Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Runoff potential index for upland-lowland drought assessment in rainfed rice using earth observation and mechanistic crop modelling
Published: 2025-06-28
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
Drought vulnerability assessment in agricultural systems remains increasingly critical under climate change, yet current approaches are constrained by limitations of existing topographic indices, particularly in low-gradient terrains where the widely-used Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) exhibits numerical instability and fails to detect critical microtopographic variations that control water [...]
Assessment of heavy metal contamination in seawater, sediments, and fish tissues from Msimbazi Bay, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Published: 2025-06-25
Subjects: Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health
Heavy metal pollution in marine environments is a growing concern globally due to its potential threats to aquatic ecosystems and human health. Major industrial zones in Tanzania, including Dar es Salaam city, significantly contribute to heavy metal pollution in aquatic ecosystems. The samples for heavy metal analysis in seawater, sediments, and fish tissues were collected, prepared, and [...]
Determination of Low Molecular Weight Organic Acids in Environmental Samples by Ion Chromatography Method
Published: 2025-06-13
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ion chromatography using the IonPac AS 11 HC analytical column, a 3.0 mM NaOH eluent, and a conductivity detector offers a straightforward, cost-effective, and rapid method for quantifying six organic acids, Lactate, Formate, Acetate, Propionate, Pyruvate, and Glyoxalate, at concentrations as low as micrograms per liter in environmental samples. The method includes comprehensive details on [...]
Comprehensive quantification of production costs for large-scale kelp aquaculture and cost reduction opportunities
Published: 2025-06-12
Subjects: Agriculture, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Natural Resource Economics, Other Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A highly realistic techno-economic analysis (TEA) was developed to assess the cost of production (COP, US $ per fresh tonne kelp) for large-scale kelp aquaculture. The TEA resolves feedbacks across structural design and response, operational requirements and decisions, site properties, and biological response. We apply the TEA to a Saccharina latissima farming operation at a 100m deep, 405 [...]
Microbial dynamics in an intertrappean lake during the terminal phase of Deccan volcanism
Published: 2025-06-12
Subjects: Education, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Biogeochemical changes associated with Deccan volcanism and their potential link to the K/Pg extinction event are still debated in Palaeoclimate research. Contemporary terrestrial organosedimentary deposits are important archives for understanding the perturbation in the biogeochemical cycling during this critical episode in Earth's history. Here, we report an intertrappean lacustrine carbonate [...]
Assessing the Efficacy and Climate Resilience of Traditional Water Harvesting Systems in Jodhpur District, Rajasthan: A Geospatial and Hydrological Modeling Approach
Published: 2025-06-09
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences
Traditional Water Harvesting Systems (TWHS) are critical for water security in arid regions like Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, India, yet their contemporary efficacy and climate resilience remain inadequately quantified. This study comprehensively assesses selected TWHS, primarily nadis and johads, by integrating geospatial analysis for inventory and characterization, hydrological modeling (SCS-CN [...]
Tropical Intertidal Microbiome Response to the 2024 Pasir Panjang Oil Spill
Published: 2025-05-31
Subjects: Life Sciences
Marine fuel oil (MFO) spills in tropical coastal environments are under-characterized despite increasing risk from maritime activities. Microbial and geochemical responses to the June 2024 Pasir Panjang MFO spill on Singapore’s intertidal sediments were analyzed in real time over 185 days. Using metagenomics and hydrocarbon profiling, microbial community shifts and hydrocarbon degradation were [...]
MushBox: In Situ Biodegration of Municipal Solid Waste Through Mycoremediation via Mycelium and Cellulosic Waste Integration.
Published: 2025-05-30
Subjects: Life Sciences, Plant Sciences
Exponential buildup of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in landfills accounting for 60% of the 292.4 million tons, presents a major environmental challenge. This leads to ecological disruptions, groundwater contamination, wildlife harm from microplastics, and contributes to climate change. MushBox deploys mycoremediation to decompose MSW, leveraging the unique capabilities of mycelium. This [...]
Identifying and overcoming social-ecological barriers to ending plastics pollution
Published: 2025-05-27
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Plastics are deeply embedded in contemporary life, and their production and pollution contribute to irreversible harm across ecological and social systems. Recognized as a “novel entity” in the Planetary Boundaries framework, plastics challenge traditional governance models due to their chemical complexity and diversity, cross-sectoral impacts, and pushback from powerful political and economic [...]
The Mesozoic Conundrum: Global Albedo Factors Resolve the Lack of Correlation Between Temperatures and CO2 Concentrations.
Published: 2025-05-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Plant Sciences
The "Mesozoic Conundrum" refers to the lack of correlation between CO₂ atmospheric concentration and global mean surface temperatures in Mesozoic climate reconstructions (Judd et al., 2024). Here, I show that Mesozoic forest cover, proxied by carbon burial flux (Nelsen et al., 2016), correlates strongly (R²=0.88, p<0.01) with GMST across the Mesozoic (252–66 Ma before present). The analysis [...]
Biorestorer: Synthetic Succession for Soil Restoration in Arid and Degraded Regions
Published: 2025-05-21
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Desert Ecology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Life Sciences
Soil degradation in arid and semi-arid regions poses a critical threat to global ecological stability and food security. This paper introduces Biorestorer, a systems-based framework for initiating synthetic succession and synthetic pedogenesis in highly degraded or sterile substrates where natural recovery is infeasible. The Biorestorer concept integrates dual-temperature biochar, [...]
Heavy Metal Toxicity: A Major Driver of Past Biodiversity Crises?
Published: 2025-05-21
Subjects: Life Sciences
Whether today’s heavy metal pollution represents an unprecedented threat to biodiversity, in Earth’s history remains an open question. Here, we reassess the state-of-the-art research to evaluate whether heavy metal toxicity played a major role in past extinction events. Although there is evidence to heavy metal loading during several past biotic crises, direct causal links to extinctions are [...]
How to Model Cooling Service Flow of Urban Parks Based on Supply-Flow-Demand Framework? A Case Study of Beijing Olympic Park
Published: 2025-05-16
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Rapid urbanization intensifies the urban heat island effect and undermines health for vulnerable communities located beyond the effective cooling reach of large parks. This study introduced a spatially supply-flow-demand framework to quantify the cooling service flow of urban park using Beijing Olympic Park as a case study. Field measurements at representative land types in the park were [...]
Luminescence Characteristics of Terrestrial Jarosite from Kachchh, India: A Martian Analogue
Published: 2025-05-11
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In this study, naturally occurring jarosite samples from Kachchh India (considered to be Martian analogue) were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Cathodoluminescence- Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (CL-EDXS) and luminescence (thermoluminescence (TL), blue and infrared stimulated luminescence (BSL and IRSL) methods. FTIR and CL-EDXS studies suggested that [...]
The Global Peace and Food Security; A case study of the Global South and the South Pacific Island Nations; the need for affordable wheat and grain supply
Published: 2025-05-09
Subjects: Life Sciences
Most countries in the Global South, Africa, and Pacific Island have irregular rainfall patterns, with strains of El Niño patterns causing severe food shortages. Plant breeding on grains is non-existent in Pacific Island nations, and the main staple foods are imported rice and wheat, although their prices are exorbitant. Food labelling and marketing of affordable energy grains from conventional [...]