Transport and deposition of inhaled fibers in a realistic female airway model: A combined experimental and numerical study.

This study presents a combined experimental and numerical investigation of fiber transport and deposition in a realistic model of the female respiratory tract, extending to the seventh generation of branching. Numerical simulations were performed using the Euler-Lagrange Euler-Rotation (ELER) method, an efficient alternative to conventional Finite Volume Methods that benefits from explicit formulation and vast scalability, enabling fast parallelization on high-performance clusters. The ELER method was coupled with the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) to simulate fiber dynamics under a realistic inspiratory flow profile.

Habitat-based biodiversity responses to macroclimate and edaphic factors in European fen ecosystems.

Understanding large-scale drivers of biodiversity in palustrine wetlands is challenging due to the combined effects of macroclimate and local edaphic conditions. In boreal and temperate fen ecosystems, the influence of macroclimate on biodiversity is modulated by hydrological settings across habitats, making it difficult to assess their vulnerability to climate change. Here, we investigate the influence of macroclimate and edaphic factors on three Essential Biodiversity Variables across eight ecologically defined habitats that align with ecosystem classifications and red lists.

Spatially resolved distribution models of POP concentrations in soil: a stochastic approach using regression trees.

Background concentrations of selected persistent organic pollutants (polychlorinated biphenyls, hexachlorobenzene, p,p'-DDT including metabolites) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons in soils of the Czech Republic were predicted in this study, and the main factors affecting their geographical distribution were identified. A database containing POP concentrations in 534 soil samples and the set of specific environmental predictors were used for development of a model based on regression trees. Selected predictors addressed specific conditions affecting a behavior of the individual groups of pollutants: a presence of primary and secondary sources, density of human settlement, geographical characteristics and climatic conditions, land use, land cover, and soil properties.

Separating habitat invasibility by alien plants from the actual level of invasion.

Habitats vary considerably in the level of invasion (number or proportion of alien plant species they contain), which depends on local habitat properties, propagule pressure, and climate. To determine the invasibility (susceptibility to invasions) of different habitats, it is necessary to factor out the effects of any confounding variables such as propagule pressure and climate on the level of invasion. We used 20 468 vegetation plots from 32 habitats in the Czech Republic to compare the invasibility of different habitats.