Publications by authors named "J A Smerdon"
Mitochondrial function is modulated by its interaction with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Recent research indicates that these contacts are disrupted in familial models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We report here that this impairment in the crosstalk between mitochondria and the ER impedes the use of glucose-derived pyruvate as mitochondrial fuel, causing a shift to fatty acids to sustain energy production.
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- Human-caused climate change in western North America has led to more frequent and intense hot droughts in recent years.
- The creation of the Western North American Temperature Atlas (WNATA) provides a new way to analyze summer maximum temperatures dating back to the 16th century.
- Recent evaluations show that the link between high temperatures and severe drought has increased significantly in the last few decades, indicating that current drought conditions are likely more extreme than anything seen in the past 500 years.
Streamflow often increases after fire, but the persistence of this effect and its importance to present and future regional water resources are unclear. This paper addresses these knowledge gaps for the western United States (WUS), where annual forest fire area increased by more than 1,100% during 1984 to 2020. Among 72 forested basins across the WUS that burned between 1984 and 2019, the multibasin mean streamflow was significantly elevated by 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiophysical vegetation responses to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO) affect regional hydroclimate through two competing mechanisms. Higher CO increases leaf area (LAI), thereby increasing transpiration and water losses. Simultaneously, elevated CO reduces stomatal conductance and transpiration, thereby increasing rootzone soil moisture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLarge tropical volcanic eruptions can affect the climate of many regions on Earth, yet it is uncertain how the largest eruptions over the past millennium may have altered Earth's hydroclimate. Here, we analyze the global hydroclimatic response to all the tropical volcanic eruptions over the past millennium that were larger than the Mount Pinatubo eruption of 1991. Using the Paleo Hydrodynamics Data Assimilation product (PHYDA), we find that these large volcanic eruptions tended to produce dry conditions over tropical Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East and wet conditions over much of Oceania and the South American monsoon region.
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