Nature reviews earth & environment, december 2021
Volume 2 Issue 12, December 2021
Mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows have historically been lost or degraded, threatening their ability to store carbon and provide ecosystem services. This Review details the global potential of blue carbon ecosystem protection and restoration in climate change mitigation, through carbon sequestration and co-benefit production. See Macreadie et al. [link to ‘Macreadie et al’ 10.1038/s43017-021-00224-1]
Image: Marie Hickman/Getty Images. Cover design: Denis Mallet.
Research Highlights
Research Highlight | 10 November 2021
Corals losing control
An article in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology found that modern corals could be losing resilience to ocean acidification compared to fossil corals.
- Robert Ulrich
Research Highlight | 17 November 2021
Monitoring monochlorobenzene
An article in Water Research tracks monochlorobenzene biodegradation in anoxic canal sediments impacted by legacy pollution.
- Laura Zinke
Research Highlight | 26 November 2021
Bacteria in the wind
An article in Atmosphere identified species of bacteria transported by dust particles in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia.
- Robert Ulrich
Tools of the Trade | 05 November 2021
Understanding hydrological change with land surface models
Marcus Buechel discusses how the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) can be used to investigate the impact of climate change on land–surface hydrological cycles.
- Marcus Buechel
Tools of the Trade | 11 November 2021
Predicting agricultural soil carbon using machine learning
Thu Thuy Nguyen discusses how machine learning has become a feasible and cost-effective method for large-scale soil carbon prediction.
- Thu Thuy Nguyen
Reviews
Review Article | 01 November 2021
Blue carbon as a natural climate solution
Mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows have historically been lost or degraded, threatening their ability to store carbon and provide ecosystem services. This Review details the global potential of blue carbon ecosystem protection and restoration in climate change mitigation, through carbon sequestration and co-benefit production.
- Peter I. Macreadie
- Micheli D. P. Costa
- Carlos M. Duarte
Review Article | 23 November 2021
The life cycle of large igneous provinces
Major environmental disruptions throughout Earth’s history are often linked to extensive magmatic events, termed large igneous provinces. This Review explores the coupled evolution of mantle melting, magmatism and volatile release over the life cycle of large igneous provinces.
- Benjamin A. Black
- Leif Karlstrom
- Tamsin A. Mather
Review Article | 09 November 2021
Drivers and impacts of changes in China’s drylands
Global drylands are threatened by a combination of anthropogenic climate change and human activities, putting some locations at high risk of desertification. This Review details changes observed in the drylands of China, and the mitigating impact of large-scale restoration and conservation programmes designed to reverse them.
- Changjia Li
- Bojie Fu
- Wenxin Zhou
Review Article | 16 November 2021
Physical manifestations and ecological implications of Arctic Atlantification
Since 2000, oceanographic conditions in the Barents Sea and the Eurasian Basin have transitioned from those reflecting the Arctic to a state more closely resembling that of the Atlantic. This Review examines the physical and ecological manifestations, drivers and implications of this so-called Atlantification.
- Randi B. Ingvaldsen
- Karen M. Assmann
- Andrey V. Dolgov
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