Current Contents / Agriculture, Biology & Environmental Sciences

In this study, we examine whether personality profiles moderate a recently proposed environmental behaviour–well-being model. The model is grounded in Self-Determination Theory, which suggests that pro-environmental behaviour may contribute to subjective well-being through the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. A total of 403 adolescents from four Lithuanian schools participated in this study. Participants were selected using a convenience sampling method, and the average participant age was 14.89 years (56.6% female). Structural equation modelling demonstrated acceptable model fit (CFI = 0.988, TLI = 0.986, NFI = 0.929, RMSEA = 0.043 [0.022–0.058], SRMR = 0.113, χ2 (353) = 416.92, p = 0.011) and indicated that personality profiles moderate several pathways within the environmental behaviour–well-being model. Additionally, the results showed that pro-environmental behaviour and connectedness to nature did not significantly predict subjective well-being across all personality profiles. The findings highlight the importance of considering personality differences when designing sustainability-related educational interventions aimed at promoting environmental citizenship and improving subjective well-being.

This paper reports on using low-cost, energy-efficient magnetic measurements to study pollution in the Lviv agglomeration, a major industrial and cultural centre of Western Ukraine. Soil magnetic properties were measured in two areas and along one transect. 66 surface topsoil samples were collected in the grid surveyed (a depth of 0–5 cm) at Jewish Park, 33 samples—along the transect. 15 soil samples were taken randomly from an area of Lychakiv Park to identify the magnetic properties of natural soil in the study area. The highest values of magnetic susceptibility (χ) were recorded in soil samples collected near roads with heavy traffic and the railway embankment area (150–237 × 10–8 m3/kg); At a distance of about 20–25 m from the road the χ values were 45–80 × 10–8 m3/kg. In the green space zones of Jewish Park, the Vysokyi Zamok castle, and the Lychakiv Cemetery, χ values displayed a significant decrease (12–24 × 10–8 m3/kg). The thermomagnetic analyses demonstrated a global maximum at 128 K, close to the Verwey transition and the isotropic point of magnetite. The hysteresis parameters suggest the presence of coarse-grained pseudo-single domain (PSD) and multidomain grains (MD) in the samples. The obtained results could be valuable in determining hotspots and pollution levels in the Lviv area using magnetic measurements of soil, as well as further precision geochemical studies.

The arid and semiarid grassland ecosystems are characterized by limited water resources and are generally vulnerable to climate change. Understanding how plants in arid and semiarid ecosystems respond to global climatic variation is crucial for ecological restoration under a changing climate. Although the effects of climate on aboveground biomass (AGB) and belowground biomass (BGB) have been widely explored, how AGB and BGB respond to climatic variation is seldom disentangled. There is still a need to understand how plant communities respond to global climate change. In this study, we conducted a transect survey across grasslands in Inner Mongolia to capture changes in AGB and BGB in plant communities. Then, we used structural equation modelling (SEM) to explore the relationship between environmental factors and the root:shoot ratio to understand how plant communities respond to ecological drought under global climate change. Our results showed that low precipitation use efficiency (LPUE) results in a high root:shoot (HRS) ratio, and BGB was more sensitive to environmental changes. By contrast, high precipitation use efficiency (HPUE) led to a low root:shoot (LRS) ratio, and environmental factors had a greater impact on AGB. For the LPUE pattern, soil water content (SWC), pH, and soil total nitrogen (STN) mainly affected the HRS ratio. Soil water content and STN influenced the HRS ratio through a positive effect on BGB. For the HPUE pattern, SWC, STN, and plant abundance (PA) predominantly regulate the LRS ratio, while biodiversity (plant abundance) affects the LRS ratio by positively affecting AGB. Our results highlight the differential impact of precipitation use efficiency on aboveground and belowground biomass allocation. This is important for monitoring the impact of drought events on plant biomass, improving productivity assessment models in arid and semi-arid regions, and assessing local carbon storage accurately.

Slash-pile burning is a frequent land management practice implemented across the Mediterranean. However, the impact of this practice on runoff waters has often been neglected. To address this issue, two experimental burns were conducted: one with moderate (MS) severity, and another with high (HS) severity, to evaluate the impact of different types of slash–pile on the quality of runoff waters. An unburned (UB) treatment was also considered in this study, to evaluate the impacts of slash–pile burning per se. Treatments were established on a slope terrain (∼18°) characteristic of the Adriatic coast. During the two-year study, runoff and erosion samples were collected 22 times after major rainfall events. Aside from runoff, erosion, and total carbon in sediments (TC) were determined, as well as various water quality parameters, including, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and Br¯, Cl¯, SO4 2¯, PO4 3¯, F¯, K+, Na+, Ca2+, and Mg2+. Overall, water quality parameters were more affected shortly after burning, while runoff and erosion were more dependent on precipitation patterns. TC in sediments was higher in HS than in MS, the highest values being observed in the last sampling events for both burned treatments. Regarding runoff water quality, the effects were more pronounced at HS, even if the hydrological response was stronger at the MS. The UB treatment showed significant changes in runoff water quality following major rain events, which was attributed to soil saturation. Our results suggest that slash pile burning has adverse effects on runoff waters, so it is recommended for biomass to be used in other ways, especially in the context of soil and water conservation.

The process of companies undertaking adaptation in the face of changing conditions which have been influenced by factors such as globalisation, technological changes, environmental changes, competition, political decisions, worker mobility, population structure, and so on, is one of the major challenges of modern corporate governance. Changes in a company are inevitable, but they do not always directly correlate with the employee’s sense of security, including whether the employee feels safe about their workplace, in-come, of future roles in the company in the face of potential changes. There is an inverse relationship between the employee’s sense of security and their time spent with the company. One way of managing this which can help to ensure a sense of security for employees within the company is to directly involve them in the process of implementing changes in the organisation. The main goal of this paper is to highlight the principal aspects of employee engagement in change management processes and to gain an increased level of understanding in terms of the implementation of change at the organisational level by involving employees. Research methods: a systematic and comparative analysis of concepts and methods which have been published in the available scientific literature, statistical processing, an instrumental case study, interviews, surveys, and a content analysis of strategic documents; followed by modelling. The theoretical contribution of the paper demonstrates construction of methodology quidded on the Emergent perspective and new theoretical insights on professional discourse. Practical input shows that employee involvement in change processes is directly related to the speed of strategic change in the company

Vegetation recovery and poverty alleviation are critical problems in the karst national designed poor counties (NPDC) in southwest China. However, little information is available about the relationship between poverty and vegetation dynamics in these areas. In this study, we used remote sensing and statistical datasets from 2000 to 2015 to identify the relations between vegetation dynamics and poverty among the NPDC in southwest rocky desertification areas. We estimated the vegetation dynamics using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and poverty with the rural per capita net income. Local indicator of spatial association and the space-time transition type of poverty were applied to identify spatial patterns of the poverty spatial distribution relationship and transition. Also, poverty, natural and ecological governance factors were assessed using the Geo-detector method to uncover the driving factors of karst vegetation. The results showed that vegetation increased significantly (p < 0.05) in karst NPDC (82.82%) and rocky desertification control counties (78.77%). The karst NPDC was significantly clustered. The hot spots of rural per capita net income changed from west and north (2000) to only north (2015) and cold spots changed from east and south (2000) to only south (2015). The rural per capita net income spatiotemporal transition was higher in 2000 than in 2015. We found a weak synergy between vegetation change and poverty type transition in 42.86% of the browning counties, 45.45% in the slowly greening counties, and 43.65% in stable greening counties. However, 57.50% of counties in the quick greening counties showed a tradeoff relationship with the poverty type transition. The rocky desertification rate and ecological engineering measures affected vegetation dynamics importantly. The results will help decision-makers to understand the interdependence between vegetation and poverty. This will contribute to better policies formulation to tackle poverty in the karst rocky desertification area.

This article focuses on the importance of the right to effective participation of children in conflict with the law in criminal (youth justice) proceedings. In particular, it explores two procedural aspects which are closely related to the right to child-friendly legal aid and the role of individual assessment. The authors claim that qualitatively identifying the needs of the child (through the instrument of individual assessment) and establishing a relationship of trust with a specifically trained legal aid lawyer is critical in raising the child’s status to that of an active participant in the proceedings and ensuring that the best interests of the child are observed. The authors also suggest that such an initial encounter within the justice system forms an attitude (of either confidence or rejection) of the child towards public institutions and, accordingly, directly affects the effectiveness of further interventions. To support their position, the authors of the paper bring several examples from the comparative research carried out in two European projects, noting, regretfully, that the initial interventions often suffer from formal implementation and lack a systemic approach.

Rainfall erosivity (R) is the most important factor affecting soil erosion. It is crucial to estimate it on a global scale to identify the potential soil erosion risk area and to develop mitigation strategies. On a large scale, R is often estimated based on available precipitation data, such as annual, monthly and daily rainfall. Compared with the rainfall erosivity model driven by monthly and annual rainfall data, the daily erosivity model can provide more information about intense erosive events, producing more accurate results. Given the climate variability in different regions, regional parameters are needed when applying the daily erosivity model on a global scale. However, regional parameter estimation is a challenge, and few studies have addressed this. Here, we present a method for parameterising the daily erosivity model for different regions of the world by generating equations for estimating the required parameters of the model in each climate zone. This was based on a literature review to collect the data sites with estimated parameter values globally. We then applied the model to compare the global average annual and monthly rainfall erosivity changes between 1980–1999 (P1) and 2000–2017 (P2). The results showed that globally, average annual R decreased in all climate zones in P2, except for a substantial increase in Df (Cold without dry season), located in high latitudes of the northern hemisphere. At the monthly scale, except for the region 40-70°N, all regions experienced a considerable decrease. Even though the global total annual and monthly rainfall erosivity was reduced between 1980 and 2017, the risk of extreme daily erosivity is high. The acceptable agreements between the values estimated in our model, estimated from high-resolution rainfall data and retrieved from the literature, indicate that the present approach could assess the effects of climate change on soil erosion on a global scale, particularly regarding extreme rainfall events.