Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Synchrony dynamics of dissolved organic carbon in high-mountain streams: insights into scale-dependent processes
Published: 2023-07-05
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In high-mountain landscapes, biological resources such as organic carbon (OC) are often limited and heterogeneously stored in poorly developed soils, snow, ground ice and glaciers. Climate change influences the dynamics of OC mobilization to- and processing into- the recipient streams. These patterns can vary from seasonal (e.g., snow melt in spring) to daily (e.g., ice melt in summer) depending [...]
Protocols for the quantification and characterization of dissolved organic carbon from seaweed and its sequestration potential
Published: 2023-06-30
Subjects: Life Sciences
Seaweed cultivation for atmospheric CO2 sequestration requires full accounting of net primary production (NPP). In addition to large amounts of observable biomass produced, a fraction of NPP is released as dissolved organic carbon (DOC), which can fuel heterotrophic metabolisms or resist remineralization and contribute to carbon export and sequestration. We currently lack the ability to predict [...]
Experimental evaluation of aquatic ecosystem resistance and resilience to episodic nutrient loading
Published: 2023-06-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
The frequency and intensity of ecosystem disturbances is increasing due to climate change. However, the structure of trophic interactions within food webs may mediate the resistance and resilience of ecosystems to disturbance events. In aquatic ecosystems, high connectivity between benthic and pelagic food chains (i.e., benthic-pelagic coupling) is theorized to generate more pathways for [...]
Mind the uncertainty: Global plate model choice impacts deep-time palaeobiological studies
Published: 2023-06-23
Subjects: Biodiversity, Climate, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Geology, Life Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
1. Global plate models (GPMs) aim to reconstruct the tectonic evolution of the Earth by modelling the motion of the plates and continents through time. These models enable palaeobiologists to study the past distribution of extinct organisms. However, different GPMs exist that vary in their partitioning of the Earth's surface and the modelling of continental motions. Consequently, the preferred [...]
Comparing Kelp Conveyance Strategies for Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal with Farmed Macroalgae
Published: 2023-06-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
Sequestration of carbon dioxide via sinking of farmed seaweed into the ocean is a promising strategy to the ever-growing need to achieve negative emissions of carbon dioxide. A key component to the durability of the strategy is the method to which seaweed biomass is conveyed to the seafloor. The purpose of this white paper is to introduce four different conveyance techniques, plans for how each [...]
Considerations for Regional Simulations of Seaweed Carbon Dioxide Removal
Published: 2023-06-01
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
There is a growing interest in sequestering carbon dioxide via cultivation and sinking of seaweed in the ocean. Robust quantification of the viability of this marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) strategy requires deployment and interrogation of computer simulations that resolve coupling between turbulent oceanic circulation, biogeochemical fluxes, and cultivated seaweed with regional [...]
Artificial Energy General Intelligence AEGI
Published: 2023-06-01
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Artificial Energy General Intelligence (AEGI) is a natural progression of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) that caters to the energy industry. It is crucial to optimize the entire value chain involved in generating, transporting, and storing energy for the betterment of humanity, the environment, industry, and the scientific community. Most research efforts focus on a specific area of the [...]
Dynamic hydrological niche segregation: how plants compete for water in a semiarid ecosystem
Published: 2023-05-14
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Hydrological niche segregation (HNS), which refers to differences in root water uptake depth and physiological traits among coexisting species, remains poorly understood especially with respect to moisture changes and diverse water use strategies. This is particularly the case in regions with a seasonally dry climate where plants must constantly adapt to water stress. Over a 2-year period, we [...]
National-scale, remotely sensed lake trophic state, 1984-2020
Published: 2023-05-10
Subjects: Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Lake trophic state is a key ecosystem property that integrates a lake’s physical, chemical, and biological processes. Despite the importance of trophic state as a gauge of lake water quality, standardized and machine-readable observations are uncommon. Remote sensing presents an opportunity to detect and analyze lake trophic state with reproducible, robust methods across time and space. We used [...]
Contextual learning improves forest above-ground biomass estimates from UAV-LiDAR: use of tree trait associations.
Published: 2023-04-19
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Forest structure analysis and biomass prediction systems are key tools for advancing forest trait-based ecology and ecosystem stewardship. The combination of near-field remote sensing techniques---e.g. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) systems---with machine learning (ML) methods enhances the accuracy of tree trait prediction and above ground-biomass~(AGB) [...]
Soil carbon stocks not linked to aboveground litter input and chemistry of old-growth forest and adjacent prairie
Published: 2023-04-14
Subjects: Life Sciences
The long-standing assumption that aboveground plant litter inputs have a substantial influence on soil organic carbon storage (SOC) and dynamics has been challenged by a new paradigm for SOC formation and persistence. We tested the importance of plant litter chemistry on SOC storage, distribution, composition, and age by comparing two highly contrasting ecosystems: an old-growth coast redwood [...]
Calling for a National Model Benchmarking Facility
Published: 2023-04-14
Subjects: Biology, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Life Sciences, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences, Systems Biology
The modern world uses predictive computer models for many important purposes, including weather predictions, epidemic management, flood forecasting and warnings, and economic policymaking. We need to know how much we can trust the projections of these models, not only to achieve more accurate projections for systems, but also to undertake scientific learning about systems by incrementally testing [...]
Intercomparison of global foliar trait maps reveals fundamental differences and limitations of upscaling approaches
Published: 2023-04-14
Subjects: Life Sciences
Foliar traits such as specific leaf area (SLA), leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations play an important role in plant economic strategies and ecosystem functioning. Various global maps of these foliar traits have been generated using statistical upscaling approaches based on in-situ trait observations. Here, we intercompare such global upscaled foliar trait maps at 0.5° spatial [...]
Settlement and anthropization of the Azores Islands
Published: 2023-04-07
Subjects: Life Sciences
The landscape of the Azores Islands is one of the most deeply transformed among oceanic islands, as most of their original forests have been replaced by other vegetation types introduced from elsewhere. This has been considered a large-scale unintentional ecological and biogeographical experiment on the assembly of island biotas and ecosystems. These transformations are known to have been caused [...]
Mercury methylation in boreal aquatic ecosystems under oxic conditions and climate change: a review
Published: 2023-04-07
Subjects: Life Sciences
Methylmercury (MeHg) formation is a concerning environmental issue described in waters and sediments from multiple aquatic ecosystems. The genetic and metabolic bases of mercury (Hg) methylation have been well described in anoxic environments, but a number of factors seem to point towards alternative pathways potentially occurring in pelagic waters under oxic conditions. Boreal aquatic ecosystems [...]