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Remediation of soil contaminated with cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) is critical for tobacco production. Silicon (Si) fertilizer can relieve heavy metal stress and promote plant growth, however, it remains unknown whether fertilization with Si can mitigate the effects of Cd and Pb on tobacco growth and alter microbial community composition in polluted soils. Here we assessed the effect of two organic

The microbial use of resources to sustain life and reproduce influences for example, decomposition and plant nutrient provisioning. The study of “limiting factors” has shed light on the interaction between plants and their environment. Here, we investigated whether carbon (C), nitrogen (N), or phosphorus (P) was limiting for soil microorganisms in a subarctic tundra heath, and how changes in resou

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly agreed on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Although the SDGs, which are to be achieved by 2030, are not the first attempt to guide policy actors through global goals, they go far beyond earlier agreements in their detail, comprehensiveness, and ambition. Yet the 2022 SD

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has seen many deaths, but the majority were for causes other than COVID-19. However, end-of-life care in all settings has been affected by measures limiting the spread of the virus, for patients with and without COVID-19. The Swedish coronavirus strategy was different compared to many other countries, which might have affected end-of-life care. The aim was to desc

“Urban Sharing in Toronto” explores the landscape of the sharing economy in the city context. This research is a result of a Mobile Research Lab conducted by 8 researchers from Lund university in 2019. Specific focus is on three sectors: sharing of space, mobility and physical goods. For each sector, we discuss the drivers and barriers to the sharing economy, the associated sustainability impacts,

Adaptation to new ecological niches is known to spur population diversification and may lead to speciation if gene flow is ceased. While adaptation to the same ecological niche is expected to be parallel, it is more difficult to predict whether selection against maladaptive hybridization in secondary sympatry results in parallel divergence also in traits that are not directly related to the ecolog

Hybridization is increasingly recognized as an important evolutionary force. Novel genetic methods now enable us to address how the genomes of parental species are combined in hybrid lineages. However, we still do not know the relative importance of admixed proportions, genome architecture and local selection in shaping hybrid genomes. Here, we take advantage of the genetically divergent island po

Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The consequences of this include rising temperatures, shifts in precipitation patterns, and increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, such as heat waves and droughts. Elevated temperatures can accelerate microbial activity in soil, potentially resulting in an increased rate of soil or

Due to large losses of seagrass meadows worldwide, restoration is proposed as a key strategy for increasing coastal resilience and recovery. The emergence of a seagrass meadow is expected to substantially amplify biodiversity and enhance benthic metabolism by increasing primary productivity and respiration. Nevertheless, open questions remain regarding the metabolic balance of aging seagrass meado

Comparative analyses of gene birth–death dynamics have the potential to reveal gene families that played an important role in the evolution of morphological, behavioral, or physiological variation. Here, we used whole genomes of 30 species of butterflies and moths to identify gene birth–death dynamics among the Lepidoptera that are associated with specialist or generalist feeding strategies. Our w

The opening of habitats associated with the emergence of C4 grasslands during the Neogene had a massive influence on the evolution of plant and animal communities. Strikingly, the impacts of grassland expansion on species diversification in Africa, where the largest surface of grasslands and savannas in the world is located, are not well understood. To explore the impact of habitat opening, we inv

Diversification of plant chemical phenotypes is typically associated with spatially and temporally variable plant–insect interactions. Floral scent is often assumed to be the target of pollinator-mediated selection, whereas foliar compounds are considered targets of antagonist-mediated selection. However, floral and vegetative phytochemicals can be biosynthetically linked and may thus evolve as i

Conservation biological control in agricultural landscapes aims to promote natural enemy populations to mitigate short and long-term pest damage on crops. However, natural enemy populations in agricultural landscapes typically rely on crop pests and non-pest prey populations resulting in complex trait- dependent ecological interactions. Such communities, of pests, non-pest prey, and natural enemie

One of the most important challenges for modern society is how to feed the world in a sustainable manner. Agriculture is an essential part of food production, but at the same time it has many negative impacts on the environment, through for example pollution, nutrient leaching, and greenhouse gas emissions, and it is a big driver of biodiversity loss. Organic farming is a farming system that in ma

Soil microbes function as decomposers in terrestrial ecosystems. They break down the organic matter, which plays a significant role in supplying nutrients to plants, but also in regulating biogeochemical cycling which feeds back to climate change. Like other organisms, soil microbes can be limited by the availability of essential resources, which could consequently affect their ability to decompos

Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) are key parameters determining the fate of C and N in soils. Atmospheric N deposition has been found to heavily impact multiple soil C and N transformations, but we lack understanding of the responses of CUE and NUE to N deposition, and it remains uncertain whether responses may be mediated by topography. Here, a N addition ex