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Background: Herbivores modify the structure and function of tundra ecosystems. Understanding their impacts is necessary to assess the responses of these ecosystems to ongoing environmental changes. However, the effects of herbivores on plants and ecosystem structure and function vary across the Arctic. Strong spatial variation in herbivore effects implies that the results of individual studies on
Since 1750, land-use change and fossil fuel combustion has led to a 46% increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, causing global warming with substantial societal consequences. The Paris Agreement aims to limit global temperature increases to well below 2C above preindustrial levels. Increasing levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as methane (CH4) and nitrou
Lake–atmosphere carbon exchanges can be significantly affected by photochemical dissolved organic matter (DOM) mineralization. However, our understanding of how increasing allochthonous organic carbon input affects the photoreactivity of DOM per unit of absorbed incoming light is incomplete. Here, we measured the absorption of ultraviolet (UV) light and subsequent photochemical DOM decay in 148 la
Field studies reveal that the woody surfaces of upland trees are a substantial global sink for methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The findings help to fill a hole in the global methane budget and should improve the accuracy of climate models.
Changes in the net carbon sink of boreal forests constitute a major source of uncertainty in the future global carbon budget and, hence, climate change projections. The annual net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) controlling the terrestrial carbon stock results from the small difference between respiratory CO2 release and the photosynthetic CO2 uptake by vegetation. The boreal forest, an
The complex topography in mountainous regions, exemplified by factors like slope aspect, leads to noticeable variations in vegetation patterns, which are fundamental for understanding mountain ecosystems. However, a consistent global-scale quantification of topography's influence on vegetation patterns is still lacking. Here, we utilize two phenological metrics as proxies for vegetation-maximum ve
Background: Radiostereometric analysis (RSA) provides highly accurate data about the migration of a total knee arthroplasty (TKA) component. However, patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) reflect the patients' perspective of their functional status, pain, and overall health after TKA. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between tibial implant migration and change in postopera
Residents of the Sahel depend on livestock, but harsh environmental conditions during the dry season limit rangeland forage, which is the main source of livestock feed. Al-though operational tools exist for assessing and monitoring forage quantity during the dry season, assessments of forage quality are lacking. We addressed this gap by developing satellite-based monitoring of forage quality acros
Mapping in situ eddy covariance measurements of terrestrial land–atmosphere fluxes to the globe is a key method for diagnosing the Earth system from a data-driven perspective. We describe the first global products (called X-BASE) from a newly implemented upscaling framework, FLUXCOM-X, representing an advancement from the previous generation of FLUXCOM products in terms of flexibility and technica
Current analyses and predictions of spatially explicit patterns and processes in ecology most often rely on climate data interpolated from standardized weather stations. This interpolated climate data represents long-term average thermal conditions at coarse spatial resolutions only. Hence, many climate-forcing factors that operate at fine spatiotemporal resolutions are overlooked. This is particu
Fog makes a significant contribution to the hydrology of a wide range of important terrestrial ecosystems. The amount and frequency of fog immersion are affected by rapid ongoing anthropogenic changes but the impacts of these changes remain relatively poorly understood compared with changes in rainfall. Here, we present the design and performance of a novel experiment to actively manipulate low ly
Background: In the Sahel, one of the largest semi-arid areas in the world, pastoral livestock is the main source of protein for the local population. The quantification of herbaceous biomass in the Sahelian rangelands is of major importance since it provides food for the livestock. The main method used to monitor the biomass consists of cutting, drying, and weighting it. However, indirect methods
Drought is a multifaceted phenomenon driven by both natural climate fluctuations and human activities. Unlike traditional, slow-developing droughts, flash droughts (FDs) emerge suddenly and intensify rapidly, posing significant challenges for natural resource management. The lack of effective tools to quantify FDs exacerbates stakeholders' concerns, particularly due to the risks they pose to water
Increased global vegetation gross primary productivity (GPP) over the past decades has led to an enhanced terrestrial carbon sink, an important factor in mitigating global warming. However, the global spatiotemporal evolution of GPP trends is still under debate, largely limiting our understanding of the sustainability in terrestrial carbon sink. Here in this study, based on a dozen of long-term gl
The color of lakes is an essential indicator of the local ecological state, and the corresponding changes can reflect the physical and biochemical processes of lakes. However, worldwide changes in lake color and their drivers remain largely unknown. Here, we analyze the long-term color distributions and changes of 67,579 lakes worldwide from 1984 to 2021 by utilizing 32 million consistent satellit
Drought is a complex natural hazard increasing in frequency, duration, and severity worldwide. Although droughts cause both market and non-market impacts, the latter suffers from a dearth of economic studies quantifying their magnitude. In this paper, we investigated how droughts affect selected ecosystem services expected to result in welfare losses in Spain. This study is aimed at quantifying an
Vegetation is the major source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere, which affect both air quality and climate. Long-term ecosystem-level data on biogenic VOC (BVOC) emissions, however, are limited. This is especially true regarding the impacts of landscape-scale disturbances like clear-cutting on the short-term and longer seasonal-scale emissions of boreal forests, particularly
Nutrients are the lifeblood of aquatic ecosystems, but not all nutrients are equally accessible to the organisms that depend on them. While traditional monitoring often tracks total or inorganic concentrations of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, these measures do not reflect what microbial communities can actually use. This thesis explores that disconnect by investigating the bioavailability of k
