[No abstract available]

The relative contribution of bryophytes to plant diversity, primary productivity, and ecosystem functioning increases towards colder climates. Bryophytes respond to environmental changes at the species level, but because bryophyte species are relatively difficult to identify, they are often lumped into one functional group. Consequently, bryophyte function remains poorly resolved. Here, we explore how higher resolution of bryophyte functional diversity can be encouraged and implemented in tundra ecological studies. We briefly review previous bryophyte functional classifications and the roles of bryophytes in tundra ecosystems and their susceptibility to environmental change. Based on shoot morphology and colony organization, we then propose twelve easily distinguishable bryophyte functional groups. To illustrate how bryophyte functional groups can help elucidate variation in bryophyte effects and responses, we compiled existing data on water holding capacity, a key bryophyte trait. Although plant functional groups can mask potentially high interspecific and intraspecific variability, we found better separation of bryophyte functional group means compared with previous grouping systems regarding water holding capacity. This suggests that our bryophyte functional groups truly represent variation in the functional roles of bryophytes in tundra ecosystems. Lastly, we provide recommendations to improve the monitoring of bryophyte community changes in tundra study sites. © 2022 Canadian Science Publishing

La contribution relative des bryophytes à la diversité végétale, à la productivité primaire et au fonctionnement des écosystèmes s’accroît vers les climats plus froids. Les bryophytes répondent aux changements environnementaux au niveau de l’espèce, mais puisque les espèces de bryophytes sont relativement difficiles à identifier, elles sont souvent regroupées en un seul groupe fonctionnel. Par conséquent, la fonction des bryophytes reste mal résolue. Les auteurs explorent ici comment une meilleure résolution de la diversité fonctionnelle des bryophytes peut être encouragée et mise en œuvre dans les études écologiques de la toundra. Ils passent brièvement en revue les classifications fonctionnelles précédentes des bryophytes et les rôles des bryophytes dans les écosystèmes de la toundra et leur sensibilité aux changements environnementaux. Sur la base de la morphologie des pousses et de l’organisation des colonies, ils proposent ensuite douze groupes fonctionnels de bryophytes faciles à distinguer. Pour illustrer comment les groupes fonctionnels de bryophytes peuvent aider à élucider la variation des effets et des réponses des bryophytes, ils ont compilé les données existantes sur la capacité de rétention d’eau, une caractéristique clé des bryophytes. Bien que les groupes fonctionnels de végétaux puissent masquer une variabilité interspécifique et intraspécifique potentiellement élevée, ils ont constaté une meilleure séparation des moyennes des groupes fonctionnels de bryophytes par rapport aux systèmes de regroupement précédents concernant la capacité de rétention d’eau. Cela suggère que les groupes fonctionnels de bryophytes proposés par les auteurs représentent réellement la variation des rôles fonctionnels des bryophytes dans les écosystèmes de la toundra. Enfin, ils formulent des recommandations pour améliorer la surveillance des changements de la communauté bryophyte dans les sites d’étude de la toundra. [Traduit par la Rédaction]

Global warming is expected to have large impacts on high alpine and Arctic ecosystems in the future. Here we report effects of 18 years of experimental warming on two contrasting high alpine plant communities in subarctic Sweden. Using open-top chambers, we analysed effects of long-term passive experimental warming on a heath and a meadow. We determined the impact on species composition, species diversity (at the level of rare, common and dominant species), and phylogenetic and functional diversity. Long-term warming drove differentiation in species composition in both communities; warmed plots, but not control plots, had distinctly different species composition in 2013 compared with 1995. Beta diversity increased in the meadow, while it decreased in the heath. Long-term warming had significant negative effects on the three orders of phylogenetic Hill diversity in the meadow. There was a similar tendency in the heath, but only phylogenetic diversity of dominant species was significantly affected. Long-term warming caused reductions in forbs in the heath, while evergreen shrubs increased. In the meadow, deciduous and evergreen shrubs showed increased abundance from 2001 to 2013 in warmed plots. Responses in species and phylogenetic diversity to experimental warming varied over both time (medium (7 years) vs long-term (18 years)) and space (between two neighbouring plant communities). The meadow community was more negatively affected in terms of species and phylogenetic diversity than the heath community. A potential driver for the changes in the meadow may be decreased soil moisture caused by long-term warming. © 2021

[No abstract available]

Shipping is regarded as an important vector for aquatic non-indigenous species (ANIS) worldwide. Less attention has been paid to its role in relation to environmental and economic causes of introduction and establishment, the knowledge of which is necessary to assess effects of changes in regulations on shipping. The purpose of this study was to estimate the impact of shipping on the incidence of ANIS in the Baltic Sea compared with environmental and economic factors. To this end, a production function was estimated with count data on ANIS (response variable) and shipping, environmental and economic factors as explanatory variables. Regression results from different regression models showed that shipping has a significant impact on ANIS incidence and can account for up to 38% of the number of ANIS in the sea. Predictions of the impact of measures implementing the Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediment indicated a reduction by 17% in the number of ANIS, which was counteracted by an expected increase in shipping traffic. © 2022

Circular economy is becoming an important topic for lighting design, research, and industry. Recent legislation, like the EU's ecodesign regulation, has established circularity, reparability, and recyclability as requirements for the industry. This article investigates what happens at the end-of-life stages of lighting products through questionnaires and interviews conducted with experts in Sweden and France. The focus is on understand the impact of the new EU requirements on industrial practice in France and Sweden. Moreover, the article provides ideas for practical improvement of both product recyclability and waste handling of luminaires and light sources. © 2022 IEEE

Alpine and polar regions are predicted to be among the most vulnerable to changes in temperature, precipitation, and nutrient availability. We carried out a seven-year factorial experiment with warming and nutrient addition in two alpine vegetation communities. We analyzed the relationship between fruit production and monthly mean, maximum, and min temperatures during the fall of the pre-fruiting year, the fruiting summer, and the whole fruit production period, and measured the effects of precipitation and growing and thawing degree days (GDD & TDD) on fruit production. Nutrient addition (heath: 27.88 ± 3.19 fold change at the end of the experiment; meadow: 18.02 ± 4.07) and combined nutrient addition and warming (heath: 20.63 ± 29.34 fold change at the end of the experiment; meadow: 18.21 ± 16.28) increased total fruit production and fruit production of graminoids. Fruit production of evergreen and deciduous shrubs fluctuated among the treatments and years in both the heath and meadow. Pre-maximum temperatures had a negative effect on fruit production in both communities, while current year maximum temperatures had a positive impact on fruit production in the meadow. Pre-minimum, pre-mean, current mean, total minimum, and total mean temperatures were all positively correlated with fruit production in the meadow. The current year and total precipitation had a negative effect on the fruit production of deciduous shrubs in the heath. GDD had a positive effect on fruit production in both communities, while TDD only impacted fruit production in the meadow. Increased nutrient availability increased fruit production over time in the high alpine plant communities, while experimental warming had either no effect or a negative effect. Deciduous shrubs were the most sensitive to climate parameters in both communities, and the meadow was more sensitive than the heath. The difference in importance of TDD for fruit production may be due to differences in snow cover in the two communities. © 2022 The Authors

Light at night (LAN) enables humans to extend their lifestyle and exploration, cultivates economic growth, and increases the perception of safety. On the other hand, LAN has been connected to adverse health outcomes, such as circadian disruption, mood effects, and increased breast cancer incidence risk in humans. Studies investigating health outcomes of LAN utilize a variety of methods sometimes resulting in conflicting outcomes. We conducted a systematic review focusing on the experimental methods and health outcomes of LAN studies. While most studies found a negative impact of LAN on human health, lighting conditions were not adequately reported or controlled in many cases. Recommendations are provided for future research studies investigating LAN effects on human health outcomes. © 2022 IEEE

Road lighting uniformity is an essential lighting quality parameter for motorists and pedestrians and varies with lighting design parameters. Increased road lighting uniformity may result in benefits, such as increased reassurance and perceived safety for pedestrians or an increased overall visual perception. However, no previous study has investigated how road lighting uniformity varies with lighting design scenarios or how the uniformity of various lighting design scenarios affects other essential parameters, such as energy performance and obtrusive light. This study aimed to investigate: (I) how uniformity varies with different road lighting design scenarios, and (II) how uniformity correlates with energy performance and risk for increasing spill light. The study is limited to pedestrian roads. We performed photometric calculations in ReluxDesktop for more than 1.5 million cases with single-sided pole arrangements and for various geometries of road width, pole distance, pole height, overhang, and luminaire tilt. The results were analyzed with a set of five relevant metrics that were calculated and analyzed together with uniformity. For the evaluation, we used the minimum luminaire power needed to achieve an average illuminance of 10 lx, the power density indicator (DP), edge illuminance ratio (REI), and we introduced two new indicators for spill light on the ground in the border areas: the extended edge illuminance ratio (extended REI) and the spill flux ratio (RSF). The results show that increased uniformity levels may significantly increase energy consumption and spill light, but that both these impacts can be relatively controlled if uniformity is kept under certain limits. The investigated cases also demonstrated that improper lighting planning significantly increases adverse effects, such as spill light. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Climate change is rapidly warming high latitude and high elevation regions influencing plant community composition. Changes in vegetation composition have motivated the coordination of ecological monitoring networks across the Arctic, including the International Tundra Experiment. We have established a long-term passive warming experiment using open-top chambers, which includes five distinct plant communities (Dry Heath; Tussock Tundra; and Dry, Mesic, and Wet Meadow). We measured changes in plant community composition based on relative abundance differences over 26 years. In addition, relative abundance changes in response to fertilization and warming treatments were analyzed based on a seven-year Community-Level Interaction Program experiment. The communities had distinct soil moisture conditions, leading to community-specific responses of the plant growth forms (deciduous shrubs, evergreen shrubs, forbs, and graminoids). Warming significantly affected growth forms, but the direction of the response was not consistent across the communities. Evidence of shrub expansion was found in nearly all communities, with soil moisture determining whether it was driven by deciduous or evergreen shrubs. Graminoids increased in relative abundance in the Dry Meadow due to warming. Growth form responses to warming are likely mediated by edaphic characteristics of the communities and their interactions with climate.