Research shows how Dust Bowl-type drought causes unprecedented productivity loss

Extreme, prolonged drought conditions in grasslands around the world would greatly limit the long-term health and productivity of these crucial ecosystems

Colorado State University

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The Semi-arid Grassland Research Center in northern Colorado. One of the sites used for the International Drought Experiment. Credit: Colorado State University College of Natural Sciences

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Credit: Colorado State University College of Natural Sciences

A global research effort led by Colorado State University shows that extreme, prolonged drought conditions in grasslands and shrublands would greatly limit the long-term health of crucial ecosystems that cover nearly half the planet. The findings are particularly relevant as climate change increases the possibility of more severe droughts in the future – potentially leading to a situation that echoes the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

The new research published in Science shows that losses in plant productivity – the creation of new organic matter through photosynthesis – were more than twice as high after four years of continued extreme drought when compared to losses from droughts of moderate intensity. The work shows that these grassland and shrubland ecosystems lose their ability to recover over time under prolonged dry conditions.

“We show that – when combined – extreme, multi-year droughts have even more profound effects than a single year of extreme drought or multi-year moderate droughts,” said CSU Biology Professor Melinda Smith, who led the study with Timothy Ohlert, a former CSU postdoctoral researcher.

“The Dust Bowl is a good example of this,” she continued. “Although it spanned nearly a decade it was only when there were consecutive extremely dry years that those effects, such as soil erosion and dust storms, occurred. Now with our changing climate, Dust Bowl-type droughts are expected to occur more frequently.”

Smith designed and led the International Drought Experiment with more than 170 researchers around the world. For the project, researchers built rainfall manipulation structures that reduced each rainfall event by a target amount over a four-year period in grassland and shrubland ecosystems across six continents. The CSU research team includes University Distinguished Professor Alan Knapp, Professor Eugene Kelly, Associate Professor Daniela Cusack and Research Associate Anping Chen. Former Ph.D. student Amanda Cordiero and Postdoctoral Researcher Lee Dietterich also contributed to the study.

By simulating 1-in-100-year extreme drought conditions, the team was able to study the long- and short-term effects on grasslands and shrublands, which store more than 30% of global carbon and support key industries, such as livestock production. Variations in precipitation, as well as soil and vegetation across continents, meant different sites experienced different combinations of moderate and extreme drought years – providing unique experimental conditions that informed this study.

Smith said the paper highlights the interaction between extremity and duration in drought conditions and that this interaction has rarely been systematically studied using experiments.

She added that the research suggests that the negative impacts on plant productivity are also likely to be much larger than previously expected under both extreme and prolonged drought conditions. 

Plant growth is a fundamental component of the global carbon cycle. That is because plant photosynthesis is the main way carbon dioxide enters ecosystems, where animals consume it and plants store it as biomass. Because grasslands and shrublands cover roughly 50% of the Earth’s surface, they play a large role in balancing and facilitating carbon uptake and sequestration globally. That means changes to these ecosystems caused by drought could have wide-ranging impacts, Knapp said.

“An additional strength of this research is that the scale of the experiment matches the extent of these important grassland and shrubland ecosystems,” Knapp said. “This allowed us to show how widespread and globally significant these extreme drought impacts can be.”

For more than a decade, Smith, Knapp and their colleagues have worked on similar research into grasslands at CSU. They often partner with agencies like the Department of Agriculture to develop a better understanding of the consequences of climate change to these ecosystems on topics such as species diversity. The International Drought Experiment is a key example of this work. The team recently published findings in PNAS from the same multi-site research network that quantified the impact of extreme short-term (one year) drought on grassland and shrubland ecosystems. Smith said the pair of papers now form an important foundation for further research into this topic.

“Because of the historic rarity of extreme droughts, researchers have struggled to estimate the actual consequences of these conditions in both the near and long-term,” she said. “This large, distributed research effort is a truly a team effort and provides a platform to quantify and further study how intensified drought impacts may play out.”

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Journal

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.ads8144 

Article Title

Drought intensity and duration interact to magnify losses in primary productivity

Article Publication Date

16-Oct-2025

Grassland research at CSU video [VIDEO] 

Colorado State University Department of Biology ecologists Melinda Smith, Alan Knapp and Kate Wilkins discuss why grasslands are important ecosystems, and how they will be impacted with climate change.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qD2rzn4vLc

The Semi-arid Grassland Research Center in northern Colorado is one of the sites used for the International Drought Experiment. 

Credit: Colorado State University College of Natural Sciences

Rainout shelters at the Purdue Wildlife Area, near West Lafayette, Indiana, reduced precipitation in a restored prairie as part of the International Drought Experiment

Credit  Credit Jeffrey Dukes

Experiment site Allmend in Switzerland. 

Credit: Andreas Stampfli, Bern University of Applied Sciences

An experiment test site in the cloud forests of the Kosñipata Valley, Peru

Credit  David Bartholomew

 

New study overturns long-held assumptions about how plants spread to islands

A new study from Iceland’s Surtsey island shows that birds carried most of the plants that colonised the island, challenging long-held beliefs that seed or fruit shape determines how plants spread — 

Náttúrufræðistofnun

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Plants colonisig volcanic tepha on Surtsey

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Credit: Pawel Wasowicz

When the volcanic island of Surtsey rose from the North Atlantic Ocean in 1963, it offered scientists a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to observe how life takes hold on a brand-new and barren land. For decades, ecologists believed that plants’ ability to reach remote and isolated places depended mainly on special adaptations for long-distance dispersal — for example, fleshy fruits thought to attract birds, which would eat the fruit and later disperse the seeds — giving those species a decisive advantage in colonising new areas. 

A new study published in Ecology Letters challenges this long-standing view. Researchers from Iceland, Hungary, and Spain found that most of the 78 vascular plant species that have colonised Surtsey since 1965 lack any of the traits traditionally associated with long-distance dispersal. Instead, gulls, geese, and shorebirds have played the leading role in bringing seeds to the island — carrying them in their guts or droppings. In doing so, birds have transported a wide range of plant species, laying the foundations for Surtsey’s developing ecosystem. 

“Birds turned out to be the true pioneers of Surtsey — carrying seeds of plants that, according to conventional theories, shouldn’t be able to get there,” says Dr. Pawel Wasowicz of the Natural Science Institute of Iceland, one of the study’s authors. “These results overturn traditional assumptions about plant colonisation and show that to understand how life spreads and responds to environmental change, we must look at the interactions between plants and animals. Life does not move in isolation — it follows life.” 

Dr. Andy Green from the Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC, Spain), who co-led the research, adds: 

“Our findings have far-reaching implications for ecology and conservation. Animals — especially birds — are key drivers of plant dispersal and colonisation. As migration routes shift under a warming climate, birds will play a vital role in helping plants move and adapt to new environments.” 

The study underscores the exceptional importance of Surtsey as a natural laboratory, where scientists can observe the fundamental processes of life — how ecosystems emerge, evolve, and respond to environmental change. It calls for new ecological models that account for real biological interactions rather than relying solely on seed traits or taxonomic classifications. 

“Long-term research like that carried out on Surtsey is invaluable for biology,” says Dr. Wasowicz. “It allows us to witness ecological processes that would otherwise remain invisible — how life colonises, evolves, and adapts. Such work is essential for understanding the future of ecosystems in a rapidly changing world.” 

Plants colonising lava field on Surtsey island

Credit

Pawel Wasowicz

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Journal

Ecology Letters

DOI

10.1111/ele.70234 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Putative ‘Dispersal Adaptations’ Do Not Explain the Colonisation of a Volcanic Island by Vascular Plants, but Birds Can

Article Publication Date

16-Oct-2025

 

Sulfated yeast rises to the challenge facing rare earth metals

Modified yeast developed to efficiently adsorb targeted elements from solutions

Osaka Metropolitan University

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By introducing a sulfate group, rare metal adsorbing S-yeast was created.

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Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University

Ever wonder what happens to those old, broken electronics after tossing them? How about how new ones are being produced despite dwindling resources? The seemingly endless supply of gadgets hides an increasingly critical problem, limited raw resources.

Electronics, optical fibers, and superconducting materials heavily rely on rare earth metals, but such limited resources lack innovative recycling solutions. Various methods do exist for metal recovery, but technology with low environmental impact and costs is rising in demand.

Fortunately, an answer may have been found in the common kitchen ingredient, baker’s yeast. A research group led by Professor Masayuki Azuma and Associate Professor Yoshihiro Ojima at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate School of Engineering successfully achieved selective recovery of metals with S-yeast, a sulfated yeast. When testing the removal of copper (Cu) from a solution, S-yeast’s metal adsorption capacity was found to absorb approximately 2.3 times more than the phosphate-modified baker's yeast (P-yeast) previously created in their past studies.

Furthermore, S-yeast can desorb Cu using hydrochloric acid, then adsorb it again; effectively providing a possible sustainable and cost-effective solution to metal recovery. Additionally, it was found that S-yeast adsorbs more zinc, cadmium, lead, and rare earth elements than P-yeast.

“We hope these research findings lead to applications in efficient and environmentally-friendly rare earth recovery technology. Moving forward, we plan to advance toward practical implementation by scaling up material production and conducting evaluations using actual waste liquids,” stated Professor Azuma.

The study was published in Environmental Research. 

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About OMU  

Established in Osaka as one of the largest public universities in Japan, Osaka Metropolitan University is committed to shaping the future of society through “Convergence of Knowledge” and the promotion of world-class research. For more research news, visit https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/ and follow us on social media: X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. 

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Journal

Environmental Research

DOI

10.1016/j.envres.2025.122743 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Excellent adsorption performance of sulfated yeast for heavy metal ions: High capacity and selectivity for rare earth elements

A progressive vision is needed to stop the right

OCTOBER 11, 2025

Mike Phipps reviews How to Defeat the Far Right, by Nick Lowles, published by Harper North.

The far right is on the rise globally and Britain is no exception. It’s a fairly mixed bunch here but they share common ideas: chauvinistic nationalism – British exceptionalism – and a belief that the nation, either geographical or racial, is in decline or crisis and radical action is needed to halt it.

Journalist Nick Lowles, founder of HOPE not hate, has been fighting fascism for 35 years and has never known a time like this – particularly the events immediately following the Southport murders, when mosques under attack, police cars set on fire and outbreaks of violence occurred in over 25 cities and towns across the country.

The post-Southport riots tell us a lot about the interconnectivity of the far right, who are able to spread their messages, away from the eyes of respectable society, directly into people’s living rooms and bedrooms. They have built their mass media eco-system with the help of big money and powerful interests, the role of which is unfortunately not explored here.

So how best to fight this scourge? Nick Lowles, as others have done, draws on his long history of anti-fascist activity to argue that shouting “Nazi scum” at people is pretty useless. It’s certainly no substitute for long-term community engagement. Women especially are put off by the aggressive sloganeering of much of the anti-fascist movement and prefer positive messages.

The gender division on this issue needs more exploration. We know that women are less inclined to support far right ideas compared to men of the same age. Furthermore, figures who peddle misogyny as a gateway to other ideas associated with the radical right, such as Andrew Tate, have a huge social media reach among young men and boys. HOPE not hate is now the second largest provider of anti-prejudice training in schools and focuses on communities that are most susceptible to far right narratives.

Yet it is also noteworthy that the current wave of far right activity centred on hotels housing asylum seekers appears to involve more women and is being badged by organisers as being about women’s safety. This requires a more comprehensive and nuanced response by a much wider layer of the movement.

If abstract denunciations of the far right are ineffective, so too is hollow scaremongering. In 2006, the then Barking MP Margaret Hodge claimed that eight out of ten voters in her constituency were thinking of voting for the British National Party, because “they can’t get a home for their children, they see black and ethnic communities moving in and they are angry.”

This own goal gave the fascists a huge boost and considerable media attention. Ultimately, a huge campaign involving HOPE not hate in her constituency routed the BNP, but there are important lessons to learn from this. Keir Starmer should take note that talking up the danger of the far right while simultaneously making political concessions to their agenda, Hodge-style, is politically disastrous.

It’s also electorally damaging. Most people in Britain value its multicultural society and think the Government should do more to make it work. Almost three-quarters of people believe it’s the Government’s job to improve community cohesion.

But the road to cohesion and integration runs through other issues, about which diverse communities often feel equally strongly: jobs, housing , access to good education and open spaces. It’s a truism that the greatest antipathy to migrants is found in Britain’s most deprived areas. Government policy, for example accommodating asylum seekers in hotels disproportionately located in such areas, fuels tensions.

Lowles is keen to emphasise that to defuse these tensions there is no substitute for long-term work in the community. Yet it’s clear that some basic changes to Government policy could help enormously in the short term: “The best way to ‘smash the gangs’ is to remove their business model by creating safe asylum passages.”

If speaking English is seen as important to improving cohesion, the Government should restore the funding for this, which was slashed during the years of austerity. Above all the ghettoization of migrants in barracks and hotels needs to be replaced by speedier integration into the community, with the right to work and contribute.

The more this book explored the reasons for the rise of the far right, the distinct social layers they can mobilise and the political messages that attracts them – not just anti-migrant rhetoric – the more I felt the answer lay in a root and branch political renewal. Such a renewal goes far beyond the removal of impediments to voting discussed here.

HOPE not hate has done good work, documented in detail in this book, but it’s fighting a losing battle. Unless progressive political forces can set out an appealing and achievable vision of change – as they did in 2017 – we may well be facing an historic defeat in which liberal appeals for convivencia and toleration are tested to their limits.

Mike Phipps’ book Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: The Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn (OR Books, 2022) can be ordered here.

HubMP201

The British Section of the League Against Imperialism and British interwar anticolonialism

 October 15, 2025

Ahead of a talk to the Socialist History Society on October 20th, Dilan Tulsiani outlines some of the themes in his paper Traditions of Dissent.

Traditions of Dissent provides a comprehensive analysis of the interwar British anticolonial organisation, the British Section of the League Against Imperialism.

In the aftermath of the First World War and the 1917 Russian Revolution, Britain had become a central hub for domestic and international anticolonial activists. Subsequently, the transnational anticolonial organisation, the League Against Imperialism, established a British Section which continued its operations throughout the interwar period. Traditions of Dissent explores the coalition of activists who participated in developing the British Section’s unique form of anticolonialism, which interconnected various British and transnational traditions in resisting British imperialism and supporting the rights of British and Colonial workers. This thesis resituates the importance of British anticolonialism in developing a substantial network of activists that openly protested against the British Empire’s policies from the British metropole. Crucially, the British Section’s activities in the interwar period display the tenacity of activists in Britain who campaigned against imperialism at the heart of the British Empire.

In recentring the importance of the British Section’s anticolonial actions in interwar Britain, the first half of this thesis provides an insight into the development and practice of the organisation’s philosophy and activities. The second half of the thesis highlights the overlooked contribution of women and people of colour in Britain who made up anticolonial activism in this period. Subsequently, the study examines the response by British policing agencies who had become increasingly concerned by the British Section’s activities and their popularity amongst workers from British colonies. This section of the thesis provides an insight into the justification of racialised policing techniques in the interwar period.

Successively, the penultimate chapter provides a reassessment of the events and factors that led to the dissolution of the British Section, emphasising the importance of British Section member and Communist Party MP, Shapurji Saklatvala. The final chapter of this thesis traces the lineage and legacy of the British Section’s evolution throughout various succeeding organisations in the twentieth century who carried the mantle of its unique form of anticolonialism which in turn influenced antiracist activism. The traditions of dissent that made up the British Section’s understanding of anticolonialism reverberated through its successors and have continued to inspire activists today.

This paper explores how political radicalism was understood in the interwar period amongst various internal divisions on the British left. Traditionally, the interwar period has been studied in relation to the rise of fascism. However, the interwar period also exhibits a period in history where a huge number of anticolonialists from European colonies developed a vast network with other activists and dissidents in Europe.

After the rise of Nazi regime, Britain became a safe hub for many of these anticolonial activists who sought to campaign against imperialism, and in doing so, began to examine widespread poverty and racism in British society that had not been addressed in relation to one another. This paper details the involvement of British Section members who strategically campaigned for the rights of British and colonial workers throughout Britain. In addition, some of these activists recognised the deep racial divisions that existed after the 1919 Race Riots, and made deliberate activities to form a solidarity between Black and Asian British families and anticolonialists.

Finally, much of the legacy of the League Against Imperialism has been linked to the 1955 Bandung Conference in which President Sukarno made reference to the League’s impressive establishment in 1927. Traditions of Dissent demonstrates a much larger legacy of the League, and more specifically, its British Section.The paper shows how the British Section’s anticolonialism transitioned throughout the twentieth century into antiracist ideology that was elemental to organisations such as the Movement for Colonial Freedom.

In spring 2025, many politicians and intellectuals, such as Jeremy Corbyn MP and Vijay Prashad, began a centennial campaign to mark 100 years since the League’s founding, which will organise various events until February 2027. This paper intends to re-emphasise the complexities of political radicalism and the importance of the British Section’s multi-racial cohort in campaigning against British imperialism during the interwar period. In doing so, it demonstrates the unique lineage of British anticolonialism that further developed anti-racist organisations due to its amalgamation of political traditions.

Dilan Tulsiani is a historian of transnational anticolonialism in the twentieth century. based at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.Monday 20th October 5.30pm on Zoom Dilan Tulsiani ‘Traditions of Dissent: The British Section of the League Against Imperialism and British interwar anticolonialism’.Free on Zoom. Booking essential. To Book https://www.history.ac.uk/news-events/events/traditions-dissent-british-section-league-against-imperialism-british-interwar-anticolonialism

Image: https://wordcloud.app/books/burmese-days-by-george-orwell Licence: CC0 1.0 Public Domain Universal

UK

Overwhelming majority of Labour Party members would back breaking tax pledges to fund public services, poll finds

Basit Mahmood 

15 October, 2025 

Left Foot Forward



The Labour party had pledged during the election not to increase taxes on working people, and subsequently ruled out any rise in national insurance, VAT or income tax.

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A clear majority of Labour Party members would support breaking the party’s manifesto pledges on tax, if it meant greater investment in public services, as pressure continues to grow on the chancellor to implement bolder measures to boost economic growth ahead of the budget next month.

A poll of party members carried out by Survation on behalf of LabourList found that 76% of those asked said that they would back a rise in national insurance, income tax or VAT in order to put more money into public services, with 20% opposed.

The Labour party had pledged during the election not to increase taxes on working people, and subsequently ruled out any rise in national insurance, VAT or income tax.

However, despite current forecasts predicting that the UK will be the second-fastest growing economy in the G7, some on the left have called on the government to go further and faster to improve public services which were decimated after 14 years of Tory austerity.

LabourList reports: “While 79% of those who backed Keir Starmer in the 2020 leadership contest would support the government breaking its promise not to raise those three taxes, support was weaker among those who backed Rebecca Long-Bailey at 69%.

“The poll also found that seven in ten of members (72%) believed that the government had upheld its manifesto commitment on tax, with 20% believing the government had broken its promise not to raise national insurance, income tax or VAT on working people.”

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward