Community Change Research Articles

Assessing the impact of an online dementia awareness initiative co-created with and for English, Arabicand Vietnamesespeaking communities: A case study.

Awareness and understanding of dementia remain limited in ethnically diverse populations in multicultural societies due to culturally inappropriate and inaccessible information. To establish the impact, helpersand hinderers of an online multilingual dementia awareness initiative co-created with and for English, Arabicand Vietnamese speaking people. A case study using mixed methods to assess the impact and implementation of an information session on dementia knowledge. The study was conducted with English, Arabicand Vietnamese speaking individuals in Canterbury-Bankstown, Australia. A dementia alliance co-created an online multilingual dementia information session, which was delivered synchronously in English, Arabicand Vietnamese by trained facilitators. In-session group discussions, quizzesand a postsession survey assessed the impact on dementia knowledge. A postimplementation focus group explored the factors that helped and hindered the initiative. The online dementia information session successfully supported participants understanding of dementia causes, impactsand care strategies. The initiative was hindered by competing priorities and limited accessibility to target audiences, while it was helped by the support of an established organisation and feedback mechanisms. Ongoing dementia education and awareness-raising campaigns that are culturally sensitive are needed in communities to promote dementia literacy and help-seeking. An online multilingual dementia information session can be an effective way to improve dementia literacy and advocate for change in multicultural communities. English, Arabicand Vietnamese speaking members of the Canterbury Bankstown Dementia Alliance participated in the co-creation and evaluation of this initiative.

Pengimplementasian Surat An-Nahl Ayat 125 Untuk Mengoptimalkan Pengetahuan Perempuan Melalui Majlis Ta’lim di Desa Bumiharja Kecamatan Tarub Kabupaten Tegal

The da'wah methods that will be conveyed by the Preachers in order to achieve the da'wah objectives that have been targeted. This Majlis Ta'lim is also one of the most effective ways to invite women to join the local community so they can seek knowledge. In the Ta'lim majlis there are various activities, including reciting the reading of the iqro to the Qur'an and istighosah. This study can be said as non-formal education to increase Islamic knowledge to women. The purpose of da'wah that is adapted to the da'wah method so that these goals can run smoothly, can be adjusted to the conditions in the places that have been targeted. If it is in accordance with the desired da'wah method, it will have a positive impact and good change for the local community. The success of preaching is also encouraged by the Da'I which is related to the way in which material is delivered to the mad'u. In order to increase adaptation between Da'I and Mad'u. The da'wah method used by the local Da'I in the recitation of the Ta'lim majlis is the bil-Hikmah, bil-Mau'izah Hasanah, and bil MujJadi da'wah methods. The da'wah conveyed by the Da'I must be adjusted to the conditions of the Mad'u in Bumiharja Village. This study uses data collection techniques by interview and observation. Interviews conducted by research to Ustadz Slamet and Mad'u Majlis Ta'lim in Bumiharja Village, Tarub District. Optimizing in preaching through the interpretation of the letter An-Nahl Verse 125 (a case study of Ustadz Slamet's preaching strategy in optimizing women's knowledge in Bumharja Village, Tarub District, Tegal Regency) it can be said that Ustadz Slamet uses the da'wah method bil Hikmah, bil Mau'izah Hasanah and bil Muj is where Ustadz Slamet was staying, he always looked at the condition of the local Mad'u so that he could find supporting factors for his missionary goals. One of them is Ustadz Slamet's way of presenting the material by using words that are easy to understand and polite and smooth so that the Mad'u can quickly accept it.

Drivers of change: dietary change, food and nutrition security and agricultural practices in peripheral communities in Pacific Island countries and territories: A scoping review protocol

Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) are experiencing a Diet-Related Non-Communicable Disease (DR-NCD) health crisis(1). Increasing rates of DR-NCDs such as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease have been linked to dietary transitions and increasing food insecurity in the region(2). Anthropogenic climate change has also been identified as a significant threat to food security in PICTs(3). Additionally, the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic have been identified as both a contributor to food insecurity in the region and as an opportunity to transform PICT food systems and reduce rates of DR-NCDs(4). Yet, the drivers of dietary change, food security and agricultural practices in peripheral PICT communities are not well documented or understood. To determine how these drivers may change in the future and the impacts this may have on Pacific peoples, a deeper understanding of the historical and contemporary drivers of change is necessary. The aim of this scoping review was to collate existing information to improve this understanding, by mapping key factors evident in the literature that underpin the links between DR-NCDs and food security with a focus on women in PICT peripheral communities, to better clarify the challenges, working definitions and conceptual boundaries in the research area. The review maps where research has been conducted geographically and how the links between DR-NCDs and food security in PICTs have been investigated over time and identifies projections and suggestions for the future. The scoping review was conducted in accordance with a pre-defined protocol available online(5). A total of 476 peer-reviewed sources and 126 grey literature sources were identified by the initial search criteria. Two independent researchers completed title/abstract and full text screening using Covidence, and data extraction using a data extraction tool. The resulting data was quantified in table format, with common themes and ideas presented qualitatively. Sources spanned all sectors of PICT food systems with a heavy focus on production from fisheries and agriculture. Most PICTs were represented in the findings. Many drivers of change within food systems were identified, some of which included the impacts of anthropogenic climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and urbanisation. The drivers impacted all four pillars of food security, and many were directly or indirectly related to dietary and lifestyle changes associated with DR-NCD risk factors. This data is accompanied by an interpretation of results and a narrative summary. These results provide a useful platform to further explore the drivers of dietary change, food security, agricultural practices and DR-NCD’s in this region.

Rehydration of degraded wetlands: Understanding drivers of vegetation community trajectories

AbstractDegradation of wetland ecosystems results from loss of hydrologic connectivity, nutrient enrichment, and altered fire regimes, among other factors. It is uncertain how drivers of wetland ecosystem processes and wetland vegetation communities interact in reversing the ecological trajectory from degraded to restored conditions. We analyzed biogeochemical and vegetation data collected in wetlands of the Florida Everglades at the start of (2015) and during (2018 and 2021) the initial stages of rehydration. Our objectives were to analyze the allocation of carbon and nutrients among ecosystem compartments and correlated trajectories of vegetation community change following rehydration, to identify the drivers of change, including fire, and analyze macrophyte species‐specific responses to drivers. We expected to see changes in vegetation toward more hydric communities that would differ based on wetland baseline conditions and the magnitude of the hydrologic change. During the study period, both length of inundation and surface water depth increased throughout wetlands in the region, and four fires occurred, which affected 51% of the sampling locations. We observed biogeochemical shifts in the wetland landscape, driven by both hydrology and fire. Total phosphorus concentrations in soil and flocculent detrital material decreased, while soil carbon:phosphorus and nitrogen:phosphorus mass ratios increased at sites further away from water management infrastructure. Transitions in vegetation communities were driven by an increase in hydroperiods and by the distinct changes in nutrient concentrations or soil stoichiometric ratios in each subregion. The abundance of macrophyte species typical of short‐hydroperiod prairies strongly decreased, while dominant long‐hydroperiod species, such as Eleocharis cellulosa, expanded. Fire facilitated the expansion of thickly vegetated plumes of invasive Typha at sites close to the water inflow sources. Overall, restored hydrology shifted vegetation community composition toward higher abundance of long‐hydroperiod species within six years. In contrast, removal of invasive vegetation controlled by soil phosphorus concentrations will likely require long‐term and interactive restoration strategies.

Reversing expansion of Calamagrostis epigejos in Carpathian mountain grasslands by mowing and application of hemiparasitic Rhinanthus alectorolophus

AbstractQuestionsThe expansion of Calamagrostis epigejos poses a significant threat to the biodiversity of mountain grasslands. We asked whether grasslands dominated by C. epigejos can be restored through mowing and the application of hemiparasitic Rhinanthus alectorolophus.LocationCarpathian Violion caninae alliance mountain grassland close to Vrchslatina, Veporské vrchy Mts, Slovakia.MethodsWe conducted a before–after control–impact experiment in a grassland entirely dominated by C. epigejos: six blocks, each with four treatment combinations: (i) mowing once in summer, (ii) mowing in summer and autumn, (iii) mowing in summer and seed sowing of R. alectorolophus, (iv) mowing in summer and autumn along with seed sowing of R. alectorolophus. We monitored the above‐ground biomass of C. epigejos, R. alectorolophus, the combined above‐ground biomass of other species, and the vegetation composition annually from 2014 to 2017. Linear mixed‐effect models and redundancy analysis (RDA) were employed to analyze the effects of the treatments on C. epigejos and community parameters.ResultsSowing established R. alectorolophus at the plots mown twice in the first year, but its density strongly declined in subsequent years. R. alectorolophus and mowing twice significantly reduced C. epigejos biomass and herb layer cover. They also increased community evenness and the ratio between other species and C. epigejos biomass with a more pronounced effect on the plots where R. alectorolophus was applied. Mowing twice led to increased species richness, evenness, the number of target grassland species and their proportion in the community. R. alectorolophus had an additional positive impact on community evenness and the proportion of target species. RDA identified R. alectorolophus as the main driver of the directional community change triggered by the experimental treatments.ConclusionMowing twice per season proves to be an efficient restoration management strategy for mountain grasslands dominated by C. epigejos. Sowing R. alectorolophus, however, may be employed as an additional measure to accelerate the decline of C. epigejos at the outset of the restoration process and enhance community structure and composition.

대중매체를 통한 외국인 접촉이 다문화 인식에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

In Korea, the perception of foreigners is dualistic with acceptance and exclusivity where a multicultural society has emerged. Indirect contact with foreigners through mass media can have a significant impact on everyday multicultural awareness. Accordingly, it is time to support the functions of mass media and policies that can cause negative conflicts in multicultural awareness. Based on this awareness of the problem, the results of a survey and analysis on the effect of contact with foreigners through mass media on multicultural awareness are as follows. There were differences in multicultural awareness depending on gender, age, education, marital status, and occupational status among sociodemographic characteristics, Gender, age, and experience and awareness factors corresponding to the sub-variables of contact with foreigners through mass media were found to have a significant impact on multicultural awareness. Therefore, such as community change, exclusivity, and risk, a policy is needed to minimize negative issues and exposure of foreigners through the mass media because contact with foreigners through the mass media affects negative perceptions of multiculturalism

Women's School "Ratho Ebhu" to Empower Women in Stunting Prevention-Based Family Centered Nursing in Pamorah Village, Tragah Prefecture

Stunting is a national problem, the solution of which requires cross-sectoral cooperation. Stunting is a chronic condition that cannot be cured but can be controlled. The growth and development period for toddlers is a period that happens quickly and will never be repeated. Stunting cases in children can be used as a predictor of the low quality of a country's human resources. Stunting causes poor cognitive abilities, low productivity, and an increased risk of disease, resulting in long-term losses for the Indonesian economy. Pamorah Village is the 2022 stunting locus village; there are 26 stunted children. The results of interviews with partners leading the Pamorah Village PKK driving team found that health problems related to high cases of stunting in children are still a problem caused by several factors, including the low number of Posyandu visits, low immunization coverage, distant access to health services, high cases of early marriage, low awareness of clean and healthy living behavior, low levels of exclusive breastfeeding, child care is handed over to grandmothers because parents work outside the island so that nutritional parenting patterns follow grandmother's family culture, some pregnant women do not have check-ups with health workers and health facilities, short pregnancy intervals due to low number of mothers of productive age who use contraception. The aim of community service is to increase community knowledge and change community behavior in health through women's schools in an effort to prevent stunting. The expected output is a pocket book on women's school health education and training, as well as publications in the mass media, women's school learning plans, and the publication of community service journals.

Forsaking an Organization in Favor of Another: Judgment Change in an Occupational Community

Understanding how occupations change their judgments about organizations has important consequences for occupations themselves, organizations, and ultimately for institutional change. Collectively held judgments about the value of specific organizational forms are difficult to change because occupations share normative understandings about what is good practice and discriminate across organizations based on this knowledge. Given the difficulty of changing collectively held judgments in occupational communities, the question asked in this article is: How does normative judgment change about organizations develop within an occupational community? We investigate how judgement change occurs in an occupational community in the context of the television broadcasting sector in South Korea. We study how producers in public broadcasters changed their respective judgments about public broadcasters and new commercial broadcasters. Producers found expressing judgment change difficult initially, yet judgment change among more experienced producers enabled it to spread among rank-and-file producers, ultimately leading to an “exodus” of producers from public broadcasters. Findings suggest that occupational members at different stages of their careers play distinct roles in bringing about collective judgment change in occupations. Our study highlights the importance of normative judgments by expert occupations as an impactful means by which occupations can withdraw cooperation or sever their relationship with organizations. The article also contributes to the study of occupational communities in creative industries.

Applying an Evidence-Based Community Organizing Approach to Strengthen HIV Prevention for Cisgender Women in US South: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.

Most new HIV diagnoses among cisgender women in the United States occur in the South. HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a cornerstone of the federal Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative, remains underused by cisgender women who may benefit. Awareness and access to PrEP remain low among cisgender women. Moreover, improving PrEP reach among cisgender women requires effectively engaging communities in the development of appropriate and acceptable patient-centered PrEP care approaches to support uptake. In a community-clinic-academic collaboration, this protocol applies an evidence-based community organizing approach (COA) to increase PrEP awareness and reach among cisgender women in Atlanta. The aim of this study is to use and evaluate a COA for engaging community members across 4 Atlanta counties with high-priority EHE designation, to increase PrEP awareness, interest, and connection to PrEP care among cisgender women. The COA, consisting of 6 stages, will systematically develop the skills of community members to become leaders and advocates for HIV prevention inclusive of PrEP for cisgender women in their communities. We will use the evidence-based COA to develop and implement a PrEP-specific action plan to create broader community change by raising awareness and interest in PrEP, reducing stigma associated with HIV or PrEP, and connecting women to sexual health clinics providing PrEP services. In the first 4 stages, to prepare for and develop action plans, we will gather data from one-on-one interviews with up to 100 individuals across Atlanta to capture attitudes, motivations, and influences related to women's sexual health with a focus on HIV prevention and PrEP. Informed by the community interviews, we will revise a sexual health curriculum inclusive of PrEP and community-centered engagement. We will then recruit and train community action team members to develop action plans to implement the curriculum during community-located events. In the last 2 stages, we will implement and evaluate COA's effect on PrEP awareness, interest, HIV or PrEP stigma, and connection to PrEP care among cisgender women community members. This project was funded by the National Institutes of Health and approved by the Emory University institutional review board in July 2021. Data collection began in December 2021 and is ongoing. COA stage 1 of the study is complete with 70 participants enrolled. Community events commenced in November 2023, and data collection will be completed by November 2025. Stage 1 qualitative data analysis is complete with results to be published in 2024. Full study results are anticipated to be reported in 2026. Through a community-clinic-academic collaboration, this protocol proposes to mount a coordinated approach across diverse Atlanta counties to strengthen HIV prevention for cisgender women and to create a sustainable systems approach to move new sexual health innovations more quickly to cisgender women. DERR1-10.2196/56293.

The linkage between wintertime sea ice drift and atmospheric circulation in an Arctic ice-ocean coupled simulation

By analyzing an Arctic ice-ocean coupled simulation, we study the linkage between wintertime sea ice drift and atmospheric circulation, and interpret the driving force terms in the sea ice dynamic equation. Sea ice drift anomaly is featured by an anticyclonic (cyclonic) gyre when regulated by negative (positive) phase of Arctic Oscillation with positive (negative) phase of Arctic Dipole, and a quasi-meridional stream from Chukchi-Beaufort (Barents-Kara) Seas to Barents-Kara (Chukchi-Beaufort) Seas when regulated by positive (negative) phase of Arctic Oscillation with positive (negative) phase of Arctic Dipole. Sea ice drift anomaly, when regulated by the mode alone, resembles spatial pattern of leading atmospheric mode. Decomposing sea ice dynamical equation shows that wind-ice stress dominates sea ice drift in areas away from islands and continental coastlines, ocean-ice stress acts as a resistant power to partly cancel the wind-ice stress in these areas, while in the coastal areas such as the thick multiyear ice zone north of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the wind-ice and ocean-ice stresses are small, the balance exists between sea surface height potential gradient and internal ice stress divergence. Developing more sophisticated internal ice stress expression in ice model is of great important to correctly project future sea ice change for the ice modeling community.

Soil microbial responses to multipollutant exposures in megacity's parks of Beijing

Soil life revolves around microorganisms that are crucial for soil ecosystems and health. In megacities, the combined exposure of multiple pollutants exerts a significant impact on the structures and functions of soil microorganisms; however, there is a lack of empirical studies on this topic. Hence, we conducted a study including urban parks in Beijing, China. The results indicate that bacteria were abundant in the soils of Beijing parks, showing the same dominant groups but different rare groups. The dominant groups included Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. Candidate phyla radiation bacteria, a large evolutionary radiation of bacterial lineages whose members remain mostly uncultivated, were the main specialists. Under the combined exposure of multiple pollutants, the structures of soil microbial communities in different parks were similar. Community change due to pollutants (31%) was greater than that due to natural factors (2.4%). Among multipollutants, organophosphate esters, led by dibutyl phosphate, had the highest influence on microbial abundance and distribution. An increase in dibutyl phosphate concentration decreased the abundance of Firmicutes, while the abundance of Synergistota was increased. The interactions among pollutants affecting the bacteria were different. Bis(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, nickel and benzo[g,h,i]perylene influenced microorganisms by working with organophosphate esters. High-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, such as benzo[a]pyrene and benzo[g,h,i]perylene, mainly acted on the functional genes and thus affected multiple biogeochemical cycles. Benzo[a]anthracene, bis(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, and arsenic were the primary pollutants affecting metabolic pathways. Our research helps to better understand the impacts of urban environmental pollution on soil microorganisms.

Climate change is poised to alter mountain stream ecosystem processes via organismal phenological shifts

Climate change is affecting the phenology of organisms and ecosystem processes across a wide range of environments. However, the links between organismal and ecosystem process change in complex communities remain uncertain. In snow-dominated watersheds, snowmelt in the spring and early summer, followed by a long low-flow period, characterizes the natural flow regime of streams and rivers. Here, we examined how earlier snowmelt will alter the phenology of mountain stream organisms and ecosystem processes via an outdoor mesocosm experiment in stream channels in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. The low-flow treatment, simulating a 3- to 6-wk earlier return to summer baseflow conditions projected under climate change scenarios in the region, increased water temperature and reduced biofilm production to respiration ratios by 32%. Additionally, most of the invertebrate species explaining community change (56% and 67% of the benthic and emergent taxa, respectively), changed in phenology as a consequence of the low-flow treatment. Further, emergent flux pulses of the dominant insect group (Chironomidae) almost doubled in magnitude, benefitting a generalist riparian predator. Changes in both invertebrate community structure (composition) and functioning (production) were mostly fine-scale, and response diversity at the community level stabilized seasonally aggregated responses. Our study illustrates how climate change in vulnerable mountain streams at the rain-to-snow transition is poised to alter the dynamics of stream food webs via fine-scale changes in phenology-leading to novel predator-prey "matches" or "mismatches" even when community structure and ecosystem processes appear stable at the annual scale.

Fulvic Acid Promotes Legume-Rhizobium Symbiosis by Stimulating Endogenous Flavonoids Synthesis and Secretion.

Fulvic acid (FA) promotes symbiosis between legumes and rhizobia. To elucidate from the aspect of symbiosis, the effects of root irrigation of water-soluble humic materials (WSHM) or foliar spraying of its highly active component, FA, on soybean root exudates and on rhizosphere microorganisms were investigated. As a result, WSHM/FA treatments significantly altered root exudate metabolite composition, and isoflavonoids were identified as key contributors in both treatments compared to the control. Increased expression of genes related to the isoflavonoid biosynthesis were validated by RT-qPCR in both treatments, which notably elevated the synthesis of symbiotic signals genistein, daidzin, coumestrol, and biochanin A. Moreover, the WSHM/FA treatments induced a change in rhizosphere microbial community, coupled with an increase in the relative abundance of rhizobia. Our findings showed that WSHM/FA promotes symbiosis by stimulating the endogenous flavonoid synthesis and leads to rhizobia accumulation in the rhizosphere. This study provides new insights into mechanisms underlying the FA-mediated promotion of symbiosis.

The impact of COVID-19 on the resilience of rural and island Scotland: implications for transitioning to a resilient rural and island future

ABSTRACT Negligible attention has been given to how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted upon social and economic attributes of rural and island (R&I) places. The paper considers impacts of COVID-19 on the resilience of Scottish R&I communities during the crisis or emergency stage of the pandemic and then after its shift to what may be described as an everyday disruption, suggesting ways that communities could transition to a resilient future in a post-COVID world. The paper’s longitudinal, qualitative, Scotland-wide, and holistic assessment of community change and responses represents a novel approach to exploring the impacts of the pandemic on resilience between 2020 and 2022. It allows greater understanding to be gained about both the pandemic’s impacts on socio-economic aspects of Scottish R&I communities and the implications for transitioning to a more resilient post COVID-19 rural world. The paper reports that, when those who participated in the research discussed transitioning to a new future for R&I places, their thoughts about how it should change altered over time. Specifically, by addressing dual discourses of emergency and everyday resilience, the paper identifies how the impacts of COVID-19 affected resilience during different stages of the pandemic and what might be learned about ongoing resilience in R&I communities.

Warming enhances the negative effects of shrub removal on phosphorus mineralization potential

Shrubs have developed various mechanisms for soil phosphorus utilization. Shrub encroachment caused by climate warming alters organic phosphorus mineralization capability by promoting available phosphorus absorption and mediating root exudates. However, few studies have explored how warming regulates the effects of dominant shrubs on soil organic phosphorus mineralization capability. We provide insights into warming, dominant shrub removal, and their interactive effects on the soil organic phosphorus mineralization potential in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify the soil microbial phosphatase genes (phoC and phoD), which can characterize the soil organic phosphate mineralization potential. We found that warming had no significant effect on the soil organic phosphate-mineralized components (total phosphate, organic phosphate, and available phosphate), genes (phoC and phoD), or enzymes (acid and alkaline phosphatases). Shrub removal negatively influenced the organic phosphate-mineralized components and genes. It significantly decreased soil organic phosphate mineralization gene copy numbers only under warming conditions. Warming increased fungal richness and buffered the effects of shrub removal on bacterial richness and gene copy numbers. However, the change in the microbial community was not the main factor affecting organic phosphate mineralization. We found only phoC copy number had significant correlation to AP. Structural equation modelling revealed that shrub removal and the interaction between warming and shrub removal had a negative direct effect on phoC copy numbers. We concluded that warming increases the negative effect of shrub removal on phosphorus mineralization potential, providing a theoretical basis for shrub encroachment on soil phosphate mineralization under warming conditions.

Co-constructing new ways of working: relationality and care in post-pandemic academia

ABSTRACT In this article, we write collectively, using an autoethnographic approach to problematize the pervasive neoliberal performance culture in Higher Education (HE). While exploring the challenges many of us faced during the pandemic under neoliberal HE demands, we critique conventional notions of the ideal worker manifest in neoliberal discourses of performance and excellence. We explore the potential for academics and academia at large for critical engagement with self-care and caring for/with others. By adopting a relational approach rooted in an ethics of care, this study contributes to reconfiguring HE cultures of ‘excellence’, pointing to how care and relationality at work might allow academics to change the discourse of academic value and practices. Our collective reflection observes that practicing care individually and collectively in everyday academic work may be a powerful force for community growth and change.

Two decades of dune slack restoration in North Wales: diversity, community and habitat specialists

Humid dunes slacks are a highly threatened habitat, listed as vulnerable in the EU habitat red list. Accelerated successional processes in dune systems have resulted in the loss and degradation of ideal conditions for specialist dune slack species, hence the need for conservation management. We investigated the restoration of a dune slack in North Wales, UK, where vegetation and soil removal to 10 cm depth was undertaken to reinstate nutrient‐poor, open and damp conditions. We assessed the outcomes of the management for dune slack communities over the 18 years since restoration. We also assessed the differences between restored and unrestored areas of dune slacks. The dunes were restored in the winter of 2004/2005, after which we conducted vegetation surveys in fixed quadrats for most years in the restored and adjacent, un‐restored dune slacks. Species diversity and plant community composition changes over time were assessed using Shannon's index, multivariate analysis and indicator species analysis. Comparisons between the restored and unrestored areas of the dune slacks were also made. Ellenberg indicator values (EIVs) were examined to identify potential environmental drivers of post management successional changes. After 18 years the restored dune slacks developed a species‐rich and diverse community. compared to the unrestored slacks. The establishment of species occurred rapidly in the first three years, followed by continued but slower increases in species richness and diversity. This is due to the addition of new species without losses of established species. EIVs show no significant difference over time suggesting the restored areas are still at an early stage of succession. Distinct stages of community change since restoration are characterised by different indicator species. Plants are likely to be largely recruited from an existing seed bank. Restoration by turf removal may be suitable for other low nutrient, species rich habitats dependent upon fluctuating groundwater levels.

Environmental DNA identifies coastal plant community shift 1,000 years ago in Torrens Island, South Australia

Anthropogenic activities are causing detrimental changes to coastal plants– namely seagrass, mangrove, and tidal marshes. Looking beyond recent times to past vegetation dynamics is critical to assess the response and resilience of an environment to change. Here, we develop a high-resolution multi-proxy approach, providing a new evidence base to decipher long-term change in coastal plant communities. Combining targeted environmental DNA analysis with chemical analysis of soils, we reconstructed 4,000 years of change at a temperate wetland on Torrens Island South Australia and identified an ecosystem shift that occurred ~ 1000 years ago. What was once a subtidal seagrass system shifted to an intertidal mangrove environment that persists at this site today. We demonstrate that high-resolution historical changes in coastal vegetation can be attained using these proxies. This approach could be applied to other ecosystems to improve the way we protect, conserve, and restore vegetated ecosystems.

The effects and mechanisms of deep straw incorporation and denitrifying bacterial agents on mitigating nitrate leaching and N2O emissions in four soil types in the North China Plain

The agricultural practice of straw incorporation is often employed to enhance soil fertility, improve soil properties and reduce nitrate leaching via deep burying. Nevertheless, the tradeoff between nitrate leaching and N2O emissions caused by deep straw incorporation in various soil types remains uncertain. To address this knowledge gap, a mesocosm column experiment was established to evaluate the impact of straw amendment (NS) and of straw plus application of denitrifying bacterial agents (NSS) at column depths of 20–60 cm on NO3--N leaching and N2O emission across four soil types (brown, cinnamon, fluvo-aquic and mortar black soil) in the North China plain. The results showed that the NS and NSS treatments significantly reduced NO3--N leaching by 47%–73% and 37%–81%, respectively, across four soil types, in comparison to the control without straw and bacterial agents (N), with the greatest reduction recorded in the mortar black soil (by 73% for NS and 81% for NSS). Meanwhile, the NS and NSS treatments resulted in a significant increase in cumulative N2O emissions (by 289% for NS and 598% for NSS) in the acidic brown soil with a soil pH ranging between 4.8 and 6.5, but showed no significant effect in the remaining three soil types in which soil pH is above 7.5. When compared to the NS treatment, NSS treatment reduced the cumulative N2O emissions in the fluvo-aquic soil by 42%. We further showed that soil type is the primary driver of bacterial community composition (R2 = 62.3%; P < 0.001), followed by soil depth (R2 = 5.2%; P < 0.001). The incorporation of straw and denitrifying bacterial agents induced significant change in the bacterial community in the middle depth layers, and increases in nosZ gene abundance and the relative abundance of inoculant-similar OTUs significantly by 0.5–37 folds and 2.8–6900 folds, respectively, in all soil types, suggesting the colonization of denitrifying bacterial agents. Our results further suggested that the Streptomycetales were the most important predictors for N2O emissions, and the relative abundance of Streptomycetales was highly positively correlated with N2O emissions across the four soil types. Overall, the study suggests that deep straw incorporation as soil amendment is effective in mitigating nitrate leaching in all four soil types, especially in the fluvo-aquic soil, due to its dual effects on controlling nitrate leaching and N2O emissions. However, it is not recommended for the acidic brown soils as it may cause increased N2O emissions.

Changes in species richness with climate change in subalpine communities are dependent on regional environmental conditions and local functional composition

AbstractQuestionsClimate change may have different effects on species richness depending on regional climates, soil types and the functional composition of local communities.LocationSubalpine belt of the Grandes Rousses (Alps) and Sancy mountain ranges (the Massif Central), France.MethodsWe compared changes in species richness in response to recent climate change in communities from two mountain ranges subjected to contrasting environmental conditions, with a more continental climate and drier soils in the Alps than in the Massif Central. Vegetation composition of 189 and 157 plots was assessed in 1997 and 2017–2018 in the Alps and 1988–1989 and 2022 in the Massif Central, respectively. Five species traits (height, lateral spread, leaf area, specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content) were measured on 108 and 144 species, respectively. Changes in vegetation composition and species richness along spatial environmental gradients were analysed with correspondence analysis at the Sancy site and canonical correspondence analysis at the Alpe d'Huez site. Changes in functional composition across sites were analysed with principal components analysis. Changes in species richness with climate change were analysed with repeated‐measure ANOVAs.ResultsIn both mountain ranges summer temperatures increased and the hydric balance decreased over the past three decades, but snow cover duration decreased in the Alps only, whereas irradiance strongly increased in the Massif Central only. Functional composition was characterized by shorter and more conservative species in the Alps than in the Massif Central, which was dominated by tall exploitative species. Species richness overall decreased with climate change by ca 10% in the Alps but overall increased by ca 10% in the Massif Central. Species richness decreased in the Alps probably because of increasing competition induced by dwarf shrub encroachment due to decreasing snow cover duration, whereas species richness increased in the Massif Central probably due to increasing irradiance in a very nebulous climate.ConclusionThe opposite changes in species richness observed in the two mountain ranges with recent climate change were likely to be explained by their contrasting climate and soil conditions driving different functional compositions and diversity–environment relationships.