Land degradation: Addressing the vulnerability of local people through the lens of transformative change.

Land degradation (LD) is driven by many factors resulting from the intricate interplay between natural and socio-economic systems, which adds dynamism and complexity to this phenomenon. The study highlights LD as a source of social vulnerability in the Baragan Plain (Romania), often called the "granary of Europe" due to its century-long history of industrial crop production. We explore the community's perceptions of vulnerability due to LD and the community-based solutions to sustainable transformations through governance using a community-based causal-effect analysis (CBCEA).

Development and psychometric validation of a brief scale to measure environmental perception based on the 2-major environmental values model in adolescents and adults.

Background: The worldwide ecological crisis, including global climate change, is leading to increased awareness and attitudes towards environmental problems. To address these problems, studies of human attitudes are needed. This study is based on the 2-Major Environmental Values (2-MEV) model, which measures two components of environmental attitudes: Preservation and Utilization.

Differential Behavioral Pathways Linking Personality to Leadership Emergence and Effectiveness in Groups.

This study integrates leadership process models with process models of personality and behavioral personality science to examine the behavioral-perceptual pathways that explain interpersonal personality traits' divergent relation to group leadership evaluations. We applied data from an online group interaction study ( = 364) alternately assigning participants as leaders conducting brief tasks. We used four variable types to build the pathways in multiple mediator models: (a) Self-reported personality traits, (b) video recordings of expressed interpersonal behaviors coded by 6 trained raters, (c) interpersonal impressions, and (d) mutual evaluations of leadership emergence/effectiveness.

Tree size distribution as the stationary limit of an evolutionary master equation.

The diameter distribution of a given species of deciduous trees is well approximated by a Gamma distribution. Here we give new experimental evidence for this conjecture by analyzing deciduous tree size data in mature semi-natural forest and ancient, traditionally managed wood-pasture from Central Europe. These distribution functions collapse on a universal shape if the tree sizes are normalized to the mean value in the considered sample.

Vascular Effects, Potential Pathways and Mediators of Fetal Exposure to Alcohol and Cigarette Smoking during Pregnancy: A Narrative Review.

(1) Background: Programming of atherosclerosis results in vascular structure and function alterations, which may be attributed to fetal exposure to maternal tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and several lifestyle factors in the first few years of life. This review aims to study the effects of teratogen exposure in utero on vascular dysfunction in offspring and consider mediators and pathways originating from the fetal environment. (2) Methods: Eligible studies were identified in the PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases.

Selection of Indicator Bird Species as a Baseline for Knowledge Assessment in Biodiversity Survey Studies.

The loss of Earth's biodiversity is accompanied by a loss of public knowledge about species. Many scientists are convinced that knowledge about species is an important prerequisite to interest and investment in species conservation. In the past, knowledge about species has mostly been assessed using birds, but there is no consensus on which birds could serve as a baseline for knowledge about species in the general public.

Psychological restoration depends on curiosity, motivation, and species richness during a guided bird walk in a suburban blue space.

Urban and suburban green and blue spaces are important places for human recreation, and the impact of biodiversity on psychological and recalled restoration has received much attention. This study addresses the relationship between bird species richness and restoration in a controlled field experiment (guided bird walk) applying a battery of individual trait scales (need for cognition, personality) as predictors of restoration. We found a significant positive relationship between the number of bird species present and recalled restoration.

Using Species Knowledge to Promote Pro-Environmental Attitudes? The Association among Species Knowledge, Environmental System Knowledge and Attitude towards the Environment in Secondary School Students.

Scientists and conservationists suggest species knowledge as a possible starting point when it comes to creating deeper knowledge and awareness of nature, the environment, and biodiversity. The aim of this work was to analyze secondary school students' species knowledge of vertebrates and invertebrates. This is one of the first studies that also draws on invertebrates.

Associations between the implementation of telework strategies and job performance: Moderating influences of boundary management preferences and telework experience.

Boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic, more than ever, an organization's success depends on its teleworkers' performance. However, little attention has been paid to the individual strategies implemented by teleworkers to achieve goals such as drawing boundaries between work- and private-life, working task-oriented and productively, and keeping social contact. We collected quantitative survey data of 548 teleworkers indicating their implementation of 85 telework strategies derived from scientific literature and popular media (e.

The traditional ecological knowledge conundrum.

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is gaining prominence among ecologists because it can help inform ecosystem management. Yet, sometimes TEK is maintained not because of positive values about the environment, but because of poverty and a lack of options. We discuss this conundrum and present hypotheses for future research.

Are Lay People Able to Estimate Breeding Bird Diversity?

Studies about biodiversity and well-being used different approaches to assess biodiversity, e.g., scientific counts and censuses or perceived biodiversity estimated by the respondents.

Effect of maternal cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy on birth weight and cardiometabolic risk factors in infants, children and adolescents: a systematic review protocol.

Introduction: Tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy are particularly prevalent in low socioeconomic status populations, with an adverse association with birth outcomes and cardiometabolic risk factors. However, the direct and indirect effects of prenatal cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy on cardiometabolic risk in offspring have been rather inconsistent. This may be attributed to multiple factors, such as the amount and timing of exposure to tobacco smoking and alcohol during pregnancy; the influence of maternal, environmental and socioeconomic factors; or how risk factors were defined by individual researchers and studies.

Tracing back variations in archaeal ESCRT-based cell division to protein domain architectures.

The Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport (ESCRT) system is a multi-protein machinery that is involved in cell division of both Eukaryotes and Archaea. This spread across domains of life suggests that a precursor ESCRT machinery existed already at an evolutionary early stage of life, making it a promising candidate for the (re)construction of a minimal cell division machinery. There are, however, only few experimental data about ESCRT machineries in Archaea, due to high technical challenges in cultivation and microscopy.

Evaluation of Potential Sustainable Bedding Substrates Focusing on Preference, Behavior, and Stress Physiology in Rats-A Pilot Study.

Ensuring optimal housing conditions for laboratory animals is a crucial prerequisite for high-quality and ethically justifiable in vivo science. In addition to guaranteeing animal welfare and promoting scientific validity, environmental sustainability is also increasingly gaining attention in laboratory animal facilities. Consequently, comprehensive management of such aspects is one of the core tasks of any research vivarium.

Governance networks around grasslands with contrasting management history.

Romanian grasslands have high nature value, being among the most important biodiversity hotspots at the European level. The European Union Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) contradicts the Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 objectives by hindering coordinated grassland governance and collaboration among the involved actors. At the European level, few attempts have been made in creating conceptual strategies for implementing conservation measures in a multi-actor and multi-scale governance setting.

Functional Modules of Minimal Cell Division for Synthetic Biology.

Cellular reproduction is one of the fundamental hallmarks of life. Therefore, the development of a minimal division machinery capable of proper genome condensation and organization, mid-cell positioning and segregation in space and time, and the final septation process constitute a fundamental challenge for synthetic biology. It is therefore important to be able to engineer such modules for the production of artificial minimal cells.

Liquid and Dry Swabs for Culture- and PCR-Based Detection of Colonization with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus during Admission Screening.

Rapid detection of methicillin-resistant (MRSA) colonization status facilitates isolation and decolonization and reduces MRSA infections. Liquid but not dry swabs allow fully automated detection methods. However, the accuracy of culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using liquid and dry swabs has not been analyzed.

Who is researching biodiversity hotspots in Eastern Europe? A case study on the grasslands in Romania.

European farmlands are vital arenas for socio-ecological sustainability because of their significant land coverage and potential for integrating food production with biodiversity conservation. The knowledge produced by scientific research is a critical ingredient in developing and implementing socio-economically and ecologically sustainable management strategies for farming landscapes. The grasslands of Europe have been managed for millennia.

Temperature-sensitive protein expression in protocells.

We engineered a synthetic temperature regulation toolbox to enable protocells to sense and respond to heat, utilizing RNA thermometers. The thermo-sensitive protocells were generated by encapsulating temperature feedback transcription/translation machinery in droplets. Based on these temperature-sensing devices, the protocells can be operated with logic AND gates, differentially processing temperature stimuli into biological signals.

Mainstreaming human and large carnivore coexistence through institutional collaboration.

Achieving coexistence between large carnivores and humans in human-dominated landscapes (HDLs) is a key challenge for societies globally. This challenge cannot be adequately met with the current sectoral approaches to HDL governance and an academic community largely dominated by disciplinary sectors. Academia (universities and other research institutions and organizations) should take a more active role in embracing societal challenges around conservation of large carnivores in HDLs by facilitating cross-sectoral cooperation to mainstream coexistence of humans and large carnivores.

Navigating protected areas networks for improving diffusion of conservation practices.

The Natura 2000 protected area network is the cornerstone of European Union's biodiversity conservation strategy. These protected areas range across multiple biogeographic regions, and they include a diversity of species assemblages along with a diversity of managing organizations, altogether making difficult to pool relevant sites to facilitate the flow of knowledge significant to their management. Here we introduce an approach to navigating protected area networks that has the potential to foster systematic identification of key sites for facilitating the exchange of knowledge and diffusion of information within the network.

Light-Induced Printing of Protein Structures on Membranes in Vitro.

Reconstituting functional modules of biological systems in vitro is an important yet challenging goal of bottom-up synthetic biology, in particular with respect to their precise spatiotemporal regulation. One of the most desirable external control parameters for the engineering of biological systems is visible light, owing to its specificity and ease of defined application in space and time. Here we engineered the PhyB-PIF6 system to spatiotemporally target proteins by light onto model membranes and thus sequentially guide protein pattern formation and structural assembly in vitro from the bottom up.

A social-ecological analysis of ecosystem services supply and trade-offs in European wood-pastures.

Wood-pastures are complex social-ecological systems (SES), which are the product of long-term interaction between society and its surrounding landscape. Traditionally characterized by multifunctional low-intensity management that enhanced a wide range of ecosystem services (ES), current farm management has shifted toward more intensive farm models. This study assesses the supply of ES in four study areas dominated by managed wood-pastures in Spain, Sweden, and Romania.

Abundance of large old trees in wood-pastures of Transylvania (Romania).

Wood-pastures are special types of agroforestry systems that integrate trees with livestock grazing. Wood pastures can be hotspots for large old tree abundance and have exceptional natural values; but they are declining all over Europe. While presence of large old trees in wood-pastures can provide arguments for their maintenance, actual data on their distribution and abundance are sparse.

Sparse trees and shrubs confers a high biodiversity to pastures: Case study on spiders from Transylvania.

The integration of food production and biodiversity conservation represents a key challenge for sustainability. Several studies suggest that even small structural elements in the landscape can make a substantial contribution to the overall biodiversity value of the agricultural landscapes. Pastures can have high biodiversity potential.