PAID SICK LEAVE NOW!

Access to paid sick leave linked to lower mortality rate among US adult workers

State laws that preempt local authority to enact health-promoting legislation contribute to increased workforce mortality, reports new research in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ELSEVIER

Ann Arbor, August 29, 2022 – Access to paid sick leave is linked to a lower rate of mortality among US working age men and women, according to new research in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier. The study shows that laws requiring employers to provide paid sick leave are effective in reducing mortality from suicide and homicide among men and homicide and alcohol-related causes among women. The findings also demonstrate that state laws that preempt local governments from enacting such mandates likely contributed to recent increases in mortality among working adults (up 6% from 2010-2017).

“State preemption laws that protect profits over people may be shortening the lives of working-age Americans,” said co-investigator Jennifer Karas Montez, PhD, Aging Studies Institute and Center for Aging and Policy Studies and Department of Sociology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA. “We were surprised by how large the ‘preemption effect’ for paid sick leave mandates turned out to be. We project that mortality could potentially decline by over 5% in large central metro counties currently constrained by preemption laws if they were able to mandate a 40-hour annual paid sick leave requirement.”

The study analyzed data from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) on deaths among adults ages 25-64 by county from 1999-2019. Statistical analyses were used to estimate associations between these death counts and both minimum wage levels and paid sick leave requirements, while accounting for unemployment rates and Medicaid expansion.

The most striking findings are related to paid sick leave requirements: each additional hour of mandated paid sick leave is associated with a significant reduction in mortality due to suicide and homicide for men, and for homicide and alcohol-related deaths for women. The investigators calculated that mortality among their working-age population would have been 7.5% lower in the four counties (Orange County in Florida, and Bexar, Dallas, and Travis Counties in Texas) that attempted to mandate paid leave, only to have their state react by preempting their authority to do so.

The US is one of a few developed countries that has no national paid sick leave policy, forcing millions of workers to choose between going to work while they are ill or staying home without pay and at risk of being fired. The study shows that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the absence of a paid sick leave requirement has contributed to troubling increasing mortality trends among working-age adults. Lack of paid sick leave increases the odds of economic hardship and involuntary job loss for those who take time off to recover, which, in turn, can elevate the odds of suicide, drug use, and other risky behaviors. It also puts healthy coworkers at risk through exposure to sick colleagues.

Preemption laws, which constrain lower-level governments’ legislative powers, have long been used to harmonize federal, state, and local policymaking or to establish minimum thresholds. The spread and intent of state preemption laws accelerated after 2010 covering new policy domains, such as labor standards, public health, environmental protections, and land use, and defining regulatory ceilings.

“Our study adds to a growing literature pointing to the importance of states’ labor and economic policies on mortality of working-age adults. The consequences of preemption laws stymie local government innovation, constrain opportunities to earn a living wage and take time off of work for medical care without financial repercussions, elevate the risk of death among infants and working age-adults, and contribute to geographic disparities in mortality,” explained lead investigator Douglas A. Wolf, PhD, Aging Studies Institute and Center for Aging and Policy Studies and Department of Public Administration and International Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA.

“These findings build on our prior research on the effect of minimum wage preemption laws on infant mortality, adding another policy dimension that addresses working-age mortality and paid sick leave laws — a natural extension of our prior work,” added co-investigator Shannon Monnat, PhD, Aging Studies Institute and Center for Aging and Policy Studies, Department of Sociology, and Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Center for Policy Research, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA.

 

---

JOURNAL

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

DOI

10.1016/j.amepre.2022.06.005 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

.S. State Preemption Laws and Working-Age Mortality

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

29-Aug-2022

High-capacity Li-metal battery with improved rate-performance and stability

A KERI research team developed a one-dimensional Li-confinable porous hollow carbon host. Improved Li deposition/dissolution efficiency under high-rate testing conditions ... published as a cover paper in ACS Nano.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: A 1D LI-CONFINABLE HOST WITH A POROUS CARBON SHELL AND LITHIOPHILIC AU NANOPARTICLES IN THE CORE SHOWS IMPROVED LI REVERSIBILITY AT HIGH RATES OWING TO THE FACILE LI+ TRANSPORT AND THE LI DENDRITE SUPPRESSION BY STORING LI AT THE CORE PLACE, REVEALING THE IMPORTANCE OF STRUCTURAL DESIGN FOR LI STORAGE. view more 

CREDIT: KOREA ELECTROTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

A study of Li-metal batteries by the research team led by Dr. Byung Gon Kim at Next-Generation Battery Research Center of Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI, Acting President Nam-Kyun Kim) was published as a cover paper in a renowned international journal.

While the current Li-ion batteries generate energy by taking Li-ions in and out of the graphite anode based on the intercalation mechanism, the Li-metal battery does not rely on this bulky and heavy graphite but uses metallic Li itself as the anode. As the Li-metal shows 10 times higher theoretical capacity (3,860 mAh/g) than graphite (372 mAh/g), it has steadily gained much attention from areas that need high-capacity batteries, such as electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

Despite this advantage, Li can grow in the shape of a tree branch, called Li dendrite, if it is not uniformly and effectively stored when cycling process, leading to large volume expansion of electrode, which in turn may shorten the battery’s cycle life and cause safety issue such as fire and explosion triggered by internal short-circuits.

To tackle this issue, KERI developed 1D Li-confinable porous carbon structure with a hollow core, and a small number of gold nanoparticles with Li affinity were added to the hollow core. Here, the gold controls the growth direction of Li by preferentially reacting with Li, thereby inducing Li deposition inside the core. In addition, many nano-sized pores are formed in the shell part to improve the Li-ion movement toward the core space.

A major challenge observed in the existing hollow core-shell Li host was the Li deposition on the conductive carbon shell, not inside the core, under high-rate charging conditions. Therefore, the KERI team introduced many nano-sized pores to the shell, and achieved significantly improved coulombic efficiency without Li dendrite growth even under a high-current testing condition of 5 mA/cm2.

Dr. Kim’s team collaborated with Prof. Janghyuk Moon at Chung-Ang University for theoretical validation of the effectiveness of this material’s design, and the simulation results showed that the reduced Li ion diffusion length by the shell pores and improved Li affinity by the gold nanoparticles kept Li deposition inside the structure even under high-current charging condition. Moreover, the designed Li host showed excellent cycling performance of over 500 cycles1) under a high current density of 4C rate2) (82.5% capacity retention). It is also notable that this technology meets practicality because the team used the electrospinning technique with advantages in mass production for material synthesis.

“Despite the merit of high capacity, the Li-metal batteries have many hurdles to be overcome for commercialization mainly due to stability and safety issues,” said Dr. Kim. And Dr. Kim also said, “Our study is invaluable in that we developed a technique for mass production of Li-metal reservoir with high coulombic efficiency for fast-rechargeable Li-metal batteries.”

This study by the KERI research team was published as a supplementary cover paper in the August edition of ACS Nano, one of the leading SCIE journals in materials science published by the American Chemical Society. The journal’s Impact Factor is 18.027, and top 5.8% of all journals in its category.

This study was funded by the National Research Foundation’s Technology Development Program to Solve Climate Changes and the KERI Primary Research Program. The team plans to continue with the pursuit of the commercialization of Li-metal battery by, for example, developing functional electrolytes to ensure the stable deposition and dissolution of metallic Li.

KERI is a government-funded research institute dedicated to electricity under the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) of the Ministry of Science and ICT. Dr. Kim is an associate professor at University of Science and Technology (UST) KERI Campus.

1) Battery cycle: The number of charge/discharge cycles that can be achieved before the battery reaches the end of its service life or commercial value. For example, a battery with a 500 battery cycle count will lose a half of its energy capacity after 500 cycles of charging/discharging, losing its commercial value. Electric vehicles are so sensitive about the operating mileage that the battery packs are often replaced when they have lost only 20% of their capacity.

2) C-rate: 1C-rate refers current which can charge or discharge the cell in 1 hour. For example, 0.5C is a two-hour discharge and 0.2C is a 5-hour discharge.

---

JOURNAL

ACS Nano

DOI

10.1021/acsnano.2c01309 

ARTICLE TITLE

One-Dimensional Porous Li-Confinable Hosts for High-Rate and Stable Li-Metal Batteries

41% of teenagers can't tell the difference between true and fake online health messages

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FRONTIERS

A new study has found that teenagers have a hard time discerning between fake and true health messages. Only 48% of the participants trusted accurate health messages (without editorial elements) more than fake ones. Meanwhile, 41% considered fake and true neutral messages equally trustworthy and 11% considered true neutral health messages less trustworthy than fake health messages. The results highlight a need for better training of teenagers to navigate a world where fake health news is so widespread.

Health mis- and disinformation are a serious public health concern, with an increased spread of fake health news on social media platforms in the last few years. Previous research has shown that online health messages are mostly incomplete and inaccurate and have potentially harmful health information. Fake health news can lead to poor health choices, risk-taking behavior, and loss of trust in health authorities.

“There has been an explosion of misinformation in the area of health during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said principal investigator Dr Radomír Masaryk, of Comenius University.

Most research on message credibility has focused on adults. Masaryk and his colleagues have now investigated whether teenagers are equipped to tackle the high volume of fake health news on the internet. 

“As adolescents are frequent users of the internet, we usually expect that they already know how to approach and appraise online information, but the opposite seems to be true” commented Masaryk.

The researchers found that 41% of teenagers couldn’t tell the difference between true and fake online medical content. What’s more, poor editing of health messages was not perceived as a sign of low trustworthiness. These latest findings were published in Frontiers in Psychology.

Teenagers and the media

Teenagers are an often-overlooked group that are at an increased risk of encountering fake health news. As so-called ‘digital natives’ they are the world’s most well-connected group, with 71% of the world’s youth using the internet.

Research has shown that positive portrayals of risky behavior in the media, such as smoking and drinking, leads to increased risk behavior in teenagers. On the other hand, online health information that supports information provided by professionals can lead to healthy lifestyle changes, self-care, and treatment compliance.

Teenagers look at the structural features of a website, such as language and appearance, to evaluate online information. For example, authoritative organizations, trusted brands, or websites with business-like language tend to be more trusted.

Previous research on message trustworthiness with adolescents identified five editorial elements that deduced perceived message credibility: superlatives, clickbait, grammar mistakes, authority appeal, and bold typeface. Drawing on this previous study, Masaryk and colleagues designed research to evaluate the effects of manipulation with content and format of health online messages on their trustworthiness in an adolescent sample. 

They presented 300 secondary school students (aged between 16 and 19 years old) with seven short messages about the health promoting effects of different fruits and vegetables. The messages had different levels: fake message, true neutral message, and true message with editorial elements (superlatives, clickbait, grammar mistakes, authority appeal, and bold typeface). Participants were then asked to rate the message's trustworthiness.

The participants were able to discern between overtly fake health messages and health messages whether true or slightly changed with editing elements; 48% of participants trusted the true neutral health messages more than the fake ones. However, 41% of participants considered fake and true neutral messages equally trustworthy and 11% considered true neutral health messages less trustworthy than fake health messages.

Clickbait less likely to work

“Putting trust in messages requires identification of fake versus true content,” said Masaryk. 

In the case of health messages that seem plausible and reasonable, teenagers could not tell the difference between true neutral health messages and health messages with editorial elements. Teenagers did not seem to decide on the trustworthiness of a message based on editing cues.

“The only version of a health message that was significantly less trusted compared to a true health message was a message with a clickbait headline,” continued Masaryk.

The results highlight a need for better instruction of teenagers to spot editing cues that give away the quality of a piece of information. The authors suggest focusing on health literacy and media literacy training, and skills such as analytical thinking and scientific reasoning. 

“Analytical thinking and scientific reasoning are skills that help distinguish false from true health messages,” Masaryk concluded.

---

JOURNAL

Frontiers in Psychology

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2022.940903 

Keeping Kermit: New clues to protecting frogs from deadly Bd fungus

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

 

IMAGE: THE COMMON EASTERN FROGLET IS FOUND IN TASMANIA AND EASTERN AUSTRALIA FROM CENTRAL QUEENSLAND DOWN THROUGH VICTORIA AND ALONG THE COAST OF SA. view more 

CREDIT: "COMMON EASTERN FROGLET (CRINIA SIGNIFERA)" BY DAVID COOK WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY IS LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC 2.0.

As the globe continues to battle COVID-19, another pandemic – the deadly fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) - is ravaging the world’s frog species, contributing to the instability of Earth’s delicate ecosystem.

Now, a world-first study from the University of South Australia shows that while Bd can significantly reduce in captive frogs, captivity can have negative consequences for the frogs’ protective skin microbiota, providing new insight into diversity management.

Examining the culture-dependent skin microbiota of the Common Eastern froglet, the study analysed the how captivity and water salinity affects the Bd infection.

It found that the infection significantly reduced in this population of 24 captive frogs, and while water salinity was not the cause of the decline, a natural skin shedding process could help frogs use reduce Bd loads.

Globally, the Bd infection has caused a decline in 501 amphibian species with 90 of these species now presumed extinct, and another 124 declined by over 90 per cent. The infection is currently in 56 countries across six continents.

The Bd infection has been linked to frog decline since the late 1990s, with Bd considered the cause of an unusual spate of frog deaths in Australia, just one year ago.

UniSA researcher and Masters candidate, Darislav Besedin, says finding ways to protect frogs from the lethal Bd infection is a critical step in conserving global biodiversity.

“The world is currently undergoing a sixth mass extinction, where a high percentage of distinct species – particularly amphibians - are dying out,” Besedin says.

“Yet whamost people don’t immediately consider is that every species is interconnected. When one becomes extinct, a range of other species is also affected, creating a domino effect that can have devastating impacts on the environment.

“The drastic decline of amphibians in the last several decades from the lethal Bd infection is a clear sign that there is an ecological imbalance, so monitoring effected species is vital.

“This study provides important clues for managing endangered frog species, most importantly that the Bd infection can be eradicated among captive populations. At this point, we assume that this has to do with the frogs shedding their skin, but it could equally be due to many other factors.

“Our results also show that captivity caused a significant reduction in skin bacteria diversity and richness, likely through the loss of a microbial reservoir, high stress, reduced immunity, and sloughing. So future research must be mindful of this effect.

“Frogs released into the wild after captivity programs will likely have reduced resilience to pathogens. More research is needed to promote a healthy microbiome, possibly even with the help of probiotics.”

Notes for editors:

• The Common Eastern froglet is found in Tasmania and eastern Australia from central Queensland down through Victoria and along the coast of SA.
• This study was conducted with UniSA researchers Dr Miguel de Barros Lopes, Dr Permal Deo, and Prof Craig Williams.
• September is National Biodiversity Month: www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/biodiversity-month

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

---

JOURNAL

Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia

DOI

10.1080/03721426.2022.2086358 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Effect of captivity and water salinity on culture-dependent frog skin microbiota and Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) infection

Research team provides novel baseline data on leopard seals, the mysterious apex predators of Antarctica

Baylor researchers and collaborators seek answers to how leopard seals survive in the extreme polar environment in first-of-its-kind study

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: BAYLOR MARINE BIOLOGIST SARAH KIENLE WAS PART OF A RESEARCH TEAM THAT COLLECTED BASELINE DATA ON THE ECOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF 22 LEOPARD SEALS, THE FIRST TIME THIS KIND OF DATA HAS BEEN GATHERED ON THE ENIGMATIC APEX PREDATOR OF THE ANTARCTIC. view more 

CREDIT: RESEARCH TEAM

WACO, Texas (Aug. 26, 2022) – Baylor University marine biologist Sarah Kienle, Ph.D., has always been fascinated by leopard seals. These prehistoric, reptilian-looking seals are often portrayed as scary villains in movies such as “Happy Feet” and “Eight Below,” but little is known about their basic biology. The combination of the extreme climate in Antarctica, the species’ solitary habits and their lethal reputation makes leopard seals one of the most difficult top predators to study on Earth.

In a first-of-its-kind study funded by the National Science Foundation awarded to professor Daniel Costa (lead PI; UCSC), associate professor Stephen Trumble, Ph.D. (Baylor), professor Shane Kanatous, Ph.D. (Colorado State University), wildlife biologist Mike Goebel, Ph.D. (NOAA), and professor Daniel Crocker, Ph.D. (Sonoma State University), the PIs and Kienle (a graduate student and postdoctoral researcher at the time) set out with one shared goal: to learn more about leopard seals. Over the course of two years, the research group studied 22 leopard seals off the Western Antarctic Peninsula, an area rapidly warming and changing. They weighed and measured each seal and followed each seal’s activities and dive patterns using satellite/GPS tags. 

In the study published in Frontiers of Marine Science – “Plasticity in the morphometrics and movements of an Antarctic apex predator, the leopard seal” – Kienle (first author) and the team documented the flexible behaviors and traits that may offer leopard seals the resilience needed to survive the extreme climate and environmental disturbances occurring around Antarctica.

This study greatly increases our understanding of leopard seals’ life history, spatial patterns and diving behavior,” Kienle said. “We show that these leopard seals have high variability (or, flexibility) in these different traits. Across the animal kingdom, variability is vital for animals adapting and responding to changes in their environment, so we’re excited to see high variability in this Antarctic predator.”

Among the research team’s discoveries detailed in the journal article: 

Adult female leopard seals are much larger than adult males; in fact, females are 1.5 times larger and longer.

• The team measured one of the largest leopard seals ever, an adult female they nicknamed “Bigonia,” who weighed 540 kg (1,190 lbs.).
• Female-biased sexual dimorphism (where females are larger) is unusual among marine mammals, a diverse group that includes polar bears, whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions, but leopard seals are the most extreme example of female-biased dimorphism among the 130+ species of marine mammals.
• Why females are larger than males is not known, although Kienle explained other studies show that larger females are better at defending feeding areas, as well as stealing prey from smaller seals. Larger females also eat bigger, energy-rich prey, including fur seals and penguins, while males and smaller females often eat smaller prey like krill and fish. This suggests that the larger body size in adult females is beneficial and offers a selective advantage that Kienle and team will continue to explore.

 From the movement data, female leopard seals spent more time “hauled out” – or coming out of the water to rest on ice or land – than males.

• Two adult female leopard seals in this study spent two weeks straight hauled-out on ice in the middle of the ocean, not eating and not getting in the water. Kienle and colleagues suggest that this two-week haul-out period is when female leopard seals give birth and nurse their pup.
• At the end of the two weeks, females return to water and begin diving for food again, and, at the same time, they likely wean their pup. It’s a short period to spend with their pups because the leopard seal is doing all of these really energetically demanding things without any food.

Male and female leopard seals swim short and long distances in both coastal and open-ocean habitats.

• One seal only traveled 46 km from where the team worked with the seal, staying in and around islands off the Antarctic Peninsula.
• Another seal, however, traveled 1,700 km during that same period away from the tagging location, swimming to an island more than a thousand kilometers away.

Leopard seals of both sexes are short, shallow divers—diving to an average of 30 meters and taking three-minute-long dives.

• Other seals can dive thousands of meters deep and hold their breath for more than 40 minutes. However, the research team recorded the longest and deepest dive ever recorded for leopard seals made by a male nicknamed “Deadpool,” who dove to 1,256 meters for 25 minutes.

“It’s interesting to see such variation [in movements and dive behavior] in a relatively small number of animals. To me, this means that leopard seals are highly flexible in their movement patterns, and that’s a really good thing in terms of adapting to changes in your environment,” Kienle said.

What’s next for this team of leopard seal biologists? Kienle said the team continues to analyze additional data from these same 22 leopard seals for publication. Kienle also is excited to compare how the leopard seals from this study compare to other populations of leopard seals across the Southern Ocean. 

“I have so many more questions, and I’m excited to continue learning about leopard seals for years to come. There’s so much more to discover about this incredible Antarctic predator,” said Kienle, who leads the Comparative Ecophysiology of Animals Lab at Baylor that focuses on understanding how different animals work in the context of their environment.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

In addition to Kienle and Trumble, the research team included Michael E. Goebel, Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, La Jolla, CA, and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA; Erin LaBrecque, Marine Mammal Commission, Bethesda, MD; Renato Borras-Chavez, Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Department of Ecology, Pontificia Universidad Cato´ lica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, and Instituto Antartico Chileno (INACH), Punta Arenas, Chile; Shane B. Kanatous, Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; Daniel E. Crocker, Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; and Daniel P. Costa, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA.

This work was funded by the National Science Foundation grant #1644256.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.

ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments in the sciences, humanities, fine arts and social sciences, as well as 10 academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines. Visit baylor.edu/artsandsciences.

  

CAPTION

Leopard Seals are among the most difficult top predators to study due to the combination of the extreme climate in Antarctica, the species’ solitary habits and their lethal reputation.

CREDIT

Research team

 

---

DOI

10.3389/fmars.2022.976019 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Research Team Provides Novel Baseline Data on Leopard Seals, the Mysterious Apex Predators of Antarctica

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Aug-2022

Hydropower dams induce widespread species extinctions across Amazonian forest islands

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA

Hydropower developments should avoid flooding forests to minimise biodiversity loss and disruptions to ecosystems in Amazonian forest islands, new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) finds.  

Deforestation, habitat loss and fragmentation are linked and are driving the ongoing biodiversity crisis, with hydropower to blame for much of this degradation. In lowland tropical forests, river damming typically floods vast low-elevation areas, while previous ridgetops often become insular forest patches.   

In a new study, scientists from UEA, Portugal and Brazil used network theory to understand how insular habitat fragmentation affects tropical forest biodiversity. This approach perceives habitat patches and species as connected units at the whole-landscape scale, encompassing a species-habitat network.  

The study, ‘Emergent properties of species-habitat networks in an insular forest landscape’, is published today in the journal Science Advances.  

The authors studied 22 habitat patches, consisting of forest islands and three continuous forest sites, which were created by the Balbina Hydroelectric Reservoir, one of the largest in South America. The 608 species surveyed represented eight biological groups: mid-sized to large mammals; small non-flying mammals; understorey birds; lizards; frogs; dung beetles; orchid bees and trees.  

The study revealed widespread species extinction, especially of large-bodied species, but this varied across different groups of plants, vertebrates and invertebrates. Island size determined the persistence of species diversity, with just a few islands holding the most diversity.   

Large tracts of tropical forests become rarer as they are subdivided and isolated into small habitat patches. The removal of larger forest sites will exert the greatest impact, likely inducing secondary extinctions of species that occur only at a single site or those that have larger spatial requirements.   

Conversely, small forest patches proportionally harbour more species than one or a few larger patches of equal total area, so the loss of smaller sites is also expected to cause secondary extinctions.   

Prof Carlos Peres, co-author of the study, is Professor of Environmental Studies at UEA. He said: “Tropical developing countries are still hellbent on creating vast hydropower reservoirs under the banner of ‘green’ energy.   

“This is a double-jeopardy because we lose both the unique lowland biodiversity and the carbon stocks of the now inundated old-growth forests.  

“Such actions also generate a powerful methane pump, never mind the huge financial costs of mega-dams compared to diffuse in-situ electrification based on low-impact renewables.   

“We need a much better strategic dialogue between sustainable energy security and biodiversity conservation, particularly in the world’s most biodiverse emergent economies.”  

Dr Ana Filipa Palmeirim, a researcher from CIBIO-University of Porto, led the study, which investigated a complex landscape as a single unit. She said: “This approach allowed us to unveil previously unknown patterns, such as the simplification of the network structure and changes in important network parameters due to the loss of species affected by the dam.”  

Dr Carine Emer, a co-author of the study from the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, said: “The beauty of this study lays in the combination of sophisticated network and statistical analyses, with the natural history of high-quality species inventories from an astonishing tropical living lab.   

“More than 3,000 islands were created 35 years ago due to the Uatumã River damming, and by studying these we were able to understand the functioning of such a complex and rich human-modified landscape.”   

The study was a collaboration between UEA in the UK; the Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO) and the University of Porto, in Portugal; the Research Institute of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden; the State University of Santa Cruz; the State University of Mato Grosso; and the Farroupilha Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology, in Brazil. The study would not be possible without the logistical support provided by the staff of the Biological Reserve (REBIO) of Uatumã.  

‘Emergent properties of species-habitat networks in an insular forest landscape’ is published in Scientific Advances on 26 August 2022.  

 

---

JOURNAL

Science Advances

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Emergent properties of species-habitat networks in an insular forest landscape’

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Aug-2022

Researchers find crucial evidence to explain anomalously fast convergence between India and Asia in Mesozoic

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

Closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean and the subsequent formation of the Tibetan Plateau is one of the most significant tectonic events on Earth. How the Indian subcontinent drifted northward anomalously fast and collided with Asia is an essential problem in solving global changes in tectonics, climate and ecosystems.

Double subduction of the Neo-Tethys Ocean is a leading model in interpreting this anomalous convergence speed. But no compelling evidence from the entire Himalaya and adjacent regions has been reported before.

Recently, YANG Shun, a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), under the supervision of Profs. HE Yumei and JIANG Mingming, along with their team of collaborators, reported crucial seismic evidence of slab remnants in the present upper mantle to strongly support the double subduction model.

This work was published in Science Advances on August 26.

The Myanmar region occupies the eastern end of the Indian-Asian collisional system. Due to less reworking from continental collision, it is an ideal place to probe possible slab remnants of double subduction. However, until recently, it was a blank area for seismic observation and structural imaging of the Earth's interior.

The research group on the structure of Earth's deep interior at IGG/CAS has deployed pioneering seismic arrays in association with the China-Myanmar Geophysical Survey in the Myanmar Orogen (CMGSMO) in Myanmar since 2016. Using data from the novel seismic arrays, the researchers investigated upper mantle structures beneath Myanmar with high resolution.

By compiling seismic tomography and waveform modeling, the researchers revealed for the first time two subparallel subducted slabs preserved in the present upper mantle beneath the Neo-Tethyan tectonic regime.

After comparing the new slab image with data on the time-space distribution of subduction-related magmatism and ophiolites in Myanmar, the researchers concluded that the new evidence supports double subduction of the Neo-Tethys Ocean. Further geodynamic numerical modeling subsequently explained why the slab remnants were preserved intact in the upper mantle without breaking off and sinking into the deep.

The study provides convincing, multidisciplinary geoscientific evidence to consolidate the double subduction model of the Neo-Tethys Ocean.

The study was conducted in collaboration with the Myanmar Geoscience Society, Yangon University and Dagon University.

---

JOURNAL

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.abo1027 

ARTICLE TITLE

Slab remnants beneath the Myanmar terrane evidencing double subduction of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Aug-2022

U-M analysis challenges U.S. Postal Service electric vehicle environmental study

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

The Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Biden this month contains $3 billion to help the U.S. Postal Service decarbonize its mail-delivery fleet and shift to electric vehicles.

On the heels of the Aug. 16 bill-signing ceremony at the White House, a new University of Michigan study finds that making the switch to all-electric mail-delivery vehicles would lead to far greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions than previously estimated by the USPS.

In its analysis of the potential environmental impacts of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle program, the Postal Service underestimated the expected greenhouse gas emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles and overestimated the emissions tied to battery-electric vehicles, according to U-M researchers.

"Our paper highlights the fact that the USPS analysis is significantly flawed, which led them to dramatically underestimate the benefits of BEVs, which could have impacted their decision-making process," said Maxwell Woody, lead author of the new study, published online Aug. 26 in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology.

The NGDV program calls for the purchase of up to 165,000 new mail delivery trucks over the next decade. The Postal Service said in February that at least 10% of the new mail trucks would be electric. But following blistering criticism from many quarters, the agency upped that number in July.

Though the Postal Service now says at least 40% of the new delivery vehicles will be electric, the flaws in the USPS environmental analysis remain and need to be addressed, said Woody, a research area specialist at the Center for Sustainable Systems, which is part of the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability.

The new study takes a second look at the two delivery-vehicle scenarios the Postal Service evaluated in its 340-page Final Environmental Impact Statement on the NGDV project, published Jan. 7.

That document compared the expected environmental impacts of a delivery fleet with 10% battery-electric vehicles and 90% gasoline-powered trucks (called the ICEV scenario for internal-combustion engine vehicles) to a fleet with 100% battery-electric vehicles (called the BEV scenario).

U-M researchers conducted a cradle-to-grave greenhouse-gas emissions assessment—known as a life-cycle assessment, or LCA—of the two scenarios and reached some vastly different conclusions than the Postal Service did.

The U-M team determined that:

• Lifetime greenhouse gas emissions under the ICEV scenario would be 15% higher than estimated by the Postal Service, while emissions tied to the BEV scenario would be at least 8% lower than estimated by the agency.​​

• When anticipated improvements to electric vehicles and future electrical-grid decarbonization are factored in, a fully electric USPS delivery fleet would result in up to 63% lower greenhouse gas emissions than the agency estimated, over the lifetime of the fleet.

• An all-electric fleet would reduce lifetime greenhouse gas emissions by 14.7 to 21.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents when compared to the ICEV scenario. The USPS estimate was 10.3 million metric tons.

The Postal Service declined to comment on the U-M study.

In February, the agency announced it had completed the environmental review for its Next Generation Delivery Vehicle program and was moving ahead with plans to start purchasing the new trucks. At least 10% of the delivery vehicles would be zero-emissions electric models, while the remainder would be powered by gasoline.

In response, attorneys general from 16 states (including Michigan), the District of Columbia and several environmental groups sued the mail agency to block the original purchase plan or to force the Postal Service to buy more electric trucks. The agency later pledged to electrify at least 40% of its new delivery fleet.

The authors of the new study say the main reasons their findings differ substantially from the USPS results are:

• The U-M study includes greenhouse gases generated throughout a delivery vehicle's lifetime, including the mining and manufacturing of materials, vehicle assembly, vehicle operations and service (known as use-phase emissions) and end-of-life disposal. The Postal Service analysis looked only at use-phase emissions.

• The new study includes projections of how electrical-grid emissions are likely to change over the estimated 20-year service life of next-generation delivery vehicles, as renewables increasingly replace fossil fuels. The USPS analysis did not address this factor, which is known as grid decarbonization.

• The U-M study uses a more accurate method to calculate vehicle operating emissions, one that relies on fuel economy and fuel combustion intensity rates. The USPS analysis of projected operating emissions was based on estimated per-mile emissions rates.

"While our emissions results and USPS emissions values are on the same order of magnitude, the details of the USPS FEIS seem to have significant miscalculations and vary greatly from the established literature on vehicle LCAs," the study's authors wrote.

Study senior author Greg Keoleian said the new findings suggest the Postal Service should be deploying electric delivery trucks at a rate much higher than 40%. The failure to do so exposes a lack of sustainability leadership by the agency, he said.

Many of the largest private fleet operators—including FedEx, UPS, Amazon and Walmart—have begun electrifying their fleets and have more ambitious electrification and decarbonization targets than the current USPS purchase plan, he said.

"Each gas vehicle purchased locks in infrastructure for at least 20 years, which will cause the federal government to fall behind private vehicle fleets and will drive future greenhouse gas emissions that could be dramatically reduced by greater electric delivery vehicle deployment," said Keoleian, director of the U-M Center for Sustainable Systems.

Ultimately, the USPS decision about next-generation delivery vehicles was based more on cost than climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions, he said. The agency estimated that an all-electric delivery fleet would have a total cost of ownership about $3.3 billion higher than a fleet with just 10% electric vehicles.

However, the recently signed U.S. Inflation Reduction Act includes $3 billion to help the U.S. Postal Service meet zero-emission vehicle goals: $1.29 billion for the purchase of zero-emission delivery vehicles and $1.71 billion for infrastructure to support those vehicles.

The additional funds will likely reduce cost-based objections to a fully electric postal delivery fleet.

On top of that, the authors of the new study say the mail agency's estimate of a $3.3 billion cost savings for the ICEV scenario failed to account for the climate and public health damages associated with continued use of fossil fuel-powered vehicles.

"Given the long lifetimes expected of these vehicles, committing to such a course contradicts U.S. climate policy and environmental justice goals, squanders an opportunity to deploy BEVs in an ideal use case, exposes a lack of sustainability leadership, and jeopardizes our ability to meet national and international climate targets," the study authors wrote.

In addition to Woody and Keoleian, the authors of the Environmental Science & Technology paper are Parth Vaishnav and Michael Craig of the Center for Sustainable Systems at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability.

The work was supported by Ford Motor Co. through a Ford-University of Michigan Alliance Project Award, by the Responsible Battery Coalition and by the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability.

Study: Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of the USPS Next Generation Delivery Vehicle Fleet (DOI 10.1021/acs.est.2c02520)

---

JOURNAL

Environmental Science & Technology

DOI

10.1021/acs.est.2c02520