ObjectivePublic life restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic caused reductions in physical activity (PA) and decreases in mental and somatic health. Considering the interplay between these factors, we investigated the effects of digital home exercise (DHE) during government-enforced lockdowns.MethodsA multicentre randomised controlled trial was performed allocating healthy individuals from nine countries (N=763; 523 female) to a DHE or an inactive control group. During the 4-week main intervention, DHE members engaged in live-streamed multicomponent home exercise. Subsequently, both groups had access to prerecorded workouts for an additional 4 weeks. Outcomes, assessed weekly, included PA level (Nordic Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7), mental well-being (WHO-5 Questionnaire), sleep quality (Medical Outcome Study Sleep Scale), pain/disability (Chronic Pain Grade Scale) and exercise motivation (Self-Concordance Scale). Mixed models were used for analysis.ResultsLive-streamed DHE consistently increased moderate PA (eg, week 1: 1.65 times more minutes per week, 95% CI 1.40 to 1.94) and vigorous PA (eg, week 1: 1.31 times more minutes per week, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.61), although the effects decreased over time. In addition, exercise motivation, sleep quality and anxiety were slightly higher for DHE in the 4-week live streaming period. The same applied to mental well-being (mean difference at week 4: +0.99, 95% CI 0.13 to 1.86), but an inverted trend was observed after live streaming was substituted by prerecorded exercise.ConclusionsLive-streamed DHE represents an efficacious method to enhance PA and selected markers of health during pandemic-related public life restrictions. However, research on implementation is warranted to reduce dropout rates.Trial Registration numberDRKS00021273.
Biomass crops are perceived as a feasible means to substitute sizeable amounts of fossil fuel in the future. A prospect of CO2 reduction (resp. CO2 neutrality) is credited to biomass fuels, and thus a potential contribution to mitigate climate change. Short rotation coppices (SRCs) with fast growing poplar and willow trees are an option for producing high yields of woody biomass, which is suitable for both energetic and material use. One negative effect that comes along with the establishment of SRC may be a decrease in groundwater recharge, because high rates of transpiration and interception are anticipated. Therefore, it is important to measure, analyze, and model the effects of SRC-planting on landscape water budgets. To analyze the effects on the water budget, a poplar SRC plot was studied by measuring hydrological parameters to be used in the hydrological model WaSim. Results reveal very low or even missing ground water recharge for SRC compared to agricultural land use or grassland, especially succeeding dry years. However, this strong effect on plot level is moderated on the larger spatial scale of catchment level, for which the modeling was also performed. In addition to water, nutrient fluxes and budgets were studied. Nitrogen is still a crucial issue in today’s agriculture. Intensive fertilization or increased applications of manure from concentrated livestock breeding are often leading to high loads of nitrate leaching, or enhanced N2O emissions to the atmosphere on arable crop fields. SRC or agroforestry systems on former crop land may offer an option to decrease such N losses, while simultaneously producing woody biomass. This is mainly due to the generally smaller N requirements of woody vegetation, which usually entail no need for any fertilization. The trees supply deep and permanent rooting systems, which can be regarded as a “safety net” to prevent nutrient leaching. Thus, SRC altogether can help to diminish N eutrophication. It is important to offer viable and attractive economic perspectives to farmers and other land managers besides of the potential ecological benefits of SRCs. For this reason, an integrated tool for scenario analysis was developed within the BEST project (“BEAST – Bio-Energy Allocation and Scenario Tool”). It combines ecological assessments with calculations of economic revenue as a basis for a participative regional dialog on sustainable land use and climate protection goals. Results show a substantial capacity for providing renewable energy from economically competitive arable SRC sites while generating ecological synergies.
Abstract. Among the different bioenergy sources short rotation coppices (SRC) with poplar and willow trees are one of the mostly promising options in Europe. SRC not only provide woody biomass, but often additional ecosystem services. One known shortcoming is the possible negative effect on groundwater recharge, caused by potentially higher rates of evapotranspiration compared to annual crops. An assessment of land use change by means of hydrological models and taking into account the changing climate can help to minimize negative and maximize positive ecological effects at regional and local scales, e.g. to regional climate and/or to adjacent ecosystems. The present study implemented the hydrological model system WaSim for such assessment. The hydrological analysis requires the adequate description of the vegetation cover to simulate the processes like soil evaporation, interception evaporation and transpiration. The uncertainties in the vegetation parameterisations might result in implausible model results. The present study shows that leaf area index (LAI), stomatal resistance (Rsc) as well as the beginning and length of the growing season are the sensitive parameters when investigating the effects of an enhanced cultivation of SRC on water budget or on groundwater recharge. Mostly sensitive is the description of the beginning of the growing season. When this estimation is wrong, the accuracy of LAI and Rsc description plays a minor role. The analyses done here illustrate that the use of locally measured vegetation parameters like maximal LAI and meteorological variables like air temperature, to estimate the beginning of the growing season, produce better results than literature data or data from remote network stations. However the direct implementation of locally measured or literature data on e.g. stomatal resistance is not always advisable. The adjustment of locally vegetation parameterisation shows the best model evaluation. Additionally the adjusted course of LAI and Rsc is less sensitive to different estimates for leaf unfolding, due to a slower increase in spring compared to a step functional annual course.
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