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| Open AccessEffects of emissions caps on the costs and feasibility of low-carbon hydrogen in the European ammonia industry
Decarbonizing the European ammonia industry: Less stringent emissions caps for electrolytic hydrogen production can significantly reduce costs and land use while still achieving more than 90% reduction in emissions relative to fossil-based hydrogen.
- Stefano Mingolla
- , Paolo Gabrielli
- & Zhongming Lu
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| Open AccessRecent collisional history of (65803) Didymos
The fast-spinning primary of the Didymos near-earth asteroid binary system was found to have a degraded top shape by the DART (NASA) mission. Here, authors find that these surface features observed in the asteroid are more likely to have been caused by collisional effects than by the YORP effect.
- Adriano Campo Bagatin
- , Aldo Dell’Oro
- & Jean-Baptiste Vincent
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| Open AccessGlobally occurring pelagiphage infections create ribosome-deprived cells
SAR11 bacteria and their phages are abundant in the oceans. Here the authors quantify the number of phage-infected SAR11 cells using microscopy techniques and discover phage-infected cells without any detectable ribosomes. They hypothesize that ribosomal RNA may be used for the synthesis of phage genomes.
- Jan D. Brüwer
- , Chandni Sidhu
- & Bernhard M. Fuchs
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| Open AccessThe environmental sustainability of digital content consumption
The average Internet user spends over 40% of their waking hours online, yet the environmental footprint remains poorly understood. This study suggests that digital content consumption could exacerbate the pressure on the finite Earth’s carrying capacity.
- Robert Istrate
- , Victor Tulus
- & Gonzalo Guillén-Gosálbez
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| Open AccessHigh-resolution impact-based early warning system for riverine flooding
A hindcast experiment of the 2021 summer flood in West Germany unveils a 17-hour lead time for preparedness and advisable action, holding promise for impact-based forecasting of inundated roads, railways and building footprint in real-time.
- Husain Najafi
- , Pallav Kumar Shrestha
- & Luis Samaniego
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| Open AccessTiming the evolution of phosphorus-cycling enzymes through geological time using phylogenomics
Phosphorus is an essential nutrient which may have influenced Earth’s early biosphere. This study interrogates genomic records, finding potentially phosphate depleted conditions toward the end of the Archean when enzymes for scavenging reduced phosphorus compounds spread throughout the tree of life.
- Joanne S. Boden
- , Juntao Zhong
- & Eva E. Stüeken
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| Open AccessImproved biomass burning emissions from 1750 to 2010 using ice core records and inverse modeling
Two new gridded, model-ready historical biomass burning emission datasets (BB4CMIPpost and LPJ-LMfirepost) are developed by inverse modeling that leveraged 31 ice core records, existing emissions as a priori, and chemical transport model simulations.
- Bingqing Zhang
- , Nathan J. Chellman
- & Pengfei Liu
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| Open AccessBiocomposite thermoplastic polyurethanes containing evolved bacterial spores as living fillers to facilitate polymer disintegration
Plastic pollution severely threatens the resilience of nature. Here, the authors utilize the spore-forming, polymer-degrading bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, as a living filler to develop biocomposite thermoplastic polyurethane with improved mechanical properties and biodegradation.
- Han Sol Kim
- , Myung Hyun Noh
- & Jonathan K. Pokorski
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| Open AccessLand conversion to agriculture induces taxonomic homogenization of soil microbial communities globally
Agricultural land-use change affects belowground biodiversity. Here, the authors compare soil microbial communities from natural ecosystems and agricultural systems, finding that agricultural conversion leads to taxonomic and functional homogenisation.
- Ziheng Peng
- , Xun Qian
- & Shuo Jiao
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| Open AccessA global meta-analysis on the drivers of salt marsh planting success and implications for ecosystem services
Salt marsh planting strategies aim to reduce coastal degradation. Here, the authors conduct a global meta-analysis showing that planting enhances coastal wetland ecosystem services although not to the level of natural wetlands.
- Zezheng Liu
- , Sergio Fagherazzi
- & Baoshan Cui
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| Open AccessGlobal census of the significance of giant mesopelagic protists to the marine carbon and silicon cycles
Rhizaria are abundant protists in the ocean and likely important to biogeochemical cycling. In this study the authors assess the global distribution, biomass and biogeochemical significance of Rhizaria, finding that they play an important role in carbon flux attenuation and dominate silicon cycling in the mesopelagic zone.
- Manon Laget
- , Laetitia Drago
- & Tristan Biard
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| Open AccessNonmagnetic framboid and associated iron nanoparticles with a space-weathered feature from asteroid Ryugu
Electron holography discovered nonmagnetic framboids and many iron nanoparticles with a vortex magnetic flux formed by magnetite reduction due to a micrometeoroid impact on asteroid Ryugu, providing a new way to study the Solar System magnetic field.
- Yuki Kimura
- , Takeharu Kato
- & Shogo Tachibana
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| Open AccessNew Late Pleistocene age for the Homo sapiens skeleton from Liujiang southern China
Here the authors provide new radiocarbon, U-series, and OSL dates for Homo sapiens fossils from Tongtianyan cave, southern China, placing them at 33-23 thousand years ago and indicating widespread presence of Homo sapiens across eastern Asia in the Late Pleistocene.
- Junyi Ge
- , Song Xing
- & Qingfeng Shao
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| Open AccessEfficient tandem electroreduction of nitrate into ammonia through coupling Cu single atoms with adjacent Co3O4
An optimal catalyst for nitrate electroreduction should satisfy the simultaneously optimized adsorption of intermediates. Here, the authors report a tandem electrocatalyst by combining Cu single atoms with Co3O4 nanosheets, enhancing the binding with NO2−, thus promoting nitrate electroreduction to NH3.
- Yan Liu
- , Jie Wei
- & Jie Zeng
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| Open AccessSulfur oxidation and reduction are coupled to nitrogen fixation in the roots of the salt marsh foundation plant Spartina alterniflora
The mechanisms underlying plant-microbe interactions in coastal ecosystems are little explored. Here, the authors use multi-omics and biogeochemical measurements to investigate the saltmarsh cordgrass root microbiome and its role in coupling nitrogen fixation and sulfur cycling.
- J. L. Rolando
- , M. Kolton
- & J. E. Kostka
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| Open AccessClimate-forced Hg-remobilization associated with fern mutagenesis in the aftermath of the end-Triassic extinction
This study provides evidence for long-term effects of volcanic emissions of large quantities of gaseous mercury (Hg) and plant mutagenesis by recording high abundances of malformed fern spores across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary and Early Jurassic.
- Remco Bos
- , Wang Zheng
- & Bas van de Schootbrugge
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| Open AccessComposition and metabolism of microbial communities in soil pores
The work proposes the concept of distinct micro-habitats within an intact soil matrix and describes composition and metabolic pathways of their bacterial inhabitants, as a first step towards a generalizable C processing-focused classification of soil micro-environmental conditions.
- Zheng Li
- , Alexandra N. Kravchenko
- & Evgenia Blagodatskaya
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| Open AccessModerate greenhouse climate and rapid carbonate formation after Marinoan snowball Earth
When the Marinoan snowball Earth deglaciated, the ocean’s chemistry determined the strength and duration of the ensuing supergreenhouse climate, while the sudden warming and biological activity could have led to a rapid formation of cap dolostones.
- Lennart Ramme
- , Tatiana Ilyina
- & Jochem Marotzke
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| Open AccessWarming drives dissolved organic carbon export from pristine alpine soils
The temperature-sensitivity of soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC) export is widely debated but limited by the duration of observations. New data from environmental archives supports a pronounced sensitivity between soil DOC leaching and warming.
- Andrew R. Pearson
- , Bethany R. S. Fox
- & Adam Hartland
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| Open AccessVegetation dieback in the Mississippi River Delta triggered by acute drought and chronic relative sea-level rise
Coastal wetlands are vulnerable to sea-level rise. Here, the authors use 16 years of data to correlate vegetation dieback in the Mississippi River Delta to drought-induced salt water intrusion in the summer of 2012.
- Tracy Elsey-Quirk
- , Austin Lynn
- & Dubravko Justic
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| Open AccessLocal incomplete combustion emissions define the PM2.5 oxidative potential in Northern India
The authors investigate the local/regional nature and associated oxidative potential of PM2.5 emission sources in northern India and show that reducing local inefficient combustion emissions can effectively mitigate PM health effects.
- Deepika Bhattu
- , Sachchida Nand Tripathi
- & André S. H. Prévôt
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| Open AccessSeismic evidence for melt-rich lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary beneath young slab at Cascadia
This study provides seismic evidence for the presence of partial melts along the base of Cascadia’s subducting slab, with implications to lithosphere-asthenosphere decoupling that potentially influences subduction dynamics and earthquake cycles.
- Xin Wang
- , Ling Chen
- & Jianfeng Yang
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Article
| Open AccessIce sheet and precession controlled subarctic Pacific productivity and upwelling over the last 550,000 years
Ice sheets and precession are shown to control westerly strength and position, impacting nutrient-rich water upwelling and productivity in the subarctic Pacific. This finding underscores the subarctic Pacific’s significant contribution to Pleistocene CO2, particularly on a precession timescale.
- Zhengquan Yao
- , Xuefa Shi
- & Yonggui Yu
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| Open AccessQuantum critical phase of FeO spans conditions of Earth’s lower mantle
Large-scale eDMFT computation reveals that FeO undergoes a gradual orbitally selective insulator-metal transition across the extreme conditions of Earth’s interior, with implications for compositions and conductivity of the core-mantle boundary region.
- Wai-Ga D. Ho
- , Peng Zhang
- & Vasilije V. Dobrosavljevic
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| Open AccessMetabolic coupling between soil aerobic methanotrophs and denitrifiers in rice paddy fields
Microbial denitrification in rice paddy fields reduces N use efficiency. Here, the authors use field samples from major rice producing areas in China and identify microbial taxa involved in the metabolic couplings between aerobic CH4 oxidation and denitrification in rice paddy fields.
- Kang-Hua Chen
- , Jiao Feng
- & Yu-Rong Liu
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| Open AccessPublic perceptions on carbon removal from focus groups in 22 countries
Global public expectations for carbon removal governance are: engagement beyond acceptance research; regulating industry beyond incentivizing innovation; systemic coordination; and prioritizing underlying and interrelated causes of unsustainability.
- Sean Low
- , Livia Fritz
- & Benjamin K. Sovacool
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Article
| Open AccessOcean cavity regime shift reversed West Antarctic grounding line retreat in the late Holocene
Using ice sheet model and glacio-isostatic adjustment model simulations and paleoclimate proxies, this work demonstrates that the most likely cause of past West Antarctic grounding-line reversal was a regime shift from a warm to cold ocean cavity.
- Daniel P. Lowry
- , Holly K. Han
- & Robert M. McKay
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| Open AccessStrong linkage between benthic oxygen uptake and bacterial tetraether lipids in deep-sea trench regions
Xiao et al. uncover a strong linkage between marine bacterial tetraether lipids and benthic oxygen uptake in deepsea trench regions, indicating their potential for assessing microbial diagenetic activity and organic carbon degradation.
- Wenjie Xiao
- , Yunping Xu
- & Ronnie N. Glud
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| Open AccessPhysiography, foraging mobility, and the first peopling of Sahul
The speed and route by which Homo sapiens colonised Sahul is an ongoing topic of research. Here, the authors model the physical environment as it changes through time in combination with Lévy walk foraging patterns to suggest a wave of dispersal following coastlines and rivers.
- Tristan Salles
- , Renaud Joannes-Boyau
- & Manon Lorcery
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| Open AccessResponses of marine trophic levels to the combined effects of ocean acidification and warming
Marine organisms are increasingly exposed to both ocean acidification and warming. Here, the authors report a meta-analysis of fully factorial experiments with both acidification and warming treatments, finding that synergistic interactions are less common than expected.
- Nan Hu
- , Paul E. Bourdeau
- & Johan Hollander
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| Open AccessOrbital- and millennial-scale Asian winter monsoon variability across the Pliocene–Pleistocene glacial intensification
Persistent millennial Asian winter monsoon variability is shown to be superposed on orbital 41-kyr and 100-kyr cycles across the Pliocene–Pleistocene glacial intensification using a paleomagnetically dated high-resolution Chinese Loess Plateau grain size record.
- Hong Ao
- , Diederik Liebrand
- & Peng Zhang
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| Open AccessSpeed of environmental change frames relative ecological risk in climate change and climate intervention scenarios
Hueholt et al. find that considering how the rate of temperature change contributes to ecosystem risk helps inform future hypothetical design of climate intervention scenarios
- Daniel M. Hueholt
- , Elizabeth A. Barnes
- & Ariel L. Morrison
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| Open AccessShining light on dinoflagellate photosystem I
Dinoflagellates are ecologically important and essential to corals and other cnidarians as phytosymbionts, but their photosystems had been underexplored. Recently, photosystem I (PSI) of dinoflagellate Symbiodinium sp. was structurally characterized using cryo-Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM). These analyses revealed a distinct organization of the PSI supercomplex, including two previously unidentified subunits, PsaT and PsaU, and shed light on interactions between light harvesting antenna proteins and the PSI core. These results have implications with respect to the evolution of dinoflagellates and their association with cnidarians.
- Senjie Lin
- , Shuaishuai Wu
- & Arthur R. Grossman
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| Open AccessIron alloys of volatile elements in the deep Earth’s interior
Many volatile elements are depleted in the bulk silicate Earth. Here, the authors found that these volatile elements tend to react with Fe under pressure and may be sequestered within Earth’s core by forming substitutional Fe alloys.
- Yifan Tian
- , Peiyu Zhang
- & Hanyu Liu
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| Open AccessSustained increase in suspended sediments near global river deltas over the past two decades
River sediments play a critical role in sustaining coastal ecosystems. This study examines patterns of coastal suspended sediment concentration (SSC) for 349 deltas worldwide via satellite images and investigated the possible driving factors.
- Xuejiao Hou
- , Danghan Xie
- & Jaap H. Nienhuis
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| Open AccessTowards establishing a fungal economics spectrum in soil saprobic fungi
Challenges in obtaining empirical trait data hinder the development of trait-based frameworks for soil microbes. Here, the authors analyse traits of saprobic fungal isolates from a grassland site to propose a fungal economics spectrum, suggesting a general trait framework for soil fungi.
- Tessa Camenzind
- , Carlos A. Aguilar-Trigueros
- & Matthias C. Rillig
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| Open AccessWeakened western Indian Ocean dominance on Antarctic sea ice variability in a changing climate
The authors show that the influence of the western Indian Ocean on Antarctic sea ice variability in austral spring has been weakening under greenhouse global warming.
- Li Zhang
- , Xuya Ren
- & Lixin Wu
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| Open AccessBioadhesive interface for marine sensors on diverse soft fragile species
It is useful to be able to equip marine animals with sensors, but it can be challenging to attach these to soft marine organisms. Here, the authors use an adhesive hydrogel to achieve rapid attachment of sensors to marine life including jellyfish, squid and lobster.
- Camilo Duque Londono
- , Seth F. Cones
- & Xuanhe Zhao
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| Open AccessGlacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost
A pan-Arctic estimate of past and future subsea permafrost including solid Earth effects causes local sea level to differ from the global mean. Future subsea permafrost disappears faster under high than low emissions scenarios.
- Roger C. Creel
- , Frederieke Miesner
- & Pier Paul Overduin
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| Open AccessDiversity and potential host-interactions of viruses inhabiting deep-sea seamount sediments
Little is known about viral communities in deep-sea seamounts. In this study, the authors performed metagenomic and virome analysis from sediments in the western Pacific Ocean and characterize the diversity, distribution and potential ecological roles of viruses in deep-sea seamount sediments.
- Meishun Yu
- , Menghui Zhang
- & Min Jin
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| Open AccessContinuous and low-carbon production of biomass flash graphene
It is challenging to produce biomass FG continuously due to the lack of an integrated device. Here, we create an integrated automatic system with energy requirement-oriented allocation to achieve continuous biomass FG production with a much lower carbon footprint.
- Xiangdong Zhu
- , Litao Lin
- & Yong-Guan Zhu
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Comment
| Open AccessAll-inclusive nitrifiers in Antarctic soils
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.
- Maximiliano Ortiz
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| Open AccessUnveiling unique microbial nitrogen cycling and nitrification driver in coastal Antarctica
This study reveals a unique microbial nitrogen cycling process in Antarctica’s coastal regions, with nitrification playing a significant role. The research notably identifies comammox Nitrospira clade B as a key driver of this process.
- Ping Han
- , Xiufeng Tang
- & Guitao Shi
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| Open AccessEnhanced atmospheric oxidation toward carbon neutrality reduces methane’s climate forcing
Atmospheric chemistry-climate model projections reveal an increase in global hydroxyl radical concentrations on the path toward carbon neutrality in the 21st century. This consequently benefits methane mitigation.
- Mingxu Liu
- , Yu Song
- & Tong Zhu
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| Open AccessIntegrating social vulnerability into high-resolution global flood risk mapping
The study introduces a method of integrating gridded estimates of social vulnerability into high-resolution global flood risk maps demonstrating new insights into the geography of flood risk within and between countries.
- Sean Fox
- , Felix Agyemang
- & Jeffrey Neal
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Article
| Open AccessThe deepwater oxygen deficit in stratified shallow seas is mediated by diapycnal mixing
Oxygen deprivation in the marine environment is likely to be exacerbated by climate change. We present data to show the potential impact of changing weather patterns in the development of a seasonal oxygen deficit in seasonally stratifying shelf seas.
- Tom Rippeth
- , Sijing Shen
- & Jonathan Sharples
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| Open AccessAmundsen Sea circulation controls bottom upwelling and Antarctic Pine Island and Thwaites ice shelf melting
On-shelf circulation modulates vertical velocity via bottom Ekman dynamics, controlling thermocline depth and melting of Amundsen Sea ice shelves. This mechanism does not support the widely believed linkage between off-shelf wind and on-shelf heat.
- Taewook Park
- , Yoshihiro Nakayama
- & SungHyun Nam
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| Open AccessMaximizing carbon sequestration potential in Chinese forests through optimal management
The authors show China’s forests can sequester 172.3 million tons of carbon per year in biomass by 2100, with an additional 28.1 million tons from improved management practices, but neglecting wood harvest impacts will distort long-term future projections.
- Zhen Yu
- , Shirong Liu
- & Evgenios Agathokleous
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| Open AccessContrasting carbon cycle along tropical forest aridity gradients in West Africa and Amazonia
This study finds that West African ecosystems are generally more productive than equivalent ecosystems in Amazonia. It also suggests that a semi-deciduous forest site in Ghana is the world’s most productive forest measured to date.
- Huanyuan Zhang-Zheng
- , Stephen Adu-Bredu
- & Yadvinder Malhi