Search results

Without sufficient knowledge of the painful history of Jewish-Christian apologetics and polemics, which have their origins in late antiquity and continued on into the medieval period, it is easy to fail to recognise the complexities of current Christian approaches to the Land that is now known as Israel and/or Palestine. Jesper Svartvik here examines the interplay of theology and politics, and, in

Membrane technology has revolutionized protein recovery in the food industry, beginning with whey protein extraction via ultrafiltration. This success led to its application in concentrating animal proteins like blood plasma, fish proteins, and albumen. As the protein shift towards plant-based sources grows, membrane processes now enable the industrial recovery of wheat, sunflower, and rapeseed pr

Changes in temperature and rainfall associated with altered climatic conditions are likely to significantly alter rates of soil organic matter decomposition. To determine how the combined effects of warming and drought impact the decomposition of fungal necromass, a large and fast-cycling portion of the global soil organic carbon (C) pool, we incubated Hyaloscypha bicolor necromass under both ambi

While fungal necromass is increasingly recognized as a major source of persistent carbon (C) in soils, the relative functional roles of bacteria and fungi in decomposing necromass are not fully resolved, and the processes that select for necromass decomposer communities from the broader soil microbial community are an emerging area of interest. In this study, we characterized the growth of 52 bact

Mycelial residues, also known as fungal necromass, represent a substantial fraction of soil organic matter (SOM) pools in terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Although microbial decomposers are increasingly recognised as key drivers of fungal necromass carbon stock formation, the diversity and composition of their microbial predators—and the roles these predators play in mediating fungal necromass de

Ectomycorrhizal fungi are critical mediators of nitrogen acquisition in forest ecosystems, exhibiting variation in both host association and metabolic traits that mediate differential responses to forest nitrogen availability. However, how nitrogen acquisition strategies vary among closely related fungal species, how these patterns manifest in conifer-associated ECM fungi, and whether they persist

We discuss instrumentalism as a component of the social changes that accompanied the second industrial revolution, following particularly the case of Germany. These changes constituted a departure from the Enlightenment tradition of natural philosophers towards a new approach to knowledge. We claim that instrumentalism cannot be separated from the disciplining of science that produced the sciences

The 1st Ecuadorian Dendrochronology Conference (ECUADENDRO 2025) took place in Daule, Ecuador, on January 23–24, 2025, with the generous sponsorship of the Tree-Ring Society. The event attracted 230 participants from 45 countries, bringing together leading experts in various subfields of tree-ring science, including dendroclimatology, dendroecology, dendrogeomorphology, dendroarchaeology, and cell

The rise of antibiotic-resistant soil microbial communities is a critical global issue. Evidence suggests that heavy metals can select or co-select for tolerance to metals and antibiotics in soil bacteria, but it is unclear if this tolerance varies with land use. We tested the potential of bacterial communities to develop resistance to copper (Cu) or tetracycline (Tet) after amending soils from pr

The 2018 Andalusian elections marked a watershed moment in Spain's democracy. Against all forecasts, Vox, founded in 2013 by disgruntled cadres of the Popular Party, the country's main conservative party, garnered 10 percent of the vote, thus becoming the first far-right party to enter a regional parliament and ushering in a new era in Spanish politics. Vox's meteoric rise culminated in the 2020 S

When dry soil is rewetted, contrasting microbial responses can be induced, ranging from a more resilient type of response with faster growth recovery to a more sensitive type of response with a slower growth recovery. These microbial responses will also affect soil carbon (C) cycling in the rhizosphere. However, whether the microbially-controlled priming of soil organic matter (SOM) mineralization

The ecosystem response to disturbances is a central topic in ecology, and there is growing awareness of the impacts of human-driven climate change on ecosystem stability to disturbances. Terrestrial ecosystems are increasingly exposed to more drought and rainfall events as climate change intensifies. In soils, bacteria and fungi play a key role in ecosystem functioning, yet their responses to drou

Bees are pollinators of both wild and crop plants with significant ecological and economic value. However, recent studies report declines in their populations, particularly in agricultural landscapes. Compared to conventional farming, organic agricultural management is considered less harmful to biodiversity. Despite this, studies addressing wild bees in organic systems remain limited. In this stu

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have demonstrated an association between transplantation rate per center and postoperative mortality after heart transplantation. In 2011, Sweden centralized heart transplants and waiting lists, reducing the number of centers from 3 to 2. We aimed to assess the active waiting time and pre- and post-transplant mortality before and after centralization.METHODS: Heart tra

Interest in soil health is growing, though the speed and effectiveness of management practices in improving it are uncertain. We measured biological, chemical, and physical indicators of soil health within a working farm zero, five, and nine years after transitioning from regular applications of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides to cover cropping, compost additions, organic amendments, and rota

The activities of cluster initiatives operating as systemic intermediaries and supporting networking activities have been discussed in prior studies. We integrate insights from the cluster theory and the literature on sustainability transitions to study the activities of clusters acting as systemic intermediaries in the different phases of the development of a forest-based bioeconomy, namely (1) p

The relationship between the evolutionary dynamics observed in contemporary populations (microevolution) and evolution on timescales of millions of years (macroevolution) has been a topic of considerable debate. Historically, this debate centers on inconsistencies between microevolutionary processes and macroevolutionary patterns. Here, we characterize a striking exception: emerging evidence indic