Water restriction alters seed bank traits and ecology in Atlantic Forest seasonal forests under climate change.

The soil seed bank (SSB) is one of the key mechanisms that ensure the perpetuity of forests, but how will it behave in the scenarios projected for the future climate? Faced with this main question, still little explored in seasonal tropical forests, this study evaluated the germination, ecological attributes, and functional traits of the SSB in a seasonal forest in the Atlantic Forest. Forty-eight composite samples of the SSB were collected from 12 plots, distributed across four treatments, each with 12 replicates. The samples were placed in two climate-controlled greenhouses, establishing two environments of controlled climatic conditions, both with two levels of water, as follows: Cur: current scenario without water restriction; Cur_WR: current scenario with water restriction; RCP8.5: future scenario without water restriction; RCP8.5_WR: future scenario with water restriction. The germinants were identified, and their ecological attributes and functional traits were obtained. Leaf area and biomass production, differences in abundance, richness, and diversity were evaluated, along with analysis of variance to assess the interaction between water levels and scenarios. All ecological attributes and functional traits evaluated drastically decreased in the future projection with water restriction, with this restriction being the main component influencing this response. The increased temperature in the future scenario significantly raised water consumption compared to the current scenario. However, persistent water restrictions in the future could undermine the resilience of seasonal forests, hindering seed germination in the soil. Richness and abundance were also adversely affected by water scarcity in the future scenario, revealing a low tolerance to the projected prolonged drought. These changes found in the results could alter the overall structure of seasonal forests in the future, as well as result in the loss of the regeneration potential of the SSB due to decreased seed viability and increased seedling mortality.

Resumo O banco de sementes do solo (SSB) é um dos principais mecanismos que garantem a perpetuidade das florestas, mas como ele se comportará nos cenários projetados para o clima futuro? Diante dessa questão principal, ainda pouco explorada em florestas tropicais sazonais, este estudo avaliou a germinação, atributos ecológicos e traços funcionais do SSB em uma floresta sazonal na Mata Atlântica. Quarenta e oito amostras compostas do SSB foram coletadas de 12 parcelas, distribuídas em quatro tratamentos, cada uma com 12 réplicas. As amostras foram colocadas em duas estufas com controle climático, estabelecendo dois ambientes de condições climáticas controladas, ambos com dois níveis de água, conforme segue: Cur: cenário atual sem restrição hídrica; Cur_WR: cenário atual com restrição hídrica; RCP8.5: cenário futuro sem restrição hídrica; RCP8.5_WR: cenário futuro com restrição hídrica. Os germinantes foram identificados e seus atributos ecológicos e traços funcionais foram obtidos. Área foliar e produção de biomassa, diferenças na abundância, riqueza e diversidade foram avaliadas, juntamente com análise de variância para avaliar a interação entre níveis de água e cenários. Todos os atributos ecológicos e traços funcionais avaliados diminuíram drasticamente na projeção futura com restrição hídrica, sendo essa restrição o principal componente influenciando essa resposta. O aumento da temperatura no cenário futuro elevou significativamente o consumo de água em comparação com o cenário atual. No entanto, a restrição hídrica persistente no futuro pode comprometer a resiliência das florestas sazonais, dificultando a germinação de sementes no solo. Riqueza e abundância também foram adversamente afetadas pela escassez de água no cenário futuro, revelando uma baixa tolerância à seca prolongada projetada. Essas mudanças encontradas nos resultados podem alterar a estrutura geral das florestas sazonais no futuro, além de resultar na perda do potencial de regeneração do SSB devido à diminuição da viabilidade das sementes e ao aumento da mortalidade das plântulas.

A Comprehensive Study from Cradle-to-Grave on the Environmental Profile of Malted Legumes.

Three representative pulses from the Latium region of Italy (namely, Solco Dritto chickpeas, SDC, Gradoli Purgatory beans, GPB, and Onano lentils, OL) underwent malting to reduce their anti-nutrient content, such as phytic acid and flatulence-inducing oligosaccharides. This initiative targets the current low per capita consumption of pulses. Employing Life Cycle Analysis, their environmental impact was assessed, revealing an overall carbon footprint of 2.8 or 3.0 kg CO2e per kg of malted (M) and decorticated (D) SDCs or GPBs and OLs, respectively. The Overall Weighted Sustainability scores (OWSS) complying with the Product Environmental Footprint method ranged from 298 ± 30 to 410 ± 40 or 731 ± 113 µPt/kg for malted and decorticated SDCs, OLs, or GPBs, indicating an increase from 13% to 17% compared to untreated dry seeds. Land use impact (LU) was a dominant factor, contributing 31% or 42% to the OWSS for MDSDCs or MDOLs, respectively. In MDGPBs, LU constituted 18% of the OWSS, but it was overshadowed by the impact of water use arising from bean irrigation, accounting for approximately 52% of the OWSS. This underscores the agricultural phase's pivotal role in evaluating environmental impact. The climate change impact category (CC) was the second-largest contributor, ranging from 28% (MDSDCs) to 22% (MDOLs), and ranking as the third contributor with 12% of the OWSS for MDGPBs. Mitigation should prioritize the primary impact from the agricultural phase, emphasizing land and water utilization. Selecting drought-tolerant bean varieties could significantly reduce OWSSs. To mitigate climate change impact, actions include optimizing electricity consumption during malting, transitioning to photovoltaic electricity, upgrading transport vehicles, and optimizing pulse cooking with energy-efficient appliances. These efforts, aligning with sustainability goals, may encourage the use of malted and decorticated pulses in gluten-free, low fat, α-oligosaccharide, and phytate-specific food products for celiac, diabetic, and hyperlipidemic patients. Overall, this comprehensive approach addresses environmental concerns, supports sustainable practices, and fosters innovation in pulse utilization for improved dietary choices.

Unveiling urban governance diversity: Clustering cities based on mitigation actions.

Embracing a "more global" urban comparison in scientific assessments of climate actions by cities is essential to drive greater and more inclusive participation in global efforts to curb climate change. This comparison needs to engage cities irrespective of their size and status: when we do so, distinctive patterns of urban climate mitigation actions across a diverse range of cities emerge. Employing K-means clustering as a pattern recognition method, this study compares cities based on selected aspects of their reported mitigation actions to the Carbon Disclosure Project. It explores whether the identified clusters facilitate the comparison of a socio-spatially diverse range of cities. The study identifies five clusters within two themes, namely the nature and finance-implementation of actions, shedding light on shared and distinct governance aspects of mitigation actions by cities. Notably, the study underscores how governance patterns transcend city size and global status. These findings offer valuable insights for broadening the comparative imagination of cities and inter-city networking opportunities.

Environmental Profile of a Novel High-Amylose Bread Wheat Fresh Pasta with Low Glycemic Index.

To improve glycemic health, a high-amylose bread wheat flour fresh pasta characterized by a low in vitro glycemic index (GI) and improved post-prandial glucose metabolism was previously developed. In this study, well-known life cycle analysis software was used in accordance with the PAS 2050 and mid- and end-point ReCiPe 2016 standard methods to assess, respectively, its carbon footprint and overall environmental profile, as weighted by a hierarchical perspective. Even if both eco-indicators allowed the identification of the same hotspots (i.e., high-amylose bread wheat cultivation and consumer use of fresh pasta), the potential consumer of low-GI foods should be conscious that the novel low-GI fresh pasta had a greater environmental impact than the conventional counterpart made of common wheat flour, their corresponding carbon footprint or overall weighted damage score being 3.88 and 2.51 kg CO2e/kg or 184 and 93 mPt/kg, respectively. This was mainly due to the smaller high-amylose bread wheat yield per hectare. Provided that its crop yield was near to that typical for common wheat in Central Italy, the difference between both eco-indicators would be not greater than 9%. This confirmed the paramount impact of the agricultural phase. Finally, use of smart kitchen appliances would help to relieve further the environmental impact of both fresh pasta products.

Risk and mitigation actions for clinical trials during COVID-19 pandemic (RiMiCOPa).

The COVID-19 virus diffusion is, nowadays, global and any clinical trial is potentially affected by the direct and indirect consequences of the COVID-19 during the pandemic. Any step, from protocol design to result's disclosure, needs to be revised to assess the impact of the COVID-19 on the study, evaluate the potential risks, and establish a mitigation plan. We have developed a series of recommendations, belonging to our experience in any aspect of clinical trials. We hope that the Risk and Mitigation actions for clinical trials during COVID-19 Pandemic (RiMiCOPa) will help all clinical trial professionals, patients, auditors, and assessors to ensure effective data management, statistics, and medical writing standards while conducting clinical trials in the pandemic.

Demonstrating efficacy of rural land management actions to improve water quality - How can we quantify what actions have been done?

Despite several decades of encouraging land management actions to improve water quality on rural land, we are still struggling to accurately quantify what management actions have been implemented, where these actions have been used and the intensity of implementation. This is largely because standardised approaches to recording and reporting of land management actions have not been established, resulting in a lack of robust information that can be used to determine the effectiveness and longevity of these actions at a catchment or larger scale. Better information on the effectiveness of different land management actions will provide land managers with more certainty that their investments in land management actions will make a difference. We reviewed a total of 91 global publications and proceedings between 1989 and 2019 which assessed the complexities related to recording and reporting sustainable land use actions with a focus on freshwater ecosystems in rural areas in the developed world. We then summarised these complexities (i.e., temporal and spatial lag-effects, confidentiality issues, lack of data robustness) and mined the literature about methodologies on how actions can be measured, how to address the challenges with doing this and recommended a suite of indicators of land management actions that could be standardised and widely used to improve water quality. Our review of literature identified numerous sources describing land management actions, but little information on standardised indicators of location, scale and intensity of the most common actions. Some common actions are measured using a wide variety of incompatible approaches (e.g., riparian management is often indicated by length of fencing, width of vegetated buffer strips, proportion of the catchment with stock exclusion), whereas other indicators of land management action are at such a high level (e.g., costs) that they do not provide information on the actions used. The scale/intensity of land management efforts is often not reported spatially with information typically restricted to small scales such as single point location information, making it difficult, if not impossible to determine the scale of actions within a catchment relative to a given water quality monitoring site.

Application of a microbial source tracking based on bacterial and chemical markers in headwater and coastal catchments.

This study identified sources of fecal contamination in three different French headwater and coastal catchments (the Justiçou, Pen an Traon, and La Fresnaye) using a combination of microbial source tracking tools. The tools included bacterial markers (three host-associated Bacteroidales) and chemical markers (six fecal stanols), which were monitored monthly over one or two years in addition to fecal indicator bacteria. 168 of the 240 freshwater and marine water samples had Escherichia coli (E. coli) or enterococci concentrations higher than "excellent" European water quality threshold. In the three catchments, the results suggested that the fecal contamination appeared to be primarily from an animal origin and particularly from a bovine origin in 52% (Rum2Bac) and 46% (Bstanol) of the samples and to a lesser extent from a porcine origin in 19% (Pig2Bac) and 21% (Pstanol) of the samples. Our results suggested a human fecal contamination in 56% (HF183) and 32% (Hstanol) of the samples. Rainfall also impacted the source identification of microbial contamination. In general, these findings could inform effective implementation of microbial source tracking strategies, specifically that the location of sampling points must include variability at the landscape scale.