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Background: Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the excess mortality P-score has gained prominence as a measure of pandemic burden. The P-score indicates the percentage by which observed deaths deviate from expected deaths. As the P-score is regularly used to compare excess mortality between countries, questions arise regarding the age dependency of the measure. In this paper we present formal and empirical results on the population structure bias of the P-score with a special focus on cross-country comparisons during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. Methods: P-scores were calculated for European countries for 2021, 2022, and 2023 using data from the 2024 revision of the United Nations' World Population Prospects and the HMDs Short Term Mortality Fluctuations data series. The expected deaths for 2021, 2022, and 2023 were estimated using a Lee–Carter forecast model assuming pre-pandemic conditions. P-score differences between countries were decomposed using a Kitagawa-type decomposition into excess-mortality and structural components. To investigate the sensitivity of P-score cross-country rankings to differences in population structure we calculated the rank-correlation between age-standardized and classical P-scores. Results: The P-score is an average of age-specific percent excess deaths weighted by the age-distribution of expected deaths. It can be shown that the effect of differences in the distribution of deaths only plays a marginal role in a European comparison. In most cases, the excess mortality effect is the dominant effect. P-score rankings among European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic are similar under both age-standardized and classical P-scores. Conclusions: Although the P-score formally depends on the age-distribution of expected deaths, this structural component only plays a minor role in a European comparison, as the distribution of deaths across the continent is similar. Thus, the P-score is suitable as a measure of excess mortality in a European comparison, as it mainly reflects the differences in excess mortality. However, this finding should not be extrapolated to global comparisons, where countries could have very different death distributions. In situations were P-score comparisons are biased age-standardization can be applied as a solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population aging is an important and increasingly relevant area of study for demographers. A growing body of research seeks to determine how long-term changes in births, mortality, and migration—the three drivers of any demographic process—have shaped the present aging situation. Using variable-r decomposition and cohort data, this research note presents a formula for the change in the old-age dependency ratio to determine the extent to which relative changes in births, as well as in mortality and migration rates, contribute to aging. This perspective provides a careful and in-depth picture of aging and contributes to the debate concerning whether changes in births or mortality have had the strongest effect on population aging. When applied to Australia, the United States, and several European populations, the decomposition of the old-age dependency ratio shows that aging occurred in all populations and that changes in both births and mortality contributed to this aging. Analysis of these populations demonstrates that although they differed regarding which of these factors contributed more, changes in births prevailed as the more significant factor. In nearly all populations, migration decreased the rate of population aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The total body score (TBS) is a visual scoring method to scale the succession of decomposition stages. It compares decomposition between cadavers, to connect it with external taphonomic factors and estimate the post-mortem interval. To study decomposition in various climatic environments, pigs are often used as human proxies. Currently, there is one TBS system by Keough et al. (J Forensic Sci. 2017;62:986) for surface-deposited domestic pigs, coming from South Africa. Our study aims to evaluate this method and analyze porcine decomposition in Central Europe to inform forensic research and casework. We conducted an experiment studying six 50 kg pig carcasses in a temperate Swiss forest. Three observers documented decomposition patterns and rated the decomposition stages from photographs based on the porcine TBS model by Keough et al. (J Forensic Sci. 2017;62:986). We documented discrepancies between the carcass decomposition of our specimens and those in the South African study, especially related to the high insect activity in our experiment. Furthermore, we noted factors complicating TBS scoring, including rainfall and scavengers. The agreement between TBS observers from photographs was in the highest agreement category apart from one "substantial agreement" category. Our study is the first in Europe to systematically test the Keough et al. (J Forensic Sci. 2017;62:986) method. The results evidence that regional adaptations are required to be applicable for other environments. We present a modified approach based on experimental observations in a Swiss temperate forest. The identification of regional decomposition patterns and drivers will inform future taphonomy research as well as forensic casework in comparable contexts in Central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article intended to compare the discrimination perceived, respectively, by Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants in Europe, and investigate its determinants. Data covered six European Social Surveys and fourteen countries. The study found that the perception of being discriminated against is much more widespread among Muslim immigrants. The paper also found vast demo-socioeconomic heterogeneities between Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants. Consequently, the hypothesis was advanced that those heterogeneities were responsible for the discrimination differential between the two groups. In order to test this hypothesis, the present study used a statistical decomposition model rather than the procedures usually employed to analyse perceived discrimination. It emerged that demo-socioeconomic dissimilarities (in age, education, unemployment, income etc.) between Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants do not explain their gap in perceived discrimination. Nor is the gap eliminated by controlling for the host country's features, economic conditions and native hostility included. Instead, it emerged that identical individual traits—such as second generation, age, and income—are accompanied by opposite outcomes of perceived discrimination in the two groups. These divergent outcomes, in turn, are associated with deep-rooted characteristics of the immigrants' cultural identity. These findings suggest that these characteristics can be more impactful than the immigrants' socioeconomic status and the host country's features and that, ultimately, immigrants' shared in-group values play a more prominent role in the discrimination perceived by ethnic-religious groups than usually assumed by current literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the variability of life expectancy at birth in Europe after 1950. It aims to assess the development of the East-West mortality gap and to identify the sub-regions or countries that most influenced mortality divergent and convergent trends in Europe. To achieve the goals, European countries are divided into Western and Eastern according to their political history, and the squared coefficient of variation is used for analysis of variability. This measure is further decomposed into between- and within-group components. The results of the study show that there were 4 divergent periods during the study period associated with the delayed cardiovascular revolution and mortality crisis in Eastern Europe and the COVID-19 pandemic. Variability of mortality in Europe during the pandemic was the highest in comparison to all previous divergent periods. Throughout the studied period, the between-group variability was influenced by both the continual progress of Western Europe and the lagging of Eastern Europe, with both regions contributing more or less similarly. However, since the 1990s, in case of within-group variability, a strong dominance of Eastern Europe can be observed, and therefore post-socialist countries deserve special attention. The results also suggest that some longer-term trends in behavior and attitudes towards health may persist in society, and that in the case of an unexpected crisis, there is a greater risk of mortality divergence reappearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standing deadwood is an important structural component of forest ecosystems. Its occurrence and dynamics influence both carbon fluxes and the availability of habitats for many species. However, deadwood is greatly reduced in managed, and even in many currently unmanaged temperate forests in Europe. To date, few studies have examined how environmental factors, forest management and changing climate affect the availability of standing deadwood and its dynamics.Data from five periods of the Austrian National Forest Inventory (1981–2009) were used to (I) analyse standing deadwood volume in relation to living volume stock, elevation, eco‐region, forest type, ownership and management intensity, (II) investigate the influence of forest ownership and management intensity on snag persistence and (III) define drivers of standing deadwood volume loss for seven tree genera (Abies, Alnus, Fagus, Larix, Picea, Pinus and Quercus) using tree‐related, site‐related and climate‐related variables, and predict volume loss under two climate change scenarios.Standing deadwood volume was mainly determined by living volume stock and elevation, resulting in different distributions between eco‐regions. While forest type and management intensity influenced standing deadwood volume only slightly, the latter exhibited a significant effect on persistence. Snag persistence was shorter in intensively managed forests than in extensively managed forests and shorter in private than in public forests.Standing deadwood volume loss was driven by a combination of diameter at breast height, elevation, as well as temperature, precipitation and relative humidity. Volume loss under climate change predictions revealed constant rates for moderate climate change (RCP2.6) by the end of the 21st century. Under severe climate change conditions (RCP8.5), volume loss increased for most tree genera, with Quercus, Alnus and Picea showing different predictions depending on the model used as the baseline scenario. We observed trends towards faster volume loss at higher temperatures and lower elevations and slower volume loss at high precipitation levels. The tree genera most susceptible to climate change were Pinus and Fagus, while Abies was least susceptible.Synthesis and applications. We recommend to protect standing dead trees from regular harvesting to ensure the full decomposition process. The consequences for decomposition‐dependent species must be taken into account to evaluate the influences of management and climate change on standing deadwood dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate whether the correlation of income and social capital with well-being changes in times of economic crisis. Both subjective well-being and social capital may decline during a crisis, and their correlation can change: if social capital becomes a scarce good, it may correlate more with well-being. Alternatively, people may find that in times of crisis other things matter more for well-being and its association with social capital should decrease. To account for these possibilities, we apply a Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition and regression analysis with interaction effects to European Social Survey data from 2006 to 2012. Our findings indicate that, after accounting for the decline of social capital, its correlation with well-being does not change over time. On the contrary, income becomes only temporarily more important for well-being. We conclude that in times of crisis, when material concerns are urgent, policy makers targeting recovery should account for the policy impacts on social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming is accompanied by increasing water stress across much of our planet. We studied soil biological processes and changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in 30 Hungarian oak forest sites in the Carpathian Basin along a climatic gradient (mean annual temperature (MAT) 9.6–12.1 °C, mean annual precipitation (MAP) 545–725 mm) but on similar gently sloped hillsides where the parent materials are loess and weathered dust inputs dating from the end of the ice age. The purpose of this research was to understand how a drying climate, predicted for this region, might regulate long-term SOC sequestration. To examine the effects of decreasing water availability, we compared soil parameters and processes in three categories of forest that represented the moisture extremes along our gradient and that were defined using a broken-stick regression model. Soil biological activity was significantly lower in the driest ("dry") forests, which had more than double the SOC concentration in the upper 30 cm layer (3.28 g C/100 g soil ± 0.11 SE) compared to soils of the wettest ("humid") forests (1.32 g C/100 g soil ± 0.09 SE), despite the fact that annual surface litter production in humid forests was ~ 37% higher than in dry forests. A two-pool SOM model constrained to fit radiocarbon data indicates that turnover times for fast and slow pools are about half as long in the humid soil compared to the dry soil, and humid soils transfer C twice as efficiently from fast to slow pools. Enzyme activity and fungal biomass data also imply shorter turnover times associated with faster degradation processes in the soils of humid forests. Thermogravimetry studies suggest that more chemically recalcitrant compounds are accumulating in the soils of dry forests. Taken together, our results suggest that the predicted climate drying in this region might increase SOC storage in Central European mesic deciduous forests even as litter production decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral disease, despite being largely preventable, remains the most common chronic disease worldwide and has a significant negative impact on quality of life, particularly among older adults.Objective: This study is the first to comprehensively and at a large scale (14 European countries) measure the social inequalities in the number of natural teeth (an informative oral health marker) in the over 50-year-old population and to investigate the extent to which such inequalities are attributable to dental service use.Methods: Using Wave 5 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, which included internationally harmonized information on over 50,000 individuals across 14 European countries, we calculated Gini and Concentration indices (CI) as well as the decompositions of CIs by socioeconomic factors.Results: Sweden consistently performed the best with the lowest inequalities as measured by Gini (0.1078), CI by income (0.0392), CI by education (0.0407), and CI by wealth (0.0296). No country performed the worst in all inequality measures. However, unexpectedly, some wealthier countries (e.g., the Netherlands and Denmark) had higher degrees of inequalities than less-wealthy countries (e.g., Estonia and Slovenia). Decomposition analysis showed that income, education, and wealth contributed substantially to the inequalities, and dental service use was an important contributor even after controlling for income and wealth.Conclusions: The study highlighted the importance of comprehensively investigating oral health inequalities. The results are informative to policymakers to derive country-specific health policy recommendations to reduce oral health inequalities in the older population and also have implications for oral health improvement of the future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the impact of the economic crisis and the policy reaction on inequality and relative poverty in four European countries: France, Germany, Ireland and the UK. The period examined, 2008-13, was one of great economic turmoil, yet it is unclear whether changes in inequality and poverty rates over this time period were mainly driven by changes in market income distributions or by tax-benefit policy reforms. We disentangle these effects by producing counterfactual ('no reform') scenarios using tax-benefit microsimulation and representative household surveys for each country. For the first stage of the Great Recession, we find that the policy reaction contributed to stabilising or even decreasing inequality and relative poverty in the UK, France and, especially, Ireland. Market income changes nonetheless pushed up inequality and relative poverty in France. Relative poverty increased in Germany as a result of policy responses combined with market income changes. Subsequent policy reforms, in the later stage of the crisis, had markedly different cross-country effects, decreasing overall poverty in France, increasing it in Ireland, and giving mixed effects for different subgroups in Germany and the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the salient factors that characterize the inequality income distribution for Romania. Data analysis is rigorously carried out using sophisticated techniques borrowed from classical statistics (Theil). Decomposition of the inequalities measured by the Theil index is also performed. This study relies on an exhaustive (11.1 million records for 2014) data-set for total personal gross income of Romanian citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Over the past half century the global tendency for improvements in longevity has been uneven across countries. This has resulted in widening of inter-country disparities in life expectancy. Moreover, the pattern of divergence appears to be driven in part by processes at the level of country groupings defined in geopolitical terms. A systematic quantitative analysis of this phenomenon has not been possible using demographic decomposition approaches as these have not been suitably adapted for this purpose. In this paper we present an elaboration of conventional decomposition techniques to provide a toolkit for analysis of the inter-country variance, and illustrate its use by analyzing trends in life expectancy in developed countries over a 40-year period. Methods: We analyze trends in the population-weighted variance of life expectancy at birth across 36 developed countries and three country groups over the period 1970-2010. We have modified existing decomposition approaches using the stepwise replacement algorithm to compute age components of changes in the total variance as well as variance between and within groups of Established Market Economies (EME), Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and the Former Soviet Union (FSU). The method is generally applicable to the decomposition of temporal changes in any aggregate index based on a set of populations. Results: The divergence in life expectancy between developed countries has generally increased over the study period. This tendency dominated from the beginning of 1970s to the early 2000s, and reversed only after 2005. From 1970 to 2010, the total standard deviation of life expectancy increased from 2.0 to 5.6 years among men and from 1.0 to 3.6 years among women. This was determined by the between-group effects due to polarization between the EME and the FSU. The latter contrast was largely fueled by the long-term health crisis in Russia. With respect to age, the increase in the overall divergence was attributable to between-country differences in mortality changes at ages 15-64 years compared to those aged 65 and older. The within-group variance increased, especially among women. This change was mostly produced by growing mortality differences at ages 65 and older. Conclusions: From the early 1970s to the mid-2000s, the strong divergence in life expectancy across developed countries was largely determined by the between-group variance and mortality polarization linked to the East--West geopolitical division. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper examines the decentralization of European space technology research and development through the joint lenses of policy, systems architecture, and innovation contexts. It uses a detailed longitudinal case history of the development of a novel astrophysics instrument to explore the link between policy-imposed institutional decomposition and the architecture of the technical system. The analysis focuses on five instances of collaborative design decision-making and finds that matching between the technical and institutional architectures is a predictor of project success, consistent with the mirroring hypothesis in extant literature. Examined over time, the instances reveal stability in the loosely coupled nature of institutional arrangements and a trend towards more integral, or tightly coupled, technical systems. The stability of the institutional arrangements is explained as an artifact of the European Hultqvist policy and the trend towards integral technical systems is related to the increasing complexity of modern space systems. If these trends persist, the scale of the mismatch will continue to grow. As a first step towards mitigating this challenge, the paper develops a framework for balancing upfront decomposition and in-process coordination in collaborative development projects. The astrophysics instrument case history is used to illustrate how collaborations should be defined for a given inherent system complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proctolaelaps euserratus Karg, (Acari, Mesostigmata, Melicharidae), exclusivelly known from the Galápagos Islands till now, is newly reported from decaying matter of animal and human decomposition in various countries of Europe (Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom). In consequence of high levels of necrophilia, the species is considered to be ecologically unusual among the other melicharids, which are primary associated with other than necrophilic habitats, such as galleries of subcorticolous beetles, bumble bee nests, flowers, etc. Proctolaelaps euserratus is reviewed, morphologically re-described (with first diagnostic characters for males), and considered as a new potential marker for later stages of decomposition, namely butyric fermentation and dry decomposition as classified in modern concepts of forensic acarology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of publicly-provided health care is generally not only to produce health, but also to decrease variation in health by socio-economic status. The aim of this study is to measure to what extent this goal has been obtained in various European countries and evaluate the determinants of inequalities within countries, as well as cross-country patterns with regard to different cultural, institutional and social settings. Methods: The data utilized in this study provides information on 440,000 individuals in 26 European countries and stem from The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) collected in 2007. As measures of income-related inequality in health both the relative concentration indices and the absolute concentration indices are calculated. Further, health inequality in each country is decomposed into individual-level determinants and cross-country comparisons are made to shed light on social and institutional determinants. Results: Income-related health inequality favoring the better-off is observed for all the 26 European countries. In terms of within-country determinants inequality is mainly explained by income, age, education, and activity status. However, the degree of inequality and contribution of each determinant to inequality varies considerably between countries. Aggregate bivariate linear regressions show that there is a positive association between health-income inequality in Europe and public expenditure on education. Furthermore, a negative relationship between health-income inequality and income inequality was found when individual employee cash income was used in the health-concentration measurement. Using that same income measure, health-income inequality was found to be higher in the Nordic countries than in other areas, but this result is sensitive to the income measure chosen. Conclusions: The findings indicate that institutional determinants partly explain income-related health inequalities across countries. The results are in accordance with previously published theories hypothesizing social mobility as the explanation for differences in health-income inequalities between countries and higher health-income inequality could be a result of lower income inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emissions of NO from forest soils in Europe are an important source of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, influencing the emission rates by forest management is difficult because the relations and feedbacks between forest and soils are complex. Process-based models covering both vegetation and soil biogeochemical processes are frequently used to analyse emission patterns. Particularly, the simulation of soil C and N turnover processes driving NO production, consumption and emission from forest soils requires highly specific input data which renders their regional application difficult since at this scale, soil conditions are often not well understood. Therefore, a soil C and N model (DecoNit) has been developed which describes biogeochemical processes with a simplified structure compared to existing carbon/nitrogen models that nevertheless follows the basic physical and chemical laws involved and which allows to simulate N trace gas emissions. The DecoNit model was previously calibrated using an extensive dataset on decomposition rates of incubated plant materials, microbial dynamics and nitrification. The DecoNit model has now been embedded in a modular simulation environment (MoBiLE) where it is combined with soil water balance and forest process sub-modules. Here, we present the evaluation of MoBiLE-DecoNit with emission data of NO and NO from forest soils of 15 European sites and compare simulation results with a previous study in which a more complex model (PnET-N-DNDC) was used. Evaluation criteria were as follows: (1) precision of modelled annual average emission rates; (2) coherence of modelled and measured annual average and daily emissions; (3) a dynamic representation of emission rates that correspond with the observed variance of fluxes. The results show that MoBiLE-DecoNit captures average annual emission rates more precisely than the more complex model PnET-N-DNDC. Also the structural underestimation of N trace gas fluxes from forest soils was resolved. Moreover, we present evidence that the new modelling approach is also somewhat more adequate for describing inter-daily emission dynamics. The combined MoBiLE-DecoNit is therefore thought to be a promising approach to simulate forest development and greenhouse gas balances on site and regional scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis aims to get a step further in the understanding of the determining factors of social health inequalities, and to explore particularly the role played by parents' social status and their vital status or age at death on the social health inequalities in adulthood among European older adults. The wealth-related health inequalities are measured using the popular concentration index. We then implement the decomposition method of the indices and evaluate the contribution of the various determinants of health introduced in interval regression models. Health is measured using self-assessed health and country-specific cut-points that correct observed differences in self-report due to cross-cultural differences in reporting styles. This paper uses data for ten European countries from the first wave of the 2004 SHARE. The study highlights significantly higher wealth-related health inequalities in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. These social inequalities of health in Europe are explained largely by individuals' current social conditions, particularly wealth. Nevertheless, our analysis attests the existence of a long-term influence of initial conditions in childhood on health in middle-aged and beyond, independently of current social characteristics, which contribute to differences in health status across social groups. This article contributes to the identification of social determinants, which are important determinants of health and follows recommendations suggested to help 'close the gap' in various health inequities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Human land-use has altered catchments on a large scale in most parts of the world, with one of the most profound changes relevant for streams and rivers being the widespread clearance of woody riparian vegetation to make way for livestock grazing pasture. Increasingly, environmental legislation, such as the EU Water Framework Directive (EU WFD), calls for bioassessment tools that can detect such anthropogenic impacts on ecosystem functioning. 2. We conducted a large-scale field experiment in 30 European streams to quantify leaf-litter breakdown, a key ecosystem process, in streams whose riparian zones and catchments had been cleared for pasture compared with those in native deciduous woodland. The study encompassed a west–east gradient, from Ireland to Switzerland to Romania, with each of the three countries representing a distinct region. We used coarse-mesh and fine-mesh litter bags (10 and 0.5 mm, respectively) to assess total, microbial and, by difference, macroinvertebrate-mediated breakdown. 3. Overall, total breakdown rates did not differ between land-use categories, but in some regions macroinvertebrate-mediated breakdown was higher in deciduous woodland streams, whereas microbial breakdown was higher in pasture streams. This result suggests that overall ecosystem functioning is maintained by compensatory increases in microbial activity in pasture streams. 4. We suggest that simple coefficients of breakdown rates on their own often might not be powerful enough as a bioassessment tool for detecting differences related to land-use such as riparian vegetation removal. However, shifts in the relative contributions to breakdown by microbial decomposers versus invertebrate detritivores, as revealed by the ratios of their associated breakdown rate coefficients, showed clear responses to land-use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain ecosystems are currently experiencing the strongest climatic warming and the largest changes in land-use during the last millennia. The impacts of these changes on soils and their roles in the cycling of carbon and nutrients are, however, largely unknown. Here, we define mountain soils as soils from mountainous areas with cool summers and cold winters and thus, soils from ecosystems that are influenced by snow and ice and where biogeochemical processes are limited by temperature. Because climatic conditions, soil properties, plant species and productivity vary at a small scale in mountains, they provide a unique natural but a seldom used laboratory to study soil processes. In this special issue, we compile different studies on soils from European mountains, reaching from the functioning of mountain soils along natural climatic gradients to responses of greenhouse gas fluxes from mountain soils to experimental warming, soil frost and changes in precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because soil macroinvertebrates strongly modify decomposition processes, it is important to know how their abundance will respond to global change. We investigated in laboratory microcosms, the effects of elevated temperatures and reduced leaf litter quality on the life-history traits of a saprophagous macroarthropod (development time, growth, survival and reproduction). Millipedes ( Polydesmus angustus) from an Atlantic temperate forest were reared throughout their life cycle (≥16 months) under two temperature regimes differing on average by 3.3 °C; in a factorial design, they were fed either on Atlantic leaf litter or on Mediterranean leaf litter with a higher C : N ratio; humidity was consistently high. The components of the population growth rate ( r) were affected positively by the temperature rise and negatively by the switch from Atlantic to Mediterranean leaf litter. When both treatments were combined, litter effects offset temperature effects. These results show that the short-term response of saprophagous macroarthropods to warming is positive but depends on the availability of high-quality litter, which is difficult to predict in the global change context. In a parallel experiment, conspecific millipedes from a Mediterranean population, which have evolved for a long time in a warmer climate and on poor-quality litter, were reared at elevated temperatures on Mediterranean leaf litter. All components of r were higher than in the Atlantic population under the same conditions. This suggests that in the longer term, macroarthropods can overcome detrimental trophic interactions. Based on our study and the literature, we conclude that for decades the positive effects of warming on saprophagous macrofauna should exceed the negative effects of changes in litter quality. The abundance of those organisms in temperate forests could increase, which is confirmed by latitudinal patterns in Europe. Studies aimed at predicting the impacts of global change on decomposition will need to consider interactions with soil macroinvertebrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze wage growth and changes in wage inequality in eleven European countries between 1994 and 2001. The data base used throughout is the User Data Base (UDB) of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). The decomposition analysis is carried out independently for both genders. Following Juhn, Murphy and Brooks (1991; 1993) we split the current wage into components to isolate the forces underlying the wage change. While the decomposition method is in the spirit of the well known Oaxaca decomposition (1973), in the approach of Juhn, Murphy, and Pierce the residual of Mincerian-earnings equations is decomposed further into relative rank position and the effect of the residual distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Plant uptake and denitrification are considered to be the most important processes responsible for N retention and mitigation in riparian buffers. In many riparian buffers, however, nutrients taken up by plants remain in the system only temporarily and may be gradually released by mineralization later. Still, plants increase the residence time of nutrients considerably by reducing their mobility. We investigated the importance of plant N uptake and N immobilization in litter for N retention in riparian buffers. Nitrogen uptake in vegetation and N dynamics in litter were measured over a two-year period in a range of forested and herbaceous riparian buffers along a climatic gradient in Europe, receiving different loadings of N-enriched groundwater. Plant production, nitrogen uptake, and N retention were significantly higher in the forested buffer sites compared to the herbaceous buffer sites. However, in herbaceous buffers, periodic harvesting of herbaceous biomass contributed considerably to the N retention. No relationship between lateral N loading and plant productivity or N uptake was observed; this indicated that plant growth was not N-limited. In the winter period, decaying leaf litter had a small but significant role in N retention in a majority of the riparian ecosystems studied. Moreover, no responses to the climatic gradient were found. Generally, we can state that annual N retention in the vegetation and litter compartment is substantial, making up 13–99% of the total N mitigation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We present a multisite analysis of the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning within the European BIODEPTH network of plant-diversity manipulation experiments. We report results of the analysis of 11 variables addressing several aspects of key ecosystem processes like biomass production, resource use (space, light, and nitrogen), and decomposition, measured across three years in plots of varying plant species richness at eight different European grassland field sites. Differences among sites explained substantial and significant amounts of the variation of most of the ecosystem processes examined. However, against this background of geographic variation, all the aspects of plant diversity and composition we examined (i.e., both numbers and types of species and functional groups) produced significant, mostly positive impacts on ecosystem processes. Analyses using the additive partitioning method revealed that complementarity effects (greater net yields than predicted from monocultures due to resource partitioning, positive interactions, etc.) were stronger and more consistent than selection effects (the covariance between monoculture yield and change in yield in mixtures) caused by dominance of species with particular traits. In general, communities with a higher diversity of species and functional groups were more productive and utilized resources more completely by intercepting more light; taking up more nitrogen, and occupying more of the available space. Diversity had significant effects through both increased vegetation cover and greater nitrogen retention by plants when this resource was more abundant through N2 fixation by legumes. However, additional positive diversity effects remained even after controlling for differences in vegetation cover and for the presence of legumes in communities. Diversity, effects were stronger on above- than belowground processes. In particular, clear diversity effects on decomposition were only observed at one of the eight sites. The ecosystem effects of plant diversity also varied between sites and years. In general, diversity effects were lowest in the first year and stronger later in the experiment, indicating that they were not transitional due to community establishment. These analyses of our complete ecosystem process data set largely reinforce our previous results, and those from comparable biodiversity experiments, and extend the generality of diversity-ecosystem functioning relationships to multiple sites, years, and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water saving techniques, such as alternate wetting and drying (AWD), are becoming a necessity in modern rice farming because of climate change mitigation and growing water use scarcity. Reducing water can vastly reduce methane (CH 4 ) emissions; however, this net climate benefit may be offset by enhanced carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from soil. The main aims of this study were: to determine the effects of AWD on yield and ecosystem C dynamics, and to establish the underlying mechanistic basis for observed trends in net ecosystem C gain or loss in an Italian rice paddy. We investigated the effects of conventional water management (i.e. conventionally flooded paddy; CF) and AWD on biomass accumulation (aboveground, belowground, grain), key ecosystem C fluxes (net ecosystem exchange (NEE), net primary productivity (NPP), gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (ER), autotrophic respiration (RA), heterotrophic respiration (RH)), and soil organic matter (SOM) decay for four common commercial European rice cultivars. The most significant finding was that neither treatment nor cultivar affected NEE, GPP, ER or SOM decomposition. RA was the dominant contributor to ER for both CF and AWD treatments. Cultivar and treatment affected the total biomass of the rice plants; specifically, with greater root production in CF compared to AWD. Importantly, there was no effect of treatment on the overall yield for any cultivar. Possibly, the wetting-drying cycles may have been insufficient to allow substantial soil C metabolism or there was a lack of labile substrate in the soil. These results imply that AWD systems may not be at risk of enhancing soil C loss, making it a viable solution for climate change mitigation and water conservation. Although more studies are needed, the initial outlook for AWD in Europe is positive; with no net loss of soil C from SOM decomposition, whilst also maintaining yield., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Dispersal can strongly influence ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Besides the direct contribution of dispersal to population dynamics, dispersers often differ in their phenotypic attributes from non-dispersers, which leads to dispersal syndromes. The consequences of such dispersal syndromes have been widely explored at the population and community level; however, to date, ecosystem-level effects remain unclear. Here, we examine whether dispersing and resident individuals of two different aquatic keystone invertebrate species have different contributions to detrital processing, a key function in freshwater ecosystems. Using experimental two-patch systems, we found no difference in leaf consumption rates with dispersal status of the common native species Gammarus fossarum. In Dikerogammarus villosus, however, a Ponto-Caspian species now expanding throughout Europe, dispersers consumed leaf litter at roughly three times the rate of non-dispersers. Furthermore, this put the contribution of dispersing D. villosus to leaf litter processing on par with native G. fossarum, after adjusting for differences in organismal size. Given that leaf litter decomposition is a key function in aquatic ecosystems, and the rapid species turnover in freshwater habitats with range expansions of non-native species, this finding suggests that dispersal syndromes may have important consequences for ecosystem functioning.

Background: A growing literature investigates health effects of the recent economic crisis. This study examines how different economic mechanisms affected low self-rated health (SRH) in Europe over the crisis period (2008–2011). We measure changes in low SRH over 2008–2011 and analyze how they are accounted for by changes in household income levels and income distribution (income poverty, income inequality), labour market developments (increasing unemployment, falling employment, changes in labour market inactivity), and non-income poverty (material deprivation). Methods: We use balanced panel data for 2008–2011 covering 26 European countries and 43,456 participants. The data come from longitudinal 2011 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) database. Increases in low SRH incidence over time are decomposed into the contributions of changes in the distribution of covariates and changes in returns to the covariates. Main covariates include household income and its distribution, labour market developments, and non-income poverty (material deprivation). The decompositions are performed using a detailed non-linear multivariate regression-based decomposition methodology. Results: Low SRH incidence increased in Europe during the crisis by almost 2 percentage points, and by 3.7 percentage points in case of the Baltic countries. Decomposition analysis shows that: 1) decreasing household incomes and changing income distribution had no impact on low SRH incidence, 2) rise of material deprivation accounts for a significant portion (12%) of the overall growth in low SRH rates (27% for the Baltic countries), 3) decreasing levels of full-time and part-time employment as well as transitions to unemployment, economic inactivity, disability, or retirement account jointly for about 21% of the rise in low SRH in Europe (73% for Baltic countries). Conclusion: Together, the recession-related economic factors account for about 33% of the increase in low SRH incidence in Europe during the crisis, and for about 100% of the increase in the Baltic countries. Public health policy during recessions should focus also on reducing material deprivation through free or subsidized access to public services, public housing, and other means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast with the case of health care, distributional fairness of long-term care (LTC) services in Europe has received limited attention. Given the increased relevance of LTC in the social policy agenda it is timely to evaluate the evidence on inequality and horizontal inequity by socio-economic status (SES) in the use of LTC and to identify the socio-economic factors that drive them. We address both aspects and reflect on the sensitivity of inequity estimates to adopting different definitions of legitimate drivers of care need. Using Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)data collected in 2013, we analyse differences in home care utilization between community-dwelling Europeans in nine countries. We present concentration indexes and horizontal inequity indexes for each country and results from a decomposition analysis across income, care needs, household structures, education achievement and regional characteristics. We find pro-poor inequality in home care utilization but little evidence of inequity when accounting for differential care needs. Household characteristics are an important contributor to inequality, while education and geographic locations hold less explanatory power. We discuss the findings in light of the normative assumptions surrounding different definitions of need in LTC and the possible regressive implications of policies that make household structures an eligibility criterion to access services., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

We investigated how the legacy of warming and summer drought affected microbial communities in five different replicated long-term (>10 years) field experiments across Europe (EU-FP7 INCREASE infrastructure). To focus explicitly on legacy effects (i.e., indirect rather than direct effects of the environmental factors), we measured microbial variables under the same moisture and temperature in a brief screening, and following a pre-incubation at stable conditions. Specifically, we investigated the size and composition of the soil microbial community (PLFA) alongside measurements of bacterial (leucine incorporation) and fungal (acetate in ergosterol incorporation) growth rates, previously shown to be highly responsive to changes in environmental factors, and microbial respiration. We found no legacy effects on the microbial community size, composition, growth rates, or basal respiration rates at the effect sizes used in our experimental setup (0.6 °C, about 30% precipitation reduction). Our findings support previous reports from single short-term ecosystem studies thereby providing a clear evidence base to allow long-term, broad-scale generalizations to be made. The implication of our study is that warming and summer drought will not result in legacy effects on the microbial community and their processes within the effect sizes here studied. While legacy effects on microbial processes during perturbation cycles, such as drying-rewetting, and on tolerance to drought and warming remain to be studied, our results suggest that any effects on overall ecosystem processes will be rather limited. Thus, the legacies of warming and drought should not be prioritized factors to consider when modeling contemporary rates of biogeochemical processes in soil., (© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)