| 1. |
- Ahmadi Moghaddam, Elham, et al.
(författare)
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Gas Hydrates as a Means for Biogas and Biomethane Distribution
- 2021
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Energy Research. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-598X. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biomethane is receiving great attention as a renewable energy gas with lower environmental impacts and diversified sources of production. However, availability of gas infrastructure is an important factor in biomethane development and use. Biomethane can be distributed by the natural gas or local biogas grid. Biomethane can also be road-transported as compressed biomethane (CBG) or liquefied bio-methane (LBG). Biomethane could be distributed via gas hydration technology, where methane molecules are physically trapped within the crystalline structures of frozen host water molecules as gas hydrate compounds. Using life cycle assessment methodology, this study compared the energy performance and climate impact of two gas hydrate scenarios, biogas hydrate and biomethane hydrate, with that of a base case distributing biomethane as CBG. The technical system, from biogas upgrading, hydration, compression and road transport to filling station of biomethane as CBG, was included in the analysis. Results of this study show that distribution of biomethane as gas hydrates had a lower energy performance and higher climate impact than compressed biomethane distribution. The low energy performance was due to high electricity demand in hydrate formation and dissociation processes. The gas hydrate scenarios also had higher climate impacts as a result of high methane losses from hydrate formation and dissociationdissociation and emissions related to energy source use. Biogas upgrading to biomethane also significantly contributed to methane losses and climate impact of the scenarios studied.
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| 2. |
- Aliahmad, Abdulhamid, et al.
(författare)
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Urine recycling - Diffusion barriers and upscaling potential; case studies from Sweden and Switzerland
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 414
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we explored why urine recycling systems have failed to gain wide-scale expansion despite their high potential for food and fertilizer security. Additionally, we examined the future perception of urine recycling in Sweden and Switzerland, as these two countries are at the forefront of technological advancement. Along with identifying barriers, we also proposed pathways for overcoming those barriers and achieving the upscale. The analysis was conducted using the technological innovation (TIS) approach, which is technology-focused, i.e., revolves around emerging technologies. Additionally, the study provides a methodological contribution to the innovation systems research by employing the Delphi method in conjunction with urine recycling experts to enforce transparency and prevent bias in the analysis. For urine recycling to overcome its current challenges, actors must work collectively. There needs to be a combination of top-down and bottom-up efforts to achieve the upscaling pathways. Lobbying and knowledge provision are necessary to adjust the current regulatory framework in a manner that provides public and private incentives. For urine recycling to diffuse and break into the mainstream market, we must move beyond enthusiasts, innovators, and niche markets into the mass market (ordinary people); dedicated service providers can facilitate this process. Pilot projects have been found integral to urine recycling upscaling. Future work could conduct life cycle assessments on existing pilot projects to understand the environmental and economic performance of urine recycling systems when scaled up.
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| 3. |
- Alim, Abdul, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Glutamate triggers the expression of functional ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors in mast cells
- 2021
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Ingår i: Cellular & Molecular Immunology. - : Springer Nature. - 1672-7681 .- 2042-0226. ; 18:10, s. 2383-2392
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mast cells are emerging as players in the communication between peripheral nerve endings and cells of the immune system. However, it is not clear the mechanism by which mast cells communicate with peripheral nerves. We previously found that mast cells located within healing tendons can express glutamate receptors, raising the possibility that mast cells may be sensitive to glutamate signaling. To evaluate this hypothesis, we stimulated primary mast cells with glutamate and showed that glutamate induced the profound upregulation of a panel of glutamate receptors of both the ionotropic type (NMDAR1, NMDAR2A, and NMDAR2B) and the metabotropic type (mGluR2 and mGluR7) at both the mRNA and protein levels. The binding of glutamate to glutamate receptors on the mast cell surface was confirmed. Further, glutamate had extensive effects on gene expression in the mast cells, including the upregulation of pro-inflammatory components such as IL-6 and CCL2. Glutamate also induced the upregulation of transcription factors, including Egr2, Egr3 and, in particular, FosB. The extensive induction of FosB was confirmed by immunofluorescence assessment. Glutamate receptor antagonists abrogated the responses of the mast cells to glutamate, supporting the supposition of a functional glutamate-glutamate receptor axis in mast cells. Finally, we provide in vivo evidence supporting a functional glutamate-glutamate receptor axis in the mast cells of injured tendons. Together, these findings establish glutamate as an effector of mast cell function, thereby introducing a novel principle for how cells in the immune system can communicate with nerve cells.
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| 4. |
- Andersson, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Ambio fit for the 2020s
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ambio. - : Springer Nature. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 51:5, s. 1091-1093
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 5. |
- Angelstam, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Maintaining natural and traditional cultural green infrastructures across Europe: learning from historic and current landscape transformations
- 2021
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Ingår i: Landscape Ecology. - : Springer Publishing Company. - 0921-2973 .- 1572-9761. ; 36:2, s. 637-663
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context Maintaining functional green infrastructures (GIs) require evidence-based knowledge about historic and current states and trends of representative land cover types. Objectives We address: (1) the long-term loss and transformation of potential natural forest vegetation; (2) the effects of site productivity on permanent forest loss and emergence of traditional cultural landscapes; (3) the current management intensity; and (4) the social-ecological contexts conducive to GI maintenance . Methods We selected 16 case study regions, each with a local hotspot landscape, ranging from intact forest landscapes, via contiguous and fragmented forest covers, to severe forest loss. Quantitative open access data were used to estimate (i) the historic change and (ii) transformation of land covers, and (iii) compare the forest canopy loss from 2000 to 2018. Qualitative narratives about each hotspot landscape were analysed for similarities (iv). Results While the potential natural forest vegetation cover in the 16 case study regions had a mean of 86%, historically it has been reduced to 34%. Higher site productivity coincided with transformation to non-forest land covers. The mean annual forest canopy loss for 2000-2018 ranged from 0.01 to 1.08%. The 16 case studies represented five distinct social-ecological contexts (1) radical transformation of landscapes, (2) abuse of protected area concepts, (3) ancient cultural landscapes (4) multi-functional forests, and (5) intensive even-aged forest management, of which 1 and 4 was most common. Conclusions GIs encompass both forest naturalness and traditional cultural landscapes. Our review of Pan-European regions and landscapes revealed similarities in seemingly different contexts, which can support knowledge production and learning about how to sustain GIs.
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| 6. |
- Angelstam, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Meeting places and social capital supporting rural landscape stewardship : A Pan-European horizon scanning
- 2021
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Ingår i: Ecology & Society. - : Resilience Alliance. - 1708-3087. ; 26:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Achieving sustainable development as an inclusive societal process in rural landscapes, and sustainability in terms of functional green infrastructures for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, are wicked challenges. Competing claims from various sectors call for evidence-based adaptive collaborative governance. Leveraging such approaches requires maintenance of several forms of social interactions and capitals. Focusing on Pan-European regions with different environmental histories and cultures, we estimate the state and trends of two groups of factors underpinning rural landscape stewardship, namely, (1) traditional rural landscape and novel face-to-face as well as virtual fora for social interaction, and (2) bonding, bridging, and linking forms of social capital. We applied horizon scanning to 16 local landscapes located in 18 countries, representing Pan-European social-ecological and cultural gradients. The resulting narratives, and rapid appraisal knowledge, were used to estimate portfolios of different fora for social interactions and forms of social capital supporting landscape stewardship. The portfolios of fora for social interactions were linked to societal cultures across the European continent: "self-expression and secular-rational values" in the northwest, "Catholic" in the south, and "survival and traditional authority values" in the East. This was explained by the role of traditional secular and religious local meeting places. Virtual internet-based fora were most widespread. Bonding social capitals were the strongest across the case study landscapes, and linking social capitals were the weakest. This applied to all three groups of fora. Pan-European social-ecological contexts can be divided into distinct clusters with respect to the portfolios of different fora supporting landscape stewardship, which draw mostly on bonding and bridging forms of social capital. This emphasizes the need for regionally and culturally adapted approaches to landscape stewardship, which are underpinned by evidence-based knowledge about how to sustain green infrastructures based on both forest naturalness and cultural landscape values. Sharing knowledge from comparative studies can strengthen linking social capital.
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| 7. |
- Armada Moreira, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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Benchmarking organic electrochemical transistors for plant electrophysiology
- 2022
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Plant Science. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-462X. ; 13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plants are able to sense and respond to a myriad of external stimuli, using different signal transduction pathways, including electrical signaling. The ability to monitor plant responses is essential not only for fundamental plant science, but also to gain knowledge on how to interface plants with technology. Still, the field of plant electrophysiology remains rather unexplored when compared to its animal counterpart. Indeed, most studies continue to rely on invasive techniques or on bulky inorganic electrodes that oftentimes are not ideal for stable integration with plant tissues. On the other hand, few studies have proposed novel approaches to monitor plant signals, based on non-invasive conformable electrodes or even organic transistors. Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are particularly promising for electrophysiology as they are inherently amplification devices, they operate at low voltages, can be miniaturized, and be fabricated in flexible and conformable substrates. Thus, in this study, we characterize OECTs as viable tools to measure plant electrical signals, comparing them to the performance of the current standard, Ag/AgCl electrodes. For that, we focused on two widely studied plant signals: the Venus flytrap (VFT) action potentials elicited by mechanical stimulation of its sensitive trigger hairs, and the wound response of Arabidopsis thaliana. We found that OECTs are able to record these signals without distortion and with the same resolution as Ag/AgCl electrodes and that they offer a major advantage in terms of signal noise, which allow them to be used in field conditions. This work establishes these organic bioelectronic devices as non-invasive tools to monitor plant signaling that can provide insight into plant processes in their natural environment.
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| 8. |
- Armada Moreira, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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Plant electrophysiology with conformable organic electronics: Deciphering the propagation of Venus flytrap action potentials
- 2023
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Ingår i: Science Advances. - : AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE. - 2375-2548. ; 9:30
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Electrical signals in plants are mediators of long-distance signaling and correlate with plant movements and responses to stress. These signals are studied with single surface electrodes that cannot resolve signal propagation and integration, thus impeding their decoding and link to function. Here, we developed a conformable multielectrode array based on organic electronics for large-scale and high-resolution plant electrophysiology. We performed precise spatiotemporal mapping of the action potential (AP) in Venus flytrap and found that the AP actively propagates through the tissue with constant speed and without strong directionality. We also found that spontaneously generated APs can originate from unstimulated hairs and that they correlate with trap movement. Last, we demonstrate that the Venus flytrap circuitry can be activated by cells other than the sensory hairs. Our work reveals key properties of the AP and establishes the capacity of organic bioelectronics for resolving electrical signaling in plants contributing to the mechanistic understanding of long-distance responses in plants.
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| 9. |
- Auffret, Alistair G., et al.
(författare)
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More warm-adapted species in soil seed banks than in herb layer plant communities across Europe
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0022-0477 .- 1365-2745. ; 111:5, s. 1009-1020
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Responses to climate change have often been found to lag behind the rate of warming that has occurred. In addition to dispersal limitation potentially restricting spread at leading range margins, the persistence of species in new and unsuitable conditions is thought to be responsible for apparent time-lags. Soil seed banks can allow plant communities to temporarily buffer unsuitable environmental conditions, but their potential to slow responses to long-term climate change is largely unknown. As local forest cover can also buffer the effects of a warming climate, it is important to understand how seed banks might interact with land cover to mediate community responses to climate change. We first related species-level seed bank persistence and distribution-derived climatic niches for 840 plant species. We then used a database of plant community data from grasslands, forests and intermediate successional habitats from across Europe to investigate relationships between seed banks and their corresponding herb layers in 2763 plots in the context of climate and land cover. We found that species from warmer climates and with broader distributions are more likely to have a higher seed bank persistence, resulting in seed banks that are composed of species with warmer and broader climatic distributions than their corresponding herb layers. This was consistent across our climatic extent, with larger differences (seed banks from even warmer climates relative to vegetation) found in grasslands. Synthesis. Seed banks have been shown to buffer plant communities through periods of environmental variability, and in a period of climate change might be expected to contain species reflecting past, cooler conditions. Here, we show that persistent seed banks often contain species with relatively warm climatic niches and those with wide climatic ranges. Although these patterns may not be primarily driven by species’ climatic adaptations, the prominence of such species in seed banks might still facilitate climate-driven community shifts. Additionally, seed banks may be related to ongoing trends regarding the spread of widespread generalist species into natural habitats, while cool-associated species may be at risk from both short- and long-term climatic variability and change.
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| 10. |
- Balathandayuthabani, Sivakiruthika, et al.
(författare)
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Aquatic carbon fluxes in a hemiboreal catchment are predictable from landscape morphology, temperature, and runoff
- 2023
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Ingår i: Limnology and Oceanography Letters. - : Wiley. - 2378-2242. ; 8:2, s. 313-22
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aquatic networks contribute greenhouse gases and lateral carbon (C) export from catchments. The magnitudes of these fluxes exceed the global land C sink but are uncertain. Resolving this uncertainty is important for understanding climate feedbacks. We quantified vertical methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from lakes and streams, and lateral export of dissolved inorganic and organic carbon from a hemiboreal catchment for 3 yr. Lateral C fluxes dominated the total aquatic C flux. All aquatic C fluxes were disproportionately contributed from spatially restricted areas and/or short-term events. Hence, consideration of local and episodic variability is vital. Temperature and runoff were the main temporal drivers for lake and stream C emissions, respectively. Whole-catchment aquatic C emissions scaled linearly with these drivers within timeframes of stable land-cover. Hence, temperature and runoff increase across Northern Hemisphere humid areas from climate change may yield proportional increases in aquatic C fluxes.
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