Thousands of years of climate data refined to better predict future environmental changes

University of Córdoba

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Researcher Diego Nieto, who has participated in the research

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Credit: University of Córdoba

Thousands of years of climate data refined to better predict future environmental changes

A collaborative effort between the universities of Cordoba and Granada improved the spatial resolution of monthly climate data from 22,000 years ago to the year 2100, enabling more localized and detailed studies.

Knowing the climate of the future is one of the current challenges and an essential issue when studying biodiversity and making long-term predictions regarding species' behavior or making decisions today. To know what a Spanish fir forest will be like 200 years from now, climate models that forecast future changes are needed.

“When developing climate models, you have to make sure that they work well. As we do not know what the climate of the future will be like, and are unable to verify it, we validate it with past data that is real, projecting the model backwards to verify that it works”— explains Diego Nieto, a researcher with the Basic and Applied Plant Biology group at the University of Córdoba — “If these backward projections work well, those of us who are dedicated to the natural environment use them to determine how vegetation or diversity has changed depending on the climate.”

One of the main challenges they face when it comes to understanding the climate and vegetation of the past, and being able to create predictions for the future, is that climate models work with very great resolutions; that is, they present data on very large areas (between 150 and 250 km), which makes it difficult to carry out studies and projections for specific areas, such as the Mediterranean.

Hence, the latest work by Diego Niego and Daniel Romera, a researcher in the same group, together with researchers from the University of Granada, has been the rescaling of a set of monthly climate data from 22,000 years ago, to the year 2100, obtaining a much more detailed resolution of 11 x 11 km, making possible better analysis of the phenomena of more specific ecosystems.

“The idea was to generate a set of past climate data at a level of detail that would make sense for biodiversity studies.” The team used one of the climate change models (TraCE-21ka) and rescaled it with a number of novel tools that had not previously been used to do this kind of rescaling at this resolution.

With this work, published in the journal Scientific Data, a ‘toolbox’ is made available to the scientific community to apply advanced rescaling techniques to large-resolution climate datasets using the R0 programming language, an open and free code that facilitates its easy use. The set of tools it contains allows for the rescaling of data corresponding to 7 climatic variables, including average temperature, solar radiation, precipitation and wind speed. In addition to the tools that enable each research team to rescale data to a resolution of 11x11 km for the area of greatest interest, a set of data that has already been rescaled is shared for a region recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot: the Western Mediterranean.

Thanks to this advance, studies can be carried out that allow us to know how biodiversity has responded to changes in the climate and make predictions regarding how it will change in the face of the effects of current climate change. In this way more reliable tools will be generated to, for example, manage species in natural parks, or long-term conservation plans.

Reference:

Romera-Romera, D., Alba-Sánchez, F., Abel-Schaad, D. et al. Replicable Fine-Spatio-Temporal Climate Data for Long-Term Ecology in the Western Mediterranean. Sci Data 12, 747 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05067-9

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Journal

Scientific Data

DOI

10.1038/s41597-025-05067-9 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Replicable Fine-Spatio-Temporal Climate Data for Long-Term Ecology in the Western Mediterranean

 

Can biodegradable mulch films harm soil health?

Higher Education Press

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Credit: Martin SAMPHIRE , Davey L. JONES , David R. CHADWICK

Soil organic matter is crucial for maintaining soil fertility and carbon sequestration, but traditional agricultural practices often lead to its loss. Organic farming attempts to mitigate this issue through methods such as composting and green manures. In recent years, biodegradable plastic mulch films (PFM) have garnered attention for their ability to significantly enhance crop yields while being environmentally friendly. However, there are concerns about whether these films might accelerate the decomposition of soil organic matter and disrupt the soil’s ecological balance. So, how do these novel films affect soil health over the long term?

A study conducted by Martin SAMPHIRE and colleagues at Bangor University in the UK addresses this question through a three-year field trial. The article was recently published in Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering (DOI: 10.15302/J-FASE-2025608).

This research compared the differences between biodegradable PFM and a no-cover control group, while also incorporating common organic farming practices such as green manure composting, poultry manure fertilization, and winter cover management. The findings revealed that the use of PFM increased the yield of all crops by 43%–46%, and winter green manure yield also increased by 18%. This gain is attributed to the “mini-greenhouse effect” created by the mulch film: increased soil temperatures accelerated nutrient mineralization, reduced moisture evaporation by over 30%, and physically isolated weeds, creating an ideal microenvironment for crop growth.

More importantly, this increase in yield did not come at the expense of soil health. Continuous monitoring showed that while PFM promoted microbial activity and accelerated the decomposition of some organic matter, the root exudates from crops and the additional return of residues provided effective compensation. Ultimately, the soil organic matter content stabilized between 12.6% and 13.4%, with no statistically significant difference compared to the no-cover plots. Further analysis using high-throughput gene sequencing technology revealed that the proportions of key microbial taxa, such as Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria, remained stable, and the bacterial diversity index was not significantly disturbed.

The soil restoration effects of green manure compost exceeded expectations. The results indicated that in plots where municipal green manure compost was applied, the soil organic matter content increased by 15%, significantly higher than in the poultry manure treatment group. This confirms that the input of organic materials with a high carbon-to-nitrogen ratio is a key pathway for maintaining soil carbon reserves. The synergistic application of PFM and compost not only supplemented soil carbon sources through compost but also enhanced nutrient use efficiency via the mulch film, creating a positive cycle of “increased yield and soil health”.

This study validates the long-term ecological safety of biodegradable PFM in temperate maritime climates, breaking the traditional belief that “mulch films increase yield at the cost of soil fertility”. The research team emphasizes the need to monitor the dynamic changes of persistent soil organic carbon over scales longer than ten years and recommends that organic farms prioritize the combination strategy of “PFM + green manure compost”.

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Journal

Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering

DOI

10.15302/J-FASE-2025608 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Use of biodegradable plastic film mulch over three years of organic horticultural production promotes yield but does not affect soil organic matter content

 

UK air quality improved since 2015 but targets still missed

University of Reading

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Air pollution across the UK dropped between 2015 and 2024, but dangerous levels are still reached too often, shows new research published today (Tuesday, 15 July) in Environmental Science: Atmospheres.

Scientists from the University of Reading studied pollution at more than 500 monitoring sites around the UK. They looked at three main types of air pollution which harm people's health. Two types of pollution got better over the decade. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is mainly produced by traffic, fell by 35% on average at monitoring sites. Fine particles called PM2.5, which are small enough to get deep into lungs, dropped by 30%.

Despite these improvements, pollution still breaks safety limits too often. The average number of days each year when NO2 exceeded World Health Organization targets fell from 136 to 40 days, while for PM2.5 particles exceedances decreased from 60 to 22 days per year.

In contrast to NO2 and PM2.5, another pollutant, surface ozone (O3) increased by 17% on average over the decade. The number of days when O3, which is formed when sunlight interacts with NO2 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by traffic and industry, exceeded targets doubled from 7 to 14 per year.

Dr James Weber, lead author at the University of Reading, said: "The UK has made progress on air quality, but there is still a long way to go. Pollution from traffic is getting better, but we need both local action and international cooperation to improve all types of air pollution. The fact that O3 is getting worse while other pollution improves shows we need to think carefully about how we tackle this problem and not focus on pollutants in isolation.”

Different approaches are needed to cut pollution

The research highlight that different pollution types come from different sources. NO2 pollution is mainly driven by local traffic, while PM2.5 particles often blow in from other parts of the UK and continental Europe. Ozone pollution comes from both local and distant sources. 

These findings mean different approaches are needed to tackle each type of pollution. Cleaner vehicles can help reduce NO2 from traffic, but cutting PM2.5 pollution needs national and international efforts because it can travel long distances across borders from continental Europe. O3 presents a complex challenge as its formation depends on the balance of certain gases in the atmosphere, their interaction with sunlight and temperature. In particular, as NO2 decreases, O3 will increase in most urban areas unless simultaneous efforts are made to reduce the VOCs which fuel its production, highlighting the need for multi-pollutant policies which span multiple sectors and countries.   

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Journal

Environmental Science Atmospheres

DOI

10.1039/d5ea00055f 

Article Title

UK air quality showed clear improvement from 2015 to 2024 but breaching of targets remains very common

Article Publication Date

15-Jul-2025

 

Jaguar population increases after wildfire and drought, indicating area’s role as climate refuge

Oregon State University

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Jaguar in Pantanal region of Brazil.

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Credit: Charlotte Eriksson, Oregon State University

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Following a large-scale wildfire, more jaguars migrated to a study site in the Brazilian wetlands that already had the largest population density of jaguars in the world, a new study found.

“Finding even more jaguars and other mammals in the study area following the 2020 wildfire and extreme drought suggests that it may serve as a climate refuge, buffering the effects of extreme climate events,” said Charlotte Eriksson, a post-doctoral scholar at Oregon State University.

The 36,700-acre site is a seasonally flooded protected area in the northern portion of the Brazilian Pantanal, the largest freshwater wetland in the world.

Past research by Eriksson and others at Oregon State and in Brazil found the site is home to a population of jaguars that are unique because their diet primarily consists of aquatic organisms, instead of land-based animals, and because they are more socially tolerant and willing to share space with other jaguars.

For the new study, published in Global Change Biology, the researchers, who have studied the jaguars since 2014, used video of jaguars and other mammals they captured from field cameras they deployed before, during and after the wildfire. They also collected nearly 175 jaguar scats to analyze the jaguars’ diet.

The study site, much of which is federally protected, is five hours from the nearest town and can only be accessed by humans via boat. There are no roads, trails or settlements nearby. Researchers cover themselves from head to toe because of the abundance of biting insects.

Eriksson has been working on the project since 2017, first as a doctoral student in Oregon State Professor Taal Levi’s lab and now as a post-doctoral scholar. She visited the study site in 2018 and 2021.

Jaguars are the most frequently detected mammals detected by the cameras, which is highly unusual for a large, solitary carnivore, Eriksson said. She said that would be similar to most frequently seeing a cougar or mountain lion on cameras in North America, instead of for example deer.

She said that whenever she got off the boat, she would see jaguar tracks. In fact, one of her cameras recorded a jaguar just seven minutes after she set it up.

“I have never been to a place where the presence of a large carnivore is so obvious,” she said.

The 2020 wildfires, driven by extreme drought, extreme temperatures and human activities, burned more than 11 million acres, including half the study site, and caused an estimated loss of 17 million vertebrates.

In the just-published paper, the researchers set out to understand the short-term impacts of the fire and long-term effects of drought on the population of jaguars and other mammals and whether the changes were driven by fire, drought or both. Findings included:

• Jaguar activity initially declined post-fire, indicating a short-term impact, but rebounded over time, with a significant increase in abundance and birth of cubs one year after the fire.
• Jaguars living in the area before the fire were sighted at similar rates before and after the fire, indicating that resident jaguars survived the fires and maintained their home ranges, while a large number of immigrant jaguars arrived from other areas, indicating the area served as a climate refuge.
• Richness and abundance of other mammal species increased across the study period, but was more strongly correlated with drought-induced changes than with fire-related impacts because the increase in species richness began in 2018 – before the fire. Researchers also didn’t find a significant difference in species richness between camera sites burned during the fire or not burned.
• Jaguars maintained their specialization on aquatic prey, particularly fish and caiman alligators, despite the increase in mammals, supporting the hypothesis that consumption of aquatic prey reduces predation pressure on land-based mammals.

The researchers caution against generalizing their findings to other areas because of the unique nature of this part of the Pantanal, including the fact that parts of it are protected, but they emphasize the importance of maintaining such refugia and implementing proactive fire management.

Jaguar in Pantanal region of Brazil.

Jaguar in Pantanal region of Brazil.

Jaguars in Pantanal region of Brazil.

Credit

Charlotte Eriksson, Oregon State University

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Journal

Global Change Biology

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Publication Date

15-Jul-2025

 

Most of us love memes. But are they a form of comics?

Research says the two art forms share visual, verbal elements

Ohio State University

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Once upon a time – way back in the twentieth century – people got their laughs from reading comics in the newspaper.  Today, many of us get our chuckles by seeing (and sharing) humorous memes online.

 

But are these two cultural phenomena really that different? In a new article, comics scholar Michelle Ann Abate argues that memes are an important new type of digital comic.

 

“Memes use a lot of the same visual and verbal elements that go into a comic, and those elements function in a very similar way. So yes, memes should absolutely be considered a type of comic,” said Abate, a professor of literature for children and young adults at The Ohio State University’s College of Education and Human Ecology.

 

Abate wrote about memes as comics in the spring 2025 issue of INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society. 

 

Abate said she started thinking about the connection between the two art forms when she noticed that she was sharing lots of memes in group chats with friends where she was also posting single-panel comics.

 

“It occurred to me that they have that same interplay of visual and verbal elements,” she said.

 

In both comics and memes, the text and the image would not make much sense without the other. The elements work together to produce the humor.

 

Of course, with comics, the artist normally produces both the drawing and the language. In memes, people use a base image – known as an “image macro” – and add their own commentary.

 

Using a pre-existing visual as the basis for a meme is “akin to sampling in music,” Abate said.

 

“Someone takes that base content and repurposes it, reimagines it, and develops it into an original piece of art.”

 

Some of those base images have been used many thousands of times and become a cultural phenomenon: for instance, the “Distracted boyfriend,” “Batman Slapping Robin” or “American Chopper.”

 

While memes are a relatively recent development, comics themselves have long used pre-existing images to provide others with the opportunity to add their own original language and create their own unique cartoon panel.

 

The Caption Contest from The New Yorker embodies a well-known current example of this phenomenon.  Launched in 1999, the magazine publishes a single-panel drawing each week that lacks any speech balloons or dialogue boxes.  Readers send in their ideas for the missing verbal element.

 

“The New Yorker’s caption contest is often framed as a type of crowdsourcing, but it is also kind of memeing,” Abate said. “The platform may be a bit more highbrow, but the readers are really helping produce a meme.”

 

That said, memes and comics do possess some distinct differences. 

 

Because memes are created, read, and shared online, their panels are generally arranged vertically, rather than horizontally. That difference can be key, Abate said.

 

She uses the example of the “American Chopper” meme that shows a series of five screenshots taken from an episode of the popular reality show by the same name.  The meme sequence features the two main stars – Paul Teutel, Sr. and his son Paul Teutel, Jr. – in a heated argument.

 

Many creators have used this meme to relay a cultural debate in which the two stars take a different side of the argument.

 

The vertical format is perfect for reading on a smart phone or tablet where it is much easier to examine content by scrolling down rather than left to right, Abate said. But this spatial layout has another advantage in the “American Chopper” meme.

 

Rather than reading continually from left to right, the placement of panels in a long vertical strip forces people to stop for a fraction of a second as their eyes move down to the next panel.

 

“American Chopper” wants its readers to pause, just briefly, so they can consider the argument that has been made before they scroll down to the counterargument that appears below it.

 

“It is that momentary delay that shifts the exchange from two people simply yelling at each other to two people debating each other,” she said.

 

“If the panels were arranged horizontally and the guys were side by side in each other’s face, installments of  ‘American Chopper’ would come across very differently.”

 

That’s just one illustration of how memes both mirror and modify comics, Abate said.

 

Scott McCloud, in his book “Reinventing Comics,” talked about digital comics as having an “infinite canvas” because they were no longer restricted to a certain size or shape, as they would have in a printed format.  Online, a single comics panel can be as big as a city block; readers can use their cursor, arrow keys, or trackpad to explore it.  Obviously, these dimensions would not work for a physical book.

 

Memes embody this notion of “infinite canvas,” but in a different way from what McCloud envisioned, Abate said.

 

“The limitless nature of meme-based comics is not the boundless size of their panels,” she wrote. “Rather, it is the inexhaustible reusability of their visual template.”

 

This infinite canvas of memes suggests they will be staying around, even as they evolve, Abate explained.

 

“Memes have become such an important part of our lexicon in the 21st century. They are part of how we communicate, part of our sense of humor, and a key way that we connect with each other.”

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Journal

Inks The Journal of the Comics Studies Society

Method of Research

Content analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

One Does Not Simply Overlook New Forms of Sequential Art: Memes as Fixed-Image Comics

 

South China Sea marine heatwaves split into two types, with ocean dynamics playing a surprising role

Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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Schematic diagrams of “intensified” and “attenuated” MHWs.

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Credit: Rongwang ZHANG

Marine heatwaves (MHWs)—persistent oceanic warming events increasingly observed worldwide—pose significant threats to marine environments and ecosystems. Understanding their drivers and evolution is critical for safeguarding marine environmental security.

Recently, researchers from the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, have published a study titled "Classification of Marine Heatwaves in the South China Sea and Their Thermodynamical Features" in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters, introducing an innovative classification framework to investigate thermal versus dynamical drivers of MHWs.

Different from traditional classification schemes based on duration or intensity thresholds, this study categorizes MHWs into two major types—intensified MHWs and attenuated MHWs—based on the overall trend of sea surface temperature during an MHW event. In intensified MHWs, sea surface temperatures show a continuous rise with time, whereas attenuated MHWs display the opposite trend. The distinct driving mechanisms of these two MHW types can be explained by combining this classification framework with heat budget diagnostic equations.

This study points out that nearly half of the intensified MHWs are primarily driven by oceanic dynamic processes (e.g., eddies and ocean currents), which challenges the traditional view that MHWs are mainly dominated by atmospheric heating.

"We used to blame the atmosphere for ‘baking’ the ocean. Now we can see the ocean itself is a powerful heat generator, like a giant underwater mixer," says the first author, Dr. Rongwang Zhang.

This study quantitatively reveals the role of air–sea heat exchange in the evolution of MHWs. In thermally dominated MHWs, the contribution rate of latent heat flux to the change in net heat flux is the highest, exceeding 50% in all cases. Additionally, the study also utilized a newly released air–sea heat flux dataset called CASFlux (Chinese Air–Sea heat Flux; http://dx.doi.org/10.12157/CASFlux), and found that its performance is comparable to that of ERA5 and NECP2.

These findings provide new insights for accurately predicting MHW variations, and could also provide an effective response to threats such as coral bleaching and fisheries disasters.

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Journal

Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters

DOI

10.1016/j.aosl.2025.100662 

Article Title

Classification of marine heatwaves in the South China Sea and their thermodynamic features