1
|
Impact assessment of particulate pollution on maternal mortality in Nigeria. Sci Rep 2022; 12:19669. [PMID: 36385256 PMCID: PMC9668819 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-19518-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 08/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Recently, the World Health Organization reported that 20% of all global maternal deaths happened in Nigeria between 2005 and 2015. In developing countries, these maternal deaths are mainly from air pollution. Due to poor facilities and documentation, the extent of danger is not known. This research seeks to estimate the available pollutants and its direct and indirect impact on maternal mortality. Ten (10) years (2010-2019) datasets of black carbon, sulfur dioxide, dust, carbon monoxide, organic carbon particulates, sea-salts, and sulphate particulates were obtained from the second modern-era retrospective analysis for research and applications (MERRA-2). The dataset was obtained for the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria and analyzed using statistical tool, models, spatial interpolation, and risk analysis. The volumetric and radioecological risk was also analyzed. It was observed the dust content had minute volume of heavy metal and/or radionuclide particles that may be unharmful in the short term but lethal in the long term. The risk quotient and total dose rate per organism are given as 0.00000396 and 0.0000396 µGy h-1. The result in this manuscript corroborates existing data on maternal mortality in Nigeria. It is recommended that the safety of pregnant woman depends on significant efforts of authorities to enact and enforce environmental laws to mitigate air pollution.
Collapse
|
2
|
García‐Velázquez L, Gallardo A, Ochoa V, Gozalo B, Lázaro R, Maestre FT. Biocrusts increase the resistance to warming-induced increases in topsoil P pools. THE JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY 2022; 110:2074-2087. [PMID: 36250131 PMCID: PMC9541718 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.13930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 04/30/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Ongoing global warming and alterations in rainfall patterns driven by climate change are known to have large impacts on biogeochemical cycles, particularly on drylands. In addition, the global increase in atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition can destabilize primary productivity in terrestrial ecosystems, and phosphorus (P) may become the most limiting nutrient in many terrestrial ecosystems. However, the impacts of climate change on soil P pools in drylands remain poorly understood. Furthermore, it is unknown whether biocrusts, a major biotic component of drylands worldwide, modulate such impacts.Here we used two long-term (8-10 years) experiments conducted in Central (Aranjuez) and SE (Sorbas) Spain to test how a ~2.5°C warming, a ~30% rainfall reduction and biocrust cover affected topsoil (0-1 cm) P pools (non-occluded P, organic P, calcium bound P, occluded P and total P).Warming significantly increased most P pools-except occluded P-in Aranjuez, whereas only augmented non-occluded P in Sorbas. The rainfall reduction treatment had no effect on the soil P pools at any experimental site. Biocrusts increased most soil P pools and conferred resistance to simulated warming for major P pools at both sites, and to rainfall reduction for non-occluded and occluded P in Aranjuez. Synthesis. Our findings provide novel insights on the responses of soil P pools to warming and rainfall reduction, and highlight the importance of biocrusts as modulators of these responses in dryland ecosystems. Our results suggest that the observed negative impacts of warming on dryland biocrust communities will decrease their capacity to buffer changes in topsoil P driven by climate change.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura García‐Velázquez
- Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y NaturalesUniversidad Pablo de OlavideSevillaSpain
- Instituto Multidisciplinar para el Estudio del Medio “Ramón Margalef”Universidad de AlicanteAlicanteSpain
| | - Antonio Gallardo
- Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y NaturalesUniversidad Pablo de OlavideSevillaSpain
- Unidad Asociada CSIC‐UPO (BioFun), Universidad Pablo de OlavideSevillaSpain
| | - Victoria Ochoa
- Instituto Multidisciplinar para el Estudio del Medio “Ramón Margalef”Universidad de AlicanteAlicanteSpain
| | - Beatriz Gozalo
- Instituto Multidisciplinar para el Estudio del Medio “Ramón Margalef”Universidad de AlicanteAlicanteSpain
| | - Roberto Lázaro
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (CSIC), Carretera de SacramentoAlmeríaSpain
| | - Fernando T. Maestre
- Instituto Multidisciplinar para el Estudio del Medio “Ramón Margalef”Universidad de AlicanteAlicanteSpain
- Departamento de EcologíaUniversidad de AlicanteAlicanteSpain
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Globorotalia truncatulinoides in the Mediterranean Basin during the Middle–Late Holocene: Bio-Chronological and Oceanographic Indicator. GEOSCIENCES 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/geosciences12060244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
The planktonic foraminiferal species Globorotalia truncatulinoides is widely used as a biostratigraphic proxy for the Quaternary in the Mediterranean region. High-resolution quantitative studies performed on sediment cores collected in the central and western Mediterranean Sea evidence a significant abundance of G. truncatulinoides during the Middle Holocene. The robust chronological frame allows us to date this bio-event to 4.8–4.4 ka Before Present (BP), very close to the base of the Meghalayan stage (4.2 ka BP). As a consequence, we propose that G. truncatulinoides can be considered a potential marker for the Middle–Late Holocene chronological subdivision. G. truncatulinoides is a deep-dwelling planktonic foraminifer and their distributional pattern in the central and western Mediterranean Sea provides a tool to monitor the onset of the regional deep vertical mixing of the water column. During the Holocene, the significant increase in the abundance of this species is in phase with the end of African Humid Period, which marks the transition from a more humid climate to the present-day semi-arid climate.
Collapse
|
4
|
Sarabia C, vonHoldt B, Larrasoaña JC, Uríos V, Leonard JA. Pleistocene climate fluctuations drove demographic history of African golden wolves (Canis lupaster). Mol Ecol 2020; 30:6101-6120. [PMID: 33372365 DOI: 10.1111/mec.15784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Pleistocene climate change impacted entire ecosystems throughout the world. In the northern hemisphere, the distribution of Arctic species expanded during glacial periods, while more temperate and mesic species contracted into climatic refugia, where isolation drove genetic divergence. Cycles of local cooling and warming in the Sahara region of northern Africa caused repeated contractions and expansions of savannah-like environments which connected mesic species isolated in refugia during interglacial times, possibly driving population expansions and contractions; divergence and geneflow in the associated fauna. Here, we use whole genome sequences of African golden wolves (Canis lupaster), a generalist mesopredator with a wide distribution in northern Africa to estimate their demographic history and past episodes of geneflow. We detect a correlation between divergence times and cycles of increased aridity-associated Pleistocene glacial cycles. A complex demographic history with responses to local climate change in different lineages was found, including a relict lineage north of the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco that has been isolated for more than 18,000 years, possibly a distinct ecotype.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Sarabia
- Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics Group, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC, Seville, Spain
| | - Bridgett vonHoldt
- Faculty of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | | | - Vicente Uríos
- Vertebrate Zoology Research Group, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
| | - Jennifer A Leonard
- Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics Group, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC, Seville, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Garcia-Erill G, Kjaer MM, Albrechtsen A, Siegismund HR, Heller R. Vicariance followed by secondary gene flow in a young gazelle species complex. Mol Ecol 2020; 30:528-544. [PMID: 33226701 PMCID: PMC7898927 DOI: 10.1111/mec.15738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2020] [Revised: 11/03/2020] [Accepted: 11/11/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Grant's gazelles have recently been proposed to be a species complex comprising three highly divergent mtDNA lineages (Nanger granti, N. notata and N. petersii). The three lineages have nonoverlapping distributions in East Africa, but without any obvious geographical divisions, making them an interesting model for studying the early‐stage evolutionary dynamics of allopatric speciation in detail. Here, we use genomic data obtained by restriction site‐associated (RAD) sequencing of 106 gazelle individuals to shed light on the evolutionary processes underlying Grant's gazelle divergence, to characterize their genetic structure and to assess the presence of gene flow between the main lineages in the species complex. We date the species divergence to 134,000 years ago, which is recent in evolutionary terms. We find population subdivision within N. granti, which coincides with the previously suggested two subspecies, N. g. granti and N. g. robertsii. Moreover, these two lineages seem to have hybridized in Masai Mara. Perhaps more surprisingly given their extreme genetic differentiation, N. granti and N. petersii also show signs of prolonged admixture in Mkomazi, which we identified as a hybrid population most likely founded by allopatric lineages coming into secondary contact. Despite the admixed composition of this population, elevated X chromosomal differentiation suggests that selection may be shaping the outcome of hybridization in this population. Our results therefore provide detailed insights into the processes of allopatric speciation and secondary contact in a recently radiated species complex.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Genís Garcia-Erill
- Department of Biology, Section for Computational and RNA Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen N, Denmark
| | - Michael Munkholm Kjaer
- Department of Biology, Section for Computational and RNA Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen N, Denmark.,Norwegian College of Fishery Science, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Anders Albrechtsen
- Department of Biology, Section for Computational and RNA Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen N, Denmark
| | - Hans Redlef Siegismund
- Department of Biology, Section for Computational and RNA Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen N, Denmark
| | - Rasmus Heller
- Department of Biology, Section for Computational and RNA Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen N, Denmark
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Marshall JEA, Lakin J, Troth I, Wallace-Johnson SM. UV-B radiation was the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary terrestrial extinction kill mechanism. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaba0768. [PMID: 32518822 PMCID: PMC7253167 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba0768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2019] [Accepted: 03/23/2020] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
There is an unexplained terrestrial mass extinction at the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary (359 million years ago). The discovery in east Greenland of malformed land plant spores demonstrates that the extinction was coincident with elevated UV-B radiation demonstrating ozone layer reduction. Mercury data through the extinction level prove that, unlike other mass extinctions, there were no planetary scale volcanic eruptions. Importantly, the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary terrestrial mass extinction was coincident with a major climatic warming that ended the intense final glacial cycle of the latest Devonian ice age. A mechanism for ozone layer reduction during rapid warming is increased convective transport of ClO. Hence, ozone loss during rapid warming is an inherent Earth system process with the unavoidable conclusion that we should be alert for such an eventuality in the future warming world.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- John E. A. Marshall
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
| | - Jon Lakin
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
| | - Ian Troth
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
| | | |
Collapse
|
7
|
Scussolini P, Bakker P, Guo C, Stepanek C, Zhang Q, Braconnot P, Cao J, Guarino MV, Coumou D, Prange M, Ward PJ, Renssen H, Kageyama M, Otto-Bliesner B, Aerts JCJH. Agreement between reconstructed and modeled boreal precipitation of the Last Interglacial. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaax7047. [PMID: 31799394 PMCID: PMC6867887 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax7047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2019] [Accepted: 09/19/2019] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
The last extended time period when climate may have been warmer than today was during the Last Interglacial (LIG; ca. 129 to 120 thousand years ago). However, a global view of LIG precipitation is lacking. Here, seven new LIG climate models are compared to the first global database of proxies for LIG precipitation. In this way, models are assessed in their ability to capture important hydroclimatic processes during a different climate. The models can reproduce the proxy-based positive precipitation anomalies from the preindustrial period over much of the boreal continents. Over the Southern Hemisphere, proxy-model agreement is partial. In models, LIG boreal monsoons have 42% wider area than in the preindustrial and produce 55% more precipitation and 50% more extreme precipitation. Austral monsoons are weaker. The mechanisms behind these changes are consistent with stronger summer radiative forcing over boreal high latitudes and with the associated higher temperatures during the LIG.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paolo Scussolini
- Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Corresponding author.
| | - Pepijn Bakker
- MARUM, Bremen, Germany
- Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Chuncheng Guo
- NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway
| | - Christian Stepanek
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - Qiong Zhang
- Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Sweden
| | - Pascale Braconnot
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Jian Cao
- Earth System Modeling Center, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
| | | | - Dim Coumou
- Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
| | | | - Philip J. Ward
- Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | | | - Masa Kageyama
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | | | - Jeroen C. J. H. Aerts
- Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Palchan D, Torfstein A. A drop in Sahara dust fluxes records the northern limits of the African Humid Period. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3803. [PMID: 31444347 PMCID: PMC6707271 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11701-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2018] [Accepted: 07/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Northern and eastern Africa were exposed to significantly wetter conditions relative to present during the early Holocene period known as the African Humid Period (AHP), although the latitudinal extent of the northward expansion of the tropical rain belt remains poorly constrained. New records of 230Thxs-normalized accumulation rates in marine sediment cores from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are combined with existing records of western Africa dust and terrestrial records across the Sahara Desert, revealing that fluxes of dust transported east from the Sahara decreased by at least 50% during the AHP, due to the development of wetter conditions as far north as ~22°N. These results provide the first quantitative record of sediment and dust accumulation rates in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden over the past 20 kyrs and challenge the paradigm of vast vegetative cover across the north and northeastern Sahara Desert during the AHP. Marine sediment cores from east of Africa show that Sahara dust fluxes decreased by at least 50% between the last deglaciation and the mid Holocene, while the Northern Sector of the Red Sea remained unchanged. This constrains the African Humid Period impact to have extended up to ca. 22°N, across a more limited region than previously thought.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Palchan
- The Fredy & Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel. .,Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, Eilat, 88103, Israel.
| | - Adi Torfstein
- The Fredy & Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel.,Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, Eilat, 88103, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
End-member modelling as a tool for climate reconstruction-An Eastern Mediterranean case study. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0185136. [PMID: 28934332 PMCID: PMC5608325 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2017] [Accepted: 09/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The Eastern Mediterranean Sea is a sink for terrigenous sediments from North Africa, Europe and Asia Minor. Its sediments therefore provide valuable information on the climate dynamics in the source areas and the associated transport processes. We present a high-resolution dataset of sediment core M40/4_SL71, which was collected SW of Crete and spans the last ca. 180 kyr. We analysed the clay mineral composition, the grain size distribution within the silt fraction, and the abundance of major and trace elements. We tested the potential of end-member modelling on these sedimentological datasets as a tool for reconstructing the climate variability in the source regions and the associated detrital input. For each dataset, we modelled three end members. All end members were assigned to a specific provenance and sedimentary process. In total, three end members were related to the Saharan dust input, and five were related to the fluvial sediment input. One end member was strongly associated with the sapropel layers. The Saharan dust end members of the grain size and clay mineral datasets generally suggest enhanced dust export into the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the dry phases with short-term increases during Heinrich events. During the African Humid Periods, dust export was reduced but may not have completely ceased. The loading patterns of two fluvial end members show a strong relationship with the Northern Hemisphere insolation, and all fluvial end members document enhanced input during the African Humid Periods. The sapropel end member most likely reflects the fixation of redox-sensitive elements within the anoxic sapropel layers. Our results exemplify that end-member modelling is a valuable tool for interpreting extensive and multidisciplinary datasets.
Collapse
|