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Basin-scale biogeochemical and ecological impacts of islands in the tropical Pacific Ocean
Tropical Pacific islands enhance phytoplankton biomass, productivity and biodiversity at both local and basin scales, according to ocean colour satellite observations used to identify island-enriched waters.
- Monique Messié
- , Anne Petrenko
- & Séverine Alvain
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Research Briefing |
Preferential phosphorus retention in lakes alters the balance of global nutrient cycles
Preferential P retention emerges in almost 90% of global lakes. This retention leads to a strong elevation in the N:P ratios in lakes outflow, exacerbates the imbalance of the nutrient cycles and can potentially result in biodiversity losses and algal blooms in lakes and downstream ecosystems.
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Imbalance of global nutrient cycles exacerbated by the greater retention of phosphorus over nitrogen in lakes
Lakes preferentially retain phosphorous over nitrogen, amplifying the imbalance of nutrient cycles caused by anthropogenic inputs, according to analyses of more than 5,000 lakes globally.
- Zhen Wu
- , Jincheng Li
- & Yong Liu
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal cycling and climate effects of aeolian dust controlled by biological soil crusts
Biocrusts reduce global atmospheric dust emission by 60%, and future biocrust losses due to climate and land-use changes will exacerbate this effect, according to global models of dust cycling.
- E. Rodriguez-Caballero
- , T. Stanelle
- & B. Weber
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Article |
Increasing atmospheric helium due to fossil fuel exploitation
Mass spectrometry measurements show that the concentration of helium in the atmosphere has risen over the past five decades due to fossil fuel emissions.
- Benjamin Birner
- , Jeffrey Severinghaus
- & Ralph F. Keeling
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Article |
Substantial carbon drawdown potential from enhanced rock weathering in the United Kingdom
Enhancing rock weathering across UK croplands could deliver substantial atmospheric carbon dioxide removal alongside agricultural co-benefits, according to coupled climate–carbon–nitrogen cycle model simulations.
- Euripides P. Kantzas
- , Maria Val Martin
- & David J. Beerling
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Article |
Risks to carbon storage from land-use change revealed by peat thickness maps of Peru
Changes in land use threaten the stability of carbon in Peru’s peatlands, which store almost as much carbon as the entirety of the above-ground Peruvian carbon stock but in 5% of the land area, according to maps of the extent and depth of peat.
- Adam Hastie
- , Eurídice N. Honorio Coronado
- & Ian T. Lawson
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Perspective |
Uncertain response of ocean biological carbon export in a changing world
A synthesis of recent work on marine carbon export fluxes finds that many processes that are key to understanding the effects of a warming climate on ocean carbon cycling are missing from current climate models.
- Stephanie A. Henson
- , Charlotte Laufkötter
- & Emma L. Cavan
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Article |
Increased interglacial atmospheric CO2 levels followed the mid-Pleistocene Transition
Warm, interglacial CO2 levels increased following the mid-Pleistocene Transition, probably reflecting a step change in the influence of deep-ocean circulation on ice-sheet dynamics, according to a 1.46-million-year-long record of atmospheric CO2 based on plant-wax carbon isotopes.
- Masanobu Yamamoto
- , Steven C. Clemens
- & Ayako Abe-Ouchi
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Tropical tree growth driven by dry-season climate variability
Dry-season climate variability is a primary driver of tropical tree growth, according to observations from a pantropical tree-ring network.
- Pieter A. Zuidema
- , Flurin Babst
- & Zhe-Kun Zhou
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Article |
Millennial and centennial CO2 release from the Southern Ocean during the last deglaciation
Expansions of Antarctic Intermediate Water can help explain centennial-scale atmospheric CO2 highs during the last deglaciation, according to a reconstruction of the marine carbonate system in the Southern Ocean.
- Jimin Yu
- , Delia W. Oppo
- & Chen Xu
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Perspective |
Confronting the water potential information gap
Continuous and discoverable observations of water potential could vastly improve understanding of biophysical processes throughout the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum and are achievable thanks to recent technological advances.
- Kimberly A. Novick
- , Darren L. Ficklin
- & Jeffrey D. Wood
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Article |
Earth’s Great Oxidation Event facilitated by the rise of sedimentary phosphorus recycling
Recycling of sedimentary phosphorus driven by increasing oceanic sulfide availability contributed to the persistent oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere, according to analysis of Archean drill-core samples and biogeochemical modelling
- Lewis J. Alcott
- , Benjamin J. W. Mills
- & Simon W. Poulton
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Methane hydrate dissociation across the Oligocene–Miocene boundary
Methane hydrate dissociation occurred across the Oligocene–Miocene boundary, which may have contributed to the termination of glaciation, according to analysis of lipid biomarkers from the Southern Ocean.
- Bumsoo Kim
- & Yi Ge Zhang
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Perspective |
Managing nitrogen legacies to accelerate water quality improvement
Agricultural nitrogen legacies are delaying improvements to water quality. Comprehensive management strategies that address legacy issues are needed to ensure better environmental outcomes.
- Nandita B. Basu
- , Kimberly J. Van Meter
- & Søren Bøye Olsen
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Article |
Pyrogenic carbon decomposition critical to resolving fire’s role in the Earth system
Vegetation plays an important role in the aggregate carbon balance of fires, according to a 1901 to 2010 land surface model study that, assuming steady state, shows potentially greater pyrogenic carbon production than legacy losses at global scale, due mostly to grassland adaptations to fire.
- Simon P. K. Bowring
- , Matthew W. Jones
- & Samuel Abiven
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Article |
Global mapping reveals increase in lacustrine algal blooms over the past decade
Algal blooms are occurring more frequently, as seen in a global database compiled from satellite imagery from the past few decades.
- Xuejiao Hou
- , Lian Feng
- & Chunmiao Zheng
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: Questioning High Nitrogen Fixation Rate Measurements in the Southern Ocean
- Takuhei Shiozaki
- , Keisuke Inomura
- & Naomi Harada
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Review Article |
Fire effects on the persistence of soil organic matter and long-term carbon storage
Fires reduce plant biomass, which should deplete soil carbon stocks, but a review of recent literature shows that fires also slow decomposition rates and increase soil organic matter stability, offsetting aboveground biomass carbon losses.
- Adam F. A. Pellegrini
- , Jennifer Harden
- & Robert B. Jackson
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Review Article |
Biochar in climate change mitigation
Climate change mitigation strategies based on biochar generation—and its application to agricultural soils—can effectively sequester carbon, although biogeochemical and economic trade-offs must be considered.
- Johannes Lehmann
- , Annette Cowie
- & Thea Whitman
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Article |
Late Ordovician climate change and extinctions driven by elevated volcanic nutrient supply
Increased volcanism-related phosphorus delivery to the Late Ordovician ocean helps explain widespread cooling and eutrophication-driven extinctions, as shown by a biogeochemical model incorporating volcanic ash phosphorus and carbon isotope records.
- Jack Longman
- , Benjamin J. W. Mills
- & Martin R. Palmer
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Article
| Open AccessNitrogen isotopic constraints on nutrient transport to the upper ocean
Much of the nutrient transport from the deep ocean into the ocean’s upper water column occurs through the Southern Ocean, with mixing and advection playing complementary roles, according to a box model analysis of the isotopic composition of ocean nitrate.
- François Fripiat
- , Alfredo Martínez-García
- & Gerald H. Haug
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Vertical decoupling in Late Ordovician anoxia due to reorganization of ocean circulation
Reorganized ocean circulation during Late Ordovician cooling altered oxygenation through the water column, provoking a new look at the extinction mechanism, according to anoxia reconstructions using the I/Ca proxy and Earth system modelling.
- Alexandre Pohl
- , Zunli Lu
- & Andy Ridgwell
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News & Views |
Carbon fate in lowland rivers
The fate of sedimentary carbon in rivers is determined by a combination of mineral protection and transit time. Along the fluvial journey from headwaters to sea, biogeochemical transformations control whether carbon is buried or returned to the atmosphere as CO2.
- William Ford
- & James Fox
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| Open AccessFluvial organic carbon cycling regulated by sediment transit time and mineral protection
Particulate organic carbon oxidation in rivers is regulated by both transit time and mineral protection, according to modelling and analysis of organic matter transported nearly 1,300 km through a lowland river.
- Marisa Repasch
- , Joel S. Scheingross
- & Dirk Sachse
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End-Permian marine extinction due to temperature-driven nutrient recycling and euxinia
Warming-enhanced microbial respiration can explain marine anoxia patterns across depth, a key driver of the end-Permian mass extinction, according to biogeochemical modelling and geochemical proxy records.
- Dominik Hülse
- , Kimberly V. Lau
- & Andy Ridgwell
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Sinking enhances the degradation of organic particles by marine bacteria
Faster sinking rates can enhance bacterial degradation of organic particles in the ocean due to flow-induced removal of waste products, according to laboratory experiments and modelling of the marine carbon pump.
- Uria Alcolombri
- , François J. Peaudecerf
- & Roman Stocker
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An unshakable carbon budget for the Himalaya
Carbon fluxes in the central Himalaya did not change after the 2015 Gorkha earthquake and its accompanying landslides, according to observations of riverine sediment and carbon fluxes over four monsoon seasons spanning the event.
- Lena Märki
- , Maarten Lupker
- & Timothy Eglinton
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Temperature control on CO2 emissions from the weathering of sedimentary rocks
The release of carbon dioxide during oxidative weathering of sedimentary rocks acts as a positive feedback to warming, according to 2.5 years of CO2 flux measurements from the Draix-Bléone Critical Zone Observatory, France.
- Guillaume Soulet
- , Robert G. Hilton
- & Caroline Le Bouteiller
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Constraint on net primary productivity of the global ocean by Argo oxygen measurements
Argo measurements provide a constrained estimate of net primary productivity of the global ocean of 53 Pg C y–1, according to a global analysis of diel oxygen variations.
- Kenneth S. Johnson
- & Mariana B. Bif
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Article |
Carbon concentration increases with depth of melting in Earth’s upper mantle
The carbon concentration of Earth’s upper mantle increases with depth, indicating a role for carbon in melt formation, according to data on magmatic gases and volcanic rocks from ocean island and continental rift settings around the world.
- Alessandro Aiuppa
- , Federico Casetta
- & Giancarlo Tamburello
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Transient ocean oxygenation at end-Permian mass extinction onset shown by thallium isotopes
Marine oxygenation declined well before the end-Permian mass extinction, the start of which was marked by a brief return to more oxygenated conditions, according to the analysis of thallium isotopes from sites spread across the Panthalassa ocean basin.
- Sean M. Newby
- , Jeremy D. Owens
- & Thomas J. Algeo
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Article
| Open AccessPossible link between Earth’s rotation rate and oxygenation
Rotational deceleration has increased daylength on Earth, potentially linking the increased burial of organic carbon by cyanobacterial mats and planetary oxygenation, according to experiments and modelling of Precambrian benthic ecosystems.
- J. M. Klatt
- , A. Chennu
- & G. J. Dick
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Review Article |
Past abrupt changes, tipping points and cascading impacts in the Earth system
A synthesis of intervals of rapid climatic change evident in the geological record reveals some of the Earth system processes and tipping points that could lead to similar events in the future.
- Victor Brovkin
- , Edward Brook
- & Zicheng Yu
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Perspective |
Potential CO2 removal from enhanced weathering by ecosystem responses to powdered rock
The enhanced CO2 uptake by vegetation in response to powdered rock should be considered in assessing the feasibility of enhanced weathering as a negative emission technology in mitigating climate change, suggest simulations of a land surface model.
- Daniel S. Goll
- , Philippe Ciais
- & Sara Vicca
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Rivers as the largest source of mercury to coastal oceans worldwide
Rivers transport about 1,000 Mg mercury annually to coastal oceans, which is threefold greater than the amount delivered by atmospheric deposition, according to a global analysis of mercury measurements in rivers.
- Maodian Liu
- , Qianru Zhang
- & Peter A. Raymond
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Article |
Conservation slows down emission increase from a tropical peatland in Indonesia
During a period of drought, an intact tropical peatland in Indonesia released half the amount of greenhouse gases as was released from a degraded site, according to a direct comparison of eddy covariance measurements at a pair of peatland sites in Sumatra.
- Chandra S. Deshmukh
- , Dony Julius
- & Chris D. Evans
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Fire enhances forest degradation within forest edge zones in Africa
Fire exacerbates forest degradation in the forest edge zones in Africa, increasing the carbon deficit caused by forest fragmentation, according to analyses of high-resolution satellite data on forest cover and biomass.
- Zhe Zhao
- , Wei Li
- & Jingmeng Wang
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Matters Arising |
Lateral expansion of northern peatlands calls into question a 1,055 GtC estimate of carbon storage
- Joshua L. Ratcliffe
- , Haijun Peng
- & Mats B. Nilsson
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Matters Arising |
No support for carbon storage of >1,000 GtC in northern peatlands
- Zicheng Yu
- , Fortunat Joos
- & Jochen Schmitt
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Review Article |
Phosphorus as an integral component of global marine biogeochemistry
Phosphorus plays a dynamic and complex role in marine biogeochemistry, which is closely connected to carbon, nitrogen and metal cycling, according to a literature synthesis on recent advances in understandings of the marine phosphorus cycle.
- Solange Duhamel
- , Julia M. Diaz
- & Emily M. Waggoner
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Article
| Open AccessLarge subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Meltwaters from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet contain exceptionally high concentrations of mercury, exporting up to more than 200 kmol of dissolved mercury every year, suggest mercury measurements from three glacial catchments.
- Jon R. Hawkings
- , Benjamin S. Linhoff
- & Robert G. M. Spencer
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| Open AccessGlobal carbon budget of reservoirs is overturned by the quantification of drawdown areas
Globally, reservoirs are net emitters of carbon when drawdown areas are taken into account, according to an analysis of satellite observations of reservoir surface area.
- Philipp S. Keller
- , Rafael Marcé
- & Matthias Koschorreck
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Calcium carbonate dissolution patterns in the ocean
About 50% of total dissolution of marine calcium carbonate occurs in the water column below 300 m depth while sinking to the seafloor, according to a reconstruction of settling fluxes of calcium carbonate in major oceanic regions from seawater observations.
- Olivier Sulpis
- , Emil Jeansson
- & Jack J. Middelburg
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Review Article |
A biogeochemical–hydrological framework for the role of redox-active compounds in aquatic systems
Highly redox-active compounds play an important role in biogeochemical element cycles in aquatic systems that are exposed to frequent hydrological disturbances.
- S. Peiffer
- , A. Kappler
- & B. Planer-Friedrich
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News & Views |
A dual response
European mineral soils may lose less organic carbon due to climate change than previously suggested, according to analyses of climate responses from two physical fractions of soil carbon.
- Lauric Cécillon
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Article |
Different climate sensitivity of particulate and mineral-associated soil organic matter
Particulate and mineral-associated soil organic carbon have different climate sensitivity and distributions in Europe, according to analyses of measurements of soil carbon fractions from 352 topsoils.
- Emanuele Lugato
- , Jocelyn M. Lavallee
- & M. Francesca Cotrufo
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Microbial methylation potential of mercury sulfide particles dictated by surface structure
The environmental behaviour of mercury and other toxic soft elements is in part dictated by the surface structure of nanoparticulates, according to a combination of microcosm bioassays and theoretical calculations.
- Li Tian
- , Wenyu Guan
- & Tong Zhang