Safe and just Earth system boundaries.

The stability and resilience of the Earth system and human well-being are inseparably linked, yet their interdependencies are generally under-recognized; consequently, they are often treated independently. Here, we use modelling and literature assessment to quantify safe and just Earth system boundaries (ESBs) for climate, the biosphere, water and nutrient cycles, and aerosols at global and subglobal scales. We propose ESBs for maintaining the resilience and stability of the Earth system (safe ESBs) and minimizing exposure to significant harm to humans from Earth system change (a necessary but not sufficient condition for justice).

Unprecedented recent regional increase in organic carbon and lithogenic fluxes in high altitude Pyrenean lakes.

We have conducted a monitoring survey and paleolimnological study of a W-E transect of six high altitude lakes (1870-2630 m asl) in the western and central Pyrenees (Spain) to evaluate the regional response to current global change in high altitude Mediterranean mountains. The reconstructed Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and lithogenic (L) fluxes during the last 1200 years show the expected variability as lakes differ in altitude, geological and climate settings, limnological properties and human impact history. However, all show unique patterns after 1850 CE, particularly during the Great Acceleration (after 1950 CE).

Impact of environmental factors on the presence of quinolizidine alkaloids in lupins: a review.

Lupin seeds have a high potential as an alternative for animal proteins in feed and food. However, the possible presence of alkaloids hinders the usage of lupins in human diets. This review aims to identify the main factors that influence the presence of alkaloids in lupins.

Lyapunov exponents for temporal networks.

By interpreting a temporal network as a trajectory of a latent graph dynamical system, we introduce the concept of dynamical instability of a temporal network and construct a measure to estimate the network maximum Lyapunov exponent (nMLE) of a temporal network trajectory. Extending conventional algorithmic methods from nonlinear time-series analysis to networks, we show how to quantify sensitive dependence on initial conditions and estimate the nMLE directly from a single network trajectory. We validate our method for a range of synthetic generative network models displaying low- and high-dimensional chaos and finally discuss potential applications.

Moist and warm conditions in Eurasia during the last glacial of the Middle Pleistocene Transition.

The end of the Middle Pleistocene Transition (MPT, ~ 800-670 thousand years before present, ka) was characterised by the emergence of large glacial ice-sheets associated with anomalously warm North Atlantic sea surface temperatures enhancing moisture production. Still, the direction and intensity of moisture transport across Eurasia towards potential ice-sheets is poorly constrained. To reconstruct late MPT moisture production and dispersal, we combine records of upper ocean temperature and pollen-based Mediterranean forest cover, a tracer of westerlies and precipitation, from a subtropical drill-core collected off South-West Iberia, with records of East Asia summer monsoon (EASM) strength and West Pacific surface temperatures, and model simulations.

Animal board invited review: Opportunities and challenges in using GWP* to report the impact of ruminant livestock on global temperature change.

Ruminant livestock is a large contributor of CH emissions globally Assessing how this CH and other greenhouse gases (GHG) from livestock contribute to anthropogenic climate change is key to understanding their role in achieving any temperature targets. The climate impacts of livestock, as well as other sectors or products/services, are generally expressed as CO-equivalents using 100-year Global Warming Potentials (GWP). However, the GWP cannot be used to translate emission pathways of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) emissions to their temperature outcomes.

Overcoming the coupled climate and biodiversity crises and their societal impacts.

Earth's biodiversity and human societies face pollution, overconsumption of natural resources, urbanization, demographic shifts, social and economic inequalities, and habitat loss, many of which are exacerbated by climate change. Here, we review links among climate, biodiversity, and society and develop a roadmap toward sustainability. These include limiting warming to 1.

Whose waters, whose nutrients? Knowledge, uncertainty, and controversy over eutrophication in the Mar Menor.

This work explores the role of knowledge claims and uncertainty in the public dispute over the causes and solutions to nonpoint-driven overfertilization of the Mar Menor lagoon (Spain). Drawing on relational uncertainty theory, we combine the analysis of narratives and of uncertainty. Our results show two increasingly polarized narratives that deviate in the causes for nutrient enrichment and the type of solutions seen as effective, all of which relate to contested visions on agricultural sustainability.

Assessing synergies and trade-offs of diverging Paris-compliant mitigation strategies with long-term SDG objectives.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement are the two transformative agendas, which set the benchmarks for nations to address urgent social, economic and environmental challenges. Aside from setting long-term goals, the pathways followed by nations will involve a series of synergies and trade-offs both between and within these agendas. Since it will not be possible to optimise across the 17 SDGs while simultaneously transitioning to low-carbon societies, it will be necessary to implement policies to address the most critical aspects of the agendas and understand the implications for the other dimensions.

Scientific modelling can be accessible, interoperable and user friendly: A case study for pasture and livestock modelling in Spain.

This article describes the adaptation of a non-spatial model of pastureland dynamics, including vegetation life cycle, livestock management and nitrogen cycle, for use in a spatially explicit and modular modelling platform (k.LAB) dedicated to make data and models more interoperable. The aim is to showcase to the social-ecological modelling community the delivery of an existing, monolithic model, into a more modular, transparent and accessible approach to potential end users, regional managers, farmers and other stakeholders.

Marginal Damage of Methane Emissions: Ozone Impacts on Agriculture.

Methane directly contributes to air pollution, as an ozone precursor, and to climate change, generating physical and economic damages to different systems, namely agriculture, vegetation, energy, human health, or biodiversity. The methane-related damages to climate, measured as the Social Cost of Methane, and to human health have been analyzed by different studies and considered by government rulemaking in the last decades, but the ozone-related damages to crop revenues associated to methane emissions have not been incorporated to policy agenda. Using a combination of the Global Change Analysis Model and the TM5-FASST Scenario Screening Tool, we estimate that global marginal agricultural damages range from ~423 to 556 $2010/t-CH, of which 98 $2010/t-CH occur in the USA, which is the most affected region due to its role as a major crop producer, followed by China, EU-15, and India.

The importance of a holistic approach to the factors determining population abundances.

Research Highlight: Ogilvie, J. E., & CaraDonna, P.

Variation in diversity-function relationships can be explained by species interactions.

Research Highlight: Wu, D., Xu, C., Wang, S.

Framework for multirisk climate scenarios across system receptors with application to the Metropolitan City of Venice.

Climate change influences the frequency of extreme events that affect both human and natural systems. It requires systemic climate change adaptation to address the complexity of risks across multiple domains and tackle the uncertainties of future scenarios. This paper introduces a multirisk analysis of climate hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and risk severity, specifically designed to hotspot geographic locations and prioritize system receptors that are affected by climate-related extremes.

Biocultural vulnerability exposes threats of culturally important species.

There are growing calls for conservation frameworks that, rather than breaking the relations between people and other parts of nature, capture place-based relationships that have supported social-ecological systems over the long term. Biocultural approaches propose actions based on biological conservation priorities and cultural values aligned with local priorities, but mechanisms that allow their global uptake are missing. We propose a framework to globally assess the biocultural status of specific components of nature that matter to people and apply it to culturally important species (CIS).

Perceptions of change in the environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for environmental policy.

COVID-19 lockdown measures have impacted the environment with both positive and negative effects. However, how human populations have perceived such changes in the natural environment and how they may have changed their daily habits have not been yet thoroughly evaluated. The objectives of this work were to investigate (1) the social perception of the environmental changes produced by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and the derived change in habits in relation to i) waste management, energy saving, and sustainable consumption, ii) mobility, iii) social inequalities, iv) generation of noise, v) utilization of natural spaces, and, vi) human population perception towards the future, and (2) the associations of these potential new habits with various socio-demographic variables.

Global principles in local traditional knowledge: A review of forage plant-livestock-herder interactions.

An understanding of traditional ecological knowledge systems is increasingly acknowledged as a means of helping to develop global, regional and national, but locally relevant policies. Pastoralists often use lands that are unsuitable for crops due to biophysical and climatic extremities and variabilities. Forage plants of pastures are utilized by herding communities by applying locally relevant multigenerational knowledge.

Challenging the financial capture of urban greening.

Urban greening is critical for human health and climate adaptation and mitigation goals, but its financing tends to prioritize economic growth imperatives. This often results in elite value and rent capture and unjust greening outcomes. We argue that cities can, however, take action to ensure more socially just impacts of green financing.

Optimal stomatal theory predicts CO responses of stomatal conductance in both gymnosperm and angiosperm trees.

Optimal stomatal theory predicts that stomata operate to maximise photosynthesis (A ) and minimise transpirational water loss to achieve optimal intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE). We tested whether this theory can predict stomatal responses to elevated atmospheric CO (eCO ), and whether it can capture differences in responsiveness among woody plant functional types (PFTs). We conducted a meta-analysis of tree studies of the effect of eCO on iWUE and its components A and stomatal conductance (g ).

Seasonal controlling factors of CO exchange in a semiarid shrubland in the Chihuahuan Desert, Mexico.

The still significant uncertainties associated with the future capacity of terrestrial systems to mitigate climate change are linked to the lack of knowledge of the biotic and abiotic processes that regulate CO net ecosystem exchange (NEE) in space/time. Mainly, rates and controls of CO exchange from arid ecosystems, despite dominating the global trends in interannual variability of the terrestrial CO sink capacity, are probably the most poorly understood of all. We present a study on rates and controls of CO exchange measured with the eddy covariance (EC) technique in the Chihuahuan Desert in the Northeast of Mexico, to understand how the environmental controls of the NEE switch throughout the year using a multilevel approach.