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Photosynthesis provides carbon for the synthesis of macromolecules to construct cells during growth. This is the basis for the key role of photosynthesis in the carbon dynamics of ecosystems and in the biogenic CO2 assimilation. The development of eddy-covariance (EC) measurements for ecosystem CO2 fluxes started a new era in the field studies of photosynthesis. However, the interpretation of the

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has long served as a model for the evolution of adaptive genetic diversity in wild populations. Pathogen-mediated selection is thought to be a main driver of MHC diversity, but it remains elusive to what degree selection shapes MHC diversity in complex biogeographical scenarios where other evolutionary processes (e.g. genetic drift and introgression) may

Surface–atmosphere energy exchange is strongly ecosystem-specific. At the same time, as the energy balance constitutes responses of an ecosystem to environmental stressors including precipitation, humidity and solar radiation, it results in feedbacks of potential importance for the regional climate. Northern peatlands represent a diverse class of ecosystems that cover nearly 6 × 106 km2 in the Bor

Changes in nutrient bioavailability due to increased loading of dissolved organic matter (DOM) may impact boreal freshwaters. Yet, the relative bioavailability of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) associated with terrestrial DOM remains poorly understood. We applied short-term bioassays with natural bacterial inocula to determine seasonal variation in bioavailable organic nutrient pools

Background: Herbivores modify the structure and function of tundra ecosystems. Understanding their impacts is necessary to assess the responses of these ecosystems to ongoing environmental changes. However, the effects of herbivores on plants and ecosystem structure and function vary across the Arctic. Strong spatial variation in herbivore effects implies that the results of individual studies on

A robust water supply system is significant to the local ecosystem of riparian vegetation in the arid basin. Considering the elasticity and relative importance of ecological water use in different regions of the basin, this study defines the ecological water rights on a multi-year scale, divides the priority of those rights based on the ecological network, and proposes a rights allocation method.

Background: Substance use among older persons occurs with medical and psychiatric comorbidities. This study examined the associations of substance use disorder (SUD), psychiatric, and dual diagnoses with 12-month cumulative hospitalized days, hospital admission rate and number of days to first hospitalization.Methods: The cohort of 3,624 individuals (28.2% women) aged 50 years or older was assesse

Feedbacks between the intertwined water and carbon cycles in semi-arid mountain ecosystems can introduce large uncertainties into projections of carbon storage. In this study, we sought to understand the influence of key mechanisms on carbon balances, focusing on an ecosystem whose complex terrain and large interannual variability in precipitation adds to its vulnerability to warming. We applied a

Climate change is generally expected to have a positive effect on weathering rates, due to the strong temperature dependence of the weathering process. Important feedback mechanisms such as changes in soil moisture, tree growth and organic matter decomposition can affect the response of weathering rates to climate change. In this study, the dynamic forest ecosystem model ForSAFE, with mechanistic

Biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) flux dynamics during the subarctic autumn are largely unexplored and have been considered insignificant due to the relatively low biological activity expected during autumn. Here, we exposed subarctic heath ecosystems to predicted future autumn climate scenarios (ambient, warming, and colder, dark conditions), changes in light availability, and flooding, t

The boreal forest landscape covers approximately 10% of the earth's land area and accounts for almost 30 % of the global annual terrestrial sink of carbon (C). Increased emissions due to climate-change-amplified fire frequency, size, and intensity threaten to remove elements such as C and nitrogen (N) from forest soil and vegetation at rates faster than they accumulate. This may result in large ar

Aerosols and their interaction with clouds constitute the largest uncertainty in estimating the radiative forcing affecting the climate system. Secondary aerosol formation is responsible for a large fraction of the cloud condensation nuclei in the global atmosphere. Wetlands are important to the budgets of methane and carbon dioxide, but the potential role of wetlands in aerosol formation has not

Purpose of Review: Producing wood of the right quality is an important part of forest management. In the same way that forest growth models are valuable decision support tools for producing desired yields, models that predict wood quality in standing trees should assist forest managers to make quality-influenced decisions. A challenge for wood quality (WQ) models is to predict the properties of po

The ongoing emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is triggering changes in many climate hazards that can impact humanity. We found traceable evidence for 467 pathways by which human health, water, food, economy, infrastructure and security have been recently impacted by climate hazards such as warming, heatwaves, precipitation, drought, floods, fires, storms, sea-level rise and changes in natural la

GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). GrassPlot collects plot records (relevés) from grasslands and other open habitats of the Palaearctic biogeographic realm. It focuses on precisely delimited plots of eight standard grain sizes (0.0001; 0.001; ...

Chamber measurements of trace gas fluxes between the land surface and the atmosphere have been conducted for almost a century. Different chamber techniques, including static and dynamic, have been used with varying degrees of success in estimating greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O) fluxes. However, all of these have certain disadvantages which have either prevented them from providing an adequate es

Commercially available fast-response analysers for methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) have recently become more sensitive, more robust and easier to operate. This has made their application for long-Term flux measurements with the eddy-covariance method more feasible. Unlike for carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapour (H2O), there have so far been no guidelines on how to optimise and standardise