Pollination ecosystem service studies across multiple crops in many countries have shown that managed pollinators often complement wild pollinators. Such studies typically compare farms with or without access to wild pollinators, without controlling for the introduction of honey bee hives. Here, we compared three pollination strategies in commercial apple orchards in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) of South Africa: (i) orchards relying exclusively on managed pollination through the introduction of hives of the endemic Cape honey bee (Apis mellifera capensis); (ii) orchards relying solely on pollination from all wild indigenous pollinators, including the Cape honey bee; and (iii) orchards using a combination of both sources. We found that pollination across all three pollination options was almost entirely from the Cape honey bee, but with significantly fewer flower visits in wild orchards. Wild pollinated orchards produced significantly fewer seeds per apple compared to orchards with hived honey bees, resulting in fewer apples of marketable size or shape. Hived bees resulted in the highest proportion of high-quality fruit. Summed across all farms, excluding insect pollination led to a ~95% reduction in the number of apples per tree, while in terms of apple marketability, failure to rent hives at 2 hives per hectare resulted in a 17.4-percentage-point reduction in high-quality fruit. Use of hived native honey bees in the CFR should therefore be considered an essential management input and an insurance measure for maintaining high-quality apple production. Our study emphasizes why local context should take precedence over broad international policy recommendations for optimal management of pollination services.

Cities shape mosquito and arboviral risk through the way heat, water, vegetation, and drainage are managed. We present a fully reproducible early-warning pipeline that predicts trap-week West Nile virus (WNV) positivity one to two weeks ahead using programmatically accessible sources (Socrata WNV pools and Meteostat weather), and a graph-aware post-hoc smoothing that enforces spatial coherence of predicted risks. Because direct API access to the Chicago portal requires a Socrata App Token, all reported experiments use an offline, synthetic trap-week panel that mirrors a Chicago-like spatio-seasonal structure, while we ship turn-key code to re-run the identical analysis on the real data once a token is provided. Across forward-chaining evaluations, gradient boosting with Laplacian smoothing delivers discrimination comparable to that of a strong elastic-net baseline, as assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, but substantially better probabilistic calibration (lower Brier and improved reliability). Feature profiles emphasize antecedent heat and relative dryness, aligning with ecological priors, and enable tiered, probability-based operational playbooks for vector control and sustainability co-actions (cooling, drainage, vegetation). The pipeline is designed for transparency, portability, and policy relevance: calibrated probabilities support graded interventions and top-K targeting under budgets, while code parity between synthetic and real modes facilitates external replication.

Ecological uplift is a quantified improvement in ecosystem condition (structure, function, and associated services) relative to baseline (pre-existing) conditions over a defined time horizon following a land-use intervention. Agrivoltaics (AV) is a dual-use strategy that integrates photovoltaic energy generation with agricultural land uses and is increasingly promoted for environmental and working-land benefits. Recent literature indicates AV can improve outcomes such as soil moisture retention, infiltration, soil carbon, pollinator habitat, and water-use efficiency relative to conventional agriculture or conventional ground-mounted photovoltaic vegetation management, although performance varies by design and context. A persistent gap is the lack of standardized, transparent evaluation methods that distinguish between realized and assumed benefits. This article frames ecological uplift as a rigorous evaluative construct for AV and introduces the Agrivoltaic Ecological Uplift Index as a metrics-based reporting scaffold across five outcome domains to support consistent monitoring, comparison, and decision-making.

The combustion of waste plastics provides critical insights for researchers addressing environmental challenges. This study systematically investigates the combustion behavior, reaction kinetics, and mechanisms of polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and their ternary blend (PP:PS:PVC). Headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis showed that the emitted volatile organic compounds ranged from volatile to semi-volatile regimes, with saturation mass concentrations spanning 0 μg·m⁻³ < log₁₀C₀ < 10 μg·m⁻³. Co-combustion substantially increased the relative abundance of oxygenated species, such as aldehydes, ketones, esters, and acids, compared with single-component plastics. Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy indicated that the order of gas evolution was: gaseous acids, residual functional groups, aldehydes, ketones, esters, and, finally, aliphatic hydrocarbons, suggesting premature oxidation in the blend. Iso-conversional kinetic analysis showed that PVC had a significant catalytic effect, reducing the activation energy for PVC dehydrochlorination by approximately 40 kJ·mol⁻¹ and for residual carbon oxidation by about 100 kJ·mol⁻¹ in the blend compared with pure PVC. Cone calorimetry showed that PS had the highest total smoke release (3,188 m²·m⁻²) and PVC produced the highest carbon monoxide yield (0.192 kg·kg⁻¹), indicating a greater hazard. The ternary blend showed an increased carbon monoxide yield of 0.183 kg·kg⁻¹ compared with either PP or PS alone. Reactive force field simulations provided atomic-level evidence that PVC-derived chlorine radicals attack PP and PS chains, accelerate radical-driven oxidation, and promote the formation of chlorinated aromatics, such as chlorostyrene (C₈H₇Cl). These findings provide a theoretical basis for developing sustainable strategies for waste plastic combustion and pollution control.

The ever-increasing need for precision, accuracy, reliability, and real-time continuous environmental measurement for agriculture, warehousing, and laboratory use has revealed shortfalls in conventional hygrometers, namely, measurement accuracy, lack of real-time remote monitoring, and insufficient data logging functionality. The main objective of this study is to create and calibrate an Internet of Things-based hygrometer system with real-time accuracy for temperature and relative humidity measurement. The proposed system comprises a DHT22 (AM2302) digital temperature and humidity sensor, an ESP32 Wi-Fi microcontroller, a local visual display using a liquid crystal display module, and a cloud interface for remote graphical and storage functionality. The system utilized C++ programming for sensing, processing, and transmitting data wirelessly. Additionally, calibration of the system was performed using three standard digital hygrometers for improved accuracy and reliability. Experimental findings showed that before calibration, Sensors A and B had a temperature difference and a humidity difference of +0.7 °C and a 1% relative humidity (RH) delay, respectively. After calibration, the sensor showed a system accuracy of ±0.2 °C and ±2-5% RH for temperature and humidity measurement, in accordance with manufacturer specifications. The system demonstrated a real-time response with update intervals of 15 seconds while maintaining stable performance for a temperature range of −40 °C to 80 °C and humidity conditions from 0% to 100% RH. Through the integration of Internet of Things connectivity with sensor calibration, the developed system enables a cost-effective, accurate, and remotely accessible solution for environmental monitoring, supporting enhanced decision-making in precision agriculture, lab monitoring, and industrial climate control.

Crumb rubber from recycled tires is widely used in synthetic sports pitches despite environmental and health concerns. The study presents a case study that draws, first, on existing relevant scientific literature, though it does not constitute a systematic review. Second, it identifies the chemical composition of crumb rubber and examines its environmental and public health effects. These two strands inform the subsequent policy and regulatory analysis of the limited number of policy documents from Great Britain, along with a consultancy report, addressing crumb rubber and third-generation (3G) pitches. Research shows that crumb microplastics are present and, according to the European Union, they produce a range of negative (eco)toxic and physical effects on living organisms, and cannot be contained effectively. Crumb rubber, therefore, cannot be used sustainably within Europe’s circular economy and zero-plastic-pollution policies. Available policy alternatives were briefly considered in relation to risk assessments, life-cycle analyses, industry economic interests, and governmental and sporting-body sustainability policies. Finally, an analysis was provided on how government bodies, local authorities, and sports organizations have started to interpret and implement the consultancy report. Great Britain’s policies appear to be partly based on flawed, incomplete, and selective assessments of evidence, with asymmetrical risk assessments. Nevertheless, they closely align with and reflect many of the policies and practices adopted by international sports bodies concerning 3G pitch materials. Questions remain regarding how precautionary public health and sustainability policies for crumb rubber derived from used tires and other sources can be improved.