AI-powered fraud and the erosion of online survey integrity: an analysis of 31 fraud detection strategies.

The proliferation of AI-powered bots and sophisticated fraudsters poses a significant threat to the integrity of scientific studies reliant on online surveys across diverse disciplines, including health, social, environmental and political sciences. We found a substantial decline in usable responses from online surveys from 75 to 10% in recent years due to survey fraud. Monetary incentives attract sophisticated fraudsters capable of mimicking genuine open-ended responses and verifying information submitted months prior, showcasing the advanced capabilities of online survey fraud today.

Climate change impacts on insect pests for high value specialty crops in California.

California is a global leader in production and supply of walnuts and almonds, and the state is the largest producer of peaches in the U.S. These crops have an important contribution to the California's agricultural economy.

Drivers of social acceptance of natural-resource management: A comparison of the public and professionals in California.

The social impacts of natural resource management are challenging to evaluate because their perceived benefits and costs vary across stakeholder groups. Nevertheless, ensuring social acceptance is essential to building public support for adaptive measures required for the sustainable management of ecosystems in a warming climate. Based on surveys with both members of the public and natural-resource professionals in California, we applied structural-equation modeling to examine how psychological factors impact individuals' attitudes toward management's capacity to reduce the impacts of disturbance events, including wildfires, smoke from wildfires, drought, water shortages, tree mortality, and utility failure.

Impacts of large-scale teleconnection indices on chill accumulation for specialty crops in California.

Although the impacts of teleconnection indices on climate metrics such as precipitation and temperature in California have been widely studied, less attention has been given to the impact on integrated climate indices such as chill accumulation. This study investigates the linkages between large-scale teleconnections and winter chill accumulation for specialty crops in California, which may enable more effective and dynamic adaptation to in-season climate variability. Three large-scale teleconnection indices were selected: Oceanic Nino Index (ONI), Pacific-North American teleconnection pattern (PNA), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) index to assess their effects on chill accumulation.

Climate change reduces frost exposure for high-value California orchard crops.

Frost exposure is a particular challenge for cultivating perennial crops, whose adaptive capacity to weather and climate impacts is limited. Irrigation is a common means of mitigating damage, but draws on limited water resources, is costly, and energy intensive. Here we examined the projected impact of climate change on the incidence of frost temperatures during the coldest winters, defined by the 98th percentile of cool season (November-April) frost hours, under both early- and mid-21st century time periods, as compared to contemporary conditions, across a range of threshold temperatures.

Impact of climate change on navel orangeworm, a major pest of tree nuts in California.

California's agricultural sector is the highest valued agricultural sector in the United States. It is also a global leader in the production of various specialty crops, including three major tree nuts - almond, walnut, and pistachio. These three nut crops accounted for approximately 16% of the state's total agricultural economy.