Saturday, July 13, 2024

Impacts of extreme drought on forest ecosystems reveal species-specific adaptation differences in Northeast China

by KeAi Communications Co.

A recent study from China has shed light on the profound impacts of extreme droughts on forest ecosystems, particularly in water-limited regions. The findings revealed significant differences in how various tree species respond to such stressors.

Conducted in the Horqin Sandy Land of Northeast China, the research used dendrochronology and remote sensing techniques to examine the responses of both native maple-oak forests and introduced poplar plantations to extreme drought conditions. The study's findings, published in the journal Forest Ecosystems, underscore the critical role of precipitation and the self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI) in influencing tree growth and vegetation health.

The severe droughts experienced between 2000 and 2004 led to notable declines in radial growth and vegetation index (NDVI) across the studied tree species. The impact was particularly severe on the poplar species, with fast-growing poplar species showing more dramatic declines in growth rates and vegetation health than native maple and oak species. This indicates a species-specific trade-off between drought resilience and growth rate, with fast-growing species like poplar being more vulnerable to drought conditions.

Moreover, the study discovered that while radial growth showed no significant correlation with scPDSI, NDVI demonstrated a significant positive correlation, highlighting the greater sensitivity of canopy performance to drought stress than on the scale of inter-annual events radial growth.

These insights are crucial for forest management and afforestation efforts, especially in the context of climate change. Understanding species-specific responses to extreme droughts can guide the selection of tree species that are better suited to withstand water-limited conditions, ensuring the sustainability and resilience of forest ecosystems.

More information: Han Shi et al, Resilience and response: Unveiling the impacts of extreme droughts on forests through integrated dendrochronological and remote sensing analyses, Forest Ecosystems (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100209. www.sciencedirect.com/science/ … 2197562024000459?via%3Dihub

Provided by KeAi Communications Co.Climate change impacts vary among tree species within the same habitat, finds study

Selection processes play dominant role in shaping coexisting assemblages of trees and soil fungi: Study

by Zhang Nannan, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Community assembly is shaped by four main processes: selection—fitness differences between organisms; dispersal—organisms' movement across space; drift—unpredictable variation in abundance; and diversification—new genetic variants. However, whether the dominant processes governing macro- and microbial communities are fundamentally different remains elusive.

In a study published in Fungal Diversity, researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and their collaborators investigated the contribution of the four processes to co-occurring tree and fungal communities in three approximately 20-hectare forest ecosystems in Yunnan Province, China.

They proposed a research approach to explore the four major processes influencing community assembly by analyzing distance pattern of similarity (DPS). Specifically, they investigated the DPS of tree and soil fungal communities in three approximately 20-ha forest plots covering climates from tropical to temperate in Yunnan Province, China.

Two models (a drift-inexplicit ordination model without considering the effect of drift and a drift-explicit baseline model with consideration of the effect of drift) were used to decipher the contribution of individual-based random sampling, selection, and/or dispersal to community assembly.

Using these two models, the researchers found that most soil fungi had shorter realized distribution ranges (RDR) than most trees. Because drift was explicitly incorporated into the selection baseline model and the DPS spanned wider ranges than RDR for most trees and fungi, these models were able to capture the DPS structure of trees and fungi at different spatial scales, as well as the DPS structure of fungi across taxonomic levels and fungal guilds in tropical, subtropical, and subalpine forest ecosystems.

It was assumed that the model framework, ecosystems, spatial scales, sample intensity, selection variables and dispersal variables were well unified, leading to the conclusion that the ubiquity of selection did not reveal any fundamental differences in assembly mechanisms between trees and soil fungi.

"Our study suggests that selection processes play a dominant role in shaping the coexisting assemblages of tree and soil fungal communities, and this process is similar for both organisms," said Hu Yuehua of XTBG.

More information: Yue-Hua Hu et al, Selection dictates the distance pattern of similarity in trees and soil fungi across forest ecosystems, Fungal Diversity (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s13225-024-00537-8

Provided by Chinese Academy of Sciences Researchers evaluate impact of warming on soil respiration in different ecosystems

Marawi city study analyzes challenges and prospects for post-conflict peacebuilding in urban settings

by Hiroshima University

Wars and conflicts leave devastating destruction in their wake. With so many conflicts now taking place in urban environments, scientists are studying how post-conflict peacebuilding happens in these urban settings.

Dahlia Simangan, an associate professor at The IDEC Institute, Hiroshima University, has analyzed the case of Marawi, a city in the Philippines, to better understand the urban environment's influence on post-siege reconstruction and peacebuilding.

The study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of peacebuilding by integrating conventional peacebuilding components and urban characteristics. The research was published in the Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs on May 22, 2024.

Although urban warfare is not a new occurrence, it has changed in recent years as conflicts ranging from gang violence to terrorist attacks increasingly take place in urban environments. These conflicts occur in both developed and developing societies.

As the population in urban areas rises, people living in these areas are finding the consequences of the conflicts falling closer and closer to their homes. Where the population is dense in urban areas, the impact of the conflict is more widespread and the "enemies" are less easy to identify.

These urban conflicts today are impacting the lives of civilians in ways that the traditional wars of past years did not, and the ways lives are impacted are not always visible. Because of this, cities under siege need a unique set of rebuilding tools relevant to the urban environment, including the people, places, and practices that make them.

idly urbanizing world, the nature of conflicts has also taken up urban characteristics. This study aims to understand how post-conflict peacebuilding can effectively operate in urban environments," said Simangan.

Simangan focused the study on the city of Marawi, where in 2017, a five-month battle between Islamic State-inspired militant groups and the Philippine military occurred, resulting in the longest urban warfare in the country since World War II. This "Battle of Marawi" or "Marawi Siege" claimed the lives of about 920 militants, including the group leaders, 165 soldiers, and 47 civilians.

Because of the conflict, 360,000 people from the city and neighboring areas were forcibly displaced. While the government has started an interagency reconstruction effort, the ruins of residential houses, commercial buildings, and places of worship are now part of Marawi's urbanscape.

The case of Marawi offers insights into how post-conflict peacebuilding can effectively operate in urban environments. Simangan explored how the urbanscape of Marawi influences its reconstruction and peacebuilding. She specifically examined the role of people, places, and practices in building or impeding security, justice and reconciliation, and economic development in post-siege Marawi.

This study advances an integrated framework for analyzing urban peacebuilding, using the conventional peacebuilding components of security, reconciliation, and development within Marawi City's people, places, and practices.

Simangan used focus group discussions to gather data, examining practical issues like security, for example, the clearance of unexploded ordnances. She examined reconciliation, especially the return of displaced persons, and explored development, specifically looking at how the people resumed their livelihoods.

"Urban spaces can facilitate everyday practices that can hinder or promote peace. Understanding the social significance and historical relevance of these spaces can guide the reconstruction and peacebuilding process of conflict-affected cities," said Simangan.

Simangan is also working with a group of peacebuilding scholars on a research project about citizen inclusion in peace settlements. "I would like to apply the integrated conceptual framework on urban peacebuilding lens that I developed from this study to understand the power dynamics surrounding post-conflict settlements in cities," Simangan said.

She will also continue the development of an urban peacebuilding geoportal documenting the transformation of conflict-affected cities by adding more case studies.

More information: Dahlia Simangan, Challenges and Prospects for Urban Peacebuilding in Post-Siege Marawi City, Philippines: People, Places, and Practices, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs (2024). DOI: 10.1177/18681034241251864

Provided by Hiroshima University Philippines' counter-terrorism strategy still stalled after 7 years since the 'ISIS siege' on Marawi

An excavation in Kenya’s Kakapel Rockshelter has uncovered evidence of the types of crops grown by East Africa’s early farmers.

Steven Goldstein

Burnt field pea from Kakapel Rockshelter

Image courtesy of Proc. Royal Soc. B

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI—According to a statement released by Washington University in St. Louis, an excavation in Kenya’s Kakapel Rockshelter has uncovered evidence of the types of crops grown by East Africa’s early farmers.

The plant remains were recovered from a hearth at the rock shelter, which was first occupied more than 9,000 years ago. “We found a huge assemblage of plants, including a lot of crop remains,” said Natalie Mueller of Washington University.

For example, the 2,300-year-old cowpeas, or black-eyed peas, recovered from the hearth are thought to have originated in West Africa and traveled to East Africa with Bantu-speaking peoples from Central Africa.

The presence of this crop in the rock shelter reflects interactions between East Africa’s local herders and incoming Bantu-speaking farmers, explained Emmanuel Ndiema of the National Museums of Kenya.

In addition, the study suggests that sorghum from northeastern Africa was introduced to East Africa about 1,000 years ago, when local millet was also cultivated.

Field peas, a crop grown in Egypt, may have come to East Africa down the Nile River and through Sudan, but the sample may be an Abyssinian pea, which had been domesticated independently in Ethiopia, the researchers added.

“Our work shows that African farming was constantly changing as people migrated, adopted new crops, and abandoned others at a local level,” Mueller concluded.

Read the original scholarly article about this research in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. T

read about ancient cultivation of millet and other crops in northern China, go to "The Ancient Promise of Water: Like Water for Wheat."

Friday, July 12, 2024

Restructuring middle managers—findings from a case study of a major bank

by David Bradley, Inderscience

management team — Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Middle managers play an important role in an organization undergoing structural change. They are the ones who must implement the changes, but conversely, as employees, they will be subject to the very changes they put in place. This can often put them in a place of conflicting demands, where they must manage their own stress and uncertainty while carrying out new directives that will affect their colleagues and subordinates.

A study in the International Journal of Work Organization and Emotion has taken a major bank as a case study in order to look at how middle managers might cope with this stress during corporate restructuring and what strategies they might use to overcome the stress and find their way around the many challenges.

Pravitha Jogie, Annemarie Davis, and Catherine Le Roux of the Department of Business Management at the University of South Africa in the City of Tshwane suggest that middle managers generally respond to corporate restructuring in one of two ways. They either cope or they "cop out" and evade the responsibilities placed on them in some way.

The team explains that coping usually involves proactive strategies such as positive reframing, where managers view themselves as agents of change and engage with the process. Positive reframing allows middle managers to perceive restructuring as an opportunity for growth and improvement.

By contrast, "copping out" refers to disengagement and withdrawal behavior, such as territorialism, where the middle manager protects their own interests and is perhaps involved in spreading rumors, all of which can disrupt the restructuring process but also provide something of a psychological escape route for the managers who engage in such behavior.

The business environment has always been marked by constant change where globalization, economic fluctuations, technological advancements, and international crises affect the way a company operates and its bottom line. The team explains that the financial services sector faces particularly intense competition, regulatory changes, and digital transformation. These factors have led to frequent organizational restructuring for many companies, which puts pressure on the middle managers to interpret, communicate, and implement new structures and strategies.

The research suggests that it is obviously better that middle managers cope rather than cop out, and points to the learning of new skills and networking with peers and mentors as being useful tools to help in this regard. They even suggest that engaging in hobbies or other "extracurricular" activities might be useful coping mechanisms. It is possible then for a manager to maintain a sense of control and purpose, as this is essential for their mental well-being and their productivity in the workplace, as well as ensuring the same for colleagues and subordinates.

However, the research often showed the converse. Middle managers might become withdrawn and disengage from the task at hand. This was especially common among managers who felt powerless or unsupported, indicating a need for organizations to foster a supportive environment to ensure smooth restructuring when this is needed.

More information: Pravitha Jogie et al, Middle managers' practices during organisational restructuring: coping or copping out, International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion (2024). DOI: 10.1504/IJWOE.2024.139912

Provided by Inderscience Top IT industry managers are divided on the need for face-to-face communication in the workplace

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Research explains why board games so popular among many people with autism

by Amy King, University of Plymouth

playing board games — Credit: Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels

Board gaming is a growing industry, and anecdotally popular among people who display autistic traits.

Now new research has highlighted the science supporting the anecdote—and, for the first time, the important reasons behind the link.

Led by researchers at the University of Plymouth, the research took the form of five studies, collectively showing that people with autism are overrepresented in board gaming compared to the general population, and that playing modern board games—such as Dixit or Werewolf—provided a social outlet in a structured space.

Published across two papers in the American Journal of Play and Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, the research also showed that board games took the pressure off the uncertainty around meeting and interacting with people, removing the need for small talk and providing a form of escapism.

Shedding light on the games' popularity, the findings could help to inform future work on designing well-being interventions for special populations.

How did the research work?

The first of the research studies surveyed 1,600 board gamers worldwide—uncovering that around 7% of them were diagnosed as autistic, compared to just 1% of the general population. In addition, 30% of those people surveyed had significantly high levels of autistic traits, according to a widely used self-administered questionnaire called the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ).

The second study comprised 13 in-depth interviews, in which participants—all of whom were hobbyist board gamers and had been medically diagnosed with autism—were asked about their experiences of board games, and how they felt the hobby interacted with their condition.

The themes uncovered included finding the games both 'comforting' and 'stimulating,' enabling gamers to engage with their passions, and how games act as an alternative vehicle for social communication.

In the third study, 28 autistic individuals, who were not already involved in the hobby, were introduced to board games in groups of between five and 10 over an afternoon. Subsequent focus groups were then analyzed, uncovering themes around how board games are challenging but encouraged growth, and how they were an alternative method for forging social relationships.

Studies four and five report the results of two-year-long interventions involving weekly board game sessions, one with autistic adolescents at a special educational needs (SEN) school, the other with autistic adults, many with occurring intellectual disability. Results showed that the gaming intervention built community, independence and skills among both groups.

The work was co-led by Dr. Liam Cross and Dr. Gray Atherton from the University of Plymouth's School of Psychology, who hope to use the findings to further work into improving well-being for people with autism.

Atherton says, "We know that board games are a safe and valuable hobby to many people with autism. What this research established was why that's the case, and we really want to use the findings to conduct future work. The findings as a whole aren't a shock, but what is surprising is the lack of evidence underpinning board game use as an intervention for people with autism.

"Hearing the feedback from the study participants was really motivating to try and push this forward in different settings—and is further reinforced by another recent study we've published in the Journal of Simulation and Gaming on the game mechanics that might work for different people in specific populations. Everyone with autism is unique, and we want to ensure any interventions could be adapted as needed for those who might benefit."

Cross says, "When we talk about hobbyist board gaming, we mean don't just mean a family game of Monopoly every now and then. We mean the kind of newer games that individuals play frequently at places like board game cafes. It's a popular hobby, and we're pleased to have been able to shed more light on its importance for so many people.

"We're also using our research to support adapting existing games for people with autism to make their gameplay even more accessible and enjoyable, and have recently returned from a board gaming conference in Canada to share our findings with the community. It's an exciting area to work in."

More information: Liam Cross et al, Game Changer: Exploring the Role of Board Games in the Lives of Autistic People, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06408-0

Gray Atherton et al, We've all come together: A board gaming approach for working with autistic people. American Journal of Play (2024) www.museumofplay.org/app/uploa … -Gaming-Autistic.pdf

Journal information: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Provided by University of Plymouth Autistic children could be the real winners from online games

Detecting germs in the air, room by room

by Polly Tita, Rush University Medical Center

What if you could stop germs at the door? Or know within minutes if a virus was in the air

Scientists at Rush are researching a tool that detects germs in the air, even as they enter a building or gathering spot. It's one of the ongoing efforts to discover ways to protect the public from infectious diseases.

Hannah Barbian, Ph.D., is a genomic epidemiologist—a scientific detective whose arsenal includes genomic sequencing of the evidence, i.e., germs that are known to be circulating and those that may be a surprise.

Barbian analyzes germs, mapping their genomic makeup, investigating outbreaks and searching for emerging viral and bacterial threats at the Regional Innovative Public Health Laboratory at Rush.

She identifies and tracks COVID-19 variants for the Chicago Department of Public Health by analyzing samples shared by area hospitals. Such surveillance has been an important part of the local and national public health response since the pandemic.

While current surveillance programs track the strains of respiratory viruses and bacteria in available patient samples, the aerosol technology pinpoints what pathogens are inside a building, on a room-by-room basis.

Barbian's work inspired her to investigate what sampling the air could achieve, how precise it could be and how quickly and easily it could detect pathogens at specific locations.

So far, so good

Getting air samples is easy, which means this method could potentially provide real-time room-level surveillance of germs quickly and simply, she said.

Barbian set up an air sampler, a 13-inch by 14-inch box, about the size of a desktop printer, in four places at Rush University Medical Center: two in the emergency department, one in a lobby and the fourth near a hospital entrance.

In collaboration with the Chicago Department of Public Health, air sampling devices also have been placed in six additional locations across Chicago to test how air sampling can complement existing disease surveillance methods. The sampling is part of the RIPHL's work performing pathogen genome surveillance.

"It can capture air from a large room and, if strategically placed, say at an entrance point or a shared lunch area, it can gather infectious disease data for a building's occupants," she said.

Barbian's research into the new technology began as a pilot project for the Rush Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, which chose eight projects designed to enhance infectious disease research and community preparedness in Chicago.

The Aerosol Sense sampling device collects air from all directions continuously in a designated area. Testing of the air samples can be done in as little time as an hour and a half.

Barbian is looking for known respiratory viruses and bacteria while also studying what else is in the air. To detect new microbes, Barbian runs a process called metagenomic sequencing, which studies the genomic make up of whatever pathogen might be found in the samples.

"Our preliminary data suggest that a large number of human bacteria and viruses can be seen in air samples," she said.

Finding new pathogens

In addition, the study is testing the air for eight types of respiratory viruses and bacteria that are known to be of concern, such as flu. The findings of the air samples align with what is found through traditional clinical surveillance, she said. Even the COVID-19 virus detected in the air matches the lineages detected in clinical samples collected about the same time.

Based on what she's found so far, air sampling could identify the presence of a wide range of germs while also enhancing current surveillance methods that analyze wastewater and clinical samples for specific viruses, she said.

"It is easier to acquire air samples, and the technology provides more focused, finer-scale results than wastewater," Barbian said. "And it requires less coordination than clinical sampling."

While the air contains the genetic material from many types of germs, their presence should not worry people in the tested areas. The device identifies miniscule amounts of a virus and detection does not necessarily indicate live or transmissible virus.

Provided by Rush University Medical Center

What's next after omicron?

Poseidon vs. Chaac: Mexico 'cancels' statue of Greek god after complaint from Maya Indigenous groups

Chaac is the water god of local Maya Indigenous culture

Associated Press
Published July 12, 2024

Mexican authorities "closed" a 10-foot-tall statue of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, that was erected in May in the Gulf of Mexico just off the town of Progreso, Yucatan, after legal complaints were filed.

A group of activist lawyers filed a legal complaint, saying the statue of the Greek god offended the beliefs of local Maya Indigenous groups who prefer Chaac, their own local god of water.

The statue and the controversy surrounding it have become a social media sensation.

The gods must be angry — or just laughing at the hubris of humanity.

Authorities in Mexico have slapped a "closure" order on a 10-foot-tall aquatic statue of the Greek god of the sea Poseidon that was erected in May in the Gulf of Mexico just off the town of Progreso, Yucatan.

Mexico’s environmental protection agency said late Thursday that the statue, which appears to show an angry trident-wielding Poseidon "rising" from the sea a few meters from the beach, lacked permits. In the few months it was up, tourists had gathered to take pictures of themselves with it as a striking background.

But it was symbolically "closed" Thursday — and could be removed altogether — after a group of activist lawyers filed a legal complaint saying the statue of the Greek god offended the beliefs of local Maya Indigenous groups who prefer their own local god of water, known as Chaac.

It's always been dangerous for humans to get involved in battles between deities. But this one appears to be all about present-day humanity, combining "cancel culture," social media storms, lawsuits and the one truly fearsome, overpowering force in today's world: Instagram selfie-fueled tourism.

True to form, Mexico social media users took to, well, social media, to crow about the decision, with at least a dozen posting slogans like "Chaac One, Poseidon Zero."

Tourists take pictures of the Poseidon sculpture before the arrival of Hurricane Beryl in Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico, on July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Zetina, File)

There are arguments on both sides.

"Poseidon is a Greek god who is alien to our Maya culture," according to the legal complaint filed recently against the statue. "I have a human right for my Maya culture to be preserved." The lawyers' group that filed the complaint did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The complaint also mentions the alleged lack of permits.

Technically, under Mexican law, any building project that could alter the ecosystem must file impact statements and get approval, though the government routinely violates its own rules and often slaps the little-feared "closure" stickers on private projects long after the damage is already done.

The office of environmental protection said the Poseidon statue had been erected by the Progreso municipal government without environmental impact studies. The office said it would "continue the administrative process (regarding the statue) to determine the appropriate actions."

But the federal government, little known for its concern for the environment, appears to be responding more to pressure groups.

Critics of the statue cite a series of recent storms in and around the Gulf — Tropical Storm Alberto in June and Hurricane Beryl this week — as proof that Chaac, a fanged, hook-nose deity who isn't quite as Instagram-friendly as Poseidon, is angry.

Defenders of the statue — which strikingly shows Poseidon's body rising mightily from a relatively calm, open stretch of water near the beach — also have their arguments, though they might not hold up as well in court: it's pretty, and it's good for business.

"It's an attraction for our town and it draws attention," said Lizeth Alvarado Juárez, 28, an employee at a hotel in Progreso. "There are people who come from Merida (the state capital) just to see the Poseidon."

Battles between the gods just aren't what they used to be. "It's all about the memes," Alvarado Juárez said.

Scientists breed most human-like mice yet

WATCH OUT FOR CAT PEOPLE

By Emily Cooke

Scientists have bred mice that are just like us — at least in terms of their immune systems.

It is now possible to breed mice with a fully developed and functional human immune system, new research suggests. (Image credit: Evgenyi_Eg via Getty Images)

For the first time, scientists have bred mice with fully fledged human immune systems. The researchers say these human-like animals will enhance drug development.

When faced with an infection, these "humanized" mice produce immune cells that mimic the structure and diversity of the immune cells made by humans. When injected with a chemical that triggers widespread inflammation in the body, the mice develop a version of the autoimmune disease lupus that closely resembles that seen in humans, the researchers discovered.

The scientists described their findings in a paper published June 25 in the journal Nature Immunology.

These are not the first humanized mice ever bred — the lab animals are staples in research as they enable scientists to study features of the human immune system inside a living animal. This is helpful for testing the safety and effectiveness of new drugs, as well as vaccines against infectious diseases, before they are trialed in humans.

Related: New immunotherapy could make blood more 'youthful,' mouse study hints

However, for years, researchers have struggled to create humanized mice that accurately respond to infection in the same way that humans do. Previous attempts have resulted in approximations of the human immune system, but these are missing certain human features, the team behind the new paper said in a statement.

To develop a better humanized mouse, the researchers first bred mice that had been genetically modified to have a weakened immune system. When the mice were around 1 to 2 days old, the team injected human stem cells into the animals' hearts. The stem cells, which had been extracted and purified from umbilical cord blood, were capable of becoming any type of immune cell.

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The animals' hearts then pumped the stem cells into the soft, spongy tissue within the mice' bones, known as bone marrow, which is where immune cells are normally produced. Because the mice were immunodeficient, the human stem cells could easily set up camp in the bone marrow.

After a few weeks, the team introduced a human version of the sex hormone estrogen into the mice. This hormone is known primarily for its role in promoting female sexual and reproductive development, but it also plays a big part in molding immature stem cells into mature, specialized immune cells.

Once imbued with human estrogen, the mice began to make a plethora of human immune cells. These included T cells, which directly attack germs, and B cells, which produce bug-busting antibodies that help mark pathogens for destruction.

To see how the humanized mice reacted to a vaccine, the team injected the animals with the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech. In response, the mice produced human antibodies against the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Similarly, when exposed to proteins from Salmonella typhi bacteria, the bug behind typhoid fever, the mice made antibodies against the pathogen.

The new mouse model could become a valuable tool for biomedical research, the team said. In particular, these mice will be useful for vaccine development, said Dr. Paolo Casali, a co-senior study author and professor of medicine at the University of Texas.