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Understanding and managing coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) is a central challenge of the 21st century, but more focus is needed to pursue the most important questions within this vast field given limited research capacity and funding. We present 40 important questions for CHANS research, identified through a two-part crowdsourcing exercise within the CHANS community. We solicited members
Current anthropogenic climate change is the result of greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere, which records the aggregation of billions of individual decisions. Here we consider a broad range of individual lifestyle choices and calculate their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries, based on 148 scenarios from 39 sources. We recommend four widely applicable high
Vineyards shape important economic, cultural, and ecological systems in many temperate biomes. Like other agricultural systems, they can be multifunctional landscapes that not only produce grapes, but also for example serve as wildlife habitat, sequester carbon, and are places of rich traditions. However, research and management practices often focus mostly on individual, specific ecosystem servic
The distinguishing morphological and chemical characters of nine species of Parmelia Ach. s. str. occurring in the southern Baltic region, namely P. barrenoae Divakar et al., P. ernstiae Feuerer & A. Thell, P. fraudans (Nyl.) Nyl., P. omphalodes (L.) Ach. (including both subspecies P. omphalodes ssp. discordans (Nyl.) Skult and P. omphalodes ssp. omphalodes, P. pinnatifida Kurok., P. saxatilis
Background: Genome and transcriptome sequencing has greatly facilitated the understanding of biomass-degrading mechanisms in a number of fungal species. The information obtained enables the investigation and discovery of genes encoding proteins involved in plant cell wall degradation, which are crucial for saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass in second-generation biorefinery applications. T
Predicted impacts of climate change on crops—including yield declines and loss of conservation lands—could be mitigated by exploiting existing diversity within crops. Here we examine this possibility for wine grapes. Across 1,100 planted varieties, wine grapes possess tremendous diversity in traits that affect responses to climate, such as phenology and drought tolerance. Yet little of this divers
The integration of sociocultural valuations (SCV) within an ecosystem services (ES) framework is increasingly being required in environmental management contexts. Yet, this raises important questions: how do we approach SCV when people's perceptions are based on unbalanced information and advocate for detrimental actions? How then should SCV results be used? Should they be used to steer decisions?
Background: Short-culm mutants have been widely used in breeding programs to increase lodging resistance. In barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), several hundreds of short-culm mutants have been isolated over the years. The objective of thepresent study was to identify the Brachytic1 (Brh1) semi-dwarfing gene and to test its effect on yield and malting quality.Results: Double-haploid lines generated throu
Despite an overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change poses severe risks to human and natural systems, many young Canadian adults do not view it as a major issue. We analyzed secondary science curricula in each province for their coverage of climate change according to six core topics: physical climate mechanisms (“It’s climate”), observed increase in temperature (“It’s warming”), anthr
Microorganisms in soil are commonly limited by available substrate, and removing the limitation will increase activity and growth, with predictable dynamics in growth. The initial phase with a lag period (λ) will usually be followed by exponential growth (also called log phase, with growth rate μ). These two growth phases may be differently affected by environmental conditions, like temperature an
Background and aims: Betony (Betonica officinalis L.) is one of the rarest and mostspectacular plants in the Scandinavian flora. A long-term question has been whether it is spontaneous or introduced, or whether it comprises both spontaneous and introduced populations. This study aimed to answer this question by analyzing sequence data from the nuclear external transcribed spacer (ETS) region and t
Regional and global assessments periodically update what we know, and highlight what remains to be known, about the linkages between people and nature that both define and depend upon the state of the environment. To guide research that better informs policy and practice, we systematically synthesize knowledge gaps from recent assessments of four regions of the globe and three key themes by the In
Microbial responses to Cu pollution as a function of Cu sources (Cu salts and commercial Cu fungicides) were assessed in a soil using basal soil respiration, and bacterial and fungal community growth, as endpoints. The soil was amended with different concentrations (0–32 mmol Cu kg−1) of Cu nitrate, Cu sulfate, Bordeaux mixture and 3 types of Cu oxychloride. Cu salts decreased soil pH, while this
The alarming rates of extinction and degrading ecosystems call for new means of understanding and accounting for how people depend on nature. Ecosystem services (ES) is a contested but widely applied concept aiming to connect ecosystem functions to human wellbeing and to assess and account for how nature matters in decision-making. More diverse frameworks and ideas of value intended for assessment
Agriculture faces enormous challenges including the need to substantially increase productivity, reduce environmental footprint, and deliver renewable alternatives that are being addressed by developing new oil crops for the future. The efforts include domestication of Lepidium spp. using genomics-aided breeding as a cold hardy perennial high-yielding oil crop that provides substantial environment
The barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) mutant erectoides-k.32 (ert-k.32) was isolated in 1947 from an X-ray-mutant population of cultivar ‘Bonus’. The mutant was released as a cultivar in 1958 with the name ‘Pallas’ – one of the first cereal crop cultivars developed from induced mutants. ‘Pallas’ is a semi-dwarf barley cultivar known for its culm stability and resistance to lodging. In total, eight allel
Increased production and consumption of local food may reduce the negative environmental, social, and economic impacts of industrialized and globalized food production. Here we examined potential barriers to increasing production and consumption of food produced in Iceland. First, we developed a new framework to address the behaviors of production and consumption simultaneously, to comprehensively
Dutch elm disease (DED), caused by the fungi Ophiostoma ulmi and O. novo-ulmi, has reduced elm populations severely in Europe and North America. Breeding programmes are in action to find less susceptible elm varieties suitable for re-establishing elm stands. Bark beetles, mainly Scolytus spp., are the only known natural vectors of DED. During twig feeding, beetles transfer Ophiostoma spores to hea
Soil organisms have an important role in aboveground community dynamics and ecosystem functioning in terrestrial ecosystems. However, most studies have considered soil biota as a black box or focussed on specific groups, whereas little is known about entire soil networks. Here we show that during the course of nature restoration on abandoned arable land a compositional shift in soil biota, precede
