Explore the vast range of titles available.

Both natural and anthropogenic stressors are increasing on coral reefs, resulting in large‐scale loss of coral and potential shifts from coral‐ to macroalgae‐dominated community states. Two factors implicated in shifts to macroalgae are nutrient enrichment and fishing of reef herbivores. Although either of these factors alone could facilitate establishment of macroalgae, reefs may be particularly vulnerable to coral‐to‐algae phase shifts in which strong bottom‐up forcing from nutrient enrichment is accompanied by a weakening of herbivore control of macroalgae via intense fishing. We explored spatial heterogeneity and covariance in these drivers on reefs in the lagoons of Moorea, French Polynesia, where the local fishery heavily targets herbivorous fishes and there are spatially variable inputs of nutrients from agricultural fertilizers and wastewater systems. Spatial patterns of fishing and nutrient enrichment were not correlated at the two landscape scales we examined: among the 11 interconnected lagoons around the island or among major habitats (fringing reef, mid‐lagoon, back reef) within a lagoon. This decoupling at the landscape scale resulted from patterns of covariation between enrichment and fishing that differed qualitatively between cross‐shore and long‐shore directions. At the cross‐shore scale, nutrient enrichment declined but fishing increased from shore to the crest of the barrier reef. By contrast, nutrient enrichment and fishing were positively correlated in the long‐shore direction, with both increasing with proximity to a pass in the barrier reef. Contrary to widespread assumptions in the scientific literature that human coastal population density correlates with impact on marine ecosystems and that fishing effort declines linearly with distance from the shore, these local stressors produced a complex spatial mosaic of reef vulnerabilities. Our findings support spatially explicit management involving the control of anthropogenic nutrients and strategic reductions in fishing pressure on herbivores by highlighting specific areas to target for management actions.

1. New native woodlands are typically created in a small and isolated configuration, potentially reducing their value as a resource for biodiversity. The use of ecological networks for habitat restoration and creation could be beneficial for woodland biodiversity. This approach is conceptualised as local- and landscape-scale conservation actions designed to increase the area, quality, amount and connectivity of habitat types. However, there is limited evidence about the value of secondary woodlands and the relative or combined effects of network variables for woodland insects. 2. Seventy-eight woodland sites created in the last 160 years across England and Scotland were sampled for hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) and craneflies (Diptera: Tipuloidea), using two Malaise net traps placed in the centre of each woodland. The diversity of insects supported by created woodland patches was analysed using measures of dissimilarity, and the relative direct and indirect effects of ecological network variables on their abundance and species richness were assessed using structural equation models. 3. We found 27% of British woodland hoverfly species and 43% of British woodland cranefly species in the study sites, indicating that woodland insects are colonising created native woodlands, despite their fragmented nature. However, these species communities were highly variable across woodland patches. 4. Landscape-scale variables had no effect on woodland-associated hoverflies or craneflies relative to local-scale variables. Local-scale variables relating to habitat quality (i.e. structural heterogeneity of trees and understorey cover) had the strongest influence on abundance and species richness. 5. Synthesis and applications. To benefit woodland-associated Díptera, woodland creation and restoration should maintain a focus on habitat quality. This should include active management to facilitate a diverse tree and understorey vegetation structure. Many woodlands in the UK are privately owned, and landowners should be encouraged to plant and actively manage their woodlands to increase structural heterogeneity and resources for woodland insects.

Problem statement: Human‐driven biodiversity loss continues worldwide, despite knowledge of its drivers. This has serious implications not only for nature but also for the resources and services biodiversity provides to humans, such as climate regulation and food provision. Small‐scale conservation interventions aim to mitigate these issues in people's local environments and can engender a sense of agency and nature connectedness. However, we lack consensus about their effectiveness as studies of local‐scale actions often find divergent effects on biodiversity. Furthermore, we do not know which conservation interventions are most effective in different spatial or taxonomic contexts. Methods: We aim to systematically review the evidence from peer‐reviewed and grey literature on local‐scale conservation interventions. We have designed a flexible, modular protocol allowing us to add further data in the future. We will initially make predictions about the impact of these interventions in English contexts, but the method is designed to be applicable globally. We will generate a series of datasets, each containing evidence about different interventions and their impact on species' abundance and diversity. We will use meta‐analysis to estimate these interventions' impact on biodiversity. Depending on the data retrieved, we may also be able to investigate nuances such as which interventions work best for specific contexts or organisms, or whether impacts vary over time. We would do this using additional variables and/or data subsets. In publishing this protocol, and in using the most up‐to‐date, rigorous methods, we aim to mitigate potential biases arising from either the data or methodology. In the first instance, we will complete a meta‐analysis of interventions involving increasing floral availability; however, this protocol will also be used for guiding future meta‐analyses incorporating additional interventions. Practical implications: Our findings could be used to inform local‐scale conservation management and conservation policy. The results of our initial application of this protocol will be used to inform conservation interventions in schools and colleges in England as part of the UK government's National Education Nature Park project. The collated data set will be made available for use by others wishing to investigate the impacts of local‐scale conservation interventions in their own contexts. Local‐scale conservation interventions aim to mitigate biodiversity loss, but we lack consensus about their effectiveness. We present a protocol to systematically review the evidence and use meta‐analysis to assess these interventions' overall impact on biodiversity.

Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) is an ecologically and economically important species widely distributed across the North Pacific Ocean. However, the population size of this fishery resource has declined globally. Identifying genetic integrity, diversity and structure, and phylogenetic relationships of wild populations of O. keta over an entire species' range is central for developing its effective conservation and management plans. Nevertheless, chum salmon from the Korean Peninsula, which are comprised of its southwestern range margins, have been overlooked. By using mtDNA control region and 10 microsatellite loci, we here assessed the genetic diversity and structure for 16 populations, including 10 wild and six hatchery populations, encompassing the species entire geographic range in South Korea. The analyses showed that genetic diversity is significantly higher for wild than for hatchery populations. Both marker sets revealed significant genetic differentiation between some local populations. Comparisons of six wild and their respective hatchery populations indicated that allele/haplotype frequencies considerably differ, perhaps due to a strong founder effect and/or homogenizing of hatchery populations for stocking practice. Despite its single admixed gene pool for the Korean chum salmon, some local populations housing their own unique lineages should be accorded with a high priority to safeguard their genetic integrities. The results of our comparative analyses of the Korean population with other North Pacific chum salmons (inhabiting regions of Japan, Russia, and North America) revealed a lower diversity but higher contribution to the overall species‐level genetic diversity, and also its unique genetic integrity. These findings advocate for the evolutionary significance of the Korean population for species‐level conservation.

In this study, the local‐scale structure of geopolymers shaped by extrusion or 3D printing was investigated and correlated to the reactivity of the raw materials. The reactivity of the different metakaolin mixtures was evaluated using zeta potential measurements with different alkali silicate solutions, followed by shaping via 3D printing; additionally, the different networks formed were identified via NMR spectroscopy. The results showed that in the presence of weakly reactive basic solutions, the Al(OH)4− species were released in low amounts due to an increase in the polymerized silicate species in the solution, resulting in a low zeta potential in absolute value. Conversely, for more reactive solutions, the silicate species were more depolymerized, and the siliceous and aluminous metakaolin species were more easily released in solution, resulting in increasingly low zeta potential values. Some samples were 3D printed with metakaolin mixtures using different printers and silicate solutions (K, KNa) with alkaline cation concentrations of [M] > 2.8 M in the mixtures; here, the metakaolin zeta potential values were greater than −50 mV, and the local‐scale structure consisted of more than 50% geopolymer networks (Q4(3Al) + Q4(2Al)). Evolution of the various parameters controlling the geopolymer extrudability.

This study aims to investigate local‐scale meteorological conditions associated with large fires in Brazil during recent decades. We assess whether there are large fire types with preceding predictors. Our results show that large fires, defined with a threshold of a daily burned area >95th percentile of the historical record, mainly occur in August and September in Brazil, and Amazônia and Cerrado experience much higher numbers of large fires than the other biomes. There are two large fire types that have robust meteorological signatures: (1) a wind driven type, characterized by peak wind speed on the day of the fire, and anomalously high wind speed a few (∼3) days before and after the fire; and (2) a Hot‐Drought driven type, characterized by anomalously high temperature, low relative humidity, and consistent drought conditions indicated by anomalously high fuel aridity starting as far back as 5 months prior to the fires. A third one is characterized by no anomalous meteorological conditions. The wind driven type most frequently occurs in southern and southeastern Amazônia, Pantanal, and western and northern‐to‐central Cerrado, with some occurrences over the western Caatinga region bordering Cerrado, southern Cerrado, and southern Mata Atlântica; whereas the Hot‐Drought driven type most frequently occurs in southern and southeastern Amazônia, Pantanal and western and northern‐to‐central Cerrado, with some occurrences over the western Caatinga region bordering Cerrado, southern Cerrado, central‐to‐southern Mata Atlântica, and a few occurrences over Northern Brazil where the Amazônia meets Roraima. Southern and southeastern Amazônia, Pantanal and western and northern‐to‐central Cerrado are the major large fire prone regions. Our results highlight that understanding the temporal and spatial variability of the meteorological conditions associated with large fires is essential for developing spatially explicit forecasting, and future projections of large fire hazards under climate change in Brazil, in particular the Hot‐Drought driven type.

Over the last decades, treatment of domestic wastewater promoted by environmental regulations have reduced human health risks and improved water quality. However, ecological risks caused by effluents of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) discharged into rivers still persist. Moreover, the evolution of these ecological risks in the future is intimately related to effects of changing climate, especially regarding streamflow in receiving rivers. Here, we present an analytical and transferable framework for assessing the ecological risks posed by WWTP‐effluents at the catchment scale. The framework combines the size‐class k of WWTPs, which is a load‐proxy, with their outflows' location in river networks, represented by stream‐order ω. We identify ecological risks by using three proxy indicators: the urban discharge fraction and the local‐scale concentrations of each total phosphorous and ammonium‐nitrogen discharged from WWTPs. About 3,200 WWTPs over three large catchments (Rhine, Elbe, and Weser) in Central Europe were analyzed by incorporating simulated streamflow for the most extreme projected climate change scenario. We found that WWTPs causing ecological risks in the future prevail in lower ω, across almost all k. Distinct patterns of ecological risks are identified in the k‐ω framework for different indicators and catchments. We show, as climate changes, intensified risks are especially expected in lower ω receiving effluents of intermediate‐k WWTPs. We discuss the implications of our findings for prioritizing WWTPs upgrading and urging updates on environmental regulations. Further discussions underline the feasibility of applying the framework to any geographical regions and highlight its potentials to help in achieving global long‐term commitments on freshwater security. Key Points An analytical, generic framework was developed to assess wastewater treatment plants causing ecological risks in rivers under climate change Smaller streams will face higher ecological risks for almost all load classes of wastewater treatment plants in future climate Of the legally regulated effluent parameters for treated wastewater, ammonium‐nitrogen concentration will pose the greatest ecological risk

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with Large Eddy Simulation was employed to investigate a local‐scale convective precipitation event at Naqu (altitude of 4.5 km) over the central Tibetan Plateau (TP) on 24 July 2014. The WRF‐LES simulations with horizontal grid spacing of 200 m (CTRL) basically reproduced the rainfall pattern and evolution process compared to the observations. Five sensitivity experiments including removal the hills in east of Naqu (TER), decrease or increase of surface sensible heat flux (HFX0.67, HFX1.5), and surface latent heat flux (QFX0.67, QFX1.5) were implemented, respectively. Results show that the increase of surface heat flux and the eastern hills both enhanced the convection, which was triggered by the low‐level wind convergence. The QFX0.67 simulated the weakest precipitation among six runs, and the QFX1.5 simulated the earliest and strongest convection due to the enhanced atmospheric instability. It is found that the HFX0.67 caused the earlier convection initiation than CTRL and HFX1.5 owing to the lowest lifting condensation level and wettest low troposphere in it. Over the flat terrain in west of Naqu, weak convection was mostly affected by the surface heat flux. The product of 4.8 km wind convergence and difference between 7 km and 4.8 km equivalent potential temperature (>2 × 10−2 K/s) can partly indicate the development of low‐layer turbulence and the subsequent convection in free atmosphere. In addition, water vapor condensation (extending to 10 km) and raindrop evaporation (below 6 km) were two key phase‐change microphysical processes during the convective period even the quite low 0°C layer (∼6.5 km) over TP. Key Points The HFX0.67 simulates the earlier convection initiation than CTRL and HFX1.5 due to the lowest lifting condensation level (LCL) and wettest low troposphere A proposed Convective triggering index (CTI) partly indicates the development of low‐layer turbulence and subsequent convection Vapor condensation is the dominant phase‐change process even the quite low 0° layer (2 km above the ground) over TP

1. Plant phenotypic diversity is shaped by the interplay of trade-offs and constraints in evolution. Closely integrated groups of traits (i.e. trait dimensions) are used to classify plant phenotypic diversity into plant strategies, but we do not know the degree of interdependence among trait dimensions. To assess how selection has shaped the phenotypic space, we examine whether trait dimensions are independent. 2. We gathered data on saplings of 24 locally coexisting tree species in a temperate forest, and examined the correlation structure of 20 leaf, branch, stem and root traits. These traits fall into three well-established trait dimensions (the leaf economic spectrum, the wood spectrum and Corner's Rules) that characterize vital plant functions: resource acquisition, sap transport, mechanical support and canopy architecture. Using ordinations, network analyses and Mantel tests, we tested whether the sapling phenotype of these tree species is organized along independent trait dimensions. 3. Across species, the sapling phenotype is not structured into clear trait dimensions. The trait relationships defining trait dimensions are either weak or absent and do not dominate the correlation structure of the sapling phenotype as a whole. Instead traits from the three commonly recognized trait dimensions are organized into an integrated trait network. The effect of phylogeny on trait correlations is minimal. 4. Our results indicate that trait dimensions apparent in broad-based interspecific surveys do not hold up among locally coexisting species. Furthermore, architectural traits appear central to the phenotypic network, suggesting a pivotal role for branching architecture in linking resource acquisition, mechanical support and hydraulic functions. 5. Synthesis. Our study indicates that local and global patterns of phenotypic integration differ and calls into question the use of trait dimensions at local scales. We propose that a network approach to assessing plant function more effectively reflects the multiple trade-offs and constraints shaping the phenotype in locally co-occurring species.

This first paper of the two‐part series describes the objectives of the community efforts in improving the Noah land surface model (LSM), documents, through mathematical formulations, the augmented conceptual realism in biophysical and hydrological processes, and introduces a framework for multiple options to parameterize selected processes (Noah‐MP). The Noah‐MP's performance is evaluated at various local sites using high temporal frequency data sets, and results show the advantages of using multiple optional schemes to interpret the differences in modeling simulations. The second paper focuses on ensemble evaluations with long‐term regional (basin) and global scale data sets. The enhanced conceptual realism includes (1) the vegetation canopy energy balance, (2) the layered snowpack, (3) frozen soil and infiltration, (4) soil moisture‐groundwater interaction and related runoff production, and (5) vegetation phenology. Sample local‐scale validations are conducted over the First International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Field Experiment (FIFE) site, the W3 catchment of Sleepers River, Vermont, and a French snow observation site. Noah‐MP shows apparent improvements in reproducing surface fluxes, skin temperature over dry periods, snow water equivalent (SWE), snow depth, and runoff over Noah LSM version 3.0. Noah‐MP improves the SWE simulations due to more accurate simulations of the diurnal variations of the snow skin temperature, which is critical for computing available energy for melting. Noah‐MP also improves the simulation of runoff peaks and timing by introducing a more permeable frozen soil and more accurate simulation of snowmelt. We also demonstrate that Noah‐MP is an effective research tool by which modeling results for a given process can be interpreted through multiple optional parameterization schemes in the same model framework. Key Points The paper describes the augmented Noah LSM The augmented Noah LSM allows multiphysics options (hence Noah‐MP) The Noah‐MP outperforms the original Noah LSM