In this study, we evaluated the thermal environments of different tennis courts using wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) meters. WBGT meters were installed in an outdoor hard court, sand-filled artificial grass court, and clay court (a softball field), and measurements were taken hourly from 9:00 to 17:00 on weekdays from June 1 to September 21, 2022. The results were compared with data from different courts and the nearest Japan Meteorological Agency station (JMA WBGT) based on the Japan Sports Association\'s guidelines for exercise to prevent heat stroke. The median WBGT on each court was significantly higher for hard courts at the \"Warning\" (25 ≤ JMA WBGT < 28) level or above, sand-filled artificial grass courts at the \"Severe Warning\" (28 ≤ JMA WBGT < 31) level or above, and clay courts at the \"Danger\" (31 ≤ JMA WBGT) level than the JMA WBGT. Compared with the JMA WBGT, hard and sand-filled artificial grass courts are played on under particularly hot conditions. The results of this study could indicate to tournament organizers and coaches the importance of measuring the WBGT on each court surface from an early stage to prevent heat-related incidents.

Dairy cows may suffer thermal stress during the colder seasons especially due to their open-air housing systems. Free water temperature (FWT) and feed temperature (FT) are dependent on ambient temperature (AT) and can be critical for maintaining body and reticulorumen temperature (RT) in cold conditions. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of FWT and FT on RT fluctuations, and of AT on RT and drinking and eating behaviors in late-lactation cows during cold exposure. Data were collected from 16 multiparous lactating cows for four 6-d periods during the autumn and winter seasons. The cows (224 ± 36 days in milk; mean ± SD) had an average milk yield (MY) of 24.8 ± 4.97 kg/d and RT of 38.84 ± 0.163 °C. Daily average AT ranged from 4.38 to 17.25 °C. The effects of the temperature and amount of the ingested water or feed on RT change and recovery time, and the effect of the daily AT on RT, feed and water intake, and drinking, eating, and rumination behaviors were analyzed using the generalized additive mixed model framework. Reticulorumen temperature change and recovery time were affected by FWT (+0.0596 °C/°C and -1.27 min/°C, respectively), but not by FT. The amount of the ingested free water and feed affected RT change (-0.108 °C/kg drink size and -0.150 °C/kg meal size, respectively), and RT recovery time (+2.13 min/kg drink size and + 3.71 min/kg meal size, respectively). Colder AT decreased RT by 0.0151 °C/°C between 9.91 and 17.25 °C AT. Cows increased DM intake (DMI) by 0.365 kg/d per 1 °C drop in AT below 10.63 °C, but with no increase in MY. In fact, MY:DMI decreased by 0.0106/°C as AT dropped from 17.25 to 4.38 °C. Free water intake (FWI) was reduced by 0.0856 FWI:DMI/°C as AT decreased from 17.25 to 8.27 °C. Cold exposure influenced animal behavior with fewer drink and meal bouts (-0.432 and -0.290 bouts/d, respectively), larger drink sizes (+0.100 kg/bout), and shorter rumination time (-5.31 min/d) per 1 °C decrease in AT from 17.25 °C to 8.77, 12.53, 4.38, and 10.32 °C, respectively. In conclusion, exposure to low AT increased feed intake, reduced water intake, and changes in eating, drinking and rumination behaviors of dairy cows in late lactation. Additionally, the consequences of cold exposure on cows may be aggravated by ingestion of feed and free water at temperatures lower than the body, potentially impacting feed efficiency due to the extra energetic cost of thermoregulation.

The ontogenetic development in teleost fish is sensitive to temperature, and the developmental rate has a direct relationship with the environmental temperature within a species\' thermal tolerance limit. Temperature determines time to and survival at hatching. Yellow perch is a North American species of ecological and commercial importance, and its phenology is vulnerable to climate change. The embryonic development of yellow perch was comparable to closely related members of the family Percidae. Developmental progression was fastest at 18°C and slowest at 12°C, with medial progression at 15°C. Time to hatch and swim-up, feeding onset, and exogenous feeding phases were different across all incubation temperatures regardless of a gradual post-hatch warming of the 12 and 15°C groups to a common garden temperature of 18°C. Incubation temperature may lower the rate of survival to hatch at 15°C and had complex impacts on developmental abnormalities. Temperature had significant effects on the development rate, time of hatch, survival, and incidence of developmental abnormalities. Early ontogenetic thermal history in ectotherms is an important factor determining phenotypic variation. It will be important to link the thermally induced changes in development described here to the physiological and morphological differences and to link the developmental abnormalities to functional performance.

Intense urban development and high urban density cause the thermal environment in urban centers to deteriorate continuously, affecting the quality of the living environment. In this study, 707.49 hectares of land in the central area of Changsha were divided into 121 plots. 11 microclimate-related morphological indicators were comprehensively selected, and the K-means method was used for cluster analysis. Then, the relationship between morphological clusters and the thermal environment was explored by simulating the thermal environment of the study area with ENVI-met. First, five spatial types were found to characterize the area: high-level with high floor area ratio, low density, and low greenery; middle-level with high floor area ratio high density; medium-capacity with high density and small volume; low-level with low density and high greenery; and low floor area ratio, low density, and high greenery. Second, the building windward surface density, sky openness, building density, floor area ratio and green space rate affect the thermal environment. Third, Cluster3 had the highest average air temperature (Ta), followed by Cluster5, furthermore Clusters4, 1, and2 had relatively low Ta. The spatial vitality index and green space rate in Cluster1; the area-weighted building shape index, average building volume and sky openness in Cluster2; green space rate in Cluster3; indicators such as the floor area ratio and green space rate in Cluster4; indicators such as the impervious surface rate and green space rate in Cluster5 had greater influences on Ta. Fourthly, simply increasing the area of green space cannot maximize the cooling effect of green spaces. Instead, constructing an equalized greening network can better regulate the thermal environment. Fifthly, the results provide a scientific basis for the design and the regulation of urban centers.

Present study examines the possible improvement of thermal discomfort mitigation. Unlike prior researches, which focused primarily on cooling effects of urban blue space, this study, instead of physical presence of blue space considers its hydrological components. The aim of the study is to better understand the role hydrological components like water consistency depth etc. In temperature regulation. The work uses field surveys and modeling to demonstrate how these hydrological factors influence the cooling effect of blue space, providing insights on urban thermal management. To fulfill the purpose, spatial association of hydrological components blue space with its thermal environment and cooling effects was assessed. The control of hydrological components on the surrounding air temperature was examined by conducting case studies. RESULTS: reveals greater hydro-duration, deeper water, and higher Water Presence Frequency (WPF) produce greater cooling effects. The study demonstrates a favorable correlation between hydrological richness and temperature reduction. The study also analyzes how land use and wetland size affect temperature, emphasizing the significance of hydrological conservation and restoration for successful temperature mitigation. Due to their hydrology, larger wetlands are able to moderate temperature to some extent, whereas smaller, fragmented wetlands being hydrologically poor are not so influential in this regard. With these results, the present study reaches beyond to the general understanding regarding the cooling effects of the urban blue spaces. While the previous studies primarily focused on estimating the cooling effect of urban blue space, the current one shows its synchronization with the hydrological characteristics. Novelty also entrusts here, through the modeling and field survey current study demonstrates deeper and consistent water coverage in the urban blue space for maximum period of a year pronounces the cooling effect. In addition, in this cooling effect, the role of land use which is a strong determinant of many aspects of the urban environment is also highlighted. Since all these findings define specific hydrological feature, the study has several practical implications. Mare restoration of urban blue space is not enough to mitigate the thermal discomfort. In order to optimize the cooling effect, the conservation of the hydrological richness is essential. The hydrological richness of the smaller wetlands and the edge of the larger wetlands is to be improved. The connection of these wetlands with the adjacent mighty may strengthen the hydrology. The vegetation was found to promote the cooling effect whereas shorter building helped in spreading the cooling effect. Such finding drives to incorporate the blue space with the green infrastructure along with restricting the building height atleast at the edge of the blue space.

The urban thermal environment undergoes significant influences from changes in land use/land cover (LULC). This article uses CA-ANN and ANN algorithms to forecast LULC and changes in the urban thermal environment in Nanjing for the years 2030 and 2040. It investigates the interplay between LULC changes, land surface temperature (LST), and the urban thermal field variance index (UTFVI). The findings reveal that urban land exhibited a significant expansion trend from 2000 to 2019, reaching 1083.43 km2 in 2019. The forecast indicates that urban land may increase by 8.79% and 10.92% by 2030 and 2040, respectively. Conversely, vegetation and bare land may decrease. The LST is likely to continue to rise, accompanied by a significant expansion of the high temperature range and a contraction of the low temperature range. By 2030 and 2040, the area with LST<20 °C is likely to decrease by 2.17% and 3.19%, while the area with LST>30 °C is likely to expand by 5.68% and 8.08%, respectively. The UTFVI area of urban land may decrease at none and middle levels but may notably expand at stronger and strongest levels. The areas with UTFVI at none, weak, and middle levels show a declining trend, while the increase in UTFVI at the strong level may exceed 46.29% and the strongest level of UTFVI may continue to expand. This study offers new insights into urban sustainable development and thermal environment governance.

Extreme weather conditions, like heatwave events, are becoming more frequent with climate change. Animals often modify their behaviour to cope with environmental changes and extremes. During heat stress conditions, individuals change their spatial behaviour and increase the use of shaded areas to assist with thermoregulation. Here, we suggest that for social species, these behavioural changes and ambient conditions have the potential to influence an individual\'s position in its social network, and the social network structure as a whole. We investigated whether heat stress conditions (quantified through the temperature humidity index) and the resulting use of shaded areas, influence the social network structure and an individual\'s connectivity in it. We studied this in free-ranging sheep in the arid zone of Australia, GPS-tracking all 48 individuals in a flock. When heat stress conditions worsened, individuals spent more time in the shade and the network was more connected (higher density) and less structured (lower modularity). Furthermore, we then identified the behavioural change that drove the altered network structure and showed that an individual\'s shade use behaviour affected its social connectivity. Interestingly, individuals with intermediate shade use were most strongly connected (degree, strength, betweenness), indicating their importance for the connectivity of the social network during heat stress conditions. Heat stress conditions, which are predicted to increase in severity and frequency due to climate change, influence resource use within the ecological environment. Importantly, our study shows that these heat stress conditions also affect the animal\'s social environment through the changed social network structure. Ultimately, this could have further flow on effects for social foraging and individual health since social structure drives information and disease transmission.

In the resource-constrained South African education sector, infrastructure considered temporary or a backup in other countries is used as permanent classrooms, primarily but not exclusively in lower-income areas. Children\'s cognitive performance and comfort are directly impacted by indoor air quality. Temperature, relative humidity, particulate matter and CO2 levels, substantial determinants of air quality and thermal comfort, have not been investigated across different classroom building and infrastructure types. We measure these parameters with 11-min intervals in 24 classrooms at schools in Stellenbosch, South Africa. These classrooms consist of a range of different infrastructure types. Container classrooms with and without insulation, mobile (prefabricated) classrooms, and brick classrooms of different configurations are included. Measurements are concurrently sampled over ten months (249 days, still ongoing) across multiple seasons with relevant metadata, including ambient weather conditions, school days and times, and electricity availability in the (South) African context, which impacts air conditioning usage. This dataset provides valuable insights into true learning conditions in South African classrooms.

Manual outdoor work is essential in many agricultural systems. Climate change will make such work more stressful in many regions due to heat exposure. The physical work capacity metric (PWC) is a physiologically based approach that estimates an individual\'s work capacity relative to an environment without any heat stress. We computed PWC under recent past and potential future climate conditions. Daily values were computed from five earth system models for three emission scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5) and three time periods: 1991-2010 (recent past), 2041-2060 (mid-century) and 2081-2100 (end-century). Average daily PWC values were aggregated for the entire year, the growing season, and the warmest 90-day period of the year. Under recent past climate conditions, the growing season PWC was below 0.86 (86% of full work capacity) on half the current global cropland. With end-century/SSP5-8.5 thermal conditions this value was reduced to 0.7, with most affected crop-growing regions in Southeast and South Asia, West and Central Africa, and northern South America. Average growing season PWC could falls below 0.4 in some important food production regions such as the Indo-Gangetic plains in Pakistan and India. End-century PWC reductions were substantially greater than mid-century reductions. This paper assesses two potential adaptions-reducing direct solar radiation impacts with shade or working at night and reducing the need for hard physical labor with increased mechanization. Removing the effect of direct solar radiation impacts improved PWC values by 0.05 to 0.10 in the hottest periods and regions. Adding mechanization to increase horsepower (HP) per hectare to levels similar to those in some higher income countries would require a 22% increase in global HP availability with Sub-Saharan Africa needing the most. There may be scope for shifting to less labor-intensive crops or those with labor peaks in cooler periods or shift work to early morning.

Understanding the evolution of adaptive plasticity is fundamental to our knowledge of how organisms interact with their environments and cope with environmental change. Plasticity in melanin pigmentation is common in response to variable environments, especially thermal environments. Yet, the adaptive significance of melanin plasticity in thermally variable environments is often assumed, but rarely explicitly tested. Furthermore, understanding the role of plasticity when a trait is responsive to multiple environmental stimuli and plays many functional roles remains poorly understood. We test the hypothesis that melanin plasticity is an adaptation for thermally variable environments using Hyles lineata, the white-lined sphinx moth, which shows plasticity in melanin pigmentation during the larval stage. Melanin pigmentation influences thermal traits in H. lineata, as melanic individuals had higher heating rates and reached higher body temperatures than non-melanic individuals. Importantly, melanin pigmentation has temperature specific fitness consequences. While melanic individuals had an advantage in cold temperatures, neither phenotype had a clear fitness advantage at warm temperatures. Thus, the costs associated with melanin production may be unrelated to thermal context. Our results highlight the importance of explicitly testing the adaptive role of plasticity and considering all the factors that influence costs and benefits of plastic phenotypes across environments.