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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
Climate change poses an unprecedented challenge to agriculture. While growers have always struggled with year-to-year variation in climate – early rains or unusually hot summers – climate change provides a major directional shift in mean climate. Across the globe, growing regions are warming and plants are shifting in both time and space. Current and future shifts pose a major challenge to researc
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
Conifer-feeding bark beetles are important herbivores and decomposers in forest ecosystems. These species complete their life cycle in nutritionally poor substrates and some can kill enormous numbers of trees during population outbreaks. The Eurasian spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) can destroy >100 million m3 of spruce in a single year. We report a 236.8 Mb I. typographus genome assembly usin
The effects of climate change, whether they be via slow- or rapid-onset events such as extreme events, are inflicting devastating losses and damage on communities around the world, with the most vulnerable affected the most. Although the negative impacts of climate change and the concept of loss and damage are included in international conventions, such as the United Nations Warsaw International M
People with high socioeconomic status disproportionally affect energy-driven greenhouse gas emissions directly through their consumption and indirectly through their financial and social resources. However, few climate change mitigation initiatives have targeted this population segment, and the potential of such initiatives remains insufficiently researched. In this Perspective, we analyse key cha
Tomato roots can be colonized by both mycorrhizal fungi and the endophytic fungus Serendipita indica. This study was aimed at assessment of the impact of single or dual inoculation with R. irregularis and S. indica on tomato growth under saline conditions. We used signature compounds to estimate the abundance of each of these two fungi (fatty acid 16:1ω5 for R. irregularis and ergosterol for S. in
Non-technical summary Agriculture provides many benefits to people, such as producing food and creating jobs in rural areas, but it can also have negative impacts on the environment. We analysed existing monitoring indicators for the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to evaluate whether the CAP is effectively achieving multiple social and environmental goals. We found that the curr
This study investigates values and narratives of urban biodiversity in the highly culturally and biologically diverse city Cape Town, South Africa. Local expressions of values of biodiversity are explored, in the context of the challenge of accounting for diverse values of biodiversity through a green infrastructure approach. Based on interviews with practitioners involved in green space and biodi
Purpose: We investigated how the C flow from plants to microorganisms varies throughout the year in a temperate grassland. Additionally, we investigated how the C flow relates to saprotrophic activity and vegetation changes. Methods: In situ stable isotope pulse labelling (13CO2) was employed to estimate the flow of recently plant-derived C to soil microorganisms by using signature fatty acids. Ba
Sweden is often seen as a frontrunner when it comes to sustainability. For example, it has the highest share of renewable energy in the EU and is known for its thorough recycling and waste separation. Sweden is sparsely populated and 70% of its land area is covered by forests. Over the last century, the volume of yearly timber harvests has doubled, but despite this remarkable productivity increase
The efforts to measure people’s current preferences and values of ecosystem services raise questions about the link to sustainability transformations. The importance of taking social and cultural values of nature into account is increasingly recognised within ecosystem services research and policy. This notion is informing the development and application of social (or socio-cultural) valuation met
We welcome Raymond et al.’s invitation to further discuss the ‘pragmatics’ of relational thinking in sustainability science. We clarify that relational approaches provide distinct theoretical and methodological resources that may be adopted on their own, or used to enrich other approaches, including systems research. We situate Raymond et al.’s characterization of relational thinking in a broader
The human-driven loss of biodiversity has numerous ecological, social, and economic impacts at the local and global levels, threatening important ecological functions and jeopardizing human well-being. In this perspective, we present an overview of how tropical defaunation—defined as the disappearance of fauna as a result of anthropogenic drivers such as hunting and habitat alteration in tropical
