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Contributions of changes in soil moisture to the projected climate change in the tropics at the end of the twenty first century are quantified using the simulations from five different global climate models, which contributed to the GLACE–CMIP5 experiment. “GLACE” refers to the Global Land Atmosphere Coupling Experiment and “CMIP5” to the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. T
Nanotechnology gives us materials with enhanced or completely new properties. At the same time, inhalation of manufactured nano-objects has been related to an array of adverse biological effects. We characterized particle emissions, which occurred during maintenance of common metal nanoparticle generators and contrasted the properties of the emitted particles with those originally produced by the
The oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) gives a range of products, from semi-volatile to extremely low-volatility compounds. To treat the interaction of these secondary organic vapours with the particle phase, global aerosol microphysics models generally use either a thermodynamic partitioning approach (assuming instant equilibrium between semi-volatile oxidation products and
Context Agricultural transformation and increased land use intensity often lead to simplified landscapes and biodiversity loss. For animals, one possible mechanism underpinning biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes is the disruption of movements. The disruption of movements may explain, for example, why butterfly communities in agricultural landscapes are often dominated by generalist speci
We review the recent progress in dynamical and statistical downscaling approaches for west African precipitation and perform a regional climate model (RCM) intercomparison using the novel multi-model RCM data set from the Ensembles-based Predictions of Climate Changes and Their Impacts (ENSEMBLES) and African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (AMMA) projects. Present RCMs have distinct systematic
Political institutions are keen to use the best available scientific knowledge in decision-making. For environmental policy, relevant scientific evidence can be complex and extensive, so expert judgment is frequently relied upon, without clear links to the evidence itself. We propose a new transparent process for incorporating research evidence into policy decisions, involving independent synopsis
Large plants are often more conspicuous and more attractive for associated animals than small plants, e.g. due to their wider range of resources. Therefore, plant size can positively affect species richness of associated animals, as shown for single groups of herbivores, but studies usually consider intraspecific size differences of plants in unstandardised environments. As comprehensive tests of
The integrated model WORLD and Hubbert's model were used for assessment of future supply for different metals: iron, nickel, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, tantalum, niobium, rhenium, zir- conium, tungsten, cobalt, copper, zinc, lead, aluminium and the technology metals derived from copper ezinc mining (tellurium, selenium, gallium, indium, antimony, bismuth, tin, germanium, selenium). The conne
The properties of iron (Fe) complexes and compounds in the environment influence several central processes, e.g., iron uptake, adsorption/desorption of contaminants and nutrients, and redox transformations, as well as the fate of of natural organic matter (NOM). It is thus important to characterize Fe species in environmental samples. Synchrotron-based extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXA
There is growing interest in the use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for ecological restoration. Numerous commercial AMF products are now available and are often used in preference to collecting indigenous AMF in treating restoration plants. Commercial AMF products are typically based on AMF strains exotic to the plant species and locations where they are used. We treated rooted cuttings of
Pollination contributes to an estimated one third of global food production, through both the improvement of the yield and the quality of crops. Volatile compounds emitted by crop flowers mediate plant-pollinator interactions, but differences between crop varieties are still little explored. We investigated whether the visitation of crop flowers is determined by variety-specific flower volatiles u
This paper investigates the interactive relationships among China energy price shocks, stock market, and themacroeconomy using multivariate vector autoregression.The results indicate that there is a long cointegration among them. A 1% rise in the energy price index can depress the stock market index by 0.54% and the industrial value-adding growth by 0.037%. Energy price shocks also cause inflation
Septic tanks with subsequent soil treatment systems (STS) are a common treatment technique for domestic wastewater in rural areas. Phosphorus (P) leakage from such systems may pose a risk to water quality (especially if they are located relatively close to surface waters). In this study, six STS in Sweden (11-28 years old) were examined. Samples taken from the unsaturated subsoil beneath the distr
The reserves, production from mines, supply of aluminium to society and mass fluxes of aluminium in society was assessed using an integrated systems dynamics model (ALUMINIUM) in order to reconstruct the past and investigate potential future scenarios. The investigations for input data show that the mine- able aluminium reserves are large, but finite. We get an average value for the ultimately rec
Ciliate assemblages play a significant role in the microbial food web. The effects of environmental temperature on assemblage composition may be influenced by abiotic factors such as seasonality and disturbance, but the effects of temperature on ciliate assemblages found on different substrata have not been explored. Sandy bottoms and submerged rocks harbour dissimilar ciliate assemblages, and it
Information on the ecological traits of species might improve predictions of climate-driven range shifts. However, the usefulness of traits is usually assumed rather than quantified. Here, we present a framework to identify the most informative traits, based on four key range-shift processes: emigration of individuals or propagules away from the natal location; the distance a species can move; est
Global land-use change has drastic consequences for biodiversity leading to losses of ecological functioning, ecosystem services and human well-being. While species dependent on undisturbed natural habitat are most affected by conversion to agriculture, even populations of disturbance-tolerant species can be endangered in landscapes dominated by high-input mono-cultural cropping systems. This has
Regional climate modeling is a dynamical downscaling technique applied to the results of global climate models (GCMs) in order to acquire more information on climate simulations and climate change projections. GCMs and regional climate models (RCMs) have undergone considerable development over the past few decades, and both have increased in resolution. The higher-resolution edge of RCMs compared
