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COVID-19 lockdown measures have impacted the environment with both positive and negative effects. However, how human populations have perceived such changes in the natural environment and how they may have changed their daily habits have not been yet thoroughly evaluated. The objectives of this work were to investigate (1) the social perception of the environmental changes produced by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and the derived change in habits in relation to i) waste management, energy saving, and sustainable consumption, ii) mobility, iii) social inequalities, iv) generation of noise, v) utilization of natural spaces, and, vi) human population perception towards the future, and (2) the associations of these potential new habits with various socio-demographic variables. First, a SWOT analysis identified strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T) generated by the pandemic lockdown measures. Second, a survey based on the aspects of the SWOT was administered among 2370 adults from 37 countries during the period from February to September 2021. We found that the short-term positive impacts on the natural environment were generally well recognized. In contrast, longer-term negative effects arise, but they were often not reported by the survey participants, such as greater production of plastic waste derived from health safety measures, and the increase in e-commerce use, which can displace small storefront businesses. We were able to capture a mismatch between perceptions and the reported data related to visits to natural areas, and generation of waste. We found that age and country of residence were major contributors in shaping the survey participants ´answers, which highlights the importance of government management strategies to address current and future environmental problems. Enhanced positive perceptions of the environment and ecosystems, combined with the understanding that livelihood sustainability, needs to be prioritized and would r

Drought in heavy metal polluted arid and semiarid regions severely inhibits the plant growth and phytoremediation potential by affecting photosynthesis, antioxidant defense mechanism, and other biochemical processes. In the present study, we explored the role of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) on Zea mays growth and phytoremediation efficiency in Chromium (Cr) contaminated soils under drought stress by assessing plant stress tolerance, photosynthetic gas exchange activities, chlorophyll fluorescence, and Cr accumulation. Two efficient Cr and drought resistant PGPB with the potential to reduce Cr(VI) to Cr(III) and produce plant growth-promoting metabolites even under Cr, drought, or Cr+drought stress conditions were isolated and identified as Providencia sp. (TCR05) and Proteus mirabilis (TCR20). In pot experiments, the inoculation of TCR05 and TCR20 increased the plant growth, pigments, protein, phenolics, and relative water content and decreased the lipid peroxidation, proline, and superoxide dismutase activity under Cr, drought, or Cr+drought conditions. Irrespective of stress treatment, TCR05 and TCR20 also improved plant photosynthetic efficiency by increasing the CO2 assimilation rate, stomatal conductance to water vapor, transpiration rate, maximum quantum efficiency of PSII, actual quantum efficiency of PSII, electron transport rate, photochemical quenching, reducing the internal CO2 concentration and non-photochemical quenching. Besides, the PGPB decreased the translocation of Cr through immobilization of Cr in root. These results denoted that strains TCR05 and TCR20 could be a capable bio-inoculant for improving plant growth and phytostabilization practices in Cr contaminated sites even under water-limited conditions. © 2021 The Authors.

Letter Regarding Use of Forests for Bioenergy To President Biden, President von der Leyen, President Michel, Prime Minister Suga, and President Moon. Hundreds of scientists affirm that trees are more valuable alive than dead — both for climate and for biodiversity. Traduction en français d’une lettre ouverte de plus de 500 scientifiques portant sur l’utilisation des forêts pour répondre aux usages énergétiques. Über 500 Wissenschaftler*innen warnen die Regierungen der Welt vor der Nutzung von Holzbiomasse.                  Letter regarding use of forests for bioenergy (February 11, 2021)https://www.woodwellclimate.org/letter-regarding-use-of-forests-for-bioenergy/500 scientifiques alertent sur le bois énergie (11 février 2021)https://www.canopee-asso.org/500-scientifiques-alertent-sur-le-bois-energie/Brief bezüglich der Nutzung von Wäldern für die Bioenergie (11. Februar 2021)https://www.robinwood.de/brief-bez%C3%BCglich-der-nutzung-von-w%C3%A4ldern-f%C3%BCr-die-bioenergie-0                                                                                    &nbsp

Plant transpiration links physiological responses of vegetation to water supply and demand with hydrological, energy, and carbon budgets at the land-atmosphere interface. However, despite being the main land evaporative flux at the global scale, transpiration and its response to environmental drivers are currently not well constrained by observations. Here we introduce the first global compilation of whole-plant transpiration data from sap flow measurements (SAPFLUXNET, https://sapfluxnet.creaf.cat/, last access: 8 June 2021). We harmonized and quality-controlled individual datasets supplied by contributors worldwide in a semi-automatic data workflow implemented in the R programming language. Datasets include sub-daily time series of sap flow and hydrometeorological drivers for one or more growing seasons, as well as metadata on the stand characteristics, plant attributes, and technical details of the measurements. SAPFLUXNET contains 202 globally distributed datasets with sap flow time series for 2714 plants, mostly trees, of 174 species. SAPFLUXNET has a broad bioclimatic coverage, with woodland/shrubland and temperate forest biomes especially well represented (80% of the datasets). The measurements cover a wide variety of stand structural characteristics and plant sizes. The datasets encompass the period between 1995 and 2018, with 50% of the datasets being at least 3 years long. Accompanying radiation and vapour pressure deficit data are available for most of the datasets, while on-site soil water content is available for 56% of the datasets. Many datasets contain data for species that make up 90% or more of the total stand basal area, allowing the estimation of stand transpiration in diverse ecological settings. SAPFLUXNET adds to existing plant trait datasets, ecosystem flux networks, and remote sensing products to help increase our understanding of plant water use, plant responses to drought, and ecohydrological processes. SAPFLUXNET version 0.1.5 is freely a