Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Governing transboundary river barriers: adaptive management challenges in South and Southeast Asia
Published: 2025-08-30
Subjects: Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Monitoring, Hydrology, Sustainability, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Water Resource Management
Low-cost autonomous chambers enable high spatial and temporal resolution monitoring of soil CO₂ exchange across landscapes
Published: 2025-08-15
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Biogeochemistry, Climate, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Meteorology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Soil Science, Sustainability, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
1. Soil CO₂ flux is a critical component of ecosystem carbon cycling, but due to high cost and mechanistic constraints, existing measurement systems are often limited by trade-offs between resolution (temporal and spatial), and spatial coverage. These constraints hinder efforts to monitor soil fluxes across diverse, heterogeneous landscapes and environmental gradients. 2. We developed Fluxbot [...]
Dual and divergent formation pathways govern the composition and origins of mineral-associated organic carbon
Published: 2025-08-13
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) is the largest and most stable soil carbon reservoir, playing a central role in soil health and climate mitigation. Yet, quantitative understanding is lacking for the two fundamental processes forming MAOM— adsorption of dissolved organic matter and aggregation of insoluble organic particles—and how each pathway incorporates plant- versus microbial-derived [...]
Long-term trends and drivers of water color in Missouri reservoirs
Published: 2025-08-11
Subjects: Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Contrasting water quality trends are occurring within and across North America, with waterbodies experiencing increasing phytoplankton blooms, increasing dissolved organic matter, or both. Simultaneously, other waterbodies are becoming clearer and bluer; dramatically changing water color. To assess the spatial and temporal variability in water color, we quantified trends in satellite-derived [...]
Oxic methane production in shallow productive lakes: linking field and in vitro experimental evidence
Published: 2025-07-30
Subjects: Microbiology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Whereas the occurrence of oxic methane (CH₄) production (OMP) in the oxygenated water column of lakes is widely accepted, its mechanisms, isotopic signature, and contribution to total CH₄ emissions remain uncertain. Evidence suggests that phytoplankton produces CH₄, but it is unclear to what extent this pathway contributes to ecosystem OMP rates. Shallow lakes are often productive and feature [...]
Human Intelligence Forming in the Rhythm of Solar Activity
Published: 2025-05-10
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Biology, Earth Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurobiology, Other Earth Sciences, Other Planetary Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
This study relates to environmental biology and examines a possible link between atmospheric radiation ecology, modulated by space weather, and human cognitive development by analyzing correlations of solar activity phenomena with various indicators of intellectual potential. A novel metric, the Proton Flare Index (PFI), is introduced to quantify the influence of high-energy solar proton events [...]
AI-Driven Decision-Making for Water Resources Planning and Hazard Mitigation Using Automated Multi Agents
Published: 2024-12-27
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Computational Engineering, Computer and Systems Architecture, Computer Engineering, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Education, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Higher Education, Hydraulic Engineering, Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering, Risk Analysis, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Systems Engineering, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Transportation Engineering
This project simulates the Multi-Hazard Tournament (MHT) framework, a decision support system designed for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, using AI agents to enhance decisionmaking processes for flood mitigation and water resource management. The objective of the framework is to develop optimal strategies for protecting water resources, habitats, and communities within a defined budget. The [...]
Quantifying the benefits of nature-based solutions in urban drainage on headwater stream water quality
Published: 2024-12-21
Subjects: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
In urban areas lacking adequate sanitation infrastructure, greywater flows into nearby urban streams through the stormwater drainage network. This study evaluates the impact of this drainage on water quality in a headwater stream in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA), Argentina. We analysed and model pollutant loads — organic matter, nutrients, and allochthonous faecal bacteria — [...]
Potential impacts of plant pests and diseases on trees and forests in the UK
Published: 2024-12-13
Subjects: Forest Biology, Forest Management, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Plant pests and diseases (PPDs) pose a serious threat to trees and forests globally. In the wake of the ash dieback epidemic, the UK Government instigated the UK Plant Health Risk Register (PHRR) to provide semi-quantitative estimates of invasion probability and impact on host plants for PPDs thought to pose a risk to the UK to help prioritize biosecurity activities. The PHRR currently contains [...]
Sensitivities of soil respiration and heterotrophic respiration to temperature in a cool-temperate forest with sika deer-induced understory vegetation alteration
Published: 2024-08-05
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Monitoring, Forest Biology, Forest Management, Soil Science, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Overpopulated ungulates reduce the biomass of understory vegetation and promote the expansion of unpalatable plants in world forests. These understory degradations possibly influence sensitivities of soil respiration (Rs) and heterotrophic respiration (Rh) to temperature and moisture. Here, we examined this possibility in a cool-temperate forest in southern Kyushu, Japan. At the study site, the [...]
A scalable monitoring framework for leaf area index and green area index using 30°-tilted cameras
Published: 2024-07-01
Subjects: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
• Leaf area index (LAI) and green area index (GAI) are fundamental plant traits. However, there is a lack of ground observation network for LAI/GAI due to technical limitations. Here we present a new method to achieve continuous LAI/GAI monitoring using ordinary cameras. • By tilting ordinary cameras by 30°, images can cover a large view zenith angle range to measure multi-angular gap fractions [...]
Remote sensing and spatial analysis reveal unprecedented cyanobacteria bloom dynamics associated with elephant mass mortality
Published: 2024-05-07
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing, Spatial Science, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The 2020 mass mortality of 350 African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Botswana sparked global concern, with cyanotoxins in watering holes (pans) being a suspected cause, though evidence remains inconclusive. Combining remote sensing and spatial analysis, we examined the relationship between the ecohydrology of ~3,000 pans and the locations of deceased elephants. Our analysis revealed a [...]
The potential of terrestrial and aquatic molluscs for the temporal analysis of Deckenschotter deposits and younger Quaternary sediments from the Swiss Plateau
Published: 2024-05-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Soil Science, Stratigraphy, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Can multi-scale thermal infrared imaging help validate and monitor water stress in alluvial forests?
Published: 2024-04-13
Subjects: Geomorphology, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Alluvial forests are fragile and sensitive to drought induced by climate change and exacerbated by altered flow regimes. Our ability to detect and map their sensitivity to drought is therefore crucial to evaluate the effects of climate change and adjust management practices. In such a context, we explore the potential of multi-scale thermal infrared imagery (TIR) to diagnose the sensitivity of [...]
Bad science and good intentions prevent effective climate action
Published: 2024-02-17
Subjects: Climate, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Although the 2015 Paris Agreement climate targets seem certain to be missed, only a few experts are questioning the adequacy of the current approach to limiting climate change and suggesting that additional approaches are needed to avoid unacceptable catastrophes. This article posits that selective science communication and unrealistically optimistic assumptions are obscuring the reality that [...]