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Social acceptance is a key issue for the continued expansion of onshore wind energy. Wind energy development targets increasingly rely on the assumption that residents' concerns related to new wind farms dissipate over time. The persistence of resistance to new wind farms has motivated efforts to investigate this effect. The 'U-curve' hypothesis proposes that acceptance is likely to decrease when residents are confronted with the planning of a wind farm in their neighbourhood, but that acceptance may later recover during construction and operation. In this study, relevant research is reviewed, discussed, and applied using a largescale experimental survey focused on residents living within 10 km of an existing wind farm in Ireland (n = 1109). It uses two indicators of how people experience wind farms to investigate willingness to accept further developments. The indicators include the proximity of existing wind farms and their development phase (i.e., planning, construction or operation). The findings show that experience is an important determinant of acceptance, as are an awareness of low-carbon energy initiatives and sense of community spirit. The study examines residents' expectations for participatory fairness and local benefits. Expected adverse impacts on local tourism or potential for discord within the community influence the acceptance for further development. Acceptance is also determined by trust in sources of information, including a designated community liaison officer. The concerns of residents living within the nearest 2 km radius of a wind farm and at the earliest and most uncertain phases of project planning can be crucial issues for acceptance. • Experiences of existing wind farms affect residents' acceptance for new projects. • Acceptance is reinforced by perceived local socioeconomic/environmental benefits. • Support for new projects is strongest for operating wind farms between 2 and 10 km away. • Crucial points for concern are at the planning phase and for homes within 2 km. • Trust in information from liaison officers has lasting ramifications for support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen investment into wind energy is conducive to public acceptance and can contribute to closing the renewable energy investment gap, while promoting corporate social responsibility. This study addresses this topic and conducts a novel choice experiment to determine the investment preferences of a representative sample of 1,009 Irish households. First, the paper investigates the attributes determining willingness to invest into wind farms. Second, it considers to what extent public attitudes and proximity to wind farms affect investment. Third, it assesses the suitability of five specific investment mechanisms. Through these activities the findings enhance current understanding of the opportunities and challenges concerning the design of citizen investments within a centralised system which is predominantly reliant on incumbent wind energy developers. The findings show that the risk of loss and the expected annual return on investment are the main attributes determining investment decisions, but secondary criteria, such as the project location and ownership characteristics, also affect willingness to invest. Respondents living within 10 km of a wind farm or expressing support for wind energy are significantly more likely to consider investing. Recommendations include interventions to encourage joint ventures between community organisations and specialised developers as a mechanism to promote investment in wind farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration increases the performance of invasive plants relative to natives when grown in monoculture, but it is unclear how that will affect the relative competitive abilities per se of invasive and native grasses grown together. We tested competitive outcomes for four native and four invasive perennial C3 and C4 grasses under ambient (390 ppm) and elevated (700 or 1000 ppm) CO2 concentrations in the greenhouse with non-limiting water and nutrients. We predicted that elevated CO2 would increase the competitive suppression of native grasses by invasive grasses. To test this, we determined the relative interaction intensity of biomass allocation for natives grown alone vs. those grown in native–invasive species pairs. We also measured photosynthetic traits that contribute to plant invasiveness and may be affected by elevated CO2 concentrations for species pairs in mixture to determine native–invasive relative performance. We found no effect of CO2 for the aboveground biomass and tiller production measures of interaction intensity or for relative performance for most of the measured photosynthetic traits. In competition, the invaders nearly always outperform natives in biomass and tiller production, regardless of CO2 level. The results suggest that increasing CO2 concentration alone has little effect on grass competitive outcomes under controlled conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. The performance of foliage feeders tends to decrease under elevated CO2, but the responses of phloem-feeding insects have been much more equivocal. As phloem tissues are less accessible than whole-plant tissues, much less is known about how phloem composition is altered under elevated CO2 and the mechanisms driving changes in aphid performance. 2. In this study, the plant mechanisms underlying the performance of Rhopalosiphum padi aphids on Hordeum vulgare (barley) grown under ambient (390 ppm) and elevated (700 ppm) CO2 were examined. We used aphid stylectomy to sample pure phloem from plants in CO2-controlled conditions and high-performance liquid chromatography to analyse phloem samples for amino acid concentrations. 3. Aphid abundance significantly increased by 127% under elevated CO2. Consequently, plant biomass decreased under elevated CO2 in trials with herbivores present, possibly due to the increased herbivore load, but increased when aphids were absent. The intrinsic rate of population increase ( rm) was significantly higher under elevated CO2; however, there were no statistically significant effects on aphid fecundity or development time. The concentration of individual amino acids tended to increase, although these increases were statistically significant in only a few cases. A principal components analysis revealed that the relative abundance (mol %) of those amino acids considered essential for aphids tended to increase under elevated CO2. 4. These results indicate that CO2 may affect nutrient translocation in plants in ways that are contrary to predictions about nitrogen metabolite responses to CO2. Such plant biochemical responses may underlie observations of improved phloem feeder performance under elevated CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising atmospheric CO2 has been shown to alter plant nitrogen metabolism, growth and secondary chemistry. We hypothesized that altered aphid performance under elevated CO2 is linked to phloem nitrogen chemistry., Rhopalosiphum padi performance on endophyte-infected or uninfected tall fescue was examined under three levels of CO2 (ambient, 800 and 1000 p.p.m.) and high and low nitrogen fertilization. Ethylenediaminetetracetic acid-facilitated exudation was used to sample phloem sap, followed by quantification of relative amino acid concentrations using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography., Aphid abundance was reduced at 800 p.p.m. relative to ambient CO2 but returned to baseline at 1000 p.p.m. The density of aphids was reduced in both the elevated CO2 treatments. Aphids were unsuccessful at colonizing endophyte-infected plants, possibly as a result of the presence of loline alkaloids., Multivariate analysis showed that certain groups of phloem amino acids were altered by nitrogen fertilization and CO2. We found that four amino acids (valine, arginine, glutamine and aspartate) were correlated with aphid performance. These findings partially explained the effect of plant nitrogen fertilization and elevated CO2 on aphids., The present study represents a first step toward providing a mechanistic explanation of the aphid performance changes that may result from rising atmospheric CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Elevated CO2 can alter plant physiology and morphology, and these changes are expected to impact diet quality for insect herbivores. While the plastic responses of insect herbivores have been well studied, less is known about the propensity of insects to adapt to such changes. Genetic variation in insect responses to elevated CO2 and genetic interactions between insects and their host plants may exist and provide the necessary raw material for adaptation. 2. We used clonal lines of Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) aphids to examine genotype-specific responses to elevated CO2. We used the host plant Schedonorus arundinaceus (tall fescue; Schreb), which is capable of asexual reproduction, to investigate host plant genotype-specific effects and possible host plant-by-insect genotype interactions. The abundance and density of three R. padi genotypes on three tall fescue genotypes under three concentrations of CO2 (ambient, 700, and 1000 ppm) in a controlled greenhouse environment were examined. 3. Aphid abundance decreased in the 700 ppm CO2 concentration, but increased in the 1000 ppm concentration relative to ambient. The effect of CO2 on aphid density was dependent on host plant genotype; the density of aphids in high CO2 decreased for two plant genotypes but was unchanged in one. No interaction between aphid genotype and elevated CO2 was found, nor did we find significant genotype-by-genotype interactions. 4. This study suggests that the density of R. padi aphids feeding on tall fescue may decrease under elevated CO2 for some plant genotypes. The likely impact of genotype-specific responses on future changes in the genetic structure of plant and insect populations is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric CO2 is expected to increase to between 550 ppm and 1000 ppm in the next century. CO2-induced changes in plant physiology can have ecosystem-wide implications and may alter plant-plant, plant-herbivore and plant-symbiont interactions. We examined the effects of three concentrations of CO2 (390, 800 and 1000 ppm) and two concentrations of nitrogen fertilizer (0.004 g N/week versus 0.2 g N/week) on the physiological response of Neotyphodium fungal endophyte-infected and uninfected tall fescue plants. We used quantitative PCR to estimate the concentration of endophyte under altered CO2 and N conditions. We found that elevated CO2 increased the concentration of water-soluble carbohydrates and decreased the concentration of plant total amino acids in plants. Fungal-derived alkaloids decreased in response to elevated CO2 and increased in response to nitrogen fertilization. Endophyte concentration (expressed as the number of copies of an endophyte-specific gene per total genomic DNA) increased under elevated CO2 and nitrogen fertilization. The correlation between endophyte concentration and alkaloid production observed at ambient conditions was not observed under elevated CO2. These results suggest that nutrient exchange dynamics important for maintaining the symbiotic relationship between fungal endophytes and their grass hosts may be altered by changes in environmental variables such as CO2 and nitrogen fertilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contents [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to predict business cycle activity is an invaluable skill for governments and policy makers alike, especially before an economy enters a downturn. We analyse causality relationships between key leading economic indicators and economic growth for three countries from 1970 to 2010. We find that while many indicators do not help explain current movements in GDP growth, lags of these indicators do. In addition, the direction of the change and the size of the change in the lagged economic indicators are very important in many cases. This is particularly true for housing indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the merits of regional and firm based approaches for analysing the effect of agglomeration economies on firm deaths in Ireland. We aggregate a comprehensive data set on Irish firm deaths to Electoral Division (ED) level, the lowest geographical scale available. Estimates of the effect of agglomeration on firm deaths from a regional analysis at ED level using a cross-sectional spatial-autoregressive spatial error model are compared with firm-level estimates from a contemporary log-log model with spatially weighted agglomeration regressors. While estimates of the effects of agglomeration using these alternative methods is much discussed in existing literature rarely are the approaches or results compared. We show that contrasting results are found using the same data set dependent upon the unit of analysis used. Diversity lowers regional and firm deaths while specialisation raises regional deaths but lowers firm deaths. Greater urbanisation does not have a significant effect on firm hazard rates or equivalent regional estimates. While regional estimates provide evidence on the existence and nature of spatial dependence (negative in this case), firm estimates do not provide evidence that agglomeration in neighbouring regions is the source of this spatial dependence. No empirical analysis to our knowledge directly compares regional and firm based approaches for analysing the effect of spatial agglomeration economies on firm deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drosophila suzukii is a relatively new threat to the soft-skinned fruit industry in North America. The presence of this pest in North America is a concern and assessing the risk of potential infestation and damage can help guide regional management strategies. We have developed a continuous time stage structured population model parameterized with empirical data based on laboratory observations. The principle environmental driver of vital rates (mortality, fecundity and development) for the model is temperature though our results suggest that reproductive diapause and quality of fruit available to the population may also have significant effect on population size. The model was run with several generalized temperature profiles and various observed temperature data sets for locations known to be important for berry production. While southern regions appear to be most suitable for supporting high population densities due to warm temperatures throughout the year, northern regions with moderate temperatures may also be susceptible due to a lack of extreme cold or heat, both of which limit development and increase mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since late 2019, COVID-19 has devastated the global economy, with indirect implications for the environment. As governments' prioritized health and implemented measures such as the closure of non-essential businesses and social distancing, many workers have lost their jobs, been furloughed, or started working from home. Consequently, the world of work has drastically transformed and this period is likely to have major implications for mobility, transportation and the environment. This paper estimates the potential for people to engage in remote work and social distancing using O*NET data and Irish Census data and calculates the potential emission savings, by commuter type from a switch to remote working and occupational social distancing. The results show that while those who commute by car have a relatively high potential for remote work, they are less likely to be able to engage in social distancing in their workplace. While this may be negative for employment prospects in the short run, our analysis indicates that this pattern has the potential for positive environmental implications in the short and long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Lolium perenne cultivars with elevated levels of fructans in leaf blades (high sugar-content grasses) have been developed to improve animal nutrition and reduce adverse environmental impacts of pastoral agricultural systems. Expression of the high sugar trait can vary substantially depending on genotype×environment (G×E) interactions. We grew three potential high sugar-content and a control cultivar in three temperature regimes and quantified water soluble carbohydrates (WSCs) and the expression of all functionally characterised L. perenne fructan pathway genes in leaf tissues. We also analysed the distribution, expression and sequence variation of two specific isoforms of Lp6G-FFT (fructan: fructan 6G-fructosyltransferase). Our study confirmed a significant G×E interaction affecting the accumulation of fructans in the high sugar-content cultivar AberDart, which accumulated higher levels of high DP (degree of polymerisation) fructans in blades compared to the control cultivar only when grown at 20°C (day)/10°C (night) temperatures. The cultivar Expo on the other hand accumulated significantly higher levels of high DP fructans in blades independent of temperature. Fructan levels in pseudostems were higher than in blades, and they increased markedly with decreasing temperature, but there was no consistent effect of cultivar in this tissue. The expression of the high sugar trait was generally positively correlated with transcript levels of fructosyltransferases. Presence and expression of only one of the two known 6G-FFT isoforms was positively correlated with high fructan biosynthesis, while the second isoform was associated with low fructan concentrations and positively correlated with fructan exohydrolase gene expression. The presence of distinct 6G-FFT sequence variants appears to be associated with the capacity of high sugar-content grasses to accumulate higher fructan levels particularly at warmer temperatures. These findings might be exploited for the selection and breeding of ‘warm-effective’ high sugar-content grasses to overcome some of the limitations of current high sugar-content ryegrass cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary 1. Cool-season grasses can be simultaneously infected by foliar fungal endophytes and colonised by mycorrhizal fungi, the integrated functions of which are strong predictors of plant fitness within grassland ecosystems. Evidence has been presented previously that infection of grass species with foliar endophytes can negatively affect mycorrhizal colonisation. Here, we tested the hypothesis that mycorrhizal colonisation in turn adversely affects Neotyphodium endophyte concentrations and that the competitive interaction between the two endosymbionts is affected by resource supply. 2. Specifically, we report how competition between Glomus ( G. mosseae- GM, G. intraradices- GI) mycorrhizal fungi and N. lolii (common strain (CS) and AR1) foliar endophytic strains is affected by P supply and water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content in two Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass) cultivars: a high sugar grass, AberDart, and a conventional (control) grass, Fennema. 3. The presence of Glomus mycorrhizae reduced the concentrations of endophytes and alkaloids in leaf blades and pseudostems. The reduction depended on P supply, ryegrass cultivar (notably WSC content) and endophyte strain. Conversely, foliar endophyte infection reduced mycorrhizal colonisation rates and concentrations in the roots of the control cultivar Fennema, although not in the high sugar cultivar, AberDart. 4. Neither GM nor N. lolii infection had an effect per se on the yield of root or blade compared with mycorrhiza-free (M-) and endophyte-free (E-) plants, respectively; though, yield of roots and blades was reduced by GI infection and at low P. 5. Competitive interactions between ecologically widespread foliar endophytes (valuable for plant protection) and mycorrhizal endosymbionts (valuable for P acquisition) as seen in this study are of critical importance especially in areas of high pest prevalence and low P availability. Our work stresses the need for elucidating the physiological/metabolic basis for such interactions between endosymbionts to understand how these processes contribute to plant performance and fitness in grassland ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]