The impact of labour market disruptions and transport choice on the environment during COVID-19.

Since late 2019, COVID-19 has devastated the global economy, with indirect implications for the environment. As governments' prioritized health and implemented measures such as the closure of non-essential businesses and social distancing, many workers have lost their jobs, been furloughed, or started working from home. Consequently, the world of work has drastically transformed and this period is likely to have major implications for mobility, transportation and the environment.

Effects of elevated CO on competition between native and invasive grasses.

Elevated atmospheric CO concentration increases the performance of invasive plants relative to natives when grown in monoculture, but it is unclear how that will affect the relative competitive abilities per se of invasive and native grasses grown together. We tested competitive outcomes for four native and four invasive perennial C3 and C4 grasses under ambient (390 ppm) and elevated (700 or 1000 ppm) CO concentrations in the greenhouse with non-limiting water and nutrients. We predicted that elevated CO would increase the competitive suppression of native grasses by invasive grasses.

Effects of elevated CO2 on photosynthetic traits of native and invasive C3 and C4 grasses.

Background: Rising CO2 is expected to result in changes in plant traits that will increase plant productivity for some functional groups. Differential plant responses to elevated CO2 are likely to drive changes in competitive outcomes, with consequences for community structure and plant diversity. Many of the traits that are enhanced under elevated CO2 also confer competitive success to invasive species, and it is widely believed that invasive species will be more successful in high CO2.

Thermal Tolerances of the Spotted-Wing Drosophila Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae).

The spotted-wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii Matsumura) is an invasive species of Asian origin that is now widely distributed in North America and Europe. Because of the female’s serrated ovipositor, eggs are laid in preharvest fruit, causing large economic losses in cultivated berries and stone fruit. Modeling D.

Development, reproductive output and population growth of the fruit fly pest Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) on artificial diet.

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is a fruit pest of Asian origin that invaded North America in 2008. Despite the widespread economic impact of this species, much of the biology and general life history of this pest remains largely unknown. Under optimal laboratory conditions (22 degrees C, approximately 25% relative humidity), we measured development, survival, fecundity, hatch rate, and sex ratio of a North American ecotype of D.

Transcript profiling of fructan biosynthetic pathway genes reveals association of a specific fructosyltransferase isoform with the high sugar trait in Lolium perenne.

Lolium perenne cultivars with elevated levels of fructans in leaf blades (high sugar-content grasses) have been developed to improve animal nutrition and reduce adverse environmental impacts of pastoral agricultural systems. Expression of the high sugar trait can vary substantially depending on genotype×environment (G×E) interactions. We grew three potential high sugar-content and a control cultivar in three temperature regimes and quantified water soluble carbohydrates (WSCs) and the expression of all functionally characterised L.

Metabolite analysis of the effects of elevated CO2 and nitrogen fertilization on the association between tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) and its fungal symbiont Neotyphodium coenophialum.

Atmospheric CO2 is expected to increase to between 550 ppm and 1000 ppm in the next century. CO2-induced changes in plant physiology can have ecosystem-wide implications and may alter plant-plant, plant-herbivore and plant-symbiont interactions. We examined the effects of three concentrations of CO2 (390, 800 and 1000 ppm) and two concentrations of nitrogen fertilizer (0.

A meta-analytical review of the effects of elevated CO2 on plant-arthropod interactions highlights the importance of interacting environmental and biological variables.

We conducted the most extensive meta-analysis of plant and animal responses to elevated CO(2) to date. We analysed > 5000 data points extracted from 270 papers published between 1979 and 2009. We examined the changes in 19 animal response variables to the main effect of elevated CO(2).

Leatherback turtles: the menace of plastic.

The leatherback, Dermochelyscoriacea, is a large sea turtle that feeds primarily on jellyfish. Floating plastic garbage could be mistaken for such prey. Autopsy records of 408 leatherback turtles, spanning 123 years (1885-2007), were studied for the presence or absence of plastic in the GI tract.