Earth and environmental sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The effect of Asian summer monsoon hydrological changes on key biogeochemical processes remains poorly understood. Here, using a suite of biomarkers, the authors reconstruct palaeohydrological conditions during the Holocene and show that the peatland carbon cycle is strongly sensitive to paleohydrological changes.

    • Xianyu Huang
    • , Richard D. Pancost
    •  & Shucheng Xie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Periodic changes in the tilt of the Earth’s axis alter the distribution of incoming solar radiation. Here, the authors show that the temperature response to this forcing seemingly differs in models and Antarctic ice cores, with a better agreement reached if ice cores are recording a seasonally weighted signal.

    • Michael P. Erb
    • , Charles S. Jackson
    •  & Pedro N. DiNezio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Drought impacts on tropical forest soil carbon and greenhouse gas dynamics are poorly understood. Here, the authors investigate the impacts of the 2015 drought in a forest in Puerto Rico and find that it caused shifts in soil carbon dioxide and methane emissions and led to a decrease in available phosphorus.

    • Christine S. O’Connell
    • , Leilei Ruan
    •  & Whendee L. Silver

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phosphorus is presumed to have been a limiting nutrient in the Archean ocean due to binding to iron oxides. Here, the authors show the heating of iron with phosphate results in the reduction of phosphate to the ion phosphite, which is solubilized and ameliorates the issue of a low Archean phosphorus supply.

    • Barry Herschy
    • , Sae Jung Chang
    •  & Matthew A. Pasek

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite the biological importance of sulfones, available synthetic methods usually involve toxic metals and reagents or harsh conditions. Here, the authors report an environmentally benign procedure for the metal-free carbon-sulfur bond formation of allylic sulfones in neutral aqueous medium at room temperature.

    • Peizhong Xie
    • , Jinyu Wang
    •  & Teck-Peng Loh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Habitat change and warming each contribute to species' elevational range shifts, but their synergistic effects have not been explored. Here, Guo et al. reanalyze published data and show that the interaction between warming and forest change predicts range shifts better than either factor on its own.

    • Fengyi Guo
    • , Jonathan Lenoir
    •  & Timothy C. Bonebrake

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The inclusion of greenhouse gas forcing in regional climate model experiments is a non-regulated, non-documented practice. Here, the authors demonstrate the significant of the impact of this lack of regulation on simulated regional warming trends, which can double climate change signals under 1.5 °C global warming.

    • S. Jerez
    • , J. M. López-Romero
    •  & J. P. Montávez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Warm Atlantic water circulates cyclonically around the Nordic Seas while gradually cooling. Here, the authors show that the retreat of the ice edge toward Greenland has led to further transformation of this water mass, which is no longer situated underneath sea ice when transiting the western Iceland Sea in winter.

    • Kjetil Våge
    • , Lukas Papritz
    •  & G. W. K. Moore

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Arctic ecosystems are at threat due to the rapid nature of climate change and Arctic amplification. Here, the authors show that the watershed of Lake Hazen, the Arctic’s largest lake by volume, has undergone dramatic changes in response to as little as a ~1°C increase in summer air temperatures.

    • Igor Lehnherr
    • , Vincent L. St. Louis
    •  & Charles H. Talbot

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bridgmanite is the most abundant mineral in the lower mantle and therefore is crucial to interpreting geophysical observations and models. Here, the authors show that ferric-iron-only bridgmanite Fe3+ undergoes a spin transition at 43–53 GPa at 300 K and therefore has implications for mantle structure and dynamics.

    • Jiachao Liu
    • , Susannah M. Dorfman
    •  & E. Ercan Alp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Seismic discontinuities near 410 and 660 km depth have often been used to map lateral variations in mantle temperature. Here, the authors apply array analysis to SS reflections off these discontinuities under Hawaii and find evidence of lateral variations in mantle composition at 660 km, but not at 410 km.

    • Chunquan Yu
    • , Elizabeth A. Day
    •  & Robert D. van der Hilst

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Climate oscillations such as El Niño Southern Oscillation may impact global crop production. Here, the authors, using a unified framework of multiple climate oscillations, find that from 1961 to 2010 over two-thirds of the global cropland is located where crop productivity is influenced by climate oscillations.

    • Matias Heino
    • , Michael J. Puma
    •  & Matti Kummu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The fate of anthropogenic nitrogen (N) remains understudied in South Asian water bodies despite its impact on water chemistry and quality. Here the authors show that N loss in Indian freshwater reservoirs is tightly coupled to methanotrophy, which has helped curb eutrophication and greenhouse gas emissions.

    • S. Wajih A. Naqvi
    • , Phyllis Lam
    •  & Marcel M. M. Kuypers

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Previous studies of Pre-Columbian earthworks in the Amazon basin have left a gap in the Upper Tapajós Basin (UTB). Here, the authors detect 104 Pre-Columbian earthworks in the UTB, suggesting continuous occupation across southern Amazonia and higher population densities than previously estimated.

    • Jonas Gregorio de Souza
    • , Denise Pahl Schaan
    •  & José Iriarte

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nitrite tends to peak at the base of the sunlit zone in the ocean, but the ecological drivers of the local and global distributions of nitrite are not known. Here, Zakem et al. use a marine ecosystem model to show how the interactions of nitrifying microbes mediate nitrite accumulation.

    • Emily J. Zakem
    • , Alia Al-Haj
    •  & Michael J. Follows

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding controls on past nitrogen budgets can improve predictions for future global biogeochemical cycling. Here, using foraminiferal pore density and δ13C, the authors present a quantitative record of deglacial nitrate from the intermediate Pacific and infer close coupling between carbon and nitrogen cycles.

    • Nicolaas Glock
    • , Zeynep Erdem
    •  & Anton Eisenhauer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Land surface models often use a spatially uniform air temperature threshold when partitioning rain and snow. Here Jennings et al. show that the threshold varies significantly across the Northern Hemisphere and that threshold selection is a large source of uncertainty in snowfall simulations.

    • Keith S. Jennings
    • , Taylor S. Winchell
    •  & Noah P. Molotch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Though biodiversity is expected to be important in productivity in tree communities, there is little empirical evidence of this at local scales. Here, Fichtner et al. show that higher neighbourhood species richness increased tree growth, explaining over half of the variation in community productivity.

    • Andreas Fichtner
    • , Werner Härdtle
    •  & Goddert von Oheimb

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In a global field survey across a wide range of organic soils, the authors find that N2O flux can be predicted by models incorporating soil nitrate concentration (NO3–), water content and temperature. N2O emission increases with NO3– and temperature and follows a bell-shaped distribution with water content.

    • Jaan Pärn
    • , Jos T. A. Verhoeven
    •  & Ülo Mander

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Earthquakes generated from the Nankai Trough have caused much devastation over the years. Here, the authors present a b-value map for the Nankai Trough zone, where the Eastern part of the trough has lower b-values than the West, which may help to explain why the Eastern part tends to rupture first.

    • K. Z. Nanjo
    •  & A. Yoshida

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The effect of plants on future extreme heat events under elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) is unclear. Here, the authors show that CO2 plant physiological effects lead to increases in heat waves within a suite of climate model simulations, suggesting that vegetated areas are at risk of increased heat extremes.

    • Christopher B. Skinner
    • , Christopher J. Poulsen
    •  & Justin S. Mankin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Human activity, such as draining and mining of peatlands, is transforming these long-term carbon sinks into sources. Here, the authors assess current and future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from degrading peatlands and estimate the magnitude of potential GHG savings that could be achieved by restoring them.

    • J. Leifeld
    •  & L. Menichetti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lakes on the Greenland Ice Sheet transfer water to the bed when they drain, but the impact is unknown. Here, the authors use a 3D model to show that lakes drain when fractures form, causing a chain reaction in which cascading lake drainages extend inland and deliver water to previously isolated regions of the bed.

    • Poul Christoffersen
    • , Marion Bougamont
    •  & Rickard Pettersson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The surface types that comprise the dark zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet, an area of bare ice with low albedo, are unknown. Here, the authors use UAV imagery to show that, during the melt-season, biologically active surface impurities are responsible for spatial albedo patterns and the dark zone itself.

    • Jonathan C. Ryan
    • , Alun Hubbard
    •  & Jason Box

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whether accelerated Arctic warming is favorable for more frequent severe winter weather remains controversial. Here the authors present an observational analysis that links Arctic warming to severe winter weather, showing that extreme weather is 2–4 times more likely in the eastern US when the Arctic is warm.

    • Judah Cohen
    • , Karl Pfeiffer
    •  & Jennifer A. Francis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    To achieve the climate target of the Paris Agreement substantial emission reductions will be required across economic sectors. Here the authors show that agriculture can make a significant contribution to non-CO2 mitigation efforts through structural change in the livestock sector and the deployment of technical options.

    • Stefan Frank
    • , Robert Beach
    •  & Michael Obersteiner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The origin of large, long-term sea-level oscillations during non-glacial times remains uncertain. Here, the authors develop geological evidence that reveals astronomically forced land–ocean water exchange as a potential missing link for reconciling geological records and models of sea-level change.

    • Mingsong Li
    • , Linda A. Hinnov
    •  & James G. Ogg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The rheology of the upper mantle is key to understanding how plate tectonics may evolve. Here, using GPS and tide-gauge measurements along the Sumatran subduction zone, the authors’ show that a bi-viscous rheology model is needed to explain the stress and strain evolution of the upper mantle following earthquakes.

    • Qiang Qiu
    • , James D. P. Moore
    •  & Emma M. Hill

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microplastics are emerging ocean contaminants, but their fates in the ocean environment are poorly understood. Here the authors show that Antarctic krill digest micro plastics into nano plastics, thereby generating particles of a size that can cross biological and physical barriers.

    • Amanda L. Dawson
    • , So Kawaguchi
    •  & Susan M. Bengtson Nash

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phenotypic plasticity—the ability to express multiple phenotypes from the same genome—is a widespread adaptation to environmental variability. Here, Oostra et al analyze transcriptomes of an African butterfly with distinct seasonal phenotypes, and observe lack of variation for plasticity, limiting potential for evolutionary responses to climate change.

    • Vicencio Oostra
    • , Marjo Saastamoinen
    •  & Christopher W. Wheat

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The response of biogeochemical nitrogen cycle to Earth-surface oxygenation remains poorly known. Here, the authors show that aerobic nitrogen cycling was pervasive prior to the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE), but its evolution was complex, with diazotrophy prevailing and sustaining productivity after the GOE.

    • Genming Luo
    • , Christopher K. Junium
    •  & Roger E. Summons

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A basic requirement for reconstructing past environmental change is accurate understanding of sediment age. Here, the authors show that the interpretation of a benchmark archive in China has been inaccurate, and that ice volume primarily controls desert dynamics, sediment preservation, and precipitation at the site.

    • T. Stevens
    • , J.-P. Buylaert
    •  & H. Lu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multiple complex tectonic and climatic processes have formed the Andes, which today provides a unique ecological niche. Here, Scott et al. investigate how the chemical composition of lavas from stratovolcanoes can be used to give insight on the uplift of the Andes over the last 200 million years.

    • Erin M. Scott
    • , Mark B. Allen
    •  & Mihai N. Ducea

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Species richness patterns are driven by biotic and abiotic factors, the relative strengths of which are unclear. Here, the authors test how species interactions or environmental traits influence fish richness across over 700 Canadian lakes, showing a surprisingly small role of negative interactions.

    • Andrew S. MacDougall
    • , Eric Harvey
    •  & Kevin S. McCann

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    The phase state of organic particles in the atmosphere has important consequences for the impact of aerosols on climate, visibility, air quality and health. Here, the authors review the evidence for the formation of amorphous glassy particles and the methods for determining aerosol particle viscosity.

    • Jonathan P. Reid
    • , Allan K. Bertram
    •  & Grazia Rovelli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Modelling studies propose sea ice to be one of the underlying mechanisms for the Mid-Pleistocene transition. Here, the authors show Mid-Pleistocene subarctic North Pacific sea ice dynamics based on biomarkers and biogenic opal accumulation rates, supporting the importance of sea ice for climate change.

    • H. Detlef
    • , S. T. Belt
    •  & S. Kender

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Marine spatial planning is used to co-ordinate multiple ocean uses, and is frequently informed by tradeoffs and composite metrics. Here, Lester et al. introduce an approach that plans for multiple uses simultaneously whilst balancing individual objectives, using a case study of aquaculture development in California.

    • S. E. Lester
    • , J. M. Stevens
    •  & C. White

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