Dry Summer Research Articles

Experimental investigation of soiling effects on the photovoltaic modules energy generation

Abstract The article describes an experimental investigation of the impact of soiling on the photovoltaic modules in northeastern, Iraq. Over five months, the voltage, current power and energy curves of two identical modules with varying cleaning strategies (one was naturally dusty while the other was cleaned regularly) were measured. The impact of soiling on the daily energy produced as well as rain accumulation and particulate matter concentrations are discussed. The results indicated that no losses occurred during wet seasons, but a considerable decline in performance was found during dry periods owing to soiling. Additionally, it was discovered that soiling has a bigger effect on the maximum power than the short-circuit current. After two dry summer months, the greatest power loss of up to 22% was seen. The daily energy loss due to soiling was determined to be 16% on average. Furthermore, there are four polynomial models that have been drowned in prediction photovoltaic module (voltage, current, power, and energy) degradation due to the accumulation of dust.

A warm and humid paleoecological context for the Neanderthal mountain settlement at the Navalmaíllo rockshelter (Iberian Central System, Madrid)

Neanderthals have been claimed to have had a selective adaptation to rugged, wooded landscapes that would have partially compensate their high basal metabolic rate and locomotor energetic costs through reducing search time and increasing diet breadth. The archaeological site of the Navalmaíllo rockshelter (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid), located in a mountain environment in central Iberian Peninsula, has been interpreted as a repeated short-term occupation hunting camp by Neanderthal groups, mainly focused on primary access to large bovids and cervids. Navalmaíllo rockshelter has also furnished fish, toads, frogs, tortoises, lizards and snakes remains. This association of amphibians and reptiles suggests a much warmer climate (+2.8 °C) for layer F than at present, with similar temperatures during the summer but higher temperatures throughout the remaining months. Rainfall was slightly more abundant (+180.6 mm) than today, with a more contrasted regime during the year, with rainier winters and drier summers. A two-month period of aridity is observed during summer, representing a similar duration to present-day climatic conditions. Reconstructed landscapes are mainly constituted by open areas with dry grassland and rocky or stony areas, evolving laterally to humid meadows, probably close to the aquatic and peri-aquatic areas, such as rivers or ponds with riverside vegetation. Woodland environments are also well represented around the site, with medium scrublands to forest formations. Fish complete this reconstruction by documenting the presence of a pre-mountain well-developed river system characterized by relatively cold, permanent, oxygen-rich, and running waters. Such reconstruction is in disagreement with previous pollen interpretation for Layer F that suggested a very open and cold environment. Our new interpretation suggests that the Neanderthal occupation of the Navalmaíllo rockshelter occurred during a somewhat temperate and humid period, probably within the later part of the Marine Isotope Stage 5, effectively favouring the presence of a high biodiversity around the site.

Le condizioni delle foreste italiane stanno peggiorando a causa di eventi climatici estremi? Evidenze dalle reti di monitoraggio nazionali ICP Forests - CON.ECO.FOR.

Tree defoliation and mortality are triggered in Europe by extreme climatic events that are recurring since the beginning of XXI century. Data from the ICP Forests monitoring networks reveal a general worsening of tree conditions in the last ten years, as consequence of the drought and heat waves that affected the Southern (2017) and Central Europe (2018-2019). In Italy a significant increase of defoliation and tree mortality, assessed on the extensive (Level I) monitoring network, was observed after the 2017 dry summer, which impacted mainly the broadleaved forests (beech and oak forests) in the peninsular regions. Coniferous forests of the alpine belt were severely impacted in 2021, probably because of the co-occurrence of multiple causes, involving windstorm and bark beetle attacks. Chestnut forests suffer from pest (insect and pathogen) attacks. The intensive (Level II) monitoring network provides cases of study and allows to carry out specific cause-effect studies concerning the physiological effects on the environmental impacts, as well to observe the ecological processes following the disturbing events. Defoliation caused by drought or pest attacks induces the loss of physiological defenses (namely non-structural carbohydrates), that need several years to be restored. Then, the occurrence of more frequent and repeated heat and drought waves can produce irreversible effects. In this view, the long-term forest health monitoring is key to detect the extent and direction of changes in forest structure and composition, and represents an important tool for forest conservation and management.

Global hydroclimatic drivers of terrestrial water storage changes in different climates

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission provides an unprecedented way to assess terrestrial water storage changes (TWSC) worldwide. However, hydroclimatic drivers of GRACE-derived TWSC in different climates have not been systematically examined, which hinders its applications in water resources management and hydrological model development. In this study, we derived the monthly TWSC using the GRACE dataset, and analyzed its partial correlations with precipitation (P), evapotranspiration (ET), runoff (R), and temperature (T) from 2003 to 2019 under the Köppen-Geiger world climate classification system. Relative contributions of the four hydroclimatic elements (P, ET, R, and T) to TWSC were quantified using the hierarchical partitioning method. The results indicate that P mainly controls TWSC in tropical climates, hot semi-arid climate, and temperate and continental climates with dry winter. ET is the primary driver of TWSC in mid- and high-latitude regions that feature temperate and continental climates with no dry season, subarctic climates, and polar climates. T mainly influences TWSC in cold arid climates, temperate and continental climates with dry summer or no dry season, and ice cap climate. However, TWSC in many arid climates near the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn are not well explained by all four hydroclimatic variables according to their non-significant partial correlations. Large trends in annual TWSC are found in South America, western Canada, eastern contiguous United States, and Africa, which are likely due to marked changes in P based on their similar spatial pattern. In particular, decreasing TWSC are found in most continental climates, which manifests a deterioration of water resources availability in these regions. Overall, our results clarify the major hydroclimatic drivers of TWSC in different climates at a global scale, which may help improve TWSC modeling and prediction through a judicious selection of explanatory hydroclimatic variables in different climates.

Saltwater Intrusion of Coastal Karstic Aquifer on the Example of the Boljkovac Water Supply Pumping Station near Zadar, Croatia

Numerous coastal karst springs of the Mediterranean region have problems with salinization. Salinization usually occurs during summer dry periods as a result of long droughts and excessive pumping for water supply. The Boljkovac water supply pumping station has slightly increased parameters that indicate the possibility of salinization during the dry summer periods, but the main salinization occurs post heavy rains which appear after long dry periods in the fall, winter, and spring. Due to the occasional occurrence of salinization, continuous monitoring of the aquifer by depth was set up at the piezometric well drilled near the water supply pumping station. The results of the monitoring were analyzed in relation to external factors that can negatively affect the disruption of the labile dynamic balance of salt and fresh water. The analyzed external factors are the pumping rate for the water supply, the amount of precipitation, surface flow and the interaction of surface water and groundwater, as well as the sea level changes. In Croatia, and the wider Mediterranean area, there are a large number of springs and water wells that have the same or similar problems, so the results of this analysis can be used in designing monitoring and setting up management systems for these coastal aquifers.

The effects of antecedent dry days and land use types on urban runoff quality in a semi-Arid region

ABSTRACT This study simulated the effects of land-use changes on runoff pollution in a catchment of Tehran, Iran. The catchment has a semi-arid climate, a relatively long period from dry summer to rainy autumn and highly varying precipitation levels. Urban runoff samples were collected from six stations including five different land-based activities and a mixed land-use, which supported all land-use types. Event Mean Concentration (EMC) was applied to determine the Nonpoint Source (NPS) pollution of urban runoff such as Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphorus (TP) and heavy metals, including zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and lead (Pb), in five land-uses. Sampling was performed during five events with different Antecedent Dry Days (ADDs) in time period 2019-2020. The Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) was employed to simulate the quality of urban runoff base on measured EMCs in each event for the different parameters under investigation and the average of measured EMCs. The results illustrated that that the maximum and minimum amount of EMCs were pertained to the events with 115 and 1 dry days respectively. While, daily simulation of runoff pollution based on measured amount of EMCs in the catchment indicated that the calibration criteria such as Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Normalized Objective Function (NOF), Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) and R 2 were very good for the minimum amount of EMCs and satisfactory for the average of EMC`s calculated, NSE values was not satisfactory for the maximum amount of EMCs. Uncertainty of ADDs can significantly affect the results of the maximum EMC simulation. This study also found higher TSS and TP concentrations in runoff in open space land-use and significantly higher heavy metals and TN concentrations in runoff in the industrial land-use compared with other land-use types in the catchment.

Extreme wet precipitation and mowing stimulate soil respiration in the Eurasian meadow steppe

The imbalance of terrestrial carbon (C) inputs versus losses to extreme precipitation can have consequences for ecosystem carbon balances. However, the current understanding of how ecosystem processes will respond to predicted extreme dry and wet years is limited. The current study was conducted for three years field experiment to examine the effects of environmental variables and soil microbes on soil respiration (Rs), autotrophic respiration (Ra) and heterotrophic respiration (Rh) under extreme wet and dry conditions in mowed and unmowed grassland of Inner Mongolia. Across treatments (i.e. control, dry spring, wet spring, dry summer and wet summer), the mean of Rs was increased by 24.9 % and 24.1 % in the wet spring and wet summer precipitation treatments, respectively in mowed grassland. In other hand, the mean of Rs was decreased by −22.1 % and −3.5 % in dry spring and dry summer precipitation treatments, respectively in mowed grassland. The relative contribution of Rh and Ra to Rs showed a significant (p < 0.05) change among simulated precipitation treatments with the highest value (76.18 %) in wet summer and 26.41 % in dry summer, respectively under mowed grassland. Rs was significantly (p < 0.05) affected by the interactive effect of extreme precipitation and mowing treatments in 2020 and 2021. The effects of precipitation change via these biotic and abiotic factors explained by 52 % and 81 % in Ra and Rh, respectively in mowed grassland. The changes in microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN) had significant (p < 0.05) direct effects on Rh in both mowed and unmowed grasslands. The influence of biotic and abiotic factors on Rs was stronger in mowed grasslands with higher standardized regression weights than in unmowed grassland (0.78 vs. 0.69). These findings highlight the importance of incorporating extreme precipitation events and mowing in regulating the responses of C cycling to global change in the semiarid Eurasian meadow steppe.

Within-species variation of seed traits of dune engineering species across a European climatic gradient.

Within-species variation is a key component of biodiversity and linking it to climatic gradients may significantly improve our understanding of ecological processes. High variability can be expected in plant traits, but it is unclear to which extent it varies across populations under different climatic conditions. Here, we investigated seed trait variability and its environmental dependency across a latitudinal gradient of two widely distributed dune-engineering species (Thinopyrum junceum and Calamagrostis arenaria). Seed germination responses against temperature and seed mass were compared within and among six populations exposed to a gradient of temperature and precipitation regimes (Spiekeroog, DE; Bordeaux, FR; Valencia, ES; Cagliari, IT, Rome, IT; Venice, IT). Seed germination showed opposite trends in response to temperature experienced during emergence in both species: with some expectation, in populations exposed to severe winters, seed germination was warm-cued, whereas in populations from warm sites with dry summer, seed germination was cold-cued. In C. arenaria, variability in seed germination responses disappeared once the seed coat was incised. Seed mass from sites with low precipitation was smaller than that from sites with higher precipitation and was better explained by rainfall continentality than by aridity in summer. Within-population variability in seed germination accounted for 5 to 54%, while for seed mass it was lower than 40%. Seed trait variability can be considerable both within- and among-populations even at broad spatial scale. The variability may be hardly predictable since it only partially correlated with the analyzed climatic variables, and with expectation based on the climatic features of the seed site of origin. Considering seed traits variability in the analysis of ecological processes at both within- and among-population levels may help elucidate unclear patterns of species dynamics, thereby contributing to plan adequate measures to counteract biodiversity loss.

Effect of Seasonal Variation on Leaf Cuticular Waxes’ Composition in the Mediterranean Cork Oak (Quercus suber L.)

Quercus suber L. (cork oak) leaves were analyzed along one annual cycle for cuticular wax content and chemical composition. This species, well adapted to the long dry summer conditions prevailing in the Mediterranean, has a leaf life span of about one year. The cuticular wax revealed a seasonal variation with a coverage increase from the newly expanded leaves (115.7 µg/cm2 in spring) to a maximum value in fully expanded leaves (235.6 µg/cm2 after summer). Triterpenoids dominated the wax composition throughout the leaf life cycle, corresponding in young leaves to 26 µg/cm2 (22.6% of the total wax) and 116.0 µg/cm2 (49% of the total wax) in mature leaves, with lupeol constituting about 70% of this fraction. The total aliphatic compounds increased from 39 µg/cm2 (young leaves) to 71 µg/cm2 (mature leaves) and then decreased to 22 µg/cm2 and slightly increased during the remaining period. The major aliphatic compounds were fatty acids, mostly with C16 (hexadecanoic acid) and C28 (octacosanoic acid) chain lengths. Since pentacyclic triterpenoids are located almost exclusively within the cutin matrix (intracuticular wax), the increase in the cyclic-to-acyclic component ratio after summer shows an extensive deposition of intracuticular waxes in association with the establishment of mechanical and thermal stability and of water barrier properties in the mature leaf cuticle.

Thermal behavior of pervious concrete in dry conditions

As the world becomes more urbanized, concerns are growing about the phenomenon of urban heat islands (UHIs). In addition to the environmental function of stormwater management, pervious concrete (PC) pavements are also a solution that can help mitigate increasing urban temperatures, through cooling by evaporation. Several studies in the literature have focused on the evaporative cooling effect of PC, which requires the presence of water either from precipitation or irrigation. However, in countries that have dry summers and where watering techniques are complicated to implement, in hot weather and dry conditions, PC can have a higher temperature than traditional impermeable concrete. The main objective of this paper is therefore to study the influence of thermophysical parameters on the surface temperature of PC, with a view to designing a mix that minimizes its surface temperature in dry conditions. The thermal behavior of PC and ordinary impermeable concrete (OC) in dry condition have been studied both analytically and experimentally. All heat fluxes involved in the energy balance at the surface of both pavements were analyzed. The results show that PC has a surface temperature up to 6 °C higher than OC during the day and up to 4 °C lower during the night. Increasing the thermal conductivity of the pervious concrete makes the surface temperature of PC lower during the day but higher at night. On the other hand, increasing albedo makes the surface temperature of the pavement lower both during the day and during the night. Finally, the sensitivity study shows that the albedo has a greater influence on the maximum surface temperature of the PC than does thermal conductivity. To decrease the maximum temperature of PC, it is recommended to avoid the use of lightweight aggregates and to use finer and lighter colored aggregates (to increase the albedo), having high thermal conductivity. This mix optimization may be limited by the hydraulic properties of the PC due to its influence on the open porosity.

Cultural layers and a paleosol of a Late Medieval settlement as proxies of environmental change and anthropogenic influence – A case study of Tula Kremlin, Russia

An archaeological pit with a buried paleosol overlain by four cultural layers was studied at the site of Tula Kremlin (Central Russian Upland) using macro- and micromorphological, microbiomorphic and physicochemical methods. As a result, we obtained a paleoenvironmental reconstruction of landscape changes, characteristics of early human occupation stages and an explanation of why this large cultural and economic center of the late Middle Ages was located within the floodplain of the Upa River. The absence of fluvial deposits and gleyic features within the profile of the buried soil indicates that the site, confined to the basement terrace, has never been flooded. The buried soil of Tula Kremlin and the surface soils on the adjacent uplands are formed in similar loess sediments and have similar profiles. Prior to the construction of fortifications, the study site was used as a ploughland or a garden for a short period. Pedogenic features that were preserved within the cultural layers showed that cultural layer 1 (17th-18th centuries) was formed under relatively humid climatic conditions, whereas cultural layer 2 (16th-17th centuries) developed under slightly drier and cooler conditions. The paleosol buried under those cultural layers at the end of 15th- beginning of 16th centuries, as compared to the surface soil, showed clearer signs of humus accumulation and weaker greyzemic features, what allows us to reconstruct a warmer climate with drier summers during the Medieval Climate Anomaly.

What was Killing Babies in Hermoupolis, Greece? An Investigation of Infant Mortality Using Individual Level Causes of Death, 1861–1930

This paper employs individual level cause of death data from the port city of Hermoupolis on the Greek island of Syros, in order to test the newly-constructed ICD10h coding system. By constructing cause specific death rates for infants from the late 19th century to early 20th century, the paper contributes to a comparative approach, which aims to show how causes of death differ across several locations within Europe and how they develop over time. Given the scarcity of cause of death data both at the individual and aggregate level in Greece roughly prior to the 1920s, the availability of such data in the draft death registers (for sporadic runs of years in the second half of the 19th and early 20th century) and the civil registration (from 1916 onwards) in Hermoupolis provides a deeper understanding of the history of cause-of-death reporting in the country. Infant mortality in Hermoupolis was relatively high throughout the study period, with water-food borne diseases accounting for the highest number of infant deaths, especially during the hot and dry summer months. While the prominent winter peak of neonatal mortality but also congenital-birth disorders could be partially associated with birth seasonality and/or low temperatures over the winter months. Finally, certain vague terms such as 'atrophy' and 'athrepsy', but especially 'drakos' require further investigation until they are firmly understood.

A Hierarchical Ecosystem Approach to Evaluate Global Warming Impacts in Three Global Ecoregions

Global warming has substantial effects on terrestrial ecosystems in the different ecoregions. A hierarchical ecosystem approach was conducted to analyze global warming influences with global warming impacts on the three distinct global ecoregions. The ecosystem classification of land (ECL) has been developed and integrated into a hierarchical system. Recently, the hierarchical ecosystem classifications in the 300 Dry Domain of the United States, 100 Polar Domain of Canada, and 500 Plateau Domain of China were demonstrated and explored in studying the environmental system changes and global warming impacts. This article presents the distinctive dissimilarity in each ecoregion and demonstrates the ecosystem responses linked to the hierarchical ecosystem structure and ecological function level. 1) In the Dry Domain, the warmer and wetter climate of Utah gave rise to Rocky Mountain subalpine conifer forests and Great Basin pinyon and juniper woodlands suitable for growth, which corresponds to Utah’s Climate life zone and is affiliated with the middle levels of ECL, scale ranging from U7 up to U4. Conversely, in a warmer and drier climate in Utah, annual plant species and invaded species shifted and expanded at the lower levels of ECL, scale ranging from U10 up to U9. 2) In the Polar Domain, a warmer and wetter winter of the Yukon climate influences the Spruce treeline moving northward and to higher elevations, as well as for the Arctic tundra and alpine tundra. Arboreal species grow fast to reach fructification. These typically appeared in the middle levels of ECL with ranging from Y8 up to Y5, and changed the carbon budget to a carbon sink, with a scale ranging from Y4 up to Y2. With a warmer and drier summer, shrubification in Yukon occurs rapidly, in a range from Y6 to Y5. Potentilla shrub and Salix shrub expand to the Arctic tundra region. 3) In the Plateau Domain, the annual air temperature Increased by 0.5o C/10 y over the last 45 years, and the temperature fluctuations have significantly affected the essential changes in the global energy balance and carbon budget in the upper levels of ECL, scale ranging from Q4 up to Q1. However, the precipitation showed no noticeable difference. The alpine tundra vegetation was simulated by the Vegetation Dynamic Simulation Model (VDSM) integrated with scenarios of a global temperature increase of 1 to 3°C. This illustrated the vegetation biomass changes in the lower levels to middle levels of ECL with ranging from Q8 up to Q6, and the vegetation distribution dynamics appeared in upper levels of ECL with ranging from Q4 up to Q1.

Large increases of multi-year droughts in north-western Europe in a warmer climate

Three consecutive dry summers in western Europe (2018–2019–2020) had widespread negative impacts on society and ecosystems, and started societal debate on (changing) drought vulnerability and adaptation measures. We investigate the occurrence of multi-year droughts in the Rhine basin, with a focus on event probability in the present and in future warmer climates. Additionally, we investigate the temporally compounding physical drivers of multi-year drought events. A combination of multiple reanalysis datasets and multi-model large ensemble climate model simulations was used to provide a robust analysis of the statistics and physical processes of these rare events. We identify two types of multi-year drought events (consecutive meteorological summer droughts and long-duration hydrological droughts), and show that these occur on average about twice in a 30 year period in the present climate, though natural variability is large (zero to five events can occur in a single 30 year period). Projected decreases in summer precipitation and increases in atmospheric evaporative demand, lead to a doubling of event probability at 1 ^circC additional global warming relative to present-day and an increase in the average length of events. Consecutive meteorological summer droughts are forced by two, seemingly independent, summers of lower than normal precipitation and higher than normal evaporative demand. The soil moisture response to this temporally compound meteorological forcing has a clear multi-year imprint, resulting in a relatively larger reduction of soil moisture content in the second year of drought, and potentially more severe drought impacts. Long-duration hydrological droughts start with a severe summer drought followed by lingering meteorologically dry conditions. This limits and slows down the hydrological recovery of soil moisture content, leading to long-lasting drought conditions. This initial exploration provides avenues for further investigation of multi-year drought hazard and vulnerability in the region, which is advised given the projected trends and vulnerability of society and ecosystems.

Future extension of the UK summer and its impact on autumn precipitation

Research into weather circulation changes over the UK for future climate has mainly focused on changes in the Summer and Winter seasons, with less analysis on seasonality and the transition seasons. Using the 30 Met Office weather patterns we examine the influence of climate change on seasonality through atmospheric circulation using a number of climate models. Changes in seasonality are important as they can have large impacts on many sectors including agriculture, energy and tourism. This paper finds a noticeable increase in Autumn over the UK in the frequency of drier summer-type regimes and a decrease in stormy winter types that emerge as early as the 2020s. The change in circulation signal once isolated from the overall signal is responsible for a 4–12% decrease in Autumn mean rainfall on average for England by the end of this century (where the values in the range are dependent on the emissions scenario). This change is projected over English regions that are already experiencing water stress, and with predictions of drier summers over the UK in future, this could further increase drought risk. The change in circulation in Autumn also moderates the large increase in the number of large-scale extreme daily rainfall events over the same regions predicted due to climate change. While this future circulation change is replicated across all the climate models used, large differences remain in the strength of the signal between models. The climate models used replicate the frequency of the 30 weather patterns well for all seasons.

Effects of Climate Change on Forest Regeneration in Central Spain

The Mediterranean climate has dry and hot summers, which is harsh for plants, especially seedlings. During the 1950s and 1960s, most reforestations carried out in Central Spain, a Mediterranean climate area, were successful, but in recent decades an increasing difficulty in forest regeneration has been observed, often attributed to increased summer drought. This study analyses changes in climatic parameters related to forest regeneration through statistical treatment of meteorological data series from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Simple and multiple regressions and ANOVAs were performed for five parameters, considering annual, summer and extended summer values. Rainfall reduction and prolongation of the summer drought period were not statistically significant. The change that better explains regeneration problems is the increase in temperature, especially in July and August, which was mostly significant between 2002 and 2021. Raising temperatures increase the vapor pressure deficit, exacerbating drought effects and plant mortality. Climate change scenarios point to an increase in temperatures until 2100; thus, the tipping point for natural regeneration of some species could be passed. The most affected species are those at their ecological limit. It is necessary to facilitate the adaptation of these forests to climate change, since their future will depend on the actions carried out today.

Periglacial landforms and soil formation on summit of the Mount lda (Kaz Dağı), Biga Peninsula-Turkey

ABSTRACT The aim of the study is to reveal geomorphological characteristics and evolution of the periglacial landforms occurred on the summit of the Kaz Dağı (in Turkish) characterised with a specific mountain environment developed under the dry summer subtropical Mediterranean climate. To reach this aim, morphoclimatic processes-characteristics and soil development of the Kaz Dağı district have been evaluated. Kaz Dağı (1774 m a.s.l.), which had been called as the Mount Ida in Greek Mythology, forms a physical geographic border between Çanakkale and Balıkesir provinces. Periglacial landforms consisting of the non-sorted circles including mud circles and stony earth circles, non-sorted steps and cryoturbation terraces and block currents, are found in subalpine vegetation zone at upper boundary of Mount Ida. According to morphogenetic process analysis, on the summit of the Kaz Dağı, the dominant processes are freezing + freezing-thawing in the December-March period, freezing-thawing + weathering in the November and April months, and weat-hering in which frost is not effective in the April-November period. As for pedological processes and mineralogical characteristics of soils formed under the same climatic conditions but on different parent materials of various periglacial landforms, taxonomy of these soils was classified at the Entisol ordo described as young soils.

FEATURES OF THE DYNAMICS OF SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT OF NATURE IN SAINT PETERSBURG IN 2021

The abnormally warm and dry summer was the main feature of the year 2021. The average temperature of June (21,4) was the record for the whole period of instrumental meteorological observations since 1752. The phenological anomalies were evident first of all in the early dates of phenostages of the year, since the third stage of subseason "Height of Spring" till the first stage of subseason "Abatement of Summer", and especially very early dates of subseason of "Full Summer", which became the record or close to record ones. So, the warming of the climate of Saint Petersburg is continuing and strengthening. In such condition after the winter 2020/21 the majority of trees and shrubs in Peter the Great Botanic Garden (Saint Petersburg, Russia) survived the winter without damages or with small damages not more than half of annual growth. The summer drought, accompanied by hot weather, caused the early yellowing and falling of leaves on many trees and shrubs which happened to be not hardy to drought. The phenological monitoring and timely publishing of results of observations is of important significance in conditions of climatic changes.

Quantifying the impact of induced topsoil and historical subsoil compaction as well as the persistence of subsoiling

Mechanical soil compaction increasingly occurs in arable land but the state and effects of historical compaction from regular operations are still poorly documented. Therefore, a typical field was selected and the effects of both newly formed topsoil compaction and historical developed subsoil compaction (below 30 cm) on soil physical and hydraulic properties, soil water movement, soil mineral nitrogen leaching potential and crop parameters were evaluated on a Luvisol under a winter rye (Secale cereale L.) and summer maize (Zea mays L.) rotation system. Three subsoil compaction levels were included, i.e., a i) highly compacted headland zone, and a moderately compacted in-field zone ii) without and iii) with deep tillage by subsoiling in the winter of 2016. Topsoil compaction on the other hand was induced by one machine pass with a rotary cultivator in addition to the regular machine passes during field preparation for the summer maize season of 2017, and compared with a control without extra compaction. For subsoil compaction treatments, both visual evaluation and lab or field based measurements indicated that soil physical and hydraulic properties were deteriorated in the headland compared with in-field zones. As a result, both winter and summer crop above-ground biomass were decreased in the highly compacted headland zone because of the restricted root growth, which further increased the risk of soil mineral nitrogen leaching. The alleviation effect of deep tillage remained after ∼ 2 years, which significantly increased maize height in the extremely dry and hot summer of 2018. For topsoil compaction, one traffic pass with a rotary cultivator increased topsoil penetration resistance and water content but summer maize above-ground biomass was not affected. Overall, prevention and alleviation of subsoil compaction are essential in increasing the resistance and resilience to the continuing deteriorating climatic conditions.

Season modulates endocrinological profiles and sex behavioural characteristics in indigenous male goats under tropical humid island ecosystem

Objective: To measure the seasonal effect on endocrinological profiles and sex behavioural profiles during rainy and dry summer seasons in male Andaman local goat in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Methods: Ten adult male Andaman local goats were selected from the goat breeding farm, ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Endocrinological profiles such as follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), cortisol and prolactin were analysed with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Sex behavioural profiles such as libido score, mating ability score and sex behavioural score were measured during rainy and dry summer seasons in male Andaman local goat. Results: Endocrinological profiles as well as sex behavioural profiles differed significantly between rainy season and dry summer season (P&lt;0.05). The levels of FSH, LH, testosterone, TSH, T3, and T4 were significantly higher in rainy season than in dry summer season whereas cortisol and prolactin were significantly higher in dry summer season than in rainy season (P&lt;0.05). The ratio of T3:T4 was significantly higher in rainy season than in dry summer season. Similarly, libido score, mating ability score and sex behavioural score were significantly higher in rainy season than in dry summer season (P&lt;0.05). Conclusions: Rainy season has significantly higher beneficial effects than summer season on reproduction and artificial breeding programmes in semi-intensive management of goat under the tropical humid island ecosystem in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.