A supply-limited torrent that does not feel the heat of climate change.

Debris-flow activity in the Alps is anticipated to undergo pronounced changes in response to a warming climate. Yet, a fundamental challenge in comprehensively assessing changes in process activity is the systematic lack of long-term observational debris-flow records. Here, we reconstruct the longest, continuous time series (1626-2020) of debris flows at Multetta, a supply-limited torrential system in the Eastern Swiss Alps.

Quantifying the resistance of mixed-forests against natural hazards in the Pyrenees.

Mountain protection forests can prevent natural hazards by reducing their onset and propagation probabilities. In fact, individual trees act as natural barriers against hydrogeomorphic events. However, assessing the structural strength of trees against these hazards is challenging, especially in a context of climate change due to the intensification of extreme events and changes in forest dynamics.

Combining exposed tree roots and UAV imagery to quantify land denudation in central Mexico.

Approximately 42 % of Mexico is affected by soil denudation resulting from moderate to severe sheet erosion and gullying processes. At Huasca de Ocampo (central Mexico), soil degradation has been linked to intense land use dating back to pre-Hispanic times as well as to unfavorable geological, geomorphic, and climatic conditions. Here, we quantify erosion rates with high precision at annual to multi-decadal timescales by combining, for the first time, dendrogeomorphic reconstructions and UAV-based remote sensing.

250 years of flood frequency and discharge in an ungauged Corsican mountain catchment: A dendrogeomorphic reconstruction.

The primary goal of paleoflood hydrology is to estimate the frequency and magnitude of past floods. Botanical evidence, and particularly scars on trees, has been used repeatedly as paleostage indicators to reconstruct peak discharges and flood height. Yet, these reconstructions depend on the presence of visible scars on tree stems which tend to be masked as trees grow older.

Recent flood hazards in Kashmir put into context with millennium-long historical and tree-ring records.

In September 2014, the Kashmir valley (north-west India) experienced a massive flood causing significant economic losses and fatalities. This disaster underlined the high vulnerability of the local population and raised questions regarding the resilience of Kashmiris to future floods. Although the magnitude of the 2014 flood has been considered unprecedented within the context of existing measurements, we argue that the short flow series may lead to spurious misinterpretation of the probability of such extreme events.

When scientists become detectives: investigating systematic tree poisoning in a protected cove.

The systematic killing of trees is usually aimed at eradicating pests or alien plant species susceptible to harm existing natural ecosystems. In some cases, trees may become the subject of dispute between neighbors, which sometimes ends in tree death after months or years of dispute. In this paper, we analyze a case of clandestine tree killing and look into ways through which evidence left by delinquents can be analyzed with state-of-the-art approaches.

Positive associations among rare species and their persistence in ecological assemblages.

According to the competitive exclusion principle, species with low competitive abilities should be excluded by more efficient competitors; yet, they generally remain as rare species. Here, we describe the positive and negative spatial association networks of 326 disparate assemblages, showing a general organization pattern that simultaneously supports the primacy of competition and the persistence of rare species. Abundant species monopolize negative associations in about 90% of the assemblages.

Dry Spells and Extreme Precipitation are The Main Trigger of Landslides in Central Europe.

Landslides are frequently triggered by extreme meteorological events which has led to concern and debate about their activity in a future greenhouse climate. It is also hypothesized that dry spells preceding triggering rainfall may increase slope predisposition to sliding, especially in the case of clay-rich soils. Here we combined dendrogeomorphic time series of landslides and climatic records to test the possible role of dry spells and extreme downpours on process activity in the Outer Western Carpathians (Central Europe).

Laboratory and Field Protocol for Estimating Sheet Erosion Rates from Dendrogeomorphology.

Sheet erosion is among the crucial drivers of soil degradation. Erosion is controlled by environmental factors and human activities, which often lead to severe environmental impacts. The understanding of sheet erosion is, consequently, a worldwide issue with implications for both environment and economies.

On the extraordinary winter flood episode over the North Atlantic Basin in 1936.

In this study, we analyze the linkage between atmosphere and ocean modes and winter flood variability over the 20th century based on long-term flow-discharge series, historical archives, and tree-ring records of past floods in the North Atlantic Basin (NAB). The most extreme winter floods occurred in 1936 and had strong impacts on either side of the Atlantic. We hypothesize that the joint effects of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Arctic Oscillation (AO), which is closely related to the North Atlantic Oscillation, play a significant role when describing flood variability in North America and Europe since 1900.