XIS-Temperature: A daily spatiotemporal machine-learning model for air temperature in the contiguous United States.

The challenge of reconstructing air temperature for environmental applications is to accurately estimate past exposures even where monitoring is sparse. We present XGBoost-IDW Synthesis for air temperature (XIS-Temperature), a high-resolution machine-learning model for daily minimum, mean, and maximum air temperature, covering the contiguous US from 2003 through 2023. XIS uses remote sensing (land surface temperature and vegetation) along with a parsimonious set of additional predictors to make predictions at arbitrary points, allowing the estimation of address-level exposures.

Distinct morphological drivers of jumping and maneuvering performance in gerbils.

Theoretically, animals with longer hindlimbs are better jumpers, while those with shorter hindlimbs are better maneuverers. Yet experimental evidence of this relationship in mammals is lacking. We compared jump force and maneuverability in a lab population of Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus).

Running on Fumes: An Analysis of Fine Particulate Matter's Impact on Finish Times in Nine Major US Marathons, 2003-2019.

Background: Under controlled conditions and in some observational studies of runners, airborne fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM) is associated with exercise performance decrements.

Objective: To assess the association between event-day fine particulate matter air pollution (PM) and marathon finish times.

First direct measurements of the nitrogen isotopic composition of vehicle tailpipe-emitted NH and implications for the source apportionment of NH in urban atmosphere.

The introduction of three-way catalytic converter (TWC) to meet stringent vehicular NO emission standards worldwide has led to an unintended consequence of vehicle-derived ammonia (NH) emission, which might degrade air quality and affect human health, especially in urban areas. The nitrogen stable isotope composition of NH (δN-NH) may be a useful tool to trace NH sources, but the isotopic signature of vehicle-emitted NH is lacking. Here we report the δN-NH measured from tailpipe exhausts collected directly from 19 different vehicles equipped with TWC using "grab" sample technique optimized to avoid isotopic fractionation.

Climate emotions, thoughts, and plans among US adolescents and young adults: a cross-sectional descriptive survey and analysis by political party identification and self-reported exposure to severe weather events.

Background: Climate change has adverse effects on youth mental health and wellbeing, but limited large-scale data exist globally or in the USA. Understanding the patterns and consequences of climate-related distress among US youth can inform necessary responses at the individual, community, and policy level.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive online survey was done of US youth aged 16-25 years from all 50 states and Washington, DC, between July 20 and Nov 7, 2023, via the Cint digital survey marketplace.

The Role of Geography, Diet, and Host Phylogeny on the Gut Microbiome in the Hawaiian Honeycreeper Radiation.

The animal gut microbiome can have a strong influence on the health, fitness, and behavior of its hosts. The composition of the gut microbial community can be influenced by factors such as diet, environment, and evolutionary history (phylosymbiosis). However, the relative influence of these factors is unknown in most bird species.

Residential segregation and summertime air temperature across 13 northeastern U.S. states: Potential implications for energy burden.

High ambient summertime temperatures are an increasing health concern with climate change. This is a particular concern for minoritized households in the United States, for which differential energy burden may compromise adaptive capacity to high temperatures. Our research question was: Do minoritized groups experience hotter summers than the area average, and do non-Hispanic white people experience cooler summers? Using a fine-scaled spatiotemporal air temperature model and U.

Body size modulates the extent of seasonal diet switching by large mammalian herbivores in Yellowstone National Park.

Prevailing theories about animal foraging behaviours and the food webs they occupy offer divergent predictions about whether seasonally limited food availability promotes dietary diversification or specialization. Emphasis on how animals compete for food predominates in work on the foraging ecology of large mammalian herbivores, whereas emphasis on how the diversity of available foods generally constrains dietary opportunity predominates work on entire food webs. Reconciling predictions about what promotes dietary diversification is challenging because species' different body sizes and mobilities modulate how they seek and compete for resources-the mechanistic bases of common predictions may not pertain to all species equally.

Rare and highly destructive wildfires drive human migration in the U.S.

The scale of wildfire impacts to the built environment is growing and will likely continue under rising average global temperatures. We investigate whether and at what destruction threshold wildfires have influenced human mobility patterns by examining the migration effects of the most destructive wildfires in the contiguous U.S.

Increasing intensity of enterovirus outbreaks projected with climate change.

Pathogens of the enterovirus genus, including poliovirus and coxsackieviruses, typically circulate in the summer months suggesting a possible positive association between warmer weather and transmission. Here we evaluate the environmental and demographic drivers of enterovirus transmission, as well as the implications of climate change for future enterovirus circulation. We leverage pre-vaccination era data on polio in the US as well as data on two enterovirus A serotypes in China and Japan that are known to cause hand, foot, and mouth disease.

Experimental evidence of climate change extinction risk in Neotropical montane epiphytes.

Climate change is conjectured to endanger tropical species, particularly in biodiverse montane regions, but accurate estimates of extinction risk are limited by a lack of empirical data demonstrating tropical species' sensitivity to climate. To fill this gap, studies could match high-quality distribution data with multi-year transplant experiments. Here, we conduct field surveys of epiphyte distributions on three mountains in Central America and perform reciprocal transplant experiments on one mountain across sites that varied in elevation, temperature and aridity.

Associations of PM exposure with emergency department visits and readmissions among preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Objectives: To quantify the association of ambient air pollution (particulate matter, PM) exposure with medically attended acute respiratory illness among infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).

Study Design: Single center, retrospective cohort study of preterm infants with BPD in Metropolitan Philadelphia. Multivariable logistic regression quantified associations of annual mean PM exposure (per μg/m) at the census block group level with medically attended acute respiratory illness, defined as emergency department (ED) visits or hospital readmissions within a year after first hospital discharge adjusting for age at neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) discharge, year, sex, race, insurance, BPD severity, and census tract deprivation.

Grazing herbivores reduce herbaceous biomass and fire activity across African savannas.

Fire and herbivory interact to alter ecosystems and carbon cycling. In savannas, herbivores can reduce fire activity by removing grass biomass, but the size of these effects and what regulates them remain uncertain. To examine grazing effects on fuels and fire regimes across African savannas, we combined data from herbivore exclosure experiments with remotely sensed data on fire activity and herbivore density.

Solid Phase Extraction Methodology for Robust Isotope Analysis of Atmospheric Ammonium.

The stable nitrogen isotope composition (δN) of atmospheric ammonia (NH) and ammonium (NH) has emerged as a potent tool for improving our understanding of the atmospheric burden of reduced nitrogen. However, current chemical oxidation methodologies commonly utilized for characterizing δN values of NH samples have been found to lead to low precision for low concentration (i.e.

Group 2i Isochrysidales thrive in marine and lacustrine systems with ice cover.

Global warming is causing rapid changes to the cryosphere. Predicting the future trajectory of the cryosphere requires quantitative reconstruction of its past variations. A recently identified sea-ice-associated haptophyte, known as Group 2i Isochrysidales, has given rise to a new sea-ice proxy with its characteristic alkenone distributions.

The impact of current and future climates on spatiotemporal dynamics of influenza in a tropical setting.

Although the drivers of influenza have been well studied in high-income settings in temperate regions, many open questions remain about the burden, seasonality, and drivers of influenza dynamics in the tropics. In temperate climates, the inverse relationship between specific humidity and transmission can explain much of the observed temporal and spatial patterns of influenza outbreaks. Yet, this relationship fails to explain seasonality, or lack there-of, in tropical and subtropical countries.

Linking diet switching to reproductive performance across populations of two critically endangered mammalian herbivores.

Optimal foraging theory predicts that animals maximise energy intake by consuming the most valuable foods available. When resources are limited, they may include lower-quality fallback foods in their diets. As seasonal herbivore diet switching is understudied, we evaluate its extent and effects across three Kenyan reserves each for Critically Endangered eastern black rhino (Diceros bicornis michaeli) and Grevy's zebra (Equus grevyi), and its associations with habitat quality, microbiome variation, and reproductive performance.

Disappearing cities on US coasts.

The sea level along the US coastlines is projected to rise by 0.25-0.3 m by 2050, increasing the probability of more destructive flooding and inundation in major cities.

Nitrogen isotopic characteristics of aerosol ammonium in a Chinese megacity indicate the reduction from vehicle emissions during the lockdown period.

The role of agricultural versus vehicle emissions in urban atmospheric ammonia (NH) remains unclear. The lockdown due to the outbreak of COVID-19 provided an opportunity to assess the role of source emissions on urban NH. Concentrations and δN of aerosol ammonium (NH) were measured before (autumn in 2017) and during the lockdown (summer, autumn, and winter in 2020), and source contributions were quantified using SIAR.