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A thermophilic bacterial strain, Geobacillus sp. ZGt-1, isolated from Zara hot spring in Jordan, was capable of inhibiting the growth of the thermophilic G. stearothermophilus and the mesophilic Bacillus subtilis and Salmonella typhimurium on a solid cultivation medium. Antibacterial activity was not observed when ZGt-1 was cultivated in a liquid medium; however, immobilization of the cells in aga
Organisms in hot environments will not be able to passively dissipate metabolically generated heat. Instead, they have to revert to evaporative cooling, a process that is energetically expensive and promotes excessive water loss. To alleviate these costs, birds in captivity let their body temperature increase, thereby entering a state of hyperthermia. Here we explore the use of hyperthermia in wil
In parallel with five new scientific scenarios of alternative societal developments (shared socioeconomic pathways, SSPs), a wide range of literary representations of a future world in which climate change comes to matter have emerged in the last decade. Both kinds of narrative are important forms of “world-making.” This article initiates a conversation between science and literature through situa
Transdisciplinary research and collaboration is widely acknowledged as a critical success factor for solution-oriented approaches that can tackle complex sustainability challenges, such as biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate-related hazards. In this context, city governments’ engagement in transdisciplinarity is generally seen as a key condition for societal transformation towards sustainabi
Loss and damage is the “third pillar” of international climate governance alongside mitigation and adaptation. When mitigation and adaptation fail, losses and damages occur. Scholars have been reacting to international political discourse centred around governing actual or potential severe losses and damages from climate change. Large gaps exist in relation to understanding the underlying power di
Climate debates often frame individual behaviour and systems change as distinct pathways to action. We suggest that social change arises from individuals’ agency within their roles in societal systems, and that this agency should be actively leveraged to achieve meaningful climate change mitigation.
Semi-arid and arid ecosystems are important for the global C cycle. Despite this, it remains unclear how organic matter fractions vary across latitudinal gradients, and what drives this variation, in dry ecosystems. In this study, we sampled soils from 100 sites across a latitudinal gradient in the dry valleys of southwestern China to explore the latitudinal patterns of light fraction organic matt
With ongoing climate change, aridity is increasing worldwide, affecting biodiversity and ecosystem function in drylands. However, how the depth-profile microbial community structure and metabolic limitations change along aridity gradients are still poorly explored. Here, 16S rRNA and ITS amplicon sequencing and ecoenzymatic stoichiometry analysis were used to investigate both bacterial and fungal
What will the low-carbon cities of tomorrow be made from? We see an unexpected answer today in the return of ‘premodern’/‘preindustrial’ materials to central cities and skylines. Champions of new mass timber materials have driven a race on iconic ‘plyscrapers’ and, increasingly, novel systems of industrial prefabrication. Drawing on the notion of sociotechnical imaginaries, we explore how advocate
The growing season start and duration, along with other temperature-related measures of importance to premium wine grapes in Napa Valley, California have changed as climate over the western United States has warmed. The growing season start has varied from year to year with a standard deviation of about 3 weeks, but over the 1958–2016 record a linear fit to the time sequence shows it advanced by m
Co-production has become paramount for scientists, practitioners and social groups of Indigenous peoples and local communities of rural and urban areas to deliver transformative changes that enhance sustainability. Co-production should result in knowledge that is credible, legitimate and usable to enable sustainable outcomes effectively. However, this is not always the case due to challenges relat
An astonishing number of bat fatalities (2,371 belonging to 15 species) were recovered in a provincial surveillance program at wind farms in Cádiz, at the southern tip of Spain, in 2005–2016. We carefully analysed a subset of this sample intending to estimate the true fatality rate in the year 2011, the year for which we had the richest data set (582 fatalities at 38 wind farms). To estimate the t
Explaining the maintenance of genetic variation in fitness-related traits within populations is a fundamental challenge in ecology and evolutionary biology. Frequency-dependent selection (FDS) is one mechanism that can maintain such variation, especially when selection favours rare variants (negative FDS). However, our general knowledge about the occurrence of FDS, its strength and direction remai
Biomass residues are often considered key in a reorientation towards circular bioeconomies, both by returning organic matter and nutrients to soils and by expanding the feedstock base for fossil-free products. Different indicators are available to assess progress towards circularity, but many available indicators and assessments seem to focus on product or material circularity, and lack in coverag
A long-standing question in evolutionary biology is how historical biogeographic processes have shaped the current diversity of organisms, especially for highly diverse groups. We study the diversification dynamics and biogeographic processes of one of the most diverse families of Lepidoptera, Geometridae, with over 24,000 described species and a worldwide distribution. Despite the cosmopolitan di
