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Crop yields are increasingly affected by climate change-induced weather extremes in Germany. However, there is still little knowledge of the specific crop-climate relations and respective heat and drought stress-induced yield losses. Therefore, we configure weather indices (WIs) that differ in the timing and intensity of heat and drought stress in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). We construct these WIs using gridded weather and phenology time series data from 1995 to 2019 and aggregate them with Germany-wide municipality level on-farm wheat yield data. We statistically analyze the WI's explanatory power and region-specific effect size for wheat yield using linear mixed models. We found the highest explanatory power during the stem elongation and booting phase under moderate drought stress and during the reproductive phase under moderate heat stress. Furthermore, we observed the highest average yield losses due to moderate and extreme heat stress during the reproductive phase. The highest heat and drought stress-induced yield losses were observed in Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, and northern Bavaria, while similar heat and drought stresses cause much lower yield losses in other regions of Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a simple yet interpretable, probabilistic model is proposed for the prediction of reported case counts of infectious diseases. A spatio-temporal kernel is derived from training data to capture the typical interaction effects of reported infections across time and space, which provides insight into the dynamics of the spread of infectious diseases. Testing the model on a one-week-ahead prediction task for campylobacteriosis and rotavirus infections across Germany, as well as Lyme borreliosis across the federal state of Bavaria, shows that the proposed model performs on-par with the state-of-the-art hhh4 model. However, it provides a full posterior distribution over parameters in addition to model predictions, which aides in the assessment of the model. The employed Bayesian Monte Carlo regression framework is easily extensible and allows for incorporating prior domain knowledge, which makes it suitable for use on limited, yet complex datasets as often encountered in epidemiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arthropod predators are important for ecosystem functioning by providing top-down regulation of insect herbivores. As predator communities and activity are influenced by biotic and abiotic factors on different spatial scales, the strength of top-down regulation ('arthropod predation') is also likely to vary. Understanding the combined effects of potential drivers on arthropod predation is urgently needed with regard to anthropogenic climate and land-use change. In a large-scale study, we recorded arthropod predation rates using artificial caterpillars on 113 plots of open herbaceous vegetation embedded in contrasting habitat types (forest, grassland, arable field, settlement) along climate and land-use gradients in Bavaria, Germany. As potential drivers we included habitat characteristics (habitat type, plant species richness, local mean temperature and mean relative humidity during artificial caterpillar exposure), landscape diversity (0.5–3.0-km, six scales), climate (multi-annual mean temperature, 'MAT') and interactive effects of habitat type with other drivers. We observed no substantial differences in arthropod predation rates between the studied habitat types, related to plant species richness and across the Bavarian-wide climatic gradient, but predation was limited when local mean temperatures were low and tended to decrease towards higher relative humidity. Arthropod predation rates increased towards more diverse landscapes at a 2-km scale. Interactive effects of habitat type with local weather conditions, plant species richness, landscape diversity and MAT were not observed. We conclude that landscape diversity favours high arthropod predation rates in open herbaceous vegetation independent of the dominant habitat in the vicinity. This finding may be harnessed to improve top-down control of herbivores, e.g. agricultural pests, but further research is needed for more specific recommendations on landscape management. The absence of MAT effects suggests that high predation rates may occur independent of moderate increases of MAT in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Influenza is a major concern in hospitals, including the emergency department (ED), mainly because of a high risk for ED personnel to acquire and transmit the disease. Although influenza vaccination is recommended for health care workers, vaccination coverage is low. Methods: This survey was conducted in the 2016/2017 and 2020/2021 influenza seasons. Questionnaires were sent to ED personnel in 12 hospitals in Bavaria, South-Eastern Germany. The response rates were 62% and 38% in 2016/2017 and 2020/2021, respectively. Data were compared between the two seasons as well as between vaccinated and not vaccinated respondents in 2020/2021. Results: Significantly more ED personnel reported having been vaccinated in the 2020/2021 season. Factors associated with vaccination coverage (or the intention to get vaccinated) were profession (physician / medical student), having been vaccinated at least twice, the availability of an influenza vaccination on site (in the ED) as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, significant differences in the assessment and evaluation of influenza, its vaccination side effects and ethical aspects were found between vaccinated and not vaccinated ED personnel in 2020/2021. Unvaccinated respondents estimated higher frequencies of almost all potential vaccination side effects, were less likely to accept lay-offs if employees would not come to work during an influenza pandemic and more likely to agree that work attendance should be an employee´s decision. Vaccinated participants instead, rather agreed that vaccination should be mandatory and were less likely to consider job changes in case of a mandatory vaccination policy. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic might have contributed to a higher influenza vaccination rate among ED workers. Vaccination on site and interventions targeting the perception of influenza vaccination and its side effects may be most promising to increase the vaccination coverage among ED personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Associations of large vertebrates are exceedingly rare in the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone of Bavaria, Southern Germany. However, there are five specimens of medium-sized pterosaur Rhamphorhynchus that lie adjacent to the rostrum of a large individual of the ganoid fish Aspidorhynchus. In one of these, a small leptolepidid fish is still sticking in the esophagus of the pterosaur and its stomach is full of fish debris. This suggests that the Rhamphorhynchus was seized during or immediately after a successful hunt. According to the fossil record, Rhamphorhynchus frequently were accidentally seized by large Aspidorhnychus. In some cases the fibrous tissue of the wing membrane got entangled with the rostral teeth such that the fish was unable to get rid of the pterosaur. Such encounters ended fatally for both. Intestinal contents of Aspidorhynchus-type fishes are known and mostly comprise fishes and in one single case a Homoeosaurus. Obviously Rhamphorhynchus did not belong to the prey spectrum of Aspidorhynchus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]