Burning Practices Research Articles

What burned the forest? Wildfires, climate change and human activity in the Mesolithic – Neolithic transition in SE Iberian Peninsula

Climate variability such as higher or lower temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, shifts in plant communities and other climate-related changes have particularly affected areas with Mediterranean-type climates. A multi-proxy analysis including pollen, sedimentary charcoal, mineralogy and Summed Probability Distributions (SPD) of archaeological 14C dates, allowed the reconstruction of landscape change, geomorphological evolution and fire history at the Laguna de Villena, in the southeastern Iberian Peninsula, during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. The Villena paleolake was sensitive to Early Holocene and Middle Holocene regional climatic variability that included several arid phases (around 8.2 ka cal BP, 6.8 ka cal BP and 5.9 ka cal BP) according to geochemical and pollen data. During this period, landscape dynamics show the degradation of oak forests and expansion of pyrophytic pine forests and shrublands, as well as open spaces predominated by grasses. The charcoal record shows a decreasing trend of biomass burned from 8.5 ka cal BP onwards, although fire peaks occurred recurrently during the Early and Middle Holocene. The most intense phase of fire activity was experienced in the last millennia of the Early Holocene, with five fire episodes from 9.1 to 8.4 ka cal BP, coinciding with a phase of higher archaeological evidence in the area. A decrease in archaeological evidence coincides with a gap in fire episodes during the Early Holocene-Middle Holocene transition, suggesting an effect of the abrupt 8.2 ka cal BP event on human activity and on landscape dynamics. After 8.0 ka cal BP, lowerer biomass burned is explained by the configuration of a more open landscape due to the combination of climate (increasing aridity) and increasing human activities in the region. The mineralogical and palynological data highlighted the interaction between human activities, climate and fire dynamics. The sedimentary charcoal record evidenced how most of the fire peaks did not occur in the context of dry episodes, as often assumed, deriving on an anthropogenic explanation related to Early and Late Mesolithic burning practices during a phase of higher archaeological evidence in the Villena paleolake surroundings. Afterwards, combined agropastoral activities from the Early Neolithic onwards and increasing aridity during the Middle Holocene maintained the forest clearances, in the context of fire episodes characterised by decreased biomass burned. This study shows how Middle Holocene palaeoecological records reflect complex histories blending climate and anthropogenic processes that derived in major landscape changes explaining the origin of current landscapes.

Discussion on the Frequent Burning and Erosion of Marine Medium-Speed Diesel Engine Valves: A Case Study of MAR 8N330 Diesel Engine

In the practice of ship management, valve burning and erosion is a common and adversely affecting incident, which can lead to a series of serious consequences. This article analyzes the frequent burning and erosion of medium-speed diesel engine valves from seven aspects: the harsh working conditions of the valves, the impact of environmental temperature, the impact of cylinder sealing status, the corrosion of valves by low-quality fuel oil, the influence of the intake and exhaust system, the impact of high or too low load operation, and the influence of valve clearance and sealing surfaces. Corresponding prevention and control measures are proposed. This provides beneficial ideas and reference for decision-making for engine room personnel to smoothly handle valve burning and erosion faults and ensure the safe navigation of ships.

Removal of incense smoke and corollary particulate matter using a portable bipolar air ionizer in an unventilated setup

Introduction: Indoor air pollution-associated health risk is substantially higher than outdoor. Incense smoke represents a group of multiple hazardous air pollutants including particulate matter. Bipolar air ionizers have been one of the most escalated indoor air cleaning options in recent years. Albeit, removal efficiency against incense smoke and potential byproduct ozone have been little understood due to limited studies.Method: The present study assessed a portable needlepoint technology-based bipolar air ionizer’s removal efficacy against incense smoke in unventilated glass boxes (size 0.16 m3). A series of experiments were performed in order to estimate the average efficiency. The total removal efficacy of bipolar air ionizer (BAI eff.) was estimated by using empirical equations of the particulate matter PM2.5 (BAI eff. pm2.5) and PM10 removal (BAI eff.pm10). Particulate matter was used as the marker of incense smoke in this study. The concentration of particulate matter, potential byproduct ozone, relative humidity, and the temperature was monitored by a customized sensor-based air quality monitor.Results: The tested bipolar air ionizer showed a significant decline in incense smoke. The average reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 concentration was observed by 74%–75%. The overall efficacy (BAI eff) against incense smoke particulate proportion was 90% ± 10% compared to the control. Byproduct ozone was not exceeded abnormally. However, the marginal elevation in temperature and humidity (up to 5°C or 21%) and humidity (1.8%) were observed when the bipolar air ionizer was conducted.Discussion: Incense smoke consists of multiple hazardous air pollutants including volatile organic compounds and carcinogens. Incense smoke may be the major source of household pollution. A portable bipolar air ionizer could be an auxiliary air cleaning option where incense burning practices are common.

Rice Straw Management Practices in Rupandehi District, Nepal

Rice straw management has been a serious issue after the increasing use of combine harvesters to harvest rice in southern plains of Nepal since these machines cut rice 15-20 cm above the ground and leaves huge amount of residues in the field. A face-to-face semi-structured questionnaire survey was carried out in 60 households of straw burning, and 60 households of straw incorporation to find out straw management practices adopted by farmers, their motive behind choosing those practices and timing of carrying out those practices. Farmers practicing those straw management practices for at least five years was considered as final respondent. Respondents were selected by using purposive sampling technique. Survey was carried out in six places of Rupandehi district where the problem of rice residue burning is severe mainly due to the use of combine harvesters in rice and wheat. Study resulted soil fertility enhancement as the primary reason behind both straw burning practice as well as straw incorporation practice adopted by farmers. Timing of rice straw burning was within 1 week of harvesting rice by majority of farmers. Timing of soil incorporation of rice straw followed by majority of farmers was 8-12 days after harvesting rice. Straw burning results the nutrients imbalance and creates environmental pollution. So, soil incorporation of rice straw is suggested to return nutrients back to the soil.

Assessing the Effects of Conservation Tillage and In-Situ Crop Residue Management on Crop Yield and Soil Properties in Rice–Wheat Cropping System

Rice–wheat cropping system (RWCS) is a dominant agricultural practice in the Indo-Gangetic plains, particularly in the North–Western states of India. The prevalent practice of open burning of rice residue, driven by the need for timely land preparation, poses severe environmental and health consequences, including nutrient loss, greenhouse gas emissions, high concentrations of particulate matter (PM), and disruption of the ecological cycle. This study focuses on implementing effective management practices in the RWCS through tillage-based crop establishment, residue retention, and incorporation methods. The objective is to improve crop yield and its attributes by enhancing soil health properties. A split-plot experimental design was practiced with four different treatments, zero-tillage with manual harvesting (ZT), Happy Seeder with combine harvester (HS), Happy Seeder with Mulcher and combine harvesting, and conventional tillage (CT). By evaluating soil nutrient content, including organic carbon (OC), N, P, and K, at a 0–10 cm depth, the study demonstrates the superiority of the mulcher with Happy Seeder (MHS), which significantly increased soil nutrient levels by 105, 59, 102, and 97%, respectively, compared to conventional tilled broadcasted wheat (CT). Furthermore, the MHS treatment exhibited the highest yield of 56.8 q ha−1, outperforming the yield of 43.6 q ha−1 recorded under conventional tilled broadcasted wheat. These findings underscore the critical role of surface residue retention with MHS in ensuring crop productivity and overall production sustainability of the RWCS in Haryana, India. Moreover, effective rice residue management holds long-term implications for agricultural resilience, farm economics, environmental conservation, and human health. It emphasizes the importance of adopting sustainable practices, prioritizing research efforts, and advocating for policies that ensure the prolonged sustainability and productivity of the RWCS while safeguarding environmental well-being.

A review of Madagascar's derived grasslands: Low palatability following anthropogenic fires may threaten food security

Societal Impact StatementThe 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference emphasised the need to modify practices that negatively impact biodiversity and food security in the context of global change. Following Madagascar's drought‐induced famine, our systematic review supports the theory that grasslands of the Malagasy Central Highland that are subjected to human‐lit fires are anthropogenically derived. Furthermore, these overly frequent fires that characterise much of the Malagasy Central Highland grasslands select poorly palatable grasses. Given the reliance on pastoralism as insurance against crop failure in Madagascar, fire‐dependent practices that degrade rangeland emerge as a threat to food security and biodiversity. Education can mitigate against future humanitarian crises.SummaryFood insecurity is greatest in countries where impacts of global change are predicted to be severe. Many, like Madagascar, rely on livestock‐based pastoralism (and consequently palatable rangelands) for insurance against natural disasters and crop failure. It is recognised that derived grasslands can impact climate and biodiversity. Furthermore, the well‐established palatability‐flammability trade‐off predicts that overly‐frequent fires select increasingly unpalatable, fire‐adapted grassland. The drought‐induced Malagasy famine of 2021 highlights the need to identify factors that threaten food security. Given the ubiquitous practice of rangeland preparation through annual, landscape‐scale human‐lit fires, we evaluate whether Malagasy grasslands are derived and then test for fire‐driven selection of increasingly degraded and unpalatable rangelands across Madagascar's largest grassland system, the Malagasy Central Highland (MCH). We conducted a systematic literature review, evaluating for a palatability‐flammability trade‐off, by determining dominant Malagasy grass species, and then applying functional traits, and palatability ratings to these species. Data were extracted using a suite of relevant search terms, and of 1977 studies identified, 145 were directly relevant to the questions posed. Evidence from the review is compelling for much of the Malagasy highland grassland being derived. Furthermore, Malagasy dominant grass species are fire‐adapted with poor forage‐value, suggesting current burning practices negatively impact both biodiversity and pastoralism. Decreasing rangeland palatability caused by human‐lit fires in a society suffering food insecurity emphasises the need to re‐evaluate pastoralist burning practices. Identifying optimal fire frequencies can avert breaching fire‐induced tipping points to rangeland palatability and the humanitarian crises that may follow.

Hunter-gatherer farming during the first millennium bce in inland, boreal landscapes: new pollen analytical and archaeological evidence from Dalarna, central Sweden

The archaeological evidence of a sedentary hunter-gatherer society during the early metal ages, i.e. the first and second millennia bce, in the central Scandinavian boreal inlands has previously been overlooked. In order to gain a deeper understanding of these past societies we have combined archaeological data with landscape-scale changes based on pollen records. The combined record clearly indicates landscape use characterized by domestication strategies that started during the Late Bronze Age ca. 1000 bce and further intensified during the Early Iron Age. Indications of cultivation of plants, as well as possible burning practices to clear shrub and forest, clearly show that arable farming and grazing were practiced in the area earlier than had previously been assumed. The farming economy seems to have involved mainly small scale arable farming. Fishing and hunting continued to be important, but the investment in the landscape shown by both pitfall systems and agriculture also express a domestication that would have required settled presence.

Mechanical treatments and prescribed burning can reintroduce low-severity fire in southern Australian temperate sclerophyll forests

The establishment of sustainable, low-intensity fire regimes is a pressing global challenge given escalating risk of wildfire driven by climate change. Globally, colonialism and industrialisation have disrupted traditional fire management, such as Indigenous patch burning and silvo-pastoral practices, leading to substantial build-up of fuel and increased fire risk. The disruption of fire regimes in southeastern Tasmania has led to dense even-aged regrowth in wet forests that are prone to crown fires, and dense Allocasuarina-dominated understoreys in dry forests that burn at high intensities.Here, we investigated the effectiveness of several fire management interventions at reducing fire risk. These interventions involved prescribed burning or mechanical understorey removal techniques. We focused on wet and dry Eucalyptus-dominated sclerophyll forests on the slopes of kunanyi/Mt. Wellington in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. We modelled potential fire behaviour in these treated wet and dry forests using fire behaviour equations based on measurements of fuel load, vegetation structure, understorey microclimate and regional meteorological data.We found that (a) fuel treatments were effective in wet and dry forests in reducing fuel load, though each targeted different layers, (b) both mechanical treatments and prescribed burning resulted in slightly drier, and hence more fire prone understorey microclimate, and (c) all treatments reduced predicted subsequent fire severity by roughly 2–4 fold. Our results highlight the importance of reducing fuel loads, even though fuel treatments make forest microclimates drier, and hence fuel more flammable.Our finding of the effectiveness of mechanical treatments in lowering fire risk enables managers to reduce fuels without the risk of uncontrolled fires and smoke pollution that is associated with prescribed burning. Understanding the economic and ecological costs and benefits of mechanic treatment compared to prescribed burning requires further research.

Using culturally significant birds to guide the timing of prescribed fires in the Klamath Siskiyou Bioregion

AbstractHistorically, wildfire and tribal burning practices played important roles in shaping ecosystems throughout the Klamath Siskiyou Bioregion of northern California and southern Oregon. Over the past several decades, there has been increased interest in the application of fire for forest management through the implementation of prescribed fires within habitats that are used by a diversity of migrant and resident land birds. While many bird species may benefit from habitat enhancements associated with wildfires, cultural burning, and prescribed fire, individuals may face direct or indirect harm. In this study, we analyzed the timing of breeding and molting in 11 species of culturally significant land birds across five ecologically distinct regions of northern California and southern Oregon to explore the potential timeframes that these bird species may be vulnerable to wildland fires (wildfire, prescribed fire, or cultural burning). We estimated that these selected species adhered to a breeding season from April 21 to August 23 and a molting season from June 30 to October 7 based on bird capture data collected between 1992 and 2014. Within these date ranges, we found that breeding and molting seasons of resident and migratory bird species varied temporally and spatially throughout our study region. Given this variability, spring fires that occur prior to April 21 and fall fires that occur after October 7 may reduce the potential for direct and indirect negative impacts on these culturally significant birds across the region. This timing corresponds with some Indigenous ecocultural burning practices that are aligned with traditionally observed environmental cues relating to patterns of biological phenology, weather, and astronomy. We detail the timing of breeding and molting seasons more specific to regions and species, and estimate 75%, 50%, and 25% quartiles for each season to allow for greater flexibility in planning the timing of prescribed fires and cultural burning, or regarding the potential implications of wildfires. The results of our study may serve as an additional resource for tribal members and cultural practitioners (when examined within the context of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge) and forest and wildland fire managers to promote stable populations of culturally significant bird species within fire‐dependent forest systems.

Levoglucosan and its isomers in terrestrial sediment as a molecular markers provide direct evidence for the low-temperature fire during the mid-Holocene in the northern Shandong Peninsula of China

Black carbon and charcoal's limitation in detecting low-temperature fires could be a major obstacle in observing paleofire. To reconstruct a low-temperature fire pattern and vegetation changes in the Changyi in the northern Shandong Peninsula over the last 5000 years, we used molecular biomarker (levoglucosan and its isomers) and hydrocarbons (n-alkanes), along with charcoal and black carbon in the sediment sites. An increase in the amounts of coniferous flammable fuels could provide the biomass required to maintain low-temperature conditions for smoldering fires during the prehistoric period when wildfires occurred during 5300–5100 yr BP. These fires primarily coincided with cooling climate events that began approximately 5300 yr BP onward. Significant levoglucosan fluxes at approximately 4400–3600 yr BP and 1300–1000 yr BP were thought to be closely linked to intensive anthropogenic burning practices and the climate-controlled sedimentary wet environments, coinciding with the periods of the Longshan (4600–4000 yr B.P), Yueshi Cultures （4000–3500 yr B.P）and Tang Dynasty（1300–1100 yr B.P）. During those times, the original forest landscape in the study region was gradually replaced by a fire-prone open forest, where low-temperature smoldering fires could be sustained by the abundance of biomass for producing fuel from open forests. In contrast, the levoglucosan fluxes remained at low values between the intervals of 3600–3200 yr BP and 1000–0 yr BP, whereas the charcoal fluxes showed a significant increase in the Changyi profile. Moreover, the positive correlation between the levoglucosan and char fluxes in sediments suggested that levoglucosan could be an indicator of regional fires or biomass burning at low temperatures. The ratios between levoglucosan and its isomers indicated that levoglucosan are derived from the combustion of softwood at the study site. Futhermore, Levoglucosan in sediments was used in this study to document the changes in vegetation and low-temperature regional biomass burning, as well as the shifts in human land use and the cultural development in response to climate change. Compared to the two biomass-burning proxies (black carbon and charcoal), levoglucosan in sediments can additionally provide supplementary information to understand paleofire.

Forging Preferred Landscapes: Burning Regimes, Carbon Sequestration and ‘Natural’ Fire in Cape York, Far North Australia

ABSTRACT Fire management is a right and responsibility shared by all land managers in Cape York Peninsula, far north Australia, bringing together Aboriginal traditional owners, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service rangers and settler-descended cattle graziers. The landscape of Northern Australia has been socialised by fire over millennia, resulting in a fire-adapted and fire-dependent landscape. While fire knowledge originated with Aboriginal traditional owners, decades of engagement in the multi-ethnic pastoral industry have resulted in contemporary burning practices that have been interculturally mediated. The Australian government’s carbon sequestration scheme has further transformed local burning practices, precipitating new forms of burning and new forms of critique. Through examining the burning practices and perspectives of Aboriginal traditional owners, Park rangers, and – in particular – cattle graziers, the ideological underpinnings of different fire regimes emerge. These insights disrupt some of the accepted wisdom around fire management and cultural burning in Australia.

The Regime: Fire and Human-Landscape Involvement

ABSTRACT In the southwest of Western Australia, the state Parks and Wildlife Service carry out prescribed burns with the goal of reducing ‘fuel loads’ and creating landscape patterns that they hope will slow down the spread of bushfires. These practices can contribute to establishing ‘a fire regime’, a tenuous state, which must be continually upheld, in which the forest tends to burn in certain ways. The regime is a model for human-environment involvement that highlights attempts to be favourably involved with landscapes that are sometimes dangerous and often unpredictable. This shows one example of a complicated pattern of involvement in today’s world. Often thought of as a time of distance and forceful disconnection, the Anthropocene also contains numerous examples of complicated attempts to maintain close ties with landscapes. This article develops ‘involvements’ as a lens for understanding cases like these, where people deliberately attempt to shape landscapes but do not have complete control over or insight into the paths from intention to effect. Involvements can shed light on how people live in the uncertain space between intention, action and effect; how they stretch themselves out across time, how they open themselves to being affected and how they create for themselves certain forms of knowledge and understanding. For fire managers, practices of burning, planning, patrolling and making themselves familiar with the forest all contribute to creating an interface with the fiery and dangerous landscape.

Feasibility Study of Zero Burning Peatland Agriculture in Mempawah District, West Kalimantan

One of the crucial peatland degradation drivers in West Kalimantan is the practice of small-scale burning of agricultural land preparation, a risky low-cost and fast solution for local farmers. The Indonesian Peat and Mangrove Restoration Agency has implemented a livelihood revitalization program for community through an environment friendly farming, as one of 3R (rewetting, revegetation, and revitalization) approaches in peatland restoration strategy. Revitalization is intended to increase community income and to reduce environmental problem in peatland. This paper aims to present the financial analysis of zero burning horticultural cultivation practices with a quantitative descriptive approach. The result showed that the benefit cost ratio value is 1.50 which indicates that every USD 1 of costs incurred for horticulture cultivation without burning will get a profit of USD 1,5. Payback period is obtained a value of 1.30 years or 1 year 4 months which indicates that the capital spent on cultivation has returned in a very short period. This study concluded that horticultural cultivation on peatland without burning is feasible. Therefore, providing incentives for land preparation and agricultural facilities at the beginning step were needed.

Plastic pollution and the open burning of plastic wastes

The open burning of plastic wastes is a practice that is highly prevalent across the globe, toxic to human and environmental health, and a critical—but often overlooked—aspect of plastic pollution. Most of the countries where such burning is widespread have laws and policies in place against it; open burning continues nevertheless. In this article, using data from ethnographic fieldwork in urban and rural sites in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Zambia, we examine local practices of open burning and investigate why regulations to tackle it have proven largely ineffective. Adopting a harm reduction approach, we then suggest preliminary measures to mitigate the health risks of open burning by targeting those plastics and packaging types that are most toxic when burned.

Impact of crop residue burning and tillage practices on soil biological parameters of rice–wheat agro-ecosystems

Impact of crop residue burning and tillage practices on soil biological parameters of rice–wheat agro-ecosystems

Apricot Seed Shells and Walnut Shells as Unconventional Sugars and Lignin Sources.

The present study focuses on using apricot seeds shells and walnut shells as a potential renewable material for biorefinery in Ukraine. The goal of the research work was to determine the relationship between the chemical composition of solid residues from biomass after acid pretreatment with H2SO4, alkaline pretreatment with NaOH, and a steam explosion pretreatment and the recovery of sugars and lignin after further enzymatic hydrolysis with the application of an industrial cellulase Cellic CTec2. Apricot seeds shells and walnut shells consist of lots of cellulose (35.01 and 24.19%, respectively), lignin (44.55% and 44.63%, respectively), hemicelluloses (10.77% and 26.68%, respectively), and extractives (9.97% and 11.41%, respectively), which affect the efficiency of the bioconversion of polysaccharides to sugars. The alkaline pretreatment was found to be more efficient in terms of glucose yield in comparison with that of acid and steam explosion, and the maximum enzymatic conversions of cellulose reached were 99.7% and 94.6% for the solids from the apricot seeds shells and the walnut shells, respectively. The maximum amount of lignin (82%) in the residual solid was obtained during the processing of apricot seed shells submitted to the acid pretreatment. The amount of lignin in the solids interferes with the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis. The results pave the way for the efficient and perspective utilization of shells through the use of inexpensive, simple and affordable chemical technologies, obtaining value-added products, and thus, reducing the amount of environmental pollution (compared to the usual disposal practice of direct burning) and energy and material external dependency (by taking advantage of these renewable, low-cost materials).

The Pyrogeography of Methane Emissions from Seasonal Mosaic Burning Regimes in a West African Landscape

People have set fire to the savannas of West Africa for millennia, creating a pyrogeography. Fires render the landscape useful for many productive activities, but there is also a long history of efforts to regulate indigenous burning practices. Today, savanna fires are under scrutiny because they contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, especially methane. Policy efforts aimed at reducing emissions by shifting fire regimes earlier are untested. Most emissions estimates contain high levels of uncertainty because they are based on generalizations of diverse landscapes burned by complex fire regimes. To examine the importance of seasonality and other factors on methane emissions, we used an approach grounded in the practices of people who set fires. We conducted 107 experimental fires, collecting data for methane emissions and a suite of environmental variables. We sampled emissions using a portable gas analyzer, recording values for CO, CO2, and CH4. The fires were set both as head and backfires for three fire periods—the early, middle, and late dry season. We also set fires randomly to test whether the emissions differed from those set according to traditional practices. We found that methane emission factors and densities did not increase over the dry season but rather peaked mid-season due to higher winds and fuel moisture as well as green leaves on small trees. The findings demonstrate the complexity of emissions from fires and cast doubt on efforts to reduce emissions based on simplified characterizations of fire regimes and landscapes.

The Risk of Orofacial Cleft Lip/Palate Due to Maternal Ambient Air Pollution Exposure: A Call for Further Research in South Africa.

Despite being underreported, orofacial cleft lip/palate (CLP) remains in the top five of South Africa's most common congenital disorders. Maternal air pollution exposure has been associated with CLP in neonates. South Africa has high air pollution levels due to domestic burning practices, coal-fired power plants, mining, industry, and traffic pollution, among other sources. We investigated air pollutant levels in geographic locations of CLP cases. In a retrospective case series study (2006-2020) from a combined dataset by a Gauteng surgeon and South African Operation Smile, the maternal address at pregnancy was obtained for 2,515 CLP cases. Data from the South African Air Quality Information System was used to calculate annual averages of particulate matter (PM) concentrations of particles < 10 µm (PM10) and < 2.5 µm (PM2.5). Correlation analysis determined the relationship between average PM2.5/PM10 concentrations and CLP birth prevalence. Hotspot analysis was done using the Average Nearest Neighbor tool in ArcGIS. Correlation analysis showed an increasing trend of CLP birth prevalence to PM10 (CC = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.38-0.77, p < 0.001) and PM2.5 (CC = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.42-0.77, p < 0.001). Hot spot analysis revealed that areas with higher concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 had a higher proclivity for maternal residence (z-score = -68.2, p < 0.001). CLP birth prevalence hotspot clusters were identified in district municipalities in the provinces of Gauteng, Limpopo, North-West, Mpumalanga, and Free State. KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape had lower PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations and were cold spot clusters. Maternal exposure to air pollution is known to impact the fetal environment and increase CLP risk. We discovered enough evidence of an effect to warrant further investigation. We advocate for a concerted effort by the government, physicians, researchers, non-government organizations working with CLP patients, and others to collect quality data on all maternal information and pollutant levels in all provinces of South Africa. Collaboration and data sharing for additional research will help us better understand the impact of air pollution on CLP in South Africa.

Determinants of crop residue burning practices in Punjab

Determinants of crop residue burning practices in Punjab

The role of grass-tree Xanthorrhoea semiplana (Asphodelaceae) canopies in temperature regulation and waterproofing for ground-dwelling wildlife

Context The iconic grass-trees (Xanthorrhoea semiplana) of Australia are used by many animal species, but their role as shelters against weather extremes is poorly known. The severe contribution of the fungal pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi to grass-tree deaths and current burning practices could affect small animal conservation by exacerbating impacts of weather extremes. Aims We examined the buffering role of X. semiplana canopies against extreme weather at four sites in the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia. Methods We measured ambient temperature, temperatures under grass-tree canopies, and 2 m away at random locations in summer (&gt;35°C) and in winter (&lt;13°C) over 24-h periods at each study site. We scored soil dryness under the canopies during and after heavy rainfall. Key results Temperatures under grass-tree canopies were more stable and with smaller ranges than other temperatures, and showed dramatic differences in summer when conditions were up to 20°C cooler than ambient. Temperatures were higher under grass-trees at night in winter. The soil under the largest canopies was completely dry during and after heavy rainfall. Conclusions Xanthorrhoea semiplana buffers ground-dwelling animals against temperature extremes and rain so that the animals maintain their thermal resistance. Animals may choose foraging times based on grass-tree availability. The largest grass-trees provide the best shelter. Implications Considerable grass-tree deaths from P. cinnamomi infestation, together with removal or burning, can have dramatic detrimental consequences for their habitat value and the survival of wildlife using them as shelter.