution KW - speciation KW - urbanization Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9356 SN - 1424-2818 VL - 16 IS - 6 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bayoumi, Hatem Hussein A1 - Ibrahim, Mohamed-Kamal A1 - Dahab, Mohammed A. A1 - Khedr, Fathalla A1 - El-Adl, Khaled T1 - Exploration of the VEGFR-2 inhibition activity of phthalazine derivatives: design, synthesis, cytotoxicity, ADMET, molecular docking and dynamic simulation† JF - RSC Advances N2 - Novel phthalazine derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated against Hep G2 and MCF-7 as VEGFR-2 inhibitors. In particular, compounds 2g and 4a were found to be the most potent derivatives among all the tested compounds against MCF-7 and Hep G2 cancer cell lines with IC50 values of 0.15 and 0.12 and 0.18 and 0.09 μM respectively. Moreover, compounds 3a, 3c, 5a and 5b displayed excellent anticancer activities against MCF-7 and Hep G2 cancer cell lines. The highly active derivatives 2g, 3a, 3c, 4a, 5a and 5b were evaluated for their inhibitory activities against VEGFR-2. The tested compounds displayed high to low inhibitory activities with IC50 values ranging from 0.148 to 0.892 μM. Among them, compounds 2g and 4a were found to be the most potent derivatives that inhibited VEGFR-2 with IC50 values of 0.148 and 0.196 μM respectively. Compounds 3a, 3c, 5a and 5b exhibited good activity with IC50 values of 0.375, 0.892, 0.548 and 0.331 μM respectively. Sorafenib was used as a reference drug in this study. Molecular modeling studies were carried out for all compounds against the VEGFR-2 active site. The data obtained from biological testing highly correlated with those obtained from molecular modeling studies. Moreover, MD simulation results indicated the stability of ligand–target interaction. Furthermore, our derivatives 2g and 4a showed a good in silico calculated ADMET profile. KW - - Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9342 SN - 2046-2069 VL - 14 IS - 30 SP - 21668 EP - 21681 PB - The Royal Society of Chemistry ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bayoumi, Hatem Hussein A1 - Ibrahim, Mohamed-Kamal A1 - Dahab, Mohammed A. A1 - Khedr, Fathalla A1 - El-Adl, Khaled T1 - Rationale, in silico docking, ADMET profile, design, synthesis and cytotoxicity evaluations of phthalazine derivatives as VEGFR-2 inhibitors and apoptosis inducers† JF - RSC Advances N2 - New phthalazine derivatives as vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) inhibitors were synthesized joined to different spacers including pyrazole, α,β-unsaturated ketonic fragment, pyrimidinone and/or pyrimidinthione. A docking study was carried out to explore the suggested binding orientations of the novel derivatives inside the active site of VEGFR-2. The obtained biological data were extremely interrelated to that of the docking study. In particular, compounds 4b and 3e showed the highest activities against Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) and Hepatocellular carcinoma G2 (HepG2) with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) = 0.06, 0.06 μM and 0.08, 0.19 μM respectively. Our derivatives 3a–e, 4a,b and 5a,b were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against normal VERO cells. Our compounds exhibited low toxicity concerning normal VERO cells with IC50 = 3.00–4.75 μM. In addition, our final derivatives 3a–e, 4a, 4b, 5a and 5b were investigated for their VEGFR-2 inhibitory activities. Derivative 4b exhibited the highest VEGFR-2 inhibitory activities at an IC50 value of 0.09 ± 0.02 μM. Derivatives 3e, 4a and 5b demonstrated good activities with IC50 values = 0.12 ± 0.02, 0.15 ± 0.03 and 0.13 ± 0.03 μM respectively. Furthermore, the activities of 4b were assessed against MCF-7 cancer cells for apoptosis induction, cell cycle distribution and growth inhibition. Compound 4b caused cell growth arrest in growth 2-mitosis (G2-M) phase; accumulation of cells at that phase became 6.92% after being 13.2 in control cells. Moreover, our derivatives 3e, 4b and 5b revealed a good in silico considered absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) profile in comparison to sorafenib. KW - - Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9332 SN - 2046-2069 VL - 14 IS - 37 SP - 27110 EP - 27121 PB - The Royal Society of Chemistry ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Abdelshafy Mohamad, Osama Abdalla A1 - Liu, Yong-Hong A1 - Huang, Yin A1 - Kuchkarova, Nigora A1 - Dong, Lei A1 - Jiao, Jian-Yu A1 - Fang, Bao-Zhu A1 - Ma, Jin-Biao A1 - Hatab, Shaimaa A1 - Li, Wen-Jun T1 - Metabonomic analysis to identify exometabolome changes underlying antifungal and growth promotion mechanisms of endophytic Actinobacterium Streptomyces albidoflavus for sustainable agriculture practice JF - Frontiers in Microbiology N2 - In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on microbial ecology and its possible impact on agricultural production, owing to its eco-friendly nature and sustainable use. The current study employs metabolomics technologies and bioinformatics approaches to identify changes in the exometabolome of Streptomyces albidoflavus B24. This research aims to shed light on the mechanisms and metabolites responsible for the antifungal and growth promotion strategies, with potential applications in sustainable agriculture. Metabolomic analysis was conducted using Q Exactive UPLC–MS/MS. Our findings indicate that a total of 3,840 metabolites were identified, with 137 metabolites exhibiting significant differences divided into 61 up and 75 downregulated metabolites based on VIP >1, |FC| >1, and p < 0.01. The interaction of S. albidoflavus B24 monoculture with the co-culture demonstrated a stronger correlation coefficient. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) demonstrates that PCA1 accounted for 23.36%, while PCA2 accounted for 20.28% distinction. OPLS-DA score plots indicate significant separation among different groups representing (t1) 24% as the predicted component (to1) depicts 14% as the orthogonal component. According to the findings of this comprehensive study, crude extracts from S. albidoflavus demonstrated varying abilities to impede phytopathogen growth and enhance root and shoot length in tested plants. Through untargeted metabolomics, we discovered numerous potential molecules with antagonistic activity against fungal phytopathogens among the top 10 significant metabolites with the highest absolute log2FC values. These include Tetrangulol, 4-Hydroxybenzaldehyde, and Cyclohexane. Additionally, we identified plant growth-regulating metabolites such as N-Succinyl-L-glutamate, Nicotinic acid, L-Aspartate, and Indole-3-acetamide. The KEGG pathway analysis has highlighted these compounds as potential sources of antimicrobial properties. The inhibitory effect of S. albidoflavus crude extracts on pathogen growth is primarily attributed to the presence of specific gene clusters responsible for producing cyclic peptides such as ansamycins, porphyrin, alkaloid derivatives, and neomycin. Overall, it is apparent that crude extracts from S. albidoflavus exhibited varying abilities to inhibit the growth of three phytopathogens and enhancement in both root and shoot length of tested plants. This research enhances our understanding of how secondary metabolites contribute to growth promotion and biocontrol, supporting ecosystem sustainability and resilience while boosting productivity in sustainable agriculture. KW - - KW - medicinal plants KW - endophytes KW - actinobacteria KW - metabolomics KW - agriculture sustainability KW - environmental microbiology Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9329 SN - 1664-302X VL - 15 PB - Frontiers Media S.A. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Seydewitz, Tobias A1 - Pradhan, Prajal A1 - Landholm, David M. A1 - Kropp, Juergen P. T1 - Deforestation Drivers Across the Tropics and Their Impacts on Carbon Stocks and Ecosystem Services JF - Anthropocene Science N2 - Abstract Globally, deforestation produces anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, contributing substantially to climate change. Forest cover changes also have large impacts on ecosystem services. Deforestation is the dominant type of land cover change in tropical regions, and this land cover change relates to distinct causes recognized as direct deforestation drivers. Understanding these drivers requires a significant effort. Further, GHG emissions due to deforestation are quantified only in terms of biomass removal, while linking emissions from soil organic carbon (SOC) loss to deforestation is lacking. A closer picture of associated ecosystem service changes due to deforestation is also needed. We analyze for 2001–2010: (1) the magnitudes of deforestation drivers, (2) the related carbon loss, and (3) the ecosystem service value change. On the global scale, agriculture (90.3%) is the primary deforestation driver, where grassland expansion contributed the most (37.5%). The deforestation drivers differ in magnitude and spatial distribution on the continental scale. The total carbon loss by biomass removal and SOC loss accounted for 8797 Mt C and 1185 Mt C, respectively. Furthermore, tropical deforestation caused the ESV loss of 408 billion Int.$ year -1, while the resulting land cover has the ESV of 345 billion Int.$ year -1. Our findings highlight that agriculture substantially contributes to global carbon loss and ecosystem service loss due to deforestation. The deforestation drivers differ in magnitude and distribution for different continents. Further, we highlight the danger of putting a monetary value on nature. KW - - KW - Deforestation KW - Soil carbon KW - Biomass KW - Land use change KW - Tropics KW - Emissions KW - Environmental Sciences KW - Biological Sciences Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9312 SN - 2731-3980 VL - 2 IS - 1 SP - 81 EP - 92 PB - Springer Nature Singapore ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reckling, Moritz A1 - Watson, Christine A. A1 - Whitbread, Anthony A1 - Helming, Katharina T1 - Diversification for sustainable and resilient agricultural landscape systems JF - Agronomy for Sustainable Development N2 - Abstract This virtual issue comprises papers that address diversification for providing sustainable solutions at different scales from cropping and grassland to food systems. The authors investigated processes in case studies at the landscape scale where synergies and trade-offs between social and environmental objectives become the most tangible. Contributions from all continents highlighted regional specificities related to diversification and include research from natural and social sciences, with inter- and transdisciplinary approaches including synthesis of knowledge (reviews), empirical studies with experiments as well as assessments with interviews in case studies: Model-based design of crop diversification, the role of digitalization for achieving sustainability in the European context, ecological engineering for rice pest suppression in China, the role of cereal species mixtures in Ethiopian smallholder farmers, diversified planting in arid irrigation areas in northwestern China, integration of legumes in European and Canadian cropping systems, screening of native forage legumes for northern Swedish grassland systems, cropping system diversification of smallholder farmers in south-central Bangladesh, identification of how farmers imagine diversified landscapes in southern Idaho in the US, farm diversification affecting impacts from COVID-19 across Europe, the role of diversified farming in Mato Grosso Brazil, diversification and soil management measures in Germany, value chain formation for the scaling of crop diversification, and the design process with farmers and scientists for the transition toward legume-supported farming in Europe. A key finding from these examples is that agricultural intensification has led to the simplification of cropping systems and landscapes in terms of species diversity and ecosystem function. To instead move towards sustainable transformation, all system levels (i.e. from the plot, farm, landscape, governance and overall food systems) need to interact and reinforce each other for diversification to deliver the desired outcomes. KW - - KW - Co-design KW - Crop-livestock systems KW - Food system KW - Legumes KW - Transformation KW - Environmental Sciences KW - Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9302 SN - 1774-0746 SN - 1773-0155 VL - 43 IS - 4 PB - Springer Paris ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Strauss, Veronika A1 - Paul, Carsten A1 - Dönmez, Cenk A1 - Löbmann, Michael A1 - Helming, Katharina T1 - Sustainable soil management measures: a synthesis of stakeholder recommendations JF - Agronomy for Sustainable Development N2 - Abstract Soil degradation threatens agricultural production and soil multifunctionality. Efforts for private and public governance are increasingly emerging to leverage sustainable soil management. They require consensus across science, policy, and practice about what sustainable soil management entails. Such agreement does not yet exist to a sufficient extent in agronomic terms; what is lacking is a concise list of soil management measures that enjoy broad support among all stakeholders, and evidence on the question what hampers their implementation by farmers. We therefore screened stakeholder documents from public governance institutions, nongovernmental organizations, the agricultural industry, and conventional and organic farmer associations for recommendations related to agricultural soil management in Germany. Out of 46 recommended measures in total, we compiled a shortlist of the seven most consensual ones: (1) structural landscape elements, (2) organic fertilization, (3) diversified crop rotation, (4) permanent soil cover, (5) conservation tillage, (6) reduced soil loads, and (7) optimized timing of wheeling. Together, these measures support all agricultural soil functions, and address all major soil threats except soil contamination. Implementation barriers were identified with the aid of an online survey among farmers ( n = 78). Results showed that a vast majority of farmers (> 80%) approved of all measures. Barriers were mostly considered to be economic and in some cases technological, while missing knowledge or other factors were less relevant. Barriers were stronger for those measures that cannot be implemented in isolation, but require a systemic diversification of the production system. This is especially the case for measures that are simultaneously beneficial to many soil functions (measures 2, 3, and 4). Results confirm the need for a diversification of the agricultural system in order to meet challenges of food security and climate change. The shortlist presents the first integrative compilation of sustainable soil management measures supporting the design of effective public or private governance. KW - - KW - Agriculture in transition KW - Diversification in agriculture KW - Soil functions KW - Soil health KW - Sustainable soil management KW - Stakeholder recommendations KW - Environmental Sciences Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9293 SN - 1774-0746 SN - 1773-0155 VL - 43 IS - 1 PB - Springer Paris ER - TY - JOUR A1 - MacPherson, Joseph A1 - Voglhuber-Slavinsky, Ariane A1 - Olbrisch, Mathias A1 - Schöbel, Philipp A1 - Dönitz, Ewa A1 - Mouratiadou, Ioanna A1 - Helming, Katharina T1 - Future agricultural systems and the role of digitalization for achieving sustainability goals. A review JF - Agronomy for Sustainable Development N2 - Abstract By leveraging a wide range of novel, data-driven technologies for agricultural production and agri-food value chains, digital agriculture presents potential enhancements to sustainability across food systems. Accordingly, digital agriculture has received considerable attention in policy in recent years, with emphasis mostly placed on the potential of digital agriculture to improve efficiency, productivity and food security, and less attention given to how digitalization may impact other principles of sustainable development, such as biodiversity conservation, soil protection, and human health, for example. Here, we review high-level policy and law in the German and European context to highlight a number of important institutional, societal, and legal preconditions for leveraging digital agriculture to achieve diverse sustainability targets. Additionally, we combine foresight analysis with our review to reflect on how future frame conditions influencing agricultural digitalization and sustainability could conceivably arise. The major points are the following: (1) some polices consider the benefits of digital agriculture, although only to a limited extent and mostly in terms of resource use efficiency; (2) law as it applies to digital agriculture is emerging but is highly fragmented; and (3) the adoption of digital agriculture and if it is used to enhance sustainability will be dependent on future data ownership regimes. KW - - KW - Digital agriculture KW - Sustainability KW - Policy KW - Foresight KW - Agri-digital law KW - Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences KW - Law and Legal Studies Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9282 SN - 1774-0746 SN - 1773-0155 VL - 42 IS - 4 PB - Springer Paris ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ullah, Ayat A1 - Zeb, Alam A1 - Saqib, Shahab E. A1 - Kächele, Harald T1 - Constraints to agroforestry diffusion under the Billion Trees Afforestation Project (BTAP), Pakistan: policy recommendations for 10-BTAP JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research N2 - Abstract Effective agroforestry diffusion under the newly started 10-Billion Trees Afforestation Project (10-BTAP) needs a thorough understanding of the policy and implementation shortfalls of the already completed BTAP. This study examines the factors that affected the diffusion of the agroforestry in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) region of Pakistan under BTAP. The data were gathered through in-depth interviews with Village Development Committee (VDC) members, Forest Department (FD) officials, and local farmers. Important factors positively affecting agroforestry diffusion included locations of crop fields on the river sides, community dependency on firewood, and market value of agroforestry timber. The logistic regression model shows that household head’s age, access to information, and area under cropland positively affected household level adoption of agroforestry under BTAP; forest cover was negatively related. In-depth interviews show that key barriers to FD in diffusion of agroforestry included provision of false information by farmers to monitoring teams, non-availability of extension staff, lack of communication among project staff and community, as well as a lack of sufficient budget for activities. Primary barriers to community adoption of agroforestry included no participation of VDCs in planning and monitoring of agroforestry programs, lack of plant need assessments on the part of the project staff, poor quality of plants distributed by FD, farmers’ poor know-how of plantations, lack of trust among community and project staff, as well as the waste of plants by farming community. Thus, this study recommends that policy-makers and project designers should consider these factors when planning agroforestry diffusion under 10-BTAP to improve its success. KW - - KW - Agroforestry diffusion KW - 10-Billion Trees Afforestation Project KW - Policy and extension KW - Hindu-Kush Himalayan KW - Village Development Committees KW - Planning and monitoring KW - Medical and Health Sciences Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9271 SN - 0944-1344 SN - 1614-7499 VL - 29 IS - 45 SP - 68757 EP - 68775 PB - Springer Berlin Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nagler, Linda A1 - Schwefler, Jana A1 - Käthner, Jana A1 - Giebel, Antje A1 - Kramer, Eckart T1 - Der Einfluss der Fahrgassenpflege auf das Mikroklima in Schwarzen Johannisbeeren (Ribes nigrum L.) T1 - Effects of Interrow Maintenance on Microclimate Parameters in Black Currant (Ribes nigrum L.) JF - Erwerbs-Obstbau N2 - Zusammenfassung Das Ziel der Untersuchung war es, den Einfluss der Fahrgassenpflegefrequenz auf die Lufttemperatur und die relative Luftfeuchte in Plantagen mit Schwarzen Johannisbeeren ( Ribes nigrum L.) zu ermitteln. In der Praxis dient das Kurzhalten des Fahrgassenbewuchses als angewandte und präventive Methodik, um die Durchlüftung im Bestand zu verbessern und den Krankheitsdruck zu senken. Die On-Farm-Versuche fanden auf zwei ökologisch geführten Strauchbeerenbetrieben in Brandenburg (Weggun und Schöneiche) über einen Zeitraum von März bis Juni 2021 statt. Die Einflüsse der Pflegefrequenz auf das Mikroklima in den Fahrgassen wurden für praxisübliche Mahdfrequenz („business as usual“, BAU) und erhöhte Mahdfrequenz (TEST) ermittelt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass mit einem kontinuierlichen Kurzhalten der Fahrgassen eine nachweisbare Beeinflussung auf die bodennahe Lufttemperatur und Luftfeuchte stattfindet. Dabei führte eine erhöhte Mahdfrequenz (TEST) teils zu einer signifikant höheren mittleren Lufttemperatur als in praxisüblicher Pflege (BAU), wohingegen die mittlere relative Luftfeuchte signifikant geringer war. Die Effekte waren abhängig vom Zeitpunkt und vom Standort. Über die Versuchsperiode konnten maximale mittlere Lufttemperaturdifferenzen von 1,14 °C (Standort Weggun) bzw. 1,96 °C (Standort Schöneiche) sowie maximale mittlere relative Luftfeuchtedifferenzen von 3,69 % (Standort Weggun) bzw. 3,90 % (Standort Schöneiche) zwischen den Varianten TEST und BAU festgestellt werden. Vor allem in der Plantage mit dem geringeren Reihenabstand tritt dieser Effekt deutlicher auf. Die Ergebnisse lassen vermuten, dass die Plantagenstruktur einen Einfluss auf die Effekte hat, was in zukünftigen Versuchen untersucht werden sollte. N2 - Abstract The aim of the study was to determine the influence of tramline maintenance frequency on air temperature and relative humidity in blackcurrant ( Ribes nigrum ) plantations. In practice, keeping tramline vegetation short serves as an applied and preventative technique to improve aeration in the crop and reduce disease pressure. The on-farm trials took place on two ecological shrub berry farms in Brandenburg (Weggun and Schöneiche) over a period from March to June 2021. The effects of maintenance frequency on the microclimate in the tramlines were determined for normal mowing frequency (business as usual, BAU) and increased mowing frequency (TEST). The results show that continuous short keeping of the tramlines has a demonstrable influence on the air temperature and humidity in the currant stand. In some cases, an increased mowing frequency (TEST) led to a significantly higher mean air temperature than under usual management (BAU), whereas the mean relative humidity was significantly lower. The effects were dependent on timing and site. Over the experimental period, maximum mean air temperature differences of 1.14 °C (Weggun site) and 1.96 °C (Schöneiche site) and maximum mean relative humidity differences of 3.69% (Weggun site) and 3.90% (Schöneiche site) were observed between the TEST and BAU variants. Especially in the plantation with the smaller row distance, this effect occurs more clearly. The results suggest that the plantation structure has an influence on these effects, which should be investigated in further trials. KW - - KW - Strauchbeeren KW - Mikroklima KW - Mahd KW - Schwarze Johannisbeeren KW - Fahrgassenpflege KW - Bush berries KW - Microclimate KW - Mowing KW - Black currants KW - Tramline maintenance Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9269 SN - 0014-0309 SN - 1439-0302 VL - 65 IS - 4 SP - 1035 EP - 1046 PB - Springer Berlin Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Horf, Michael A1 - Bönecke, Eric A1 - Gebbers, Robin A1 - Kling, Charlotte A1 - Kramer, Eckart A1 - Rühlmann, Jörg A1 - Schröter, Ingmar A1 - Schwanghart, Wolfgang A1 - Vogel, Sebastian T1 - Utility of visible and near-infrared spectroscopy to predict base neutralizing capacity and lime requirement of quaternary soils JF - Precision Agriculture N2 - AbstractDetailed knowledge of a soil’s lime requirement (LR) is a prerequisite for a demand-based lime fertilization to achieve the optimum soil pH and thus sustainably increasing soil fertility and crop yields. LR can be directly determined by the base neutralizing capacity (BNC) obtained by soil-base titration. For a site-specific soil acidity management, detailed information on the within-field variation of BNC is required. However, soil-base titrations for BNC determination are too laborious to be extensively applied in routine soil testing. In contrast, visible and near-infrared spectroscopy (visNIRS) is a time and cost-effective alternative that can analyze several soil characteristics within a single spectrum. VisNIRS was tested in the laboratory on 170 air-dried and sieved soil samples of nine agricultural fields of a quaternary landscape in North-east Germany predicting the soil’s BNC and the corresponding lime requirement (LRBNC) at a target pH of 6.5. Seven spectral pre-processing methods were tested including a new technique based on normalized differences (ND). Furthermore, six multivariate regression methods were conducted including a new method combining a forward stagewise subset selection algorithm with PLSR (FS-PLSR). The models were validated using an independent sample set. The best regression model for most target variables was FS-PLSR combined with the second Savitzky-Golay derivation as pre-processing method achieving R2s from 0.68 to 0.82. Finally, the performance of the direct prediction of LRBNC (R2 = 0.68) was compared with an indirect prediction that was calculated by the predicted BNC parameters. This resulted in slightly higher correlation coefficients for the indirect method with R2 = 0.75. KW - - KW - Soil acidification KW - pH buffer capacity KW - Soil-base titration KW - Precision agriculture KW - Chemometrics Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9257 SN - 1385-2256 SN - 1573-1618 VL - 24 IS - 1 SP - 288 EP - 309 PB - Springer US ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gillich, Benjamin A1 - Michler, Frank-Uwe A1 - Stolter, Caroline A1 - Lorenz, Antje A1 - Metze, Katrin A1 - Tischew, Sabine A1 - Rieger, Siegfried T1 - Space–time interactions between free-ranging red deer (Cervus elaphus) and grazing livestock on a fenced pasture JF - European Journal of Wildlife Research N2 - Abstract Livestock farming, which produces milk and meat, is practised by nearly all cultures. But in addition to this, grazing livestock fulfils other fundamentally important roles, one of which is the maintenance of open landscapes, which in turn provides habitat for many rare plant and animal species. Whether wild large herbivores, such as red deer ( Cervus elaphus ), benefit from the management of the open landscapes is unknown, and there are conflicting views on the nature of the interaction between livestock and wildlife. To investigate this question, we studied interactions in space and time between red deer and livestock in an 787 ha fenced pasture in eastern Germany. First, we used faecal pellet counts to determine whether red deer were using the fenced pasture and whether livestock were using the entire available pasture. Second, we fitted ten red deer, as well as eight Konik horses ( Equus ferus caballus ) and eight Heck cattle ( Bos taurus ) with GPS-collars. These data allowed us to perform analyses of space–time interactions. The faecal pellet data showed that red deer did indeed use the fenced pasture and that livestock used the entire extent of the pasture. Further, we verified a neutral space–time interaction between red deer and livestock within the pasture. Thus, there was no indication of a negative effect of the presence of livestock on red deer inside the pasture. For these reasons, we recommend that low-intensity grazing by cattle and horses can maintain open landscapes without detrimental effects on the use of the area by red deer. KW - - KW - Fenced pastures KW - Grazing animals KW - Interaction behaviour KW - Environmental Sciences Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9242 SN - 1612-4642 SN - 1439-0574 VL - 69 IS - 3 PB - Springer Berlin Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dabard, Caroline Hélène A1 - Mann, Carsten T1 - Sustainability innovations: a proposal for an analytical framework and its empirical application in the Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve JF - Sustainability Science N2 - A bstract Sustainability innovations influence societal transformations through the development of new products, processes, organizations, behaviors or values. Although various research approaches have tackled technological innovations in the last few decades, the specificities and enabling conditions of individual sustainability innovations remain rather unknown. We therefore propose an analytical framework, built on learning from the social–ecological systems and transitions literature. The sustainability innovation framework features four dimensions: context, actors, process and outcomes, which are detailed in 31 variables. We use the sustainability innovation framework to analyze two case studies selected in the Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve, Germany. The first refers to technological and organizational innovation in mobility, while the second relates to social and organizational innovation in agriculture. As a result, we highlight commonalities and differences in enabling conditions and variables between the two cases, which underpin the influence of trust, commitment, resource availability, experimenting, learning, advocating, and cooperating for innovation development. The cases further demonstrate that sustainability innovations develop as bundles of interdependent, entangled novelties, due to their disruptive character. Their specificity thereby resides in positive outcomes in terms of social–ecological integrity and equity. This study therefore contributes to transitions studies via a detailed characterization of sustainability innovations and of their outcomes, as well as through a generic synthesis of variables into an analytical framework that is applicable to a large and diverse range of individual sustainability innovations. Further empirical studies should test these findings in other contexts, to pinpoint generic innovation development patterns and to develop a typology of sustainability innovation archetypes. KW - - KW - Innovation KW - Sustainability transitions KW - Innovation systems KW - Social–ecological systems KW - Rural innovation KW - Biosphere reserve KW - Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services KW - Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9239 SN - 1862-4065 SN - 1862-4057 VL - 18 IS - 3 SP - 1085 EP - 1098 PB - Springer Japan ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiss, Fabio A1 - Michler, Frank Uwe A1 - Gillich, Benjamin A1 - Tillmann, Jörg A1 - Ciuti, Simone A1 - Heurich, Marco A1 - Rieger, Siegfried T1 - Displacement Effects of Conservation Grazing on Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) Spatial Behaviour JF - Environmental Management N2 - Abstract Conservation grazing uses semi-feral or domesticated herbivores to limit encroachment in open areas and to promote biodiversity. However, we are still unaware of its effects on wild herbivores. This study investigates the influence of herded sheep and goats on red deer ( Cervus elaphus ) spatial behavior by testing three a-priori hypotheses: (i) red deer are expected to avoid areas used by livestock, as well as adjacent areas, when livestock are present, albeit (ii) red deer increase the use of these areas when sheep and goats are temporarily absent and (iii) there is a time-lagged disruption in red deer spatial behavior when conservation grazing practice ends. Using GPS-telemetry data on red deer from a German heathland area, we modelled their use of areas grazed by sheep and goats, using mixed-effect logistic regression. Additionally, we developed seasonal resource selection functions (use-availability design) to depict habitat selection by red deer before, during, and after conservation grazing. Red deer used areas less during conservation grazing throughout all times of the day and there was no compensatory use during nighttime. This effect mostly persisted within 21 days after conservation grazing. Effects on habitat selection of red deer were detectable up to 3000 meters away from the conservation grazing sites, with no signs of either habituation or adaption. For the first time, we demonstrate that conservation grazing can affect the spatio-temporal behavior of wild herbivores. Our findings are relevant for optimizing landscape and wildlife management when conservation grazing is used in areas where wild herbivores are present. KW - - KW - Targeted grazing KW - Heathland conservation KW - Dry grassland KW - Wildlife KW - Habitat selection KW - Resource selection functions KW - Environmental Sciences KW - Biological Sciences Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9222 SN - 0364-152X SN - 1432-1009 VL - 70 IS - 5 SP - 763 EP - 779 PB - Springer US ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nölting, Benjamin A1 - König, Bettina A1 - Zimmermann, Anne B. A1 - Di Giulio, Antonietta A1 - Schäfer, Martina A1 - Schneider, Flurina T1 - Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic: an opportunity to reflect on sustainability research BT - May 29 2022 JF - Sustainability Management Forum | NachhaltigkeitsManagementForum N2 - Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has jolted societies out of normality, possibly creating new conditions for sustainability transformations. What does this mean for sustainability research? Because of the scope of the crisis, researchers have been heavily involved: not only have they had to speed up the pace of scientific production to provide urgently needed COVID-19 knowledge, but they have also been affected citizens. For sustainability science, this calls for an experience-based reflection on the positionality and orientation of research aiming to support sustainability transformations. Twenty sustainability researchers discussed their sustainability research on COVID-19 in three workshops based on the following questions: How does the pandemic—and the measures taken to deal with it—affect sustainable development? What can we learn from the pandemic from the perspective of societal transformation? The present discussion paper emerged from this multidisciplinary exchange among sustainability researchers, considering five topics: impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on sustainability transformations; learning for sustainability transformations; the role of solidarity; governance and political steering; and the role of science in society. Our discussions led to a meta-level reflection on what sustainability research can learn from research on COVID-19 regarding topics and disciplinary angles, time dimensions, the role of researchers, and how adequate preparation for both crises and long-term transformations requires interdisciplinary interaction. KW - - KW - COVID-19 KW - Corona pandemic KW - Sustainable development KW - Sustainability research KW - Interdisciplinarity KW - Transformation KW - Reflection Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9216 SN - 2522-5987 SN - 2522-5995 VL - 30 IS - 1 SP - 11 EP - 27 PB - Springer Berlin Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiss, Fabio A1 - Linde, Andreas T1 - How to estimate carabid biomass?—an evaluation of size-weight models for ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and perspectives for further improvement JF - Journal of Insect Conservation N2 - Abstract Biomass is an important metric for monitoring carabid populations and serves as an ecological indicator. Models that predict carabid weight based on body size represent a simple and straightforward method to estimate biomass and are therefore commonly used. However, such models are rarely evaluated against independent validation data. In this study, we evaluated the two widely used size-weight models by Szyszko ( 57 ) and Booij et al. ( 7 ) drawing on previously published independent data. Additionally, we developed and tested four new models to also evaluate the potential effect of taxonomic parameters; and compared model predictions with actual measurements of biomass using relative deviation graphs and observed versus predicted from regression. We show that the two models by Szyszko ( 57 ) and Booij et al. ( 7 ) contain systematic bias towards larger and smaller carabids, respectively, suggesting restricted applicability of such models. Additional taxonomic parameters improved weight predictions, indicating one possible solution to the issue of restricted applicability. We discuss further relevant limitations of size-weight models and their application and recommend a combined use of the models of Szyszko ( 57 ) and Booij et al. ( 7 ) for carabids ≥ 11.8 mm and < 11.8 mm, respectively. Implications for insect conservation : Size-weight models are a suitable and simple method to estimate the biomass of carabids and have great potential to be used in monitoring schemes, the investigation of long-term trends and ecological studies. It is, however, essential that researchers pay special attention to potential restrictions in their applicability and methodological limitations. KW - - KW - Insect monitoring KW - Size weight equation KW - Insect biomass KW - Insect decline KW - Ecological modelling KW - Model validation Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9200 SN - 1366-638X SN - 1572-9753 VL - 26 IS - 4 SP - 537 EP - 548 PB - Springer International Publishing ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Behrendt, Gerlinde A1 - Peter, Sarah A1 - Sterly, Simone A1 - Häring, Anna Maria T1 - Community financing for sustainable food and farming: a proximity perspective JF - Agriculture and Human Values N2 - Abstract An increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the German organic agri-food sector involves citizens through different community financing models. While such models provide alternative funding sources as well as marketing opportunities to SMEs, they allow private investors to combine their financial and ethical concerns by directly supporting the development of a more sustainable food system. Due to the low level of financial intermediation, community financing is characterized by close relations between investors and investees. Against this background, we apply the proximity concept from economic geography to explore spatial and relational aspects of community financing in the German organic agri-food sector. Based on a qualitative multiple case study approach, we find that the relevance of proximity is twofold. While different forms of proximity between SMEs and their potential investors are key success factors, proximity is also considered as one desired outcome of community financing. Furthermore, our results reveal that the extent to which SMEs rely on particular proximity dimensions distinguishes two different approaches to community financing. KW - - KW - Proximity KW - Multiple case study KW - Crowdfunding KW - Cooperatives KW - Citizen shareholder corporations KW - Profit participation rights KW - Studies in Human Society Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9191 SN - 0889-048X SN - 1572-8366 VL - 39 IS - 3 SP - 1063 EP - 1075 PB - Springer Netherlands ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hernández-Morcillo, M. A1 - Torralba, M. A1 - Baiges, T. A1 - Bernasconi, A. A1 - Bottaro, G. A1 - Brogaard, S. A1 - Bussola, F. A1 - Díaz-Varela, E. A1 - Geneletti, D. A1 - Grossmann, C. M. A1 - Kister, J. A1 - Klingler, M. A1 - Loft, L. A1 - Lovric, M. A1 - Mann, C. A1 - Pipart, N. A1 - Roces-Díaz, J. V. A1 - Sorge, S. A1 - Tiebel, M. A1 - Tyrväinen, L. A1 - Varela, E. A1 - Winkel, G. A1 - Plieninger, T. T1 - Scanning the solutions for the sustainable supply of forest ecosystem services in Europe JF - Sustainability Science N2 - Abstract Forests are key components of European multifunctional landscapes and supply numerous forest ecosystem services (FES) fundamental to human well-being. The sustainable provision of FES has the potential to provide responses to major societal challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, or rural development. To identify suitable strategies for the future sustenance of FES, we performed a solution scanning exercise with a group of transdisciplinary forest and FES experts from different European regions. We identified and prioritized fifteen major challenges hindering the balanced provision of multiple FES and identified a series of potential solutions to tackle each of them. The most prominent challenges referred to the increased frequency and impacts of extreme weather events and the normative mindset regarding forest management. The respective solutions pointed to the promotion of forest resilience via climate-smart forestry and mainstreaming FES-oriented management through a threefold strategy focusing on education, awareness raising, and networking. In a subsequent survey, most solutions were assessed as highly effective, transferable, monitorable, and with potential for being economically efficient. The implementation of the solutions could have synergistic effects when applying the notion of leverage points. Seven emerging pathways towards the sustainable supply of FES have been identified. These pathways build on each other and are organized based on their potential for transformation: (1) shifting forest management paradigms towards pluralistic ecosystem valuation; (2) using integrated landscape approaches; (3) increasing forest resilience; (4) coordinating actions between forest-related actors; (5) increasing participation in forest planning and management; (6) continuous, open, and transparent knowledge integration; and (7) using incentive-based instruments to support regulating and cultural FES. These pathways can contribute to the implementation of the new EU Forestry Strategy to support the balanced supply of multiple FES. Graphical abstract KW - - KW - European forests KW - Ecosystem services KW - Sustainability KW - Solution scanning KW - Leverage points KW - EU Forestry Strategy KW - Environmental Sciences Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9186 SN - 1862-4065 SN - 1862-4057 VL - 17 IS - 5 SP - 2013 EP - 2029 PB - Springer Japan ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bernert, Philip A1 - Wanner, Matthias A1 - Fischer, Nele A1 - Barth, Matthias T1 - Design principles for advancing higher education sustainability learning through transformative research JF - Environment, Development and Sustainability N2 - Abstract A growing number of transformative research practices that redefine the role of science in engaging with local–mostly urban–transformation processes have emerged in recent decades. However, while education is considered a key driver for sustainability transformations, higher education has been slow to develop and implement dedicated, appropriate and effective transformative education programmes and learning modules. In this paper, we present a framework of design principles for transformative learning modules in higher education. These principles are derived from two growing discourses: higher education sustainability learning , and transdisciplinary and transformative research —both of which are centrally anchored in the field of sustainable development and sustainability science. The principles presented provide guidance for course leaders in higher education to create learning modules aimed at enabling students to become engaged in transdisciplinary and transformative research that fosters sustainability transitions in local and urban contexts. We use the Transformative Innovation Lab (TIL)—a learning course developed and tested at two German universities—as an example of how the design principles can be applied. The module, which runs over two semesters, supports Masters students in their process of developing real-world laboratories and exploring urban sustainability transitions through collaborative experimentation with local practice partners. We discuss the factors that enable and limit the implementation of transformative learning modules and outline aspects of the novel roles adopted by lecturers in transformative teaching environments. Moreover, we highlight the need for both institutional change and transformative teaching formats that go beyond transformative research as key for driving universities to take responsibility for collaboratively fostering sustainability transitions in their local contexts. KW - - KW - Higher education sustainability learning KW - Transformative learning KW - Transformative research KW - Transdisciplinarity KW - Real-world laboratories KW - Design principles KW - Education Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9174 SN - 1387-585X SN - 1573-2975 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - Springer Netherlands ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Voglhuber-Slavinsky, Ariane A1 - Lemke, Nahleen A1 - MacPherson, Joseph A1 - Dönitz, Ewa A1 - Olbrisch, Mathias A1 - Schöbel, Philipp A1 - Moller, Björn A1 - Bahrs, Enno A1 - Helming, Katharina T1 - Valorization for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in the Agri-Food Value Chain JF - Environmental Management N2 - Abstract This article defines the term valorization of biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) measures, as distinguished from their valuation, and underpins it with an assessment of private valorization examples along the agri-food value chain. Valorization incentivizes measures for promoting BES, while valuation refers to its quantification. Valuation can be a step of valorization but is not indispensable. In scientific literature, the terms valorization and valuation are often used interchangeably. In addition, there is a lack of research on private options versus conventional, public policy options. Therefore, we searched for private valorization options primarily in public sources (gray literature and websites). This led to the identification of four clusters (markets for voluntary services, labeling, and certification, environmental management/CSR, and tradable permits and quotas). Based on these clusters the options were assessed from a legal and systems dynamics perspective. In addition, the viability of selected valorization options in different future scenarios was examined. The analysis revealed a wide range of private valorization options, which in contrast to public policy options that focus almost entirely on the production stage, are spread across the agri-food value chain. Their suitability differs under different future scenarios, legal and systems conditions. KW - - KW - Biodiversity KW - Ecosystem services KW - Valorization KW - Value chain KW - Foresight KW - Private valorization options KW - Studies in Human Society Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9162 SN - 0364-152X SN - 1432-1009 VL - 72 IS - 6 SP - 1163 EP - 1188 PB - Springer US ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Friis, Cecilie A1 - Hernández-Morcillo, Mónica A1 - Baumann, Matthias A1 - Coral, Claudia A1 - Frommen, Theresa A1 - Ghoddousi, Arash A1 - Loibl, David A1 - Rufin, Philippe T1 - Enabling spaces for bridging scales: scanning solutions for interdisciplinary human-environment research JF - Sustainability Science N2 - Abstract To tackle the twenty-first-century challenges for sustainability, a deeper understanding of their complexity is needed. Hence, interdisciplinary human–environment research integrating knowledge, perspectives, and solutions across scales is crucial. Yet, questions of ‘scale’ and ‘scaling’ continue to challenge human–environment research. Despite substantial scholarly attention to scales, no unified definitions and understanding exist, causing confusion among researchers. In this paper, we aim to provide clarity to the challenges and potential solutions to bridging scales in interdisciplinary human–environment research as well as identify leverage points and arenas of change that would enable it. We used a three-step methodology to (a) identify the challenges and solutions based on a survey of 82 interdisciplinary researchers, (b) prioritise the challenges and solutions based on expert elicitation, and (c) organise the solutions according to their potential for leveraging change at three system arenas: individual researchers, institutions and organisations, and the wider academic structures. The main challenges ranged from issues related to differences in research approaches, lack of resources for deeper collaborations, or conflicting perspectives on problem and scale definitions, to miscommunication. The specific solutions linked to these challenges were predominantly related to the potential of improving the research process through open communication, data sharing, or new techniques for upscaling or downscaling results. We argue that bridging scales requires open and humble conversations across disciplines on scale understandings as well as improved collaboration through data sharing, method development, result dissemination, and contribution to theory. Facilitating such collaboration requires enabling spaces of interaction across three systemic arenas: the individual researcher’s personal commitment to open communication and reflection, the research institution’s capacity to enable interdisciplinary spaces, and the wider academic system valuing and supporting interdisciplinary and cross-scale initiatives. KW - - KW - Scaling KW - Solution scanning KW - Social–ecological research KW - Sustainability KW - Expert elicitation Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9158 SN - 1862-4065 SN - 1862-4057 VL - 18 IS - 3 SP - 1251 EP - 1269 PB - Springer Japan ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tanneberger, Franziska A1 - Birr, Friedrich A1 - Couwenberg, John A1 - Kaiser, Moritz A1 - Luthardt, Vera A1 - Nerger, Monique A1 - Pfister, Sonja A1 - Oppermann, Rainer A1 - Zeitz, Jutta A1 - Beyer, Colja A1 - van der Linden, Sebastian A1 - Wichtmann, Wendelin A1 - Närmann, Felix T1 - Saving soil carbon, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity and the economy: paludiculture as sustainable land use option in German fen peatlands JF - Regional Environmental Change N2 - AbstractPeatlands in the European Union are largely drained for agriculture and emit 25% of the total agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Drainage-based peatland use has also negative impacts on water quality, drinking water provision and biodiversity. Consequently, key EU environmental policy objectives include the rewetting of all drained peatlands as an essential nature-based solution. Rewetting of peatlands can be combined with site-adapted land use, so-called paludiculture. Paludiculture produces biomass from wet and rewetted peatlands under conditions that maintain the peat body, facilitate peat accumulation and can provide many of the ecosystem services associated with natural, undrained peatlands. The biomass can be used for a wide range of traditional and innovative food, feed, fibre and fuel products. Based on examples in Germany, we have analysed emerging paludiculture options for temperate Europe with respect to greenhouse gas fluxes, biodiversity and indicative business economics. Best estimates of site emission factors vary between 0 and 8 t CO2eq ha−1 y−1. Suitability maps for four peatland-rich federal states (76% of total German peatland area) indicate that most of the drained, agriculturally used peatland area could be used for paludiculture, about one-third of the fen area for any paludiculture type. Fen-specific biodiversity benefits from rewetting and paludiculture, if compared to the drained state. Under favourable conditions, paludiculture can be economically viable, but costs and revenues vary considerably. Key recommendations for large-scale implementation are providing planning security by paludiculture spatial planning, establishing best practice sites and strengthening research into crops, water tables and management options. KW - - KW - Agriculture KW - Biodiversity KW - Ecosystem services KW - Greenhouse gases KW - Mitigation KW - Organic soil KW - Environmental Sciences Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9142 SN - 1436-3798 SN - 1436-378X VL - 22 IS - 2 PB - Springer Berlin Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Linkevičius, Edgaras A1 - Schröder, Jens ED - Perazzo, Alejandro Javier Rescia T1 - Climatic Effects on the Growth of Fagus sylvatica L. in Mixed Stands with Pinus sylvestris L. in Lithuania JF - Sustainability N2 - Climate change and warming will potentially profoundly affect forest growth and yield. However, climate change is not only a threat but also an opportunity for tree species to be more productive or colonize new territories where previously they were fragmented or absent. European beech ( Fagus sylvatica L.) is a dominant and significant tree species in European forests with a pronounced ability to grow on a great variety of sites and to form mixtures with other tree species due to its shade tolerance. So far, only a few studies have analysed its growth and reaction to changing climatic conditions outside its natural gradient in the north. The aim of this study was therefore to clarify the main growth patterns and tree ring formation characteristics of beech (outside their natural distribution) in mixed stands with Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) The analyses were carried out in two-layered stands in the western part of Lithuania with tree-ring data measured on stem disks collected at 1 m height that were available from shelter-cut thinning activities in a number of forest stands in the region. Our results show that higher temperatures during the summer months of July and August generally inhibited the radial growth of beech under given site conditions. In contrast, warmer late-autumn and cooler early-winter periods together with warmer springs positively affected the radial increments. Above-average precipitation during the vegetation period contributed to the beech producing additional amounts of radial increments. The increasing temperature trends of the summer months and decreasing monthly amounts of precipitation during the vegetation period in recent decades tend to have adverse effects on the ecological conditions for beech growth and vitality in Lithuania. Despite these results, the European beech successfully grows in the sample region and has produced 200 m 3 ha −1 in the analysed stands. KW - - KW - competition KW - mixed stands KW - seasonal effects KW - climatic indicators KW - radial growth KW - dendroecology Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9136 SN - 2071-1050 VL - 16 IS - 20 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Matavel, Custodio A1 - Kächele, Harald A1 - Steinke, Jonathan A1 - Rybak, Constance A1 - Hoffmann, Harry A1 - Salavessa, João A1 - Sieber, Stefan A1 - Müller, Klaus T1 - Effect of passive solar drying on food security in rural Mozambique JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Abstract Achieving food security in Mozambique is critical, since 80% of the population cannot afford an adequate diet. While increasing agricultural production is a necessary effort to address this challenge, inadequate post-harvest treatment leads to storage losses and quality degradation, with repercussions for food security. The use of solar drying is promoted as a solution to provide efficient and reliable access to food preservation that improves the food security situation in rural communities. However, there is a lack of clear evidence on how the use or access to solar drying affects food security. This study identifies the determinants of farmers’ choice to use solar drying and evaluates the effect of a passive solar dryer on food security using survey data from 634 households. We allocated solar dryers to selected communities and all interested individuals belonging to these communities were eligible to use it. Propensity score matching and endogenous switching poisson regression are used to estimate the average effect. The use of solar drying with associated training significantly increases the food security status of participants by increasing household food availability, women’s dietary diversity, and months of adequate household food provision and by decreasing the household food insecurity access scale. KW - - KW - Devices for energy harvesting KW - Energy and society KW - Solar thermal energy KW - Sustainability Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9124 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 12 IS - 1 PB - Nature Publishing Group UK ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Osman, Doaa A. A1 - Elassal, Mohamed Ismail A1 - Hamada, Hamada Ahmed A1 - Hamza, Reham Hamed Saad A1 - Zakaria, Hoda Mohammed A1 - Alwhaibi, Reem A1 - Abdelsamea, Gehan A. T1 - Hematological and iron status in aerobic vs. anaerobic female athletes: an observational study JF - Frontiers in Sports and Active Living N2 - Introduction Physical training induces iron status impairment in athletic females in the short term and over prolonged periods. Nevertheless, the existing literature lacks a comprehensive evaluation of the differential impacts of aerobic vs. anaerobic training on hematological indices and iron status among adolescent female athletes. The aim of this study was to assess the hematological factors and iron status in aerobic vs. anaerobic training in athletic females. Methods This observational, cross-sectional study recruited twenty-five adolescent athletic females; thirteen of them participated in an aerobic sport (long-distance running), while twelve of them participated in an anaerobic sport (broad jumping). Hematological factors were assessed by analyzing blood concentrations of hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), red blood cell (RBC) count, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), while the iron status assessment was conducted through evaluating levels of serum transferrin and serum ferritin. Results Athletic females who participated in the aerobic sport showed significantly lower Hb (MD −0.84; 95% CI −1.63: −0.04; p = 0.041), Hct (MD −5.49; 95% CI −7.86: −3.12; p = 0.0001), RBC count (MD −0.37; 95% CI −0.57: −0.17; p = 0.001), and MCV (MD −5.15; 95% CI −9.41: −0.89; p = 0.020), as well as significantly higher MCHC (MD 2.99; 95% CI 2.18: 3.79; p = 0.0001) and serum transferrin (MD 46.77; 95% CI 10.95: 82.59; p = 0.013) than athletic females who participated in the anaerobic sport. However, there was an insignificant difference in serum ferritin levels (MD −3.18; 95% CI −11.49: 5.13; p = 0.437) between both groups. Conclusion Except for the ferritin level that exhibited an insignificant difference between aerobic and anaerobic training, aerobic training was associated with a worse impact on the hematological factors and iron status than anaerobic training in adolescent athletic females. KW - - KW - hematological factors KW - transferrin KW - ferritin KW - aerobic training KW - anaerobic training KW - athletic females KW - adolescence Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-9110 SN - 2624-9367 VL - 6 PB - Frontiers Media S.A. ER -