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1. Introduction The Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia, feeds about one-third of the population of China. In the summer 2022, the Yangtze River valley (YRV) was hit by [...]

Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) simulations suggest that the extremely warm August over the Tibetan Plateau in 2022 could not occur without human influences, which corresponds to a new normal during 2070-2100., 1. Introduction The Tibetan Plateau is the highest and largest plateau on Earth, and there are plentiful glaciers and cold-environment animals, plants, and infrastructures (e.g., the Qinghai-Tibet railway). Anomalously high [...]

Introduction External causes of injury, including transportation-related injuries, self-harm, falls, and other injuries, are significant causes of death, particularly among young and middle-aged individuals. (1-3) According to the global burden [...], BACKGROUND: Although ambient temperature has been linked with injury incidence, there have been few nationwide studies to quantify the temperature-related risk and burden of cause-specific injury hospitalizations. Additionally, the impact of human-induced climate change to injury burden remains unknown. OBJECTIVES: Our objectives are to examine the associations between ambient temperature and injury hospitalizations from various causes and to quantify the contribution of human-induced warming to the heat-related burden. METHODS: We collected injury hospitalization data from a nationwide hospital-based registry in China during 2000-2019. Using a time-stratified case-crossover design, we investigated the associations between daily mean temperature ([degrees]C) and cause-specific injury hospitalizations. We also quantified the burden of heat-related injuries under the scenarios with and without anthropogenic forcing, using the Detection and Attribution Model Intercomparison Project to assess the contribution of human-induced warming. RESULTS: Our study included a total of 988,087 patients with hospitalization records for injuries. Overall, compared to the temperature at minimum risk of hospitalization (--12.1[degrees]C), the relative risk of hospitalization at extreme hot temperature (30.8[degrees]C, 97.5th percentile) was 1.18 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14, 1.22], with an approximately linear association between temperature and hospitalization. Vulnerability to heat-related injuries was more pronounced among males, young ( DISCUSSION: This nationwide study presents new evidence of significant associations between temperature and cause-specific injury hospitalizations in China and highlights the increasing contribution of human-induced warming to the injury burden. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP14057

In February 2024, an international scientific committee voted against creating a new geologic time period called the Anthropocene. The move, coming after two decades of debate, dashed the hopes of [...]

Coffee. Whether early in the morning or during a late afternoon break, its smell can evoke a sense of relaxation, invigoration, or camaraderie. But too much of a good thing [...]

Recent scholarly publications on African literature discuss the African environment and the need to 'naturalize' it as if the continent's environment is not or has not been 'natural.' By looking at only recent written African literature and not studying African oral literatures, the works on environmentalism have missed important parts of what the African creative mind has done before later postcolonial writers started. It is this gap that this essay on udje, an African oral poetic genre, is used to fill. This essay looks at how African oral poets made use of land that embraces bush/forests and water with its resources to express the congenial relationship between human and nonhuman beings. The physical environment becomes a repository of tropes to express human relationships and existential ideas. Oral literatures such as udje expressed a complementarity that newer literary works lack and so should be studied for a holistic environmental condition and solution., INTRODUCTION Udje, the oral poetry tradition of Nigeria's Urhobo people, serves as an artistic medium of understanding the symbiotic relationship between human and nonhuman beings toward their respective mutual sustainability. [...]

In Kuwait, declining native vegetation cover due to prevailing arid conditions and severe anthropogenic disturbances necessitated undertaking revegetation programs. Seed sowing and outplanting of nursery-grown seedlings are the two major plant establishment methods commonly used all around the world. However, the success of plant establishment methods may vary between the species as well as between the methods. Therefore, we compared the effect of sowing of primed or non-primed seeds and outplanting of nursery-grown seedlings on field performance of four dominant native desert species of Kuwait: Vachelliapachyceras, Rhanterium epapposum, Farsetia aegyptia, and Haloxylon salicornicum for 22 months to find the best method for revegetation in arid conditions. A significant species and treatment interaction effect was observed in all plant parameters except plot volume index. Direct sowing of hydro-primed seeds appeared to be the most effective method for establishment and growth of V. pachyceras. In contrast, outplanting of nursery-grown seedlings showed better performance under the field conditions in H. salicornicum and F. aegyptia. These results suggest that direct sowing of primed seeds can also be used effectively along with seedling outplanting for the revegetation of arid lands. Key words: planting method, ecological restoration, arid land, desert ecosystem, seed-based restoration, outplanting, Introduction The native vegetation in Kuwait has progressively disappeared from the desert landscape due to excessive anthropogenic disturbances, uncontrolled grazing and soil, and environmental degradation (Brown 2002, 2003). The natural [...]

Haul-out sites of harbor seals, Phoca vitulina Linnaeus, 1758, include areas with high levels of anthropogenic noise. In some cases, seals haul out at night when there are lower in-air noise levels. However, it is unclear whether there are additional responses to noise pollution. To determine potential impacts of anthropogenic noise on haul-out behavior, we compared numbers of hauled-out harbor seals relative to in-air noise levels at two sites in Washington state, USA--one close to human activities (Bellingham waterfront) and one more distant (Semiahmoo marina)--between July 2020 and August 2021. We used generalized linear mixed models to identify predictors of seal numbers. The marina had lower mean noise levels than the waterfront (39.7 [+ or -] SD 6.1 dB, n = 29 observations versus 51.2 [+ or -] SD 5.2 dB, n = 126 observations). The plotted model prediction showed a significantly negative association between noise and seals at the marina, and no association was found at the waterfront. Results indicate that in-air noise levels may influence seal numbers at sites where human activities are low. They also suggest that, besides hauling out at night, seals may become tolerant to in-air noise levels at sites where human activities are high. Key words: harbor seal, Phoca vitulina, anthropogenic noise, haul-out behavior, Salish Sea, Introduction Human settlements are very common along coastlines; worldwide, over 37% of humans live [less than or equal to]100km from the seacoast, a percentage that continues to increase (United Nations [...]

This project in southern Chile's Lake Region analysed late Pleistocene human-- environment interactions. Two field seasons in 2020 and 2022 provided a new lithic collection dating to around 17 300--12 800 cal BP, which indicates human presence in north-western Patagonia prior to the Younger Dryas period. Key words: Late Pleistocene, Homo sapiens, lithic technology, early peopling of the Americas, Introduction The timing of when humans arrived in South America, specifically north-western Patagonia (40[degrees]--44[degrees]S), is subject to ongoing debate and research. Archaeological evidence and palaeogenetic studies suggest human presence between […]

Biting flies can strongly influence the behaviour of their hosts, for example, there is evidence that some species may avoid harassment by reducing their locomotory activity. We tested the hypothesis that potential hosts can reduce their attraction to deer flies by remaining stationary--that reducing locomotory movement reduces exposure to new deer flies compared to remaining still. During early summer in central Ontario, Canada, we conducted 20-min trials where a human host either walked or sat quietly; tabanids were captured and counted each minute using a hat outfitted with a sticky trap. During 10 trials in each treatment, we captured a total of 868 deer flies, all in the genus Chrysops; the total capture while walking was nearly five-fold greater than while sitting. During trials, the change in catch rate also differed with host activity. While the host was sitting, the mean rate of capture declined rapidly (-16% per min) to nearly zero by 20 min. In contrast, while the host was walking, this decline was much more gradual (-5% per min); after 20 min, the catch rate remained nearly constant, at roughly half the initial rate. These results are consistent with the hypothesis. Key words: Tabanidae, Chrysops, biting fly harassment, deer fly, ungulate, Introduction Harassment by biting flies can cause distress to their large mammal hosts (Raponi et al. 2018) by disrupting behaviour (Downes et al. 1986; Morschel and Klein 1997; Witter et [...]

Over 200 health journals call on the United Nations, political leaders, and health professionals to recognise that climate change and biodiversity loss are one indivisible crisis and must be tackled [...]

The feeding ecology of two populations of the sea anemone Bunodosoma zamponii Gomes, Schama & Sole-Cava 2012 living under different anthropogenic pressures in the coast of Mar del Plata (Buenos Aires, Argentina) was studied. One population was located in Las Delicias (LD; an impacted site adjacent to a wastewater treatment plant) and another in Punta Cantera (PC; the reference site). Both populations of sea anemones were monitored for 2 years and their trophic ecology was analyzed. The mytilid Brachidontes rodriguezii (d'Orbigny, 1842) was the main item found throughout all seasons. Prey diversity was highest in PC during autumn and lowest during winter for both sites. Prey abundance was lower in LD during autumn and summer. Additionally, prey items were larger in PC during autumn, winter, and summer. Item capture probability in autumn was significantly lower in LD. Altogether, the results indicate that the diet of Bunodosoma zamponii differed significantly between sites and such differences varied throughout the year. Most of the differences occurred during autumn and winter, which correspond with a greater concentration of organochlorine pesticides, chlorpyrifos, and polychlorinated biphenyls in anemones from LD registered in previous studies. Overall, this study provides significant knowledge on the feeding ecology of Bunodosoma zamponii that complements the existing information and will provide meaningful insight into the current status of this anemone's populations. Key words: feeding ecology, multivariate analysis, coastal environment, marine pollution, sea anemone, Bunodosoma zamponii, Introduction Coastal regions represent the transition between the terrestrial and marine environments, and have been key to the development of humanity (Stewart et al. 2008). Intertidal zones are naturally challenging [...]

The composition of North American communities is changing due to anthropogenic land-use alteration. Mammalian mesopredators' ability to consume anthropogenic trash due to their generalist diet has been referenced to partially explain their success in altered landscapes as they spread northward. We evaluated this assumption using carbon isotope values ([delta][.sup.13]C) of the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana (Kerr, 1792)), a mesopredator expanding its range. [delta][.sup.13]C values increase from consumption of [C.sub.4] plants, including corn, a common food additive in North America. Opossum hairs from the Midwestern U.S. and Northeast were evaluated using generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to compare the predictive performances between winter harshness variables and anthropogenic variables. We also evaluated [delta][.sup.13]C values through time to test if the temporal pattern of increased corn additives is mirrored in northern opossums. The best-performing GLMM included year and percentage corn fields as positive covariates. Variance in [delta][.sup.13]C values increased exclusively in the 'cornbelt' Midwest after 1970. [delta][.sup.13]C values compared across space and time bolster evidence for the influence of agricultural development on the opossum's range expansion. Key words: agriculture, Didelphis virginiana, diet, generalist, mesopredator, range expansion, stable isotopes, urbanization, Virginia opossum, Introduction Range expansions are often conspicuous consequences of climate change or land-use alteration (e.g., Garroway et al. 2011; Taulman and Robbins 2014; Hody and Kays 2018). In addition to documenting [...]

Various branches of current ecocriticism are exploring ways of dismantling or at least diminishing dominant anthropocentric ways of evaluating the relationships among humans, the non-human world, and the literary imagination. Critical Animal Studies, Critical Plant Studies, and multispecies ecocriticism endeavour to re-evaluate the roles, even agency, of non-human life, as represented in literary works. This article unpacks the depiction of plants in three early South African travelogues (1795-1836), illuminating the sources of some enduring assumptions and iconic imageries in our relations with the natural world. KEYWORDS South Africa, travelogues, Critical Plant Studies, ecocriticism, Francois Le Vaillant, Anders Sparrman, Nathaniel Isaacs, On 9 February 1782, the French traveller and ornithologist Francois Le Vaillant reached the locality of a Dutch settler-farmer named Mulder, established in the Outeniqua region of the Southern Cape. [...]

Technical Guidance from the US National Marine Fisheries Service recommends Federal agencies use estimated thresholds for peak sound pressure levels and weighted cumulative sound exposure levels for the onset of permanent (and temporary) hearing threshold shifts in marine mammals. These dual metrics were developed to inform impact assessments within the US legal landscape. Despite its merits, the Technical Guidance contains uncertainties due to limited data on marine mammal hearing and auditory response to noise. The underlying assumptions about how representative existing data are for all marine mammal species also create limitations in the applicability of the Technical Guidance. These limitations warrant consideration before the Technical Guidance can be applied effectively in other jurisdictions with different legal standards. Using the Canadian legal framework as a working example, we found that many Canadian species are underrepresented in the dataset informing the Technical Guidance. The Technical Guidance also does not address all relevant noise impact types. Thus, the Technical Guidance alone cannot address all Canadian legal standards and, if the Technical Guidance is incorporated, some adjustments to the criteria within may be needed to meet the precautionary requirements of many Canadian legal standards. Key words: noise, marine mammals, stress, behavioural responses, impact, Canada, Background and context Marine mammals are highly adapted to sending and receiving acoustic signals within the aquatic environment as sound is their primary sensory mode. They use acoustic signals to [...]

The greatest driver of the current biodiversity crisis is habitat loss. Roads are a major contributor to habitat loss because they destroy and fragment habitat, in addition to causing direct mortality. Animals may respond to roads either by avoiding them, thus leading to population isolation, or by attempting to cross them, thus potentially leading to increased mortality and, if so, also to population isolation. We studied the impact of road density on abundance of two snake species: redbelly snakes (Storeria occipitomaculata Storer, 1839) and garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis Linnaeus, 1758) around Ottawa, Canada. We hypothesized that roads are detrimental to snake populations due to road avoidance and mortality. Therefore, we predicted that snakes should be less abundant at sites with higher road density in their surroundings. We deployed cover boards at 28 sites along a gradient of road density in 2020 and 2021. We visited sites weekly, counted the number of individuals of both species, and measured snout-vent length (SVL) of all individuals captured. We captured fewer garter snakes at sites surrounded by more roads and fewer redbelly snakes at sites surrounded by more urban habitat. Snakes at sites surrounded by more roads were not smaller. The effects of roads and urbanization on the number of snakes were modest, but indicate decreasing population sizes that could lead to loss of ecological function. Key words: anthropogenic land use, road ecology, garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, redbelly snake, Storeria occipitomaculata, 1 Introduction The greatest driver of global biodiversity loss is anthropogenic land use (Pimm and Raven 2000; Sala et al. 2000; Thomas et al. 2004; Didham et al. 2005; Valiente-Banuet [...]

The emergence of monumentality in the Maya lowlands has been linked to political complexity. But how did the emergence of these monuments relate to changing human-environment interactions? Here, the author proposes that Maya monumentality embodies traditional ecological knowledge, or TEK. Taking the example of Tzacauil, the gathering of fieldstone for the preparation of land for cultivation is connected to agricultural intensification and the florescence of monumentality in the Late and Terminal Formative period (300 BC-AD 250). Exploration of the relationships between monumental traditions and localised TEK practices may illuminate the entanglement of complexity, subsistence and human-environment interactions in other parts of the world. Keywords: Mesoamerica, Maya Lowlands, Formative period, monumentality, traditional ecological knowledge, urban agriculture, Introduction In his brilliant exploration of subterranean worlds, Underland, the British nature writer Rob Macfarlane (2019: 138) observes that 'All cities are additions to a landscape that require subtraction from [...]

As the global population increases, the expansion of road networks has led to the destruction and disturbance of terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Road-related stressors have significant effects on both lotic and lentic habitats. While there are several systematic reviews that evaluate the effects of roads on lotic environments, there are none that consider their effects on lentic habitats only. We conducted a literature review to achieve two objectives: (1) to summarize the effects of roads on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of lentic environments; and (2) to identify biases and gaps in our current knowledge of the effects of roads on lentic habitats, so that we could find promising areas for future research. Our review found 172 papers published between 1970 and 2020. The most frequently studied stressors associated with roads included road salt and heavy metal contamination (67 and 43 papers, respectively), habitat fragmentation (37 papers), and landscape change (14 papers). These stressors can lead to alterations in conductivity and chloride levels, changes in lake stratification patterns, increases in heavy metal concentrations in water and organisms, and significant mortality as amphibians disperse across roadways. We also identified a variety of other stressors that may be understudied based on their frequency of appearance in our search results, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, road dust, increased accessibility, hydrological changes, noise pollution, dust suppressants, sedimentation, invasive species introductions, and water withdrawal. Our review indicated that there are strong geographic biases in published studies, with 57.0% examining North American sites and 30.2% examining European sites. Furthermore, there were taxonomic biases in the published literature, with most studies focusing on amphibians (41.7%), fish (15.6%), and macroinvertebrates (14.6%), while few considered zooplankton (8.3%), diatoms (7.3%), amoebas (5.2%), water birds (3.1%), reptiles (2.1%), and macrophytes (1.0%). Based on our review, we have identified promising areas for future research for each of the major stressors related to roadways. However, we speculate that rectifying the geographic and taxonomic bias of our current knowledge could significantly advance our understanding of the impacts of roads on lentic environments, thereby better informing environmental management of these important habitats. Key words: lakes, ponds, roads, lentic, habitat, anthropogenic stress Avec l'augmentation de la population mondiale, l'expansion des reseaux routiers a entraine la destruction et la perturbation des habitats terrestres et aquatiques. Les facteurs de stress lies aux routes ont des effets importants sur les habitats lotiques et lentiques. Alors que plusieurs revues systematiques evaluent les effets des routes sur les environnements lotiques, aucune ne considere leurs effets sur les habitats lentiques uniquement. Les auteurs ont effectue une revue de la litterature pour atteindre deux objectifs : (1) resumer les effets des routes sur les proprietes physiques, chimiques et biologiques des milieux lentiques; et (2) identifier les biais et les lacunes des connaissances actuelles quant aux effets des routes sur les habitats lentiques afin de trouver des domaines prometteurs pour les recherches futures. Leur examen a permis de repertorier 172 articles publies entre 1970 et 2020. Les facteurs de stress associes aux routes les plus frequemment etudies sont le sel de deneigement et la contamination par les metaux lourds (67 et 43 articles respectivement), la fragmentation de l'habitat (37 articles) et la modification du paysage (14 articles). Ces facteurs de stress peuvent entrainer des modifications de la conductivite et des niveaux de chlorure, des changements dans les patrons de stratification des lacs, des augmentations des concentrations de metaux lourds dans l'eau et les organismes, et une mortalite significative lorsque les amphibiens se dispersent sur les routes. Ils ont egalement identifie une variete d'autres facteurs de stress qui peuvent etre sous-etudies en fonction de leur frequence d'apparition dans leurs resultats de recherche, notamment les hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques, la poussiere des routes, l'accessibilite accrue, les changements hydrologiques, la pollution sonore, les depoussierants, la sedimentation, l'introduction d'especes envahissantes et le retrait de l'eau. Leur examen a indique qu'il existe de forts biais geographiques dans les etudes publiees, 57,0 % d'entre elles portant sur des sites nord-americains et 30,2 % sur des sites europeens. De plus, il existe des biais taxonomiques dans la litterature publiee, la plupart des etudes se concentrant sur les amphibiens (41,7 %), les poissons (15,6 %) et les macroinvertebres (14,6 %), tandis que peu d'entre elles consideraient le zooplancton (8,3 %), les diatomees (7,3 %), les amibes (5,2 %), les oiseaux aquatiques (3,1 %), les reptiles (2,1 %) et les macrophytes (1,0 %). Sur la base de cet examen, ils ont identifle des domaines prometteurs pour la recherche future pour chacun des principaux facteurs de stress lies aux routes. Cependant, ils supposent que la rectification des biais geographiques et taxonomiques des connaissances actuelles pourrait faire progresser de maniere significative notre comprehension des impacts des routes sur les environnements lentiques, et ainsi mieux eclairer les decision en matiere de gestion environnementale de ces habitats importants. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : lacs, etangs, routes, lentique, habitat, stress anthropique, 1 Introduction The Earth currently contains over 21 million km of roads, and models predict that several million more km will be constructed by the year 2050 (Meijer et al. [...]