Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Multi-decadal analysis of major global risk assessments reveals consistent biases and low predictive capacity
Published: 2025-03-19
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
The World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risk Reports (GRRs) are published annually with the aim to uncover the most pressing challenges facing the world. However, the GRR have been criticized for presenting an overly simplistic and potentially biased portrayal of interconnected global risks and crises. Despite their influence, no in-depth, interannual analysis of the GRRs has been conducted to [...]
Collaborative Assessment of a Large-Scale Integrated Landscape Restoration Project in the Steep-Slope Regions of Central Africa
Published: 2025-03-14
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
Landscape restoration projects are among the most extensive conservation actions at the global level that have been promoted in the last three decades. Such projects, however, cannot exclusively be based on the restoration of natural and semi-natural ecosystems, but should focus on a cultural landscape approach balancing environmental and socio-economic needs. One of the largest restoration [...]
Velocity of climate change and the vulnerability of mountain lake landscapes
Published: 2025-03-05
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Freshwater ecosystems in mountain landscapes are increasingly threatened by climate change. Accumulated heat in ecosystems can result in lethal short-term heat exposure, while the velocity of change governs severity and rates of long-term heat exposure. Here, we novelly integrate heat accumulation and velocity of change approaches to classify climate-vulnerable USA mountain lake watersheds. Our [...]
Holocene potential natural vegetation in Europe: evaluating the model spread with three dynamical vegetation models
Published: 2025-03-05
Subjects: Life Sciences
The period of the early Holocene in Europe is marked by climate warming as Earth comes out of the last glacial period and is followed by the emergence of agriculture and animal husbandry in the second half of the period. Increased human influence had profound impacts on the land surface, but the Holocene climate evolution also drove some changes that are intertwined with it. Deciphering the role [...]
Towards a global deep learning model for daily soil CO2 efflux
Published: 2025-02-21
Subjects: Life Sciences
Soil CO2 efflux, the largest flux of CO2 to the atmosphere, is expected to rise globally under climate change. Its magnitude and temporal variability are highly uncertain, and daily-scale models capturing rapid changes to environmental drivers remain rare. We used a global database of soil CO2 efflux (total observations = 7,797,535 from 2002-2020) to train a deep learning model (Long Short-Term [...]
Senescence driven solubilization of biomass is the main source of kelp-derived dissolved organic carbon to the coastal ocean
Published: 2025-02-21
Subjects: Life Sciences
Kelp forests form some of the most productive areas on earth and are proposed to sequester carbon in the ocean, largely in the form of released dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Here we investigate the role of environmental, seasonal and age-related physiological gradients on the partitioning of net primary production (NPP) into DOC by the canopy forming giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera). Rates of [...]
The Importance of Geospatial Technology in Monitoring Plant Health
Published: 2025-02-21
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Solving the problems presented by climate change depends on geospatial technology in great measure. Through shifting pest and disease dynamics, increasing frequency of extreme weather events, and modifying growth circumstances, climate change aggravates problems with plant health. For example, remote sensing data and satellite-based climate models help one to forecast how variations in [...]
Opuntia Invasion Risk and Management Strategies in China: A Comprehensive Review Under Climate Change Scenarios
Published: 2025-02-18
Subjects: Life Sciences
Including China, the genus Opuntia prickly pear cactus has grown to be a quite troublesome invading species in many different countries. With an eye toward Opuntia's ecological effects, present management practices, and suggestions for future control activities, this review assesses the possible distribution and invasion risk of the plant under climate change conditions. We investigate the [...]
Occurrence of tetraester and mixed ether/ester-bound iso-diabolic acid membrane-spanning lipids in mineral soils
Published: 2025-02-05
Subjects: Life Sciences
Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) are a suite of membrane lipids that are widely used as empirical proxies for past temperature and pH. Although the stereochemistry of their glycerol moiety suggests that they are produced by bacteria, the exact producers and the biosynthetic pathway of brGDGTs remain unclear. Here we report the occurrence of tetraester and mixed ester/ether [...]
Most Landfill Methane Emissions Escape Detection in EPA21 Surface Emission Monitoring Surveys
Published: 2025-02-05
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
We measured emissions from ten landfills using mobile surveys and Surface Emission Monitoring (SEM) to determine what fraction of emissions that be identified by SEM surveys. Using mobile methane measurements and a back-trajectory attribution and rate estimation method, we measured overall site emissions and those of individual landfill components (active face, closed cells, leachate, etc). We [...]
Evaluating the potential of underwater television to contribute to marine litter assessments alongside bottom trawling
Published: 2025-01-31
Subjects: Life Sciences
The role of information in shaping the emerging agricultural soil carbon market
Published: 2025-01-23
Subjects: Agriculture, Life Sciences
The agricultural soil carbon market that has emerged in recent years is widely regarded as a promising opportunity for farmers in the Global North and South, enabling them to generate carbon credits and derive a source of income from the adoption of alternative land management practices which contribute to climate change mitigation by increasing soil carbon sequestration and/or reducing [...]
The chitin raft hypothesis for the colonization of the open ocean by cyanobacteria
Published: 2025-01-08
Subjects: Life Sciences
It is often assumed planktonic cyanobacteria existed in Precambrian oceans, but that their productivity was constrained. However, available evidence suggests picocyanobacteria only colonized the open ocean near the Neoproterozoic-Phanerozoic boundary, close to the start of a period of sustained atmospheric oxygenation. If earlier open oceans were devoid of planktonic cyanobacteria, we lack [...]
Evolution of desalination research and water production in the Middle East: a five-decade perspective
Published: 2024-12-19
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
Rapid urbanization and population growth, coupled with depleting groundwater reservoirs, have significantly increased reliance on desalination technologies in the arid Middle East, which accounts for nearly half (46%) of global desalination capacity. This large production volume has raised critical questions on the status of desalination research in this water-stressed region, and on whether it [...]
ESG mapping of the Australian mining sector – The state of play on mobilising spatial datasets for decision making
Published: 2024-12-19
Subjects: Life Sciences
The global energy transition will drive increased demand for a broad range of mined minerals.40 Australia is well positioned to support the global energy transition, given its mature mining sector41 and rich and diverse mineral resources. The potential growth in the mining sector represents an42 economic opportunity, however, navigating the associated environmental, social, and governance43 (ESG) [...]