Doubling protected land area may be inefficient at preserving the extent of undeveloped land and could cause substantial regional shifts in land use

Projection of land use and land-cover change is highly uncertain yet drives critical estimates of carbon emissions, climate change, and food and bioenergy production. We use new, spatially explicit land availability data in conjunction with a model sensitivity analysis to estimate the effects of additional land protection on land use and land cover. The land availability data include protected land and agricultural suitability and is incorporated into the Moirai land data system for initializing the Global Change Analysis Model. Overall, decreasing land availability is relatively inefficient at preserving undeveloped land while having considerable regional land-use impacts. Current amounts of protected area have little effect on land and crop production estimates, but including the spatial distribution of unsuitable (i.e., unavailable) land dramatically shifts bioenergy production from high northern latitudes to the rest of the world, compared with uniform availability. This highlights the importance of spatial heterogeneity in understanding and managing land change. Approximately doubling the current protected area to emulate a 30% protected area target may avoid land conversion by 2050 of less than half the newly protected extent while reducing bioenergy feedstock land by 10.4% and cropland and grazed pasture by over 3%. Regional bioenergy land may be reduced (increased) by up to 46% (36%), cropland reduced by up to 61%, pasture reduced by up to 100%, and harvested forest reduced by up to 35%. Only a few regions show notable gains in some undeveloped land types of up to 36%. Half of the regions can reach the target using only unsuitable land, which would minimize impacts on agriculture but may not meet conservation goals. Rather than focusing on an area target, a more robust approach may be to carefully select newly protected land to meet well-defined conservation goals while minimizing impacts to agriculture.     

右美托咪定联合芬太尼对心脏瓣膜置换术患者细胞免疫功能的影响及心脑保护作用研究

摘要 目的：观察右美托咪定联合芬太尼对心脏瓣膜置换术患者细胞免疫功能的影响及在心脑保护中的作用。方法：纳入海南医学院第二附属医院2019年4月~2021年6月间接收的体外循环（CPB）下心脏瓣膜置换术患者97例,根据信封抽签法将患者分为对照组（芬太尼,48例）和观察组（右美托咪定联合芬太尼,49例）。对比两组血流动力学指标[平均动脉压（MAP）、心率（HR）]、心肌损伤指标[肌钙蛋白（cTnI）、肌酸激酶同工酶（CK-MB）、心型脂肪酸结合蛋白（HFABP）]、脑损伤指标[神经元特异性烯醇化酶（NSE）、S-100β]、细胞免疫功能、镇痛情况及不良反应发生率。结果：观察组CPB开始后10 min（T2）时间点HR、MAP低于对照组,CPB结束（T3）、术毕（T4）时间点HR、MAP高于对照组（P<0.05）。两组术前（T1）、术后24 h、术后48 h视觉模拟评分法（VAS）评分升高后降低（P<0.05）,观察组术后24 h、术后48 h VAS评分低于对照组（P<0.05）。观察组术后48 h CD4⁺、CD4⁺/CD8⁺高于对照组,CD8⁺低于对照组（P<0.05）。观察组术后48 h cTnI、CK-MB、HFABP低于对照组（P<0.05）。观察组术后48 h NSE、S100B低于对照组（P<0.05）。观察组的不良反应发生率低于对照组（P<0.05）。结论：心脏瓣膜置换术患者选用右美托咪定联合芬太尼麻醉方案,有助于减轻疼痛,稳定血流动力学,减轻免疫抑制,同时还可发挥心脑保护效果,降低不良反应发生率,是一种可靠的麻醉方案。     

丙泊酚联合七氟醚麻醉在先天性心脏病介入手术患儿中的心肌保护作用及对苏醒质量和应激反应的影响

摘要 目的：研究丙泊酚联合七氟醚麻醉在先天性心脏病介入手术患儿中的心肌保护作用及对苏醒质量和应激反应的影响。方法：选择2020年1月~2022年4月期间在苏州大学附属儿童医院接受先天性心脏病介入手术患儿96例,按照双色球法将患儿分为对照组（n=48,接受瑞芬太尼、丙泊酚麻醉）和观察组（n=48,接受丙泊酚、七氟醚麻醉）。对比两组患儿心率、呼吸频率、平均动脉压、苏醒质量、心肌损伤指标、应激反应指标和不良反应发生率。结果：两组置喉罩时（T1）~拔除喉罩（T4）时间点心率、呼吸频率、平均动脉压下降后升高,观察组高于对照组同时间点（P<0.05）。观察组的苏醒时间、拔管时间均短于对照组（P<0.05）。两组术毕、术后24 h肌酸磷酸激酶同工酶（CK-MB）、心肌肌钙蛋白（cTnI）升高后下降,观察组低于对照组同时间点（P<0.05）。两组术毕、术后24 h血糖、皮质醇升高后下降,观察组低于对照组同时间点（P<0.05）。两组不良反应发生率组间对比,差异不显著（P>0.05）。结论：丙泊酚联合七氟醚麻醉应用于先天性心脏病介入手术中,可减轻患儿的应激反应,稳定机体血流动力学波动,同时还可发挥心肌保护作用,提高苏醒质量。     

The applicability of the plant vigor and resource regulation hypotheses in explaining Epiblema gall moth–Parthenium weed interactions

A basic question in insect–plant interactions is whether the insects respond to, or regulate plant traits, or a complex mixture of the two. The relative importance of the directions of the influence in insect–plant interactions has therefore been articulated through both the plant vigor hypothesis (PVH) and the resource regulation hypothesis (RRH). This study tested the applicability of these hypotheses in explaining the interactions between Parthenium hysterophorus L. (Asteraceae) and its stem‐galling moth, Epiblema strenuana Walker (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Parthenium plants exposed to galling were sampled at three sites in north Queensland, Australia, over a 2‐year period, and the relationship between gall abundance and plant vigor (plant height, biomass, flowers per plant, and branches per plant) was studied. To test the predictions of PVH and RRH, the vigor of parthenium plants protected from galling using insecticides was compared to galled plants and plants that escaped from galling. The vigor of ungalled plants was less than the vigor of galled plants. The higher plant vigor in galled plants was not due to galling, as was evident from insecticide exclusion trials. The insect seemed to preferentially gall the more vigorous plants. These findings support the predictions of the PVH and are contrary to those of RRH. Since gall abundance is linked to plant vigor, galling may have only a limited impact on the vigor of parthenium. This has implications for weed biological control. If the objective of biological control is to regulate the population of a plant by a galling insect, a preference for more vigorous plants by the insect is likely to limit its ability to regulate plant populations. This may explain the paucity of successes against biocontrol of annual weeds using gall insects.     

Protection of plants from frost using hydrophobic particle film and acrylic polymer

Frost damage to potatoes, grapevine and citrus plants was assessed following treatment with either an acrylic polymer (Antistress?) or with a hydrophobic particle film (CM‐96–018). In large freezing tests, the application of the hydrophobic particle film consistently led to less damage whilst the acrylic polymer led to the same amount or more damage when compared to control plants. Detailed examination of the freezing of leaves of all three species using infrared thermal imaging revealed that the hydrophobic particle film delayed the entry of ice from a frozen water droplet containing ice nucleating active bacteria and in some cases for the complete duration of the frost test. In contrast, the acrylic polymer was only able to influence the time of ice nucleation of the leaves of citrus plants. It was concluded that the hydrophobic particle film shows considerable promise as a frost protectant applied to susceptible crops just prior to a freezing event.     

Early needle senescence and thinning of the crown structure of Picea abies as induced by chronic SO2 pollution. II. Field data basis, model results and tolerance limits

Field data on the sulphur and cation budget of growing Norway spruce canopies (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) are summarized. They are used to test a spruce decline model capable of quantifying effects of chronic SO₂ pollution on spruce forests. At ambient SO₂ concentrations, acute SO₂ damage is rare, but exposure to polluted air produces reversible thinning of the canopy structure with a half-time of a few years. Canopy thinning in the spruce decline model is highest (i) at elevated SO₂ pollution, (ii) in the mountains, (iii) at unfertilized sites with poor K⁺, Mg²⁺ or Zn²⁺ supply, (iv) at low spruce litter decomposition rates, and (v) acidic, shallow soils at high annual precipitation rates in the field and vice versa. Model application using field data from Würzburg (moderate SO₂ pollution, alkaline soils, no spruce decline) and from the Erzgebirge (extreme SO₂ pollution, acidic soils in the mountains, massive spruce decline) predicts canopy thinning by 2–11% in Würzburg and by 45–70% in the Erzgebirge. The model also predicts different SO₂-tolerance limits for Norway spruce depending on the site elevation and on the nutritional status of the needles. If needle loss of more than 25% (damage class 2) is taken to indicate ‘real damage’ exceeding natural variances, then for optimum soil conditions SO₂ tolerance limits range from (27.3 ± 7.4) μg m^?3 to (62.6 ± 16.5) μg m^?3. For shallow and acidic soils, SO₂ tolerance limits range from (22.0 ± 5.5) μg m^?3 to (37.4 ± 7.5) μ m^?3. These tolerance limits, which are calculated on an ecophysiological data basis for Norway spruce are close to epidemiological SO₂-toIerance limits as recommended by the IUFRO, UN-ECE and WHO. The observed statistical regression slope of the plot (damaged spruce trees vs. SO₂-pollution) in west Germany is confirmed by modelling (6% error). Model application to other forest trees allows deduction of the observed sequence of SO₂-sensitivity: Abies > Picea > Pinus > Fagus > Quercus. Thus, acute phytotoxicity of SO₂ seems not to be involved in ‘forest decline’. Chronic SO₂-pollution induces massive canopy thinning of Abies alba and Picea abies only at unfavourable sites, where natural stress factors and secondary effects of SO₂pollution act together to produce tree decline.     

A sensitive RNase protection assay using33P labeled antisense riboprobes

This article presents for the first time a modified protocol for RNase protection analysis that allows the substitution of³²P with³³P without loss of the high sensitivity of this method achieved with³²P. With this protocol, we were able to detect at least 1 pg of specific mRNA. In the RNase protection analysis³³P labeled riboprobes are more advantageous with regard to an easier handling and better resolution.     

Gap formation and species diversity in Japanese beech forests: a test of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis on a geographic scale

To evaluate whether the intermediate-disturbance hypothesis applies on regional scales, the relationship between the species diversity and gap formation regime of beech forests was examined. The mean gap size and the variation of gap sizes showed no correlation with species diversity. The mean windstorm interval varied widely, but geographical trends, such as latitudinal gradient, were not observed. However, locations that sustained an intermediate frequency of disturbance had the highest species diversity. Although a latitudinal gradient of disturbance was not apparent, the intermediate-disturbance hypothesis was partly supported on a geographic scale. The most predictable model for species diversity was a multiple regression model composed of two factors, the windstorm interval and the cumulative temperature of the growing season. The fact that the temperature was of greater importance than the disturbance interval indicates that the most important factor in predicting forest species diversity is the amount of available energy on a geographic scale.