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Hybrid populations have long been perceived as a threat to distinct lineages and undervalued from a conservation perspective. Now, research suggests that hybrid populations may harbour gene combinations that improve their ability to cope with changing climate conditions.
Temperature affects both erosion and carbon cycling in the soil. Research now shows that under warming, the replacement of soil organic carbon lost by erosion increases but the preservation of deposited carbon decreases, with an overall rise in the cropland carbon sink.
Oceanic eastern boundary currents are regions with strong upwelling, which is expected to intensify with global warming through enhanced winds. Here the authors show that geostrophic flow dominates over wind effects on long-term upwelling changes for the major eastern boundary upwelling systems.
The authors demonstrate the interacting impacts of warming on erosion and soil organic carbon (SOC) cycling. Under warming, they project increased replacement of SOC lost by erosion but lower preservation of deposited SOC, with an overall increase in the global C sink by erosion.
The authors estimate genomic vulnerability for closely related species of rainbowfish. They find that narrow endemic species that have hybridized with a warm-adapted generalist show reduced vulnerability to climate change and that hybridization may facilitate evolutionary rescue for such species.
The transition to net-zero emissions will be contested and could lead to political polarization and social unrest. To contribute to a transition that is accepted as legitimate while remaining effective, research on public support must evolve rapidly along several dimensions.
Floating ice shelves that fringe Antarctica are at risk from warming ocean water and from above by warming air. Work now reveals that snow accumulation on ice shelves can minimize surface melt and ponding, but that future atmospheric warming will likely overpower this protection that snow provides, leaving ice shelves vulnerable to collapse.
Melt ponding is an important process for the stability of ice shelves. Here the authors estimate the temperature thresholds at which melt ponding emerges over Antarctic ice shelves and find that cold and dry ice shelves are more vulnerable to melt ponding than expected.
Statistical analysis of a climate institutions dataset has identified four national models of climate governance used across countries with high emissions. These models are associated with the climate policy ambition and performance of each country. This analysis reveals that the effectiveness of climate policymaking could be strengthened by building climate institutions.
National climate institutions could greatly impact the process of policy design and implementation. This analysis identifies four models of climate governance for major emitters, estimates their policy ambitions and performance, then shows how they are related to macro features.
A changing climate is altering vegetation phenology and probably impacts drought frequency and severity. Changes in vegetation phenology have some unexpected consequences on the trajectories of drought recovery.
The authors reveal complex drought recovery responses to phenology shifts, in that early spring can shorten or lengthen recovery, while delayed spring following drought events delays it. These effects suggest a need to incorporate phenology aspects into resilience models.
How the spatial structures of large storms will change is not well resolved in most climate models. Here the authors use high-resolution models to show that winter storms become sharper under warming because precipitation in the storm centre increases more strongly than the storm area.
Reducing methane emissions from fossil fuels, agriculture and waste is key to achieving climate goals. Technological advances and scientifically grounded feasibility assessments of mitigation initiatives may illuminate the path to success.
The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai eruption in January 2022 injected large amounts of water vapour into the atmosphere. Here, the authors show that this can cause additional warming over the next years, which increases the likelihood of exceeding 1.5 °C warming over a short time period.
Rapid growth of AI could lead to more inventions and innovations in climate actions, yet evidence of this connection is lacking. The use of large-scale patent data and automated techniques helps elucidate trends in climate-related artificial intelligence inventions for different technology areas.
