| 1. |
- Hudson, Lawrence N, et al.
(författare)
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The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecology and Evolution. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2045-7758. ; 7:1, s. 145-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The PREDICTS project-Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)-has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity.
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| 2. |
- Hudson, Lawrence N., et al.
(författare)
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The PREDICTS database : a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts
- 2014
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Ingår i: Ecology and Evolution. - : Wiley. - 2045-7758. ; 4:24, s. 4701-4735
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species' threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project - and avert - future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups - including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems - ). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015.
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| 3. |
- Macgregor, Callum J., et al.
(författare)
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Climate-induced phenology shifts linked to range expansions in species with multiple reproductive cycles per year
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Advances in phenology (the annual timing of species' life-cycles) in response to climate change are generally viewed as bioindicators of climate change, but have not been considered as predictors of range expansions. Here, we show that phenology advances combine with the number of reproductive cycles per year (voltinism) to shape abundance and distribution trends in 130 species of British Lepidoptera, in response to similar to 0.5 degrees C spring-temperature warming between 1995 and 2014. Early adult emergence in warm years resulted in increased within- and between-year population growth for species with multiple reproductive cycles per year (n = 39 multivoltine species). By contrast, early emergence had neutral or negative consequences for species with a single annual reproductive cycle (n = 91 univoltine species), depending on habitat specialisation. We conclude that phenology advances facilitate pole-wards range expansions in species exhibiting plasticity for both phenology and voltinism, but may inhibit expansion by less flexible species.
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| 5. |
- Sedighi Moghaddam, Maziar, 1981-
(författare)
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Wettability of modified wood
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Despite many excellent properties of wood which make it suitable for many applications, it suffers from a number of disadvantages limiting its use. For instance, modification is needed to reduce water sorption and to improve decay resistance, dimensional stability and weathering performance. In addition, wood/liquid interaction such as water wettability on wood plays an important role in design and characteristics of many processes and phenomena such as adhesion, coating, waterproofing, wood chemical modification, and weathering. This thesis focuses on enhancing the understanding of wetting of wood, with emphasis on modified wood. The influence of surface chemical composition of wood and its microstructural characteristics on wetting and swelling properties has also been studied.A multicycle Wilhelmy plate technique has been developed to evaluate wetting properties of porous materials, such as wood, in which the samples were subjected to repeated immersions and withdrawals in a swelling liquid (water) and in a non-swelling liquid (octane). This method was utilized to dynamically investigate contact angle, sorption and swelling properties, as well as dimensional stability of unmodified, chemically and surface modified wood samples. Scots pine sapwood and heartwood samples were utilized to establish the principles of the technique. Acetylated and furfurylated wood samples with different level of modification were thereafter examined utilizing the developed technique for wetting measurements. A perimeter model based on a linear combination of the measured force and final change in sample perimeter was suggested to evaluate the dynamic dimensional stability of wood veneers. The feasibility of this method for studying dynamic wettability was investigated by measuring the changes of advancing and receding contact angles over repeated cycles on surface modified wood samples, created by combining liquid flame spray and plasma polymerisation methods. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray computed tomography (XCT) were employed to study the surface chemical composition and microstructural properties of the samples, respectively.Three different kinetic regimes were observed in the wetting measurements: i) fast wetting and spreading of the liquid on the wood surface, ii) void filling and wicking and iii) swelling, which was the slowest of the three. The multicycle Wilhelmy plate method was found to be suitable for studying liquid penetration, sorption, and dimensional stability of swelling materials. The results demonstrate that the wetting properties of wood are highly affected by surface chemistry and microstructure. It was shown that using both swelling and non-swelling liquids in wetting measurements allow to distinguish between capillary liquid uptake and swelling. Based on this, for chemically modified samples, it was demonstrated that acetylation mostly reduces swelling, while furfurylation reduces both swelling and capillary uptake. This is in line with the microstructural study with X-ray computed tomography where a significant change in the porosity was found as a result of furfurylation, conversely acetylation left the total porosity values unchanged. Wetting results for hydrophobised wood samples demonstrate that the multi-scale roughness obtained by combination of nanoparticle coating and plasma polymerization increased both the hydrophobicity and the forced wetting durability compared to the micro-scale roughness found on wood modified with plasma polymerisation alone.
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| 6. |
- Suttie, Ed, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental assessment of bio-based building materials : Chapter 9
- 2017. - 1
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Ingår i: Performance of Bio-based Building Materials. - : Woodhead Publishing Limited. - 9780081009826 ; , s. 547-591
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This chapter introduces the environmental assessment methods used to understand the environmental impact of bio-based materials. It highlights the current and future environmental requirement products need to meet in the built environment. Typically, this is based around life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques, and specifically of interest to bio-based products is how stored carbon is accounted for in assessment of the products. It then explains how this fits with models such as the circular economy and the low-carbon economy as the construction industry tackles its substantial contribution to climate change. The final section of the chapter highlights the measurement and certification schemes that exist including eco-labels and environmental product declarations and the whole building assessment schemes used internationally.
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