Identifying the scaling rules describing ecological patterns across time and space is a central challenge in ecology. Taylor's law of fluctuation scaling, which states that the variance of a population's size or density is proportional to a positive power of the mean size or density, has been widely observed in population dynamics and characterizes variability in multiple scientific domains. However, it is unclear if this phenomenon accurately describes ecological patterns across many orders of magnitude in time, and therefore links otherwise disparate observations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study examines the contamination levels and sources of 32 metals and metalloids (MMs) in environmental compartments (roadside soil, road dust, and river suspended sediments) of a small urbanized river catchment located in Moscow megacity. MMs partitioning between particle size fractions (PM, PM, and PM) was analyzed by ICP-MS and ICP-AES methods. The pollution level of particle size fractions with MMs decreases in the following series: road dust > suspended sediments > soils.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aims to identify the main patterns of distribution and sources of pollutants in the Moskva River and their influence on river water quality under different levels of anthropogenic stress caused by the largest megacity in Europe - Moscow. For this study, we determined concentrations of 18 trace elements, nutrient elements and major ions, chemical and biochemical oxygen demand, and physical parameters of water at 45 stations on the Moskva River and 20 stations on its tributaries during spring flood and low water of 2019 and 2020 to identify the extent and mechanisms of urban impact on its water chemistry. Chemical elements concentrations have been determined using ICP-MS and ICP-AES methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe quality of lake ice is of uppermost importance for ice safety and under-ice ecology, but its temporal and spatial variability is largely unknown. Here we conducted a coordinated lake ice quality sampling campaign across the Northern Hemisphere during one of the warmest winters since 1880 and show that lake ice during 2020/2021 commonly consisted of unstable white ice, at times contributing up to 100% to the total ice thickness. We observed that white ice increased over the winter season, becoming thickest and constituting the largest proportion of the ice layer towards the end of the ice cover season when fatal winter drownings occur most often and light limits the growth and reproduction of primary producers.
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