Recent ucb_espm items

Influence of Fiber Deviation on Strength of Thin Birch (Betula pendula Roth.) Veneers.

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The currently pursued implementation of wood into novel high performance applications such as automotive parts require knowledge about the material behaviour including ultimate strength. Previous research has shown that fiber deviation seems to be the dominating factor influencing the strength of thin veneers. This study aims to further investigate and quantify the influence of fiber deviation in two dimension and different hierarchical levels on the tensile strength of thin birch veneers. The fiber deviation in- and out-of-plane as well as the micro fibril angle were assessed by means of wide-angle X-ray scattering. Tensile strength was determined in laboratory experiments. Results show a high variability for in-plane fiber deviation mainly constituted by knots and other growth influencing factors. Pearson correlations between strength and fiber deviation ranged from -0.594 up to -0.852. Best correlation (r = -0.852) was achieved for maximum in-plane fiber deviation directly...

Interfacial Adhesion and Mechanical Properties of Wood-Polymer Hybrid Composites Prepared by Injection Molding.

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Birch (Betula pendula Roth.) and beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) solid wood and plywood were overmolded with polyamide 6 (PA 6) and polypropylene (PP) to investigate their mechanical properties and interfacial adhesion. In the case of PA 6, maximum tensile shear strengths values of more than 8 to 9 MPa were obtained for birch and beech, respectively. The values are comparable to bond strengths of commercial joints bonded with formaldehyde-containing amino-plastics. Perpendicular to the wood elements, bond strength values of 3 MPa was achieved for PA 6. The penetration of the polymers into the wood structure results in a non-densified interphase and subsequent plastic deformation of the wood structure beyond the interphase. These compressed areas influenced the interfacial adhesion and mechanical interlocking. SEM and XPS analysis revealed different interpenetration behavior of the polymers into the wood structure, with chemical interaction confirmed only for wood and...

Engineered Wood Products (EWP)—Resource Efficiency and Environmental Performance

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Today, the construction sector has access to a vast array of resources, ranging from non-renewable materials like steel and concrete to natural materials like stone and timber. These materials are either used alone or in combination as part of composites. Driven by the need to reduce the environmental impact of the built environment, Engineered Wood Products (EWPs) like Glued Laminated Timber (GLT) or Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) have gained increasing interest in the construction sector in recent years. This chapter explores the resource efficiency and environmental performance of these EWPs, by examining established literature on production processes, material yields, and life cycle assessments. The chapter highlights the role of different wood species, processing methods, and mechanical as well as environmental performances. It also discusses circularity and potential areas for future research to enhance the overall sustainability of the wood value chain. This comparative approach...

Climate change increases risks of wildfire and biome shifts in United States national parks in California

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Human-caused climate change has increased wildfire above natural levels across extensive areas of the world and caused vegetation biome shifts, detected and attributed from field observations. These changes threaten ecosystem integrity, yet detailed spatial patterns of risks remain unknown. We identify high risk areas in the globally unique ecosystems of Yosemite and three other United States national parks in California through analyses at 10 m spatial resolution. Our results reveal that climate change increased national park average temperatures up to 2.1 °C above pre-industrial levels from 1895 to 2023, exceeding the global average increase of 1.2 ± 0.1 °C. Forests in the region naturally require periodic fire but suppression generated severe fire risks on 6%–13% of park area by 2024. Under the highest emissions scenario (+4.6 °C–5 °C locally), climate change could shift potential biomes hundreds of meters upslope, on up to half of park area, increase fire frequencies 150%–350%,...

Wildlife movement responses to the press–pulse–pause of the Anthropocene

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Wildlife is increasingly forced to share space with humans, facing disturbances that operate across different spatial and temporal scales. The press-pulse framework, originally developed in the disturbance ecology literature, distinguishes between long-term sustained 'presses' and more acute 'pulses'. Because pulses occur during ongoing press conditions, their ecological effects depend on how they interact with that background, helping explain why certain disturbances result in transient, localized changes, while others lead to lasting, widespread impacts. Here, we expand this framework by applying it to regimes of human disturbances, and incorporating 'pauses' as a third category. Pulses and pauses (e.g. episodes of extreme weather, or drastic changes in human mobility) can substantially affect wildlife behaviour, yet their effects are often modulated by background 'press' conditions. We offer a conceptual framework for disentangling effects across space and time and highlight...

Vegetation responses to air dryness amplify future land surface warming

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Temperature exerts a first-order control on vegetation photosynthesis and transpiration. Yet most studies investigating temperature impacts on plants rely on near-surface air temperature, rather than canopy temperature—the temperature plants actually experience. Because canopy temperature directly regulates ecosystem function, it provides a more accurate measure of vegetation–climate interactions. Combining Earth System Model (ESM) simulations and satellite observations in a dual emergent constraint, here we show that canopy temperature is projected to increase substantially more than air temperature (~0.11-degrees more or a 16% increase in their difference) over the 21st century. The ESM ensemble median fails to capture these stronger increases in the majority of vegetated regions. We find that the largest projected increases in the difference between canopy and air temperature are predicted to occur in regions where elevating moisture stress—particularly rising vapor pressure...

Influence of understory vegetation on fungal communities and 2,4,6-trichloroanisole contamination in raw cork from standing trees

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cork oak forests are of considerable economic importance, they serve as pastures, and they produce the raw material used by the cork industry. In many instances, the economic value of cork oak forests is closely linked to the demand for cork stoppers used in winemaking, and any decline in cork quality can have significant undesirable consequences. This is particularly relevant for cork taint associated with off-flavours caused by 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) and formed by microbial methylation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP), a precursor that can originate either from anthropogenic sources, such as pollution or pesticides, or from natural cork components. This study compared fungal communities and TCA contamination levels in cork from forests with and without shrub understory, selected to assess the potential influence of understory vegetation on fungal composition and TCA formation. The correlation analysis showed a highly significant relationship (p = 0.005) between understory...

High Genetic Diversity of the Cypress Canker Pathogen Seiridium cardinale in the Southern Hemisphere

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT Cypress canker, caused by several species of Seiridium , affects Cupressaceae worldwide. Of the seven described pathogens that cause this disease, S. cardinale is one of the most aggressive and widespread. This study examined the genetic diversity of S. cardinale isolates from the Southern Hemisphere, with a focus on South Africa and New Zealand. Three S. cardinale genomes were sequenced to evaluate the utility of existing microsatellite markers and to identify and develop new microsatellite markers. Sixty isolates from the Southern Hemisphere, together with 22 reference strains from Europe and California, were genotyped at 10 loci. Genetic diversity was high for the South African ( H exp = 0.80) and New Zealand ( H exp = 0.67) populations, though rarefaction indicated even greater diversity in California, the presumed native range of the pathogen. Southern Hemisphere populations showed no evidence of recombination and isolates were closely related to one another and...

Dynamics of ectomycorrhizal communities in Sardinian cork oak forests: influence of management system, lithological substrate and season.

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ectomycorrhizal fungi represent a key component of forest ecosystems, contributing significantly to tree nutrition, stress tolerance, and overall ecosystem resilience. In the Mediterranean region, cork oak (Quercus suber L.) forests, have significant ecological and economic value, and their vitality strongly depends on these belowground mutualistic relationships. Although previous studies have investigated the diversity and function of ectomycorrhizal fungi, several aspects concerning their ecological dynamics remain inadequately understood, particularly in cork oak forests. This study investigates the structural and dynamics of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities in cork oak forests of Sardinia located on granitic, basaltic, and trachytic substrates and subjected to different management practices (natural, grazed, and ploughed). We assess how forest management and seasonal variability interact with lithological conditions to shape community structure and diversity. Three cork...

Atlas for “Climate change increases risks of wildfire and biome shifts in United States national parks in California”

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Atlas for “Climate change increases risks of wildfire and biome shifts in United States national parks in California”

Climate Change and Forest Carbon in the Proposed Parcul Național Făgăraș, România

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Munții Făgăraș range in the southern Carpathian Mountains, Romania, harbors expanses of primary forest and high biodiversity, for which the European Union designated the area as a Natura 2000 site. Local initiatives seek to conserve Făgăraș ecosystems and services through its protection as the proposed Parcul Național Făgăraș, which would be one of the most extensive national parks in continental Europe. Uncontrolled logging poses an immediate threat. At the same time, climate change, caused by carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, motor vehicles, deforestation, and other human sources, threatens ecosystem integrity. Făgăraș forests naturally help prevent climate change by storing carbon. To assist long-term conservation of Făgăraș ecosystems, this climate change assessment presents locally specific scientific information on climate change, ecological impacts, risks, and the magnitude of forest carbon and its ecosystem service. Climate change increased...

Endangerment of Ecosystems by Climate Change Caused by Greenhouse Gases from Human Activities. Comment on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed rule Docket EPA–HQ–OAR–2025–0194.

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Published scientific evidence shows that climate change caused by greenhouse gases from human activities endangers natural ecosystems around the world and in the United States, including in U.S. national parks, as shown in the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2022). The scientific evidence shows that the emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities that cause climate change endanger the public health and public welfare of current and future generations. This strongly supports maintaining the endangerment finding of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA 2009).

Divergent carbon use efficiency-growth rate tradeoff in popular biological growth models

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract. Carbon use efficiency (CUE) is an important trait emerging from processes regulating biological growth. CUE can be computed either based on the growth of structural biomass or total biomass divided by substrate uptake rate. Nonequilibrium thermodynamics and observations suggest that, for an exponentially growing population of cells, structural biomass CUE should first increase, then peak, and finally decrease with specific growth rate; meanwhile, total biomass CUE increases asymptotically with specific growth rate. We compared predictions from six popular models that are often used for plant and microbial growth in existing ecosystem models. We found that, for an exponentially growing population of biological cells, (1) the source-driven Pirt and Compromise models predict that structural biomass CUE increase asymptotically with growth rate; (2) the apparent sink-driven modified Droop model predicts that structural biomass CUE decreases with growth rate; and (3) the sink-driven...

Warming and snow loss increase reliance on old groundwater in a Colorado River headwater

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Atmospheric warming is reducing snowpack, with uncertain effects on mountainous streamflow, a crucial water resource. Despite limited historical observations of groundwater–streamflow interactions above 2,500 m, new measurements in the Upper Colorado River headwaters indicate declining groundwater storage that is dated decades to millennia old. Here we use integrated hydrologic modelling spanning water years 2015–2021 to determine whether the loss of old-age groundwater buffers streamflow during low-snow years and whether that loss is exacerbated with warming. Results show that old-groundwater contributions to streams remain relatively steady through time, unlike the more variable contributions from young groundwater. Numerical experiments of increased surface air temperatures (+2.5 °C and +4 °C) increase rain–snow fractions and evapotranspiration and decrease runoff ratio by 2–3% per degree Celsius increase. As streamflow declines with warming, the age of groundwater supporting...

A genome assembly of the speckled dace, Rhinichthys osculus

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The speckled dace, Rhinichtyhs osculus, is a cyprinoid fish species complex (family: Leuciscidae) with one of the widest native ranges of any freshwater fish in western North America. It occupies a variety of freshwater habitats and exhibits considerable morphological and genetic variation across its range. Several endemic taxa within the species complex are imperiled, four of which are protected under the US Endangered Species Act, with two more proposed for listing. Here, we present an annotated, scaffold-level assembly of the speckled dace genome as part of the California Conservation Genomics Project (CCGP). Consistent with the CCGP genome assembly strategy, we used Pacific Biosciences HiFi long reads and Omni-C data for our de novo genome assembly and performed genome annotations on NCBI Eukaryotic Genome Annotation Pipeline using novel, species-specific RNA-Seq reads generated from five tissue types. The assembly consists of 490 scaffolds totaling approximately 1.15 Gb,...

The genome assemblies of the Tui chub, Siphateles bicolor, and Arroyo chub, Gila orcuttii

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We present genome assemblies for two cyprinoid fishes, the tui chub (Siphateles bicolor) and the arroyo chub (Gila orcuttii). These fishes are ecologically important representatives of native fish assemblages in the western United States and are both species of conservation concern. The two species hybridize where introductions bring them into contact, with potentially important ecological and evolutionary implications that have not yet been thoroughly examined from a genomic perspective. We present de novo assemblies for both species, representing the first scaffold-level genomes within their respective genera, which were developed as part of the California Conservation Genomics Project using Pacific Biosciences HiFi and Omni-C data. Our tui chub assembly consists of 258 scaffolds spanning 1,148,084,093 base pairs, has a scaffold N50 of 45.9 mb, a contig N50 of 23.7 mb, and a BUSCO completeness score of 98.1%. Our arroyo chub assembly consists of 179 scaffolds spanning...

Decoupled carbon assimilation and growth responses to aridity in temperate deciduous oaks.

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The magnitude of the terrestrial carbon sink remains a key uncertainty in future climate projections, in part due to poorly understood links between carbon uptake and its allocation to woody biomass in vegetation. Here, in this study, we show that photosynthesis and aboveground growth occur asynchronously across diel to seasonal scales in eight North American oak species. Across 137 tree ring sites, current-year annual growth was insensitive to climate variability after midsummer despite 26 to 36% of annual gross primary productivity (GPP) occurring during this period. Hourly GPP flux and growth measurements at four sites spanning seven site years further demonstrate that wood formation ceases earlier than photosynthesis and is restricted to periods of low atmospheric aridity and temperature. This photosynthesis-growth decoupling intensifies with interannual variability in vapor pressure deficit (r = 0.86, P < 0.05), suggesting that by assuming tight coupling...

Autoethnographic assessment of a manifesto for more trustworthy, relevant, and just models

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Modelers are proposing sets of “better” practices to improve modeling processes and outcomes. We need to evaluate how they perform in practice. I use autoethnography to describe four of my modeling and interdisciplinary training experiences and test how I applied a specific set of modeling best practices (proposed in Eitzel 2021), exploring whether/how they resulted in processes whose outcomes were more relevant, trustworthy, and just than they would otherwise have been. The practices did improve the outcomes of my models, especially triangulating between multiple data sources and perspectives, improving transparency through better descriptions of methods and data, and engaging in community-based modeling. Some practices mutually reinforced each other, though balancing transparency with data sovereignty was critical when working with Indigenous communities. I invite other modelers to follow this example, analyzing their own experiences using autoethnography, testing my definitions...

Assessing the potential of participatory modeling for decolonial restoration of an agro-pastoral system in rural zimbabwe

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Colonialism has devastated the lifeways, more-than-human relations, and collective stewardship practices of Indigenous people. Decolonial restoration may be assisted by collaborative methods like participatory modeling, but further careful evaluation is needed to ensure that these methods that have the potential to connect ways of knowing actually do secure long-term benefit for Indigenous life and land. In this study, we engage in a mixed-methods analysis to assess our participatory modeling of a Zimbabwean agro-pastoral system. The Muonde Trust, a community-based research organization, partnered with international researchers from outside the community to create an agent-based model (ABM) representing the dynamics of land use in Mazvihwa Communal Area, Zimbabwe. Using interviews and participant observation during modeling workshops, Muonde and their allies assessed the immediate increases in confidence and self-efficacy for members of the research team (during workshops), intermediate-term...

Using mixed methods to construct and analyze a participatory agent-based model of a complex Zimbabwean agro-pastoral system

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Complex social-ecological systems can be difficult to study and manage. Simulation models can facilitate exploration of system behavior under novel conditions, and participatory modeling can involve stakeholders in developing appropriate management processes. Participatory modeling already typically involves qualitative structural validation of models with stakeholders, but with increased data and more sophisticated models, quantitative behavioral validation may be possible as well. In this study, we created a novel agent-based-model applied to a specific context: Zimbabwean non-governmental organization the Muonde Trust has been collecting data on their agro-pastoral system for the last 35 years and had concerns about land-use planning and the effectiveness of management interventions in the face of climate change. We collaboratively created an agent-based model of their system using their data archive, qualitatively calibrating it to the observed behavior of the real system...

Despite rapid warming, seed production is not leading poleward migration in North American and European forests

Fri, 5 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

To survive climate change, forest trees will have to shift seed production poleward. However, warming will not stimulate tree fecundity in the north if it is limited by other habitat variables. We evaluated the responses of tree fecundity to climate change for 292 tree species in North America and Europe, using response velocity, defined as (climate sensitivity) × (climate-change rate). The sensitivities to climate were estimated for each species and combined with rates of climate change to quantify how temperature, moisture deficits, and late freeze are influencing biogeographic shifts in tree reproduction. The results show that moisture deficit and late freeze, not annual temperature, drive changing seed production. Unlike annual temperature, which is increasing generally, change in these climate variables is not driving poleward shifts in seed production. These findings do not challenge the expectation that forests might eventually shift poleward. Rather, they show why current...

Expert elicitation on agricultural enhanced weathering reveals carbon dioxide removal potential and uncertainties in loss pathways

Thu, 4 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Enhanced weathering in agriculture is a potential gigatonne-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) pathway, but its potential remains difficult to constrain. We used a formal expert elicitation process to estimate CDR potential and efficiency, uncertainties, and key data needs for six feedstocks. Expert opinion of global potential varied by feedstock, with estimates averaging 0.2-0.7 Gt CO2e/yr, but with a wide range (from a source to greater than 5 Gt CO2e/yr removal). When focusing on the American Midwest (pH 5.5-6), carbon dioxide removal efficiency, meaning the fraction of potential ultimately realized, ranged from 27-39%. Key uncertainties included feedstock availability, calcite saturation, and deep soil/freshwater emission pathways. There is a need for empirical data in key stages, with potential to leverage liming data where appropriate. Overall, there appears to be strong potential CDR at broad scales. However, continued research is necessary to build confidence when quantifying...

Decoupling economic growth from water use intensification

Thu, 4 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Economic growth typically requires an increase in natural resource extraction, energy production and waste accumulation, and is followed by a growing demand for commodities and services that leads to increasing pressure on nature. While the coupling between economic growth and environmental burdens has been widely investigated from the perspective of pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and climate warming, the relationship between economic development and human appropriation and use of water resources remains under-investigated. Here we examine the hydrologic impacts of growth through the lens of the food–energy–water nexus. We analyse major decoupling mechanisms associated with the spatial and temporal displacement of hydrologic impacts and technological efficiency. We highlight the limitations inherent to such mechanisms, as they achieve only local, temporary or relative decoupling, often by redirecting, but not reducing, the burden on water resources. We point out some promising...

Control of Vegetation and Temperature on Topsoil Water Losses

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Due to its location at the interface between land surface and atmosphere, soil moisture (SM) plays an important role in modulating energy, water and carbon fluxes. During periods of decreasing SM, SM loss is dependent on evapotranspiration (ET), drainage and changes in plant water storage. Investigating SM loss can give important insights into these processes. Here we use 25 years of global remote sensing data to investigate how SM loss is controlled by vegetation and temperature. We find that positive vegetation anomalies lead to slower SM loss in most areas, except for cold boreal forests. We hypothesize that these effects arise from competing effects of soil shading, transpiration and root water uptake by the vegetation. The effect whereby positive vegetation anomalies increase SM loss is limited to high SM conditions and disappears at lower SM, likely due to water stress limiting transpiration. By analyzing temperature and vegetation anomalies jointly we find...

Impacts of warming on outdoor worker well-being in the tropics and adaptation options

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Over a billion outdoor workers live in the tropics, where nearly a fifth of all hours in the year are hot and humid enough to exceed recommended safety thresholds for workers conducting heavy labor. Reviews have focused on heat impacts on worker health, well-being, and productivity, but synthesis on how to increase resilience to heat for outdoor workers is lacking. Here we assess current and future heat exposure in the tropics and review four bodies of literature on heat impacts on workers. We also synthesize knowledge about mitigation and adaptation uncertainties as well as the actions that can be taken to strengthen worker resilience. We show that under an additional 1°C of warming, ∼800 million people in the tropics will live in areas where heavy work should be limited for over half of the hours in the year. Our review provides primary, secondary, and tertiary solutions that will inform policies and practices as well as research that is needed to bolster worker resilience and...

Comprehensive review of carbon quantification by improved forest management offset protocols

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Comprehensive review of carbon quantification by improved forest management offset protocols

Soil Moisture Buffers the Impact of Precipitation Variability on Ecosystem Productivity

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Water availability governs ecosystem productivity, yet estimates of vegetation sensitivity to water can differ greatly depending on whether the sensitivity is examined spatially or temporally. In particular, the spatial sensitivity is often reported to be much stronger than temporal sensitivities, leading to highly uncertain projections of ecosystem responses to future climate change when using space‐for‐time substitution. The large difference between spatial and temporal sensitivities remains unexplained. Prior research, however, primarily relied on precipitation as the water availability proxy, whereas vegetation responds to soil moisture. Here, we combined satellite estimates of vegetation productivity with soil moisture data across water‐limited ecosystems of the continental United States (CONUS) to identify a convergent sensitivity of productivity to water availability. Using precipitation, we show that temporal sensitivity is 66% lower than spatial sensitivity overall....

Cannabis Bans, Local Control, and the Effects and Efficacy of Proposition 64

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cannabis Bans, Local Control, and the Effects and Efficacy of Proposition 64

Bioenergy Cropping Reduces the Spatiotemporal Scaling of Soil Bacterial Biodiversity

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Widespread bioenergy cropping can transform landscapes, strongly affecting biodiversity. However, the impact of bioenergy cropping on the spatiotemporal scaling of soil biodiversity remains virtually unknown, despite its profound implications for the functioning of the ecological community. Here, we investigated how bioenergy cropping influenced the spatiotemporal scaling of soil bacterial biodiversity in marginal soils (sandy loam and clay loam soils) in Oklahoma, USA. We detected strong, significant species-time-area relationships (STARs) and phylogenetic-time-area relationships (PTARs) in bacterial communities and their lineages, suggesting that STARs and PTARs exist in microbial ecology within the studied system. Also, spatiotemporal scaling rates (the slopes of STAR and PTAR models) varied substantially among bacterial lineages and were positively correlated with their 16S rRNA gene copy numbers, a genomic trait indicative of microbial growth potentials. Strikingly, bioenergy...

Planning for marijuana: Development, governance and regional political economy

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The chapter, which is based upon 19 months of fieldwork and numerous interviews of variously positioned informants across the legal/illegal spectrum, first situates this study within examinations of extraction-based regional political economies,4 attending to the uneven development of governing capacities in these regions. Then it traces the growth of Humboldt’s timber developmental regime, its articulation with marijuana prohibition, and, following timber’s industrial decline, the struggle that emerged among environmentalists and rentier capitalists to guide the development of marijuana and the county’s broader political economy.

Property, capitalism, and the value‐shaping power of states

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Property, capitalism, and the value‐shaping power of states

Cultivating Cannabis, Excepting Cannabis

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cultivating Cannabis, Excepting Cannabis

Marketing Marijuana: Prohibition, Medicalization and the Commodity

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

US marijuana legalization breaks with prohibition in many ways. Despite celebrations of the “green rush” and market “emergence,” however, marijuana’s formation as a market has a longer history rooted in prohibition. Drawing from ethnographic research, this chapter argues that an expanded War on Drugs in the 1980s produced a field of intervention, “the marijuana economy,” that incited marketized subjectivities, discourses and practices in a neoliberal, if paradoxically illiberal, manner. Later, marijuana’s not-for-profit medicalization was also made legible in market terms. As marijuana enters formal market circulation, this chapter urges attention to its articulation with older market moralities and inequalities.

Assessing land use change trajectories following food insecurity shocks in 25 low- and middle-income countries

Thu, 9 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Food insecurity is a perennial problem in much of the developing world, with gains against hunger backsliding in recent years and climate change predicted to accelerate this trend. Food insecurity is highly disruptive to rural livelihoods and can lead to dramatic shifts in food production strategies and resultant land use. However, studies to date have yet to outline the overarching patterns of land use change that can result from food insecurity. We elucidate the impact of food insecurity events between 2013 and 2020 in 25 low- and middle-income countries on resulting land use change and demographics. Using propensity score matching, we create a counterfactual and assess changes in forest cover, crop cover, population and nighttime luminosity between regions that experience food insecurity and comparable food-secure regions. Land use change theory, specifically the classical trajectories of agricultural intensification, land rent theory, and regime shifts help to explain observed...

Modeling the Risk Reduction Benefit of Forest Management Using a Case Study in the Lake Tahoe Basin

Thu, 9 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Across the United States, wildfire severity and frequency are increasing, placing many properties at risk of harm or destruction. We quantify and compare how different forest management strategies designed to increase forest resilience and health reduce the number of properties at risk from wildfire, focusing on the Lake Tahoe Basin of California and Nevada. We combine landscape change simulations (including climate change, wildfire, and management effects) with scenarios of current and plausible fuel treatment activities and parcel-scale fire risk analysis. Results suggest that more aggressive fuel treatment activities that treat more area on the landscape, whether through mechanical and hand thinning or prescribed fire, dramatically lower the fire probability in the region and lead to a corresponding lower risk of property loss. We estimate that relative to recent practices of focusing management in the wildland–urban interface, more active forest management can reduce property...

Using payment for ecosystem services to meet national reforestation commitments: impacts of 20+ years of forestry incentives in Guatemala

Thu, 9 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

International environmental initiatives, such as the Bonn Challenge and the UN Decade on Restoration, have prompted countries to put the management and restoration of forest landscapes at the center of their land use and climate policies. To support these goals, many governments are promoting forest landscape restoration and management through financial forestry incentives, a form of payment for ecosystem services. Since 1996, Guatemala has implemented a series of forestry incentives that promote active forest landscape restoration and management on private and communal lands. These programs have been widely hailed as a success with nearly 600 000 ha enrolled since 1998. However, there has been no systematic assessment of the effectiveness of these programs on preserving and restoring Guatemalan forests. This study evaluates the impacts of over 16 000 individual PES projects funded through two incentive programs using a synthetic control counterfactual. Overall, a program for...

Social-ecological drought and smallholder vulnerability in the Central American Dry Corridor

Thu, 9 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Impacts from droughts are of heightened concern in smallholder-dominated areas globally, with climate change projected to drive increasing frequency and severity of droughts in the coming decades. Zacapa Department, Guatemala, has seen dramatic effects of El Niño-driven seasonal drought on smallholder agricultural systems, with reports of up to 80% crop losses in recent years. We assess vulnerability and drought impacts in these systems by integrating an ethnographic analysis of smallholders’ experiences of climate change in two adjacent communities in Zacapa with remotely sensed data on plant greenness anomaly and water deficit. Although recent droughts were not historically anomalous, we found increases in growing-season water deficit, which were particularly impactful to livelihoods and vegetation health. Farmers perceive recent droughts as more frequent and harmful than historic events and provide proximate and religious explanations for these changes, such as attributing...

Health Effects of Living Near Petroleum and Biofuel Refineries: A Systematic Evidence Map and Scoping Review

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Purpose of Review Petroleum refineries are significant sources of toxic contaminant emissions globally that threaten the health of refinery workers and nearby populations. We conducted a scoping review of the epidemiological evidence concerning acute and chronic health impacts of petroleum and biofuel refineries on surrounding communities. We evaluated the evidence using risk-of-bias assessments and catalogued findings into an evidence map to identify gaps in the literature. We systematically searched studies published by August 2024 on PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science.Recent Findings Our review includes 54 studies published between 1977 and 2024 in 15 international regions. Most studies focused on cancer, respiratory effects, biomarkers of effect, acute symptoms, and cardiovascular effects; fewer studies examined other chronic diseases, reproductive or birth outcomes. Multiple studies find evidence that residential proximity to refineries is associated with higher...

Methodological Design Choices Can Affect Air Pollution Exposure Disparity Estimates: A Case Study on California’s Agricultural Sector

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

People of color in the United States are disproportionately and unfairly exposed to air pollution. Equity-oriented scientific evaluations quantifying these disparities often use population-average exposure metrics to capture the overall inequality within a system. Utilizing these metrics involves choices about the exposure input for assessing disparity, the study geography, and the reference population, which are critical to understanding disparities and effectively designing interventions. Here, we use a case study of exposure to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) from California's agricultural sector to dissect the implications of these decisions. Using a reduced-complexity model and emissions of PM_2.5 and precursors, we compare estimates of racial and ethnic disparities in exposure resulting from different combinations of these methodological choices. The full population distributions highlight differences between disparities at the extremes (e.g., 90th percentile)...

Trait‐based approaches to restoration ecology: Synthesizing insights from diverse systems

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Under accelerating global change, trait-based approaches are emerging as essential tools in the ecological restoration toolbox. Where restoration has traditionally focused on the recovery of focal species in isolated systems, trait-based methods can provide a common language that extends beyond species- or system-specific contexts, allowing scientists and practitioners to translate insights across organisms and ecosystems and predict functional variation critical to resilience in the face of rapidly changing environmental conditions. Trait-based insights can thus help achieve restoration that is both adaptable and scalable as future climate scenarios unfold. To date, trait-based approaches to restoration have developed and proceeded independently across habitats and ecosystems, limiting information sharing and innovation. Here, we synthesize diverse perspectives and research on trait-informed restoration across ecosystems, distilling our findings into three key insights. First,...

Listening and Making Beats With the Birds: An Outdoor Music‐Based Toolkit for Youth Engagement and Conservation Technologies

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Biodiversity loss and unequal access to nature limit both ecological knowledge and opportunities for experiential learning. Here I present a portable, power outlet–independent educational toolkit that integrates AI‐assisted bird detection (Haikubox, BirdNET‐Pi, Merlin Bird ID) with off‐the‐shelf sound‐recording and music‐creation hardware using Ableton Move. This interdisciplinary approach engages participants in active listening, outdoor exploration, and place‐based music‐making using locally recorded bird vocalizations. Self‐reflection from two case studies in Connecticut and California, USA, suggests that this approach can (1) broaden participation in biodiversity monitoring, (2) help demystify AI and acoustic sensing technologies, (3) generate biodiversity observations, and (4) offer an accessible model for integrating music into environmental education. By linking environmental justice, ecological monitoring, biodiversity gap‐filling, and critical engagement with...

Rubisco deactivation and chloroplast electron transport rates co-limit photosynthesis above optimal leaf temperature in terrestrial plants

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Net photosynthetic CO2 assimilation rate (An) decreases at leaf temperatures above a relatively mild optimum (Topt) in most higher plants. This decline is often attributed to reduced CO2 conductance, increased CO2 loss from photorespiration and respiration, reduced chloroplast electron transport rate (J), or deactivation of Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate Carboxylase Oxygenase (Rubisco). However, it is unclear which of these factors can best predict species independent declines in An at high temperature. We show that independent of species, and on a global scale, the observed decline in An with rising temperatures can be effectively accounted for by Rubisco deactivation and declines in J. Our finding that An declines with Rubisco deactivation and J supports a coordinated down-regulation of Rubisco and chloroplast electron transport rates to heat stress. We provide a model that, in the absence of CO2 supply limitations, can predict the response of photosynthesis to short-term increases...

Observed declines in leaf nitrogen explained by photosynthetic acclimation to CO2

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Widespread evidence of decreasing leaf nutrients has raised concerns about ecosystem productivity under global change. Interpreting trends in leaf nutrients has important implications for the fate of ecosystem services, particularly the role of forests in mitigating climate change and sustaining quality food sources. Here, we challenge the common interpretation that decreasing leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC) is evidence of increasing nutrient limitations on ecosystem primary productivity. Instead, we show that declines in LNC (4% decrease per 50 ppm CO₂ increase), observed across 409 European forest plots over 22 y, can be explained by reduced photosynthetic nitrogen demand. This regional trend is consistent with leaf acclimation to increasing atmospheric CO₂ according to optimality theory. This finding suggests that enhanced photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency due to CO₂ fertilization may lead to less nitrogen uptake...

Unraveling systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ground beetle subgenus Nialoe Tanaka sensu lato (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Pterostichus) in East Asia

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Nialoe Tanaka sensu lato (s. lat.), an East Asian endemic subgenus complex of the ground beetle genus Pterostichus, faces unresolved taxonomic and evolutionary questions. This study aimed to address these issues through the synthesis of phylogenetic and time-calibration analyses with morphological and distributional data. We performed phylogenetic analyses using 4 genetic markers from 41 species of the group and conducted ancestral state reconstruction analyses on the inferred tree. Based on the time-calibrated tree, we additionally performed ancestral area reconstruction analyses. For biogeographical analysis and identification of regional species diversity patterns, we synthesized distribution data of Nialoe s. lat. from 128 published papers. Our phylogenetic analyses consistently revealed 5 major clades and determined the taxonomic position of 2 unclassified species. Based on the results, we comprehensively revised the previous checklist. Ancestral state reconstruction...

Land-based resources for engineered carbon dioxide removal in the United States exceed the expected needs

Fri, 6 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Gigatonne-scale atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR), alongside deep emission cuts, is critical to stabilizing the climate. However, some of the most scalable CDR technologies are also the most land intensive. Here, we examine whether adequate land resources exist in the contiguous United States to meet CDR targets when prioritizing grid emissions reduction, food production, and the protection of sensitive ecosystems. We focus on biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) and direct air capture and storage (DACS) and show that suitable lands exceed the expected needs: 37.6 million hectares of land are available for BiCRS, resulting in 0.26 GtCO2 of CDR/year, and 34 million hectares are suitable for wind- and solar-powered DACS, resulting in 4.8 GtCO2 of CDR/year if facilities are co-located with geologic CO2 storage. We identify biomass and energy supply hotspots to meet CDR targets while ensuring land protection and minimizing land competition.

Legacy effects under an emerging novel disturbance regime: A memory‐based framework to quantify tree growth responses

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Moderate‐severity disturbances are becoming more frequent under climate change. These disturbances often leave legacy effects on surviving trees that shape future forest dynamics. Thus, understanding how these disturbance legacies impact tree growth is a pressing challenge. In this study, we applied a memory‐based framework to quantify the legacy effect of drought and intentional fire on tree growth, using tree cores collected from two conifer forests (Blodgett and Teakettle) in the western United States. We conceptualized the legacy effect as a shift in any component of the ecological memory (sensitivity, length or temporal pattern). We measured the drought legacy effect as shifted climate sensitivity and the fire legacy effect as an emergent fire memory. Focusing on the co‐existing dominant species in California mixed forests, we tested the hypothesis that the disturbance‐induced memory shifts (i.e. characteristics of legacy effect) could be predicted by species‐specific...

Land use and mineral type determine stability of newly formed mineral-associated organic matter

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Formation of mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) is a key process in the global carbon cycle, stabilising organic carbon in soils. The relative importance of mineral composition and land use as potential controls of MAOM stability at regional scales and underlying microbial processes are still unresolved. Here, we assessed the stability of MAOM formed on goethite (iron oxide) and illite (phyllosilicate clay) exposed for five years in topsoils at 68 forest and grassland sites across Germany. We incubated the newly formed MAOM, determined its extractability, and analysed the composition and functioning of associated microbial communities. Decomposition of MAOM was always significantly lower for goethite than illite, highlighting that higher organic carbon accumulation on goethite was not exclusively due to its larger sorption capacity. Instead, reduced organic carbon extractability and higher phosphorus-acquiring enzyme activities indicated stronger substrate limitation of...

Future implications of enhanced hydroclimate variability and reduced snowpack on California’s water resources

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Sierra Nevada snowpack, which supplies sixty percent of California’s consumptive water use, is under threat due to anthropogenic climate change. While previous studies have examined the impacts of climate change on mountain snowpack in the Sierra Nevada and across the Western US, few have quantified the risks to monthly irrigation water resources posed by shifting hydroclimate patterns and declining snowmelt runoff. Because they use coarse-resolution models, existing global-scale studies lack regional specificity, while existing regional studies rely on statistical or dynamical ‘downscaling’ of coarse-resolution global models. We use a new simulation of the variable resolution Community Earth System Model 2, which provides high spatiotemporal resolution estimates (14 km horizontal grid spacing, daily-to-hourly outputs) of California’s historical and future hydroclimate. We leverage the US Geological Survey’s recent irrigation water use reanalysis to evaluate basin-scale irrigation...

Multi-omics reveals nitrogen dynamics associated with soil microbial blooms during snowmelt

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Snowmelt triggers a soil microbial bloom and crash that affects nitrogen (N) export in high-elevation watersheds. The mechanisms underlying these microbial dynamics are uncertain, making soil nitrogen processes difficult to predict as snowpack declines globally. Here, integration of genome-resolved metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metabolomics in a high-elevation watershed revealed ecologically distinct soil microorganisms linked across the snowmelt time-period by their unique nitrogen cycling capacities. The molecular properties and transformations of dissolved organic N suggested that degradation or recycling of microbial biomass provided N for biosynthesis during the microbial bloom. Winter-adapted Bradyrhizobia spp. oxidized amino acids anaerobically and had the highest gene expression for denitrification during the microbial bloom. A pulse of nitrate was driven by spring-adapted Nitrososphaerales after snowmelt, but dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia (DNRA) gene...

Crop diversification improves water-use efficiency and regional water sustainability

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

As global water scarcity intensifies, identifying agricultural practices that enhance sustainable water management is critical. Temporal crop diversification-rotating multiple species over time-has been proposed to improve soil health and water retention based on field-scale experiments. However, widespread adoption remains limited on farms, in part due to unverified benefits at larger scales. Here, we assess the influence of crop diversification on agricultural water-use efficiency (WUE, ratio of gross primary productivity to evapotranspiration) along a spectrum of monoculture to complex species rotations in California. Leveraging new high-resolution remote sensing datasets, we show that crop diversification is a key driver of agricultural WUE, and increasing the number of species planted in the previous 6 years from two to four increases WUE by ∼20% after accounting for differences between crops. Our results provide spatially explicit, large-scale quantification of crop diversification’s...

Eliminating air pollution disparities requires more than emission reduction.

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In the United States, people of color are disproportionately and unjustly exposed to air pollution. Historically, environmental policy has emphasized aggregate emission reductions, yet major emission reduction scenarios do not sufficiently mitigate relative exposure disparities. Here, we show that without focusing on relative disparity (percent difference) in exposure, the only way to improve air quality and eliminate absolute exposure disparity is to eliminate all emissions (an unlikely outcome). We demonstrate that the relative disparity metric is ethically important and also a controllable societal feature that can reduce absolute disparity in exposure. We illustrate a range of approaches to air pollution policy that go beyond traditional emission reductions to meaningfully address exposure disparities. These strategies should be at the center of the future US environmental policy.

Accounting for herbaceous communities in process‐based models will advance our understanding of “grassy” ecosystems

Mon, 5 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Grassland and other herbaceous communities cover significant portions of Earth's terrestrial surface and provide many critical services, such as carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, and food production. Forecasts of global change impacts on these services will require predictive tools, such as process-based dynamic vegetation models. Yet, model representation of herbaceous communities and ecosystems lags substantially behind that of tree communities and forests. The limited representation of herbaceous communities within models arises from two important knowledge gaps: first, our empirical understanding of the principles governing herbaceous vegetation dynamics is either incomplete or does not provide mechanistic information necessary to drive herbaceous community processes with models; second, current model structure and parameterization of grass and other herbaceous plant functional types limits the ability of models to predict outcomes of competition and growth for herbaceous...

Speciation Genomics in the Tiger Whiptail Lizards (Aspidoscelis tigris Complex)

Thu, 25 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The transition from small genetic to genome-scale datasets for studying biodiversity has revealed that genetic exchange through introgressive hybridization is a widespread phenomenon in nature. Despite this, a lack of high-quality reference genomes for most non-model species limits our understanding of the impact of this process for many taxonomic groups. This restricts the range of insights that genomic tools can provide for conservation biologists, who often hope to employ genomic datasets to accurately identify historically isolated lineages to protect and to predict their evolutionary fate in the face of environmental change. Tiger whiptail lizards (Aspidoscelis tigris complex) are an abundant and important ecological component of ecosystems across the southwestern United States. In this study, we assembled and annotated a chromosome-level reference genome for A. t. stejnegeri from coastal California. We then used this reference genome to reconstruct patterns of speciation...

Linking variation in water democracy to system performance on the human right to water

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Scholars regularly associate fragmentation with drinking water disparities. Here, however, we consider the potential role of another consequence: variable levels of water democracy. We characterize voter enfranchisement across 2,405 California water systems and evaluate their performance with respect to three tenants of the human right to water: access to safe, affordable and accessible drinking water. Most systems limit enfranchisement beyond US government election standards. Systems with enfranchisement limited to property owners are more likely to be at risk for unaffordability. Systems with no residential enfranchisement, located in the poorest communities with higher proportions of African Americans, are far more likely to rely on a single water source. The results highlight associations between water democracy and affordable, accessible drinking water, with uneven impacts across the population. Understanding the role of governance in shaping inequities is essential for designing...

GIS Tools in Action

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Housing the Ancient Maya of El Pilar

Questions about sustainability of ancient Maya subsistence focus on the expansion of maize milpa at the expense of the forest. Working with Master Forest Gardeners and leveraging their Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of Maya house construction, our model considers the number of trees needed to build Maya houses. Using LIDAR data and GIS, we assess the capacity of the 20 sq.km. landscape of the ancient city of El Pilar to provide trees required for posts, beams, and rafters for 1,925 domestic structures occupied in the Late Classic (600-900 CE). We model the 20-year Milpa Forest Garden Cycle across the El Pilar cropscape to determine the annual availability of construction materials. Our model results show there are enough trees to construct and maintain all of the structures at El Pilar. Benefitting from TEK, in collaboration with Master Forest Gardeners, we are piecing together a new ecological narrative that demonstrates...

Reduced Crop Yield Stability Is More Likely to Be Associated With Heat Than With Moisture Extremes in the US Midwest

Wed, 3 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Understanding the changes in crop yield stability ( μ /σ) under climate change is critical for food security and farmer livelihoods. Unstable crop yields have been identified as detrimental to international food trade and markets. However, the association between climate extremes and crop yield stability has not been well documented. Here, we present the sensitivity of corn and soybean yield stability to heat, drought and excessive wetness by using statistical modeling for rainfed corn and soybean based on survey yield records in the US Midwest. The results using survey data indicate that increased heat, drought and excessive wetness are collectively associated with reduced yield stability for corn and soybean. We find that the changes in corn and soybean yield stability in the US Midwest are predominantly related to heat stress. Additionally, irrigation can mitigate the yield stability reduction associated with heat and drought. In contrast, well‐irrigated yield is...

Unequal impact of climate warming on meat yields of global cattle farming

Wed, 3 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Climate warming affects global livestock productivity. The meat yield from cattle farming (cattle meat per animal) represents livestock productivity at the individual level. However, the impact of warming on cattle meat yield at a global scale is not well understood. In this study, we combine country-level data on the annual meat yield from cattle farming and socioeconomic data from 1961 to 2020 with climate projections from General Circulation Models. The findings show that cattle meat yield increases as temperatures rise from low to medium and then decreases when annual average temperatures exceed 7 °C; this repose is pronounced in the grassland-based livestock system. Further, we show that warming creates unequal impacts between high- and low-income countries due to the divergent baseline temperature conditions. Future warming aggravates these unequal burdens between countries, with the most pronounced effects observed under the upper-middle emissions scenario.

Sea level rise and flooding of hazardous sites in marginalized communities across the United States

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Sea level rise (SLR) increases the risk of flooding at coastal sites that use and produce hazardous substances. We assess whether socially marginalized populations in the United States are more likely to be impacted by projected SLR-related flooding of hazardous sites that could result in contaminant releases. We identify 5500 facilities at risk of a 1-in-100-year flood event by 2100 under a scenario of continued high greenhouse gas emissions, including coastal power plants, sewage treatment facilities, fossil fuel infrastructure, industrial facilities, and formerly used defense sites. Seven states (Louisiana, Florida, New Jersey, Texas, California, New York, and Massachusetts) account for nearly 80% of projected at-risk facilities. Controlling for population density and county, a one standard deviation increase in the proportion of linguistically isolated households, neighborhood residents identifying as Hispanic, households with incomes below twice the federal poverty line,...

Human-wildlife conflict is amplified during periods of drought

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Climate change-induced alterations to human-wildlife interactions are recognized to pose a fundamental challenge for global conservation initiatives. However, the extent to which specific climatic disturbances influence dynamics of human-wildlife conflict across different taxonomic groups remains poorly understood. Here, we leverage an extensive dataset of community-derived human-wildlife conflict incidents to examine the influence of drought, represented by the variation in summed precipitation over the prior 12 months, on conflict reporting. We show that prolonged decreases in precipitation are associated with increased overall conflict occurrences across taxa and are significantly associated with increased conflict with carnivore species in particular. A future with increasingly severe and frequent droughts could lead to resource scarcity that not only causes conflict between humans but also between humans and the natural world around them.

Phenology‐informed decline risk of estuarine fishes and their prey suggests potential for future trophic mismatches

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Conservation scientists have long used population viability analysis (PVA) on species count data to quantify critical decline risk, thereby informing conservation actions. These assessments typically focus on a single species rather than assemblages and assume that risk is consistent within a given life stage (e.g., across the different seasons or months of a year). However, assessing risk at overly broad temporal or spatial scales may obscure diverging population declines between predators and prey, potentially disrupting biotic interactions. In this study, we used time-series-based PVA for age-0 forage fishes and their potential zooplankton prey for each month of the year in the San Francisco Estuary, over 1995-2023 (N = 175 time series). The PVA were parameterized using Multivariate Autoregressive (MAR) models that estimate long-term population trends and variability (i.e., process error) for each population. We found widespread negative population trends across fish species...

An integrated integral projection model (IPM2) to disentangle size‐structured harvest and natural mortality

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Body size is one of the most important traits governing individual-level demographic rates and modulating population-level processes. Multiple size-dependent demographic rates can simultaneously change population structure, so distinguishing their individual contributions to overall population dynamics remains a challenge. Disentangling size-dependent harvest rates from other demographic rates is critical for assessing the impact of removal on populations of invasive species. Inference about invasive populations can be difficult, however, as observations are often collected opportunistically as part of removal programs, rather than experimentally designed. Yet accurate inference is essential for understanding the feasibility of population suppression and optimising management decisions. We develop an integrated integral projection model (IPM²) that leverages the strengths of the integrated population model and integral projection model to enable inference about complex,...

Carbon costs of different pathways for reducing fire hazard in the Sierra Nevada

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Restoring a low-intensity, frequent-fire regime in fire-prone forests offers a promising natural climate solution. Management interventions that include prescribed fire and/or mechanical treatments have effectively reduced fire hazards in the Western United States, yet concerns remain regarding their impact on forest carbon storage. This study used results from a long-term, replicated field experiment to assess the impacts of a restored disturbance regime on carbon dynamics in a Sierra Nevada, mixed conifer forest. The carbon consequences of the treatments were compared to a dynamic baseline of untreated controls (Control). After 19 years of wildfire mitigation, all treated stands stored less carbon than Control, but a larger proportion was sequestered in wildfire-resistant pools (i.e., large trees or fire-resistant species). Notably, only the most intensive treatment regime-thinning, mastication, and prescribed fire (Mech+Fire)-became a net carbon source by Year 20 (-60 MgC/ha)....

Preliminary Checklist of Ground Beetles from Jindo Island, South Korea (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Preliminary Checklist of Ground Beetles from Jindo Island, South Korea (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

Community resilience and the dynamics of relatedness and residence in a rural Zimbabwean village from 1986 to 2010

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Social resilience to challenges is an important component of sustainability. We explore the diversity and flexibility of the social networks of a rural Zimbabwean community in order to understand their resilience in the face of the AIDS epidemic, hyper-inflation in the 2000s, and increasing variability of rainfall due to climate change. We combine socialnetwork analysis with ethnographic accounts to find that broad concepts of relatedness help families adopt AIDS orphans, while household structures are flexible over time, with small groups forming in lands newly available for re-settlement. Change in household membership was attributable more to immigration/emigration than to birth/death.

Exploring Values in Action using Autoethnographic Methods: Workshop Guidelines

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

There is a growing appreciation for the importance of values in research. Questions of values are related to but different from conversations about ethics. Whereas ethics focuses on presumed shared societal values, values focus on what is important to an individual or a community. When viewed positively, values foster group cohesion and bolster motivation and resilience. When viewed negatively, values are seen as introducing bias into science. Viewed practically, values are virtually always present in research through the questions we ask, our assumptions, chosen methodologies, analysis, how we respond to reviewer feedback, publishing practices, and outreach. Research institutions, disciplines, and fields of study all have values that they promote, whether these are stated implicitly or explicitly.

We propose that recognizing what these are and how they converge or diverge from one’s own values is a crucial reflective process for researchers. When they converge,...

Ocean-influenced estuarine habitat buffers high interannual variation in seabird reproductive success

Wed, 5 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Seabirds in more variable habitats generally live longer and more readily forgo or reduce breeding investments in poor resource seasons to maximize their overall lifetime fitness. Their breeding success is dependent on factors including diet, prey availability, and proximity to foraging habitat. Furthermore, seabird colonies in upwelling ecosystems are subject to interannual variation in oceanic conditions that drive bottom-up processes. Adjacent estuarine ecosystems, while less affected by upwelling, are also influenced by freshwater input and may experience less interannual variation in seabird prey resources. Here, we compare the breeding ecology and diet of pigeon guillemots Cepphus columba from an estuarine colony (Alcatraz Island, California) and an isolated offshore colony (Southeast Farallon Island, California) from 2015 to 2017 to understand how habitat location and surrounding environment differentially influence diet and reproduction....

Modeling coupled dynamics of an empirical predator-prey system to predict top predator recovery

Wed, 5 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Limited data, time, and funding lead conservation managers to make difficult choices in managing species recovery. Coupled dynamical models are relied upon for decision support, but their application to empirical predator-prey systems has generally been restricted to small, tractable species. To broaden their use in conservation decision-making, we developed a model suitable for predicting the population dynamics of a larger apex carnivore and its prey. We selected southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) and their primary estuarine prey as our case study and parameterized the dynamical model with data on sea otter, clam, and crab abundances; predator-prey interactions; and sea otter bioenergetics collected from Elkhorn Slough, CA. Our model, having integrated all these salient factors, was able to successfully reproduce trends in taxa abundance as well as shifts in sea otter diet composition and energy intake rates. Rich data inputs allow the model to predict population dynamics...

Jump takeoff in a small jumping spider