Environmental impact articles within Nature Geoscience

Featured

  • Article |

    Pesticide pollution is a risk for two-thirds of agriculture land. A third of high-risk areas are in high-biodiversity regions and a fifth are in low- and lower-middle-income areas, according to environmental modelling combined with pesticide application data.

    • Fiona H. M. Tang
    • , Manfred Lenzen
    •  & Federico Maggi

  • News & Views |

    Chloride-rich particulate matter has been identified as a major contributor to air-quality deterioration in cities across India. Identification and reduction of chloride emissions could therefore improve visibility and human health across the region.

    • Gufran Beig

  • Comment |

    Land-use and land-cover changes are accelerating. Such changes can homogenize the water cycle and undermine planetary resilience. Policymakers and practitioners must consider water–vegetation interactions in their land-management decisions.

    • Delphis F. Levia
    • , Irena F. Creed
    •  & Michael Bruen

  • News & Views |

    Large-scale land acquisitions accelerate tropical deforestation, suggests an analysis of two decades of land-deal and forest-cover data. Such exploitation will threaten the future of these globally crucial carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots.

    • Andreas Neef

  • Article |

    Tropical deforestation rates are linked to large-scale land investments, according to georeferenced land deal records and remote sensing of forest loss over the past two decades.

    • Kyle Frankel Davis
    • , Heejin Irene Koo
    •  & Mokganedi Tatlhego

  • Perspective |

    Recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer above Antarctica has not been straightforward, as a result of human activities and climate change. The recovery process might be delayed by up to decades if further mitigation actions are not taken.

    • Xuekun Fang
    • , John A. Pyle
    •  & Ronald G. Prinn

  • News & Views |

    Cumulative wildfires or prescribed burning produce different outcomes for the vegetation, suggest two long-term analyses of fire-affected ecosystems. Climate change and land management practices are altering how ecosystems function.

    • Mark A. Cochrane

  • Article |

    Fires and logging alter soil composition and result in a significant reduction of soil nutrients that lasts for decades after the disturbance, suggests an analysis of soil samples across a multi-century sequence in mountain ash forests.

    • Elle J. Bowd
    • , Sam C. Banks
    •  & David B. Lindenmayer

  • Article |

    Tall trees are less sensitive to variation in precipitation than short trees, according to analyses of photosynthetic sensitivity to drought in tall and short Amazon forests. The results demonstrate higher resilience of tall trees to drought.

    • Francesco Giardina
    • , Alexandra G. Konings
    •  & Pierre Gentine

  • Editorial |

    Human manipulation of hydrocarbons — as fuel and raw materials for modern society — has changed our world and the indelible imprint we will leave in the rock record. Plastics alone have permeated our lives and every corner of our planet.

  • Review Article |

    Indicators of environmental and social footprints of international trade must inform assessments of progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, suggests a synthesis of studies on the geospatial separation of consumption and production.

    • Thomas Wiedmann
    •  & Manfred Lenzen

  • News & Views |

    West African farmers adjust tree cover to realize the co-benefits of agroforestry, according to analyses of remote sensing data.

    • Niall P. Hanan

  • Editorial |

    The world's inland waters are under siege. A system-level view of watersheds is needed to inform both our scientific understanding and management decisions for these precious resources.

  • News & Views |

    Debate rages over which water bodies in the US are protected under federal law by the Clean Water Act. Science shows that isolated wetlands and headwater systems provide essential downstream services, but convincing politicians is another matter.

    • Mark A. Ryan

  • Perspective |

    Enhanced protection is needed for freshwater bodies in the United States — in particular impermanent streams and wetlands outside floodplains — according to an assessment of their value and vulnerability.

    • Irena F. Creed
    • , Charles R. Lane
    •  & Lora Smith

  • Review Article |

    River deltas are shaped by interactions between fluvial and tidal processes. Tides act to stabilize delta morphology, but sediment depletion due to human activities disrupts the balance and leads to erosion and scour.

    • A. J. F. Hoitink
    • , Z. B. Wang
    •  & K. Kästner

  • News & Views |

    Warm conditions in the Arctic Ocean have been linked to cold mid-latitude winters. Observations and simulations suggest that warm Arctic anomalies lead to a dip in CO2 uptake capacity in North American ecosystems and to low crop productivity.

    • Ana Bastos

  • Article |

    Production of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide occurs episodically in small soil volumes. Soil microcosm experiments reveal that water absorption by plant residue raises moisture levels and accelerates nitrous oxide production by microbial denitrification.

    • A. N. Kravchenko
    • , E. R. Toosi
    •  & G. P. Robertson

  • Article |

    Understanding biosphere–atmosphere feedback loops can improve forecasts of climate and vegetation resilience. Analyses of satellite observations reveal that feedbacks are strong in regions that determine the net terrestrial carbon balance.

    • Julia K. Green
    • , Alexandra G. Konings
    •  & Pierre Gentine

  • News & Views |

    The climatic response to the eruption of the Samalas Volcano in 1257 has been elusive. Medieval archives tell of a spatially variable reaction, with Europe and Japan experiencing severe cold compared to relative warmth in North America.

    • Francis Ludlow

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