Russian scientists have created an express sensor to determine the toxicity of honey

Rapid prototype analyzer requires ultra-low amount of product

Peer-Reviewed Publication

URAL FEDERAL UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: FOR A DEEPER ANALYSIS, THE SENSOR CAN BE CONNECTED TO THE DEVICE. view more 

CREDIT: URFU

Russian scientists at Ural Federal University (UrFU, Yekaterinburg) and the Institute of Organic Synthesis, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have created an express sensor for the detection of nitrobenzene in food and cosmetics. In addition to requiring an ultra-small amount of material to analyze, the sensor also delivers unprecedented accuracy. It detects the presence of nitrobenzene, a dangerous toxin that can contaminate honey and other popular foods, in a matter of minutes. The description of the development was published in the Food Chemistry magazine.

Nitrobenzene is an extremely dangerous compound with a strong carcinogenic and mutagenic effect, which is difficult to chemically neutralize. It is widely used in the chemical industry as a solvent. Controlling the content of this substance in the food and the environment is an essential part of environmental monitoring. One of the foodstuffs most susceptible to nitrobenzene contamination is honey. This is caused by the use of insecticides used to protect bees and hives from ticks.

Most methods for determining the level of nitrobenzene in products require lengthy laboratory work and are therefore not suitable for quick on-site analysis. The development of portable analytical devices is of increasing practical interest, as the scientists of the Ural Federal University explained.

“The sensitivity and accuracy of such analyzers are determined by the structure of the "recognizer" - the so-called receptor layer. As a rule, it consists of enzymes, universal biological catalysts, which, along with some advantages, have a high cost and low chemical stability,” said the head of the research group, professor at UrFU Alisa Kozitsina.

University specialists have developed a synthetic receptor as a replacement for enzyme-based systems, and also created a prototype of a portable analyzer based on it. Its principle of operation is based on the use of organic compounds of the diazine class: these substances are able to selectively interact with nitrobenzene, "pulling" it out of the analyzed sample onto the electrode of the electrochemical sensor. According to the creators, the new method is distinguished by exceptional sensitivity and minimal labor costs for sample preparation.

“Unlike optical spectral analyzers currently used to search for nitrobenzene, electrochemical sensors are miniature, easy to manufacture, and require an ultra-small amount of the analyzed product. Our recognition system and the prototype of an electrochemical sensor have no direct analogs in the world,” said associate professor at UrFU Tatiana Svalova.

Using the new approach, the researchers were able to detect unsafe amounts of nitrobenzene in some commercial honey samples that were missed in the analysis of the accepted methods. An important advantage of the new method is the possibility of implementation both in stationary laboratories and in the form of portable devices. The development will be in demand not only in environmental monitoring and food quality control but also in industry, for example, in the production of cosmetics, scientists are sure.

The research team plans to make sensors universal and widespread. At the same time, they want to continue both fundamental research in this area and the development of new analytical systems for working with hazardous chemicals and drugs. 

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JOURNAL

Food Chemistry

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131279 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

ARTICLE TITLE

Rapid and sensitive determination of nitrobenzene in solutions and commercial honey samples using a screen-printed electrode modified by 1,3-/1,4-diazines

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-Sep-2021

The introduction of perennial plants among rainfed almond trees helps to mitigate climate change

The Diverfarming project team analyse the effects of the carbon cycle on the introduction of crops in a system of rainfed almond trees and another of irrigated mandarin trees

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CÓRDOBA

 

IMAGE: PICTURE OF THE CASE STUDY WHERE ALMOND TREES ARE DIVERSIFIED WITH THYME view more 

CREDIT: DIVERFARMING

Agriculture and the change in soil use produce 23% of the total emissions of greenhouse gases of anthropogenic origin. Moreover, the expansion and intensification of agriculture are considered determining factors in soil loss and degradation by accelerating erosion rates and favouring the loss of organic matter and nutrients.The most commonly used sustainable farming practices to maintain and restore the organic carbon in poor soils are reduced tilling; the use of plant covers; and the application of compost or manure, but how does crop diversification affect the carbon cycle? A team from the European Diverfarming project have analysed the potential of diversification in woody crops (almond and mandarin trees), determining that the introduction of perennial plants such as thyme and caper in rainfed almond trees favours the mitigation of climate change through the increase in soil carbon sequestration.

The team formed by the researchers form the CEBAS – CSIC María Martínez-Mena, Carolina Boix-Fayos, Efraín Carrillo, María Almagro,and Elvira Díaz,together with the researchers from theUniversidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Raúl Zornoza, Virginia Sánchez, José Antonio Acosta,and Silvia Martínez evaluated the short-term effect of the crop diversification on the soil carbon balance for a system of rainfed and of irrigated woody crops in semi-arid Mediterranean conditions. Specifically, they quantified the gains and losses of soil carbon to calculate the balance and evaluated the impacts of crop diversification on the main components that affect the carbon balance in two case studies of the Diverfarming project located in Murcia.

The crops assessed were organic rainfed almond trees and irrigated mandarin trees.In 2018, perennial crops such as capers and thyme were planted in the alleys of the almond trees, whilst in the alleys of the mandarin trees annual crops were introduced in rotation: a mix of barley, vetch and beans.The research team monitored the CO2 emissions to the atmosphere coming from the soil, as well as the carbon loss due to erosion and the carbon gains to the system by the growth of the plants,for two years.

Crop diversification affected the carbon balance (gains and losses) in the short term.Although in the irrigated mandarin crop diversified with annual plants the carbon soil carbon balance did not improve, the introduction of perennial species in the rainfed almonds did do so (reducing the carbon losses by between65 and 73%).

The potential of intercropping with perennial plants in woody systems to mitigate climate change through soil carbon sequestration could increase in the long term, once the new crops are fully developed and stabilised.Theongoing nature of the research would enable to confirm if this type of diversification would be a long-term solution to convert these systems into carbon sinks, thereby contributing to mitigating climate change.

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Martínez-Mena, M., Boix-Fayos, C., Carrillo-López, E. et al. Short-term impact of crop diversification on soil carbon fluxes and balance in rainfed and irrigated woody cropping systems under semiarid Mediterranean conditions. Plant Soil (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05101-w

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JOURNAL

Plant and Soil

DOI

10.1007/s11104-021-05101-w 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Short-term impact of crop diversification on soil carbon fluxes and balance in rainfed and irrigated woody cropping systems under semiarid Mediterranean conditions

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

21-Aug-2021

Why super sandstorm 2021 in North China?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

 

IMAGE: THE CLIMATE CONDITIONS OF THE DUST SOURCE AREA INCLUDING SURFACE AIR TEMPERATURE DURING EARLY-WINTER (SATP1) AND LATE-WINTER (SATP2), WINTER PRECIPITATION (PRE) AND FEBRUARY-MARCH NDVI. THE PRECEDING FACTORS THAT INFLUENCED DUST SOURCE INCLUDING DIFFERENCE OF SEA ICE IN BARENTS AND KARA SEA (SIDIFF), NINO3.4 INDEX, NORTHWEST ATLANTIC SST (ATLSST). THE ATMOSPHERIC INDEXES INCLUDED MINIMUN MARCH SLP (MINSLP) AND MARCH CYCLONE NUMBERS (CN) OVER DUST SOURCE AREA. THE HIGH (H) AND LOW (L) RANKS OF THESE FACTORS WITHIN 2011/12-2020/21 ARE ALSO MARKED. view more 

CREDIT: ©SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

Severe sandstorms reoccurred in the spring of 2021 after absence for more than 10 years in North China. During 14-17 March, the severe sandstorm weather affected a board region of more than 3.8 million square kilometers. The PM10 concentrations in Beijing exceeded 7000 µg m−3, and the visibility was only a few hundred meters, which posed a serious threat to people's health, transportation and ecological civilization.

 

The team led by Prof. Huijun Wang (Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology) found that the surface air temperature (SAT) and underground soil temperatures in the dust source area (around Mongolia) were persistently lower (the lowest from 1979) during early-winter, but persistently higher (the highest from 1979) during late-winter. The cooler temperature resulted in deeper permafrost, and then strong warming led the land surface to thaw and become more loose. Meanwhile, the winter precipitation was the second smallest during the recent decade (Figure 1). Moreover, the surface vegetation coverage reached its worst since 1979. Once strong winds appear, the dust particles will rise with the wind to produce dust or sandstorm.

 

Prof. Zhicong Yin (first author) pointed out it is more important to find preceding climate drivers, that contained efficient prediction information, from the observations and CMIP6 simulations. Decreased November-December Barents and Kara sea ice would increase the local geopotential height and Ural blocking high, and then the anomalous northerlies transported cold air mass to Mongolia in early-winter. However, the positive anomalies of January-February sea ice induced the cold air mass to be trapped over the West Siberian Plain and the East European Plain and resulted in warmer land surface in Mongolia (Figure 2).

 

La Niña event (cooler east tropical Pacific) and positive sea surface temperature anomalies in northwest Atlantic were found to be the other two external forcing factors (Figure 2). After the La Niña event, the East Asian winter monsoon would strengthen, and the water vapor flux easily diverged around Mongolia and precipitation consequently decreased. Similarly, the warmer Northwest Pacific induced an upper Rossby wave-like train to weaken the Asian polar vortex and strengthen the Ural High, and resulted in reduction of winter precipitation in Mongolia. In summary, the reversal of sea ice anomalies, the La Niña event and the warmer Northwest Atlantic jointly led to the loose and dry surface in Mongolia, i.e., sufficient dust source.

CAPTION

Negative anomalies of November-December sea ice (shading) resulted in lower SATP1 in Mongolia, while positive January-February sea ice anomalies (red contours) led to higher SATP2 in 2021. Coolest east Pacific and warmest northwest Atlantic during 2011/12–2020/21 jointly contributed to less winter precipitation in Mongolia.

CREDIT

©Science China Press

Moreover, the strongest Mongolian cyclone during recent decade formed and developed in 14-15 March 2021. The descending motions with downward transport of westerly momentum dramatically enlarged the surface winds (25 m s-1), which shook and blew the dry and loose land surface. Subsequently, the ascending motions in front of the cyclone lifted the sand particles into the troposphere. With the movement and development of Mongolian cyclone, the cold advection carried large amounts of dust particles to North China. At 09:00 on 15 March, the tropospheric westerly momentums were transported downward to the surface, resulting in large gusts (15 m s-1), thus severe sandstorm happened in North China.

 

See the article:

Why super sandstorm 2021 in North China?

https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwab165

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JOURNAL

National Science Review

DOI

10.1093/nsr/nwab165 

No ‘silver bullet’ for UK reaching net zero carbon emissions for electricity

Peer-Reviewed Publication

IMPERIAL COLLEGE LOND

CO2 emissions from electricity in the UK fell by two thirds in the last decade due to several factors working together, rather than a single panacea.

This decline, faster than in any other large country, was driven by a complex interplay of policies and events, according to research from Imperial College London published today in the journal Joule. Though the UK is two-thirds of the way there, if the country is to meet the Government’s own target of net-zero emissions from electricity by 2035, there will need to be further policies and changes, say the authors.

Worldwide, electricity generation must decarbonise rapidly if global climate targets are to be met. In Britain, CO2 emissions were reduced by 66% between 2012 and 2019 through a range of efforts to phase out coal, build renewable capacity, raise carbon prices and reduce demand. Understanding the relative success of different policies during that time, as well as which combinations amplified or counteracted one another, could help other nations in their decarbonisation efforts.

Study authors Professor Richard Green from Imperial College Business School and Dr Iain Staffell from Imperial’s Centre for Environmental Policy, calculated the impact of the various changes to British electricity generation over the period. They then quantified the impact of each change, on carbon emissions as well as on electricity prices, looking at factors such as subsidised investment in renewable energy generation, regulation-driven closure of coal power stations, rising carbon prices and energy efficiency measures, which have reduced demand for electricity by 10% over the period studied.

Dr Staffell, Lecturer in Sustainable Energy Systems at Imperial’s Centre for Environmental Policy said: “It can be hard to measure the contribution of individual policies as they often happen simultaneously, interact with each other and are affected by external events. We used a theoretical framework to simulate the impacts of drivers of change in real-world scenarios and to measure their effects. We were able to allocate the CO2 reductions to the changes that occurred in the electricity system in Britain over the decade, including policies, prices and fossil fuel consumption.”

The researchers found that there were four main drivers of CO2 reduction: subsidised investment in renewable generation, regulation-driven closure of coal power stations, rising carbon prices and energy efficiency measures. The effectiveness of each one remained stable over the period despite the changing background and they each saved a similar amount of CO2 emissions in 2019 - between 19 and 29 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year (MtCO2). 

“This reinforces the conclusion that there is no ‘silver bullet’ and that a multifaceted approach to achieving the final third and reaching net zero will be essential,” said Dr Staffell.

There were fourteen overall drivers considered in the study: the biggest was the building of renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines and solar PV panels, which represents around a quarter of CO2 reductions over the study period. Setting a stronger carbon price accounted for a fifth of reductions, as did lower demand due to efficiency measures such as improved standards for household appliances and the spread of LED lighting.

Professor Green, Professor of Sustainable Energy Business at Imperial College Business School said: “Britain was a useful example to use to understand the drivers of CO2 emission reductions because there were a lot of different policies in play between 2012 and 2019. Although Britain has achieved good results so far, the study shows that there is no one single answer to drive such change. Having a strong carbon tax drove the switch from coal to gas stations, which have lower emissions, and at the same time building a lot of renewable sources of electricity meant we ran those stations less.”

Looking to the future, he continued: “We still run a traditional power system that has renewables built into it, but we turn gas on and off depending on demand. The next step would be to reduce our reliance on gas by collaboration with the continent, sharing at times when we have more wind than we need and borrowing back when the weather is calmer. This has proved successful for the Danes who have interconnected with Norway, Sweden and Germany in this way for over 20 years.”

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JOURNAL

Joule

DOI

10.1016/j.joule.2021.09.011 

ARTICLE TITLE

The contribution of taxes, subsidies, and regulations to British electricity decarbonization

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Oct-2021

Digital technology didn’t kill media but gave it new life: QUT researcher

A new book delves into how the internet disrupted the recorded music, newspaper, film, and television industries and what this tells us about surviving technological disruption

Book Announcement

QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: PROFESSOR AMANDA LOTZ. PHOTO: DR T.J. THOMSON view more 

CREDIT: DR T.J. THOMSON

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA: The past 20 years have seen some global media companies crumble in the face of digital disruption, but many have survived and thrived, says a QUT media studies expert who argues against common misconceptions on the impact of the internet.

“Piracy did not wreck the recording industry, Netflix isn't killing Hollywood movies, and information does not want to be free,” said Professor Amanda Lotz, a media scholar with QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre, and the author of Media Disrupted: Surviving Pirates, Cannibals and Streaming Wars (MIT Press, October 2021).

“The four major media industries – newspapers, recorded music, movies and television – are ground zero of digital disruption but new technologies didn’t introduce ‘new media’. Instead, they offered existing media new tools to reach people,” said Professor Lotz.

“The internet introduced paradigmatic shifts in so many facets of life that it ranks with the engines that brought us the mechanisation of the industrial revolution.

“The arrival of the internet as a technology that could distribute words, music, and video files to people’s homes and mobile devices was a much greater development than the emergence of a new competitor, regulation, or broader economic shift that would merely require business evolution.

“Yes, we have seen the phenomenal rise of global companies like Netflix and Spotify, along with the death of a celebrated record label like EMI and untold numbers of newspapers and magazines but these are the extremes.

“Hundreds of others have had their competitive playing fields radically altered but responded by undergoing reorganisation to stay alive.

“For example, what we once knew as ‘cable companies’ in the US, which were written off as pre-digital dinosaurs, transitioned into controlling access to the internet.

“Other industry sectors found their businesses cut off at the knees as the tools of internet communication made them inferior and unnecessary. This was the fate of video rental and a great deal of music retail.”

Professor Lotz’s book uses a blend of business history and analysis to explore how the four media industries responded to what she calls the ‘seismic disruption’ of the internet and associated technologies, and what lessons can be drawn from their experiences.

“Their stories of business transformation are vital to the thousands employed in them globally, but they are also important to the much wider expanse of humanity that engages music, journalism, and video daily,” she said.

“The internet enabled new ways for people to experience and pay for music, thus the primary source of revenue for the recorded music industry shifted from selling music to licensing it.

“News organisations struggled to remake businesses in the face of steep declines in advertiser spending, while the film industry split its business among movies that compelled people to go to cinemas and others that are better suited for streaming.

“The four industries each have a different story to tell but they all have in common the fact that many initial responses mistook the nature of the challenge the internet and digital technologies posed.

“For much of the first decade of disruption, so called ‘digital’ media were perceived as a separate industry that would conquer those that predated the internet. Even now, mistaking the nature of the problem continues to lead industry leaders to search for irrelevant solutions, regulators to establish the wrong policies, and consumers to misunderstand how and why the companies behind core technologies of everyday life have grown so powerful.”

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To request a review copy of Media Disrupted: Surviving Pirates, Cannibals and Streaming Wars, email mitpress-publicity@mit.edu

Media contact:

Amanda Weaver, QUT Media, 07 3138 3151, amanda.weaver@qut.edu.au

After hours: Rod Chester, 0407 585 901, media@qut.edu.au

 

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DOI

ISBN: 9780262046091 

 

UC San Diego physicist helps launch national network examining Earth’s planetary limits

Essay by five authors warns of depleted resources, urges new PLAN for the future

Reports and Proceedings

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SAN DIEGO

University of California San Diego Physics Professor Tom Murphy is among five authors of an essay, appearing in the November 2021 issue of the journal Energy Research & Social Science, that cautions current levels of worldwide economic growth, energy use and resource consumption will overshoot Earth’s finite limits.

The essay, “Modernity is Incompatible with Planetary Limits: Developing a PLAN for the Future,” also announces the establishment of a network of scholars and researchers to promote the understanding of planetary limits, envision scenarios for humanity to thrive within planetary limits, better educate college students about these challenges and advise government officials and communities in developing effective responses.

“We all are a product of our times, where ‘new,’ ‘shiny,’ ‘better’ seem normal and ‘more, more, more’ seems good, but that is a reflection of the abnormal period of the last century or so," said Murphy. "If humanity keeps growing its impact on the planet, we will overshoot planetary limits, so we need to plan to power down while there’s still time. Even the founders of economics recognized that Earth’s resources are finite and growth is but a transient phase.”

An astrophysicist who has applied the principles of physics to studying Earth’s limitations, Murphy recently published a rigorous examination of these issues in “Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet” (Murphy discusses the book in this question-and-answer article and this video).

In their new essay, the authors wrote, “early flying machines invariably crashed despite an exhilarating brief airborne interval mainly because the contraptions were simply not built according to aerodynamic principles of sustainable flight. Likewise, the present economy is not built on principles for sustainable, steady-state operation.”

Essay senior author Ben McCall and the authors acknowledge “the thought that growth should come to an end is counter to our culture.” But keeping at this pace, society is not going to get the future it’s been promised, according to McCall.

“We shouldn’t expect a ‘Jetsons’ future with flying cars, but with intentional planning we can hope to do better than a ‘Flintstones’ future,” he said.

The authors also stress they are preaching prudence, rather than trying to sound alarmist. 

“We hope this essay gets people to step back from the familiar, up-close view of their place in the world to see a broader perspective on the challenges modern society faces going forward,” said David Murphy, associate professor and department chair of environmental studies at St. Lawrence University. “We are not making predictions of ‘when.’ Our point is there are fundamental limits to our resources on this finite planet, and if we continue using them at this pace, we’ll exhaust our resources and that outcome won’t be good. We need to find ways to power our world without destroying it.”

Melody LeHew, a professor of interior design and fashion studies at Kansas State University, said more than just engineers, economists and biologists need to study these and related fields, but others need to get out of their silos to contribute to solutions. 

“As someone who studies fashion, I have seen how our current systems can lead to tremendous waste of resources, but also how dedicated scholars working together can make even the fashion industry more sustainable,” she said.

Anyone can join the network as a subscriber to receive updates about network activities. Active scholars can join as members to participate in forums or collaborators to receive full access to the network. Visit the PLAN Academic website for more information.

“Our hope is that we might spark debate and deep thinking about how human civilization might thrive for millennia to come, rather than simply survive the bottlenecks of the next few decades,” said Tom Love, professor emeritus of anthropology at Linfield University. “We want scholars to ask what role their current research plays in addressing these issues and contribute to the understanding how human activity might fit within planetary limits.”

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JOURNAL

Energy Research & Social Science

DOI

10.1016/j.erss.2021.102239 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Modernity is incompatible with planetary limits: Developing a PLAN for the future

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Nov-2021

Rethinking grid integration of a massive renewable power expansion to achieve carbon neutrality in China and beyond

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HARVARD JOHN A. PAULSON SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES

There are many uncertainties about pathways to mid-century carbon neutrality in China and other major emitting nations, but one fundamental aspect is certain: they will require massive expansions of wind and solar power to displace coal- and gas-fired power. The problem is not the cost and feasibility of sufficient renewable generation, but rather the challenges it introduces into the grid because of its variability: the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. 

Now, a team of researchers from Harvard University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Tsinghua University have developed a cross-sector, high-resolution model to find the best and most cost-effective way for China’s power system to become carbon neutral by 2050. A comprehensive strategy moving beyond conventional planning assumptions to include large offshore wind generation, power storage, electric vehicles, green hydrogen production, and expanded transmission to balance power on a national basis can sharply reduce costs of integrating renewable power into the grid. In fact, the results show that realizing the carbon neutrality of China’s power system by 2050 is not only feasible but need not necessarily cost more than reliance on coal- and gas-fired power, with no carbon constraints at all, to meet future electricity demands. 

READ A FULL RESEARCH BRIEF FOR NON-SPECIALISTS 

The Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy and Environment is based at the Harvard University John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in Cambridge, MA, USA.

The Huazhong University of Science and Technology is a public research university located in Wuhan, China. 

Tsinghua University is a public research university in Beijing, China.

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JOURNAL

Joule

DOI

10.1016/j.joule.2021.10.006 

Northern lakes warming six times faster in the past 25 years

Peer-Reviewed Publication

YORK UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: ICE BREAKUP ON ONEIDA LAKE IN NEW YORK view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY PROFESSOR LARS RUDSTAM, CORNELL UNIVERSITY

TORONTO, Oct. 21, 2021 – Lakes in the Northern Hemisphere are warming six times faster since 1992 than any other time period in the last 100 years, research led by York University has found.

Lake Superior, the most northern of the Great Lakes which straddles the Canada/United States border, is one of the fastest warming lakes, losing more than two months of ice cover since ice conditions started being recorded in 1857. In Lake Suwa, in Japan, ice formed close to 26 days later per century since 1897 and is now only freezing twice every decade, while Grand Traverse Bay in Lake Michigan had one of the fastest ice-off trends, melting about 16 days earlier per century.

“We found that lakes are losing on average 17 days of ice cover per century. Alarmingly, what we found is that warming in the past 25 years, from 1992 to 2016, was six times faster than any other period in the last 100 years,” says Associate Professor Sapna Sharma of the Faculty of Science at York University, who led the study with Professor David Richardson at the State University of New York at New Paltz and climate scientist Iestyn Woolway, PhD, of the European Space Agency Climate Office, United Kingdom.

The researchers re-assessed ice trends of 60 lakes for the first time since 2004 for 60 lakes by studying ice phenology records ranging from 107 to 204 years old from prior to the Industrial Revolution. “Many of our lakes may be approaching a tipping point to ice-free conditions which will have vast cultural and ecological implications,” says Sharma.

On average, these lakes were freezing 11 days later and thawing 6.8 days earlier. Extremely warm winters over the last several decades have contributed to the increasing rate of ice loss, especially in larger lakes and in southern and coastal regions.

“In addition, we found that the duration of winter ice cover has decreased, particularly since 1995, to the point where some lakes are beginning to have more winters with minimal or even no ice cover. For example, some deep lakes in Switzerland and Germany, which historically used to freeze each winter, have permanently lost their ice cover in the past few decades,” says Richardson.

Of the lakes studied, 40 are in North America including Lakes Michigan and Superior, Detroit Lake in Minnesota, Lakes Monona and Mendota in Wisconsin, Cazenovia and Oneida lakes in New York, and several in Ontario – Lake Simcoe, Lake Nipissing and Lake of Bays – 18 in Europe, and two in Asia – Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia, and Lake Suwa in Japan.

“The findings were in line with our expectations as air temperature has increased over recent decades,” says Woolway. “Air temperature is one of the most important climatic drivers of lake ice dynamics, owing to its additive effects on various components of the lake energy budget.”

Lake ice phenology is considered an important sentinel of climate change. A reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is necessary if increases in air temperature and decreases in lake ice cover are to be mitigated. The researchers say this would also help limit ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic consequences, including increased evaporation rates, warmer water temperatures, degraded water quality, and the formation of toxic algal blooms.

Records have been kept for several decades to centuries detailing lake ice-on and ice-off times because of its importance to refrigeration, transportation, recreation and cultural traditions, as well as economic impacts.

The paper, Loss of Ice Cover, Shifting Phenology, and More Extreme Events in Northern Hemisphere Lakes, was published in the October issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.

CAPTION

Lake Kallavesi, spring 2021, Finland.

CREDIT

Photo by Johanna Korhonen, World Meteorological Organization

York University champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. York students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. York U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, York is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni. York U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences

DOI

10.1029/2021JG006348 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Loss of Ice Cover, Shifting Phenology, and More Extreme Events in Northern Hemisphere Lakes

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

21-Oct-2021

Disclaimer: AAAS and Eur

First-ever Africa-wide great ape assessment reveals human activity, not habitat availability, is greatest driver of ape abundance

GDP, roads, agricultural land, and human population density are the strongest factors predicting abundance

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

 

IMAGE: CHIMPANZEE IN THE REPUBLIC OF CONGO view more 

CREDIT: KYLE DE NOBREGA

NEW YORK (21 October 2021) – The first-ever Africa-wide assessment of great apes – gorillas, bonobos and chimpanzees – finds that human factors, including roads, population density and GDP, determine abundance more than ecological factors such as forest cover.

The findings are published in the American Journal of Primatology by a team of scientists led by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and other groups.

Authors looked at 156 sites in 20 countries, developing a model that spans the entire African great ape range to determine abundance, and to identify key factors influencing their distribution at this large scale. The highest densities of apes were found in Central Africa, and the lowest in West Africa.

Said the study’s lead author Isabel Ordaz-Németh of Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology: “The findings reveal that the impact of human activities dominates over ecological factors in determining where great apes are still found today. This means that even if suitable habitat is still present at various locations, such as tropical rainforest, apes do not occur anymore or at much lower density, because of human activities.”

Ordaz-Németh added: “Furthermore, the relationship between GDP and great apes indicates a decline of great apes with more developed, larger economies.”

In addition, the study found that only 10.7 percent of the predicted great ape population was found in areas with high levels of legal protection (IUCN Category I and II protected areas).

Said co-author Fiona “Boo” Maisels of WCS: “This study mirrors the recent findings that elephant distribution across the African continent is now also mostly constrained by human activities, rather than environmental variables. Current great ape conservation strategies are largely focused on protected areas, but only one in ten great apes live in these areas. We must improve the protection for the remaining nine-tenths of great apes that are currently outside them, and assess the impacts of alternative policies, infrastructure development or stricter guidelines for resource extraction.”

An important question emerging from these results is whether we can find solutions for harmonizing economic development and the survival of great ape populations.

The authors note that recent assessments of African great ape populations have revealed drastic declines. To successfully protect these endangered species, it is essential to evaluate the effectiveness of policies and outcomes of different scenarios. These scenarios can include, for example, the impact of resource extraction sites, climate change, large scale land-planning, and the implementation of policies that are, for example, related to forest management, or carbon storage policies for climate change mitigation.

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JOURNAL

American Journal of Primatology

DOI

10.1002/ajp.23338 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Range-wide indicators of African great ape density distribution

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-Oct-2021

COI STATEMENT

None

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