It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, February 01, 2023
Save the Nautilus! Three new species described from the Coral Sea and South Pacific
Nautiloids were once quite plentiful throughout the oceans, based upon the fossil record. Today, they are represented by just a handful of species, including the newly described Nautilus vitiensis of Fiji, Nautilus samoaensis of American Samoa, and Nautilus vanuatuensis of Vanuatu. These descriptions highlight the concept of allopatric speciation, or biogeographic isolation, where populations are geographically separated from other populations, resulting in a barrier to gene flow. Over time, these populations may eventually evolve into distinct species.
But what does it take to be able to collect the evidence needed to determine if three different populations of nautiluses are, in fact, three different species?
“For me, this is the best/worst part of the overall process, because nautilus fishing is not easy,” explains Dr Gregory Barord, marine biology instructor at Central Campus and conservation biologist at the conservation organization Save the Nautilus. “For our team, it starts with building large, steel traps that are about a meter cubed. Then, we wrap the steel frame (ouch), with chicken wire (ouch) mesh (ouch), create an entry hole (ouch), attach it to a surface buoy with about 300 meters of fishing line, and bait it with (ouch) raw meat, usually chicken!”
“Trap construction may take place on a nice beach or a bit inland in the rain or in a warm warehouse. Wherever it takes place, you will have some memories, I mean little scars, on your hands from working with the chicken wire. Looking down at my hands right now, I can remember where I was by looking at each of those scars… worth it!”
Tossing the traps into the sea at dusk is the easy part, Dr Barord says. Load them on the boat, find the right depth, and tip them over the side of the boat. “The hard part is retrieving the traps the next day, after about 12 hours of the raw chicken scent moving through the currents. There are a number of methods we’ve used to pull the traps up, from mechanical winches, hand-powered winches, float systems, boat pulls, and of course, just pulling with one hand at a time. Invariably, something happens in each location where we are just pulling the trap up from 300 meters one meter at a time, which takes a good half hour at least. But, at least you are getting a VERY good work-out. Eventually, you see the trap and these white little orbs in it and you know you’ve caught some nautiluses and the pulling is almost done, for now.”
The next step is probably Dr Barord’s favorite: “One of us jumps in the water and free dives about 5 meters to carefully (ouch, that chicken wire) reach for the nautiluses in the trap and bring them to the surface. You are face to face with these uniquely, misunderstood organisms who seem like this is just another day for them. For me, this is exhilarating!”
Once on the boat, they are placed in chilled seawater and from then on, the data collection happens fast. “With the living organism in hand, you can start to glean even more of the differences between the species, examining the hood ornaments, or lack thereof,” Dr Barord explains. After some photos, measurements, and non-lethal tissue samples, the nautiluses are released and burped.
“Maybe nautilus burping is my favorite part,” he adds. To do this, the researchers either dive with SCUBA or free dive with the nautiluses, and ensure there are no air bubbles trapped in the shell that may cause them to be positively buoyant. “Imagine, you have one nautilus in each hand and you start swimming down, your feet and the nautilus tentacles pointed toward the surface. At a sufficient depth, you release them and observe their buoyancy. As the nautiluses compose themselves and jet back down to their nektobenthic habitat 300 meters below, you realize you may never see that individual nautilus again, and that nautilus may never see another human, well, maybe they will…”
For him, the impetus for a publication in the scientific journal ZooKeysdescribing the three new species is rooted in nautilus conservation efforts. Over the last 20 years, he has studied nautiluses from many angles and for over 10 years now, has worked with an international team to address nautilus conservation issues.
“For many nautiluses, probably millions, they were caught in much the same way that our team collected nautiluses,” he points out. “However, their first meeting with humans was their last as they were pulled from the trap, ripped from their protective shell, and tossed back in the ocean, used as bait, or, rarely, consumed. The shell is the attractive piece for shell traders and the living body has no value. It is like shark finning in that sense.”
As a direct result of these unregulated fisheries, populations of nautiluses have crashed, some have reportedly gone extinct, and international and country level legislation and regulations has been enacted.
Currently, there are no known fisheries in Fiji, American Samoa, or Vanuatu so the risk of these populations decreasing from fisheries is low, at the moment. Now, what is the risk to these same populations from ocean acidification, increased sedimentation, eutrophication, warming seas, and over-fishing of other species connected to the ecosystem nautiluses reside in?
“Right now, we simply do not know,” says Dr Barord. “Our conservation efforts started with simply counting how many nautiluses were left in different areas across the Indo-Pacific, then recording them in their natural habitat, then tracking their migrations, and now describing new species. There are still many questions to address regarding where they lay eggs, what they eat, and how they behave.”
All nautiluses have long been grouped together when describing their natural history, but as we continue to uncover the nautilus story, it is increasingly obvious that each population of nautiluses is different, as exemplified by these three new species descriptions.
“This is certainly an exciting time for nautilus research, as we uncover more and more information about the secret life of nautiluses,” Dr Barord says in conclusion.
“I just hope that this is also an exciting time for nautiluses as well, and they continue doing their nautilus thing as they have done for millions of years.”
Nautilus vanuatuensis
Nautilus vitiensis
Lateral view of Nautilus samoaensis
Lateral view of Nautilus vanuatuensis
Lateral view of Nautilus vitiensis
A nautilus trap in the water with nautiluses in it.
CREDIT
Gregory Barord
Research article:
Barord GJ, Combosch DJ, Giribet G, Landman N, Lemer S, Veloso J, Ward PD (2023) Three new species of Nautilus Linnaeus, 1758 (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) from the Coral Sea and South Pacific. ZooKeys 1143: 51-69. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1143.84427
Understanding one’s susceptibility to developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is important. If you knew you were at risk, for example, you might steer clear of jobs that carry more likelihood of high stress and potential trauma or seek treatment as soon as you experienced a potentially triggering event.
Now a research team has found a marker that indicates vulnerability to the disorder. They discovered that heightened activation in one particular brain region in response to seeing surprised and neutral facial expressions appears to be tied to developing PTSD.
A number of symptoms define PTSD, but the researchers were particularly interested in hypervigilance—“always feeling that you need to monitor your environment for potential threats,” says Cecilia Hinojosa, AG21, who was first author on the research paper in the Journal of Psychiatric Research and is now a postdoctoral researcher at Emory University, focusing on PTSD in women.
Previous research had found that hypervigilance may lead people with PTSD to respond with fear to signals that are ambiguous or not clearly threatening—for example, hearing a firecracker might trigger fears of gunshots.
The team, led by Tufts researchers, studied male identical twin pairs using fMRI studies of brain activation. By studying identical twins, who share the same genes, the researchers could show which traits are familial and which are not.
In a set of 12 identical twin pairs one twin had experienced trauma and developed PTSD, while the other was not trauma-exposed. A set of 15 identical twin pairs were used as a control group. One member of that twin set had experienced trauma but not developed PTSD, and the other was not exposed to trauma.
While reactions of people with PTSD to trauma-related imagery have been studied, no one had previously examined their responses to ambiguous imagery while doing brain activation scans. The research team focused on two brain mechanisms.
Mechanisms of PTSD
The first was heightened activation of the amygdala, a part of the brain that is involved in processing fear-related stimuli, resulting in the fight, flight, or freeze response.
“Every time we experience something that could be potentially threatening in our environment, the amygdala starts a chain of reaction of responses in the brain,” says Hinojosa, who as a graduate student worked on the study with Lisa Shin, a Tufts professor of psychology and an expert on PTSD.
The second mechanism is activation of the medial frontal gyrus, a part of the prefrontal cortex involved in inhibiting the amygdala’s response to things that are in fact not threatening.
The study, which involved researchers from Tufts, MGH, Duke, and the National Institutes of Health, sought to find out whether people have preexisting brain activation patterns that make them more susceptible to PTSD, or if they acquire that activation pattern because they have PTSD.
While the researchers were expecting the men who had PTSD to show greater activation of the amygdala when observing faces with surprised looks, they hadn’t expected that the participants would have the same response to neutral facial expressions. Tellingly, the same was true in the participants’ trauma-unexposed twins who didn’t have PTSD.
On the other hand, the group who had experienced trauma but not been diagnosed with PTSD did not show the same heightened amygdala response to either the surprised or neutral faces.
These findings may mean that that individuals who have greater amygdala activation before experiencing trauma may be more vulnerable to developing PTSD, Hinojosa notes.
The findings may also imply that if a person shows preexisting vulnerability to developing PTSD—through heightened amygdala activation—and experiences a traumatic event, “we could potentially provide them with treatments as soon as they experience that trauma to hopefully prevent the development of PTSD symptoms,” Hinojosa says.
A final takeaway from the study is that the decreased reactivity in the medial frontal gyrus, which tamps down an excessive fear response, occurred only in the group with PTSD. This suggests that the lowered response in the prefrontal cortex “is an acquired characteristic of PTSD,” says Hinojosa, who earned a Ph.D. in experimental psychology.
She pointed to studies of non-human animals, which suggest that chronic stress or traumatic events are neurotoxic. Stress and trauma “could be harming this region of the brain, so it doesn’t work as well,” she says.
For next steps, Hinojosa says, the study would need to be replicated with larger sample sizes and expand beyond the male-only subjects in the current study.
JOURNAL
Journal of Psychiatric Research
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Experimental study
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
Exaggerated amygdala activation to ambiguous facial expressions is a familial vulnerability factor for posttraumatic stress disorder
Feather mite species related to the Laysan albatross discovered in Japan
Scientists present morphological redescriptions and new genetic information on two feather mite species associated with an endangered seabird species
IMAGE: TWO SPECIES OF FEATHER MITES (BOTH MALES) FROM THE LAYSAN ALBATROSS. A) ECHINACARUS PETALIFERUS (TROUESSART, 1898) AND B) DIOMEDACARUS GIGAS (TROUESSART, 1895).view more
CREDIT: TSUKASA WAKI FROM TOHO UNIVERSITY, JAPAN.
Phoebastria immutabilis, commonly known as the Laysan Albatross, is a large seabird native to the North Pacific Ocean. Owing to the decrease in their population size, this species has been listed as “Near Threatened” in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Laysan Albatrosses, like other birds, have a symbiotic relationship with feather mites, a species of highly host-specific parasites that inhabit the feathers of the birds.
Now, with the threat of extinction looming over P. immutabilis, the feather mites could be in danger, too. Changes in the population dynamics of either host or their symbiont (the organism living in symbiosis with the host) can lead to an ecological imbalance. However, their current population and infection status remains ambiguous in Japan. To bridge this gap, Professor Satoshi Shimano from Hosei University, along with Associate Professor Tsukasa Waki from Toho University and Professor Masaki Eda from Hokkaido University, all in Japan, investigated the current status of P. Immutabilis feather mites. They studied bird specimens from in and around Japanese coastal waters. Their recent work was published in Volume 28, Issue 1 of the journal Systematic and Applied Acarology on 19 January 2023.
Sharing the motivation behind their investigation, Prof. Shimano states, “The feather mite Compressalges nipponiae, which infects the Crested Ibis, is known to have become extinct with the disappearance of its host population in Japan. Therefore, information on the mite symbionts, thought to clean the host’s feathers, could be helpful in conserving the Layasan Albatross.” Their study and findings were published in the journal Systematic and Applied Acarology.
Feather mites from three preserved P. immutabilis wing feathers were studied using microscopy and molecular analyses. The team identified 603 members of Diomedacarus gigas, and two adult males of Echinacarus petaliferus. Remarkably, this is the first study to report on the occurrence of D. gigas in Japan in the last 50 years, and the first-ever on E. petaliferus. The team provided a detailed morphological redescription of the isolated mites. Twenty D. giga and one E. petraliferus mites were selected for analysis of haplotype network – a method to determine genetic diversity and lineage.
Every organism has a unique set of genes that do not undergo much variation over time, which makes them a molecular fingerprint. Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I (COI) was used as the target gene for haplotype analysis of D. gigas. The COI parsimony network revealed seven different haplotypes, of which six were unique to their hosts. The large proportion of unique COI haplotypes pointed to a greater genetic diversity and stable population of D. gigas. On the other hand, genetic information could not be obtained for E. petaliferus and additional research is expected for this species. The team concluded that E. petaliferus was a rare species in Japan, with a high risk of extinction.
In summary, these findings highlight the strong correlation between the ecology of the mites and the population of P. immutabilis. Foreseeing possible future avenues for their work, Dr. Waki speculates, “We believe that the information on the Laysan Albatross and the distribution of its symbionts will enable better conservation planning and extinction risk assessment for this species. This knowledge will ultimately lead to a better preservation of ecosystems for future generations.”
And we certainly hope his visions come true!
Two species of feather mites (both males) from the Laysan Albatross. A) Echinacarus petaliferus (Trouessart, 1898) and B) Diomedacarus gigas (Trouessart, 1895).
CREDIT
Tsukasa Waki from Toho University, Japan
Reference
Authors: Tsukasa Waki1, Masaki Eda2, and Satoshi Shimano3
Title of original paper: Two feather mite species (Alloptidae, Freyanidae) associated with the Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis (Rothschild, 1893) (Diomedeidae) from Japanese coastal water
Affiliations: 1Faculty of Science, Toho University 2Hokkaido University Museum, Hokkaido University 3Science Research Center, Hosei University
About Professor Satoshi Shimano Satoshi Shimano is an acarologist and a Professor at the Science Research Center at Hosei University in Japan. He obtained his master’s degree from Nagoya University and his doctoral degree from Yokohama National University, both in Japan. His research interests include systematics, taxonomy, soil zoology, acarology, and protistology. He has published 177 papers with over 1800 citations to his credit. Additionally, he is a recipient of several awards and has a patent to his name.
About Associate Professor Tsukasa Waki Tsukasa Waki is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Science at Toho University, Japan. He earned his PhD from The University of Tokyo, and is currently pursuing research across field ecology, population ecology, pathogens and virulence, infection, and mortality. He has published 55 articles on diverse topics in the biological sciences since 2009.
About Hosei University Hosei University is one of the leading private universities in Tokyo, Japan. The university offers international courses in many disciplines and has a long and rich history. Hosei University was founded as a school of Law in 1880 and evolved into a private university by 1920. It is also home to multiple research centers, which conduct advanced research on various fields, including nanotechnology, sustainability, ecology, and more. The university has three main campuses—Ichigaya, Koganei, and Tama, located across Tokyo.
Two feather mite species (Alloptidae, Freyanidae) associated with the Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis (Rothschild, 1893) (Diomedeidae) from Japanese coastal waters
1.5-degree goal not plausible: social change more important than physical tipping points
Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is currently not plausible, as is shown in a new, central study released by Universität Hamburg’s Cluster of Excellence “Climate, Climatic Change, and Society” (CLICCS). Climate policy, protests, and the Ukraine crisis: the participating researchers systematically assessed to what extent social changes are already underway – while also analyzing certain physical processes frequently discussed as tipping points. Their conclusion: social change is essential to meeting the temperature goals set in Paris. But what has been achieved to date is insufficient. Accordingly, climate adaptation will also have to be approached from a new angle.
The interdisciplinary team of researchers addressed ten important drivers of social change: “Actually, when it comes to climate protection, some things have now been set in motion. But if you look at the development of social processes in detail, keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees still isn’t plausible,” says CLICCS Speaker Prof. Anita Engels. According to the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook, especially consumption patterns and corporate responses are slowing urgently needed climate protection measures. Other key factors like UN climate policy, legislation, climate protests and divestment from the fossil fuels are supporting efforts to meet the climate goals. As the analysis shows, however, this positive dynamic alone won’t suffice to stay within the 1.5-degree limit. “The deep decarbonization required is simply progressing too slowly,” says Engels.
In addition, the team assesses certain physical processes that are frequently discussed as tipping points: the loss of the Arctic sea ice and melting ice sheets are serious developments – as are regional climate changes. But they will have very little influence on the global temperature until 2050. In this regard, a thawing permafrost, weakened Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), and the loss of the Amazon Forest are more important factors – albeit only moderately. “The Fact is: these feared tipping points could drastically change the conditions for life on Earth – but they’re largely irrelevant for reaching the Paris Agreement temperature goals,” explains CLICCS Co-Speaker Prof. Jochem Marotzke from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology.
The study also coveres COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine: economic reconstruction programs have reinforced dependence on fossil fuels, which means the necessary changes are now less plausible than previously assumed. In contrast, whether efforts to safeguard Europe’s power supply and the international community’s attempts to become independent of Russian gas will undermine or accelerate the phasing out of fossil fuels in the long run remains unclear.
Importance of human agency, new approach to adaptation
The Outlook is currently the only assessment that interlinks social sciences and natural sciences analysis in an integrated study to assess the plausibility of certain climate futures. More than 60 experts have contributed. According to the study, the best hope for shaping a positive climate future lies in the ability of society to make fundamental changes (“human agency”). In addition, the Outlook reveals a range of conditions for doing so, for instance that transnational initiatives and non-government actors continue to support climate protection, and that protests keep up the pressure on politicians.
“The question of what is not just theoretically possible, but also plausible, that is, can realistically be expected, offers us new points of departure,” says Anita Engels. “If we fail to meet the climate goals, adapting to the impacts will become all the more important.” In this regard, the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook introduces a new tool for testing the long-term effects of various measures. They need to do more than provide support once the crisis strikes: “In order to be equipped for a warmer world, we have to anticipate changes, get the affected parties on board, and take advantage of local knowledge. Instead of just reacting, we need to begin an active transformation here and now.”
CAPTION
The path toward climate goals. The plausibility assessments indicate where social drivers and physical processes position themselves on the path toward the climate future scenario in which global climate mitigation goals are attained. Drivers and processes situated in the gray area are ambivalent with regard to reaching deep decarbonization by 2050 (social drivers), or do not affect the plausibility of attaining the Paris Agreement temperature goals (PAtg) (physical processes). Several social drivers are positioned closer to the goals as they support decarbonization (light blue area). However, the path toward climate goals is obstructed by physical processes which moderately inhibit the plausibility of attaining the Paris Agreement temperature goals (light red hexagon), and even more by social drivers which inhibit decarbonization (red hexagon). Currently, no social driver positions itself on the path of supporting deep decarbonization. More information can be found in Tables 1 and 2 and in the assessments in Chapter 6.
The plausibility of a 1.5°C limit to global warming—Social drivers and physical processes
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
1-Feb-2023
Plastic is moving quickly from our shops to our bins
Coastal city residents would like to do more to reduce their single-use plastic waste and they are trying to recycle more, even trying to recycle items that simply can’t be recycled, often called “wish-cycling”.
Coastal city residents would like to do more to reduce their single-use plastic waste and they are trying to recycle more, even trying to recycle items that simply can’t be recycled, often called “wish-cycling”.
But they feel unable to do so due to the current infrastructure challenges and accessibility barriers they face, a new report has found.
The study has also found that whilst young people are concerned about the use of plastic, their consumer behaviour often contradicts their beliefs.
Researchers from the University of Portsmouth’s Revolution Plastics initiative surveyed 400 permanent residents in the city. They were questioned on their plastic consumption, purchase, use and disposal habits.
Researchers examined what influenced people’s attitudes and behaviours towards plastic and what motivated or constrained their ability to reduce, reuse and recycle what they use.
90 per cent of people agreed it was important to recycle and 83 per cent felt that littering was a serious problem that needed addressing in Portsmouth. Results indicate that if there were more recycling options available, 79 per cent would recycle more.
However, there were obvious barriers to recycling, and people felt there was a lack of information and opportunity for recycling, with 65 per cent of people admitting they often did not know how or where to recycle plastic items.
Portsmouth is a densely populated coastal city, with 5315 people per sq. km in 2020 (Office for National Statistics 2021). This makes it the second most densely populated city in the UK after London (5727 people per sq. km in 2020; Office for National Statistics 2021).
Portsmouth is also the UK’s only island city, and the immediate proximity of the city to the ocean carries multiple pollution risks, including the erosion of historic landfill sites and beach litter.
Portsmouth has a limited recycling kerbside collection system. Currently, only paper, card, plastic bottles, metal cans, tins and aerosols are recycled (Portsmouth City Council 2022). The current recycling rate of all waste for Portsmouth is 24.7 per cent, one of the lowest in the UK and considerably lower than the national average of 46.2 per cent (Letsrecycle 2021; DEFRA 2021).
Professor Steve Fletcher, Director of the Global Plastics Policy Centre and Revolution Plastics at the University of Portsmouth says: “As both a coastal city and the second most densely populated environment in the UK, Portsmouth can provide critical insights into the role of plastics in everyday life.
“These include the challenges of managing plastic waste in a tightly packed urban setting. Understanding how people use plastic items within households is important to inform effective policy development, particularly with the emerging and developing global plastic treaty.”
Another important finding was the impact of age on the results. The 31–50 years age group were found to be more regularly shopping in Portsmouth zero-waste shops than their counterparts, while the oldest age group (over 50 years) reported being less aware and less willing to shop in these retailers. Younger respondents (less than 30 years) were more concerned about plastic waste entering the ocean than their older counterparts (over 50 years).
Broadly speaking the younger residents were more concerned about the issue of single use plastic waste, however this was not backed up by their plastic purchase and use habits. Conversely, the older generation, who claimed not to be as concerned, often purchased fewer plastic items, particularly plastic bags. 85 per cent of respondents aged 51 years and above purchased zero plastic bags in an average week, compared to 39 per cent of the youngest age group (less than 30 years).
Other social and economic demographic variables such as a resident’s location within Portsmouth, income and vehicle ownership were potential indicators of individuals' attitudes, accessibility and incentives towards reducing plastic purchases and recycling their plastic waste.
Lead researcher, Stephanie Northen from Revolution Plastics at the University of Portsmouth, says: “Our findings show that although consumers have a role to play in plastic use and recycling, their behaviour is heavily influenced by factors which are largely out of their control, such as price and availability.
“Ultimately it is not consumers who should be responsible for systemic change. This responsibility lies with those who are in charge of plastic policy.”
IMAGE: PLASTICS ENGINEERING MASTER’S STUDENT AND RESEARCH ASSISTANT SARAH PERRY, LEFT, WORKS WITH PROFESSOR MEG SOBKOWICZ-KLINE IN THE LAB AT BALL HALL ON UMASS LOWELL’S NORTH CAMPUS IN LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.view more
CREDIT: EDWIN AGUIRRE FOR UMASS LOWELL
Jan. 31, 2023
For Immediate Release
At least 85%, a staggering figure, of plastic waste generated in the U.S. went to landfills in 2021 while just 5 to 6% was recycled. Two UMass Lowell researchers want to reverse these statistics.
Plastics Engineering Professor Meg Sobkowicz-Kline and Assistant Teaching Professor Akshay Kokil are embarking on campaigns to redirect these recyclable materials with the help of a combined $1 million in research grants. Sobkowicz-Kline and Kokil were each awarded $500,000 grants – National Science Foundation and National Institute of Standards and Technology, respectively – at the close of 2022.
Sobkowicz-Kline won a two-year, $500,000 NSF award for her project, “Melt Mastication for Upcycling of Polyolefins,” which will help advance the development of a new manufacturing process to ease the recycling of plastic film packaging – the ubiquitous thin, flexible material used in grocery bags, zip-top storage bags, dry-cleaning bags among other applications.
She explained current plastic films cannot be recycled because they consist of multiple layers of different plastics and thus are challenging to collect, separate, clean and reprocess.
“While chemical recycling methods are rapidly evolving, these approaches require high energy input, and the materials’ intrinsic value is lost,” she said. “New concepts are needed to increase the recycling rate and reduce the amount of waste plastic films ending up in landfills, incinerators and the environment,” she says.
A team of UMass Lowell researchers, headed by Sobkowicz-Kline, is studying a new process to produce plastic film made of a single polymer, but retains the properties that make plastic packaging so attractive, including its low cost, light weight, toughness and effective barrier protection against oxygen and moisture to help maintain food quality and flavor.
She added: “Our research has the potential to increase the plastics recycling rate, especially for films, while also maintaining the important benefits of flexible plastic packaging, including food safety, convenience and low carbon footprint.”
Fellow UMass Lowell plastics engineering Professor Dave Kazmer is a co-principal investigator in the project, along with professors E. Bryan Coughlin and Alan Lesser of UMass Amherst.
Awarded a three-year, $500,000 NIST grant, Kokil’s research will support his ongoing effort to develop a future workforce to grow a circular economy for plastics. The focus will be on moving away from single-use plastics in favor of a “closed loop” system in which the lifetime of plastic materials is prolonged as they are used repeatedly, repaired and recycled. In this perspective, the materials are discarded only as a last resort.
“Making plastics more sustainable and transitioning them to a functioning circular economy has become all the more important, considering the scope of their use in our modern society,” said Kokil. His project, Plastics Adaptable for Circular Economy (PACE), aims to create, test and disseminate cross-disciplinary, hands-on modules about plastics sustainability and circularity.
“These modules, developed by all plastics engineering faculty members, will help expand the knowledge base and improve critical thinking skills of the nation’s undergraduate and graduate students,” said Kokil. “With a technically knowledgeable workforce, people will be empowered to make prudent choices and systemic changes in the plastics industry, such that even in a market-driven condition, this important class of material can become truly sustainable.”
Kokil is among the scientists and engineers from five research institutions across the country who each received $500,000 in funding from NIST under its first Training for Improving Plastics Circularity Grant Program. In addition to UMass Lowell, the other awardees include Arizona State University, Pittsburg State University in Kansas, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Southern California.
The PACE project is co-led by members of the UMass Lowell plastics engineering department including Sobkowicz-Kline, Kazmer and Assistant Professor Davide Masato. Jill Lohmeier, UMass Lowell School of Education associate professor, will perform in-classroom learning outcome evaluations for PACE.
China’s stricter clean heating policies may have saved thousands of lives – study
China’s stricter clean heating policies have improved air quality in northern China, particularly in Beijing and surrounding cities– potentially reducing 23,000 premature deaths due to air pollution in 2021 than in 2015, a new study reveals.
From 2015 to 2021, the impact of winter heating on China’s capital and 27 other cities saw concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from heating activities reduce by 41.3% - compared with a drop of 12.9% in other northern Chinese cities which use lower levels of clean fuels than the ‘2+26’ cities.
China’s centralised winter heating strategy is one of the world’s largest energy-consumption systems - providing free or heavily subsidised heating to urban residents. The system is usually switched on from mid-November to March.
Whilst coal has been the main heating energy source in northern China - accounting for 83% of the total heating area in 2016 – new policies have encouraged the use of cleaner fuels such as gas and electricity, reducing the dependence of urban areas on coal and rural areas on biomass.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham and Nankai University, China, published their findings in Environmental Science & Technology today, noting clear air quality benefits from the stricter clean heating policies in the ‘2 + 26’ cities – Beijing and Tianjin, plus 26 cities across Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Henan provinces.
Corresponding Professor Zongbo Shi, from the University of Birmingham, commented: “Using a novel approach combining machine learning with causal inference, we showed that heating in northern China was a major source of air pollution, increasing annual PM2.5 concentrations by 8.9 µg m-3 in 2015. However, clean heating policies have caused the annual PM2.5 in mainland China to reduce significantly between 2015 and 2021, with significant public health benefits.
“Our research demonstrates the effectiveness of China’s clean winter heating policies on reducing PM2.5 – with particular success for the stricter clean heating policies in ‘2 + 26’ cities, which also led to a reduced impact of heating emissions on sulphur dioxide (SO2). These results demonstrate clear air quality benefits from the stricter clean heating policies in ‘2 + 26’ cities.”
In addition to central heating, biomass burning was often used for heating in rural areas - coal and biomass burning were often associated with severe haze episodes during the heating periods in northern China.
In 2013, China introduced the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, which accelerated the use of centralised and district heating - encouraging the switch to cleaner fuels.
In 2017, the Chinese central government issued its Clean Winter Heating Plan for Northern China, which aimed to increase the region’s share of clean heating to 50% by 2019 and 70% by 2021 compared to the base scenario in 2016.
Additionally, the share of clean heating in ‘2 + 26’ cities was to exceed 90% in urban areas, reaching 100% by 2021. In 2018, a three-year action plan to fight air pollution was issued. All these plans led to substantial air pollutant emission from the residential sector.
Co-author Professor Robert Elliott noted “Clean heating policies in northern China not only reduced air pollution but also greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to China’s push for carbon neutrality. However, we found that heating remains an important source of air pollution in northern China, particularly in cities that are not part of the “2+26” cluster. Decarbonising heating should remain a key part of China’s carbon neutrality strategy that not only reduces air pollution but also provide significant public health benefits.”
ENDS
Notes for editors
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions, its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 8,000 international students from over 150 countries.
‘Attribution of Air Quality Benefits to Clean Winter Heating Polices in China: Combining Machine Learning with Causal Inference” - Congbo Song, Bowen Liu, Kai Cheng, Matthew A. Cole, Qili Dai, Robert J. R. Elliott, and Zongbo Shi is published in Environmental Science & Technology.
JOURNAL
Environmental Science & Technology
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Observational study
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
Attribution of Air Quality Benefits to Clean Winter Heating Polices in China: Combining Machine Learning with Causal Inference
