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A new class and a new order (Drabo corymbosae-Papaveretea dahliani and Saxifrago oppositifoliae-Papaveretalia dahliani) have been described, and the Papaverion dahliani validated. This is vegetation of zonal habitats in lowlands of the High Arctic subzone A (or Arctic herb, cushion forb or polar desert subzone) and of ecologically equivalent sites at high altitudes on the mountain plateaus of the High Arctic. The new class spans three continents – North America (Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Greenland), Europe (parts of Svalbard and Franz Josef Land), and Asia, including northern regions of Chelyuskin Peninsula (Taymir Peninsula), Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago and De Longa Islands. Opisali smo nov razred in red (Drabo corymbosae-Papaveretea dahliani in Saxifrago oppositifoliae-Papaveretalia dahliani) in validirali zvezo Papaverion dahliani. To je conalna vegetacija v nižinah visoke artktične podcone A (ali arktična zelišča, blazinaste zelišča ali polarna puščavska podcona) in ekološko enakovredna rastišča na višjih nadmorskih višinah na gorskih platojih visoke Arktike. Nov razred je razširjen na treh kontinentih – Severni Ameriki (kandski arktični ahipelag in Grenlandija), Evropi (deli Svalbarda in Dežela Franca Jožefa) in Aziji vključno s severnimi deli polotoka Chelyuskin (polotok Taymir), arhipelag Severnaya Zemlya in otoki De Longa.

Reliable quantitative vegetation reconstructions for Europe during the Holocene are crucial to improving our understanding of landscape dynamics, making it possible to assess the past effects of environmental variables and land-use change on ecosystems and biodiversity, and mitigating their effects in the future. We present here the most spatially extensive and temporally continuous pollen-based reconstructions of plant cover in Europe (at a spatial resolution of 1° × 1°) over the Holocene (last 11.7 ka BP) using the ‘Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites’ (REVEALS) model. This study has three main aims. First, to present the most accurate and reliable generation of REVEALS reconstructions across Europe so far. This has been achieved by including a larger number of pollen records compared to former analyses, in particular from the Mediterranean area. Second, to discuss methodological issues in the quantification of past land cover by using alternative datasets of relative pollen productivities (RPPs), one of the key input parameters of REVEALS, to test model sensitivity. Finally, to validate our reconstructions with the global forest change dataset. The results suggest that the RPPs.st1 (31 taxa) dataset is best suited to producing regional vegetation cover estimates for Europe. These reconstructions offer a long-term perspective providing unique possibilities to explore spatial-temporal changes in past land cover and biodiversity. The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/land12050986/s1. File S1 Glossary of abbreviations used in the paper. This research was funded by the TERRANOVA Project, H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 813904. H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie TERRANOVA Project 813904 Swiss National Science Foundation U.S. National Science Foundation Chinese Academy of Science Swiss Academy of Sciences Linnaeus University’s MERGE PRG323 ETF PRG323

Absorption photometers for real time application have been available since the 1980s, but the use of filter-based instruments to derive information on aerosol properties (absorption coefficient and black carbon, BC) is still a matter of debate. Several workshops have been conducted to investigate the performance of individual instruments over the intervening years. Two workshops with large sets of aerosol absorption photometers were conducted in 2005 and 2007. The data from these instruments were corrected using existing methods before further analysis. The inter-comparison shows a large variation between the responses to absorbing aerosol particles for different types of instruments. The unit to unit variability between instruments can be up to 30% for Particle Soot Absorption Photometers (PSAPs) and Aethalometers. Multi Angle Absorption Photometers (MAAPs) showed a variability of less than 5%. Reasons for the high variability were identified to be variations in sample flow and spot size. It was observed that different flow rates influence system performance with respect to response to absorption and instrumental noise. Measurements with non absorbing particles showed that the current corrections of a cross sensitivity to particle scattering are not sufficient. Remaining cross sensitivities were found to be a function of the total particle load on the filter. The large variation between the response to absorbing aerosol particles for different types of instruments indicates that current correction functions for absorption photometers are not adequate. The work described in this paper was supported by the EU FP6 Integrated Infrastructures Initiatives (I3) project EUSAAR (European Supersites for Atmospheric Aerosol Research, project FP6-026140), with the EU FP6 Network of Excellence ACCENT (Atmospheric Composition Change: a European Network, project GOCE-CT-2004-505337) and the WMO GAW (Global Atmosphere Watch) program.

Urban green spaces (UGS) are increasingly acknowledged for their importance for the well-being of urban populations. However, studies are lacking the consideration of the demand and use of UGS by different population groups and connecting UGS with social infrastructure. In an era of worldwide urbanization and ageing, this European study sheds light on the role of UGS for care facilities for elderly. 126 care facilities from 17 cities in Austria, Germany, Norway, Poland, Romania and Slovenia took part in an online survey. Administrations of care facilities gave insights on the (1) importance of gardens related to care facilities for the quality of life for the seniors, (2) importance of UGS outside of care facilities for the quality of life for the seniors and (3) the consideration of natural and age-friendly designs and management of ecosystem disservices of UGS. The results emphasize not only the importance of UGS for the quality of life of seniors residing in care facilities, but also for the staff and visitors. UGS contribute to physical activities, recreation, and social interactions. The study found that in particular facilities with an own garden are highly aware of the benefits UGS provide. The study holds important lessons for urban green space planning, management and design not only to focus on the quantitative supply of UGS, but also to consider age-sensitive amenities in and access to UGS of high quality for seniors. social infrastructure, urban green space design, urban green space access, healthy ageing, urban green space management, quality of life

Background Adverse health effects caused by pesticide exposure have been reported in occupied Palestinian territory and the world at large. The objective of this paper is to compare patterns of pesticide use in Beit-U'mmar village, West Bank, between 1998 and 2006. Methods We studied two populations in Beit-U'mmar village, comprised of: 1) 61 male farmers and their wives in 1998 and 2) 250 male farmers in 2006. Both populations completed a structured interview, which included questions about socio-demographic factors, types of farming tasks, as well as compounds, quantities, and handling of pesticides. Using the 1998 population as a reference, we applied generalized linear regression models (GLM) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) in order to estimate prevalence differences (PD) between the two populations. Results In 1998, farmers used 47 formulated pesticides on their crops. In 2006, 16 of these pesticides were still in use, including five internationally banned compounds. There were positive changes with less use of large quantities of pesticides (>40 units/year) (PD -51; CI -0.60, -0.43), in applying the recommended dosage of pesticides (PD +0.57; CI +0.48, +0.68) and complying with the safety period (PD +0.89; CI+0.83, +0.95). Changes also included farmers' habits while applying pesticides, such as less smoking (PD -0.20; CI-0.34, -0.07) and eating at the work place (PD -0.33; CI-0.47, -0.19). No significant changes were found from 1998 to 2006 regarding use of personal protective equipment, pesticide storage, farmers' habits after applying pesticides, and in using some highly hazardous pesticides. Conclusions The results were based on two cross-sectional surveys and should be interpreted with caution due to potential validity problems. The results of the study suggest some positive changes in the handling of pesticides amongst participants in 2006, which could be due to different policy interventions and regulations that were implemented after 1998. However, farm workers in Beit -U'mmar village are still at risk of health effects because of ongoing exposure to pesticides. To the best of our knowledge, no studies on long-term changes in pesticide use have been reported from developing countries.