Ecology articles within Nature Geoscience

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  • Letter |

    Blooms of the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium, which fuel primary production in tropical and subtropical waters, require large quantities of iron. Laboratory incubations suggest that Trichodesmium accelerates the dissolution of iron oxides and dust, increasing the rate of iron uptake.

    • Maxim Rubin
    • , Ilana Berman-Frank
    •  & Yeala Shaked

  • Letter |

    Afforestation, the conversion of croplands or marginal lands into forests, is considered one of the key climate-change mitigation strategies available to governments. Model simulations suggest that the temperature benefits of realistic afforestation efforts are marginal.

    • Vivek K. Arora
    •  & Alvaro Montenegro

  • News & Views |

    Animals originated in a world with marine oxygen levels only a fraction of those found in today's oceans. Observations of microbial habitats in present-day lagoons suggest that early animals could have found refuge in oxygen-producing mats.

    • Jake Bailey

  • Letter |

    The evolution of marine complex animals about 635 million years ago took place in relatively low-oxygen waters. An analysis of a low-oxygen, hypersaline lagoon suggests these early animals may have obtained both oxygen and food from widespread microbial mats.

    • Murray Gingras
    • , James W. Hagadorn
    •  & Kurt O. Konhauser

  • Backstory |

    Daniel Donato and colleagues exercised their acrobatic skills while measuring mangrove carbon stocks.

  • Review Article |

    Carbonate rocks of Middle Ediacaran age record the largest excursion in carbon isotopic compositions in Earth history. A review of the data offers two intriguing explanations: an extraordinary perturbation of the carbon cycle, or post-depositional alteration that is global, rather than local.

    • John P. Grotzinger
    • , David A. Fike
    •  & Woodward W. Fischer

  • News & Views |

    Empirical data on mangrove carbon pools and fluxes are scarce. A field survey in the Indo-Pacific region suggests that the sediments below these remarkable trees hold exceptionally high quantities of carbon.

    • Steven Bouillon

  • Letter |

    The areal extent of mangrove forests has declined by 30–50% over the past half century. An analysis of mangrove forests across the Indo-Pacific suggests that mangrove deforestation generates losses of 0.02–0.12 Pg C yr−1, equivalent to up to 10% of carbon emissions from global deforestation.

    • Daniel C. Donato
    • , J. Boone Kauffman
    •  & Markku Kanninen

  • News & Views |

    The neurotoxin methylmercury accumulates in marine biota and their predators. An analysis of seabird egg shells suggests that sea-ice cover reduces the breakdown of this highly toxic compound in sea water.

    • Joel D. Blum

  • News & Views |

    Mineral dust and biological particles of terrestrial origin initiate ice formation in the atmosphere. Laboratory experiments suggest that ocean diatoms are another potential source of ice nuclei in clouds.

    • Ottmar Möhler
    •  & Corinna Hoose

  • Article |

    Atmospheric deposition of mercury to remote areas has increased threefold since pre-industrial times. Reductions in sea-ice cover accelerate the photodegradation of biologically accessible mercury in Arctic waters, according to an analysis of the isotopic composition of bird eggs in northern latitudes.

    • D. Point
    • , J. E. Sonke
    •  & P. R. Becker

  • News & Views |

    The existence of a microbial community in the ocean crust has long been hypothesized. Isotopic evidence indicates that a deep biosphere of microbes both scrubs oceanic fluids of organic matter and produces new, yet old, organic carbon in situ.

    • Katrina J. Edwards

  • News & Views |

    Bromine facilitates the oxidation of elemental mercury in the lower atmosphere in polar and subpolar regions. Measurements over the Dead Sea suggest that bromine also generates large quantities of oxidized mercury in the mid-latitudes.

    • Parisa A. Ariya

  • Letter |

    Biogenic aerosol particles of terrestrial origin, including bacteria and pollen, trigger ice formation in the atmosphere. Laboratory experiments reveal that biogenic particles of marine origin also initiate ice formation under typical tropospheric conditions.

    • D. A. Knopf
    • , P. A. Alpert
    •  & J. Y. Aller

  • Books & Arts |

    • Josée Johnston

  • Letter |

    In the polar atmosphere, non-reactive gaseous elemental mercury is converted to a highly reactive form of mercury by halogens such as bromine. Measurements over the Dead Sea suggest that bromine also triggers reactive mercury formation over the mid-latitude ocean.

    • Daniel Obrist
    • , Eran Tas
    •  & Menachem Luria

  • News & Views |

    Model projections of future climate are highly sensitive to the assumed response of organic matter decomposition to changes in temperature. Incubation experiments on North American soils suggest that the decisive factors lie at the molecular level.

    • Ivan A. Janssens
    •  & Sara Vicca

  • Letter |

    Archaea are prevalent in the deep sea, and comprise a major fraction of the biomass in marine sediments. 13C-labelling experiments on the sea floor suggest that benthic archaea use sedimentary organic compounds to construct their membranes.

    • Yoshinori Takano
    • , Yoshito Chikaraishi
    •  & Naohiko Ohkouchi

  • News & Views |

    Wetlands are home to microorganisms that produce and emit methane. Very small wetlands, tucked into unexpected places, might be making a larger contribution to the global methane budget than previously thought.

    • Joseph B. Yavitt

  • Letter |

    Methane concentrations above tropical forests in the neotropics are high, according to space-borne observations. Flux measurements in the field suggest that tank bromeliads, herbaceous plants common throughout tropical forests, emit methane and may contribute to the tropical source.

    • Guntars O. Martinson
    • , Florian A. Werner
    •  & Edzo Veldkamp

  • Commentary |

    The Census of Marine Life has succeeded in raising awareness about marine biodiversity, and contributed much to our understanding of what lives where. But the project has fallen short of its goal to estimate species abundance.

    • Daniel Pauly
    •  & Rainer Froese

  • Review Article |

    Iron controls phytoplankton growth in large tracts of the global ocean, and thereby influences carbon dioxide drawdown. Recent advances reveal the importance of iron-binding ligands and organic matter remineralization in regulating ocean iron levels.

    • P. W. Boyd
    •  & M. J. Ellwood

  • Article |

    European heatwaves have raised interest in the impact of land-cover conditions on temperature extremes. Analyses of observations from an extensive network of flux towers in Europe reveal a difference in the response of forests and grassland to extreme or long-lasting heat.

    • Adriaan J. Teuling
    • , Sonia I. Seneviratne
    •  & Georg Wohlfahrt

  • Editorial |

    The foundation of the marine food web is faltering, according to a century-long data set.

  • News & Views |

    Peat bogs release large quantities of methane to the atmosphere. A global survey of peat mosses reveals a ubiquitous symbiotic relationship with methane-oxidizing bacteria.

    • Yin Chen
    •  & J. Colin Murrell

  • Backstory |

    Nardy Kip, Julia F. van Winden, Huub J. M. Op den Camp and an array of colleagues braved hostile acidic peat bogs around the world in a feat of truly collaborative research.

  • News & Views |

    Reconstructions of atmospheric chemistry and microbial life early in the Earth's history have been contentious. Observations increasingly point to the evolution of complex and variable environments earlier in time.

    • Andrew D. Czaja

  • Review Article |

    The terrestrial biosphere is a key regulator of atmospheric chemistry and climate. Total positive radiative forcing resulting from biogeochemical feedbacks between the terrestrial biosphere and atmosphere could be equally as important as that resulting from physical feedbacks.

    • A. Arneth
    • , S. P. Harrison
    •  & T. Vesala

  • News & Views |

    The formation and burial of calcium phosphate minerals removes large quantities of phosphorus from the ocean. Radiotracer experiments reveal that bacteria in marine sediments mediate the production of these mineral phases at remarkably fast rates.

    • Ellery D. Ingall

  • Letter |

    Organic phosphorus is removed from the ocean by its conversion to phosphorite. Laboratory incubations suggest that bacteria catalyse phosphorite formation, and that the rate of conversion is greatest under anoxic conditions.

    • Tobias Goldhammer
    • , Volker Brüchert
    •  & Matthias Zabel

  • News & Views |

    The timing and nature of changes in the chemistry of the early oceans are intensely debated. Geochemical analyses show that a prominent transition to sulphidic marine conditions 1.8 billion years ago may have been restricted to near-shore environments.

    • David Fike

  • News & Views |

    The ocean's nitrogen budget has escaped quantification. A modelling study shows how a small shift in the nitrate-to-phosphate uptake ratio of phytoplankton has a large effect on calculated nitrogen fixation rates.

    • Wolfgang Koeve
    •  & Paul Kähler

  • News & Views |

    The rate at which new marine animals evolve has varied through time, but the factors that ultimately drive these fluctuations are unclear. A statistical analysis shows that global changes in abiotic factors play an important role.

    • Wolfgang Kiessling

  • Commentary |

    A multitude of organisms makes soils the fertile factories of food and fibre production, decomposition and nutrient cycling that they are. But tying changes in soil biodiversity to shifts in ecosystem function is a daunting task.

    • Diana H. Wall
    • , Richard D. Bardgett
    •  & Eugene Kelly

  • Commentary |

    Between 1960 and 2000, Asian and Latin American food production tripled, thanks to the use of high-yielding varieties of crops. Africa can follow suit, but only if depletion of soil nutrients is addressed.

    • Pedro A. Sánchez

  • News & Views |

    The organic matter stored in frozen Arctic soils could release significant quantities of carbon dioxide and methane on thawing. Now, laboratory experiments show that re-wetting of previously thawed permafrost could increase nitrous oxide production by 20-fold.

    • Hermann F. Jungkunst

  • News & Views |

    Increasing temperatures stimulate the decomposition of soil organic matter in the short term. But a shift in microbial carbon allocation could mitigate this response over longer periods of time.

    • Göran I. Ågren

  • News & Views |

    The amount of pore space in most unweathered granite is too small to support a plant-based ecosystem. But porosity grows as intact rock interacts with surface waters beneath the soil.

    • Susan L. Brantley

  • Letter |

    Nitrous oxide is a potent atmospheric greenhouse gas that is thought to be produced in soils through biological processes. Field measurements reveal nitrous oxide fluxes near Don Juan Pond, Antarctica — of comparable magnitude to those found in tropical soils — which may result from abiotic water–rock reactions.

    • Vladimir A. Samarkin
    • , Michael T. Madigan
    •  & Samantha B. Joye

  • Letter |

    The loss of carbon dioxide from soils increases initially under climate warming, but tends to decline to control levels within a few years. Simulations of the soil-carbon response to warming with a microbial-enzyme model show that a decline in both microbial biomass and the production of degrading enzymes can explain this attenuation response.

    • Steven D. Allison
    • , Matthew D. Wallenstein
    •  & Mark A. Bradford

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