Research Highlights

Freshwater ecosystems produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and ponds on agricultural land are particularly strong emitters. Dr Malerba and colleagues used maps of agricultural ponds and compiled data on their emissions to produce assessments of methane emissions from agricultural ponds for both the USA and Australia. They found emissions twice as high as were initially being accounted for under national inventories, highlighting the need to account for this source in national inventories.

Marine heatwaves threaten vulnerable ecosystems and are intrinsically linked to a warming climate. Dr Athanase and colleagues performed coupled climate model simulations and found that future climate change could create a feedback loop, increasing the intensity and spatial extent of marine heatwaves. For example, in a future + 4 °C warmer climate, global oceans could be + 1.9 °C warmer than present levels, while warming in Northeast Pacific marine heatwaves could be + 2.9 ± 0.15 °C above present levels. This work demonstrates the stress that future climate warming could play on marine ecosystems.

Türkiye and Syria were struck by a series of powerful earthquakes in February 2023. Prof Görüm and colleagues documented the impacts of these earthquakes, which triggered landslides and regional flooding. The earthquakes were followed by a strong atmospheric river 36 days later, which brought with it intense rainfall. The downpours triggered further landslides and disrupted recovery work. Using reanalysis and hydrometeorological data, the authors showed that the earthquake impacts were worsened by the atmospheric river. In the future, they recommend considering atmospheric rivers when assessing multi-hazard risk.

Harlequin toads are under threat from habitat change, pathogen spread, and climate change. Stefan Lötters and colleagues examined population records of 131 harlequin toad species (Atelopus), from 2004-2022. They interviewed harlequin toad experts and compiled population and threat data, finding that the status of harlequin toads has not improved since 2004. Despite species rediscoveries and increased conservation efforts, the lack of recovery indicates that the amphibian extinction crisis is ongoing. They recommend habitat protection, disease management, and captive breeding programs for the future.

Phytochemist Dervilla Donnelly was the first woman to receive the Royal Irish Academy’s highest honor, the Cunningham Medal. As a leader in science and policy, she promoted international collaboration in chemistry and biology.

Italian mineralogist Paola Bonazzi advanced our understanding of mineral structures and their environmental interactions. The mineral bonazziite, found in Kyrgyzstan, was named in honor of her seminal work on arsenic sulfides.

Pyroclastic density currents – fast flows of hot gases, ash, and debris – are some of the most hazardous phenomena associated with explosive volcanic eruptions. Analyses of historical pyroclastic density currents and laboratory experiments show that the rate of volcanic eruptions is the main control for their emplacement and their related volcanic hazards.

An adventurous ecologist, Cheryl Ann Palm brought together agriculture, forest and social science experts and pioneered interdisciplinary approaches to reduce deforestation and enhance food security.

In northern China and the Korean Peninsula, air pollution has worsened over the past ten years, but the two countries have not cooperated efficiently to resolve the problem. China and Korea must separate environmental negotiations and diplomatic actions to address the transboundary nature of air pollution.

Oxygen levels in the ocean increased three times between the early Ediacaran and the early Cambrian, in synchrony with major developments in animal evolution.

Emissions intensity is a more appropriate metric for assessing individual firms’ carbon efficiency than correlations between unscaled carbon emissions and stock market performance, and the latter should be interpreted with caution.

Climate change is projected to affect migration patterns, mortality, and fertility in the most vulnerable places in the global tropics. An analysis of population growth and exposure to climate extremes in twenty-nine tropical countries shows that heat and drought lead to altered population distributions but not to depopulation.