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Principles of social evolution have long been used retrospectively to interpret social interactions, but have less commonly been applied predictively to inform conservation and animal husbandry strategies. We investigate whether differences in developmental environment, facilitated by divergent social conditions, can predict resilience to environmental change. Upon exposure to harsh novel environments, populations that previously experienced more benign social environments are predicted either to suffer fitness losses (the "mutation load hypothesis" and "selection filter hypothesis") or maintain fitness (the "beneficial mutation hypothesis"). We tested these contrasting predictions using populations of burying beetles Nicrophorus vespilloides we had evolved experimentally for 45 generations under contrasting social environments by manipulating the supply of post-hatching parental care. We exposed sexually immature adults from each population to varying heat stress and measured the effect on survival and reproduction. The greater the level of parental care previously experienced by a population, the better its survival under heat stress during sexual maturation. Although this is consistent with the "beneficial mutation hypothesis," it is also possible that populations that had evolved without post-hatching care were simply more prone to dying during maturation, regardless of their thermal environment. Overall, we suggest that stochastic genetic variation, probably due to founder effects, had a stronger influence on resilience. We discuss the implications for translocation and captive breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mating signals are targets of conspecific signal recognition and sexual selection but are also subject to abiotic temperature effects and to biotic interspecific eavesdroppers. In crickets, the male calling song becomes faster at warmer temperatures, and female crickets' recognition of male song tracks temperature in a coordinated manner, termed "temperature coupling." But, female crickets are not the only ecologically relevant listeners: some cricket species are parasitized by Ormia ochracea , a parasitoid fly which finds its cricket hosts by eavesdropping on male cricket song. How temperature affects parasitoid fly phonotaxis to song is largely unexplored, with only one previous study conducted under field conditions. Here, we explore 6 possible patterns of thermal effects on fly responses to cricket song, including temperature coupling, using field playbacks of synthetic Gryllus lineaticeps songs designed to be species-typical at various temperatures. We find that temperature does affect fly response, but that the temperature deviation of songs from ambient does not impact numbers of flies caught. We extend this finding by comparing the temperatures of the air (where flies search for their hosts) and the ground (where their host crickets signal) to show that temperature coupling is unlikely to be effective given microhabitat variation and differential rates of cooling in the evening hours when flies are most active. Our results can be interpreted more broadly to suggest (1) temperature effects on intraspecific communication systems may be more tightly coupled than are effects on interspecific eavesdropping and (2) variation in thermal microhabitats in the field make it difficult to translate laboratory physiological responses to natural selection in the wild. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Miskolc, which is the focus of our investigation, is the fourth most populous city in Hungary and the center of one of the most underdeveloped NUTS2 (basic territorial category for the regional policy of the European Union) regions in the European Union. The socialist heavy industry played a decisive role in the development of the city, the decline of which also left deep traces in the city. In its current position, the city tries to manage its available resources as efficiently as possible, and the city management is open to the use of modern urban development tools. This is supported by the fact that Miskolc was the first Hungarian city to join the Green Cities for Sustainable Europe movement in 2011, and then in 2015, it joined the Triangulum project of the EU Smart Cities and Communities program as a follower city. In the process of becoming a smart city, the dimensions of environmental sustainability and energy efficiency were given a prominent role, which should not be surprising considering the traditions of the city. Within this, we must first mention the construction of the geothermal central heating system, with which the city really took significant steps in this field. The main goal of the study is to develop a new smart local concept closely linked to regional development and the key energy sector, through which the local adaptation of the defining elements of the internationally defined smart city in several forms for the city of Miskolc will be presented. In our study, we review how the results achieved by Miskolc so far and the development plans for the future fit in with the smart energy developments of smart cities. Before exploring the processes in Miskolc, we will deal in more detail with the possibilities inherent in district heating and geothermal energy utilization and Hungary's capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many primary consumers in freshwater, marine and terrestrial systems are ectotherms (e.g. zooplankton and insects), whose metabolisms, and therefore nutritional demands, are modulated by temperature. Further, nutrient availability largely influences the quality of resources consumed by these organisms, and hence affects whether nutritional demands of consumers are fulfilled. From these considerations, a crucial question arises: how do temperature and nutrient availability together modulate trophodynamics at the basis of food webs? Addressing this question for zooplankton and insects is essential since these consumers are the most abundant metazoans on Earth, and they link primary production to higher trophic levels. Here, we synthesize the existing literature and offer avenues to guide future scientific endeavours. We highlight that the vast majority of studies on the combined influence of temperature and nutrient availability published to date focus on at least one of the following research topics: 1) metabolic requirements of ectotherms; 2) feeding behaviour; 3) eco‐evolutionary processes; and 4) trophodynamics. We pose that further advances in this field of research may provide a robust understanding of how modulations of consumer metabolic requirements and resource quality define consumer–producer interactions across marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. This research effort would enable to combine the fields of Ecological stoichiometry and of Metabolic theory of ecology, and create an integrated approach, which we propose to call Nutritional thermal ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollination is a key tenet of ecosystem sustainability and food security, but it is threatened by climate change. While many studies investigated the response of plant‐pollination traits to temperature, few attempted multifactorial and integrative approaches with multiple floral traits. We determined which plant‐pollination traits were disrupted by environmental changes and the consequence for plant fitness. We focused on the thermogenic plant, Arum italicum, which relies on floral scent and heat production to attract its pollinators with a deceptive strategy. In a field mesocosm, we measured the response of floral phenology, thermogenesis traits, scent and plant fitness to experimental changes in shade level, water supply and soil temperature. In the laboratory, we exposed plants to extreme heat to determine the thermoregulation ability at high temperatures. Plant fitness decreased dramatically in response to soil warming and the level of shade. While both factors caused a lower number of inflorescences, soil warming was mostly responsible for the crash in number of fruits. The plant traits related to thermogenesis and scent were relatively resilient to the environmental changes in the mesocosm and were unlikely to produce the observed decrease in plant fitness. First, environmental changes only weakly modified the scent composition. Second, the appendix regulated its maximal temperature almost perfectly, while stamen regulated imperfectly. In the laboratory experiment, the appendix maintained a thermal gradient supposedly to improve scent emission while stamen became cooler than ambient air, possibly preventing the pollinators from overheating within the floral chamber. By contrast, the phenology of flowering was drastically modified. Flowers appeared earlier in the season in response to soil warming (by 39 days) or absence of shade (by 19 days). At the daily scale, flowering hour did not change across the season resulting in plants flowering before sunset late in the season and before the pollinator activity window (mostly nocturnal). The strong shift observed in the flowering period may induce a temporal mismatch with this pollinator both early and late in the season when the insects may not be active so early in the spring and during daytime, respectively, thereby altering plant fitness. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Aim Location Taxon Methods Results Main Conclusions We test the relationship between the voluntary thermal maximum (VTMax; the temperature at which an individual actively retreats to a colder site) and geographical/environmental features in the distribution of South American pitvipers. Additionally, we explore the evolution of environmental temperatures and VTMax in species' ranges.South America.South American pitvipers of the genera Bothrops and Bothrocophias.We experimentally measured the VTMax of 15 species of South American pitvipers. We explored the relationship between VTMax and geographical/environmental features (e.g., latitude, topographic complexity and temperature) with PGLS regressions. Additionally, we explored the evolution of maximum (TMax) and minimum (TMin) environmental temperatures, as well as the Thermal Niche Breadth (TNB) and VTMax, using ancestral state reconstruction and testing for phylogenetic signal.Mean VTMax values for South American pitvipers clustered primarily within the 34°C–36°C range, exhibiting little variation among species or clades. No significant correlations were found between VTMax and climatic or geographic variables. Furthermore, our analysis revealed that these snakes are absent from regions where maximum temperatures surpass their preferred thermal tolerances. Ancestral state reconstruction indicated divergent evolutionary pathways for thermal limits among species, independent of phylogenetic relationships.South American pitvipers unexpectedly exhibit similar voluntary thermal maximum values across a wide range of habitats and despite distinct phylogenetic relationships. Our results indicate that there is no strong climatic niche conservatism for South American pitvipers, with a likely weak selective pressure of VTMax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Daylight is one of the essential criteria for decent housing. However, in an urban kampung, access to daylight is limited due to the high-density population in urban Kampung Kota. This study aims to improve the visual and thermal conditions by modifying the aperture of the light pipe based on visual daylight distribution, illuminance level, and thermal conditions in multi-storey houses in hot-humid climates. Light pipe was developed experimentally through the simulation model to investigate the performance and impact on the visual and thermal conditions like operational temperature and RH in densely populated Kampung Kota without vertical apertures. According to the results, the two-aperture light pipe residential space enhanced the current situation but did not fulfill the standards. The two aperture light pipe visually improved daylight distribution by 1.05% -31.36% and illumination level by 8.4% - 14.8%. We also found that light pipe also impacts thermal conditions with a 10.92% RH reduction while at the same time increasing temperature up to 10.57%. Therefore, it can be concluded that a two-aperture light pipe has the potential to be applied to actual conditions in hot-humid climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The physio-chemical framework that generates carbonatites and, ultimately, the associated rare earth element deposits remains contentious. This primarily reflects the diverse tectonic settings in which carbonatites occur: large igneous provinces, continental rifts and major extensional terranes, syn- to post-collisional settings, or ocean islands. There is, however, a broad consensus that carbonatites (or their parental melts) originate in the mantle. These exotic melts have small volumes that make them ideal probes of conditions in their underlying source regions. We combine the carbonatite locations with global maps of lithospheric thickness, derived from seismic tomography, and show that post-Neoproterozoic carbonatites occur preferentially above the margins of thick cratonic lithosphere (e.g., adjacent to the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans or in North America, Greenland, and Asia) and where once thick lithosphere has undergone stretching (e.g., eastern Asia). Our thermal modeling reveals that lateral and vertical heat conduction on rifted craton margins, or rapid stretching of cratonic lithosphere, can mobilize carbonated peridotite at the temperatures (950–1250 °C) and pressures (2–3 GPa) required to form primary carbonatites or their parental alkali silicate melts. Importantly, our models show that heat conduction from upwelling mantle plumes or ambient mantle on rifted cratonic margins may sufficiently modify the temperature of the lithospheric mantle to cause melting of carbonated peridotite, settling the long-standing debate on the role of rifting and heating in the generation of carbonatites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss. Among vertebrates, amphibians are one of the more sensitive groups to climate change due to their unique ecology, habitat requirements, narrow thermal tolerance and relatively limited dispersal abilities. We projected the influence of climate change on an endemic toad, Malabar Tree Toad (Pedostibes tuberculosus; hereafter MTT) from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, India, for two different shared socio-economic pathways (SSP) using multiple modeling approaches for current and future (2061–2080) scenarios. The data used predominantly comes from a citizen science program, 'Mapping Malabar Tree Toad' which is a part of the Frog Watch citizen science program, India Biodiversity Portal. We also evaluated the availability of suitable habitats for the MTT in Protected Areas (PAs) under the current and future scenarios. Our results show that annual precipitation was the most important bioclimatic variable influencing the distribution of MTT. We used MaxEnt (MEM) and Ensemble (ESM) modeling algorithms. The predicted distribution of MTT with selected environmental layers using MEM was 4556.95 km2 while using ESM was 18,563.76 km2. Overlaying PA boundaries on predicted distribution showed 37 PAs with 32.7% (1491.37 km2) and 44 PAs with 21.9% (4066.25 km2) coverage for MEM and ESM respectively. Among eight future climate scenarios, scenarios with high emissions showed a decreased distribution range from 33.5 to 68.7% of predicted distribution in PAs, while scenarios with low emissions showed an increased distribution range from 1.9 to 111.3% in PAs. PAs from the Central Western Ghats lose most suitable areas with a shift of suitable habitats towards the Southern Western Ghats. This suggests that MTT distribution may be restricted in the future and existing PAs may not be sufficient to conserve their habitats. Restricted and discontinuous distribution along with climate change can limit the dispersal and persistence of MTT populations, thus enhanced surveys of MTT habitats within and outside the PAs of the Western Ghats are an important step in safeguarding the persistence of MTT populations. Overall, our results demonstrate the use of citizen science data and its potential in modeling and understanding the geographic distribution and the calling phenology of an elusive, arboreal, and endemic amphibian species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal tolerance and preference are key parameters impacting agricultural production systems. In this study, the impact of larval diet on black soldier fly thermal tolerance and preference across life‐stages and sexes was examined. Larvae were fed either a low‐protein high‐carbohydrate synthetic diet (i.e., P7C35), a high‐protein low‐carbohydrate synthetic diet (i.e., P35C7), or the Gainesville diet (i.e., C) as a control and reference. Our results demonstrate that the impacts of larval diet on black soldier fly thermal tolerance and preference could be stage and sex specific. The mean heat knockdown temperatures (HKT) ranged between 46.6 and 47.9 °C. Synthetic diets resulted in greater HKT and the difference decreased form larvae (e.g., ∼1 °C) to adults (e.g., ∼0.2 °C). The mean chill‐coma recovery time (CCRT) ranged between 8.3 and 21.6 min. Not much differences were detected between diets, but CCRT became longer from larvae to adults. The mean thermal preference ranged between 13.6 and 29.5 °C. Larvae fed synthetic diets preferred much lower temperatures than the control diet. A bimodal distribution was observed for adults regardless of sex. Differences on body mass, lipid, and protein contents were detected among diets; however, more research should be done before any conclusions can be linked to their thermal traits. These findings highlight the importance of considering the ingredients and nutritional makeup of larval diets when optimizing temperature management protocols for mass production of black soldier flies. Conversely, specific diets can be developed to promote survival under extreme rearing temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outdoor thermal comfort (OTC) of children is more specific than that of adults, and the complex influence of outdoor activity spaces on children's thermal comfort warrants further investigation. To investigate the outdoor thermal comfort baseline (OTCB) of children in Hangzhou and explore the thermal impact of outdoor surfaces on children, a survey was conducted in six typical outdoor activity spaces in Hangzhou, China, during spring and summer utilizing physical measurements, questionnaire surveys, and the universal thermal climate index (UTCI). This study analyzed the differences in thermal perception among children in Hangzhou in different seasons, their OTCB, and the impact of surface reflectance (Rs) on children's OTC. The results indicated the following: 1) In spring, children in Hangzhou generally felt comfortable, but their discomfort with heat noticeably increased in summer. 2) The neutral UTCIs (NUTCIs) for Hangzhou children were 11.6 °C (spring) and 27.7 °C (summer), and the NUTCI ranges (NUTCIRs) were 9.7–17.5 °C (spring) and 25.7–30.0 °C (summer); additionally, the thermal acceptability ranges (TARs) were 13.2–25.2 °C (spring) and 11.8–34.8 °C (summer). 3) A high Rs made children feel more uncomfortable with heat, which was primarily due to the space's total shortwave and longwave radiation, which peaked between 14:00 and 15:00. 4) Based on the research findings, corresponding bioclimatic design strategies were proposed. Recommendations include using high Rs underlays with shading, composite underlays, or the future adoption of thermochromic coatings. Keeping permeable underlays moist is essential for activating their cooling mechanisms. Fundamental safety measures are imperative. This study provides valuable data for urban planners and landscape designers to create public spaces suitable for children's outdoor activities, contributing to a harmonious and unified living environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intense urban development and high urban density cause the thermal environment in urban centers to deteriorate continuously, affecting the quality of the living environment. In this study, 707.49 hectares of land in the central area of Changsha were divided into 121 plots. 11 microclimate-related morphological indicators were comprehensively selected, and the K-means method was used for cluster analysis. Then, the relationship between morphological clusters and the thermal environment was explored by simulating the thermal environment of the study area with ENVI-met. First, five spatial types were found to characterize the area: high-level with high floor area ratio, low density, and low greenery; middle-level with high floor area ratio high density; medium-capacity with high density and small volume; low-level with low density and high greenery; and low floor area ratio, low density, and high greenery. Second, the building windward surface density, sky openness, building density, floor area ratio and green space rate affect the thermal environment. Third, Cluster3 had the highest average air temperature (Ta), followed by Cluster5, furthermore Clusters4, 1, and2 had relatively low Ta. The spatial vitality index and green space rate in Cluster1; the area-weighted building shape index, average building volume and sky openness in Cluster2; green space rate in Cluster3; indicators such as the floor area ratio and green space rate in Cluster4; indicators such as the impervious surface rate and green space rate in Cluster5 had greater influences on Ta. Fourthly, simply increasing the area of green space cannot maximize the cooling effect of green spaces. Instead, constructing an equalized greening network can better regulate the thermal environment. Fifthly, the results provide a scientific basis for the design and the regulation of urban centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ectotherms often thermoregulate behaviourally within variable thermal environments in their attempts to acquire optimal body temperatures. Thermoregulation accrues benefits but incurs costs, which are crucial for understanding thermoregulatory behaviour. Costs of thermoregulating are influenced by two key attributes of the thermal environment—heterogeneity of thermal microhabitats and the deviation of the mean temperature from an animal's preferred temperature. However, empirical research has rarely distinguished between these two drivers of thermoregulatory costs or examined them concurrently.Our experiment used a novel thermoregulatory arena to examine the independent and interactive effects of the two environmental drivers of costs of thermoregulation on the thermoregulatory behaviour of a small ectotherm, the jacky dragon (Amphibolurus muricatus).Following previous theory, we predicted that (i) thermoregulation would be higher in environments with greater thermal heterogeneity (body temperatures closer to preferred temperatures, higher thermoregulatory accuracy and higher effectiveness of thermoregulation) and (ii) changes in thermoregulation as a function of mean environmental temperatures would differ depending on thermal heterogeneity.We found support for our prediction that these two environmental attributes had an interactive effect on thermoregulation but not for our prediction that thermal heterogeneity would impact thermoregulation independently. Individuals in highly heterogeneous environments maintained greater thermoregulatory accuracy compared with those in less heterogeneous environments as the mean environment increasingly deviated from the preferred temperature range.The results emphasise the crucial conceptual distinction between thermal mean and heterogeneity as drivers of thermoregulatory costs and how this distinction underpins variation in the thermal behaviour of ectotherms. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme hydrological and thermal regimes characterize the Mediterranean zone and can influence the phenology of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in reservoirs. Our study examined the seasonal changes in GHG emissions of a shallow, eutrophic, hardwater reservoir in Spain. We observed distinctive seasonal patterns for each gas. CH4 emissions substantially increased during stratification, influenced predominantly by the increase in water temperature, net ecosystem production, and the decline in reservoir mean depth. N2O emissions mirrored CH4's seasonal trend, significantly correlating to water temperature, wind speed, and gross primary production. Conversely, CO2 emissions decreased during stratification and displayed a quadratic, rather than a linear relationship with water temperature—an unexpected deviation from CH4 and N2O emission patterns—likely associated with photosynthetic uptake of bicarbonate and formation of intracellular calcite that might be exported to sediments. This investigation highlights the imperative of integrating these idiosyncratic patterns into GHG emissions models, enhancing their predictive power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental characteristics act as limiting factors for the establishment and survival of organisms, and this holds particular significance for ectothermic. Grammostola vachoni is an endemic Argentinean tarantula that inhabits central mountainous grasslands. In this study, we model their potential distribution and assess thermal parameters and vulnerability indices in unstudied populations to understand the species' survival limits. The models to explain the geographic distribution of G. vachoni demonstrate a non-random pattern and robust predictive capabilities. The monthly variables in December, October, and March were the greatest influence. Respect to thermal parameters calculated throughout locomotor performance, the critical thermal limits were 4.9 °C and 51.1 °C, and the preferred temperatures were correlated whit optimal temperature. According the occurrence probability, the species has a low probability of persisting in extreme coldest and hottest environments. In a more temperate environment, the probability increases, mostly at temperatures of about 35 °C. The thermal performance breadth was 19.30, the thermal tolerance range was 46.1 °C and the inferior and superior limits of B80 were 18.9 °C and 37.1 °C. Grammostola vachoni show a better performance at higher temperatures, and a preference for higher temperatures than other ectotherms. The diverse microclimates provide by the heterogeneous nature of mountain grassland outcrops can act as a refuge. Implications for insect conservation: Our results show that grassland outcrops play a key role in maintaining the G. vachoni population, as these environments appear to be less affected in the future. Moreover, the species' locomotor performance could cope with future thermal shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change models for lizards assume that changes in its climate envelope (the climatic conditions that define a species’ distribution at a given time) are due to species being unable to withstand temperature increases, but this assumption has not been tested to assess its robustness. Studies on lizards’ preferred temperature in thermal gradients can fill this gap. Our aim is to assess the response to climate change of Liolaemus nigroviridis, a sky island lizard, by (i) assessing its thermal preference in a thermal gradient; and (ii) estimating which localities inhabited by the species would exhibit hours of activity restriction (Hr) implying an increased risk of local extinction. The results of this research and the information obtained from the literature concur on the consequences that climate change will have on the thermal ecology of Liolaemus from specialized habitats; the increase in substrate temperature is indeed a factor determining its presence. We also have information that not all populations of L. nigroviridis will be influenced in the same way; the northern populations will be more affected in terms of thermal restrictions and, in addition, Hr will increase at higher elevations. We propose that this be considered for future management for this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased anthropogenic activities and reduced urban green space contribute to heating problems, impacting the thermal comfort of urban spaces. This research analyzes spatial-temporal of thermal comfort to inform the creation of liveable cities. Palembang City, experiencing rapid urbanization and land-use changes, was chosen as the study area. Landsat 8 data from 2013 to 2023 was obtained and processed using Google Earth Engine. The land surface temperature algorithm applied to the Landsat 8 thermal infrared channel (band 10) provided data for thermal comfort assessment. Vegetation cover was assessed using the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), and the Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) combined with the Normalized Burn Ratio 2 (NBR2) was used to refine the identification of built-up areas. These algorithms were applied to channels that had been corrected for surface reflectance radiometry to minimize bias caused by seasonal variations and atmospheric disturbances. The results revealed spatial variations in thermal comfort, with uncomfortable patterns in the central business zone, some comfortable areas in the transition zone, and generally comfortable conditions in the suburban zone. The comparison between EVI and NDBI-NBR2 showed a linear relationship, suggesting that areas previously covered by vegetation have been converted into built-up area. This confirms that land cover conditions, particularly the conversion of vegetation to built-up areas, influence the observed phenomenon. Spatial-temporal analysis of thermal comfort can be a valuable parameter for urban planning. Policymakers can utilize this information as a control mechanism to contribute to the creation of more livable cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal and microhabitat resources are two fundamental requirements that affect the life history of any ectotherm. Furthering our understanding of how reptilian species meet these ecological requirements is crucial for assessing the impact of environmental and anthropogenic changes on populations. Here, we explored some fundamental aspects of the thermal and microhabitat ecology of Conopsis biserialis, a small, burrowing, and endemic earthsnake of central Mexico. The study was conducted during the rainy season in a montane site disturbed by rural activities. The mean field body temperature (Tb) of C. biserialis was 26 ± 0.6 ºC. Field Tb did not differ significantly between sex and development stages. However, we found that Tb was positively correlated with substrate, air, and under-rock temperatures (Ts, Ta, and Tr) in the rural microhabitat. Regression analysis showed that substrate and under-rock temperatures (Ts and Tr) were the parameters that best explained Tb variability in the individuals. The temperature and relative humidity under shelter did not differ significantly among shelter types and/or rock sizes. In addition to these thermal traits, earthsnakes selected and utilized six common biotic and physical elements of the rural microhabitat. Most individuals used high proportions of large and medium rocks for sheltering, and these rocks were selected around crop fences and cleared grasslands where the soil can be either covered with low vegetation or bare. Our results suggest that, during the rainy season, individuals of C. biserialis use and select some biotic and structural resources of the rural microhabitats, and were capable of actively regulating their temperature by using shelters with high values of microclimatic homogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study area covers the Gülagaç district of Aksaray and its surroundings in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. The basement of the study area consists of metamorphic rocks belonging to the Paleozoic-Mesozoic-aged Kaman Group. Mesozoic-aged ophiolites overlie these rocks, and both are cut by Late Cretaceous-aged igneous rocks. These units were then overlain by Palaeocene-Quaternary-aged volcanic and sedimentary units. The region has important geological structures that have undergone polyphase deformation, especially in the Eocene units. As a result of these deformations, faults, fractures, folds and linearities were formed. These structures were compared with satellite-based tectonic lineaments, and it was observed that the general orientations of the lines determined in the field and the satellitebased lineaments were largely compatible. The results of this study can make an important contribution to the exploration of mineral and geothermal resources in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how pet owners in Ontario are now prioritizing affordable veterinary services when choosing a veterinarian, due to financial concerns caused by high food costs, gas prices, and mortgage payments. In the past, emotional factors were more important, but since the financial crisis in 2010, price has become the top consideration. Veterinary fees have only increased by 10% in the past two years, compared to higher increases in food and gas prices. In 2023, consumers faced financial difficulties due to COVID-19 savings depletion, high inflation rates, increased food prices, and soaring mortgage rates. The media wrongly attributed the higher cost of veterinary care to "Big Pharma" and "Big Vet" instead of acknowledging the impact of inflation. To make veterinary care more affordable, veterinarians can offer pet insurance, discounted pet food delivery, and monthly payment options for wellness plans. [Extracted from the article]

This article, titled "Predicting the Fundamental Thermal Niche of Ectotherms Under Climate Warming," discusses a mathematical approach developed to predict the thermal niche of ectotherms, which refers to the range of temperatures in which species can maintain viable populations. This approach allows for the prediction of habitat suitability for ectotherms under climate warming based solely on temperature responses of life-history traits, independent of population-level information. The study uses this approach to predict the niche overlap between two agricultural pests, the invasive bagrada bug and naturalized harlequin bug, in southern California. The article includes photographs of the bugs and their habitats. [Extracted from the article]

We introduce the thermosurvey dataset, a comprehensive collection focusing on the thermal comfort, heat-related experiences, health, socioeconomic status, and perceptions of older adults (aged 65 and over) in Warsaw and Madrid. The two cities differ greatly in their heat experiences, but due to climate change, both face increasing temperatures. The study aimed to understand how heat affects cities' older adult population and how we can better adapt to rising temperatures. We call the study a thermosurvey because it connects traditional survey data with temperature and humidity measurements done before, after and during the interview, offering a holistic view of the participants' thermal environments. The dataset can be used to better understand thermal comfort, the interplay of health and heat experiences, and the relationship between experiences and climate change views. We hope our data will enable scholars to analyse the impact of climate change on older adults and to develop strategies to help them adapt to a warming climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study pioneers a transformative approach to sustainable energy recovery, repurposing abandoned petroleum wells in the Nigerian Chad Basin as a triplet-deep closed-loop heat exchanger. We employed a computational numerical approach to designed two deep closed loop systems, which share a common production well, and to evaluate the thermal performance as well as its sustainability over a period of 25 years. The geometrical configuration consists of two injection wells, which converge to the common production one doubling the flow rate at surface and minimising the heat loss during the ascent of the fluid. The availability of detailed abandoned well specifications enabled us to constrain three-dimensional geological and thermal models of the undisturbed underground and, subsequently, to simulate numerically the production temperature and the thermal disturbance in the surrounding rocks. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis optimized the best operational design for total recovered thermal energy and uninterrupted heat recovery. When the deep close loop heat system operates with a fluid circulation rate of 0.03 m³s⁻1 and an injection temperature of 20 °C, it sustains a production temperature of over 100 °C, which generates total recovered thermal energy of 9730 TW th and 817 TW e over 25 years (9000 days). The average annual thermal and electricity productions of 389 TW th and 33 TW e , respectively, are more than the demand of the entire population of Magumeri district. The study's findings offer practical implications for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and local communities, emphasising the potential for socio-economic development while fostering environmental stewardship in the Nigerian Chad Basin. • Novel approach to developed three abandoned wells into deep borehole heat exchanger. • A comprehensive sensitivity analysis optimized the best operational design. • Periodic interchangeable operation between loop one and loop two is adopted. • Total recovered thermal energy of 9730 TWth was recovered • 817 TWe of electricity using geothermal binary plant was generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing dependence on fossil fuels is one of the critical factors accelerating climate change, a global concern that can destabilize ecosystems and economies worldwide. In this context, renewable energy is emerging as a sustainable and environmentally responsible alternative. Among the options, geothermal energy stands out for its ability to provide heat and electricity consistently and efficiently, offering a feasible solution to reduce the carbon footprint and promote more sustainable development in a globalized economy. In this work, a machine learning approach is proposed to predict the behavior of a horizontal heat exchanger from a bioclimatic house. First, a correlation analysis was conducted for optimal feature selection. Then, several regression techniques were applied to predict the output temperature of the geothermal exchanger. Satisfactory prediction results were obtained in different scenarios over the whole dataset. Also, a significant correlation between several sensors was concluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect increases surface and air temperatures, affecting urban health and well-being. A well-known UHI mitigation measure is the increased roadside tree vegetation facilitating evapotranspiration and shade. In its implementation, the identification of thermally optimal street tree configurations and a quantitative assessment of how various street tree configurations impact the roadside thermal environment were deemed essential and were chosen as the main aims of the study. Twelve tropical urban canyons were categorized into three clusters representative of different street tree placement and configuration scenarios. A control cluster devoid of any roadside trees was also selected. The CFD-based 3-D microclimate model 'ENVI-met' was used to identify suitable roadside urban tree planting scenarios for better microclimate regulation. From a tree planting scenario analysis done as part of the study, the greening scenario of using a 'Continuous tree row (Densely foliated – high Leaf Area Density - LAD)' tree configuration was recognized with the highest ambient temperature reduction of 1.41 °C. The study outcomes reveal that tree configuration of high LAD street trees placed in closer spacing contributes towards the better cooling effect of roadside environments and thus improves thermal comfort for warmer tropical climates of higher humidity levels. The study's findings offer valuable insights for urban planning professionals and policymakers involved in designing future cities and urban developments. They emphasize the importance of strategic tree-planting designs and configurations to enhance thermal comfort and livability in urban areas. This highlights the need to avoid ad-hoc procedures and instead prioritize well-planned roadside tree configurations within urban canyons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motors are critical components of the electromechanical transmission in vehicles, and its operating status directly affects the maneuverability of vehicles. To quickly and accurately identify the operating status of motors, this paper proposes a new entropy - Composite Multi-scale Weighted Reverse Slope Entropy (CMWRSlE) for motor fault diagnosis, which is a more interpretable entropy due to its deep exploration of signals. Firstly, the composite multi-scale weighted reverse slope entropy values are extracted from the vibration signals of the motor in different states; Secondly, the extracted features are dimensionally reduced by the manifold learning algorithm - Neighbourhood Preserving Embedding (NPE) and classified by the hierarchical prototype-based approach (HPA) to achieve the fault diagnosis of the motor. Finally, the method proposed in this paper is validated through two sets of experimental data: motor rotor faults and motor bearing faults. The results show that the accuracy of the proposed method in motor fault diagnosis reaches 100 %, which indicates the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's fast-changing power systems, it is vital to have a protection system that can distinguish between power swing and fault conditions. With advanced protective devices (Digital Relays), an appropriate protection strategy can be established to identify power swing and fault conditions individually. The proposed algorithm uses the sliding window concept, which requires very little computational data unless any abnormal conditions exist in the power system. Modified Full Cycle Discrete Fourier Transform (MFCDFT) is more effective in the extraction of the fundamental phasors from the original complex signal by effectively removing the harmonics and DC components. An adaptive impedance characteristic-based MFCDFT is utilized for the discrimination of power swing and fault in this work. Several fault scenarios and power swings are generated on the test system concurrently and independently from the relay station at varied distances. PSCAD/EMTDC is utilized on a single-machine infinite bus system to analyze various test conditions. The simulation is utilized in this case to collect data from various test circumstances. After obtaining the data, the MFCDFT algorithm along with adaptive impedance estimation is performed using MATLAB code. After examining various test results, it is discovered that the suggested technique correctly recognizes power swings and various fault scenarios. It can also identify the difference between stable and unstable power swings. According to the results, the proposed technique is proficient at spotting fault and power swing conditions. In addition, the algorithm ensures dependable operation with quick detection and avoids maloperation under a typical swing condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have revealed that mixotrophs can become more heterotrophic as the temperature rises, although these studies were primarily conducted under laboratory conditions with temperature-acclimated grazers. This study investigated the short-term thermal regulation of grazing and photosynthetic performance, measured in terms of the maximum relative electron transport rate (rETRmax), of natural Karenia brevis populations on cultured Synechococcus. Bloom waters were collected in Sarasota, Florida, during the fall of 2022. Synechococcus were inoculated into K. brevis bloom waters in varying ratios and incubated at an ambient temperature and an ambient temperature ±5 °C (19, 24, and 29 °C). In general, the grazing coefficient, clearance, and ingestion rates were higher in warmer waters, although ingestion rates were significantly regulated by the prey-to-grazer ratios and, to a lesser degree, by temperatures (22 to 204 Synechococcus K. brevis−1 d−1). Overall, the rETRmax of Synechococcus controls generally increased over time with a more substantial increase at warmer temperatures, but, in the presence of grazers, the rETRmax of Synechococcus did not increase, and, remarkably, even decreased in some cases. These findings suggest that grazing on Synechococcus could directly regulate Synechococcus concentrations and indirectly reduce the photosynthetic performance of prey. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that the thermal regulation of grazing and photosynthetic performance can occur on a short-term basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muskellunge are a valuable sportfish species which has been stocked throughout North America. Stocking is a strategy to generate angling opportunities by introducing species to waterbodies that otherwise would not have contained the fish, such as impoundments and reservoirs. Therefore, understanding the ways fish interact with different waterbodies is critical for managers to understand. To that end, we utilized a year‐long passive telemetry study with muskellunge in a reservoir known for its muskellunge angling. Additionally, we employed temperature loggers to track lake temperatures. We found that smaller female muskellunge were more resident at sites compared to similar‐sized males, although fish did not exhibit site‐specific preferences. We also found that fish moved high distances over the course of the year without time‐specific differences. Furthermore, we found evidence that muskellunge was selected for thermal refuges in the reservoir; however, in summer, when water temperatures were elevated, fish inhabited water, which has been shown to increase incidental mortality. The results of this study indicate a need for muskellunge managers, especially in reservoirs, to consider water temperature in angling regulations. Additionally, our results highlight a need for adding habitat structure in reservoirs and altering stocking densities of fish. Collectively, these results will help inform managers on muskellunge spatial interactions within a reservoir and achieve management goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid urbanization, many cities have experienced significant changes in land use and land cover (LULC), triggered urban heat islands (UHI), and increased the health risks of citizens' exposure to UHI. Some studies have recognized residents' inequitable exposure to UHI intensity. However, few have discussed the spatiotemporal heterogeneity in environmental justice and countermeasures for mitigating the inequalities. This study proposed a novel framework that integrates the population-weighted exposure model for assessing adjusted thermal comfort exposure (TCEa) and the spatiotemporal weighted regression (STWR) model for analyzing countermeasures. This framework can facilitate capturing the spatiotemporal heterogeneities in the response of TCEa to three specified land-surface and built-environment parameters (i.e., enhanced vegetation index (EVI), normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), and modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI)). Using this framework, we conducted an empirical study in the urban area of Fuzhou, China. Results showed that high TCEa was mainly concentrated in locations with dense populations and industrial regions. Although the TCEa's responses to various land-surface and built-environment parameters differed at locations over time, the TCEa illustrated overall negative correlations with EVI and MNDWI while positive correlations with NDBI. Many exciting spatial details can be detected from the generated coefficient surfaces: (1) The influences of NDBI on TCEa may be magnified, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas. Still, they diminish to some extent, which may be related to the reduction in building construction activities caused by the COVID-19 epidemic and the gradual improvement of urbanization. (2) The influences of EVI on TCEa decline, which may be correlated with the population increase. (3) Compared with NDBI, the MNDWI had more continuous and stable significant cooling effects on TCEa. Several mitigation strategies based on the spatiotemporal heterogeneous relationships also emanated. The effectiveness of the presented framework was verified. It can help analysts effectively evaluate local thermal comfort exposure inequality and prompt timely mitigation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban greenery is a strategy to improve the thermal environment in urban areas affected by heat islands and global warming. These phenomena can harm the citizens' quality of life. Researchers have investigated the thermal benefits of urban vegetation, but only a few have explored its complexities across diverse urban scales. Understanding these variations is critical for precise analysis, customized solutions, efficient resource allocation, and enhancing urban living quality while promoting sustainability and climate resilience. This paper reviews 250 scientific articles about the relationship between greenspace and the urban thermal environment published between 2010 and 2023 through urban scales. It summarizes the parameters and findings of greenery's contribution to cooling the urban environment. The data reveal that most studies concentrated on the block scale, public open spaces, neighborhoods, parks, grouped vegetation, mixed arrangements, high vegetation, spatial parameters, and the use of air temperature data to report their findings. The cooling-effect evidence shows that the block scale has an average mitigation range of 0.7–2.7 °C, the neighborhood scale of 1.1–2.9 °C, and the city scale of 0.5–2.2 °C. Furthermore, it is critical to define reliable research methods and perform thorough software validation to assess model performance and establish guidelines for urban-landscape design accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mediterranean spearfish (Tetrapturus belone) is a highly migratory predator, also exploited by commercial and recreational fisheries although its catches are poorly reported. The fishing pressure on this species is currently unknown because catch and landing data are fragmentary. Furthermore, more ecological information (e.g. migratory movements) is needed to establish eventual management measures, and ICCAT has not examined the population status yet. Understanding species migratory movements is crucial for addressing conservation challenges and supporting management decisions. In this study we investigated the migratory movements, seasonal patterns, vertical behavior, and thermal preference of T. belone, with the aim to improve information on its ecology and behavior. Overall, six individuals were tagged in the Strait of Messina and Tyrrhenian Sea with pop-up satellite tags and their movements were mainly restricted to the central Mediterranean. Utilization distributions derived from geolocation revealed an overall and seasonal importance of the Tyrrhenian Sea and Strait of Sicily, as well as variability in winter habitat use. While the fish exhibited similar depth preference, spending the majority of time at depths ≤ 10 m, we observed that the Mediterranean spearfish is also able to perform sporadic deep dives below 200 m. Vertical movement showed a bimodal pattern common in other billfish species, characterized by occupation of shallower, warmer waters during the night and deeper, cooler waters during the day. This research increases knowledge on the migration ecology and habitat preference of T. belone which is important for management of this understudied species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the theoretical foundation for developing renewable geothermal resources locally. For this reason, we pay attention to the role of communities in geothermal development. We derive it from the integral characteristics of geothermal energy next to the shift in the energy transition policies to focus on managing green resources locally. This study presents arguments for a framework that approaches geothermal resources as an endogenous factor of community development. To analyse it, we create a model that explains the local economic characteristics of geothermal exploitation beyond its geological conditions. It aims to conceptualise a community-based geothermal development standard referring to the endogeneity principle. Geothermal energy is given attention since the characteristics of this resource determine its use locally. This induces the internalisation of labour and technology in the local economic system, a specific condition for local geothermal projects where a community remains a prime beneficiary. We argue that the role of communities in geothermal exploitation is pivotal in the process of green growth for further expansion of geothermal energy use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrestrial geothermal springs are physicochemically diverse and host abundant populations of Archaea. However, the diversity, functionality, and geological influences of these Archaea are not well understood. Here we explore the genomic diversity of Archaea in 152 metagenomes from 48 geothermal springs in Tengchong, China, collected from 2016 to 2021. Our dataset is comprised of 2949 archaeal metagenome-assembled genomes spanning 12 phyla and 392 newly identified species, which increases the known species diversity of Archaea by ~48.6%. The structures and potential functions of the archaeal communities are strongly influenced by temperature and pH, with high-temperature acidic and alkaline springs favoring archaeal abundance over Bacteria. Genome-resolved metagenomics and metatranscriptomics provide insights into the potential ecological niches of these Archaea and their potential roles in carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, and hydrogen metabolism. Furthermore, our findings illustrate the interplay of competition and cooperation among Archaea in biogeochemical cycles, possibly arising from overlapping functional niches and metabolic handoffs. Taken together, our study expands the genomic diversity of Archaea inhabiting geothermal springs and provides a foundation for more incisive study of biogeochemical processes mediated by Archaea in geothermal ecosystems. Here, Qi et al. assembled ~3000 archaeal genomes from hot springs, capturing temporal dynamics and environmental diversity, and systematically explored functional niches and metabolic handoffs, shedding light on Archaea's role in biogeochemical cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on the development of a scaled-down model for an enclosed vertical-type composting facility designed to efficiently manage space and odors. Through thermal environment monitoring, we observed that the temperature rose to 67 °C on the first day of composting and gradually decreased to 28.9 °C as the composting progressed. Temperature variations based on height were analyzed by dividing the facility into layers. The validation of the model was conducted by comparing actual measurements with model data using contour maps, resulting in a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.8, indicating the high reliability of the model. The findings demonstrated the effectiveness of the model in identifying and addressing issues in enclosed vertical-type composting facilities. Furthermore, it is anticipated that the model, which analyzes thermal environments, can be applied to automated operation systems for enhanced efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban heat island assessment is of paramount importance when monitoring microclimate changes, increased heat stress, mortality and energy consumption. Simply analysing land surface temperature patterns for human comfort and health assessment is often inadequate. In this study, we attempt to resolve this inadequacy with ambient temperature modelling from multiple surface characteristics for a tropical megacity. A 336 datapoint‐based multilinear regression model was formulated to predict the maximum summer air temperature with a mean absolute error of 0.694°C. Specific locations of critical thermal environments were demarcated with Getis‐Ord statistic. Based on our results, extreme hotspots covered 10.53 per cent of the city on a daily basis at 99 per cent confidence level. The application of an outdoor thermal comfort index highlighted the existence of very strong heat stress zones over 14.67 per cent of the study area. The air temperature hotspots were verified with intra‐urban variation in carbon sequestration. This environmental parameter was used to strengthen the observed results since, carbon sequestration directly links urbanization with degradation of thermal environments. Further, five urban morphological parameters were analysed to conclude that building density and height were the most significant urban design factors leading to increased air temperature. Simultaneous local climate zone mapping depicted that heat islands were dominated by mid and high‐rise built‐up areas, of which 68.44 km2 of that area is suitable for vertical and roof gardening. Another 33.29 km of road stretch was delineated within low‐rise built‐up areas with scope for green landscaping to improve urban sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate warming is predicted to increase mean temperatures and thermal extremes on a global scale. Because their body temperature depends on the environmental temperature, ectotherms bear the full brunt of climate warming. Predicting the impact of climate warming on ectotherm diversity and distributions requires a framework that can translate temperature effects on ectotherm life‐history traits into population‐ and community‐level outcomes. Here we present a mechanistic theoretical framework that can predict the fundamental thermal niche and climate envelope of ectotherm species based on how temperature affects the underlying life‐history traits. The advantage of this framework is twofold. First, it can translate temperature effects on the phenotypic traits of individual organisms to population‐level patterns observed in nature. Second, it can predict thermal niches and climate envelopes based solely on trait response data and, hence, completely independently of any population‐level information. We find that the temperature at which the intrinsic growth rate is maximized exceeds the temperature at which abundance is maximized under density‐dependent growth. As a result, the temperature at which a species will increase the fastest when rare is lower than the temperature at which it will recover from a perturbation the fastest when abundant. We test model predictions using data from a naturalized–invasive interaction to identify the temperatures at which the invasive can most easily invade the naturalized's habitat and the naturalized is most likely to resist the invasive. The framework is sufficiently mechanistic to yield reliable predictions for individual species and sufficiently broad to apply across a range of ectothermic taxa. This ability to predict the thermal niche before a species encounters a new thermal environment is essential to mitigating some of the major effects of climate change on ectotherm populations around the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissolved inorganic carbon has been hypothesized to stimulate microbial chemoautotrophic activity as a biological sink in the carbon cycle of deep subsurface environments. Here, we tested this hypothesis using quantitative DNA stable isotope probing of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) at multiple 13C-labeled bicarbonate concentrations in hydrothermal fluids from a 750-m deep subsurface aquifer in the Biga Peninsula (Turkey). The diversity of microbial populations assimilating 13C-labeled bicarbonate was significantly different at higher bicarbonate concentrations, and could be linked to four separate carbon-fixation pathways encoded within 13C-labeled MAGs. Microbial populations encoding the Calvin–Benson–Bassham cycle had the highest contribution to carbon fixation across all bicarbonate concentrations tested, spanning 1–10 mM. However, out of all the active carbon-fixation pathways detected, MAGs affiliated with the phylum Aquificae encoding the reverse tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) pathway were the only microbial populations that exhibited an increased 13C-bicarbonate assimilation under increasing bicarbonate concentrations. Our study provides the first experimental data supporting predictions that increased bicarbonate concentrations may promote chemoautotrophy via the rTCA cycle and its biological sink for deep subsurface inorganic carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately analyzing the spatio-temporal pattern of impervious surface areas (ISA) and its effect on thermal environments is crucial in urban development planning. This research was aimed to explore the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics and correlation of ISA and land surface temperature (LST) in the built-up areas of Hefei from 2002 to 2017. LST and ISA data were retrieved using radiative transfer equations and the Biophysical Composition Index (BCI), respectively, and their relationship was quantitatively analyzed using multiple model regression. We found that from 2002 to 2017, the total ISA increased by 181.32 km2 and expanded from the central to the surrounding area. The Shushan and Baohe districts had the largest expansion area and intensity, respectively. Although the mean value, extreme value, and standard deviation of LST tended to decrease, the proportion of sub-high and high-temperature areas increased considerably. The ISA and LST showed a strong quadratic function relationship, with R2>0.68. LST increased with increasing ISA BCI value, and the average increase in LST was >1℃ for every 0.1 increase in the BCI value of ISA. Our findings can be valuable for urban planning and construction and promote the sustainable development of urban ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality‐related fault detection has become a hot research topic in recent years. It is not reliable to measure quality‐related relationships only by mutual information among process variables and single‐quality variables. Frequent alarms for quality‐unrelated faults seriously affect the normal operation of industrial production. At the same time, the strong nonlinearity of the process data leads to the difficulty of feature extraction. In this paper, we propose a fault detection algorithm based on nonlinear quality‐related neighborhood embedding neural orthogonal mapping (QR‐NENOM). First, quality‐related and quality‐unrelated variables are selected by Bayesian fusion mutual information, and the weighted method of mutual information is used to enhance the quality‐related information and suppress the quality‐unrelated information. Second, local manifold information is obtained by reconstructing nearest neighbors of process data, and key features are extracted by the nonlinear method composed of neural network and orthogonal mapping. Then, statistical indicators are established to complete fault detection. Finally, the nonlinear feature extraction ability of NENOM is verified by numerical examples, and the QR‐NENOM algorithm proposed in this paper is applied to the penicillin fermentation process. Comparative experiments show that QR‐NENOM has better detection performance for quality‐related faults and fewer alarms for quality‐unrelated faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian geothermal springs are found predominantly in the Himalayan region and are characterized by high temperatures, acidic or alkaline pH, and high mineral content. The unique combination of these factors provides a niche for the survival and proliferation of a wide range of microbial organisms. More than 400 unique geothermal springs have been reported segregated into different groups. Studies conducted by employing culture dependent and independent methodologies revealed the presence of diverse microbial communities, including Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Cyanobacteria. These microorganisms have evolved unique adaptations to withstand the harsh conditions of the springs. The microbial diversity of Indian geothermal springs is not only fascinating from an ecological perspective but also holds great potential for biotechnological applications such as the ability to produce enzymes, pigments, bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass and heavy metal removal. These metabolic properties have attracted the attention of researchers for various applications, including the development of novel therapeutics, industrial enzymes, and bioremediation agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep‐sea hydrothermal vents host exceptional ecosystems with lush animal communities primarily relying on organic matter (OM) produced by chemoautotrophic microbes. Though energy sources and food webs at vents have been extensively studied, the exact carbon sources of chemosynthetic primary production, such as methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in the vent fluid or bottom water, have not been elucidated quantitatively across spatial scales. Here, we investigate carbon and nitrogen sources of 12 vent animal species at the Iheya North field, Okinawa Trough inhabiting different distances from the central venting area and with various feeding ecologies using natural‐abundance radiocarbon (Δ14C) in combination with conventional stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N). Our results show that generally, animals living closer to vent orifices were more depleted in 14C, indicating they assimilate more carbon from vent fluid CO2. Those relying on methanotrophs, however, exhibited low Δ14C values regardless of distance due to the lack of methane in the non‐vent‐influenced bottom water. Organisms with low Δ14C values also tend to exhibit low δ15N values, implying NH4+ assimilation into biomass in environments with high NH4+ concentrations. Our results demonstrate that 14C can clearly distinguish between chemoautotrophically fixed carbon originating from the vent fluid and detrital OM derived from surface primary production, and also discriminate between CO2‐ and CH4‐based chemoautotrophy. Although vent animals rely on vent fluid energetically, our results highlight that the dependency on vent fluids as carbon source varies greatly depending on habitat, as well as carbon fixation pathways of microbial primary producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiant cooling floors combined with ventilation systems have been widely applied in large space buildings. However, there has been a lack of research on system control strategies for their adaptation to weather changes. This study aimed to find control strategies for radiant cooling floors combined with displacement ventilation systems used in large space buildings in order to achieve energy conservation and environmental improvement. Supply air temperature and cooling surface temperature were determined to be the control variables. It was found that cooling capacity of the combined system and the comfort index, PMV (predicted mean vote), were linear in relation to the supply air temperature and cooling surface temperature. The linear equations regarding cooling capacity and PMV were established separately using environment data, and then the optimal region was determined. A case study on Terminal 3 of Xi'an Xianyang International Airport was conducted. The thermal environment was investigated through on-site measurements, questionnaires, and numerical simulations with CFD (computational fluid dynamics). It was found that supply air temperature and cooling surface temperature had a significant impact on PMV, and less impact on the cooling capacity. Therefore, it was determined that the supply air temperature should be altered first when the indoor temperature exceeds the upper limit, and then the cooling surface temperature should be changed if the indoor environment continues to overheat with the supply air temperature set to 18 °C. Thus, the supply air temperature was kept at 18 °C, and the floor surface temperature was set to be 22 °C on a high-temperature day. The average PMV was 0.87, and the cooling capacity of the combined system was 200 W/(m2·K), according to the CFD simulation. In addition, the surface heat transfer coefficient of the cooling floor was found to be 10.26 W/(m2·K). This research provides important references for the design and operational management of radiant cooling floors in large space buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mammals in arid zones have to trade off thermal stress, predation pressure, and time spent foraging in a complex thermal landscape. We quantified the relationship between the environmental heat load and activity of a mammal community in the hot, arid Kalahari Desert. We deployed miniature black globe thermometers within the existing Snapshot Safari camera trap grid on Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa. Using the camera traps to record species' activity throughout the 24‐h cycle, we quantified changes in the activity patterns of mammal species in relation to heat loads in their local environment. We compared the heat load during which species were active between two sites with differing predator guilds, one where lion (Panthera leo) biomass dominated the carnivore guild and the other where lions were absent. In the presence of lion, prey species were generally active under significantly higher heat loads, especially during the hot and dry spring. We suggest that increased foraging under high heat loads highlights the need to meet nutritional requirements while avoiding nocturnal activity when predatory pressures are high. Such a trade‐off may become increasingly costly under the hotter and drier conditions predicted to become more prevalent as a result of climate change within the arid and semi‐arid regions of southern Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As demands for the quality of living environments increase, thermal comfort in furniture design is garnering attention. Studies indicate that furniture should not only meet basic functional and aesthetic requirements but also influence indoor thermal environments and interact with human thermal exchanges, which are crucial for optimizing living comfort. This research aims to explore how thermal comfort in furniture design can be integrated with the building thermal environment to enhance indoor comfort and energy efficiency. Existing studies predominantly focus on surface treatments of furniture, with a lack of comprehensive analysis on the material's contact thermal sensation, the thermal properties of furniture, and their performance under varying building thermal conditions. Addressing this gap, this paper proposes a comprehensive research framework consisting of three main components: first, analyzing the impact of the building thermal environment on furniture thermal comfort; second, designing furniture with consideration for material's contact temperature sensation; and finally, developing furniture heat release rate curves suitable for different building thermal environments. This series of studies not only enhances the scientific and practical aspects of furniture design but also provides new theories and methods for the field of architectural design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dispersal is a crucial component of species' responses to climate warming. Warming‐induced changes in species' distributions are the outcome of how temperature affects dispersal at the individual level. Yet, there is little or no theory that considers the temperature dependence of dispersal when investigating the impacts of warming on species' distributions.Here I take a first step towards filling this key gap in our knowledge. I focus on ectotherms, species whose body temperature depends on the environmental temperature, not least because they constitute the majority of biodiversity on the planet. I develop a mathematical model of spatial population dynamics that explicitly incorporates mechanistic descriptions of ectotherm life history trait responses to temperature. A novel feature of this framework is the explicit temperature dependence of all phases of dispersal: emigration, transfer and settlement.I report three key findings. First, dispersal, regardless of whether it is random or temperature‐dependent, allows both tropical and temperate ectotherms to track warming‐induced changes in their thermal environments and to expand their distributions beyond the lower and upper thermal limits of their respective climate envelopes. In the absence of dispersal mortality, warming does not alter these new distributional limits.Second, an analysis based solely on trait response data predicts that tropical ectotherms should be able to expand their distributions polewards to a greater degree than temperate ectotherms. Analysis of the dynamical model confirms this prediction. Tropical ectotherms have an advantage when moving to cooler climates because they experience lower within‐patch and dispersal mortality, and their higher thermal optima and maximal birth rates allow them to take advantage of the warmer parts of the year. Previous theory has shown that tropical ectotherms are more successful in invading and adapting the temperate climates than vice versa. This study provides the key missing piece, by showing how temperature‐dependent dispersal could facilitate both invasion and adaptation.Third, dispersal mortality does not affect the poleward expansion of ectotherm distributions. But, it prevents both tropical and temperate ectotherms from maintaining sink populations in localities that are too warm to be viable in the absence of dispersal. Dispersal mortality also affects species' abundance patterns, causing a larger decline in abundance throughout the range when species disperse randomly rather than in response to thermal habitat suitability. In this way, dispersal mortality can facilitate the evolution of dispersal modes that maximize fitness in warmer thermal environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to investigate the factors that contribute to brittleness and to identify strategies for mitigating these factors in populations with varying degrees of thermal vulnerability, based on the potential impact of extreme heat exposure on human survival and habitability. The physiological condition of lower adaptability to high temperature environments and the assessment of individuals who may have higher tolerance time in high temperature environments based on spatial perspectives suggest the need for targeted spatial optimization strategies for commuters and disadvantaged populations. This is demonstrated through a case study. These optimization measures encompass a variety of aspects, including the integration of transportation systems, the expansion of grey space corridors, the improvement of green space layout, and the implantation of green infrastructure. The study aims to reduce the exposure time of thermally vulnerable individuals to high temperature environments through spatial optimization strategies, to enhance the resilience of urban green spaces to heat stress, and to reduce the probability of heat-wave occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nocturnal temperatures are increasing at a pace exceeding diurnal temperatures in most parts of the world. The role of warmer nocturnal temperatures in animal ecology has received scant attention and most studies focus on diurnal or daily descriptors of thermal environments' temporal trends. Yet, available evidence from plant and insect studies suggests that organisms can exhibit contrasting physiological responses to diurnal and nocturnal warming. Limiting studies to diurnal trends can thus result in incomplete and misleading interpretations of the ability of species to cope with global warming. Although they are expected to be impacted by warmer nocturnal temperatures, insufficient data are available regarding the night‐time ecology of vertebrate ectotherms. Here, we illustrate the complex effects of nocturnal warming on squamate reptiles, a keystone group of vertebrate ectotherms. Our review includes discussion of diurnal and nocturnal ectotherms, but we mainly focus on diurnal species for which nocturnal warming affects a period dedicated to physiological recovery, and thus may perturb activity patterns and energy balance. We first summarise the physical consequences of nocturnal warming on habitats used by squamate reptiles. Second, we describe how such changes can alter the energy balance of diurnal species. We illustrate this with empirical data from the asp viper (Vipera aspis) and common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis), two diurnal species found throughout western Europe. Third, we make use of a mechanistic approach based on an energy‐balance model to draw general conclusions about the effects of nocturnal temperatures. Fourth, we examine how warmer nights may affect squamates over their lifetime, with potential consequences on individual fitness and population dynamics. We review quantitative evidence for such lifetime effects using recent data derived from a range of studies on the European common lizard (Zootoca vivipara). Finally, we consider the broader eco‐evolutionary ramifications of nocturnal warming and highlight several research questions that require future attention. Our work emphasises the importance of considering the joint influence of diurnal and nocturnal warming on the responses of vertebrate ectotherms to climate warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]