Explore the vast range of titles available.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed an interconnected and tightly coupled globalized world in rapid change. This article sets the scientific stage for understanding and responding to such change for global sustainability and resilient societies. We provide a systemic overview of the current situation where people and nature are dynamically intertwined and embedded in the biosphere, placing shocks and extreme events as part of this dynamic; humanity has become the major force in shaping the future of the Earth system as a whole; and the scale and pace of the human dimension have caused climate change, rapid loss of biodiversity, growing inequalities, and loss of resilience to deal with uncertainty and surprise. Taken together, human actions are challenging the biosphere foundation for a prosperous development of civilizations. The Anthropocene reality— of rising system-wide turbulence—calls for transformative change towards sustainable futures. Emerging technologies, social innovations, broader shifts in cultural repertoires, as well as a diverse portfolio of active stewardship of human actions in support of a resilient biosphere are highlighted as essential parts of such transformations.

The species diversity of Plagiochilaceae in Sumatera, especially North Sumatera has not been widely reported. This study aims to know the spesies richness of Plagiochilaceae at Mount Lubuk Raya, North Sumatera. The study was conducted from July until December 2017. Sample was collected along the hiking trails in the study site using the explorative survey method. Eighteen species of Plagiochilaceae have been encountered belonging to two genera: Pedinophyllum, and Plagiochila. Among the species, Plagiochila nobilis is a new record to the liverworts flora of Sumatera. The species of Plagochilaceae were found as epiphyte on the tree trunk, on the decaying wood and twigs. The common species found in the study sites was Plagiochila arbuscula, while the uncommon species were Pedinophyllum interuptum, Plagiochila obtusa, Plagiochila schiopila and Plagiochila teysmannii.

Reductions in global bee populations are threatening the pollination benefits to both the planet and people. Whilst the contribution of bee pollination in promoting sustainable development goals through food security and biodiversity is widely acknowledged, a range of other benefits provided by bees has yet to be fully recognised. We explore the contributions of bees towards achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our insights suggest that bees potentially contribute towards 15 of the 17 SDGs and a minimum of 30 SDG targets. We identify common themes in which bees play an essential role, and suggest that improved understanding of bee contributions to sustainable development is crucial for ensuring viable bee systems.

Slope aspect plays a critical role in influencing vegetation pattern in semiarid area. The dry valleys of the Hengduan Mountains Region, southwestern China, are striking geographical landscape, suffering from severe ecological degradation. Here, we comprehensively investigated how slope aspect affects vegetation attributes in one of these valleys- the dry valley in the upper reaches of Min River. Three sites were selected along the valley and we quantitively examined the vegetation difference between slope aspects at the whole valley scale and each site level. We found significant vegetation differences between slope aspects in species composition, vegetative structure, and biodiversity pattern, which were in accordance with the observed significant difference in soil nutrient. Generally, north-facing slopes are associated with higher biomass, coverage and height, and species diversity than south-facing slopes. We also found between-aspect differences varied among the study sites, resulting in increased biomass, height, and β diversity differences, decreased density and coverage differences, and opposite trend observed in α diversity at relatively wet site. In conclusion, slope aspect had significant effect on vegetation attributes, which was significantly influenced by local climate (aridity) in terms of both strength and direction depending on the specific attributes investigated.

Ants are a social insect with high diversity and distributed widely to the world in many types of habitats including mangrove ecosystem. They also plays important role in mangrove ecosystem, but the study of ant in this habitat of West Sumatra still scanty. The purpose of this study was to understand the ant diversity in mangrove ecosystem of Pariaman, West Sumatra. The collection method used in this research is baited trap, beating and hand collection. A total of 11 species, 10 genera of ants belonging to 3 subfamilies were found in this study. Formicinae is the subfamily with highest number of species (5 spp.) and follows by Myrmicinae (4 spp.) and Dolichoderinae (2 spp.). The following invasive and tramp species were found in the present study, Anoplolepis gracilipes , Tapinoma melanochepalum , Tetramorium simillimum , and Tetramorium bicarinatum . The ant species diversity index in this study is moderate (H '= 1,2), while the evenness index classified as moderate (E = 0,5), and no species of ants dominate of this area were found (D = 0,5)

Disturbances control rainforest dynamics, and, according to the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH), disturbance regime is a key driver of local diversity. Variations in disturbance regimes and their consequences on regional diversity at broad spatiotemporal scales are still poorly understood. Using multidisciplinary large-scale inventories and LiDAR acquisitions, we developed a robust indicator of disturbance regimes based on the frequency of a few early successional and widely distributed pioneer species. We demonstrate at the landscape scale that tree-species diversity and disturbance regimes vary with climate and relief. Significant relationships between the disturbance indicator, tree-species diversity and soil phosphorus content agree with the hypothesis that rainforest diversity is controlled both by disturbance regimes and long-term ecosystem stability. These effects explain the broad-scale patterns of floristic diversity observed between landscapes. In fact, species-rich forests in highlands, which have benefited from long-term stability combined with a moderate and regular regime of local disturbances, contrast with less diversified forests on recently shaped lowlands, which have undergone more recent changes and irregular dynamics. These results suggest that taking the current disturbance regime into account and including geomorphological stratifications in climate-vegetation models may be an effective way to improve the prediction of changes in species diversity under climate change. The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis (IDH) that predicts a humped diversity-disturbance relationship is at the same time inspiring for conservation policies 1,2 and subject to scientific controversy 3,4. The theory suggests that in highly diverse ecosystems, like the tropical rainforest, where competitive exclusion prevails in late successional processes 5 , an intermediate disturbance regime, i.e. of moderate intensity and/or frequency, locally reduces inter-individual competition for resources and thus allows less competitive species to avoid exclusion and to maintain in the community 6. There are empirical supports for IDH to locally maintain tropical rainforest in a non-equilibrium dynamics enhancing species diversity through gap-phase regeneration processes and secondary successions (e.g. refs 7-10). However, at larger scales corresponding to the extent of forest management options the diversity-disturbance relationship is actually not so clear. Spatio-temporal variations in resource availability, niche diversity or immigration fluxes (related e.g. to mass effects) may blur the expected diversity patterns that are observed at local scale (e.g. refs 11,12). For instance, Stropp and colleagues 13 inferred from wood density data across a network of 1-ha forest plots in Amazonia, that the frequency of disturbances was the main process driving local diversity, but not regional diversity, which they found more correlated to proxies of paleoclimatic stability and long-term ecosystem dynamics. These findings suggest that both local-and large-scale spatio-temporal dynamic processes interact in shaping the current pattern of

Sicike-cike Natural Park is one of important forest region inhabited by numerous species of bryophytes, including Bazzania . Bazzania species constituted the largest member of the family Lepidoziaceae. Studies on the species diversity ofthe liverworts Bazzania in thisregionwas still limited and never conducted before. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the species diversity of Bazzania in Sicike-cike Natural Park, North Sumatra through specimen collection and exploratory survey in the forest area. Identification of the species was confirmed through microscopical examination on specimens by following the existing literatures. Based on our study, there are total of 13 species of Bazzania . The most common species was Bazzaniaerosa , while the less commonly found were B. calcarata, B. longicaulis, B. paradoxa and B. pectinata. This result is the first report of Bazzania in Sicike-cike Natural Park.

Mount Merbabu National Park with an area management system into 5 resort areas, namely Selo, Wonolelo, Pakis, Kopeng, Ampel and diversity in these places is highly and still sustainable. One of the plants that has a high diversity of species is the orchid (Orchidaceae). Orchids are a family of plants that have a fairly high variation and are very interesting. It is estimated that in the world there are about 20,000 species. This study aims to determine the species richness of orchids in mount Merbabu National Park resort Selo. This study uses the cruising method by making observations along the path with a radius of 10 m to the right and 10 m to the left. then recorded any orchid species found. The research found 7 species of orchids in mount Merbabu National Park resort Selo : Habenaria multipartita, Oberonia similis, Liparis pallida, Malaxis kobi, Coelegyne sp, Bulbophyllum flavescens, and Cheirostylis sp.

Nitrogen (N) is crucial for crop productivity. However nowadays more than half of the N added to cropland is lost to the environment, wasting the resource, producing threats to air, water, soil and biodiversity, and generating greenhouse gas emissions. Based on FAO data, we have reconstructed the trajectory followed, in the past 50 years, by 124 countries in terms of crop yield and total nitrogen inputs to cropland (manure, synthetic fertiliser, symbiotic fixation and atmospheric deposition). During the last five decades the response of agricultural systems to increased nitrogen fertilization has evolved differently in the different world countries. While some countries have improved their agroenvironmental performances, in others the increased fertilization has produced low agronomical benefits and higher environmental losses. Our data also suggest that, in general, those countries using a higher proportion of N inputs from symbiotic N fixation rather than from synthetic fertilizer have a better N use efficiency.

Microorganisms in cold ecosystems play a key ecological role in their natural habitats. Since these ecosystems are especially sensitive to climate changes, as indicated by the worldwide retreat of glaciers and ice sheets as well as permafrost thawing, an understanding of the role and potential of microbial life in these habitats has become crucial. Emerging technologies have added significantly to our knowledge of abundance, functional activity, and lifestyles of microbial communities in cold environments. The current knowledge of microbial ecology in glacial habitats and permafrost, the most studied habitats of the cryosphere, is reported in this review.