Explore the latest insights from top science journals in the Muser Press daily roundup, featuring impactful research on climate change challenges.
Table of Contents
KTU researcher on energy revolution: sustainability is still a work in process
The world is experiencing more frequent and intense heat waves, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires due to rising greenhouse gas emissions. The energy sector is one of the largest contributors to climate change, yet it also plays a crucial role in the strategies needed to mitigate and adapt to its effects, contributing to the achievement of ambitious climate goals.
In this global context, Lithuania is undergoing a significant energy transformation as it moves toward a more sustainable and independent future.
By aligning its energy policies with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the country is not only addressing its domestic challenges but also contributing to the broader fight against climate change. This determined effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy efficiency, and strengthen energy security demonstrates how even small nations can make a meaningful impact on global sustainability efforts.
“Simple actions are important. Even small changes can help reduce environmental impacts, while awareness of the current state of energy and climate policy can have a significant effect on how we adapt and try to act accordingly to achieve these shared goals,” says Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) junior researcher Alexandra Maria Alonso Soto.
The paper was published in the journal Sustainability.
Progress surpasses EU average
The Sustainable Development Goals aim to end poverty, protect the planet and achieve peace and prosperity by 2030. KTU researchers decided to focus on three of these goals and investigate how climate change mitigation policies are being applied in the energy sector.
“Affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, as well as climate action, were our focus,” says KTU PhD student Alonso Soto.
To achieve these goals, Lithuania has had to manage significant energy transitions, such as the closure of the Ignalina nuclear power plant in 2009, which led to a major transformation of the Lithuanian energy sector. “After the plant stopped its operation, the country became dependent on energy imports of both electricity and natural gas, mostly from Russia,” says KTU researcher.
In response, Lithuania prioritised strengthening the country’s energy security and energy independence. Investments in high-voltage grid interconnections with neighbouring countries and a growing focus on renewable energy sources like wind and solar power have been central to this strategy.
By investing in renewable energy and reducing dependency on imported fuels, Lithuania is not only enhancing energy security but also advancing the global goals of clean energy and climate action.
Recent progress has been notable. Lithuania not only reached the European Union’s (EU) 2020 renewable energy target of 20 per cent by 2014, but in 2022, the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption grew almost to 30 per cent, exceeding the EU average.
As for 2023, according to the Lithuanian Ministry of Energy, 70 per cent of all electricity produced in the country came from renewable energy sources, underlining the commitment to reduce import dependency.
Once awareness is settled, actions will follow
Despite the right path, there are still many challenges that prevent Lithuania from achieving its sustainable energy goals. KTU researcher Alonso Soto mentions some: dependence on biomass and fossil fuels, limited diversification of energy sources, insufficient policy alignment and implementation, and social and economic barriers.
“Lithuania has made a great progress in increasing its renewable energy share, but biomass is a big contributor to air pollution and carbon emissions. While other renewable energy sources such as wind power are being developed, it is still in early stages compared to biomass,” she says.
In terms of policy alignment, while Lithuania adopted ambitious targets under the National Energy Independence Strategies and the National Energy and Climate Plan, there are still gaps in the coordination and implementation as well as a lack of monitoring and evaluation of these policies.
According to Alonso Soto, social acceptance of energy policies such as building stock renovation can also be a barrier due to public reluctance or lack of budget to implement the measures.
“Many Lithuanians, especially the elderly, cannot afford to renovate their homes, and some others still do not understand the benefits that such an upgrade would bring in terms of money savings, not to mention environmental impact,” explains Alonso Soto, a PhD student at KTU Institute of Environmental Engineering.
In her opinion, reinforcing educational campaigns is the action the government could take to increase public engagement and awareness: “Citizens need to get involved, understand the policies, be aware of the benefits these could bring to their lives. Once the knowledge and awareness are settled within the population’s mindsets, actions will follow.”
Journal Reference:
Alonso Soto, A., & Stasiškienė, Ž., ‘Exploring the Interplay Between Energy Policies and Sustainable Development Goals Within Lithuania’s Energy Sector: A Critical Review’, Sustainability 16 (22), 10018 (2024). DOI: 10.3390/su162210018
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by Kaunas University of Technology (KTU)
Wildfire smoke can carry toxins hundreds of kilometers, depositing grime on urban structures, surfaces: research
Researchers have shown that plumes of wildfire smoke can carry contaminants hundreds of kilometres, leaving a toxic and lingering footprint which has the potential to be re-released into the environment.
The frequency and severity of wildfires is expected to continue increasing due to climate change. In recent weeks, catastrophic wildfires have devasted Los Angeles, scorching tens of thousands of acres.
Canada’s 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive ever recorded, with an estimated 18.5 million hectares burned. The 2024 season was the second worst on record, with more than 5 million hectares burned according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which tracks national statistics.
Wildfire events may become an increasingly dominant and troubling source of pollution in urban areas, say researchers.
Wildfire smoke features a complex mixture of pollutants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a class of carcinogenic compounds that can also cause mutations in nature. PAHs are produced whenever incomplete combustion occurs, including when wood burns.
In the new study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, researchers at McMaster University report the potential impact of PAHs extends far downwind of wildfires, even hundreds of kilometres.
“This study was motivated by the large increase in wildfire frequency and severity in Western Canada,” explains Iris Chan, a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology and lead author of the study. “There is a great deal of public awareness and research on air quality related to North American wildfires, but the long-term impact of smoke drifting into cities is virtually unknown.”
Urban landscapes are dominated by impermeable structures and surfaces such as buildings and roads, she explains. Over time, these surfaces accumulate what is known as “urban grime,” a buildup of deposited particles and other chemical compounds that can hold and re-release pollutants such as PAHs.
For this study, researchers enlisted volunteers in Kamloops and Calgary to collect samples in their backyards from August to November 2021.
They set out specially designed kits containing glass beads, which mimic impervious urban surfaces like windows. The samples were regularly collected and analyzed at McMaster.
The team looked for correlations between surface-grime PAHs and evidence of fire activity in measurements of local air quality such as carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter.
In the Calgary samples, researchers found toxin levels nearly doubled when smoke from fires in neighbouring Saskatchewan arrived from about 500 kilometres away. There were no other large-scale pollution events in Calgary at that time, suggesting the increase was linked.
In Kamloops, they pinpointed a sharp increase in toxins even when there were no significant wildfire events in the region. Based on the specific composition of samples, researchers concluded the uptick was due to a hyper-local burn, likely a neighborhood campfire.
“We should be mindful that the minor things people do every day, like using their barbeque or having a campfire in the backyard, can have a significant and long-lasting impact on their local environment,” says Sarah Styler, who supervised the study and holds the Canada Research Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry at McMaster.
The accumulation problem grows worse when there isn’t sufficient rainfall to wash away the grimy buildup. A reservoir of toxins can, in principle, grow for long periods.
“We would then expect precipitation to release pollutants into stormwater runoff, with the potential for adverse consequences for downstream water bodies, sediments and aquatic life,” says Styler.
The team is currently following up by analyzing samples from multiple cities in Canada and the United States collected during the 2022 wildfire season. Additionally, they have recently begun a pilot project with Environment Hamilton to collect and analyze dust and grime samples in city neighbourhoods to determine how much is falling in different areas and what it might contain.
Journal Reference:
Iris Chan, Stephanie R. Schneider, Annie Cheng, and Sarah A. Styler, ‘Wildfire Smoke Contributions to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Loadings in Western Canadian Urban Surface Grime’, Environmental Science & Technology (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c09630
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by McMaster University
Sharks and rays benefit from global warming – but not from CO2 in the oceans
Sharks and rays have populated the world’s oceans for around 450 million years, but more than a third of the species living today are severely threatened by overfishing and the loss of their habitat.
An international research team led by palaeobiologist Manuel A. Staggl from the University of Vienna has now investigated whether and how global warming influences the diversity of sharks based on climate fluctuations between 200 and 66 million years ago. According to the study, higher temperatures and more shallow water areas have a positive effect, while higher CO2 levels have a clearly negative effect.
The study was recently published in the scientific journal Biology.
There have been five mass extinctions in Earth’s history – and one group of animals has survived them all: cartilaginous fish, which include sharks and rays, have inhabited the oceans for more than 450 million years; more than 1,200 shark and ray species are known today. However, more than a third of these species are now seriously threatened due to their habits and increasing over-exploitation and habitat destruction; extinction would also have a direct impact on many ecosystems.
“The current rapid climate warming could also have a negative impact on this group of animals – in an international study based on earlier climate changes, we have now looked at how exactly this might impact rays and sharks,” explains palaeobiologist Manuel A. Staggl from the University of Vienna. The international team investigated the driving forces behind the biodiversity of sharks and rays during the so-called Jurassic (200-143 million years ago) and Cretaceous (143-66 million years ago), a heyday of shark and ray evolution with a wide range of different environmental conditions.
Fossilised shark and ray teeth were used to determine the species diversity for each age and compared with the climate data of the respective age. “We wanted to understand which environmental factors influence the diversity of sharks and rays in order to be able to develop possible future scenarios with regard to current global warming,” says Jürgen Kriwet, professor of palaeobiology at the University of Vienna.
Higher CO2 level as a decisive environmental factor
The results show that three environmental factors are decisive: Higher temperatures and more shallow water areas have a positive effect; however, a higher carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration clearly has a negative effect. This is the first time that the negative impact of CO2 concentrations in the ocean has been so clearly described: “We cannot yet fully explain the exact mechanisms behind the negative effect of CO2 on the biodiversity of sharks and rays,” says Staggl.
However, laboratory studies on sharks and rays living today have revealed direct physiological effects of higher CO2 concentrations on the animals – from impacts on the animals’ senses to changes in the skeleton during embryonic development. In any case, the fossil record shows that a higher CO2 content contributed to the extinction of individual shark and ray species.
Climate change as an opportunity?
On the other hand, the current global warming may also harbour opportunities for sharks and rays: Rising sea levels and higher temperatures have already been beneficial for the biodiversity of these predators in the past – firstly due to the increase in shallow coastal waters and secondly due to the global expansion of warm waters that offer stable conditions all year round.
The rise in sea level in particular appears to have been of great importance. “The resulting habitats in shallow seas that cover large continental areas are real biodiversity hotspots; sharks and rays were able to colonise them very quickly and efficiently thanks to their adaptability,” explains Staggl. Due to the sometimes significantly higher temperatures during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, the tropics and subtropics were able to expand further north and south, and without distinct seasons, stable and more complex ecosystems with a greater diversity of species were able to develop.
No bright future
However, assuming that sharks and rays are facing a bright future would be too short-sighted, explains Staggl: “The environment is currently changing particularly quickly – unfortunately probably too quickly for the animals and their ecosystems.” Together with overfishing, habitat loss and the rise in CO2 levels in the oceans, it is unlikely that these predators will benefit greatly from global warming.
In order to reduce the environmental pressure on sharks, urgent measures are therefore needed to protect them. This is not just about protecting the sharks and rays themselves, but also about preserving entire ecosystems. “Because without the top predators, the ecosystems would collapse,” emphasises Kriwet. “By protecting sharks and rays, we are investing directly in the health of our oceans and therefore also in the people and industries that benefit from these ecosystems,” says the professor of palaeobiology.
Journal Reference:
Staggl, M. A., De Gracia, C., López-Romero, F. A., Stumpf, S., Villalobos-Segura, E., Benton, M. J., & Kriwet, J., ‘The Drivers of Mesozoic Neoselachian Success and Resilience’, Biology 14 (2), 142 (2025). DOI: 10.3390/biology14020142
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by University of Vienna
The life cycle and climate adaptability of South Africa’s endemic Cape Autumn Widow butterfly
A recent study published in the open-access journal African Invertebrates provides insights into the life history and behaviour of the endemic Cape Autumn Widow butterfly (Dira clytus), a species endemic to South Africa.
In the study, Silvia Mecenero of the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa and Stephen Kirkman of Nelson Mandela University examine the species’ developmental stages and responses to environmental conditions, with implications for conservation efforts.
By rearing the subspecies Dira clytus clytus in controlled conditions, the researchers documented the butterfly’s complete life cycle, from egg to adult. Two distinct pupation and adult emergence phases were identified over a period of a few months, influenced by cold temperatures, suggesting that environmental cues play a role in triggering these developmental events. The fact that two broods were found in a matter of months is interesting, because in the wild this species breeds only once a year.
The findings indicate that Dira clytus clytus could show some phenological plasticity in its response to climate change, by changing its timing of pupation and the number of broods within a year. Such flexibility may not always be beneficial to butterflies, as shifts in phenology could lead to mismatches with the availability of their host plants. However, Dira clytus clytus is a generalist that feeds on a variety of grasses and may therefore be more adaptable to changes in its phenology.
The study was published as part of a commemorative collection of articles published in honour of the late ecologist Prof. Stefan H. Foord.
Journal Reference:
Mecenero S, Kirkman SP, ‘Life history and behavioural observations during the rearing of Dira clytus clytus (Linnaeus, 1764) (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae), with notes on implications for climate change adaptation’, African Invertebrates 66 (1): 65-72 (2025). DOI: 10.3897/AfrInvertebr.66.138082
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by Pensoft Publishers
Future of UK peatlands under threat due to climate change
The UK’s peatlands face an uncertain future amid the escalating impacts of climate change.
Peatlands are critical ecosystems for carbon storage and biodiversity, containing more carbon than all the world’s forests despite covering just 3% of the global land surface. But new research reveals that vast areas of the UK’s peatlands, including the Flow Country UNESCO World Heritage Site, are likely to be unsuitable for peat accumulation by 2061–80 due to climate change.
The researchers urge for a shift in conservation strategies, with the findings highlighting significant regional differences. Western Scotland emerges as a stronghold for peatlands, making it an urgent priority area for conservation efforts.
Using advanced bioclimatic models, the study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, projects substantial reductions in areas suitable for peat accumulation across the UK, with the Flow Country, Dartmoor, and the Peak District particularly at risk.
Even under moderate emissions reductions, many of these landscapes may no longer sustain the conditions necessary for peat formation. However, western Scotland is projected to retain areas that remain suitable for peatlands, underscoring its importance in future conservation and restoration efforts.
Lead researcher Professor Dan Bebber, from the University of Exeter, said: “Our findings reveal a stark north-south divide. While western Scotland is likely to remain suitable for peatland, much of England’s peatlands, including Dartmoor and the Peak District, are projected to lose their viability.”
The Flow Country in northern Scotland, which contains one of the largest expanses of blanket bog in the world, is particularly vulnerable. Under a high-emissions scenario (RCP8.5), up to 97% of its peatland may become unsuitable for sustained peat formation.
The study also highlights an increase of 44–82% in desiccation events affecting Sphagnum moss, a critical component of peat ecosystems, potentially leading to widespread moss die-offs and fundamental changes in the landscape.
Professor Angela Gallego-Sala, co-author and an expert on peatland and climate interactions, said: “Peatlands are vital carbon sinks, storing more carbon than all the world’s forests combined. The projected losses of suitable climate in England and parts of Scotland mean that our restoration efforts must adapt and alternative strategies considered where restoration may not yield the desired effects because of climate change effects.”
The study serves as a wake-up call to policymakers and conservationists about the challenges of managing peatlands in a changing climate.
Co-author Dr Jonathan Ritson, from the University of Manchester, said: “Although our research suggests an uncertain future for peatlands in England, this is also a wake-up call for how much urgent work is needed if we want them to survive under future climate.”
The researchers stress the importance of combining global efforts to reduce emissions with localised strategies to adapt land management practices and safeguard ecosystems.
The University of Derby’s Dr Kirsten Lees, who is also co-author of the report, added: “Peatland resilience is an important area of research, as these ecosystems store vast amounts of carbon alongside providing a range of other services. Restoration of areas which are in poor condition is key to protecting these carbon stores. Our research shows that future changes in climate are a vital consideration when planning restoration projects, to ensure that work is targeted towards areas where peatlands can thrive.”
Journal Reference:
Ritson, J. P., Lees, K. J., Hill, J., Gallego-Sala, A., & Bebber, D. P., ‘Climate change impacts on blanket peatland in Great Britain’, Journal of Applied Ecology online, 1–14 (2025). DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.14864
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by University of Exeter
Featured image credit: Gerd Altmann | Pixabay
