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PubMed2026

Global Patterns of Net Ecosystem Exchange in peatlands: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Drivers Across Land Use and Environmental Gradients.

Peatlands play an essential role in the global carbon cycle, storing approximately one-third of the world's soil carbon despite covering less than 3% of the land surface. Peatland degradation from anthropogenic activities and climate change can convert peatlands from net carbon sinks to sources by altering carbon cycling. Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE), the balance between CO2 uptake and emission, is a critical indicator for assessing peatland condition and restoration efforts. We conducted a systematic quantitative literature review to investigate global patterns of NEE in peatlands and identify key environmental and anthropogenic drivers of CO2 flux variability. Annual NEE values from 120 globally distributed sites reported in peer-reviewed literature were analyzed in relation to climatic zone, land use, vegetation type, peatland condition, and water table depth. Our synthesis revealed significant geographic gaps, with peatland NEE studies substantially underrepresented in the Tropics, Africa, and Oceania. Agricultural peatlands emitted significantly more CO2 than sites under natural land uses or peat extraction, while degraded peatlands were significantly greater net CO2 sources than intact and restored systems. Restored peatlands remained net CO2 sources on average, emphasizing the importance of long-term monitoring and adaptive management following restoration interventions. Water table depth significantly affected NEE variability, with CO2 emissions increasing approximately 7.2 gCO2-C m-2yr-1 for every centimeter of water table drawdown. A substantial variability in measurement methods, data processing software, and protocols highlighted the critical need for methodological standardization. Our findings provide evidence-based targets for peatland conservation and restoration monitoring as nature-based climate solutions.

Ecosystem↗
PubMed2026

How Do Climatic Factors Directly Influence the Incidence and Risk of Meningococcal Meningitis Across the African Meningitis Belt? A Narrative Literature Review.

Globally, the highest incidence of meningococcal meningitis occurs within the African meningitis belt, spanning 26 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. Meningococcal meningitis incidence is highly seasonal in this region specifically, with outbreaks mostly occurring during the dry season, characterized by low rainfall and atmospheric humidity, high temperature, and increased dust and wind speed. The strong seasonality of meningococcal outbreaks coincides with seasonal variation in climatic factors. This multicollinearity can make it difficult to identify environmental drivers of disease and the mechanisms by which they operate. This review aims to collate existing evidence to better clarify the mechanisms by which climatic variables influence meningococcal meningitis incidence. We examined the impact of dust, wind speed, temperature, rainfall, and land cover on meningococcal meningitis outbreaks. Within the literature, atmospheric dust and wind speed had the strongest statistical association with meningococcal outbreaks and demonstrated greater predictive probability than other climatic variables. However, several climatic factors have demonstrable influences on one another, reflected in the seasonality of meningococcal meningitis. Atmospheric dust can reduce precipitation levels in part through its radiative properties. Decreased rainfall and increasing temperatures can dry out soil, increasing its availability to be uplifted as dust. Alongside, this lower atmospheric humidity increases evaporative demand, leading to faster soil moisture loss and enhanced surface drying. We argue that rainfall, temperature, and land cover variability may act as part of a broader climatic mechanism, increasing atmospheric dust. This increases the incidence and risk of meningococcal meningitis.

Africa↗
PubMed2026

Predictive evolutionary genomics: principles, validation, and practice.

Climate change and habitat loss are driving rapid evolutionary responses in populations world-wide, which creates an urgent need for evolutionary forecasting in conservation and agriculture. Such forecasting can be categorized into three time scales: trait-based models that use multivariate quantitative genetic equations to project correlated phenotypic responses up to c. 20 generations, allele-based analyses that model allele frequency dynamics up to 100 generations, and composite adaptation scores that aggregate many small effects to yield predictions across longer horizons. However, these approaches have remained largely disconnected. Here, we present a Bayesian framework that integrates these three complementary approaches for evolutionary prediction. Our framework combines genomic, phenotypic, and environmental data to yield probabilistic predictions with explicit uncertainty. We show how predictive evolutionary forecasts can be validated with experimental evolution, field experimentation, historical specimens, and reciprocal transplants. These validated forecasts can help advance conservation and agricultural programmes by helping predict which populations are at risk of future extinction, optimizing breeding programmes for future climates, and planning ecosystem management under environmental change. By supporting a shift towards more predictive approaches in evolutionary biology, this framework may help improve our ability to manage biodiversity and food security in a changing world.

Genomics↗
PubMed2026

Transcriptomic insights into thermal stress reveal physiological trade-off between thermal stress adaptation and reproductive investment in Spodoptera litura.

Spodoptera litura, a highly polyphagous lepidopteran pest, poses a major threat to agricultural productivity due to its remarkable adaptability to diverse environmental conditions. Although heat stress is known to trigger transcriptional reprogramming in insects, the molecular mechanisms underlying thermal stress responses in S. litura remain poorly understood. In the present study, fourth-instar larvae were exposed to acute heat stress (44 °C) and compared with control conditions (27 ± 1 °C) to investigate heat-induced transcriptional alterations affecting physiology and reproduction. High-quality RNA-Seq data achieved more than 80% mapping efficiency, with a total of 15,782 transcripts were identified. Transcriptome analysis of S. litura larvae showed 323 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 262 genes were significantly upregulated and 61 were downregulated in heat-stressed larvae compared to the control group. The DEGs were associated with stress response, reproduction, signalling, proteostasis, detoxification, oxidative stress, metabolism, development, and chromatin regulation. Heat shock proteins genes, including HSP70, HSP90, and HSP27, together with co-chaperones such as TRET-1, STIP1, and Starvin, were strongly upregulated, indicating enhanced cellular protection against protein damage and oxidative stress under heat stress. Conversely, key reproductive and cell cycle-related genes, including BARR, CAPD2, FEO, CDK2 and MORULA, were significantly downregulated, suggesting reproductive impairment and developmental arrest. RT-qPCR validation corroborated the RNA-Seq findings, demonstrating a heat-induced physiological trade-off that prioritizes survival over reproduction. Consistent with these molecular responses, heat-stressed insects exhibited marked reproductive impairment, including significant reductions in gonadosomatic index, eupyrene sperm bundle count, mating frequency, mating success, female calling behaviour, copulation duration, fecundity, and egg fertility. Collectively, these findings provide comprehensive insights into the molecular basis of thermal adaptation in S. litura and demonstrate that acute heat stress compromises reproductive fitness while activating conserved stress-response pathways that promote short-term survival.

Animals↗
PubMed2026

Impact of climate change on pediatric health outcomes.

Climate change has become one of the most critical health issues globally in the twenty-first century with children bearing the disproportionate burden of the burden since they are more vulnerable than adults because of their physiological, behavioral, and developmental capacities. It is a systematic review that rates the evidence of the relationship between climatic exposures such as heat, air-pollution, and extreme weather events and pediatric health outcomes. The number of peer-reviewed studies involved was 23 published in 2000-2025, which represented different geographic areas and study designs and assessed acute and chronic health outcomes. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and the ROBINS-I tool were used to evaluate the methodological quality, and the majority of the studies had low to moderate risks of bias. The narrative synthesis shows that there are always links between air pollutants especially PM2.5, NO2 and O3 and respiratory morbidity, prevalence of asthma and hospitalization of children. Amplified temperatures as well as heat waves were associated with increased cases of heat illness, dehydration, and febrile state in infants and young children. There were elevated cases of diarrheal and vector-related infections, especially in low-resource settings, which were linked to extreme weather events especially floods. Although the overall results were similar, significant differences in the regions and methods were found, and low-income countries show little evidence. In addition, exposures as analyzed in most studies were usually considered individually, which may have underestimated the cumulative or compound climate risks.

Humans↗
PubMed2025

Impacts of Climate Change and Related Weather Events on the Health and Wellbeing of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Vulnerable populations such as culturally and linguistically diverse communities (CALD), ethnic minorities and racial groups face a disproportionate burden of climate change-related health impacts due to a combination of socio-cultural and economic factors, geographic vulnerabilities and health disparities. This review synthesised the existing evidence on the health and wellbeing impacts of climate change and related weather events among CALD communities. METHODS: A narrative synthesis approach was utilised to conduct a systematic review. Three electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science) were searched, identifying 25 studies for appraisal and synthesis. Studies published in the English language from January 2010 to March 2024 were included in the review. RESULTS: The reviewed studies, mostly carried out in the USA, employed varied study designs, and focused on diverse CALD groups such as migrants, farmworkers and racial and ethnic minorities. The included studies addressed broader and specific climate change-related events, ranging from heat-related impacts and hurricanes to occupational heat exposure. CALD communities were found to be more vulnerable to climate change-related negative physical and mental health issues, further exacerbated by poor living conditions, limited access to healthcare, and cultural and language barriers. CONCLUSION: Future efforts by governments, healthcare agencies, employers and research institutions should prioritise multilingual risk communication strategies, providing culturally appropriate health education and healthcare access, housing improvements and the investigation of long-term health impacts of climate change and coping mechanisms adopted among CALD populations.

Climate Change↗