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Biogeochemistry is the study of how chemical elements flow through living systems and their physical environments. It investigates the factors that influence cycles of key elements such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous.
Nutrient limitation of marine primary producers will change in complex ways as anthropogenic warming continues, altering global biogeochemical cycles, according to a synthesis of recent studies.
Oxygen isotopes tree rings from polylepis tarapacana trees across the South American Altiplano provide a terrestrial precipitation record that is sensitive to decadal hydroclimate teleconnections and correlates well with other proxy records.
Recent discoloration of 75 streams in Arctic Alaska reflects increased iron and trace metal loading following climate-driven permafrost thaw and enhanced sulfide mineral weathering and may impact water quality and biodiversity, suggests satellite remote sensing and biogeochemical analyses.
Multidisciplinary culture-dependent and -independent techniques elucidate the unique microbial nitrogen cycle in nutrient-poor coastal Antarctica soils and reveal the contribution of novel key microbes to their nitrogen budget.
This Genome Watch article highlights the recent use of large-scale monitoring of natural microbiomes to examine feedback between environmental change and microbial adaptation.
There are no good models for the chemical evolution of the Earth’s surface over the planet’s lifetime, because models typically overlook the progressive build-up of carbonate rocks in the crust. A new model that includes this accumulation enables the reconstruction of major oxygen and temperature trends throughout Earth’s history.
Oxygen levels in the ocean increased three times between the early Ediacaran and the early Cambrian, in synchrony with major developments in animal evolution.