Interannual Dynamics of Ice Cliff Populations on Debris-Covered Glaciers From Remote Sensing Observations and Stochastic Modeling.

Ice cliffs are common on debris-covered glaciers and have relatively high melt rates due to their direct exposure to incoming radiation. Previous studies have shown that their number and relative area can change considerably from year to year, but this variability has not been explored, in part because available cliff observations are irregular. Here, we systematically mapped and tracked ice cliffs across four debris-covered glaciers in High Mountain Asia for every late ablation season from 2009 to 2019 using high-resolution multi-spectral satellite imagery.

Surface Pond Energy Absorption Across Four Himalayan Glaciers Accounts for 1/8 of Total Catchment Ice Loss.

Glaciers in High Mountain Asia, many of which exhibit surface debris, contain the largest volume of ice outside of the polar regions. Many contain supraglacial pond networks that enhance melt rates locally, but no large-scale assessment of their impact on melt rates exists. Here we use surface energy balance modeling forced using locally measured meteorological data and monthly satellite-derived pond distributions to estimate the total melt enhancement for the four main glaciers within the 400-km Langtang catchment, Nepal, for a 6-month period in 2014.

Aspect controls the survival of ice cliffs on debris-covered glaciers.

Supraglacial ice cliffs exist on debris-covered glaciers worldwide, but despite their importance as melt hot spots, their life cycle is little understood. Early field observations had advanced a hypothesis of survival of north-facing and disappearance of south-facing cliffs, which is central for predicting the contribution of cliffs to total glacier mass losses. Their role as windows of energy transfer suggests they may explain the anomalously high mass losses of debris-covered glaciers in High Mountain Asia (HMA) despite the insulating debris, currently at the center of a debated controversy.

Promoting pollinating insects in intensive agricultural matrices: field-scale experimental manipulation of hay-meadow mowing regimes and its effects on bees.

Bees are a key component of biodiversity as they ensure a crucial ecosystem service: pollination. This ecosystem service is nowadays threatened, because bees suffer from agricultural intensification. Yet, bees rarely benefit from the measures established to promote biodiversity in farmland, such as agri-environment schemes (AES).

The expression and impact of antifungal grooming in ants.

Parasites can cause extensive damage to animal societies in which many related individuals frequently interact. In response, social animals have evolved diverse individual and collective defences. Here, we measured the expression and efficiency of self-grooming and allo-grooming when workers of the ant Formica selysi were contaminated with spores of the fungal entomopathogen Metarhizium anisopliae.