Environmental impact articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The health consequences of exposure to pesticides are uncertain and subject to much debate. Here, the effect of exposure during pregnancy is investigated in an agriculturally dominated residential area, showing that an increase in adverse birth outcomes is observed with very high levels of pesticide exposure.

    • Ashley E. Larsen
    • , Steven D. Gaines
    •  & Olivier Deschênes

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The biofuel ethanol has been introduced into urban transportation in many countries. Here, by measuring aerosols in São Paulo, the authors find that high ethanol prices coincided with an increase in harmful nanoparticles by a third, as drivers switched from ethanol to cheaper gasoline, showing a benefit of ethanol.

    • Alberto Salvo
    • , Joel Brito
    •  & Franz M. Geiger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Global warming and hydropower regulations are major threats to future fresh-water availability and biodiversity. Here, the authors show that their impact on flow regime over a large landmass result in similar changes, but hydropower is more critical locally and may have potential for climate adaptation in floodplains.

    • B. Arheimer
    • , C. Donnelly
    •  & G. Lindström

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The response of soil organic carbon in wetlands to water-table decline remains uncertain. Here, the authors examine the role of iron in mediating soil enzyme activity and lignin stabilization and find that iron protecting lignin phenols in soils exposed to air acts as an iron gate against the enzyme latch.

    • Yiyun Wang
    • , Hao Wang
    •  & Xiaojuan Feng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The rate of subsea permafrost degradation is a key factor controlling marine methane emissions in the Arctic. Here, using re-drilled boreholes, the authors show that the ice-bonded permafrost table in the near-shore East Siberian Arctic Shelf has deepened by ∼14 cm per year over the past 31–32 years.

    • Natalia Shakhova
    • , Igor Semiletov
    •  & Denis Chernykh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes’ ecosystems compared to historical records are unclear. Here, using paleolimnological evidence, the authors show that Lake Superior experienced a slow increase in productivity throughout the Holocene, but that this rate has increased in the last century.

    • M. D. O’Beirne
    • , J. P. Werne
    •  & E. D. Reavie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rivers provide a major pathway for ocean plastic waste, but effective mitigation is dependent on a quantification of active sources. Here, the authors present a global model of riverine plastic inputs, and estimate annual plastic waste of almost 2.5 million tonnes, with 86% sourced from Asia.

    • Laurent C. M. Lebreton
    • , Joost van der Zwet
    •  & Julia Reisser

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deforestation and edge effects around cleared areas impact forest stability. Here, the authors examine human impacts on Amazonian forest-savanna bistability and show that tree cover bimodality is enhanced in regions close to human activities and is nearly absent in regions unaffected by human activities.

    • Bert Wuyts
    • , Alan R. Champneys
    •  & Joanna I. House

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The damming of rivers has large impacts on the balance of riverine carbon (C) processes and fluxes to the oceans. Here, the authors use decadal riverine organic C loads and model C transformations to quantify in-reservoir organic C burial, mineralization and assess decreases in riverine exports to the oceans.

    • Taylor Maavara
    • , Ronny Lauerwald
    •  & Philippe Van Cappellen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Iron oxide nanoparticles contribute to shortwave absorption in the form of desert dust. Motekiet al. show that iron oxide particles of anthropogenic origin, potentially from motor vehicles and blast furnaces, also contribute to atmospheric heating over East Asia.

    • Nobuhiro Moteki
    • , Kouji Adachi
    •  & Yutaka Kondo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    COP21 led to a global commitment to decarbonization before 2100 to combat climate change, but leaves the timing and scale of mitigation efforts to individual countries. Here, the authors show that global carbon emissions need to peak within a decade to maintain realistic pathways for achieving the Paris Agreement.

    • Brian Walsh
    • , Philippe Ciais
    •  & Michael Obersteiner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Changes in penguin populations on the Antarctic Peninsula in recent decades have been linked to environmental factors such as sea ice. Here, the authors show that penguin colony change on Ardley Island, NW Antarctic Peninsula during the last 8,500 years was primarily driven by volcanic activity.

    • Stephen J. Roberts
    • , Patrick Monien
    •  & Dominic A. Hodgson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantifying the toxicity of herbicides applied in the field is difficult. Here, the author applies a quotient to evaluate changes in relative toxicity over the past 25 years and finds that increased herbicide use does not necessarily constitute increased toxicity.

    • Andrew R. Kniss

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coastal Louisiana wetlands face some of the world’s highest rates of relative sea-level rise and loss. Here, the authors show that there is a strong regional component to coastal Louisiana wetland vulnerability to relative sea-level rise as well as contributing to the understanding of subsidence in the region.

    • Krista L. Jankowski
    • , Torbjörn E Törnqvist
    •  & Anjali M Fernandes

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Marine plankton are the basis of the oceanic food chain. Here, Chivers and colleagues use ocean-basin wide plankton population data over six decades to show huge differences in the response of different plankton groups to climate change with major implications for the marine ecosystem and fisheries.

    • William J. Chivers
    • , Anthony W. Walne
    •  & Graeme C. Hays

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite their role in oceanic CaCO3production, the physiological processes responsible for calcification in foraminifera are poorly understood Here, the authors show that calcification is driven by rapid transformation of bicarbonate to carbonate inside the cytoplasm, achieved by active outward proton pumping.

    • Takashi Toyofuku
    • , Miki Y. Matsuo
    •  & Hiroshi Kitazato

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Forests impact continental-scale moisture recycling, but their impact on regional-scale cloud cover is little known. Here, using satellite observations, Teulinget al. illustrate enhanced cloud cover over regional forested areas in western Europe due to the establishment of a forest-breeze circulation.

    • Adriaan J. Teuling
    • , Christopher M. Taylor
    •  & Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano

  • Article
    | Open Access

    As shale and tight gas basins are increasingly used to extract natural gas, understanding how gas migrates is important. Wood and Sanei find that secondary migration in a tight-gas basin leads to up-dip transmission of enriched methane into surficial strata which may leak into groundwater and the atmosphere.

    • James M. Wood
    •  & Hamed Sanei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Past volcanic eruptions along the densely populated Ethiopian Rift valley remain poorly constrained despite the present day hazard. Hutchison et al. show that a large volcanic flare up along a 200 km section of the rift occurred between 320–170 ka dramatically affecting the landscape and hominin population.

    • William Hutchison
    • , Raffaella Fusillo
    •  & Andrew T. Calvert

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Invasive insects impose many economic costs, for example by consuming crops and spreading disease. Here, Bradshaw et al. compile a database of the costs of invasive insects and conservatively estimate that the yearly global cost (in 2014-equivalent US dollars) is at least $70 billion for goods and services and $6.9 billion for human health.

    • Corey J. A. Bradshaw
    • , Boris Leroy
    •  & Franck Courchamp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Megacities rely on groundwater from aquifers that may be over-exploited and be at risk of contamination. Khan et al. evaluate the complex aquifers supplying Dhaka, Bangladesh and show that extensive groundwater pumping could lead to unpredictable future arsenic contamination in deep aquifers outside the city.

    • Mahfuzur R. Khan
    • , Mohammad Koneshloo
    •  & Holly A. Michael

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Black carbon (BC) contributes positively to the radiation budget, yet models are unable to correctly capture its seasonal variability in the Arctic. Here, the authors demonstrate improved model skill in simulating BC concentration and sources when including estimates of BC emissions from fires.

    • P Winiger
    • , A Andersson
    •  & Ö. Gustafsson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Protected areas are intended to safeguard wildlife, but their effectiveness has at times been questioned. Barnes, Craigie, and colleagues show that protected areas do offer refuge—maintaining their bird and mammal abundances—but with greater success for larger-bodied species and in more developed nations.

    • Megan D. Barnes
    • , Ian D. Craigie
    •  & Stephen Woodley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Human settlements are often associated with degraded landscapes. Trant and colleagues now show that near-shore settlements in British Columbia have locally enhanced forest productivity over millennia by enriching soils with calcium and phosphorous derived from shellfish remnants.

    • Andrew J. Trant
    • , Wiebe Nijland
    •  & Brian M. Starzomski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Habitat loss and urbanization are primary components of human impact on the environment. Here, Venter et al.use global data on infrastructure, agriculture, and urbanization to show that the human footprint is growing slower than the human population, but footprints are increasing in biodiverse regions.

    • Oscar Venter
    • , Eric W. Sanderson
    •  & James E. M. Watson

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