• Energy Research
• 2021-2025close
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• 15. Life on land close
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AbstractElevated CO2 concentration has been reported to decrease grain nutrient concentrations and thus worsen nutritional deficiency and hidden hunger. One nutritional aspect is mineral content, yet mineral bioavailability can be limited by the presence of phytic acid. Given that future climate scenarios predict elevated global temperature driven by elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations, we used Temperature by Free‐Air CO2 Enrichment (T‐FACE) field experiments to investigate whether elevated temperature alters the effects of elevated CO2 on grain mineral concentrations, grain mineral yields, and their bioavailability in a range of wheat and rice genotypes. We found that the negative effects of elevated CO2 were compensated for by positive effects of elevated temperature. As a result, the combined elevated CO2 and elevated temperature increased concentrations of some minerals by up to ~15% in both rice and wheat relative to control conditions. Moreover, the combined elevated CO2 and elevated temperature did not significantly change total yields of some minerals despite lower grain yields. The combined CO2 and temperature elevation increased phytic acid concentration in rice by 18.1% but decreased it in wheat by 3.5%. The mineral bioavailability, estimated as the mole ratio of phytic acid to minerals in rice and wheat grains, was limited by the combined CO2 and temperature elevation in only a few cases. Our results indicate that under future climate conditions of elevated temperature and CO2, the nutritional quality of rice and wheat with respect to minerals may remain unchanged.

Different species within the same community may exhibit distinct phenological responses to climate change, so it is necessary to study species differences in the green-up date among abundant species within a wide area, and a suitable phenology model should be introduced to explain the associated climate-driven mechanism. Although various models have been developed, very few studies have aimed to compare their efficiency and robustness, and the relative contributions of climate driving factors have not been sufficiently examined. We analyzed phenology data for 12 species across 17 stations in Inner Mongolia and found that essential spatiotemporal and interspecies differences existed in the green-up date. Five process-based models were established for each species and their performance was comprehensively evaluated. The two-phase models (sequential model, parallel model, unified model and unified model combined with precipitation driving) generally performed better than the one-phase model (thermal time model), and the model considering precipitation performed the best, which indicates that it is necessary to introduce the chilling effect and precipitation driving effect to improve the model accuracy in arid environments. We proposed a method to estimate the contribution rates of various climate driving factors, and significant differences in the relative demand for the various climate driving factors among different species were clearly revealed. The results indicated that for natural vegetation in Inner Mongolia, the need for the chilling and temperature driving is relatively high, and the precipitation driving is very important for herbaceous vegetation, which leads to considerable spatial and interspecies differences in green-up date. We demonstrated the feasibility of quantitatively evaluating the contributions of different climate driving factors with a process-based model, and the contradiction in phenological changes among different studies may eventually be clarified.

Yeast volatiles double starvation survival in Drosophila .

The solutions-based design framework of permaculture exhibits transformative potential, working to holistically integrate natural and human systems toward a more just society. The term can be defined and applied in a breadth of ways, contributing to both strengths and weaknesses for its capacity toward change. To explore the tension of breadth as strength and weakness, we interviewed 25 prominent permaculture teachers and practitioners across the United States (US) regarding how they define permaculture as a concept and perceive the term’s utility. We find that permaculture casts a wide net that participants grapple with in their own work. They engaged in a negotiation process of how they associate or disassociate themselves with the term, recognizing that it can be both unifying and polarizing. Further, there was noted concern of permaculture’s failure to cite and acknowledge its rootedness in Indigenous knowledge, as well as distinguish itself from Indigenous alternatives. We contextualize these findings within the resounding call for a decolonization of modern ways of living and the science of sustainability, of which permaculture can be critically part of. We conclude with recommended best practices for how to continuously (re-)define permaculture in an embodied and dynamic way to work toward these goals.

Eucalyptus is the main fast-growing tree for biomass production in the tropics, providing resources for pulp and paper industries and bioenergy. The potential productivity of forest sites over an eight-year rotation in Brazil was evaluated by the Physiological Principles in Predicting Growth (3-PG) model for two soils, Acrisols and Arenosols, with high and low water storage, respectively, and distinct productive potential capacity. The model was parameterized by data-sets obtained in bimonthly forest inventories performed in stands with 33, 58 and 89 months-old trees, and edaphic surveys. The average volumetric productivity of wood and biomass of the main stem determined at the 89 months-old stand was 374 m3 ha−1 (177 Mg ha−1) for Acrisols and 272.3 m3 ha−1 (130.0 Mg ha−1) for Arenosols. The estimated volumetric production in the Arenosols had a high mean annual increment up to the age of 58 months, with a significant reduction in growth rates after this time. In Acrisols, high incremental rates in wood volume up to age of 89 months (MAIVW > 50 m3 ha−1 year−1) indicate that, under ideal soil conditions, the cutting cycle may exceed 8 years with no productivity impairment. The parameterized model matched well for forest yield (r2 > 0.9) and dendrometric variables (r2 > 0.78). The expected results of lower productivity in Arenosols occurred only after 58 months, while for Acrisols productivity remained high up to 89 months. The results showed the eucalyptus cycle should be shorter in Arenosols, since the lower cutting cycle can provide higher final productivity, when using the mean annual increment to evaluate productivity.

Accurate monitoring of the spatiotemporal dynamics of snow and ice is essential for under-standing and predicting the impacts of climate change on Arctic ecosystems and their feedback on global climate. Traditional optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) remote sensing still have limitations in the long-time series observation of polar regions. Although several studies have demonstrated the potential of moonlight remote sensing for mapping polar snow/ice covers, systematic evaluation on applying moonlight remote sensing to monitoring spatiotemporal dynamics of polar snow/ice covers, especially during polar night periods is highly demanded. Here we present a systematic assessment in Svalbard, Norway and using data taken from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) Day/Night Band (DNB) sensor to monitor the spatiotemporal dynamics of snow/ice covers during dark Arctic winters when no solar illumination available for months. We successfully revealed the spatiotemporal dynamics of snow/ice covers from 2012 to 2022 during polar night/winter periods, using the VIIRS/DNB time series data and the object-oriented Random Forests (RF) algorithm, achieving the average accuracy and kappa coefficient of 96.27% and 0.93, respectively. Our findings indicate that the polar snow/ice covers show seasonal and inter-seasonal dynamics, thus requiring more frequent observations. Our results confirm and realize the potential of moonlight remote sensing for continuous monitoring of snow/ice in the Arctic region and together with other types of remote sensing data, moonlight remote sensing will be a very useful tool for polar studies and climate change.

The energy crisis and increasing fossil fuel prices due to increasing demands, controlled supplies, and global political unrest have adversely affected agricultural productivity and farm profitability across the globe and Pakistan is not an exception. To cope with this issue of energy deficiency in agriculture, the best alternate strategy is to take advantage of biomass and solid waste potential. In low-income countries such as Pakistan, the greenhouse heating system mostly relies on fossil fuels such as diesel, gasoline, and LPG. Farmers are reluctant to adopt greenhouse farming due to the continuously rising prices of the fossil fuels. To reduce reliance on fossil fuel energy, the objective of this study was to utilize biomass from crop residues to develop an efficient and economical biomass furnace that could heat greenhouses to protect the crop from seasonal temperature effects. Modifications made to the biomass furnace, such as the incorporation of insulation around the walls of the furnace, providing turbulators in fire tubes, and a secondary heat exchanger (heat recovery system) in the chimney, have increased the thermal efficiency of the biomass furnace by about 21.7%. A drastic reduction in hazardous elements of flue gases was observed due to the addition of a water scrubber smoke filter in the exit line of the flue. The efficiency of the biomass furnace ranged from 50.42% to 54.18%, whereas the heating efficiency of the diesel-fired heater was 71.19%. On the basis of the equal heating value of the fuels, the unit material and operating costs of the biomass furnace for wood, cotton stalks, corn cobs, and cow dung were USD 2.04, 1.86, 1.78, and 2.00 respectively against USD 4.67/h for the diesel heater. The capital and operating costs of the biomass furnace were about 50% and 43.7% of the diesel heater respectively, resulting in a seasonal saving of about 1573 USD. The produced smoke was tested as environmental friendly under the prescribed limits of the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS), which shows potential for its large-scale adoption and wider applications.