Estimating the magnitude and risk associated with heat exposure among Ghanaian mining workers.

Many occupational settings located outdoors in direct sun, such as open cut mining, pose a health, safety, and productivity risk to workers because of their increased exposure to heat. This issue is exacerbated by climate change effects, the physical nature of the work, the requirement to work extended shifts and the need to wear protective clothing which restricts evaporative cooling. Though Ghana has a rapidly expanding mining sector with a large workforce, there appears to be no study that has assessed the magnitude and risk of heat exposure on mining workers and its potential impact on this workforce.

Construct validity and invariance assessment of the social impacts of occupational heat stress scale (SIOHSS) among Ghanaian mining workers.

Heat exposure studies over the last decade have shown little attention in assessing and reporting the psychometric properties of the various scales used to measure impacts of occupational heat stress on workers. A descriptive cross-sectional survey including 320 small- and large-scale mining workers was employed to assess the construct validity of the social impacts of occupational heat stress scale (SIOHSS) in the Western Region of Ghana in 2017. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and invariance analysis were carried out using AMOS version 25 and statistical product and service solutions (SPSS) version 26 to examine the model fit and establish consistency correspondingly across multiple groups (gender, age, working hours, type of mining and workplace setting).

Pollen adaptation to ant pollination: a case study from the Proteaceae.

Background And Aims: Ant-plant associations are widely diverse and distributed throughout the world, leading to antagonistic and/or mutualistic interactions. Ant pollination is a rare mutualistic association and reports of ants as effective pollinators are limited to a few studies. Conospermum (Proteaceae) is an insect-pollinated genus well represented in the south-western Australia biodiversity hotspot, and here we aimed to evaluate the role of ants as pollinators of C.

Barriers to occupational heat stress risk adaptation of mining workers in Ghana.

Increasing temperature and climate warming impacts are aggravating the vulnerability of workers to occupational heat stress. Adaptation and social protection strategies have become crucial to enhance workers' health, safety, productive capacity and social lives. However, the effective implementation of work-related heat stress adaptation mechanisms appears to be receiving little attention.

Floral display and habitat fragmentation: Effects on the reproductive success of the threatened mass-flowering (Proteaceae).

Fragmentation of natural vegetation is currently one of the largest threats to plant populations and their interactions with pollinators. Plant reproductive susceptibility to habitat fragmentation has been investigated in many species; however, the response of wild mass-flowering species is poorly known, with research limited to mainly boreal plant species.Here, we studied twelve remnant populations of the threatened mass-flowering shrub in the southwest Australian biodiversity hotspot, each presenting different population size, level of isolation, and floral display.

Isolation, characterization, and cross-amplification of 20 microsatellite markers for (Proteaceae).

Premise: Recent habitat fragmentation is posing a risk to the wavy-leaved smokebush, (Proteaceae), a rare plant species endemic to southwestern Western Australia. Microsatellite markers are required to characterize the genetic diversity and structure of the species for conservation purposes and to facilitate ecological studies.

Methods And Results: Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing was used to develop 20 novel microsatellite markers for .

The nexus between social impacts and adaptation strategies of workers to occupational heat stress: a conceptual framework.

Adverse effects of occupational heat stress in the context of the changing climate on working populations are subtle but considerably harmful. However, social dimensions and impacts of climate change-related occupational heat concerns on workers' safety and health, productivity and well-being are often overlooked or relegated as minor issues in social impact analyses of occupational heat exposure due to climate change. This paper offers a conceptual framework based on an appraisal and synthesis of the literature on social impacts of climate change-related occupational heat exposure on workers' safety and health, productivity and social welfare and the quest to localise and achieve sustainable development goals.

Perceptions of climate change and occupational heat stress risks and adaptation strategies of mining workers in Ghana.

Heavy physical workload for long hours coupled with increasing workplace heat exposure due to rising temperatures stemming from climate change, especially where there are inadequate prevention and control policies, adversely affect workers' health and safety, productive capacity and social well-being. However, variations in workers' concerns and awareness of occupational heat stress and climate change risks impede the effectiveness of heat stress management. A mixed method approach was used to assess climate change perceptions and occupational heat stress risks and adaptation strategies of Ghanaian mining workers.

Climate change and occupational heat stress risks and adaptation strategies of mining workers: Perspectives of supervisors and other stakeholders in Ghana.

Increasing air temperatures as a result of climate change are worsening the impact of heat exposure on working populations, including mining workers, who are at risk of suffering heat-related illnesses, injury and death. However, inadequate awareness of climate change-related occupational heat stress risks and adaptation strategies have been shown to render occupational heat stress management ineffective. A concurrent mixed-methods approach was used to assess the perceptions of climate change and occupational heat stress risks and adaptation strategies of mining workers among supervisory personnel and other stakeholders in Ghana.

Social impacts of occupational heat stress and adaptation strategies of workers: A narrative synthesis of the literature.

Dimensions of risks and impacts of occupational heat stress due to climate change on workers' health and safety, productivity, and social well-being are significantly deleterious. Aside from empirical evidence, no systematic review exists for policy development and decision making in managing occupation heat stress impacts and adaptation strategies of workers. This study sought to synthesise evidence on the social impacts of occupational heat stress and adaptation strategies of workers.

Incorporating Field Studies into Species Distribution and Climate Change Modelling: A Case Study of the Koomal Trichosurus vulpecula hypoleucus (Phalangeridae).

Species distribution models (SDMs) are an effective way of predicting the potential distribution of species and their response to environmental change. Most SDMs apply presence data to a relatively generic set of predictive variables such as climate. However, this weakens the modelling process by overlooking the responses to more cryptic predictive variables.