Megadiverse flowering plant family on isolated islands

International research team find highest speciation in Asteraceae family on oceanic islands

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Göttingen

 

image: 

Pleurophyllum speciosum is a herbaceous wildflower with bright purple flowers which is part of the Asteraceae family. This species is only found on the sub-Antarctic islands south of New Zealand.

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Credit: Philip Garnock-Jones

Asteraceae, a family of flowering plants which includes daisies, sunflowers and asters, are the most diverse group of flowering plants in the world. This plant family comprises around 34,000 species, some of which are well-known, such as artichokes, chamomile, dahlias and lettuce. An international research team with the participation of the University of Göttingen has now compiled and analysed a new global database on the distribution and evolutionary history of all Asteraceae species. The researchers found that an unexpectedly high number of evolutionary events – known as “speciation” where a new species of plants evolves from a common ancestor – occurred in the aster family within relatively short time periods on many islands worldwide. The results were published in Nature Communications.

 

The presence of Asteraceae is characteristic of the flora of remote islands such as the Galápagos, Mauritius and Polynesia. These plants include some of the most spectacular botanical species, from the diverse genus Bidens, meaning “two toothed”, of the Pacific islands, to the strange-looking and highly endangered silverswords of Hawai’i, to the giant Scalesia trees of the Galápagos Islands. Although they are a prime example of island biodiversity, until now it has not been possible to get a complete picture of where these plants fit in the bigger picture.

 

To meet this challenge, researchers in botany and evolutionary biology have compiled and analysed a global database containing information on the distribution and evolutionary history of all Asteraceae species on many islands. The team found that there are over 6,000 species of Asteraceae native to islands, and that almost 60 per cent of these are found exclusively on islands. Their findings confirm one of the most important and well-established theories in ecology and evolution, which states that larger, isolated islands harbour a greater number of unique species. Many of these species are threatened with extinction and are only known from a few individuals surviving in the wild. “Asteraceae provides a treasure trove of information to help researchers understand why and how new species evolve in the most remote environments in the world,” says Professor Holger Kreft, Head of Biodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography at the University of Göttingen.

 

The researchers were also able to identify dozens of possibly undiscovered speciation events on islands worldwide. Speciation occurs in a limited geographical area over a period of ‘only’ a few million years. In this process, a common ancestor has colonised an island and produced many new species that often differ drastically in size, shape, habitat and other characteristics.

 

The number of these newly discovered evolutionary events surprised the researchers. “Botanists have long suspected that Asteraceae has evolved in remarkable ways on islands, but our study shows that the extent of evolutionary innovation in this family may be much greater than previously thought,” says first author Lizzie Roeble of Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands. These findings underline the importance of protecting this group of plants.

 

Original publication: Lizzie Roeble et al. (2024). Island biogeography of the megadiverse plant family Asteraceae. Nature Communications 15, 7276.  DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51556-7

 

Contact:
Professor Holger Kreft
University of Göttingen
Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology
Biodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography Research Group
Büsgenweg 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)551 39-28757
Email: hkreft@uni-goettingen.de 
www.uni-goettingen.de/en/128741.html

 

Dr Patrick Weigelt
University of Göttingen
Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology
Biodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography Research Group
Büsgenweg 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)551 39-28983
Email: pweigel@uni-goettingen.de
www.uni-goettingen.de/de/157014.html

Asteraceae, a family of flowering plants which includes daisies, sunflowers and asters, are the most diverse group of flowering plants in the world. This plant family comprises around 34,000 species, some of which are well-known, such as artichokes, chamomile, dahlias and lettuce. An international research team with the participation of the University of Göttingen has now compiled and analysed a new global database on the distribution and evolutionary history of all Asteraceae species. The researchers found that an unexpectedly high number of evolutionary events – known as “speciation” where a new species of plants evolves from a common ancestor – occurred in the aster family within relatively short time periods on many islands worldwide. The results were published in Nature Communications.

 

The presence of Asteraceae is characteristic of the flora of remote islands such as the Galápagos, Mauritius and Polynesia. These plants include some of the most spectacular botanical species, from the diverse genus Bidens, meaning “two toothed”, of the Pacific islands, to the strange-looking and highly endangered silverswords of Hawai’i, to the giant Scalesia trees of the Galápagos Islands. Although they are a prime example of island biodiversity, until now it has not been possible to get a complete picture of where these plants fit in the bigger picture.

 

To meet this challenge, researchers in botany and evolutionary biology have compiled and analysed a global database containing information on the distribution and evolutionary history of all Asteraceae species on many islands. The team found that there are over 6,000 species of Asteraceae native to islands, and that almost 60 per cent of these are found exclusively on islands. Their findings confirm one of the most important and well-established theories in ecology and evolution, which states that larger, isolated islands harbour a greater number of unique species. Many of these species are threatened with extinction and are only known from a few individuals surviving in the wild. “Asteraceae provides a treasure trove of information to help researchers understand why and how new species evolve in the most remote environments in the world,” says Professor Holger Kreft, Head of Biodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography at the University of Göttingen.

 

The researchers were also able to identify dozens of possibly undiscovered speciation events on islands worldwide. Speciation occurs in a limited geographical area over a period of ‘only’ a few million years. In this process, a common ancestor has colonised an island and produced many new species that often differ drastically in size, shape, habitat and other characteristics.

 

The number of these newly discovered evolutionary events surprised the researchers. “Botanists have long suspected that Asteraceae has evolved in remarkable ways on islands, but our study shows that the extent of evolutionary innovation in this family may be much greater than previously thought,” says first author Lizzie Roeble of Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands. These findings underline the importance of protecting this group of plants.

 

Original publication: Lizzie Roeble et al. (2024). Island biogeography of the megadiverse plant family Asteraceae. Nature Communications 15, 7276.  DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51556-7

 

Another member of the Asteraceae family is Bidens mooreensis which grows high on the ridges of Moorea Island in Polynesia. This species belongs to the genus known as Bidens – the largest group of the Asteraceae family on oceanic islands. 

Credit   Lizzie Roeble

Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-024-51556-7 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Island biogeography of the megadiverse plant family Asteraceae

 

Ants might be pushing montane birds higher up, study finds

Indian Institute of Science (IISc)

Mountains are home to 85% of the world’s amphibian, bird, and mammalian species, despite covering only 25% of the Earth’s surface. This makes them a highly diverse ecosystem and a key focus for conservation efforts.

In mountainous regions, species diversity – the measure of how many different species are present – can vary with elevation due to environmental factors like climatic conditions. However, a recent study from the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has uncovered a different factor driving bird species diversity at mid-elevations: the presence of ants from the Oecophylla genus.

“In mountains, you often see hump-shaped patterns [of species diversity], and for a long time, people have been interested in why this happens. One of the mechanisms they did not think much about was biotic interactions like competition,” says Kartik Shanker, Professor at CES and co-author of the study published in Ecology Letters.

Oecophylla ants, known for their aggressive and dominant behaviour, are voracious predators of insects at the bases of mountains found in the paleotropics, covering Africa, Asia and Oceania. The researchers decided to test how the ants’ presence affects the diversity of insect-eating birds, especially at lower elevations.

A previous study led by co-author Trevor D Price, Professor at the Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, showed that the presence of Oecophylla ants at the base of the eastern Himalayas decreased the density of insects and might therefore have an effect on the presence of insect-eating birds. In the current study, the team wanted to see if this pattern was more widespread among other insect-eating species as well.

Led by Umesh Srinivasan, Assistant Professor at CES, the researchers used existing datasets with information about bird species observed at various elevations across different mountain ranges. They categorised the birds into dietary guilds – groups of species with similar dietary requirements, such as insectivores and omnivores.

“We looked at the ranges of these bird species. We noted what bird species [in each guild] occurred at 100 metres, then 200, 300 and so on, for every 100 metres,” explains Srinivasan. “We then classified mountain ranges with or without Oecophylla at the base, and looked at what species were present at different elevations.”

The researchers found patterns consistent with Oecophylla ants competing with insect-eating birds for food at lower elevations. This could then have ended up pushing these birds higher up in the mountains – the species diversity was highest at an elevation of about 960 metres. Other bird groups like nectar-eating and fruit-eating birds – which weren’t competing with Oecophylla ants – reduced in species diversity as the elevation increased. The presence or absence of Oecophylla ants at the base of mountains, therefore, was a good predictor of why the diversity of insect-eating birds peaked at mid-elevations, the team found.

“With climate change, if the ants shift their ranges towards higher elevations, this might impact the bird species at higher elevations as well,” adds Srinivasan. 

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Journal

Ecology Letters

DOI

10.1111/ele.14497 

Article Title

Ant impacts on global patterns of bird elevational diversity

 

Method developed to enable Asphalt roads to weather cracking due to climate changes and heavy traffic load

University of Sharjah

 

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The scientists claim their technology can produce the type of asphalt binders with the ability to weather pavement cracking and rutting and shorten training time for operators to learn how to use sophisticated asphalt binder devices to make asphalt roads more resistant and lasting.  

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Credit: Dr. Waleed Zeiada, University of Sharjah

Scientists from the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and China’s Hefei University of Technology have developed a method to build durable and lasting asphalt pavements that can withstand rutting and cracking due to low temperatures and heavy loads.

They believe the method could reduce overall costs that normally accompany the purchasing and maintenance of expensive road durability testing equipment and improve testing of asphalt to make sure it holds up well in cold and hot weathers.

Engineers and transportation authorities have for long grabbled with how asphalt roads can brittle or bloat with slumps and surges in temperature and how heavy load traffic can damage the asphalt.

Now the scientists claim their technology can produce the type of asphalt binders with the ability to weather pavement cracking and rutting and shorten training time for operators to learn how to use sophisticated asphalt binder devices to make asphalt roads more resistant and lasting. 

In the words of the study’s lead author Dr. Waleed Zeiada, University of Sharjah’s associate professor of asphalt concrete mixtures, “The major takeaway is that our method can save engineers time and resources while still providing reliable information about how asphalt will perform in cold temperatures.

“This means better, longer-lasting roads, with less effort required to test the materials beforehand. This approach has the potential to greatly enhance the efficiency and practicality of Superpave implementation, particularly for agencies and contractors who face high equipment and operational costs.”

Superpave, an abbreviation of the term superior performing asphalt pavement, is a mix design method in which materials in optimum properties are selected for analysis and testing. Road engineers use to Superpave to provide durable and long-lasting roads and highways.

The research, published in the journal Construction and Building Materials, employs the typical Superpave Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) device to assess the thermal cracking of asphalt binders at low temperatures ranging from 0 to -18 °C by measuring the creep stiffness and m-value.

However, and due to growing concerns regarding BBR applicability to field studies and special asphalt binders, the research team enhanced a new method to assess the thermal cracking of asphalt binders namely the Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR), itself part of the Superpave testing system anyway, added Dr. Zeiada.

The DSR was used to perform frequency sweep tests on twelve asphalt binders at temperatures ranging from 0 to 25 °C using the 8-mm parallel plate geometry. The scientists then made a comparison between the results they obtained from both the BBR and DSR devices.

The DSR instruments are highly sophisticated gadgets designed to help scientists seek better rheological data under various climatic and other conditions in order to obtain measurements with superior precision.

The authors breakthrough came when they compared their BBR results and their corresponding DSR counterparts with an efficient and robust method they developed to predict the flexural creep stiffness and m-value of asphalt binder below 0 °C from frequency sweep test data .

They say in their research the objective was to develop an accurate and effective approach “to evaluate the low-temperature performance of asphalt binders based on DSR testing.”

Road engineers use DSR, or the dynamic sheer rheometer, as an instrument to gauge and characterize the elastic features of asphalt binders at temperatures of varying degrees.

Co-author Dr. Hanqi Liu, from the Chinese School of Automotive and Transportation Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, described the method as outlined in the study “a major step towards characterizing the performance of asphalt binders at different temperatures using a single testing device.”

The project aims to improve the testing of asphalt binders “especially at low temperatures to predict their (asphalt binders) performance in real-world conditions,” noted Dr. Zeiada. “Our method represents a significant advancement in asphalt binder technology which “traditionally has relied on a text called the  Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) to measure how well asphalt can resist cracking, particularly at low temperatures.”

The authors tested various asphalt binders at different temperature ranges using mathematical models to arrive at accurate predictions of their DSR data about the performance of asphalt binders particularly in low temperatures. The DSR test was found to be better and with a higher degree of accuracy when compared with BBR counterpart traditionally used to measure asphalt binders’ low temperature stiffness properties.

When comparing the predictions with actual BBR test results, the researchers found that the DSR method to be more accurate and reliable. “The results of this research are significant because they offer a faster, more efficient way to assess asphalt binder performance at low temperatures. This method could help engineers save time and resources while ensuring that pavements are designed to resist cracking in cold seasons,” maintained Dr. Zeiada.

The research project, Dr. Zeiada pointed out, has already attracted the attention of world’s key industrial players like Shell and Richmond in recognition of the significance of its findings and the contribution they can make to advancing the testing of asphalt binders.

“The collaboration between academic research, industry, and government institutions was crucial to the success of this project. The involvement of key industry players like Shell, Richmond, and Mena Energy underlines the real-world importance of this work.”

The authors tout their method as a breakthrough in the construction of pavements and roads as it can help road builders to produce the type of asphalt binders that can weather damage due to climate conditions.

“It has been always a dream to have a universal machine that can test asphalt binders against rutting, fatigue, and thermal cracking. This research work is a step towards achieving that,” said co-author Dr. Helal Ezzat of Sharjah University’s Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering.

The authors are upbeat about the method they have developed. Dr. Ghazi Al-Khateeb, Sharjah University’s professor of transportation engineering and a co-author said, “The proposed conversion method presented in this paper demonstrates superior efficiency and robustness compared to existing techniques. The correlation between predicted and measured values is generally strong, with high R² values indicating precise predictions for both creep stiffness and the m-value.”

Due to growing concerns regarding BBR applicability to field studies and special asphalt binders, the research team enhanced a new method to assess the thermal cracking of asphalt binders namely the Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR), itself part of the Superpave testing system anyway. Credit: Construction and Building Materials (2024).

Credit

Construction and Building Materials: DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.138196

Journal

Construction and Building Materials

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

An efficient and robust method for evaluating the low-temperature performance of asphalt binder based on DSR testing

Article Publication Date

18-Oct-2024

 

Vast ‘stranded assets’ if world continues investing in polluting industries

University of Exeter

Continued investment in carbon-intensive industries will drastically increase the amount of “stranded assets” as the world moves to net-zero emissions, researchers warn.

The study assesses how much capital – the value of physical assets like buildings and, uniquely in this study, the value of workers – could be stranded (losing its value) if the world reaches net zero emissions in 2050.

Stranded assets could include a worker losing their job and future income as their industry declines, or a coal power station losing value as renewables take over.

The study – by Exeter and Lancaster universities – compares two scenarios to investigate how delaying the transition could affect the total capital value at risk accumulated by 2050: one where the world completely stopped investing in carbon-intensive industries in 2020, and another where this is delayed to 2030.

A complete switch-off from fossil fuel investment in 2020 would have left $117 trillion of global capital at risk – while delaying to 2030 raises this to $557 trillion (37% of total global capital today).

While these are the maximum possible figures – and they could be reduced by retraining workers and retrofitting assets – they highlight the vast economic risks from continued investment in declining industries.  

“The longer we wait, the more disorderly the transition will be,” said Cormac Lynch, from the University of Exeter.

“An orderly transition would place communities in a good position to take advantage of new opportunities as the economy changes – while a disorderly one could put some areas at risk of post-industrial decline.”

Asked if the findings could support calls to delay or abandon net-zero policies, Daniel Chester from Lancaster University said: “The impacts of climate change itself are likely to be far more costly.

“And parts of the transition are happening already. For example, renewables like solar PV are already at cost-parity with fossil fuel equivalents, and electric vehicles are not far behind.

“What our research shows is that it makes practical sense, not just ethical sense, to embrace the transition now rather than resist it.”

“Instead of delaying the transition, policymakers should be transforming educational and financial systems – creating new opportunities, especially in regions dependent on fossil-fuel industries – to ensure communities are not left behind.”

The world must now cut carbon emissions at an unprecedented rate to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, thereby limiting the worst effects of climate change.

This will inevitably create new economic opportunities but will also threaten the value of some existing occupations and physical assets, investments in which have been called a “carbon bubble”.

The researchers collated available data to estimate the makeup of the global stock of capital assets and their economic lifespans.

They then simulated the early retirement of these capital assets (e.g. buildings decommissioned earlier than expected or workers being made unemployed) necessary to achieve the net zero targets set by governments, comparing these outcomes to scenarios where they are allowed to retire at the end of their normal working life.

The paper, published in the journal Environmental Research: Climate and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council through the Rebuilding Macroeconomics network, is entitled: “Stranded human and produced capital in a net-zero transition.”

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Journal

Environmental Research Climate

DOI

10.1088/2752-5295/ad7313 

Article Title

Stranded human and produced capital in a net-zero transition

Article Publication Date

30-Sep-2024

 

New synthesis strategy could speed up PFAS decontamination

Rice engineers demonstrate versatile, cost-effective way to make high-quality advanced materials

Rice University

 

image: 

Safiya Khalil 

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Credit: Courtesy of Safiya Khalil/Rice University.

HOUSTON – (Sept. 30, 2024) – Rice University engineers have developed an innovative way to make covalent organic frameworks (COFs), special materials that can be used to trap gases, filter water and speed up chemical reactions. COFs have the potential to address significant environmental challenges, including energy storage and pollution control. An example of that is their potential use in the decontamination of “forever chemicals” or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Rice chemical engineer Rafael Verduzco and his team have described a new way to synthesize high-quality COFs at low cost and with high throughput in a study published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces that will be featured on the front cover of a future issue of the journal. The work includes a careful analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of different synthesis methods and details a versatile, cost-effective way to make COFs. This involves a multiflow microreactor and careful calibration of the input-output process.

“We built a small, continuous production system ⎯ like a minifactory on a lab bench ⎯ where the ingredients for COFs are mixed and reacted in a steady stream instead of all at once in a big container,” said Safiya Khalil, a Rice doctoral alumna who is the first author on the study.

The researchers also found that one of the COFs produced via flow synthesis was better than those made using other methods at breaking down perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a PFAS compound associated with a number of health risks, including cancer and reproductive harm.

“This is an encouraging finding that adds to the growing evidence that COFs could emerge as a key player in the development of cleaner, more efficient technologies for contaminant removal,” said Verduzco, professor and associate chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice who is the corresponding author on the study.

COFs are crystalline polymers made of small, repeating units linked together into microscopic spongelike structures. These materials stand out for their porosity, large surface area and tunable molecular structure ⎯ features that could be harnessed for use in a wide range of applications, including semiconductors, sensors, drug delivery and filtration. However, the slow and expensive process of producing COFs has limited their broader deployment.

“We hope this method will make it easier to produce COFs in large quantities and help accelerate the discovery of new formulations,” said Khalil, who earned a Ph.D. in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Rice, where she was a part of Verduzco’s Polymer Engineering Laboratory.

Khalil likened the new method to making cookies to order in small batches rather than baking them all at once in one large batch. Although it was not the first time flow reactor synthesis was used to make COFs, the Rice researchers’ method stands out from previous approaches because it integrates the continuous synthesis and processing of two different COF chemistries, resulting in a more varied range of macroscopic formats.

“This method allows you to continuously have fresh-made cookies while controlling the temperature and mixing at each step to get the best quality every time,” Khalil said. “This process is faster, uses less energy and allows for better control over the final product.”

Traditional COF synthesis involves the use of high temperatures, high pressure and toxic organic solvents, limiting widespread production and use. The researchers’ flow synthesis strategy not only allows for faster COF production but also enables the creation of COFs with superior crystallinity.

The added proof that one of the newly synthesized COFs was very efficient at breaking down a “forever chemical” showcases the practical benefits of the new method. The breakdown process, known as photocatalytic degradation, is activated by light and occurs at room temperature.

“Imagine these COFs as powerful sponges with built-in ‘sunlight engines’ that can break down harmful chemicals much faster than current methods,” Khalil said. “One of the COFs we synthesized was more effective at breaking down PFOA than traditional materials such as titanium dioxide ⎯ a common photocatalyst used in pollution control.”

The research was supported by the Ministry of Education of the United Arab Emirates and the Welch Foundation (C-2124).

-30-

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (top left) and transmission electron microscopy (bottom left) images of the COF shown to efficiently break down PFOA; COF samples in a varied range of macroscopic formats.

Credit

Courtesy of the Verduzco lab/Rice University

This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Peer-reviewed paper:
Continuous Synthesis and Processing of Covalent Organic Frameworks in a Flow Reactor | ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces | DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c09577
Authors: Safiya Khalil, Abdullah Alazmi, Guanhui Gao, Cecilia Martínez-Jiménez, Ravindra Saxena, Shu-Yan Jiang, Jianhua Li, Salma Alhashim, Thomas Senftle, Angel Martí and Rafael Verduzco
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.4c09577

About Rice:
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,574 undergraduates and 3,982 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction, No. 2 for best-run colleges and No. 12 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

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Journal

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

DOI

10.1021/acsami.4c09577 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Article Title

Continuous Synthesis and Processing of Covalent Organic Frameworks in a Flow Reactor

 

Support for meat rationing to protect climate

Uppsala University

 

image: 

Oskar Lindgren, doctoral student, Climate Change Leadership Group, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University.

Photo: private

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Credit: private

Rationing of goods such as meat and fuel can both effectively and fairly reduce consumption with high climate impact. Almost 40 percent of the public say they could accept such measures. These are the findings of new research from the Climate Change Leadership Group at Uppsala University.

“Rationing may seem dramatic, but so is climate change. This may explain why support is rather high. One advantage of rationing is that it can be perceived as fair, if made independent of income. Policies perceived as fair often enjoy higher levels of acceptance,” explains Oskar Lindgren, doctoral student in natural resources and sustainable development at the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University, who led the study, published in Nature magazine’s Humanities & Social Sciences Communications journal.

To achieve climate targets, policies that effectively reduce consumption with a high climate impact, such as meat and fuel, are needed. At the same time, public acceptance of a particular policy instrument strongly depends on whether it is perceived as fair or not. So far, research in this area has mainly examined economic instruments, such as carbon taxes, while giving little attention to other instruments that could be effective, like rationing.

A new study involving nearly 9,000 people in Brazil, India, Germany, South Africa and the United States compares the acceptability of rationing fuel and so-called “emission-intensive” food, such as meat, with the acceptability of taxes on the same products. The study is the first of its kind. One conclusion is that the acceptability of rationing is on par with the acceptability of taxes. For example, 38% of the people surveyed were in favour or strongly in favour of fuel rationing. The corresponding figure for fuel tax was 39%.

“Most surprisingly, there is hardly any difference in acceptability between rationing and taxation of fossil fuels. We expected rationing to be perceived more negatively because it directly limits people's consumption. But in Germany, the proportion of people who strongly oppose fossil fuel taxes is actually higher than the proportion who strongly oppose fossil fuel rationing,” notes Mikael Karlsson, Senior Lecturer in Climate Leadership at Uppsala University and one of the researchers behind the study.

The study also shows that acceptability differs between countries. In India and South Africa, acceptability of rationing for both fuel and emissions-intensive food is higher than in the other countries. In particular, many respondents in Germany and the United States are strongly against meat rationing. Individuals who express concern about climate change are most likely to favour the instrument, but younger and more educated individuals also have a more positive attitude.

“More research is now needed on attitudes towards rationing and the design of such policy instruments. Water rationing is taking place in many parts of the world, and many people seem willing to limit their consumption for climate mitigation purposes, as long as others do the same. These are encouraging findings,” says Lindgren.

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Journal

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

DOI

10.1057/s41599-024-03823-7 

Method of Research

Survey

Article Title

Public acceptability of climate-motivated rationing