Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Ecosystem Metabolism as an Early Warning Indicator of Lake Algal Blooms
Published: 2026-06-16
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Algal blooms represent ecosystem state shifts that degrade drinking water, restrict recreation, threaten public health, and lower property values. Detecting blooms in advance on management relevant timescales of days to weeks can support proactive intervention. Early warning statistics derived from indicator time series offer a framework for detecting state shifts, but the use of lake metabolic [...]
Extreme changes in water level regenerate reed stands and a stable water regime leads to die-off: lessons from the analysis of 40-year satellite time series observations in a shallow lake ecosystem.
Published: 2026-05-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Hydrology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Water Resource Management
Reed wetlands are key to the productivity of shallow lakes, and their condition is tightly governed by water level variability. Using long-term satellite observations, we provide the first analysis linking hydrology and reed vitality at Lake Neusiedl, a major climate sensitive wetland system in the Pannonian Basin. We assembled a 40-year record (1985–2025) of Landsat derived Enhanced Vegetation [...]
Global forest typology at 10-meter resolution for forest and land-use monitoring
Published: 2026-05-22
Subjects: Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Distinguishing forest types---primary, naturally regenerating, planted, and plantation forests---from agricultural tree crops and other land uses is essential for carbon accounting, biodiversity assessment, conservation planning, and supply-chain regulation. However, no existing global dataset resolves this typology at high spatial resolution. We present the Forest Typology (ForTy) v1 dataset, a [...]
Spatiotemporal Evolution of Urban Thermal Conditions, Vegetation Dynamics, and Built-up Expansion in Ahmedabad, India (2000–2025) Using Multi-Temporal Landsat Analysis.
Published: 2026-05-11
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Sustainability, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Rapid urban expansion has substantially altered urban thermal conditions across many semi-arid cities. This study examined spatiotemporal variation in land surface temperature (LST), vegetation cover, and built-up intensity across Ahmedabad, India, between 2000 and 2025 using multi-temporal Landsat imagery and the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Spatial analysis revealed progressive expansion [...]
First Characterisation of P-band Scattering Mechanisms from Orbit in Lower Shire Valley, southern Malawi, using ESA Biomass Imagery
Published: 2026-04-06
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The European Space Agency (ESA) Biomass mission provides the first spaceborne fully polarimetric P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations in orbit. Here, we report the first characterisation of P-band scattering mechanisms over the Lower Shire Valley (LSV) floodplain, southern Malawi. A single quad-polarimetric acquisition, collected at the onset of the rainy season in November 2025, [...]
Hybrid Physics–AI Ecosystem Simulations Improve Biogeochemical Predictions in Temperate Shelf Seas
Published: 2026-02-03
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Biochemistry, Biogeochemistry, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Marine Biology, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Oceanography, Planetary Biogeochemistry, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Biogeochemical models form a core part of marine forecasting and climate projections, yet they suffer from persistent biases in predicting key ecosystem variables, creating challenges across regional and global scales. To address this, we developed an AI-augmented three-dimensional hybrid framework that integrates machine-learning corrections directly into a process-based model’s productivity [...]
Systematic Review of Dissolved Oxygen in Streams and Rivers: Advances, Challenges, and Opportunities
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Dissolved oxygen (DO) has been extensively studied in streams and rivers. Despite this breadth of research, the processes governing DO are rarely quantified concurrently with whole-ecosystem measurements. To address this gap, we synthesize 230 empirical studies (1964-2024) to evaluate how, where, and with what methods oxygen exchanges—the processes by which oxygen enters and leaves streams—have [...]
What are the drivers of riparian vegetation recruitment and establishment in an alpine embanked river?
Published: 2026-01-10
Subjects: Geomorphology, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
1 – Rejuvenation operations are often conducted in rivers to manage vegetation encroachment and balance biodiversity benefits and flood risks. Understanding the drivers of vegetation recruitment and establishment is necessary to implement these operations but requires monitoring at spatial and temporal scales that are suited to pioneer riparian environment. 2 – Bi-yearly drone surveys were used [...]
Uncertainty in aquatic greenhouse gas flux estimates arises from subjective processing of floating chamber time series
Published: 2025-12-10
Subjects: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Accurate quantification of greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes from aquatic systems is essential for constraining regional and global carbon budgets. Closed floating chambers are widely used to measure carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) fluxes at the water–air interface, yet large uncertainties persist due to subjective processing of chamber time series. In particular, the treatment of non-linear [...]
Coastal Wetland Restoration and Greenhouse Gas Pathways: A Global Meta-Analysis
Published: 2025-11-14
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Microbiology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Coastal wetland restoration is widely promoted as a tool for climate change mitigation, but its effect on the carbon cycle is not well constrained. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of peer-reviewed field studies that directly contrasted restored with altered sites, covering carbon stocks and greenhouse gas fluxes across mangroves, saltmarshes, seagrass meadows, brackish [...]
Local Prediction of Temperate Forest Structure in Eastern North America Using LiDAR, Radar, and Optical Data
Published: 2025-10-31
Subjects: Other Forestry and Forest Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Forest structure underpins the emergence of ecological patterns and processes yet remains costly to measure directly at broad scales. NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) mission provides three-dimensional LiDAR measurements at discrete footprints, leaving spatial gaps that complicate wall-to-wall mapping. Few studies have produced high-resolution, broad-extent predictions of [...]
A Global Dataset of Alpine Treeline Elevational Transects
Published: 2025-10-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Forest Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The Alpine Treeline Ecotone (ATE) is an important ecological transition zone at the juncture of montane forests and alpine vegetation. It serves as a crucial habitat for diverse species and a sensitive indicator of climate change. Consistent characterization of the elevational gradients of ATE is challenging due to complex topography and data limitations. This study introduces a comprehensive [...]
Peatland Mid-Infrared Database 1.0.0
Published: 2025-10-06
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Soil Science, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Systematic collections of peat mid-infrared spectra and other peat properties are scarce, but useful to understand peat chemistry and develop spectral prediction models. The Peatland Mid-Infrared Database ('pmird') stores 3877 mid-infrared spectra of peat, peat-forming vegetation, and dissolved organic matter, together with measurements of other peat properties that were collated from previous [...]
Beyond the mangroves: a global synthesis of tidal forested wetland types, drivers and future information opportunities
Published: 2025-09-20
Subjects: Biodiversity, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
There is increasing awareness of the global diversity of tidal forested wetlands (TFWs) and their significance in the provision of ecosystem services. These ecosystems, including mangrove forests, tidal freshwater forested wetlands, supratidal forests and transitional forests together span multiple climatic zones, geomorphic settings, and inundation and salinity regimes. We utilise case studies [...]
Support for Forest Conservation Imperatives: A Robust Approach for Multi-dimensional, Spatially Explicit Resilience Assessment
Published: 2025-09-18
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Forest Management, Natural Resources and Conservation, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Forest ecosystems are ecologically, socially, and culturally valuable, and are arguably considered essential to global sustainability. Climate change and altered disturbance regimes are threatening the future of forests around the globe. Many countries are coming together to support and implement conservation and monitoring initiatives to improve future prospects for the restoration and [...]