Understanding and applying biological resilience, from genes to ecosystems.

The natural world is under unprecedented and accelerating pressure. Much work on understanding resilience to local and global environmental change has, so far, focussed on ecosystems. However, understanding a system's behaviour requires knowledge of its component parts and their interactions.

Healthcare-related carbon footprinting-lower impact of a coronary stenting compared to a coronary surgery pathway.

Healthcare is a major generator of greenhouse gases, so consideration of this contribution to climate change needs to be quantified in ways that can inform models of care. Given the availability of activity-based financial data, environmentally-extended input-output (EEIO) analysis can be employed to calculate systemic carbon footprints for healthcare activities, allowing comparison of different patient care pathways. We thus quantified and compared the carbon footprint of two common care pathways for patients with stable coronary artery disease, with similar clinical outcomes: coronary stenting and coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG).

Temporal trends (1972-2017) and spatial differences of persistent halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons in osprey eggs in Finland.

Time trends and regional differences of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and -furans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), DDTs, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenylethers (BDEs) were studied in unhatched osprey eggs collected by bird ringers in 1972-2017 from four areas in Finland. Two study areas were from Baltic Sea, Northern Quark and Finnish Archipelago Sea, while the two others were inland lake areas, eutrophicated Lake Vanajanselkä affected by industrial emissions, and Pristine SW Lake Area. The highest concentrations of most compound groups were in Lake Vanajanselkä consistent with high emissions, the predominance of bream as a prey, and higher concentrations in bream compared to other prey fish.

Dynamic evaluation of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle combined with a PCM storage tank for improving condenser performance.

In this study, a vapor compression refrigeration cycle integrated with a phase change material (PCM) storage tank has been dynamically simulated over a 24-h period. The primary objective of this system is to reduce electric energy consumption during on-peak hours (12:00-19:00) and shift it to off-peak hours (1:00-10:00). During off-peak hours, the vapor compression refrigeration system stores cooling energy in the PCM storage tank.

Microplastics originated from agricultural mulching films affect enchytraeid multigeneration reproduction and soil properties.

Microplastics (MPs) are increasingly entering agricultural soils, often from the breakdown of agricultural plastics (e.g., mulching films).

Female-biased sex ratios and delayed puberty in two fish species with different Ecologies in an Anthropogenically affected urban lake.

In aquatic ecosystems, endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) pose a growing concern for their potential adverse effects on fish reproduction and development. In lake Pyhäjärvi, located in the urban boreal region of Tampere, Finland, a significant number of sexually immature pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) individuals have been identified in size and age categories that are expected to be sexually mature. To explore if this phenomenon is attributed to estrogenic endocrine disruption, we conducted a comprehensive study comparing fish from lake Pyhäjärvi with those from a nearby reference lake, lake Näsijärvi.

Incorporating citizen science into IUCN Red List assessments.

Many citizen scientists are highly motivated to help address the current extinction crisis. Their work is making valuable contributions to protecting species by raising awareness, identifying species occurrences, assessing population trends, and informing direct management actions, such as captive breeding. However, clear guidance is lacking about how to use existing citizen science data sets and how to design effective citizen science programs that directly inform extinction risk assessments and resulting conservation actions based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria.

Milk vetch returning combined with lime materials alleviates soil cadmium contamination and improves rice quality in soil-rice system.

Milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus L.) returning and lime materials is employed as an effective strategy for remediating cadmium (Cd)-contaminated paddy fields. However, the combined effects of them on alleviating Cd pollution and the underlying mechanisms remain poorly explored.

Comparing spatial differences in behavioral pattern transition of Black-tailed gull during post breeding season in the Korean peninsula.

Parents adjust their foraging effort according to the chick and their own body condition and dual foraging strategy is one of the foraging tactics parents replenish their own reserves while feeding their chicks. During the post-breeding season, seabirds disperse to recover their own body condition and prepare for the next breeding season. Recently, we discovered Black-tailed gulls (Larus crassirostris) breeding around the Korean Peninsula occasionally foraging long trips during the late fledging, however, our understanding of the behavioral patterns of Black-tailed gulls during the late fledging and post-breeding, as well as its inter-colonial differences, remains considerably limited.

Recovery of antimony from acidic and alkaline leaching solution of low-grade antimony ore by electrowinning process.

With regards to the global continuous growth in consumption of base metals such as antimony (Sb), mining companies are currently looking to improve the productivity and extraction of Sb from low grade ore in order to economically process it. With this aim, in this study, an efficient protocol was developed to recover metallic Sb from the low grade FeSiO(OH). SbO(OH).

Trends in mercury, lead and cadmium concentrations in 27 European streams and rivers: 2000-2020.

Temporal trends for concentrations of mercury (Hg), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) were evaluated from year 2000-2020 in 20 (Hg), 23 (Pb) and 11 (Cd) watercourses in remote forest catchments in Europe. Decreasing trends were observed in 15% (Hg), 39% (Pb) and 45% (Cd) of the watercourses during the period of evaluation. Decreasing trends were mainly observed between 2000 and 2005 for Hg and between 2000 and 2015 for Pb and Cd.

Ecological phage therapy: Can bacteriophages help rapidly restore the soil microbiome?

Soil microbiota underpin ecosystem functionality yet are rarely targeted during ecosystem restoration. Soil microbiota recovery following native plant revegetation can take years to decades, while the effectiveness of soil inoculation treatments on microbiomes remains poorly explored. Therefore, innovative restoration treatments that target soil microbiota represent an opportunity to accelerate restoration outcomes.

A travel time matrix data set for the Helsinki region 2023 that is sensitive to time, mode and interpersonal differences, and uses open data and novel open-source software.

Travel times between different locations form the basis for most contemporary measures of spatial accessibility. Travel times allow to estimate the potential for interaction between people and places, and is therefore a vital measure for understanding the functioning, sustainability, and equity of cities. Here, we provide an open travel time matrix dataset that describes travel times between the centroids of all cells in a grid (N = 13,132) covering the metropolitan area of Helsinki, Finland.

Urban metabolic and airway immune profiles increase the risk of infections in early childhood.

Background: Infections in childhood remain a leading global cause of child mortality and environmental exposures seem crucial. We investigated whether urbanicity at birth was associated with the risk of infections and explored underlying mechanisms.

Methods: Children (n=633) from the COPSAC mother-child cohort were monitored daily with symptom diaries of infection episodes during the first 3 years and prospectively diagnosed with asthma until age 6 years.

Source Attribution of Health Burdens From Ambient PM, O, and NO Exposure for Assessment of South Korean National Emission Control Scenarios by 2050.

We quantify anthropogenic sources of health burdens associated with ambient air pollution exposure in South Korea and forecast future health burdens using domestic emission control scenarios by 2050 provided by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Our health burden estimation framework uses GEOS-Chem simulations, satellite-derived NO, and ground-based observations of PM, O, and NO. We estimate 19,000, 3,300, and 8,500 premature deaths owing to long-term exposure to PM, O, and NO, respectively, and 23,000 NO-associated childhood asthma incidences in 2016.

Rethinking fish-friendliness of pumps by shifting focus to both safe and timely fish passage for effective conservation.

Globally, catadromous freshwater eels of the genus Anguilla are of conservation concern, including critically endangered European eel (Anguilla anguilla). Pumping stations that move river water to a higher elevation severely impact eels during their seaward spawning migration. Fish-friendly pumps can mitigate fish injury and mortality but here we uniquely rethink a fish-friendly pump as a fish passage solution.

A first look into moss living tardigrades in boreal peatlands.

Tardigrades (Tardigrada) are a phylum of micrometazoans found in all biomes on Earth, but their ecology and habitat preferences remain vastly understudied. Boreal peatlands include a diversity of habitat types and high structural heterogeneity that represents an interesting system to study some of the poorly known habitat preferences of tardigrades. Here, we investigate for the first time tardigrade communities in peatland mosses and the latter's potential associations with key environmental variables.

Elucidating Uncertainty in Heat Vulnerability Mapping: Perspectives on Impact Variables and Modeling Approaches.

Heat vulnerability maps are vital for identifying at-risk areas and guiding interventions, yet their relationship with health outcomes is underexplored. This study investigates the uncertainty in heat vulnerability maps generated using health outcomes and various statistical models. We constructed vulnerability maps for 167 municipalities in Korea, focusing on the mild and severe health impacts of heat waves on morbidity and mortality.

The Emu Bay Shale: A unique early Cambrian Lagerstätte from a tectonically active basin.

The Emu Bay Shale (EBS) of South Australia is anomalous among Cambrian Lagerstätten because it captures anatomical information that is rare in Burgess Shale-type fossils, and because of its inferred nearshore setting, the nature of which has remained controversial. Intensive study, combining outcrop and borehole data with a compilation of >25,000 fossil specimens, reveals that the EBS biota inhabited a fan delta complex within a tectonically active basin. Preservation of soft-bodied organisms in this setting is unexpected and further underscores differences between the EBS and other Cambrian Lagerstätten.