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Stable isotopes are alternative forms of elements with different molecular weights that are found naturally and do not decay radioactively. Stable isotope analysis of elements such as carbon, nitrogen and sulphur is used in ecology to trace the flow of nutrients through food webs and assess trophic levels.
A shift towards more-frequent, less-intense fires in Australia began about 11,000 years ago due to management by Indigenous societies, according to charcoal and stable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon records extending back 150,000 years.
Timber harvest claims can be scrutinized based on a combination of wood chemical composition and species distribution. The location of timber harvest can be determined within 180 to 230 km of true location across Eastern Europe.
Precipitation and watershed topography interact to control nitrate export in Puget Sound rivers, and both need to be considered in nutrient management, according to a time series model that combines water quality samples and environmental variables.
A warming climate can alter the food sources that support animals in Arctic ecosystems. Now, research provides empirical evidence of such a shift, with widespread implications for global carbon cycling.
An innovative isotopic labelling strategy shows that malaria mosquitoes in the West-African Sahel region survive in dormancy over the prolonged dry season. These results have implications for efforts to suppress malaria transmission in Africa.
Dissolved iron is mysteriously pervasive in deep ocean hydrothermal plumes. An analysis of gas, metals and particles from a 4,000 km plume transect suggests that dissolved iron is maintained by rapid and reversible exchanges with sinking particles.
Carbon dioxide can stimulate photosynthesis in trees and increase their growth rates. A study of tree rings from three seasonal tropical forests shows no evidence of faster growth during 150 years of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
